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From 2012 to 2014, The Aquabats! Super Show! enjoyed a solid two or three (depending on how you count it) seasons on Hasbro's The Hub . The program followed the adventures of The Aquabats!, a team of super hero rock musicians who fight dangerous foes and play sweet jams in a Monster of the Week format. While the show garnered a strong following and even won a TV prize, it was not renewed when The Hub went down and was replaced by Discovery Family. However, in August 2018 a Kickstarter campaign
was created with the purpose of funding more Aquabats content. The campaign ended on September 29th of 2018, raising enough money to create a brand new 12-episode season of online episodes, this time made with complete creative freedom instead of being forced to meet the demands of a network.
9 brand-new mini-episodes were created to promote the Kickstarter, creating a coherent story that was built over the Kickstarter's duration along with viral marketing elements such as promotional emails from the Secret Friend teased in Season 2 of the original show's run and a functioning hotline to call to hear and leave messages to and from The Aquabats. According to the episodes, after the network went under, The Aquabats were forced to split up and find "real jobs" in order to support themselves. However, with assistance from the wizard of Hollywood, The MC Bat Commander sets off to get the band back together and recruit a Legion of Righteous Comrades to drum up enough support to make new episodes of the Super Show.
This show provides examples of:
- 10-Minute Retirement: Dwayne gives up being a hero when he discovers he isn't really invisible, but decides to come back and help barely a minute later.
- Aborted Arc: Silver Skull's last scene in The Anti-Bats had him poised to take over America after assassinating Governor Robot. Here, he's in similarly dire financial straits as his nemeses, and is only roused back into action when the MC Bat Commander looks like he'll be able to resurrect the Super Show.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Eaglebones wishes for a box of gold. He gets a box made of gold, which is admittedly still extremely valuable.
- Benevolent Genie: The fish in the Bottle of Noodles grants all five of the Aquabats a wish just for opening the lid. He does warn them that the wishes can have unforseen consequences, but doesn't twist them in any harmful way, and gives them exactly what they wanted. The only wish to actually go wrong is one Crash grants after getting unlimited wihes.
- The Bus Came Back: After having fallen out of focus for years and only appearing in backstory, The Aquabats' homeland of Aquabania is stated to play a role in the story of the new episodes.
- The Cameo: Would it be an Aquabats show without them?
- Too many to count in the "I am The Aquabats" portion of Episode 1 of the Kickstarter series.
- Continuity Nod: Items from throughout the show, such as the Floating Eye Of Death story book and Crash's trophy, can be seen on display in the Battletram.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Visible Dwayne expects that he and The Mauler are equally matched foes. Unfortunately for him, he is not.
- Darker and Edgier: Downplayed. The tone is as silly as ever, with the exception so far that Martian Girl successfully devours her victims. And not in the 'spit them up later' fashion.
- Death of a Child: Martian Girl eats a couple of kids. They don't come back.
- Eaten Alive: Martian Girl's victims.
- Flying Brick: The Commander uses his wish to become one.
- Humanity Ensues: Jimmy uses his wish to become human and is delighted with the results. Unfortunately this means he dies of his Amusing Injuries later in the episode.
- Interspecies Romance: Averted, despite Ricky's wishes, Martian Girl won't marry food.
- Invisibility with Drawbacks: Exaggerated. The Invisible Man isn't even invisible. He just seems to think he is.
- Karma Houdini: Martian Girl claims at least four victims, but is allowed to leave Earth in peace since she won't be the heroe's problem anymore.
- Ludd Was Right: Horsebeard Man looks down on all technology, and lives on a ranch that consists of dirt and rocks. He changes his mind when he actually tries some.
- Mysterious Benefactor: In the promotional materials for the Kickstarter, the Factor Corporation and "A Secret Friend." According to the phone message in the Secret Agent menu of the hotline, the Commander has no idea who they are and calls the situation "pretty weird."
- Mythology Gag:
- To "Martian Girl" from "Fury Of The Aquabats!"
Ricky: Martian Girl from Planet V?Martian Girl: Yes, human boy?Ricky: Will you marry me?Commander: Whoa!Man In Purple: Whoa!Jimmy Whoa!Crash: Whoa, whoa!- "Lotto Fever!" has the band find the wish granting, noodle jar dwelling fish from the tune. The first thing wished for is the box of gold.
- Non-Indicative Name: The Mauler doesn't maul anyone. His teeth don't even seem to move.
- Once per Episode: As always, the "Somewhere" introduction.
- In the Kickstarter series, the MC Bat Commander takes time every episode to show off that the Super Show even won a TV Prize by producing the Emmy Award and dangling it in front of him, accompanied by a cowbell noise.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Eaglebones wishes for a box of gold. The narrator admits this not like him.
- Putting the Band Back Together: The plot of the Kickstarter Mini-sodes follows the Commander tracking down the rest of the team after they each had to get "real jobs" to support themselves after the Super Show ended.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Even though its continued cancellation ensures that he'll remain unemployed, Silver Skull is adamant in his quest to stop the Super Show from returning on the off-chance that it will bring joy to even a single individual.
- Recursive Canon: Played with; the Kickstarter mini-sodes are a continuation of the Super Show, taking place in the same canon... about getting enough fan support to produce new episodes of the Super Show. It's best not to dwell on it.
- Reset Button: Lotto Fever ends with Crash using his magic hat to undo the episode after Jimmy is accidentally killed.
- Victory Is Boring: The Commander wishes to be the worl's most powerful hero. Unfortunately, Ricky then wishes for world peace, giving him nothing to do.
- Villain Team-Up: Silver Skrull, Cobra Man, and later Man Ant join forces to stop the band from reviving the show.
- Wishing for More Wishes: Crash wishes for a hat that grants him unlimited wishes. The Fish sees no issue with this.
