Scrub Club
is a website sponsored by a company called NSF International.
It is about seven children known as the Scrub Club whose job it is to make sure everyone washes their hands to prevent evil germs (led by one named BAC) from taking over.
Each kid has a power to morph into an object related to hand-washing. The full group consists of Hot Shot (who turns into a hot tap), his sister Chill (who turns into a cold tap), Squeaks (who turns into soap) Taki (who turns into a clock), Scruff (who turns into a nailbrush), Tank (who turns into a sink), and P.T. (who turns into a roll of paper towels).
Most of the kids' characterisation revolves around their object in some way (Scruff is a neat freak, P.T. has a "dry" sense of humour, etc) but some of their personality traits are just that (Tank likes strawberry milkshakes, etc).
Other protagonists are Ship-Shape, the leader of the club, and Gel-Mo, a shapeshifting creature made of hand sanitizer.
This website provides examples of
- Absent-Minded Professor: Squeaks is described as one.
- Blue Means Cold: Chill, who turns into a cold tap and whose favourite day of the year is the coldest, wears all-blue clothes.
- Brother–Sister Team: Hot Shot and Chill are siblings (Hot Shot being younger and Chill being older), and work together to make warm water to start the handwashing progress.
- Catchphrase: Taki is described as liking to say, "Rub your hands together and give me 20!".
- Chill says "Way cool!" or "Super cool!".
- Deadpan Snarker: P.T. is describe as having a dry, witty sense of humor.Squeaks: "P.T., I'll be darned! What brings you here?"P.T.: "Oh, nothing much, Squeaks...just a huge salmonella outbreak that little Frankie has on his hands!"
- Disease-Prevention Aesop: The whole website was designed to teach kids to wash their hands and prevent contacting and spreading diseases.
- Drink-Based Characterization: Hot Shot's favourite drink is hot chocolate, which ties into his persona revolving around heat.
- The Fashionista: P.T. is described as having a cool sense of style.
- Fiery Red Head: Hot Shot, quite literally.
- Girlish Pigtails: Taki has these in both human and clock form.
- Guilty Pleasure: Apparently, Scruff's guilty pleasure is soaking his fingernails.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Being able to turn into a hand-washing tool seems like a lame power at first, and stopping diseases spreading is a kind, but not really epic, skill. On the other hand, some transmissible diseases can be fatal, so maybe it's not so lame after all.
- Meaningful Name: Most characters have meaningful names:
- Hot Shot and Chill are named that because they have powers related to heat and cold. Their names also have a Double Meaning: Hot Shot is energetic and outspoken, while Chill is much more relaxed and down-to-earth.
- Squeaks is called that because soap sometimes makes a squeaking noise.
- Taki sounds a bit like the latter half of “tick-tock”, and it is also a Japanese name meaning "waterfall".
- P.T. has the same initials as "paper towel".
- Gel-Mo is called that because he's made of hand gel.
- Influenza Enzo's goons are named Sweats, Hack, and Sniffles, which are symptoms of the flu.
- The Mafia: Influenza Enzo and his Flu Crew give off these vibes.
- Moniker As Enticement: The website says that kids who promise to wash their hands can join the Scrub Club too.
- Monstrous Germs: The bad guys are all grotesque, sentient, evil, green germs.
- Neat Freak: While all of the Scrub Clubbers' personas revolve around hand-washing, Scruff takes the cake as his guilty pleasure is soaking his fingernails and his favourite songs have to do with cleanliness.
- Nerd Glasses: Squeaks wears glasses and is described as an absent-minded professor.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Squeaks' favourite TV anchorman is Dan Lather, a pun on Dan Rather.
- As well as Shigella and E. Coli, who parody Britney Spears and Elvis Presley, respecfully.
- Opaque Nerd Glasses: Squeaks' eyes are not visible through his glasses.
- Public Service Announcement: While the whole program can be considered one, both "The Good, The BAC, and The Ugly" cartoon and the "Gel-Mo on The Go" storybook contain one at the end.
- Pun: The club members are described as "soaperheroes".
- Trademark Favourite Food: Tank is nearly always seen drinking strawberry milkshakes.
- Verbal Tic: Taki has a tendency to say some things thrice sometimes.
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Viewer Gender Confusion: Chill, who is rather androgynous in appearance, is a girl and Hot Shot's big sister. You'd be forgiven for mistaking her for a boy, however. - Voluntary Shapeshifting: Played straight for Gel-Mo who can morph into whatever he likes, and downplayed for the kids, who each have their own alternate form (although Squeaks can turn into multiple soap types, and P.T into various designs of paper towels).
