Awfully Lucky is a What A Cartoon! Show short from 1997.
The short stars a slick and greedy fellow named Luther who finds the valuable Paradox Pearl. A magical stone that brings great fortune to it's owner, but at the cost of bringing great misfortune afterwards. Ignoring the warning from the rich elderly man Thornsworth who threw it away, Luther takes the Paradox Pearl for himself in hopes of getting a ten million dollar reward, and undergoes a misadventure of incredible luck and incredible mishaps.
This cartoon provides examples of:
- Asshole Victim: Luther is kinda slimy, but you start to feel bad for the guy near the end after the Paradox Pearl puts him through hell.
- Bad Luck Charm: The Paradox Pearl zig-zags this. It gives its owner good fortune but at the cost of equal or even greater misfortune. Thornsworth, and eventually Luther learn its downsides are just not worth the headache.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The Paradox Pearl will provide its owner great luck, but with a price. It's implied that the fortunes it provides are only to cover for the incredibly bad things that will happen afterwards.
- Cassandra Truth: Thornsworth warns Luther that the Paradox Pearl's fortunes are not worth the equal amount of pain it provides. Luther himself learns this the hard way.
- Easy Come, Easy Go: How the Paradox Pearl works. It gives you good luck, followed by incredibly bad luck. Escape from a shark by luckily catching a fishing net, but the boat will catch fire and burn down. A Hot girl will fall in love with you, but she's married and her jealous husband attacks you. Escape from the angry husband through a timely distraction, then get hit by a car instead. You will survive the accident through a miraculous surgery, but half of your body is now metal and magnetic, which attracts the gold objects from a museum display, making the cops mistake you for a thief and attack you. In the end, Luther admits that none of it was worth it, and tosses the pearl away just as Thornsworth did before. The final gag of the episode punctuates it with a random fisherman finding the pearl and fishing up a chest of gold treasure, followed immediately by an enormous object falling on him.
- Establishing Character Moment: The short begins by demonstrating how much of Jerkass Luther is. Swiping a man's sandwich, taunting a sweet hungry puppy, and stealing a bottle from a baby and drinking the milk for himself.
- Expy: The pretty girl who falls in love with Luther is effectively a Gender-Bent Johnny Bravo. Complete with the Blonde hair, busty feminine figure, Black outfit, and overly-aggressive pursuit of love.
- Here We Go Again!: At the end of the short, Luther gives up on the Paradox Pearl and tosses it away. A fisherman finds the pearl and quickly fishes a treasure chest full of gold...then something very large and heavy falls on top of him.
- Hollywood Magnetism: Luther gets run over by a car and has half his body replaced with a metal half... that is also highly magnetic. When Luther goes to the museum to get his reward, his magnetic body attracts the gold items in the case. He is mistaken for a thief and is beaten up by the police.
- Mineral Macguffin: The Paradox Pearl
- Only in It for the Money: Luther overhears that the museum is offering a ten million dollar reward for the pearl and decides to take it for himself. He learns the hard way that it isn't worth it.
- Running Gag: The entire short is Luther being put through the wringer provided by the Paradox Pearl with great luck followed by something very bad happening to him.
- Threatening Shark: Soon after finding the pearl, Luther is attacked by a shark.
