Web Video / Suburban Knights

TGWTG Crossover Movies: TGWTG Year One Brawl | Kickassia | Suburban Knights | To Boldly Flee | The Uncanny Valley | | Atop the Fourth Wall: The Movie |The Devil's Jesters^note unproduced script | A Voice from the Dark^note sequel to the four movies unaffiliated with Channel Awesome

"Okay, you all look epically ridiculous.
Now this is the kind of team that's gonna get us riches!"

"Names will be remembered. Quests will become legends. And legends will become... legendary."

The third-year anniversary special for Channel Awesome, featuring 18 contributors, and separated into 7 videos that were posted in the week of June 26th, 2011; the final installment appeared the following Saturday, July 2nd.

It is an adventure-comedy about The Nostalgia Critic, like last time, gathering a ton of reviewers and leading them into going on a quest. But this time, it is for a legendary gauntlet that is hidden somewhere in suburban Illinois, and according to the map, they must all dress up as famous fictional characters in order to find it.^note Not LARPing, though. That's something completely different that only dorks do. That's totally not what this is. Real villains start showing up to stop their plans, and they discover that this isn't so much a "game" as they had first assumed!

The movie can be watched here. Commentaries were also provided, by The Spoony One and friends, Linkara/Iron Liz as well and one by Phelan and Brad Jones. (Doug and Rob's one is exclusive to the DVD release) ^note Show runner Holly Brown also joined ChaosD1, Welshy, Brows Held High's Oancitizen, The Rap Critic, Forget About It's Sad Panda, and Diamanda Hagan in a joke "absentee commentary"

A 5-year anniversary special for the 3-year anniversary special (hosted by Cloak 1) can be found here.

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Suburban Knights provides examples of:

A-H

• Abandoned Playground: "A worthy place to call our battlefield!" Though it turns out to be not quite abandoned, as a mother comes with her daughter.
• Accidental Innuendo: In-universe, Played for Laughs, and then lampshaded afterwards.
  Film Brain: I will eat your pea-ness!
  Jew Wario: Here, grab my ball.
  Kinley: I'm going to turn around now. That better be what I think it is.
• Alas, Poor Scrappy: In-universe. Poor Ma-Ti.
• All Just a Dream: Cinema Snob tells a homeowner that Group 2 barging into her house was this. Angry Joe then helps to support his statement.
• All Women Are Lustful:
  • Each of the female reviewers cling to JewWario when they see his costume. It's David Bowie from Labyrinth.
  • Lupa also agrees with the guys when they say the internet is good for porn.
    • Though it's averted in this instance in Nostalgia Chick's case.
• Amazing Freaking Grace: Twice in Part 7. Once from Paw with a kazoo, and then again when Linkara sings a parody to the Critic.
• Anachronism Stew:
  • Malachite's photo in part 5 was taken with a digital camera and printed. Jaffers was trapped in the book by Malachite in 1981.
  • The Power Glove, while it can't be confirmed how early it was developed before it was officially released in 1989 (by Americans, incidentally), most certainly did not exist prior to The Great Video Game Crash of 1983.
• And I Must Scream: One can only imagine how Jaffers must've felt while trapped in the book for thirty years. He didn't seem too traumatized by it, though.
• And Show It to You: "Dude, that's my heart."
• And That's Terrible:
  • The disappearance of Jaffers is "Sad. Very, very sad."
  • "And on a lighter note, the President has been shot."
• And the Adventure Continues: After Linkara tells Critic about the Necronomicon and how it could possibly bring back Ma-Ti, he says how no one from the site would be able to help him since they're all "adventured out". Gilligan Cut to...
  Chester A. Bum: Oh my God, I won a car!
• And Then What?: After Malachite talks on his smartphone. The critics point out the hypocrisy of it all. When the Critic asks Malachite what he's going to do after he rids the world of technology, Malachite just stands there and replies, "Think of something."
• And You Thought It Was a Game: The reviewers begin their quest under the assumption that it's all a game that Jaffers made up. By Part 5, even the Critic realizes that "This ain't no game anymore."
  • It's implied that this is the reason the Critic is the only one out of the entire review team that is making no effort to act in the character he's dressed as. He acts like a good, capable, intelligent leader towards the end, but it's made clear that it's all him, not "Link" doing anything.
  • Spoony assumes that the Cloaks are a group of LARPers and nothing more. He's wrong.
  • Linkara points out to the Critic that magic is the only explanation for a witch suddenly spouting blinding lights, then vanishing.
  Critic: Nonsense there's no such thing as magic!
  Linkara: Really! Then how did she do it?!
  *ominous Beat*
  Critic: ...keep walkin'.
• Apocalypse How: If Malachite eliminated technology as he said he wanted to, we would likely be looking at a Class 2: Civilization Extinction and with our dependency on science, a good chunk of the population would go down. Considering Malachite though, cellphones at least might make it regardless.
  • And coffee makers.
• Arc Words:
  • The Chain Letter...
  • "Pure of heart" and issues with technology too.
  • "What do you think of the 21st century?"
• Ass Kicking Pose: Done on Part 6, as the title card partially shows.
• A-Team Firing: Both the Cloaks and Angry Joe. Joe's shots seem ever so slightly more accurate, though.
  • Lupa joins Joe in this later on.
  • Jaffers manages this at point-blank range.
• Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!:
  • "Wet yourselves and RUN!"
  • "Run like children!"
  • Part 3. Spoony attempts to perform a You Shall Not Pass!. That is, until one of The Cloaks blasts off his hat with an energy ball.
• Audible Sharpness: Heard after the Cat battle, causing Linkara to stop singing.
• Author Appeal: There's not one woman who doesn't display some kind of dominance (either snarking to get their way or being an Action Girl) at least once. Even Doug's ex who gets blown up is more interested in hitting on the cute evil guy than being scared of him.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Or rather don't completely hate one another. Benzaie's greeting to That Dude In The Suede. Though Benzaie claims that while he still hates him, Conan loves him.
  • Also, Film Brain and Luke become friends during episode 5.
• Batman Gambit: Part 5 reveals that because only the pure of heart can find Malachite's Hand, Malachite sent the chain letter around and placed a tracking spell on the map so he can find someone suitable to lead him to it.
• Beam-O-War: Malachite and Ma-Ti end up in the final battle like this.
• Becoming the Mask: While everybody is trying to stay in-character for the quest, several of them do so with more... commitment than others. Lupa claims that she should be useless in battle because of her character choice, Paw tries to gather rage from everybody (including the trees), and Phelous seems to have gone off the deep end right from the start. MarzGurl also seems to be joining the throng, what with speaking only in Japanese, scenting the air and biting the Critic on various portions of his anatomy. Lampshaded by Linkara, who notices that The Critic is averting this trope.
  • Critic plays it straight at the end of Part 5 Critic goes into a rant that's Link ranting about all crap he keeps going through during the games.
  • And eventually revealed to be subverted with Phelous. He was just really good at staying in character. Lupa also ends up shrugging off her princess routine, bites Cat, and gets herself a gun and a leather jacket.
    • And Paw starts being reasonable and drops the Large Ham persona.
• Berserk Button:
  • Don't tell Linkara that magic doesn't exist.
  • Or comment about Mickey never growing up.
  • Do not even consider lifting Todd's mask to see what he looks like.
  • The Snob can only take misquoting a line so many times...
  • Or imply to Malachite that you like technology.
• Big Damn Heroes: Group 2 at the climax of the battle against Jaffers.
  • And at the end of that fight, Ma-Ti when it looks like Malachite can't be stopped from destroying civilization.
• Big "NO!": Angry Joe and Spoony both do this upon learning the "free car" was a ruse. It's implied that the rest of the reviewers each made one as well when they happened upon the truth about the "free car."
• Big "SHUT UP!":
  Phelous: Big, strong hands...!
  Everyone else: SHUT UP!!!
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • Instead of actual Elvish, the Nostalgia Chick speaks a mixture of several foreign languages, such as Hindi and Irish. What she's actually saying doesn't match up to the subtitles. For instance, when she says "Póg mo thóin" (Irish) in response to Benzaie's Conan speech, it's subtitled as "It's cool," but she's actually saying "Kiss my ass."
    • Averted, one line she speaks is English and is a lyric from "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies.
    • She misquotes the BNL line (Chikiti China, not Chikiti Chinese), though. And at another point, she utters "who's your daddy" over and over real fast.
    • Also averted whenever she attacks with an Elvish Montage, at which point she starts spouting pure gibberish or quoting things. Though one of those included a line from a song in Slumdog Millionaire.
  • MarzGurl is speaking real and (sort of) accurate Japanese.
• Bittersweet Ending: Malachite was defeated and the glove was probably destroyed... but Ma-Ti died saving everyone. However, there is a Sequel Hook in the end that the Critic will pull another zany quest, this time to look for the legendary Necronomicon to revive Ma-Ti.
  • The extras and To Boldly Flee make it more of a Downer Ending. Malachite is still alive (if powerless), the quest for the Necronomicon failed and left Critic in even more denial of Ma-Ti's death, Mechakara found the glove, something turned Ma-Ti into a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, and his fight with Malachite caused a rip in time.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: The reviewers are far from true heroes. Jaffers is a Well-Intentioned Extremist, and his friends are just trying to help him. The main villain, however, is truly evil.
• Book Ends: The lure of a free car.
  • In Part 1, Ma-Ti surprises the Critic by appearing in his room from out of nowhere. Linkara does the same thing at the end before singing about Ma-Ti.
  • Bill's music at the very beginning is an instrumental version of SadPanda's "Flight of Fantasy", which plays over the credits.
  • The quest both begins and ends with somebody fetching The Nostalgia Critic a coffee
  • Not only does the quest for the gauntlet end on the same field where it began, but the film's sequel does as well.
  • In a more humorous example, the blooper reel begins and ends (and is occasionally interrupted by) takes of Angry Joe's Big "NO!".
• Breaking the Fellowship: At the very beginning, no less.
• Brick Joke:
  • "Hypnotize them with its cheap novelty?", about the supposed uselessness of JewWario's juggling-trick with the Fushigi Ball in part 2. In part 3, it actually works like that in battle.
    Cloak: It's hypnotizing us with its cheap novelty...
  • In Part 1, The Nostalgia Critic tells Ma-Ti that he can't join the quest because Nostalgia Chick has lost her contact lens, and he needs to stay behind and find it for her. He returns in Part 3, contact lens in hand. Happens again with the excuse that Mickey needs goat porn. Occurs again in a not-so-funny fashion when the Critic offhandly tells Ma-Ti to get him a coffee, and he later finds it sitting on the counter. After Ma-Ti's death.
    • The contact lens returns in part 6 in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment: when Nostalgia Chick is holding the Jaffers in a headlock, she's trying to stick the contact lens in his eye.
  • There is one lovely brick joke in Part 5. Several years ago, That Dude in the Suede left the site to go on a two-year Mormon missionary work. Turns out that in-universe he went to protect the Hand of Malachite as one of its guardians.
• Bullet Catch: Linkara tried to shoot Malachite with his magic gun only for the guy to catch the blasts with one hand.
• The Bus Came Back: That Dude In The Suede.
• The Cake Is a Lie: Everyone was lured to Chicago under the promise of a free car.
• Call-Back:
  • The Critic gathering a skeptical TGWTG crew, Film Brain being a huge NC fanboy, and Handsome Tom being the quiet one are carried over from Kickassia. Angry Joe even declares that the Critic has done it again. (a removed line would have him saying "First a brawl, then invading Molossia...")
    • And no one besides Film Brain and Luke are happy when The Critic tricks them into going to Chicago.
    • The Angry Video Game Nerd has a cameo in both to provide exposition and does not take part in the actual filming, although he does get to voice the ball of light during the fight at the end.
  • The reaction of the female reviewers to JewWario's costume is a Shout-Out to Lindsay's and Jew Wario's reviews of Labyrinth. In the former, she warns that she'll be paying a lot off attention to "the Area" (Just look at her quote on the trope page); the latter had a scene where several female contributors swooned over Jareth.
  • The "EPICNESS!!!!!!!" tape features a nod to both Doug's GNN/Lori Prince Live sketch, and Spoony's Mazes and Monsters review; specifically the film's Broken Aesop that games like Dungeons & Dragons ruin lives and Spoony's reaction.
  • The Nostalgia Critic again brings up Click-Fil-A's policy of being closed on Sundays.
  • Spoony brings two characters of his Ultima reviews (Gandalf and the Gate Cleaner).
  • In Part 4, a girl enters the story talking on her phone ending a conversation with, "And then my dad shot her, it was weird." Which is a line of dialogue that The Nostalgia Critic focuses on in his review of Airborne.
  • In part 4, after the witch attacks, Linkara says "It's magic, you don't have to explain it," an infamous line uttered by Joe Quesada to defend One More Day, which Lewis turned into an often-used quote on his show.
  • In Part 5, Film Brain plays as the dorky and smaller Nazgûl/Cloak. The dialogue throughout the scene is a Call-Back to the Nostalgia Critic's Old Vs New for Lord of the Rings when he discusses how the Nazgûl would have reacted to Frodo being changed into one of them.
  • Also in Part 5, Benzaie makes reference to his longstanding rivalry with That Dude in the Suede, which had not been brought up much since Suede left two years ago.
  • During the Critic's first Rousing Speech (and right before he notices everyone has run out the door), he calls them his "proud, Warriors of Virtue, a film he once reviewed.
  • During Ma-ti's funeral, Linkara is seen wearing his star fleet uniform, which he also wears on his own show and in Kickassia.
• The Cameo:
  • Doug and Rob's father, Barney Walker, is the newscaster.
  • Show runner Mike Michaud as the passer-by that Joe yells at.
  • TGWTG webmistress and director of human resources Holly Brown as the witness in the GNN report.
  • Doug's ex-girlfriend (Dena in the "Go West" sketch) plays the woman who gets blown up.
  • James Rolfe as the Voice of the Ancients.
  • Lord Kat as Crom.
  • Elisa (Dr. Tease) as the house owner who Team 2 ties up.
  • Nella as the Chick's stunt-woman.
  • ..Somewhat The Last Angry Geek is one of the cloaks, but only takes his cloak off in the last video. before running away.
• Care-Bear Stare /The Power of Friendship: As Malachite and Ma-Ti get stuck in their Beam-O-War, the whole team starts cheering and chanting "HEART!" It really pushes Ma-Ti forward.
• Cast From Hitpoints: Using magic in the Awesome-verse seems to be bad for your health. Part 6 confirms that it drains life force, except when using the gauntlet.
• The Cavalry: Team 2 arrives in the middle of Team 1's battle and they back them up.
• Cell Phones Are Useless: When the Critic's group tries to call Spoony's group in episode 5, they find they can't get a connection. Obscurus Lupa and Linkara suggests that someone may be using magic to block the call.
• Cerebus Callback: A miserable Critic wanders home and sees that Ma-Ti still got him his coffee.
• Character Development: While Critic becoming less of a brat and more of a hero is more obvious, they all get a bit. They go from cowards who loathe each other to brave people who can kinda sorta be considered True Companions.
  • Luke and Film Brain go from rivals to friends who fight alongside each other.
• Chain Letter: Critic reveals that the map is part of one during Part 3. His allies aren't amused. The Good Witch of the Woods hints that this is not a good thing. It's eventually revealed that Malachite sent the letter to trick people into finding the gauntlet for him.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The maps turn out to have a tracking device set up by Malachite.
  • Ma-Ti's ring, which was made to counter Malachite's gauntlet.
  • Malachite finds the group after they get the glove because Spoondalf still had the map with him.
• Chekhov's Skill: Everyone's ability to leave without making a sound comes in handy during the playground fight.
• Collective Groan:
  • At the "EPICNESS!!!!!!!" tape:
    The Nostalgia Chick: Well, already the credits are bad—
    The Nostalgia Critic: Don't review it!
  • Also when they are told that they will be fired if they don't participate in the quest and when Linkara/King Arthur suggests a sing-along.
• Combat Pragmatist: The Cloaks use a machine gun, leading Joe to reply with his own. Linkara eventually gets tired of sword-fighting and uses his pistol. And when Joe uses his gun again, Lupa grabs a spare to shoot. And as a reference, after The Good Witch Warrior Of The Woods starts shooting lightning during a climactic battle, Suede punches her saying, "I find that quite vexing." And when she tried that before, Handsome Tom just pepper sprayed her.
• Combination Attack: Two in the climatic battle.
  • Batter Up!/I Know Madden Kombat: Todd and Paw defeating the Voice of the Ancients (though the 'bat' is Paw's stick/tree branch) with a baseball play. Paw even shouts "Home run for Profion!" and does a chest bump with Todd.
  • "Hey, You!" Haymaker: Film Brain and Luke on a Cloak ("Expecto my fist!").
• Comically Inappropriate Funeral Urn: Ma-Ti's ashes end up in a container of Quakers Oats.
• Comically Missing the Point: The Critic just doesn't understand that the Chick and Lupa want him to [[spoiler:keep his legs close together.
  The Nostalgia Chick: There are certain things... that should be covered... up.
  The Nostalgia Critic: I know. That's why I've got the hat.
  Nostalgia Chick: There are...There are certain things that need to remain closed.
  Nostalgia Critic: I know, and I for one respect Chick-fil-A for not serving people on Sunday. I wonder if we can get it so they don't serve Christians.
• Cosplay: Goes hand-in-hand with LARP-esque adventure quests, though the term itself is never mentioned.
• Cower Power: Critic clings hard to the Chick (even though she's about a foot smaller than him) when the Witch Warrior gets tired of his and the team's teasing.
• Cringe Comedy: Not very much, but the Nostalgia Critic's crotch shot in the woods is pretty awkward as the Nostalgia Chick and Obscurus Lupa try to figure out a way to let him know without actually telling him that they can see his underpants. In the end The Nostalgia Chick just gives up and tells him she can see his balls.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The Puppeteer was handling NC's Fellowship without breaking a sweat... until The Nostalgia Chick got involved. Also Malachite against the guardians and the TGWTG crew.
• Darker and Edgier: As compared to Kickassia. While the screwball comedy, reference jokes, and character dynamics are still in fine form, in this one, cars explode, innocent bystanders are wantonly killed, the villain is genuinely terrifying, the fate of the world's technology is on the line, and death is not nearly as cheap.
• Dark Is Evil: Everything about Malachite's outfit is black- his nice hat, his Badass Longcoat, even his Black Eyes of Evil. The rather less-evil people in Jaffer's crew are all wearing black as well, with the majority donning black masks.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Todd in the Shadows as The Man In Black. Played straight with the Cloaks who just want to keep Malachite away from the gauntlet. Played with for the Witch Warrior who seems rather nice and wants to stop Malachite but who also was planning on killing Team A and drinking from their bleeding skulls.
• Deadpan Snarker: It would be easier to list the characters that aren't.
• Debut Queue: They even ask to be introduced one at the time "because it's more dramatic."
• Designated Girl Fight: Played straight, then subverted. At first Chick and Lupa just fight the witch, but then Chick fights Jaffers and Lupa becomes an Action Girl.
• Department of Redundancy Department: "Names will be remembered. Quests will become legends. And legends will become... legendary."
  Newscaster: He was described as "emotionally troubled."
  Witness: He was emotionally troubled.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Ma-Ti dies in Critic's arms. Critic doesn't take this well.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • The Big Bad, who really hates technology and the twenty-first century, has killed people for basically using a GPS, using a mobile phone, and watching television.
  • Malachite is still angry over Aeon and technology winning the king's favor centuries ago. His solution? Destroy the modern world.
• Distinction Without a Difference:
  Spoony: So, it's like LARP'ing?
  Critic: No! That's just a bunch of dorks dressing up and fighting for a fake reward.
  Spoony: While we're a bunch of dorks dressing up and fighting for a real reward.
  Critic: Exactly!
• Do Not Go Gentle: Ma-Ti's rant before his fight with Malachite.
• Do Not Taunt the Good Witch of the Woods
• Don't Go in the Woods: Who knew the woods and bike trails of Chicago suburbia were so dangerous?
  Linkara: INTO THE WOOOOODS! INTO THE WOO--
  Others: SHUT UP!
• Dope Slap:
  • Part 3. When Angry Joe tells the little girl at the playground that Santa Claus doesn't exist, he receives one of these from one of The Cloaks.
  • The Critic dope slaps Spoony after Spoony admits they still had the map with them.
• Downer Beginning: The movie delivers right off the bat that it's going to be darker than Kickassia with Malachite causing a very... explodey death in the middle of nowhere.
• Dramatic Wind: An unintended consequence of the Chicago weather.
• Driven to Suicide: In a deleted scene, during the fight with Malachite, Marzgurl chooses to stab herself with her spear rather than face him.
• Dull Surprise: "Dude, that's my heart."
  • Most of Jaffer's lines.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Ma-Ti. After being sent on fools' errands by the Critic for most of the movie, Ma-Ti still ends up giving his life for the Critic and Team Awesome in the epic final showdown with Malachite.
• Establishing Character Moment: The main villain flags down a car to hitch-hike, goes on a long rant about technology, kills the driver and blows the car up. And then we know what he's like.
• "Eureka!" Moment: When the Critic realizes that Malachite tricked them to find the gauntlet for him. He had another one when Ma-Ti used his ring to blast Malachite. He urged him to do it again.
• Evil Is Cool: In-universe. In Part 7, Malachite manages to deflect every single bullet fired at him by Angry Joe and Obscurus Lupa with his staff. Joe's response to this? "Whoa. That was awesome!"
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The Cloaks.
• Expy: GNN newscaster Larry Prince in the "EPICNESS!!!!" video is one of Lori Prince, one of Doug Walker's past sketch characters, who himself is an Expy of Larry King.
• Extremely Short Timespan: About twenty-four hours, starting one afternoon and ending the next.
• Eye Poke: During the first fight against the Cloaks, Brad pokes a Cloak in the eyes and runs away.
• Fake Nationality: An In-Universe example.
  Critic (about Benzaie as Conan): "He's a Frenchman pretending to be an Austrian! That will confuse the enemies!"
• Fanservice:
  • The real Link and most male cosplayers have tights on and a skirt that goes down to their knees. Doug does not. Even a few of the women on the site have marveled/complained about the niceness of his legs.
  • JewWario as Jareth is Mr. Fanservice in-universe.
  • Some fans see Critic's up-skirt shot as this. Lewis lampshades this by saying all the Critic fans hit their screen-capture button at this exact moment, Doug brags on his commentary about even guys telling him they thought it was hot, and Film Brain had his turn when he went on a Fetish Fuel Wiki trawl, saying that it had to be listed as such.
  • Benzaie walking around in a leather outfit shirtless.
  • This fan service is even lampshaded by the Spoony cast commentary. Bennett says that Lupa pulling the Critic's tie and shouting at him that he'll be a lady and like it will inspire millions of fic about forced feminization.
• Fate Worse than Death: Malachite was not destroyed as was thought in the final battle. Instead, he has been banished to his ultimate hell...a cursed realm of evil and damnation AND low-low prices..."ALL-AROUND CAFE!" And don't even ask how the bathroom breaks work.
• Fastball Special: Handsome Tom and 8-Bit Mickey attempt one. Doesn't go well.
• Female Gaze: The person who has shown the most skin so far is, well... guess.
  • When JewWario reveals his costume, the girls, especially the The Nostalgia Chick, are obviously looking at him "below the belt."
• Fighting in the Playground: Some of the critics have a fight scene in a park against the supernatural villains.
• Fingerpoke Of Doom: Malachite finger flicks Spoony, and sends him flying around the world. Twice!
• Fire-Forged Friends: Film Brain and Luke.
• Flynning: How most of the combat plays out.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In Part 3, the visually impaired Todd attacks Film Brain, mistaking him for one of the Cloaks. At the end of Part 4, the Cloaks capture and brainwash Film Brain into their ranks. He gets better.
  • Also in Part 3, Cloak #1 is seen breathing hard after using magic. In Part 6, it is revealed that magic is life force and that using too much kills you.
  • All the talk about "the pure of heart" being the only ones worthy of being on the quest. Guess who beats Malachite in the end?
  • And the note on Aeon forging a ring to counter Malachite's magic. Who do we know who wears a ring?
  • The last thing Ma-Ti says before blasting Malachite is "Yeah, so I'm not gonna be surviving today."
  • Ma-Ti getting the death scene of Spock. What does Spock do right at the beginning of the next movie? Come back to life.
  • Linkara reveals that in one of his reviews he sings Ma-Ti's song.
  • At the end, Linkara complains that he didn't get his own story arc. In To Boldly Flee, one of his previous story arcs (specifically its villain) comes back to haunt him.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The map is visible for just a split second in Part 4. Besides the stuff that gets mentioned in the dialogue and a few more The Lord of the Rings references, the map also appears to mark the location of Jimmy Hoffa's body.
• The "Fun" in "Funeral": Leave it to the good folks at Channel Awesome to inject a little bit of humor into something as depressing as Ma-Ti's death. Ma-Ti is cremated by Todd and his ashes are poured into an Quaker Oats oatmeal canister (8-Bit Mickey comments that they should've used a Pop-Tarts box instead), and Tom chucks the thing god-knows-where while Paw plays "Amazing Grace" on the kazoo.
• Funny Background Event: When Crom is talking to Benzaie in Part 6, both Critic and Jaffers chase each other with the latter's sword, while Phelous fights a Cloak's sword barehanded.
  • When Ma-ti first shows up, saying he's here for a free car and then begging to join the quest despite not being sent a note, he's holding a card that says "Car thing. YAY!"
• Fun with Subtitles: As mentioned above in Bilingual Bonus, the subtitles done for The Nostalgia Chick aren't entirely accurate...
• Gag Penis: JewWario as Jareth. The ladies definitely notice.
• A Glass in the Hand: Film Brain crushes a cardboard cup of coffee when he learns that Luke has already gotten the Nostalgia Critic a latte.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Bill's murder in the opening scene.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Character specific. Linkara remains, as always, very light on vulgarities, keeping away from anything heavier than a 'damn'.
  • Jaffers and Suede also fall under this heading, though the latter only for a scene in episode 6 where the two exchange a brief dialog about 'loyalties'. "Thanks for betraying me, you rotten kiwi" and "Go suck a Popsicle", respectively.
    • Noticeably, all the reviewers tone down their profanity usage when Suede is around.
• Groin Attack:
  • All over the place. MarzGurl's initial bite was on the Nostalgia Critic's lower body, numerous lines of dialogue threaten this, Cat aims slightly lower against the towering Willow!Tom, and a Cloak's bolt does this to Jew Wario, only to be reflected back by The Codpiece.
  • Jew Wario uses The Codpiece against to blind Jaffers and the obstacles in Part 6. Which is a whole new kind of Groin Attack.
  • Malachite forces the Critic to groin attack himself. Fifteen times.
• Hammerspace: Angry Joe whips out a machine gun from behind his back. Obscura Lupa gets her gun from behind his back as well.
• Hand Wave: In a commentary Linkara noted that people will likely question why he can use magic in his show safely when the special establishes that magic in the TGWTG universe drains your life force. Turns out his hat protects him.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power
• Here We Go Again!: At the beginning where all the reviewers realize that The Nostalgia Critic has roped them into yet another Zany Scheme.
  • Linkara gets worried when the Critic is interested in looking for the Necronomicon, a book that can raise the dead. Maybe. If it exists.
• "Hey, You!" Haymaker: In addition to the Combination Attack of Luke / Film Brain, Suede on the Witch.
• Homoerotic Subtext.
  • "Mr. Critic is mine, understand?" Looks like Film Brain still has his crush.
  • Although it wasn't intended this way, the other members of the team took his exclamation of "I will eat your pea-ness" as this.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Malachite has a smartphone. He's promptly called out on this and he flat out denies that it's technology. He goes on to claim "At least I'm not a hypocrite," which robs the Critic of his powers of speech.
  • The Critic complaining that the map has too many spelling errors.

I-P

• Ice-Cream Koan:
  Sage: Critic... the path to enlightenment is the enlightenment of the path.
  Critic: Yes, and the way to pain is to nail you in the nads.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Todd when he finds out that Malachite's Hand is hidden in the field where they started.
• The Internet Is for Porn: Team 1 tells Jaffers about how much the Internet has changed since the 80's, and all unanimously, vocally agree when this trope is reached. This makes Jaffers hopeless about this team being pure of heart, but surfs the Internet himself later and discovers the TGWTG site. Still doesn't stop him from trying to kill them though.
• Jump Scare: The Gatecleaner is contractually obligated to provide one whenever he is summoned. This is eventually used against him when Film Brain and Luke keep throwing the summoning rock around.
• Kamehame Hadoken: Used by the Cloaks.
• Kent Brockman News: The video the Critic shows the others.
• Klaatu Barada Necktie
• Knight of Cerebus: Malachite, aside from one joke near the end, is played entirely, deadly seriously.
• Large Ham:
  • The entire series is set to become sheer Ham-to-Ham Combat.
  • As for Ham-to-Ham Combat itself, as Spoondalf and King Linkara start arguing, The Critic says "Save it for Broadway!" (Especially because Linkara's costume is based on a musical.)
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Benzaie notes in his behind-the-scenes vlog (A Frog in Chicago Again) that part of it hinges on the viewer already knowing that Suede returns.
• Laser-Guided Karma: When they are being chased by the Cloaks, Film Brain knocks Luke down in hope that she'll be captured. At the end of Part 4, Film Brain is left behind and captured by the Cloaks.
  • When Malachite sends Spoony flying around the world. Spoony eventually comes back and crash lands right on top of him.
• Leitmotif:
  • Malachite has a drum-based one that plays whenever he appears.
  • Angry Joe has a Spanish guitar that plays whenever he attempts his My Name Is Inigo Montoya line.
  • There's a rather epic score that plays whenever the Cloaks arrive.
  • The Cinema Snob's introduction and Theme Music Power-Up moments have an 8-bit version of the Indiana Jones theme.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Justified; the map has two distinct paths, and they're still left with nine people in each group.
• Long Speech Tea Time: The Critic delivers his rousing speech, only to discover that everyone has left.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Poor, poor Bill... The woman in Part 3 who is blown up too, though not as gruesome.
• MacGuffin: Malachite's Hand, aka the magic gauntlet. The magical gem on the gauntlet gives it its power.
• MacGuffin Delivery Service: Malachite uses the reviewers to find the gauntlet for him.
• The Magic Goes Away: Aeon and Malachite's epic battle many centuries ago created the technology-driven world we live in today, rather than the magic-driven world Malachite wished to make, because Aeon won. Malachite took this well.
• Magic Versus Science: In the back story, the alchemist Aeon and the sorcerer Malachite fought a mortal battle to determine whose research would receive their king's support. Aeon won resulting in today's technological world, while magic gradually disappeared. Because using magic too much drains your life line, Malachite did not use use his powers until the 1980's, which resulted in him living for tons of centuries. He is currently trying to find his gauntlet, which Aeon took and buried after their battle, so that he can destroy the science-filled world he hates.
• Magikarp Power: Ma-Ti, even though it's really just his ring that saves the day.
• Mama Bear: In Part 3, when Team 2 is battling on a playground, preventing anyone from using it, a mom and her kid show up, and the mom ain't pleased.
• Man Children: Of course. This comes back to bite the Critic's team when they mock the Good Witch of the Woods too much.
• Massive Multiplayer Crossover
• Metaphorgotten: Film Brain's "pea" analogy in Part 2.
• Mirror Character: Jaffers is very pitiful, only written without the usual weird brand of affection that the Critic gets.
• Mirroring Factions: Jaffers and his friends turn out to be another group of costumed geeks like the Critic and his reviewers. This is further lampshaded by real-life brothers Doug and Rob Walker playing the Critic and Jaffers respectively, and That Dude In The Suede and The Last Angry Geek being members of Jaffers' crew.
• Monster Threat Expiration: Malachite casually disintegrates most of the people he comes across, but whenever he faces off against series regulars, he hands them swift and humiliating, but nonfatal defeats. We assume that his gigantic ego just wanted them to be witnesses to the destruction of their world.
• Mook Chivalry: A rare heroic example in part 6 when the heroes attack Malachite one at a time rather than charge him all at once from all sides.
• Mood-Swinger:
  • Upon learning the truth about the "free car" both Joe and Spoony instantly go from good cheer to screaming a Big "NO!" in anguish.
  • Part 5 has Team 1 realizing that Malachite is still alive, was waiting for someone to try and find the gauntlet by using the map he sent in a chain letter and had placed a tracking spell on, and that not only does Team 2 have that map, but they're also unaware of the tracking spell immediately followed with the return of That Dude In The Suede.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • The beginning of the film sees an innocent driver being killed and his car blown up. Then after the title we get the usual wackiness of the TGWTG crew.
  • The end of Part 6. They're victorious and have found the gauntlet, but then everything goes silent and they all get an Oh, Crap! look on their faces: Malachite is right across the road.
• Mr. Fanservice: Critic and Benzaie due to the stripperific nature of their costumes and JewWario for playing a Sex God. With the weather being the way it was, the former two regretted wearing so little.
• Music Video: For Sad Panda's song "Flights of Fantasy", which plays over the closing credits.
• Musicalis Interruptus: Linkara keeps trying to sing in Part 2, but everybody tells him to knock it off. His efforts in Part 3 go just as well. He's interrupted yet again in Part 7, but is finally allowed a whole song when he argues that he didn't even get a story arc, though his acting ability may have made up for it.
• Never Found the Body: The reviewers believe that Malachite (except the hat) was disintegrated, and the gauntlet was too. That didn't happen last time.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: All the reviewers accomplished was to defeat the gauntlet's guardians and lead Malachite to the gauntlet. Without Ma-Ti's Heroic Sacrifice, Malachite would have destroyed the world.
  • Even better if you've watched Linkara's videos. One of Mechakara's stated goals is to study and adapt to magic so that he can eliminate all humans in the alternate future he comes from. Guess who finds the gauntlet and the gem at the end of the video, and who has already proven to a villain in the sequel?
• Ninja Prop: In a production like this, it's understandable that villains and minor characters would be played by the site's supporting cast and less visible reviewers. So it's a surprise when Cloak #1, portrayed by The Last Angry Geek, actually is the Last Angry Geek.
• No Fourth Wall:
  • The reviewers know The Oner is for the trailer and can read the on-screen subtitles to understand Arwen!Nostalgia Chick. But then this is pretty much status quo for them. Oddly enough they can't seem to read San!MarzGurl's subtitles, but then again, they did have to be told to read the subtitles by the Nostalgia Chick.
  • Arwen!Chick distracts Cat with a... montage? How does that work?
    • This is the same woman who weaponized a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment. Then again, the second and third time she tries using a montage, it doesn't work.
    • And in Part 7, it's pretty much lampshaded by the reviewers that it really does nothing but confuse people.
  • At the end of Part 7, Linkara complains that he didn't get a song or a character arc.
  • Ma-Ti turns to the camera and reminds the audience he's "From Captain Planet".
  • Snob saying he's using a belt because he couldn't bring a whip on the plane counts. In-story, the reviewers didn't know they were going on an adventure until after they flew in.
• No MacGuffin, No Winner: The gauntlet is assumed to be destroyed after the final battle. At the very least, no one can find the thing.
  • Actually, it was revealed in the DVD that someone did in fact find the gauntlet. Not someone we really want having it, though.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud*: 8-Bit Mickey, after being thrown by Handsome Tom.
  We thank you for flying Painful Airlines...
  • Spoony after being launched into the air & sent flying around the world ''several times' by Malachite.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Luke's previous quest for treasure.
    Luke: [on the phone to her mother] Yeah, I'm on a quest for buried treasure, isn't that cool? No, this one is for real this time. No, I won't bring home another dead animal.
  • Todd cremating Ma-Ti. Both acknowledged as such by the Critic and Todd remarking that the others would probably be better off not knowing the details.
• Offhand Backhand: MarzGurl does this to Todd accidentally.
  • Malachite does this to a car.
• Offscreen Teleportation: Pretty much every character in the series does this at one point or another.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Spoony's fellowship has an epic one when they realize the Cloaks really are supernatural beings.
    The Spoony One: Suddenly, I've decided I'm terribly afraid of you. [runs]
  • The Critic realizing he's spilled the beans on getting the map from a chain letter.
  • After realizing Malachite set the whole thing up and put a tracking spell on the map, the Critic remembers Team 2 has the original map, and there's no way to contact them.
  • After getting the magic gem back, Malachite shows up in homage to the Battle of Pellenor Fields.
• The Oner: The reviewers cross a field, all in one shot. Lampshaded by the Nostalgia Critic as being solely done for the trailer.
  • Note that Linkara walks a bit out of frame, forcing the camera to jerk to the left. This is because he got confused about when they were splitting up.
• Only the Worthy May Pass: And none of the gauntlet's guardians think any of the reviewers are worthy.
• Opt Out: Whomever it was that took a desk job and was replaced by That Dude In The Suede.
• Overly Long Gag: In Part 4, Film Brain and Luke keep on dropping their stone just to watch the Gate Cleaner snarl at the camera, which he is contractually obligated to do every time someone calls him by stone. He eventually gets tired of it and tells them never to call him again.
  • Malachite forcing the Critic to repeatedly punch himself in the groin 13 times in a row. The oddly realistic crunch sounds don't help.
• Pity the Kidnapper: At the end of Part 4, Film Brain is brain-washed by the Cloaks into joining them. Barely minutes into Part 5, he's proven so annoying and insufferable that they distract him with a tree and flee as fast and far as they can.
• Power Crystal: The gauntlet itself doesn't have any power, just the jewel stuck on it.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: "What do you think of the 21st century?"
  • "I find that quite vexing"
  • "EXPECTO MY FIST!"
  • Angry Joe's Precision F-Strike mentioned below.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Go back to the litter box, pussy of puppetry doom!"
• Precision F-Strike: Angry Joe's "My Name Is Inigo Montoya, motherfucker!," accompanied by a machine gun.
  • Upon learning the location of the gauntlet, by a variety of the cast: "Oh, you've got to be FUCKING KIDDING ME! IT'S RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED?!"
• Pseudo-Crisis:
  • Part 3 ends with Spoony losing the map. But in Part 4, it's shown that he still remembers the next part, so there aren't any problems before they get it back.
  • The loss of the map serves as foreshadowing. After Malachite hands them their map back, it becomes apparent that he wants them to find the gauntlet.
  • Part 4 ends with Film Brain being brainwashed by the Cloaks. In Part 5, they quickly ditch him for being too annoying, and the others are easily able to snap him out of it.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Jaffers' friends which act as obstacles. (though the Witch is certainly enjoying it too much...)
• Pushed at the Monster: While the team is being chased by the Cloaks, Film Brain trips Luke. ^note This scene was actually risky in real life, too — one of the many things that made this special Troubled Production was the torrents of unexpected rain, which made the dirt road muddy and slippery, and thus dangerous to run down and do pratfalls on.

Q-Z

• Rapid-Fire "No!": Part of Angry Joe's Mood-Swinger reaction to the "free car".
• Real After All: Turns out there really are supernatural guardians of Malachite's Hand. The reviewers do not take this well.
• Really Dead Montage: [[spoiler:After Ma-Ti's death, one of these plays while Linkara sings.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Malachite delivers these to his victims. They always miss the point.
• Recognition Failure: King Arthur, Willow, the Rockbiter... and Todd in the Shadows, who at first thinks they weren't recognizing the Dread Pirate Roberts. Film Brain suffers from this before he even puts a costume on.
• Red Herring: Spoony's ring is an unintentional example - he decided to wear it as a jokey, cheap version of Gandalf's elven ring and didn't realize until it was too late that it looked just like Aeon's ring, the key to defeating Malachite. This confused a lot of viewers; and Spoony stated in his commentary that he regretted wearing the ring because of this, however several other participants in the commentary pointed out that he shouldn't as it helped obscure the real twist.
• Reference Overdosed
• Rousing Speech: Parodied, as the reviewers point out every inconsistency on the Critic's words.
  • Subverted in the first speech he made. There was a dramatic cue as he speaks, and the rest of the cast appears to be impressed with his words... until he finishes and turns to see that everyone had left, and he had to threaten them with firing before they finally concede to take part in the quest.
  • Played straight with the second rousing speech given by the Critic before the final showdown with Jaffers' group. Mickey even lampshades how good the second one is, commenting on how the Critic is really getting into it.
• Rule 34: Referenced by the Nostalgia Critic.
  Nostalgia Critic: It's the Internet, Ma-Ti. They have porn for everything.
• Running Gag: Enough for its own page.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Both Cloak 1 (The Last Angry Geek) and The Cinema Snob ("You betrayed Shiva! ...Well, I think Shiva will get over this.")
  • In Spoony's commentary, it was stated that Linkara was meant to do the same as the Snob, but this was cut as it was just the exact same joke.
• Sequel: Judging from the personalities and the Here We Go Again! scene at the beginning, this clearly follows the same exact characters from Kickassia, and takes place after it. Word of God states that one line in the script that was ultimately cut had Angry Joe outright referring to both Kickassia and the TGWTG Year One Brawl during the Here We Go Again! scene.
• Sequel Escalation: It's longer than Kickassia, there are more characters including several surprise cameos, there are more fight scenes, more (and better) special effect scenes, and an epic fantasy quest complete with a Big Bad that wants to destroy the world along with a magical MacGuffin to track down.
• Sequel Hook: Lampooned.
  • Played straight in an alternate stinger on the DVD.
• Sex Sells: Doug fully admits that both putting his pretty ex in the trailer and objectifying himself by wearing a short skirt was to get the perverts interested.
• Shaped Like Itself: The magical cat puppet's name is... Cat. Subverted when Cat turns out to be the puppeteer.
• Share the Male Pain: A subtle example, but when Malachite forces the Critic to Groin Attack himself, the guys in the background can be seen wincing and cringing. Even the female reviewers start cringing once the count starts going up.
• Ship Tease:
  • The Critic was quite enthusiastic to wake Lupa up by kissing her in Part 2.
  • Chick is the only one who can talk to Critic about him showing way too much without being squicked and he clings to her hard when he gets scared.
    • Both of these get lampshaded in the cast commentary. For Chick/Critic, Lindsay says the characters have a "history" and for Critic/Lupa, Sage mentions that a million forced feminization fics are going to be written.
  • Joe finds Lupa in leather with a machine gun surprisingly hot.
• Shout-Out: Now has its own page.
• Shown Their Work: Thirty years ago, the President was shot. On March 30, 1981, Ronald Reagan survived an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, Jr. Possibly doubles as a Genius Bonus as well.
  • There used to be two more added lines after this which made it clearer that it was Reagan they were referring to (Jewario worrying about the President and Critic telling him he'll be fine), but it was cut for whatever reason. This led to a few viewers wondering if they were talking about Obama or someone else, forgetting that the tape was made in the 80's.
  • Another comes when Jaffers refers to the Internet as "that Defense Department bullshit". This is a reference to ARPANET, the former Department of Defense network system that formed the core of the modern Internet.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: After getting banished to the All-Around Cafe, Malachite tries to give his usual Hannibal Lecture to one of the customers, only for the barista to smack him upside the head.
• Small Reference Pools: Parodied with Bill's description of Malachite's outfit: Matrix meets Matrix Reloaded.
• Snipe Hunt: How the Critic keeps stopping Ma-Ti from joining them, ranging from protecting non-existent children and elderly to finding goat porn.
  • Lampshaded in Part 5, along with What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?.
• Solemn Ending Theme: Sad Panda's song "Flight of Fantasy".
• Special Effect Failure: "Cat" is obviously a puppet. Justified when Cat turns out to be a in-universe puppet.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: Malachite does it with his staff.
• Stealth Hi/Bye:
  • Everyone pulls this on the Critic during the first episode. He actually has to tell everyone to knock it off when, one by one, they each do a Stealth Hi to introduce their costumes. As for the bye part, everyone pulls it simultaneously as the Critic delivers his rousing speech while looking out a window. That's right, fifteen people left his house without him hearing.
  • Done to the Cloaks by Team 2 during the "battle relocation."
  • Malachite does it to Jew Wario after returning the map.
  • Ma-Ti and later Linkara show up in the Critic's bedroom from out of nowhere.
• Stealth Pun:
  • The title. Also, The Cinema Snob and his costume choice. His real name is Brad Jones.
    • Which also resulted in a lovely awkward moment when he checked into the hotel while wearing the costume. "Reservation for Jones?"
  • Film Brain gets brainwashed.
  • What's The Cinema Snob holding in the intro video? A Crystal Pepsi.
  • The line "I love the Power Glove. It's so bad" is said by a wizard.
  • JewWario's introduction while a picture of a tower is behind him.
• The Stinger: The Gatecleaner's wife saying "Shut up, mommy's in the rock!"
  • Except on the DVD, where it's Mechakara finding the Power Glove.
• Stock Footage: During the flashback scene explaining Malachite and Aeon, there's a shot of an erupting volcano. That you probably can't film in Chicago.
• Stylistic Suck: Not only invoked but also completely justified, since in-universe all the characters (except Malachite) are normal people putting on an act of being a fantasy character for the purposes of the quest. Even the magic-using Cloaks and Good Witch are everyday people Jaffers recruited to protect the gauntlet.
  • In the commentary, the reviewers point out the battle scenes don't have any continuity (Lupa bites Cat in the foreground, in the following shot he's fighting Tom in the background.)
• Stunned Silence: The reviewers when they see Malachite using an smartphone.
  • Done again a moment later when they see Ma Ti lying on the ground after the smoke clears.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: The box containing the Voice of the Ancient World is very clearly labeled: "DOES NOT CONTAIN VOICE OF THE ANCIENT WORLD." Naturally, AskThatGuy put it there.
• Take My Hand!: When MarzGurl is about to fall off of a slide, The Cinema Snob takes her hand and shouts at her to give him her other as she attempts to reach for her spear. She ends up falling... but it turns out to be a really short slide. To make it even better, they recite dialogue from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. With Marz's lines in Japanese.
• Take That!:
  • In regards to Liv Tyler's portrayal of Arwen via Nostalgia Chick.
    8-Bit Mickey: I've never seen someone over-romanticize a bunch of nothing so well.
  • As silly as Cat is, you have to give him one thing. He's funnier than Jeff Dunham.
  • Critic wants to find a way to get Chick-Fil-A to stop serving Christians. Works on two levels; the first being that they're closed on Sundays, and the second being the chain is known for their religion-"excused" homophobia. ^note Everyone on the site has expressed support for LGBT rights, with Doug even theorizing gay people are actually protecting the sanctity of marriage because of all they go through to get it.
  • When Team 2 trying to get inside the last location on their map:
    The Cinema Snob: Hi there, we represent the Broadway Better Business Players For A Brighter Tomorrow. We're trying to start a petition to get second rate shows taken off the marquee, and with your help, we can stop Mamma Mia! from ever playing again.
  • When Malachite rants about TV shows in part five, his tone gets even more hateful when he gets to Glee.
  • The theme song to Suburban Knights was reedited for people who found it offensive. The only change was "D&D is lame" for "D&D is Okay. It's Okay." The song is stopped by Spoony soon after that.
• Tap on the Head: Done to Linkara to make him stop singing.
  • Also done to Elisa to convince her that the home-invasion by Team 2 was All Just a Dream.
• Tempting Fate: Luke reacts to Paw with "I don't wanna go with him!" They end up in the same group (but without much interaction).
• That Came Out Wrong: Luke tricks Film Brain into delivering an unfortunate follow-up to his insult.
  Luke: That's a lot of peas. And I'm just full of them. I'm totally full of pea-ness. So, what are you going to do?
  Film Brain: I will eat your pea-ness!
  [Everyone else looks over at them]
  Film Brain: Oh, no no no no no I didn't mean that, it's just...
  Angry Joe: Yeah, whatever. You go to the back.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: Quoth Suede. "I find that quite vexing."
• There Was a Door: Narrowly averted; one team realizes the Voice of the Ancients is under the floor. They nearly start ripping it up when the woman they tied up points out there's a basement.
• These Questions Three...: Team 1 comes across a disembodied voice that pulls this on them. It ends up just being Chester A. Bum trying to trick people into giving him money.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Invoked by Phelous just before the final confrontation with Malachite, who blew up a speeding vehicle by letting it run into him.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Heart! Heart! Heart!
• To Be Continued: One of the unused endings make it clearer that the 4th year special will indeed be a continuation of the storyline started in this special.
• Too Dumb to Live: Bill, the mobile phone lady, and the guy watching TV. Paw and Joe get points for being willing to fight The Cloaks even after they've dimmed the light of the sun and their leader summons a ball of lightning in his hands. They soon change their mind.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While To Boldly Flee's apocalypse brought out the best in people, this is where it started, with the gang going from trolling a witch to cheering on Ma-Ti sincerely.
• Totally Radical: Bill, the poor guy who picks up the Big Bad, suffers from this.
• Trailers Always Lie: Obscurus Lupa asking, "Is there some sort of medicine you should be on?" was directed at Film Brain, not the The Nostalgia Critic.
• Troperiffic: And proud of it.
• True Companions: Out of verse, as always. But even in verse, they become this. They're still assy and snarky, but they stand together and comfort each other when one gets upset or hurt.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: Malachite does this to Spoony when he tries his luck against him. It ends up backfiring as Spoony winds up landing right on him during his battle with Ma-Ti.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: The heroes split into two teams to follow different paths on the map.
• Two Scenes, One Dialogue: "Oh, you have—" "—got to be—" "—fucking—" "—KIDDING ME! IT'S RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED?!"
• Unflinching Walk: Malachite is a master of this.
• The Unfavorite: Not that Film Brain was the Critic's favorite from the Kickassia special. But Luke starting to muscle in for Critic's favor is obviously apparent.
• The Unreveal: Jew Wario tries to take Todd's mask off, only to get a gun pointed at him.
  Jew Wario: Oh I've always wondered what you looked like [click] aaaaaaaand then he backed away...
• Vehicle Vanish: Inverted; Jaffers's backup shows up from a passing car.
• Villain Opening Scene: Malachite gets one where he enters Bill's car and then after getting frustrated by Bill's reliance on technology kills him and blows up the car.
• We Have Forgotten the Phlebotinum: Spoony loses his map to the gauntlet at the end of Part 3. Malachite finds it and returns it to them in the next part.
• We Used to Be Friends: Aeon and Malachite.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Critic as Link. Lupa as a princess. It had to happen.
  The Nostalgia Critic: ... Yeah, that did sound a bit douche-y. Promise you'll never let me say that again—
  Everyone Else: Promise.
• Wham Episode:
  • The end of Part 5. Suede's back! Obviously, it has more of an impact if you've been a fan of TGWTG from the beginning.
  • The episode has plenty of Wham to go around: Jaffers was alive, just trapped inside Malachite's book, the mysterious Big Bad is Malachite, who sent the chain letter so someone would lead him to the hand by putting a tracking spell on the map, and Team B is walking right into his trap with no way to warn them!
  • The climax of Part 7. Ma-Ti dies. And it's not played for humor. (Well, for the most part, anyway)
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?:
  • Ma-Ti keeps desperately trying to join their quest, but Nostalgia Critic won't let him join. It's not that his power is completely pathetic, not at all...it's just that Nostalgia Chick has lost her contact lens, and he needs to find it.
    • Also, Mickey has erectile dysfunction. Ma-Ti must go find goat porn to cure him!
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: Okay, so his power really isn't pathetic! In fact, it's the only way to beat Malachite.
• Where It All Began: Malachite's Hand is actually buried in the exact field where the team started their quest, inside the Storm Drain of Secrets.
• Wimp Fight: Everyone with the exception of Malachite.
• World of Ham: Of course. Particular note to Phelous and Paw (who is inspired by a Ham and Cheese performance itself).
• Worst News Judgment Ever: On the GNN broadcast, the disappearance of a game store clerk receives higher billing than an assassination attempt against the president.
  Larry Prince: Sad. [takes off glasses] Very very sad. And now, [puts glasses back on] on a lighter note, the president has been shot...
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: Malachite regains the gauntlet, despite the efforts of over twenty adult nerds.
• You Do Not Want To Know: At Ma-Ti's funeral, Critic thanks Todd for cremating Ma-Ti following it would be best if he didn't tell them how or why. Todd agrees with this.
  • The original line was "Chicks dig cremations", which makes even less sense!
    • It Makes Sense In Context, as it was supposed to be accompanied with a wink or some such gesture towards the ladies of TGWTG. Apparently that was scrapped because the hood didn't leave much room for facial emoting.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: This reaction is split upon multiple characters when they all learn that the gauntlet was hidden in the field they started in.
• You Keep Using That Word: After [[spoiler:Malachite pauses his "destroy all technology" campaign to answer his smartphone and the Critic calls him an idiot, he replies, "At least I'm not a hypocrite." Critic is so dumbfounded by this response that he has to have Jew Wario take over for him.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Critic takes the gauntlet from Suede, cheers his team, all of whom begin to droop. The scene goes silent for three long beats before Malachite's theme begins.

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MY NAME IS INIGO MONTOYA, MOTHERFUCKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS

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