Western Animation / Underfist

Underfist, also called Underfist: Halloween Bash is an animated special of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy meant to be setup for a Spin-Off of the show, but the project never went through due to Maxwell Atoms' contract with Cartoon Network expiring. Instead, it serves as the Grand Finale to Billy and Mandy, along with the Grim & Evil franchise as a whole.

The special aired on October 12, 2008 and features Irwin, Hoss Delgado, Skarr, Jeff the Spider and Fred Fredburger teaming up to fight an army of candy from the Underworld.

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Tropes:

• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The pumpkin tanks and the shot of the giant chocolate bar mummy monster forming.
• And the Adventure Continues: The special ends with Underfist preparing to fight another villain and his army of squid warriors.
• Attack Of The 50 FT Whatever: Mindy at one point merges all of the trick-or-treater eaters together to form a giant comprised of chocolate.
• Behind the Black: Hoss briefly hides from the giant chocolate bar with lollipop hands by cowering behind the stylistic widescreen bars.
• Big Bad: Mindy at first appears to be the main villain, but she's actually a pawn of Bun-Bun.
• Big Damn Heroes: Fred Fredburger and Jeff save Hoss and Skarr from the stronger candy mooks, though not before Fred spells his name.
• Book Ends: The special begins with Dracula giving Billy, Mandy, and Irwin pennies as Halloween candy, and ends with Dracula receiving a penny instead of a medal.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Irwin at one point comments how he was Hoss Delgado's sidekick in one episode of Billy & Mandy. He also questions why a marshmallow bunny is in a Halloween special.
• The Cameo: Several characters from the Billy and Mandy cast, including Billy, Mandy, Grim, Billy's parents, Sperg, Dracula, Grandmama, Nergel and his family.
  • A cameo by Jack O'Lantern was planned (as a scarecrow behind Mindy when she says "Ha-ha! You looked!◊), but ultimately cut.
  • Chowder and Dee Dee can be seen in a pumpkin float near the beginning of the special.
  • Thromnabular of the episode "Wishbones" can be seen in Grim's lab, with 13 wishes on his head.
  • Baron Von Ghoulish, from the Christmas special, makes a cameo in Mindy's song as a monster who is scared by kids in costumes.
  • A drawing◊ of Boskov and Hector Con Carne can briefly be seen during a portion of the song "I Don't Wanna Grow Up".
  • The Boogey Man appears as the head of a flying Pez Dispenser.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Candy Blaster gun that destroys one entire piece of candy. It shoots out Billy, who immediately devours the giant candy monster.
• Damsel in Distress:
  • Mindy is kidnapped early on, but it's later subverted when she's revealed to be in league with the Big Bad.
  • Played Straight with the president aka Mandy.
• Demoted to Extra: Billy, Mandy and Grim are all demoted to minor roles in this special.
• Doom Troops: Mindy mutates the chocolate bar Mooks into much stronger "trick-or-treater eaters".
• The Dragon: Bun-Bun appears to be Mindy's second-in-command.
  • Dragon-in-Chief: However, Bun-Bun is shown to be much more competent than Mindy, and the one who came up with the Evil Plan in the first place. He's also The Man in Front of the Man.
  • Bun-Bun also later gains a dragon in the form of Skarr. However, Skarr was faking being on his side the whole time.
• Elite Mook: While battling the chocolate bar soldiers, Hoss encounters a much stronger chocolate bar with lollipops for hands.
• Fake Defector: Skarr becomes The Dragon to Bun-Bun, only to betray him right when he's about to kill our heroes.
• Fake-Out Fade-Out: Roughly five minutes into the special, Irwin gives up on his Halloween night and heads home. Cue the camera zooming out past Endsville and the Earth, while a song about giving up plays and fake credits roll. The credits are then interrupted by Mindy asking Irwin for help, at which point the scene rewinds back to Irwin.
• Freudian Excuse: Hoss hates monsters because a monster scared him when he was little and made him wet the bed for thirty years.
• For the Evulz: Bun Bun isn't given much motivation for scaring Hoss when he was little, making Billy afraid of spiders and sawing off Fred Fredburger's tusks. Or way of knowing how this would affect Billy for one.
• Gasshole: Mindy becomes one after becoming a witch. Her farts are strong enough to put people to sleep.
• Genre Shift: From the horror-comedy of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy to action-comedy.
• Hypocritical Humor: Hoss Delgado doesn't trust "one-eyed weridos" despite the fact that he himself only has one eye.
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: When trying to get away from the other members of Underfist, Skarr pulls this:
  Skarr: Uh, I have to go wash my hair. [Maniacal laughter].
• The Man Behind the Man: Bun-Bun initially appears to be leader of the chocolate bar soldiers, but he is later revealed to be The Dragon to Mindy. However, he is actually the true mastermind, and he was only using Mindy to get to Irwin.
• Missing Mom: Parodied when Hoss Delgado lies about his mother having passed away so people won't know he still lives with her at 48 years old.
• Negated Moment of Awesome: Just as Irwin's about to unleash his dark mummy vampire powers he gets run over by Jeff.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Irwin is a mummy vampire.
• Non Sequitur, *Thud*: B (Billy), after being thrown against a wall by an invention:
  B: I'll have the fried pickle. *Thud*
• Overly Long Gag: Fred Fredburger spelling his name one letter at a time, intercut with Hoss and Skarr getting their butts kicked by candy soldiers.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Hoss lets one loose before he fires the Candy Blaster.
• The Reveal: Parodied. Bun-Bun was the one truly responsible for Mindy turning into a witch by putting a witch worm in her hair. And he was the monster who scared Hoss when he was little and made him wet the bed and hate monsters. And he made Billy (Jeff's father) afraid of spiders. And he sawed off Fred Fredburger's tusks.
• Rewind Gag: Near the start of the special, a Fake-Out Fade-Out starts after Irwin gives up on his evening, complete with fake credits. As soon as Mindy reveals that she wants Irwin's help, the credits rewind back to Irwin.
• Samus Is a Girl: The new president is revealed to be Mandy.
• Self-Deprecation: When Jeff mentions the idea of "working a job that I hate" it cuts to him being a cartoonist. Bear in mind that he's voiced by series creator Maxwell Atoms.
• Shout-Out:
  • Irwin says "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives."
  • Early on, Skarr dons a robot suit similar to the one Ellen Ripley wears in Aliens.
    Skarr: Get away from my garden, you rich dark chocolates!
  • He also later dresses up like Freddy Krueger.
  • Mindy at one point wears a costume that looks heavily similar to The Evil Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
  • At one point, Mandy displays the Confectionomicon, which is designed as a candy-themed parody of the Necronomicon from Evil Dead.
  • Billy as B is dressed like Dexter of Dexter's Laboratory.
  • The villains attempt to kill Hoss by pushing him off a skiff à la Return of the Jedi, complete with Hoss calling Mindy a "slimy, worm-ridden piece of filth".
• Spin-Off Babies: Parodied with Underfist Babies in the ending credits.
• Temporary Bulk Change: Once Billy eats the giant chocolate bar mummy monster, he is left stuffed and round like a beach ball.
• The Stinger: Billy says saying "All that work and nothing to show for it!" after the end credits are over.
• Those Two Guys: Jeff the Spider and Fred Fredburger are never seen without each other in the special.
• Understatement: Irwin trying to comfort Fred:
  Irwin: Yeah, it's been a pretty whack Halloween, yo.
• Villain Song: Mindy sings "Trick-or-Treater Eaters" when she whips up the brew needed to make the candy monsters stronger.
• Wimp Fight: Hoss and Irwin finish their brawl by feebly slapping at each other.