The Thumb Wrestling Federation is a Show Within The Commercials that frames Cartoon Network's Saturday morning programming block, with a match at the halfway point of the block. It is a parody of Professional Wrestling featuring two rival teams, the Sinistras and the Mighty Dexteras, with play-by-play by Dick Thompson and color commentary by retired thumb wrestler Colonel Cossack. Other behind-the-scenes shorts run between the other shows, though Dick and the Colonel are the only characters to appear in the mid-show Ad Bumpers. Produced by Animation Collective.
This series provides examples of:
- Action Girl: 8 female wrestlers so far through three seasons.
- Alliterative Name: Colonel Cossack, Hometown Huck, Pei Pei the Purple Panda, Senator Skull, Vini Vidi Victory — ah, screw it, there's just too many to name.
- Alpha Bitch: Itsy Bitsy is the number one Alpha Bitch on the show, due to her past as a
serial killer who murdered & devoured 27 of her own mates. Queen Nefercreepy comes at a close second & The Cheetah is at the third spot. - Ambiguously Related: Dick once noted that Pinky and The Big Time looked alike.
- Ascended Extra: Danny Kaboom & The Visitor were both minor wrestlers before Season 4, Danny managed to reach the Semifinals and The Visitor advanced to the Championship but was the runner-up, losing to Mr. Extremo.
- Bad Boss: Worse than Senator Skull, Bucks Gazillion punishes his own teammates for losing by dropping them a trapdoor.
- The Bad Guy Wins: After the first two seasons' tournaments were won by Dexteras, a Sinistra, Bucks Gazillion, won in season 3.
- Bare-Handed Puppetry: The show stars thumbs topped with Mexican-style wrestling masks. The "referee" and "commentators" wear wigs and googly eyes.
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: A gender inverted Terrible Trio example with three of Senator Skull’s teammates.
- Beauty: N Fuego
- Brains: Evil Ira
- Brawn: The Big Time
- Senator Skull himself is Brains since he’s an Evil Genius .
- Big "NO!":
- In an episode of Season 1, Itsy Bitsy screams this when she sees that Hometown Huck has breaked her web.
- In the final episode of season 3, Senator Skull screams this when he sees that Bucks Gazillion has bought out the Sinistras
- Captain Carpal screams this when he sees that Miss Fitwell has trapped Polly into a bird cage.
- Pinky shouts this out when he costed Wasabi the match against The Big Time,
- Big "OMG!": Dick Thompson yells this when Hometown Huck pukes on Pinky.
- Berserk Button: Making fun of either Face-Off Phil's accent or his favorite game (hockey) will cause him to pummel you. Making fun of his homeland, on the other hand, is both an invitation for him to destroy you & an indication that you're a complete moron.
- Senator Skull invoked this trope by drenching the 2006 Wisconsin Dairy Princess in Skim Milk, triggering Hometown Huck.
- Hometown Huck: Nobody talks to the Dairy Princess that way!
- Senator Skull invoked this trope by drenching the 2006 Wisconsin Dairy Princess in Skim Milk, triggering Hometown Huck.
- Birthday Episode: One occurs in a episode where Queen Nefercreepy reveals that it's her birthday and there’s a scene we get is where Colonel Cossack is shown on a birthday with thumbs singing "Happy Birthday" and as they sing, Colonel screams.
- Butt-Monkey: Ouch and Billy Batboy, the weakest wrestlers on their respective teams. Dick Thompson also gets treated this way, courtesy of Colonel Cossack. The Ref has fallen victim to such crazy things as being covered in slime, being webbed by Itsy Bitsy, and having a piano and an anvil dropped onto his head. Out of the Dexteras' major wrestlers and every wrestler as a whole, Hometown Huck has lost more matches than the others.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: A few wrestlers haven't appeared since Seasons 1 or 2: Flashback, The Amoeba, Dwayne Bramage, and Fly Guy. Good Ira hasn't even appeared since Season 1.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Colonel Cossack & Dwayne Bramage(Especially the latter)
- Cloudcuckoolander Commentator: Colonel Cossack, who provides his own bizarre commentary on the matches that co-commentator Dick Thompson tends to question.
- Dumb Muscle: Gogachog the caveman, The Lost Viking, Dwayne Bramage, and Big Star.
- Dance Battler: N Fuego, who can turn up the heat by dancing.
- Demoted to Extra: Dorsal Flynn first appeared as a wrestler, now he just interviews the wrestlers who would fight in the championship matches. Vini Vidi Victory, despite being the leader of the Mighty Dexteras, doesn't fight at all in seasons 3-5. Lampshaded by Mr. Extremo in the "Dexteras Respond" gag.
- Designated Girl Fight: Played straight in Wasabi vs Itsy Bitsy.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The first season had many things that the later seasons lacked: no Trash-Talk segments, Evil Ira being a Dextera, and a few of the wrestlers' stat cards, especially the Lost Viking's, where in season 1, his description was "Has No Idea Where He Is", but in seasons 3-4, it's "Barbarian Warrior". Viking's fourth stat changed from "Direction" to "Brutality". Unit 19G, in Season 1, stated that his programming prevents him from harming N Fuego, but in Season 2 onwards, he was reprogrammed to fight.
- Averted in Season 2 where Vini Vidi Victory's stat card shows "Size", "Speed", "Strength", and "Looks" rather than "Power", "Agility", "Stamina", and "Loyalty". This is more of a case of "Late Installment Weirdness".
- Even Evil Has Standards: In late Season 4, Bucks Gazillion's machinations have gotten so bad that even fellow Sinistras can't stand him.
- The crowd, the Dexteras and commentators are in shock when Senator Skull used the illegal Sinistra Scissor Choke on Gary the Intern twice, both in the same match. Dick states that he thought even the Sinistras weren't that evil.
- Eviler than Thou: Bucks Gazillion forcibly takes over the Sinistras in season 3. Okay, more like buys the Sinistras.
- Face–Heel Turn: With a name like "Evil Ira" (he initially wanted to be called "Good Ira", but it was already taken by some Identical Stranger), it was inevitable.
- Foil: The major members of the Dexteras and Sinistras are counterparts to each other.
- Vini Vidi Victory and Senator Skull both are leaders and founders of their teams and we’re different in past to what they are today Vini once was a bully and Skull was picked on.
- Hometown Huck and The Big Time we’re both well liked for different reasons Huck for helpful nature and Big Time for his charisma. Huck is a good person and Big Time is a bully. Huck seems to favor a quick, multi-hit fighting style and The Big Time prefers brute strength.
- Wasabi and Itsy Bitsy being the top female members of their teams and Wasabi being ignored during her prom while Itsy was popular with men.
- Mr Extremo and N Fuego both have fire on their masks and both are professions of their talents Extremo being a daredevil and Fuego a dancer.
- Face-Off Phil and Evil Ira both are confirmed to be from countries Phil Canada and Ira Romania, Phil is hot headed while Ira is mischievous, and Ira during last as Dextera cheats before switching sides to the Sinistras while Phil prefs fighting fair.
- Danny Kaboom and The Visitor both were minor members of their teams before becoming more prominent as series went on and both were overconfident.
- Cleat Cunningham and Bucks Gazillion both had major roles in series Bucks taking over TWF until his defeat and Cleat accused of being a spy until his innocence was proven.
- Foreign Wrestling Heel: what Colonel Cossack probably was during his thumb wrestling career.
- God Guise: In the fight between Evil Ira and the Lost Viking, Senator Skull pretends to be Thor in order to motivate the Lost Viking.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: During the season 5 open mic gag, both Dexteras and Sinistras attend the event.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: Though the individual Dexteras & Sinistras come in a variety of colors, the factions themselves are associated with blue and red respectively due to elements such as logos, bio cards and trash talk banners.
- He Knows Too Much: Mr. Extremo figured out that the Lost Viking was being fed instructions through an earpiece Bucks Gazillion gave him during their match, which prompts Bucks to drop Extremo through a trapdoor.
- Hot-Blooded: Face-Off Phil has multiple Berserk Buttons, one of which is being called a hot-head. And he's one of the good guys. Also Colonel Cossack.
- Hourglass Plot: Season 2 featured rookie Mr Extremo battling The Big Time in the Thumber Summer semi-finals and Senator Skull in the finals. Season 5 featured another rookie, Cleat Cunningham, with Senator Skull and The Big Time's roles switched; Cleat battled Skull in the semi-finals and The Big Time in the finals.
- The Hyena: Laughing Loony
- Jerkass: Most of the Sinistras, except for Billy Batboy.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Vini Vidi Victory used to be the leader of a powerful gang. One day, he entered a gym and got his real first taste of what it is to be a real tough guy. After that, he turned his life around & trained at the gym until he became powerful enough to effortlessly take out his former gang. He then formed the Mighty Dexteras in the face of revolt caused by Senator Skull
- Joke Character: A bunch of them.
- Ouch is just some random dude with a bunch of bandages. His endless injuries are quite staggering.
- Billy Batboy isn't a bat, he thinks that he's a bat & most of the time tries to scare his opponent...with a costume that hardly even resembles a bat.
- Milty the Clown hardly even tries to fight, he mostly just tries to make his opponent laugh.
- Dwayne Bramage isn't even sane...a horrible accident that he suffered in the past actually caused his insanity. His insanity makes him immune to Wasabi's signature move "The Best Poem Ever", but that's pretty much it.
- Laughing Looney only laughs and that's it.
- Captain Esplanade is a wannabe hero who tends to speak rather than fight, and most of his speaking lines consist of "Not I!" which makes him a lazy coward.
- Large Ham: Colonel Cossack. This also applies to nearly every single wrestler.
- Lightning Bruiser: Nearly every wrestler that appeared on the show.
- The only exceptions being Knockout Ninja, who could move quickly, but can't take so many hits from his opponent, Unit 19G, who was nearly impossible to hurt, but couldn't move or attack very quickly, Ouch, the dude in with a thousand bandages & a knack for getting injured, & Billy Batboy, the boy who thinks he's a bat.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Pinky, when he accidentally caused Wasabi to lose to The Big Time. in Season 5, the Dexteras realized that it was a mistake to have shunned their new teammate Cleat Cunningham and accuseed him of assaulting Mr. Extremo and being in league with Senator Skull after Pinky revealed that it was all part of Skull's latest evil plan.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Vini Vidi Victory's biggest mistake was sending all the Dexteras (bar Face-Off Phil) after Steve, effectively leaving the Season 3 championship match between Face-Off Phil & Bucks Gazillion unsupervised... just as Bucks had planned. The referee even went too!
- No Antagonist: Played straight in a Dexteras HQ short.
- No-Sell: Pierre Pamplemousse’s Spatula Storm was ineffective against The Big Time.
- Noodle Incident: Whatever caused Dwayne Bramage's head injury.
- Oh, Crap!: One occurs in a season 3 episode where Colonel Cossack screams when he sees Milty the Clown.
- Only Sane Man: Dick Thompson
- Our Zombies Are Different: In the fight between Tom Cat and the Big Time, Pinky gives Tom Cat a potion that turns him into a zombie. As a zombie, he has green skin, one eye, and red markings on his head. He gains a hunger for brains. When Big Time bites Tom, he bleeds some sort of goo.
- Pyromaniac: N Fuego can set fires simply by dancing, & since he dances all the time...
- Put on a Bus: Implied with Cleat Cunningham. In the season five finale he says in his diary that he plans to retire and return to England after winning the championship but it's unknown whether or not Cleat would've actually been absent in Season 6 had it been made.
- Rage Quit: How Face-Off Phil won his match against Senator Skull. Skull's plans just weren't up to par that night.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Bucks Gazillion. Oh, so much. As leader of the Sinistras, he's made it all but impossible for a Dextera to win in season 4. Until The Stash offers them his training & until Senator Skull reclaims his rightful position
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Due to complications from Buck Gazillion's leadership, The Big Time, Itsy Bitsy, Scoutmaster Scott, and Evil Ira all bolt (not at the same time, though) and quit... at least until season 5.
- Series Continuity Error: In "Wasabi vs Itsy Bitsy" Dick Thompson states that no one has ever escaped Itsy Bitsy's Web of Woe, but in "Hometown Huck vs Itsy Bitsy" Huck escaped Itsy's web by breaking free from it.
- Serious Business: Senator Skull's main goal is to lead the Sinistras into winning the TWF championship and
- Shout-Out:
- In the "Flaming Potato Challenge" scene, there are thumbs who look like characters from Scooby-Doo.
- When Dick Thompson says "O Canada!" this is a reference to Canada's national anthem.
- Sick Episode: Played straight in two episodes where Sick Vick is shown.
- Skyward Scream: Senator Skull does an epic Big "NO!" at the end of Season 3, after finding out that Bucks Gazillion has bought out the Sinistras.
- Spanner in the Works: Senator Skull in the Season 4 Thumber Summer championship match, Pinky in Season 5's championship match.
- Stealth Pun: Sinister and Dexter are heraldic terms meaning, respectively, left and right.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Senator Skull, leader of the Sinistras.
- Super-Strength: The Big Time isn't considered the strongest of the Sinistras for nothing. The biggest example is his signature move "The Time Bomb", where after winding up, the Big Time slams his opponent to the mat so hard that he literally causes a nuclear explosion.
- Gogachog, the strongest of the Dexteras, has been shown moving a stone wheel & a boulder without even the slightest signs of exhaustion. Both objects were also bigger then he was.
- Taking the Bullet: The Dexteras found Cleat Cunningham about to be hit with the Big Time's Time Bomb, so Face-Off Phil pushes Cleat out of the Big Time's way and takes the hit instead.
- Team Killer: Newcomer Cleat Cunningham is accused of sabotage during Senator Skull's rematch with Mr. Extremo.
- Too Dumb to Live: Dwayne Bramage. Justified, due to a horrible accident that he suffered in the past.
- Big Star, the cousin of the Big Time. He even tried to hug a bacon cheeseburger when he was supposed to punch it!
- The Cheetah & Queen Nefercreepy show shades of this, especially in their matches against Face-Off Phil.
- Billy Batboy, who thinks he's a bat. He mostly just tries to scare his opponents...with a mask that looks almost nothing like a bat. What's more, he thinks that he can actually take on Wasabi & Hometown Huck.
- Well, he did square off against Mahi Mahi Mindy during the royal thumble. Plus, he also has a giant bat named Leatherwing that he can call out on a whim. Other then that, he's a joke.
- The Usurper: Bucks Gazillion does this to Senator Skull.
- Villainous Breakdown: After Mr. Extremo defeated the Visitor and reclaimed the title of TWF Champion, Bucks complains about how his master plan could have failed, before realizing that Senator Skull had successfully sabotaged him and is on the verge of taking back the Sinistras.
- Warrior Poet: Wasabi, though she's more along the lines of Kirabi.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: James Montgomery Flag's mask is based on the American flag, and Face-Off Phil's is based on the Canadian flag.
- Wingding Eyes:
- In the episode "Vini Vidi Victory! Vs Flashback", Vini Vidi Victory! Gets this when he gets attacked by Flashback
- Pei Pei the Purple Panda gets this when she falls in love with N Fuego and says "I'm so confused!"
- The Worf Effect: Despite his high power level, Gogachog the caveman can't even win a single match due to how easy it is to trick him. And while Vini Vidi Victory's signature move, the Vini Vidi Vadavoom, is powerful, it can be interrupted by wrestlers like the Big Time and Itsy Bitsy.
- Hometown Huck gets this treatment most of the time, especially in Seasons 2 and 4, where in the latter season, he lost to Rolf the Reaper!
