Oh great, they're in our TV for real this time!
Rabbids Invasion is a 2013 animated series based on the Raving Rabbids video game franchise. It is developed by Ubisoft Motion Pictures and co-produced by France Télévisions and the French CNC. For the first three seasons, Nickelodeon provided financial support. A fourth season premiered on Netflix on July 1, 2019.The cartoon just follows a Three Shorts format featuring random, slapstick adventures of the Rabbids as they interact with humans and cause general mischief amongst them and themselves.
The show has the following tropes
- Accidental Hero: In "Rabbid Mollusk", "Rabbid, Are You There?" and "Safe Deposit Rabbids" the titular quartet foil a couple of criminals (an escaped convict and a burglar, respectively) without really trying. Or even being aware of what they're doing.
- All-CGI Cartoon: It's animated in pure CGI.
- All of the Other Reindeer: There's occasionally a Rabbid who's ostracized by everyone else for being incapable of doing something, just being plain lame, or just for the heck of it. This Rabbid will usually try to get their approval by proving something to them. Examples are "Dueling Rabbids", "Green Rabbid", "Escalator Rabbid" and "Zombie Rabbid*.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: The Rabbids are extremely easy to distract with pretty much anything, from flies to tennis balls to a blinking restaurant sign.
- In one of the testing facility episodes, the researchers try to research the behaviour of Rabbids towards possession, which shows that their attention deficit can be affected by fellow Rabbids. Ironically, the researchers themself eventually become less interested in the Rabbids than the 3 red buttons in front of them.
- Ascended Extra: Lapinibernatus, a highly intelligent ancestor of the Rabbids who only appeared in two episodes of Season 1 soon became a recurring character in Season 3 as time travel became the central theme of that season.
- The talented Rabbid from "Rabbid Mozart" would eventually become Professor Mad Rabbid from Season 2-onwards.
- The Mini Rabbid from the episode of the same name also became a recurring character during Seasons 2 and 3.
- Attention Whore: The red-and-blue eyed Rabbid will get jealous if someone steals his spotlight ("Schnoz Rabbid", "Rabbid Mozart"), and will do anything he can to get it back.
- Ax-Crazy: The truck driver in "Stop! No More!", who wants to hurt the Rabbids and doesn't care if he gets himself and the hitchhiker he picked up killed.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: The Mad Scientist Rabbid actually manages to create a working teleporter to the moon. Going to the moon may be the goal of every Rabbid, but once he gets there, he quickly gets bored and wants to go back to Earth.
- Book Ends: "Keypad Rabbids" begins and ends with a Rabbid speaking on a slipper as if it was a phone.
- Brown Note: In "Omelet Party," one of the Rabbids has a peculiar song that apparently triggers the egg-laying process in chickens. On other animals, like cows, well...see below.
- Chaotic Stupid: Who else but the Rabbids? They can switch their attention from chicken rodeo to egg wars without a second thought.
- Chivalrous Pervert: One of the Rabbids in Get In Line, Rabbids!. He falls head of heels for a Rabbid who is wearing a blonde female wig, thinking he's a lady. The chivalrous part kicks in when he offers "her" to cut ahead in line, and instantly comes to "her" rescue when "she's" held captive by a guard. The pervert part comes in that he chases "her" around and attempts to kiss "her" against her will throughout the rest of the episode.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Barranco stops appearing after Season 1.
- Damsel in Distress: One Rabbid, wearing a wig, is this in Get In Line, Rabbids! in the hands of a security guard, prompting a male Rabbid to come to "her" rescue.
- Dance Battler: In "Rabbid Test No 98005-c: The Blue Rabbid" the Blue and White Rabbids literally fight by dancing, including a three-Rabbid waltz punch and a Bollywood-inspired rapid-fire slap.
- Dirty Coward: In Vampire Rabbid, when a Rabbid, erm, "couple" walks down the sidewalk, they encounter a vampire Rabbid (who's actually an ordinary Rabbid who has used hair growth medium on his teeth and fur). The male Rabbid first tries to protect the other, but when the vampire Rabbid comes closer, he gets scared, shoves the "female" Rabbid the Vampire Rabbid's way and runs for his life.
- Einstein Hair: A Mad Scientist rabbid appropriately has this along with a bump on his head.
- Eye Scream: In one episode, a Rabbid gets a plunger stuck to its face, and when it pulls it off one of its eyes comes off with it. Fortunately, the Rabbid is able to just stick the eye back on.
- Expy: Zak is very similar to that of Dib from Invader Zim due his obsession for exposing the Rabbids as alien menaces, causing everyone around him to treat him as an insane person.
- Extreme Omnivore: The Rabbids tend to not be picky about what they eat, as long as it's food. They eventually figured out how to open Pepper Juice cans, but before that, they would eat the cans whole. They won't eat bananas, though, because they don't know how to peel them.
- Failed a Spot Check: It's amazing how folks sometimes have no idea that the Rabbids are around. Justified in "Rabbids Vs. the Vacuum Cleaner," as the man was wearing headphones.
- The Rabbids themselves have an uncanny ability to completely miss things in plain sight, including solutions to problems they face.
- Fantastic Racism: The Rabbids show this in "Rabbid Test No 98005-c: The Blue Rabbid", where the rabbids are first afraid of, then ostracize and belittle a rabbid when he's painted blue.
- Fat and Skinny: Scientists John and Gina, respectively.
- For Science!: John and Gina's tests on the Rabbids.
- Fun Size: In the episode "Mini Rabbid", a Rabbid shrinks down to baby size after being inside a washing machine for too long, causing the other Rabbids to be-little him and treat him like an infant.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: In "Being Rabbid", where scientists John and Gina accidentally switch brains with a Rabbid.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In "Rabbid 2.0", one of the dates on the washing machine time machine was Oct 26 1985 1:22. Also a Shout-Out to Back to the Future. The time machine also has "July 5th 2010 1:21" on display, which could imply that the time of the show is set in summer 2010.
- The Gadfly: The Rabbids can be this to humans at times, like in "Until Rabbids Do You Part", "Rabbid Radar" and "Rabbids' Rules of Order". This can make them temporarily unsympathetic.
- Gasshole: The Rabbids, on occasion. A good example would be the experiment episode with the Blue Rabbid.
- Halloween Episode: Vampire Rabbid, Rabbid Halloween and Zombie Rabbid.
- Harmless Freezing: In "Never Refreeze a Rabbid", one of the Rabbids gets locked in a store's upright freezer cabinet. By the time the other Rabbids find him and let him out he's frozen solid, so they use him as a sled. By the end of the episode only his arms have thawed out, but he's having fun using them to push himself around the floor.
- Hat of Authority: Aside from a few unique traits like being tiny or blue, having a unique appearance makes one an authority figure in Rabbid society. If a Rabbid finds a hat, other Rabbids who don't have a hat or who have a less desirable hat will obey him.
- Hidden Depths: The Rabbids show a surprising knowledge of dance in "The Blue Rabbid", from Maori Haka to Riverdance to Bollywood-inspired dance and even the Waltz.
- I Am Not Weasel: "Hold-up Rabbid" sees three criminals mistake a Rabbid for their human partner in crime, who was gambling and had lost track of time. While the four of them had agreed to wear Rabbid masks, with "Mister White" being no more than two feet tall, it should have been fairly obvious that he was a real Rabbid.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: In "Rabbid Mozart" one of the Rabbids suffers a blow to the head and as a result becomes intelligent, showing off amazing skills such as piano-playing and soccer-playing which make the leader Rabbid jealous but impress the other Rabbids, until he paints a Picasso-esque portrait of them all, which disturbs them.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The Rabbids. They may be mean-spirited, laugh at each other, drive each other nuts, hit each other and the list goes on, but whenever one of them is in deep trouble, they will do anything in their might to help that Rabbid (even if they can be total jerks while doing it). They also seem to occasionally have a soft spot for animals, particularly chicks and dogs.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Barranco is rarely, maybe never, seen caring about somebody else than himself and will often laugh at others misery. He's also an extreme Attention Whore.
- Mythology Gag: Most of them come from Rabbids Go Home.
- In a few episodes, the Rabbids are chasing someone in a shopping cart. Or, using a cart in general to collect stuff.
- The guard dogs look awfully reminiscent of the enemies in the same game.
- The Rabbids also hang out a lot in town, or better, in a mall.
- There are many episodes dealing with Rabbids wanting to go to the moon, especially the first episodes of season 2 ("Diet Rabbid", "Reflections in a Rabbid's Eye", "Rabbid Obsession"). The episode that screams this trope though, is "Green Rabbid", where they are trying to build a pile of stuff to get there.
- Nerd Glasses: Charles.
- No-Dialogue Episode: "Omelet Party" just features the Rabbids and farm animals. Same with "Rabbid Race To the Moon", which has four rabbids and a rocket ride. Other examples include "Holy Rabbid Cow", "Escalator Rabbid", "Kite Rabbids", "Music Rabbid", "Wake up Rabbids", "Rabbids With Fleas", "Hypno Rabbid", "Rabbid Doggies", "Raving Chicken", "Rabbid 2.0.", Rabbid Diet", "Reflections in a Rabbid's Eye" and "Green Rabbid".
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: The Rabbids to human females. There are times where a human man would be thrilled at being near a hot lady like they sometimes are, but they either get distracted by something else or make themselves distracted by something, to them, far more interesting. Examples are "Ring! Bwaah!" Where a phone has been left behind in their possession, whom's owner was female. They then check the pictures in her phone which includes herself in a bikini, and licking a popsicle. They instantly begin to drool from wanting the popsicle and attempts to suck the phone in response. In "Sticky Rabbid", a sticker gets stuck under a jogging girl's foot at one point, to which the Rabbids pursue. We see from their point of view that her butt is moving plain in view, but they only get thrilled when they see the sticker under her foot, and sad when they don't. However, when it comes to female Rabbids (or they think are female), this trope is averted for the most part.
- Only Six Faces: You'll tend to see the same human designs for a lot of characters.
- Only Sane Rabbid: Lapinibernatus, the unfrozen "prehistoric rabbid" from "Jurassic Rabbid" is a genius-level rabbid capable of building advanced tech. Naturally, being around his Too Dumb to Live descendants drives him to tears, resulting him in building a machine that takes him far away out of a dryer to go somewhere better.
- Plot What Plot: Not the episodes themselves, but for how the Rabbids got to Earth in the first place. Even the official description for the series mentions that "No one knows where they come from or what their purposes are, they are just here to stay and have as much fun as possible".
- Our Werewolves Are Different: In the episode, "Rabbid Werewolf", a Rabbid turns into a werewolf from putting on shampoo.
- Painful Body Waxing: In "Get in Line, Rabbids!", one Rabbid gets a sticker stuck on his butt. When he pulls it off, it rips off a chunk of his fur, causing him to scream in pain and accidentally put the sticker back on. By the time he gets the sticker off, he's lost a large amount of fur.
- Police Are Useless: Parodied in the end of "Ring! Bwaah!" The Rabbids accidentally call the police non-emergency line (at least, one can hope it was the non-emergency line) and get an answering machine. They're stuck on hold for long enough for them to conga dance out of the city. The police aren't especially competent in other episodes, but criminals tend to be even more incompetent, so it's less of an issue than it could be.
- Prim and Proper Bun: Xenson.
- Rejection Affection: Happens in "Get In Line, Rabbids!" between a Rabbid and another Rabbid whom he mistakes for being female since he's wearing a female wig.
- Running Gag: In "The Rabbid Games", each 'event' is preceeded a blonde wig-wearing rabbid trying to sing, only to be stopped by something and then showing a white card with the silhouette of the event. The final time he gets cut off by the fade to black.
- Sanity Slippage: Happens to the humans in "Until Rabbids Do You Part" and "Rabbid Radar" upon the Rabbids driving them insane by their antics.
- Servile Snarker: The Rabbids can be this to Barranco(since he's the leader) sometimes, like in "Rabbids Say Cheese".
- Shout-Out: "Runaway Rabbids" feature bits with 8-bit music. At one point, the two Rabbids play tennis against each other in the style of Pong.
- In the episode "Rabbid 2.0", one of the Rabbids does the famous viral dance "Gangnam Style". There's also a painfully obvious reference to Back to the Future; the time traveling Rabbid's washing machine has the date October 26th 1985 1:22, the exact date and time when Marty McFly traveled to 1955.
- Rabbids Against The Machine is a reference to Rage Against the Machine. And in said episode the Rabbids are raging against a snack machine.
- Showdown at High Noon: Spoofed with chickens as guns.
- Silent Snarker: There are rare moments where the Rabbids manage this, like in "Surprise Rabbid". They aren't really silent, but they're unintellegible to the audience, as well as the in-universe humans.
- Speaking Simlish: "Bababababaaadah! Babah!"
- Spoiled Brat. Timothy.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Played for Laughs in one episode where the Rabbids' bowling ball gets thrown over the nearby fence. Most of the Rabbids want to use their time machine to retrieve the ball, but one Rabbid tries to get them to realize it would be simpler to use a ladder to climb over the fence. However, there was an even simpler solution available; the fence's gate was open.
- Surrounded by Idiots: The prehistoric Only Sane Man Rabbid in "Jurassic Rabbid" and "2.0". This fact makes him cry.
- Take That!: In "Rabbid Mozart", everyone are impressed by a Rabbid's new talents and will praise him for it, however, when he paints a portrait of them Picasso style, they instantly get horrified by him.
- Toilet Humor: Rabbids are practically made of this trope, having evident bonds with plungers, brushing their teeth with toilet brushes and having pink toilet rolls as background objects throughout the show, though thankfully they're all clean plungers and toilet brushes. Also, at the end of "Omelet Party", thankfully it cuts to black before we can see the messy outcome.
- Token Evil Teammate: Barranco. While the ordinary Rabbids aren't very nice and cuddly to begin with, they usually only mess with each other at worst and occasionally show a caring side to one another. Barranco is not only outright malicious, but he'll feel endless hatred for anyone who steals his spotlight, and he'll laugh at the Rabbids' misery or when they're hurting themselves. This usually results in his minions ditching him (or humiliate him), however, and he more often than not gets his comeuppance. The only episodes so far where he hasn't been mean at all are "Elevatorus Rabbidinus", where he spends half the episode separated from the other Rabbids, and "Super Rabbid", where he's just a Butt-Monkey.
- Too Dumb to Live: The Rabbids, of course. Most of the plots are exploited from their stupidity and incapability to understand their surroundings. It doesn't seem like they can actually die, but they tend to hurt themselves and each other a lot.
- Trademark Favorite Food: The Rabbids seem really fond of pretzels and Pepper Juice.
- The Unintelligible: Par for the course with the Rabbids, who only speak in a strange gibberish language pronounced Bwaaah all other dialogue is spoken by the humans. Their gibberish language has been lampshaded by Xenson ("Not 'Hello!', you have to use their stupid language!")
- They seem to understand each other, though.
- The Wrong Way on the Escalator: In "Escalator Rabbid", a Rabbid tries to go up the down escalator to get the candy the two Rabbids at the top of the escalator are holding.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Oddly, no one finds the presence of the Rabbids as odd. Beyond the obvious, anyway. It's possible that they've been on the Earth long enough for folks to get used to them.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Played With in Season 3. The Rabbids are mistaken for heroes by the world for solving the problem of Antarctica's ice disappearing. Zak correctly believes that the Rabbids were the ones who stole the ice in the first place, and incorrectly assumes they intentionally stole the ice in order to trick the world into thinking they were heroes for returning it. In reality, the Rabbids are neither; a group of Rabbids just wanted to cool off during a heat wave and stole more ice than they needed, and once they got bored of it, they took it back to Antarctica.
