Web Animation / The Strangerhood

Not shown: Omnipotent Voice

A series made by Rooster Teeth (who also made Red vs. Blue) using The Sims 2 about eight assorted stereotypes who wake up in a strange neighborhood with no memory of how they got there. As they attempt to adjust to their new setting and figure out what's going on, they end up parodying a number of popular TV series. After a nine year gap in production, a second season has started airing in late September 2015, now using The Sims 4.

• Sam is the Only Sane Man who tries to sort out what's wrong with the world. Ignored by everyone except Wade, who's too dense to care.
• Wade is a party animal/New-Age Retro Hippie who sticks around Sam, often invading his personal space. He's convinced his name is "Durnt", and later becomes a police officer, and the star of his own show: WSI: Cleveland.
• Chalmers is only interested in his own goals and doesn't care for everyone elses'. He's a kleptomaniac and will immediately deny stealing refrigerators (even though nobody asks or cares). He's convinced the Strangerhood is Cleveland though some clever reasoning.
• Catherine is a self-absorbed gold digger, she only cares about herself and Dutchmiller, whom she later decides is her husband given how nicely he is dressed the first time they meet.
• Nikki only appears in a few episodes before being killed off. Her murder is the subject of most of the series. This plot thread ends shortly after she comes back.
• Dutchmiller is easily excitable, making him a perfect talk show host later in the series. He learns that he's married to Catherine, and gets her pregnant. He also becomes a prosecutor in the case of Nikki's death.
• Tovar is the strange foreigner whose idiocy causes him to burn off his "mustachio". He's scared of things he doesn't understand, and blames Sam for things he's blatantly done. It's later revealed that he has a Literal Split Personality.
• Griggs is the tough guy who prefers to keep to himself. He enjoys spending time with his garden gnome and punching stuff. He's set up as the prime suspect in Nikki's death.

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This series provides examples of:

• Accidental Misnaming:
  • Wade sometimes claims that his name is "Durnt". So... Inverted trope?
  • Dutchmiller can't get Catherine's name right.
• Alien Sky: Stars are arranged into strange constellations.
  Wade: I think the sky is broken, or maybe just the telescope.
• All Just a Dream: During the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, it is mentioned that Sam (who was shown waking up on his couch after being sent home) still wonders if it was all a dream. "It was. Probably."
• Ambulance Chaser: Dutchmiller, during his stint as Tovar's lawyer.
  Dutchmiller: Do you hear that?
  Griggs: Yeah, sounds like an ambulance.
  Dutchmiller: Fantastic! Come on Tovar, let's go chase it!
• Amnesiac Costume Identity: Sam (who, like the rest of the cast, has no idea who he is or why they're suddenly living on the eponymous street) is able to find out his name because it was written on his underwear. In the finale, it turns out that this isn't his real name (and those weren't his underpants)!
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When Wade tries to get Sam and Chalmers to commit felonies so he can police them.
  Dr. Chalmers: I keep telling you, jaywalking is not a felony.
  Sam: Well it should be!
  Dr. Chalmers: I agree.
• As Himself: Ray Narvaez Jr. in Season 2!
• Been There, Shaped History: In the last episode, Evil Tovar is implied to have caused (or at least triggered) The Great Depression through attempted stock market manipulation.
• Blatant Lies: One flashback has Catherine asking who drank all her tiara polish. Cut to Tovar blowing chunks and complaining about a severe headache... then claiming Sam did it.
• Big Ball of Violence: Between Griggs's good angel and evil angel.
• Brick Joke: Why does Wade insist that his name is Durnt? He's president of Durntakistan!
• Card-Carrying Villain: Evil Tovar is openly malevolent and proud of it.
• The Chessmaster: The source of the mysterious voice declares itself this in episode 2:
  Strange Voice: "You are being kept here at our discretion. We control everything about how you live!"
• Chroma Key: Used for the scene in Grigg's car, done in-game.
• Chocolate Baby: Dutchmiller and Catherine's kid, who looks suspiciously like Dr. Chalmers.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Nearly everyone, but Dutchmiller, Wade and Tovar especially.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  Sam: There aren't any crimes. As far as we know, there's only eight people here.
  Dr. Chalmers: Aren't you forgetting that one of the eight people mysteriously died?
  Sam: Oh eight. Seven.
  • Also, this line from episode 4 when the stove catches fire, especially in the tone of voice he delivers the line in:
  Wade: Oh no, dude! Where are my marshmallows when I need them?
• Companion Cube: Griggs's garden gnome.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Tover is sentenced to community service, where his job is to lick envelopes as well as something involving "an industrial size plunger and a truckload of ball bearings."
• Cool Crown: Catherine is always wearing a tiara.
• Countrystan: Wade is revealed to be president of a country called Durntakistan.
• Credits Gag: Season 2 has a few, such as '"Written" by', a thanks section with Ray Narvaez Jr.'s name over and over, and finishing with RT Animation saying "Fuck you!" to Ray.
• Deconstruction: Reality shows, Lost, American Idol, CSI, late-night talk shows, Law & Order. Though in some cases, this is mixed with a splash of Affectionate Parody.
• Deliberately Monochrome: The WSI episode, which is Lampshaded.
• The Ditz: Tovar. Justified because he is the pure moron part of the original Tovar.
• Do Not Adjust Your Set: Quoted near-verbatim in episode 2, in which the "antagonist" is revealed, speaking through the television set:
  Strange Voice "Do not attempt to alter your viewscreen device. We control the vertical and the horizontal."
• Dude, Not Ironic: When Sam the scientist mentions that "ironically", more was learned about TV from Griggs than anyone else, the other Sam asks how it's ironic. The scientist only answers by saying he'll be especially happy to be rid of Sam.
• Early-Bird Cameo: During the scene in episode 6 where everyone is on the phone, we briefly see both Tovar and Evil Tovar in the same room.
• Embarrassing Tattoo: Griggs has a tattoo of a cat riding a surfboard, done by Wade.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: invoked Tovar is mentioned to be very popular with the in-universe audience.
• Evil Laugh: "Phase Four, also known as Phase Laughing Maniacally For No Good Reason. Ha ha ha, ha ha-no wait, I should save it."
• Evil Twin: Evil Tovar, also called Tobar in one episode.
• Extreme Omnivore:
  • In episode 12, Wade plays Chess with Griggs... and eats half the pieces during the game.
  • Tovar has apparently taken part in at least one "pillow-eating contest".
• Fauxlosophic Narration: Nikki's voiceover in Episode 6. Lampshaded, of course.
• Flashback Effects: "Don't fight the waves, man!"
• Funny Foreigner: Tovar
• Going Commando: Sam the scientist had to do this for three months, due to the other Sam stealing his underwear. Griggs, being Griggs, misinterprets this as literally being a commando.
• Gold Digger: Catherine.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Griggs deals with this... and everyone else's Good Angels.
• Grief Song: The rather cheerful "Bye Nikki Bye".
• Grumpy Old Man: Chalmers
• Hanging Judge: Played for Laughs. During Griggs' trial, Dr. Chalmers threatens to have Dutchmiller chained up and tortured with a red-hot poker.
• He's Dead, Jim: Everyone assumes Nikki is dead, without even checking. Turns out she's Not Quite Dead.
• Human Notepad: Griggs' escape plan when he's sent to prison. It doesn't quite work out, however:
  Griggs: "When they put me away, I had the blueprint to the prison tattooed onto my body. Heh, pretty smooth."
  (Griggs takes off his shirt, Tovar briefly winces and looks away)
  Tovar: "Yai, is no blueprint! Is cat riding surfboard!
  Griggs: "Oh, man. I knew I shouldn't have let Wade give me that tattoo."
• Hypocritical Humor: Sam calls out Catherine for trying to make a bet with him about the outcome of Griggs' trial when they're jurors on it... then starts negotiating the odds with her.
• I Choose to Stay: Dutchmiller decides to stay with Catherine instead of going back to his own time in the finale.
• Ice-Cream Koan: Nikki spouts several while narrating episode 6.
  "Things aren't always what they seem. Especially when they seem like what they are."
  "Sometimes the out of place is in exactly the place it should be"
  "Here in strangerhood lane, everybody has secrets. Some secrets are so secret that no one even knows they're secrets. And others are the kind of secrets you know you know even if you don't know what you know what you need to know"
  "Even in the most desperate times, desperate measures can seem reasonable. And unreasonable people get desperate for time... What am I talking about?"
• Inner Monologue: Catherine, whose inner monologue is rather loud.
• Insane Troll Logic: Chalmers' reasoning why the Strangerhood is in Cleveland.
• I Remember Because...: Catherine remembers her marriage to Dutchmiller because of her tiara.
• It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: How Wade's noir-esque narration begins in Episode 9. He randomly uses it again during Dr. Chalmers' opening narration in Episode 13.
• Keet: Dutchmiller
• Laser-Guided Amnesia
• Laughing at Your Own Jokes: Griggs has a habit of chuckling at the quips he makes.
• Laugh Track: Used in early episodes to show there's No Fourth Wall, but quickly dropped.
• Literal Split Personality: Tovar, who was separated into two people, one who was pure evil and one who was pure moron.
• Luke, You Are My Father: When Nikki returns, she reveals that she discovered that Griggs is her father.
  Griggs: I'm not paying child support!
• The Man Behind the Curtain: In the last few episodes, the gang stumbles upon the underground laboratory of an elderly scientist named Sam, who is the source of the mysterious voice throughout the series.
• Meaningless Meaningful Words: Nikki's voiceover in Episode 6 seems to consist of nothing but these. By the end, even she has no idea what she's talking about.
• The Mole: Catherine, in a scheme involving her tiara and Griggs's garden gnome.
• Morning Routine: Griggs in episode 1, he goes through waking up and eating breakfast before he realizes he's not in his own house.
• New-Age Retro Hippie: Wade
• New Job as the Plot Demands: Dutchmiller. He's been a sushi chef, talk show host, lawyer, and several other things.
• Noodle Implements: "We're going to need an industrial-sized plunger and a truckload of ball bearings."
• Not So Above It All: After Sam wins his bet with Catherine, he begins taunting her in an extremely immature manner.
• One-Steve Limit: Double subverted. There's a scientist also named Sam, but it turns out the original Sam isn't actually named Sam. He just thought his name was Sam because it was written on his underwear... which, as it turns out, he stole from the scientist before he was given amnesia.
• Only Sane Man: Sam
• Our Presidents Are Different: In the finale, it's revealed that Wade is president... of a country called "Durntakistan". While it would be easy to say he's probably President Buffoon judging by what he acts like on the show, he's described as being the most popular president in his country's history, so that seems unlikely.
• Postmodernism: Season 2 gets ridiculously meta, complete with an appearance by Ray Narvaez Jr., as he was the guy who kept mentioning the idea of a revival, and a mention of many early Rooster Teeth shows that died after one season such as P.A.N.I.C.S.
• Random Events Plot: Take some weird characters, and have even weirder things happen to them, no matter how disjointed. With some style changes along the way, such as the sudden CSI and Law & Order.
• "Rashomon"-Style: In episode 5, Wade and Tovar give several different stories on Nikki's death.
• Real Men Cook: Dutchmiller had a brief stint as a sushi chef.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sam delivers one to Wade in one of Wade's flashbacks, complete with a British accent reminiscent of Simon Cowell.
  "Look, if I'm being honest, and I'm not trying to be mean here, but that was like being shot in the face with a bazooka, only the bazooka was loaded with the worst vocal performance ever, and the face was not my whole face, but just my ears. Also, I hate you, and I want your whole family to die, and anyone who disagrees with me is stupid. And you have no talent."
• Remember the New Guy?: Season 2 reveals that Ray Narvaez Jr. was apparently always a part of the Strangerhood Project. Or so Sam the scientist keeps insisting.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Dutchmiller generally wears a nice suit.
• Short Distance Phonecall: In episode 6.
• Show Within a Show: The Much Later Tonight And/Or Sometimes Early Tomorrow Morning Show.
• Slip into Something More Comfortable: Dutchmiller doesn't quite get it, and wears a short-sleeve business suit.
• Sociopathic Soldier: Griggs is implied to have been one before being taken.
• So Unfunny, It's Funny: Let's just say Tovar's stand-up leaves a lot to be desired.
• Sticky Fingers: Chalmers is a kleptomaniac.
• The Stoner: Wade is heavily implied to be one, due to his mannerisms and bloodshot eyes.
• Stylistic Suck: A good deal of the humor runs on this.
• Suddenly Ethnicity: Sam the scientist claims Dr. Chalmers' real name is Shamus McMurphPatrick. Subverted, since it turns out Sam was just kidding about him being Irish.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Chalmers, being a kleptomaniac, denies stealing things without being asked about them.
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Wade, once he (sort of) becomes a cop:
  Sam: "You look ridiculous, Wade."
  Wade: "You mean, 'you look ridiculous, Officer Wade'!"
• This Means Warpaint: Griggs always wears his camouflage face paint.
• Tonight, Someone Dies: It turns out to be a fish that nobody paid attention to.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: While chasing Tovar, Nikki changes outfits when they change location.
• Verbal Tic:
  • Dutchmiller seems to have "FANTASTIC!" as one.
  • "Score" appears to be this for Griggs.
• Waistcoat of Style: Chalmers is always wearing a sweater vest.
• "Wanted!" Poster: Wanted: Griggs, For punching stuff and excessive grumpiness. AKA Gruggs, Facepaint Jones, Ole Punchy, Camopants Kidd.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Played for Laughs. Since Tovar technically isn't a real person due to him being a time-space anomaly, Katherine and Sam the Scientist have no problem liquefying his DNA and drinking it. Apparently, such "genetic cannibalism" is normal in the future.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue
• Will Not Tell a Lie: Tovar claims he always tells the truth when called as a witness during Griggs' trial. A flashback reveals this isn't the case.
• You Keep Using That Word:
  • When presiding over Griggs' trial, Dr. Chalmers repeatedly threatens to have people "sequestered". After being asked if he knows what it means, he gives a response that implies he thinks it's some kind of torture method, which understandably frustrates Sam.
  • Nikki comments that she's not sure if she believes in God and calls herself "apathetic". Sam correctly points out that she meant to say "agnostic".

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