The LeBrons
is a 2011 animated internet series created by basketball legend Lebron James. It started out as a series of live action Nike commercials that LeBron created in 2005.
Based on LeBron's childhood and taking place in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, it is about a family of four personalities based on himself. The four LeBrons are:
- Kid, the youngest of the family
- Athlete, the basketball player
- Business (also known as "Biz"), the suave businessman
- Wise, the oldest of the family
In every episode, the family has a stunning misadventure, and later either learns a moral lesson or demonstrates a lesson to kids, a la Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
The first season lasted 10 episodes. Fans feared the series ended after the tenth, but the producers announced that they are working on a second season. The second season premiered exclusively on X Box Live Arcade and MSN Video on May 10, 2013, but changed the art style from 2D to an All-CGI Cartoon. There are currently 3 seasons, with the last episode premiering in 2014.
To read tropes associated with the original live action commercials, see this page.
The LeBrons includes examples of:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Used for any vehicles and certain backgrounds in the first season.
- An Arm and a Leg:
- Subverted; at the beginning of "Lion", Kid and his friend Condor escape Ray Johnson's pitbull, but when they rush to the door, Kid slams it on Condor's leg. Condor was wailing that the pitbull ate his leg, but Kid tells him that he just slammed the door on it.
- This subversion happens again in the same episode, but instead of shouting, Condor tells Kid that it's getting older.
- Bad Mood as an Excuse / Beware the Nice Ones: In "Misunderstood", Kid is rather upset about the fact he missed his basketball game, so much that he blames it on himself, believing that he's misunderstood.
Word of God says this is based on LeBron James' attitude after he missed his game. - Bears Are Bad News: In the CGI episode "Camping Trip: Part 1", Kid, Condor and Erik encounter a bear while walking in the forest, so Kid and Erik flee off in panic but Condor saves them by scaring the bear off.
- Berserk Button: Kid in "Misunderstood", when Condor tells him to calm down."I'll calm down?! I'll show you just how I calm down!"
- Big "NO!": Kid has one at the end of "Stay on the Court", when he's about to get "kissed" by a huge guy named Yugi after he was saved by Li.
- The Cameo: Drizzy Drake in the episode "Drake".
- Catapult Nightmare: At the beginning of "Misunderstood", Kid has a dream about a basketball flying at the basketball hoop in slow motion and exploding as it hits it. Then he flings up and pants.
- Chick Magnet: Biz. Especially in the episode "Gloria", where he dates the family's mother Gloria, which Wise isn't very impressed about.
- Cutaway Gag: In "Stay on the Court", this appears twice, in which Kid is sitting on a hospital bed wearing a body cast.
- Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: At one point in "Lion", Otis, during his confrontation with the pitbull, threatens him to "rip out your head and play ball with it".
- Descended Creator: LeBron James as Business.
- Double Standard: In "Camping Trip: Part 2", when the kids are relaxing around the campfire, Erik and Condor were talking about Li's hotness but Kid isn't quite amused that Condor is taking Li away from him. Then when Erik tells Kid that he thinks Li is hot too, they and Condor laugh and Condor decides that he'll have a love interest of his named Rosie while Kid will have Li.
- Eat the Camera: Done twice in a single scene in "Stay on the Court"; when Yugi leans closer to Kid's face to "kiss" him, he eats the camera, and then it immediately cuts to Kid screaming a Big "NO!" as the camera pans over to his mouth.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: The beginning of "Gloria", although there's a talking grasshopper instead of a mouse. When Gloria was cleaning the kitchen, she sees the grasshopper standing at the window, and she got so scared that she screams (which prompts the grasshopper to scream back at her), dropping the bag of sugar on the floor and thus clouds come out of it covering the house.
- Epic Fail: In "Superstition", Kid goes and buys popcorn and three cans of soda on a tray, but accidentally smashes them together and drops them when he watches Athlete playing basketball. He eventually goes and buys them again.
- Failure Is the Only Option: At the end of "Big Game", Kid shoots the basketball at the hoop in slow motion while time is running out, with all his might - only the ball just spins around and flies off, making him lose the game.
- Flashback:
- In "Big Game", Erik has one after he sees Otis very nervous. In this flashback, Erik is in a football game with Kid and Condor, and tries to run with them, but they instantly crash into other football players.
- Later, near the end of the same episode, Wise has one in which a younger himself is taking care of a baby Kid and then makes him toss a bag of trash to a garbage truck.
- Gag Dub: Cubed, a Fox Sports web series, once did a parody dub of one of the first episode's scenes.
- Get Out!: In "Gloria", Biz says this to Athlete and Kid when he's annoyed with them for sitting around the house while he's trying to date with Gloria.
- Growling Gut: Subverted; this happens to Condor at the beginning of "Lion" when he is bicycling with Kid, but it is actually the pitbull growling before a chase after Kid and Condor ensues.
- Horrible Camping Trip: The appropriately titled two-parter "Camping Trip" concerns Kid and his friends' aborted adventure in the woods, Business and Wise's boredom, and Athlete's struggles to put a tent up.
- Hurricane of Puns: Happens once in "Lion":Business: Ray Ray, you need to check your dog.Ray Ray: Mind your own business...Business.(tries to close the door, but Business stops him and opens the door)Business: Kid is my business. And your dog is out of control.
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: Business's purple executive suit and pants.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: A joke that both Kid and Erik make in "Bullies".
- Kid: You know I do. Just be open.Condor: What you mean "be open?" I'm like 7/11 over here!Erik: Yeah, you are open. (Laughs a bit) Open like your fly.(Erik laughs with Kid)Condor: (frustrated) Whatever, E.
- Little "No": Li has one in "Stay on the Court", when Kid falls off the high dive.
- Look Behind You: When Otis confronts the pitbull in "Lion", the pitbull points at the left telling him "Oh look! Baby gazelle!" and runs off barking down the street.
- Meaningful Name: The LeBrons themselves — Kid (a kid), Athlete (an athlete), Business (a businessman) and Wise (an old man) — all qualify.
- Moe: Erik lampshades this during Li's introduction scene in the second episode:Erik: She's like one of those hot anime characters, only she's not a cartoon.
- No Export for You: If you live in Canada and wanted to watch an episode on YouTube, you'd click on the link and get the "This video is not available in your country" message instead.
- Oh, Crap!: Everybody at the end of "Big Game", when Kid jump shoots with time running out in slow motion but fails miserably.
- Overly Long Scream: Sometimes abused, especially in "Stay on the Court" and "Gloria".
- Planet of Steves: As with the title being Exactly What It Says on the Tin, everybody in the family (except for Gloria) were all named LeBron (because LeBron James has divided his personality into four different characters), except it was used as a family name of some sort. Nice touch, LeBron James!
- Railroad Tracks of Doom: Kid and his friends walk across one in "Camping Trip", while calls for a cliffhanger in the first part in which Condor was about to be run over by a train. Then the second part begins with Condor escaping the train by jumping before he ends up hanging onto the mountain.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Condor attempts this by running away in "Camping Trip: Part 1", with Kid and Erik giving chase after him.
- Shout-Out:
- At the beginning of the intro, LeBron James himself appears in live action explaining the episode's lesson, similar to Bill Cosby on Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
- In the first episode, there's a reference to Reservoir Dogs, in which Otis ties the pitbull up to a chair and turns a radio on, which he dances to while trying to devour him.
- Near the end of "Misunderstood", Kid, upon seeing Jamal, says "Yo, Jamal!...We got some unfinished business!".
- Shutting Up Now:Pitbull: Please accept my deepest and most sincere apologies!Otis: Shut up, fool.Pitbull: That sounds like a plan. I'm gonna shut up now.
- Soft Water: In the episode "Stay on the Court", Kid nervously climbs on a very high diving board (called a "high dive") and "dives" off of it, taking the longest fall he ever had until he finally hits the water in the swimming pool, where he's about to drown, only to be saved by Li.
- Special Guest: Drizzy Drake makes a guest appearance in "Drake", where his partner Neko duels with Biz in a rap battle.
- Speed Stripes: Happens some of the time, such as in the scene in "Stay on the Court" where Kid dives off the high dive.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Both Condor and especially Kid do this in "Coach", when an angry Gloria chases them down the school hall for stealing a book that she wrote.
- Stock Audio Clip: Kid yelling "Another foul!" in "The Comeback".
- Story Arc: The first season has a long one, from the fourth episode "Coach" to the tenth episode "The Comeback".
- Take My Hand!: Kid and Erik do this to Condor in "Camping Trip: Part 2" to help him back up on the mountain.
- Talking Animal: Otis the lion, as well as Ray Johnson's pitbull, but only in the first episode. They didn't talk in subsequent episodes.
- This Is No Time to Panic: When Kid, Condor and Erik stumble upon the bear in "Camping Trip: Part 1", Condor gives off this speech:Condor: Okay, all right, this is where we make our stand, okay? Now watch a lot of nature channel, and they say to make yourself real big, like bigger than a band, you know what I mean? And just don't panic, and whatever you do, don't run.
(Kid and Erik run off screaming, ignoring Condor's warning) - To Be Continued: "The Comeback: Part 1" and "Camping Trip: Part 1".
- Tough Room: The girls at the beginning of "Bullies" fall into this.Erik: What's all the laughing about, anyway?Girl: Nothin'. Just watchin' you little boys attempt to play ball.(The girls laugh)Erik: Jeez, tough room.Girl: Just calm it like you see it.
- A Twinkle in the Sky: Done in the 1st season episode "Stay on the Court" when Erik shoots the basketball up towards the sky.Kid: Dang, I think Boy Genius lost our ball again.
- Walk Into Camera Obstruction:
- "Coach" ends this way when Kid and his friends charge at the bullies to fight them.
- "Misunderstood": Twice. first when Condor runs towards the camera to talk an irritated Kid out, and second when Kid walks away from him angrily after his Berserk Button was pressed.
- Wham Episode: "Big Game", where Kid misses his basketball game.
