Taking its cues from the bleaker interpretations of the base story, this short casts Foxy Loxy into the role of the villain protagonist, as he schemes to lure the poultry of a nearby farm from the safety of their yard to his cave. The plan he hits upon is to exploit the stupidity of the farmyard's dumbest resident, Chicken Little, to plunge the poultry into such a collective panic that they will voluntarily flee the farm right into Foxy's waiting jaws.
The cartoon was adapted into a nine-page comic for the first issue of Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies comic book in 1952. The adaptation was a streamlined, simplified, Lighter and Softer version of the story, with a much less bleak ending.
Tropes found in the 1943 short:
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: The comic adaptation of the short ends with Foxy being trapped inside the cave by a large boulder, preventing him from eating the flock he tried to lure.
- Adaptation Name Change: Goosey Poosey is renamed Goosey Gander in the comic adaptation.
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: The drunken ducks and geese instantly believe the rumors about Cocky Locky and spread them, unknowingly helping Foxy Loxy.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Foxy Loxy gets to eat all the poultry, much to the narrator's dismay. Averted in the comic adaptation.
- Balloon Belly: Foxy Loxy sports a notably distended stomach in the short's ending after eating all the poultry.
- Black Comedy: Foxy Loxy devouring the flock is horribly sad but him using their wishbones as grave markers is darkly funny.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Foxy Loxy rubs his victory in the narrator's face to close out the cartoon.
- Cunning Like a Fox: Foxy Loxy's intelligence allows him to play all the fowl for saps.
- Darker and Edgier: Though much of the short is Played for Laughs, this has one of the bleakest endings of the Classic Disney Shorts.
- Death by Adaptation: In the comic book adaptation, Foxy Loxy gets this treatment, as it's all but stated that he perished in the cave; he realizes upon being trapped that he'll suffocate or starve if he doesn't manage to move the boulder, and the farmyard animals are in too much of a panic to listen or help him. The final panel, set later, has everyone remark that they didn't find a cave (meaning that they didn't roll away the stone) and the sky didn't fall, but at least they haven't seen Foxy around lately.
- Downer Ending: Pretty much every fowl from the farm ends up being eaten by Foxy Loxy — the only possible exception being Cocky Locky, who was knocked unconscious and left behind. Averted in the comic adaptation, where Foxy ends up trapped inside the cave before the fowl arrived there.
- Fear-Induced Idiocy: Foxy Loxy (manipulator of the psychology of the masses) brought the birds to such a strong panic about the "falling sky" that they all rushed to hide in a cave (which Foxy personally advised), where the fox safely ate them all.
- Flaw Exploitation: Loxy exploits Chicken Little's naivety and ignorance to convince him that a broken off piece of signboard painted to look like a star is a piece of the sky fallen to earth, which causes him to whip up the other barnyard poultry into a panic.
- Foul Fox: Foxy Loxy is a scheming fox whose sole goal is to devour the equally sapient poultry of a nearby farm, and who gets them to flee its safety into the dangers of his own lair by exploiting mass hysteria.
- Gossipy Hens: A literal example is seen in the short, which Foxy Loxy takes advantage of the group at the middle of the short to discredit Cocky Locky's reputation.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Once the panic-stricken flock has fled into Foxy Loxy's cave, he wraps a napkin around his neck and dashes inside, blocking the entrance off with a boulder. The next scene shows Foxy Loxy sucking a final wishbone clean before planting it in the ground next to the others, deliberately suggesting a wartime cemetery.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In the comic adaptation, the wooden star that Foxy Loxy used to make Chicken Little believe that the sky is falling is the one that undoes his plan, as Chicken Little accidentally drops it, hitting a little rock that hits a large boulder, rolling down the hill and trapping Foxy inside the cave, blocking the only exit. Furthermore, Foxy Loxy has done too good a job convincing the birds that the sky is falling:Foxy Loxy: Roll that thing away! I'll run out of air in here!
Chicken Little: There's no time, Foxy! You'll be safe in there, anyway!
Foxy Loxy: No! No! It's only a trick! The sky isn't falling!
Chicken Little: Oh, yeah? Well a piece fell and hit me on the head! I oughta know! Come on, everybody! *runs off and leaves Foxy trapped* - Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Deconstructed completely. Foxy Loxy acts and schemes like a standard goofy wise guy predator in a Golden Age cartoon, even falling victim to a bit of slapstick early on. Despite the narrator's predictions however, his plan works. Of course, unlike most cases, Foxy Loxy is smart enough to target dumber prey than himself.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: Tying in with the short's status as a Wartime Cartoon, Foxy Loxy is written as a direct allegory for Nazi Germany and its tactics, using propaganda to manipulate the masses and defame his opponents before literally devouring his subjects. The initial draft further accentuated the allegory by having Foxy Loxy read a copy of Mein Kampf instead of a generic psychology textbook.
- Only Sane Man: Cocky Locky the rooster is far smarter and more rational than the rest of the flock, easily discrediting Foxy Loxy's initial attempt to use Chicken Little to stir up a panic. Consequently, Foxy Loxy's next plan is to discredit Cocky Locky, and ultimately to knock him out before the fowls make their panic-stricken flight from the farm to the fox's den.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Instead of using brute force to sneak into the farm and get just one bird (and risk suffering the farmer's shotgun), Foxy Loxy prefers to psychologically manipulate the entire flock into escaping the farm and running to his cave, so he can have them all for lunch.
- Propaganda Machine: Utilizing his Psychology book, Foxy Loxy is able to manipulate the poultry into running to his cave, demonstrating the destructive power of propaganda.
- Right Behind Me: Henny Penny absent-mindedly whispers that Cocky Locky is "not the cock of the walk anymore" right in Cocky Locky's own ear.
- Sdrawkcab Name: The wooden sign Foxy Loxy uses to fake the sky falling is for a psychic named Madame Izan.
- Sole Survivor: Cocky Locky is the only fowl who does not get eaten, and that was only because he was knocked out.
- Spared by the Adaptation: The comic book adaptation changes the ending so that none of the birds die.
- Tap on the Head: Foxy Loxy inflicts this on both Chicken Little and Cocky Locky to make everyone think the sky was falling.
- Tempting Fate: At the episode's climax, trying to talk sense into his panicky flock, Cockly Locky sarcastically asks them why a piece of the sky hasn't him him in the head yet. Cue Foxy Loxy loading up a slingshot with another broken-off piece of signboard, this one ironically made up to look like a cartoony "shooting star", and firing it right at the rooster's head, knocking him unconscious. This turns out to be last straw, and when Chicken Little (prompted by Foxy Loxy) shouts they should "run to the cave" for shelter, the flock breaks down the gates and flees into the forest... and right towards Foxy's lair.
- This Is No Time to Panic:Foxy Loxy: This is the Voice of Doom speaking. Special bulletin! Flash! The sky is falling! A piece of it just hit you on the head! Now be calm, don't get panicky... Run for your life!
- Too Dumb to Live: The point of the short was to convey the potential fates of standard careless archetypes such as the Gossipy Hens and gullible drunks who fall for stories and rumors during the war.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Chicken Little isn't trying to get his friends and family eaten by Foxy Loxy. He genuinely thinks he's doing a good thing by warning them all of the potential danger of the sky's impending collapse. Instead, he gets them all (and himself) killed.
- Villain Protagonist: Although he's unquestionably a bad guy, Foxy Loxy's plans drive the short.
- Villains Want Mercy: In the comic adaptation, Foxy Loxy ends up trapped in the cave and asks to be freed from the cave, only for the flock to leave him trapped for good. Interestingly enough, the birds don't leave him there out of malice or revenge — but because they still think the sky is falling and he'll be safe in there anyway.
- Voice Changeling: Foxy Loxy effortlessly imitates the voices of the poultry, including a perfect female voice, while engaging in his "whispering campaign" against Cocky Locky.
- Wartime Cartoon: Less blatant and with more applicability than some of Disney's other wartime shorts, but still unmistakably one of these.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: The reasons why Foxy doesn't directly attack the farm include the fence being too high for him to climb out from the inside, the gates being locked, and the farmer's shotgun near the door of the house.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: After Foxy Loxy captures the flock in his cave, the narrator assures the audience that he knows how the story unfolds and that The Good Guys Always Win. He is then dumbfounded to find Foxy Loxy has successfully eaten the entire flock the next scene. Made even more so given that this is (aside from the wartime additions) the actual ending of the original story.Foxy Loxy: Don't believe everything you read, brother!
