History Recap / CommunityS3E14PillowsAndBlankets

* CreatorCameo: Creator/DanHarmon as "English Memorial".

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: The final line of an otherwise somber poem about the pillow fight that the female narrator is reciting is "I saw Mommy kissing Exxon-Mobil." It MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext.

* DamselInDistress: The Dean takes on this role in the Study Room Kerfuffle, screaming for Jeff to "Find me!" as the battle rages around him. Cut to Jeff... disinterestedly ignoring him and playing with his phone.

* EpisodeTitleCard

* FelonyMisdemeanor: The Changlorious Basterds making necklaces [[MattressTagGag out of mattress tags]].
-->'''Annie:''' This is when things get as ugly as they can get... while still being a pillow fight.

** Pierce's schematics have amusing comments highlighted by TheKenBurnsEffect, and the others are funny too.

** During the war, Jeff would refer to the accusation that he was just improvising fatuous patriotic-sounding dogma as a [[ShoutOut Ferris Buellerian]] attempt to distract everyone so they'd keep fighting and enable him to avoid schoolwork as "a slanderous betrayal akin to 9/11." After the war, he would describe the same accusations as "essentially accurate."

* SillyReasonForWar: Arguably deconstructed. While the reason for the pillow fight ''is'' ultimately pretty silly (whether or not Abed should tear down his pillow fort so Troy's blanket fort can maybe win a Guinness World Record) in the grand scheme of things, it quickly becomes a way for Troy and Abed to vent all of their frustrations regarding each other in their friendship, to the point where it threatens to permanently tear them apart. Or, to put it another way, it's a "SillyReasonForWar With Serious Repercussions."

* ShellShockedVeteran: Spoofed when Shirley acts like following the end of the war, with her even giving a semi-haunted and awkward performance in front of the camera during her talking head sessions.

** Pierce's DoomsdayDevice looks like a cross between the ComicBook/IronMan Mark I Armor -- with detailed schematics and wielding The Pillow of [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] -- and the Michelin Man.

** Blooper: When Chang is standing next to the bulletin board, there is a "Fall 2010 Schedule of Classes" posted using the E Pluribus Anus logo which wasn't invented until after Fall 2010 classes had already started.

* HellIsThatNoise: {{Invoked}}. At 12:07am The Pillowtownians are playing ''TabletopGame/GoFish'' when Blanketsburg attacks, howling. "Did you hear that?" "What the hell is that?!"
%%* HumansAreBastards: Discussed.

** Troy and Abed
---> '''Troy:''' We're grown-ups now. We have grown-up problems.\\
'''Jeff:''' ''[Watching Troy and Abed repeatedly hit each other with pillows]'' That's very clear.

* TheKenBurnsEffect
* KickTheDog: Abed and Troy exchange some pretty scathing remarks as the war heats up. Abed outlines Troy's weaknesses to his generals in an attempt to win the war, specifically highlighting his emotional sensitivity and insecurity over his intelligence as vulnerable points of attack. When Troy finds this out, he fires back by claiming he's Abeds first friend, and soon to be only friend, because Troy is "the only person who will ever have patience [with him]". It's this escalation of the conflict from a disagreement into a genuine fight that causes Jeff to step in.

-->'''Dean:''' Do people go to classes?!
* LemonyNarrator

* MattressTagGag: Chang's army of 12-year-olds make ''[[CreepySouvenir necklace out of them]]''.

** The narrator in general enjoys pushing his metaphors to breaking point:
--> '''Narrator:''' [Annie's] text messages with Jeff Winger give us a glimpse beneath the cushions of war to the lost pennies and grody q-tips of war's emotional toll.

-->'''Troy:''' I'm giving you an [[{{Malaproper}} all-tomato]]. Meaning that you give me the whole tomato, or else. \\

* NewNeoCity: New Fluffytown.

* OddNameOut: "Pillows and Blankets" breaks from the usual IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming, not particularly sounding like the name of a class or lesson.

---> '''Abed's Facebook status update:''' The war won't stop with ''[[Film/RamboFirstBloodPartII First Blood Part II]]''; it will escalate to ''Rambo III''. Which should really be called ''Rambo II: First Blood. Part III''. But the Rambo titles never made sense. And neither does war.

* OnrushingArmy: The FinalBattle comes down to both sides charging against another.

* PowderKegCrowd: The two factions are on the brink of a riot when Star-Burns who HatesBeingNicknamed lashes out at the opposition and ... the war is on.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: Subverted with Jeff's writing at the end. He muses that although friendship is getting him to stop this war, everyone caring about their friends is probably why wars ''start.''
* RedOniBlueOni ...but reversed as far as the actual color-coding goes. Abed, the calmer, more rational of the pair leads the red side, while Troy, the more emotional and excitable one, heads up the blue forces.

-->'''Annie:''' The injured said [the Changlorious Basterds] were [[CreepySouvenir making necklaces out of mattress tags]]. This is when things get as ugly as they can ''get!'' (sheepishly) ...While still being a pillow fight.

* ShapedLikeItself: "Pictured here lying down, Troy does not take Abed's email lying down."

* ShellShockedVeteran: Shirley.

-->'''Troy:''' The Legit Republic of Blanketsburg says Pillowtown has until midnight tonight to surrender its territory.
-->'''Abed:''' The United Forts of Pillowtown declines the request.
-->'''Troy:''' It's ''not'' a request.

* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: Soft, fluffy violence. Subverted when the conflict is resolved by both bureaucratic shenanigans and a peace treaty.

* WarIsHell: Mercilessly parodied from beginning to end.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The Vice-Dean and the Subway sub-plot from the previous episode make no appearance; in the Vice-Dean's case, it could be argued that, as the head of a shadowy AncientConspiracy, he didn't want to get caught on camera advancing his scheme. Likewise, Subway probably didn't want to pick any sides in the event that they supported the losing side and got kicked out of Greendale by the victors.

* WimpFight: Played with; when everyone is pillow-fighting, it's no-holds-barred and vicious. When it's just Troy and Abed, however, they just sort of awkwardly slap each other's sides with the pillows. Justified though, as they're obviously not trying to actually hurt each other, and actually ''want'' the fight to go on for as long as possible.

* DistractedByTheSexy[=/=]DistractedByTheShiny: Abed supplies his troops with a LongList of things Troy is easily distracted by, with "boobs" and "shiny objects" among them.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Pierce defeating the Changlorious Basterds with his pillow suit. [[TheDogBitesBack And the kids defeating him in the finale battle.]]

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone

** Lampshaded and subverted; Troy and Abed reveal they're both aware Jeff's suggestion of 'friendship hats' which would make their problems disappear was intended sarcastically. Jeff turns it around by pointing out that just because ''[=he's=]'' a sarcastic person doesn't mean that ''they'' have to take it in the same spirit.

** There's no way that "The Real Neil with Pipes of Steel" ''[=isn't=]'' some sort of shout out to [[Series/NewsRadio "The Real Deal with Bill McNeal."]]

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Pierce defeating the Changlorious Bastards with his pillow suit. [[TheDogBitesBack And the kids defeating him in the finale battle.]]

* TechnologyMarchesOn: Annie talking about buying icons for text messages at the App Store, to indicate that she’s more up-to-date on new technology than Jeff is, whereas emojis are now standard with every phone keyboard.

* HellIsThatNoise: {{Invoked}}. At 12:07am The Pillowtownians are playing Go Fish when Blanketsburg attacks, howling. "Did you hear that?" "What the hell is that?!"

* {{Diary}}: Annie keeps one and Jeff starts writing in one.

--> '''Narrator:''' "The North Cafeteria, named after Admiral William North, is located in the western portion of East Hall, gateway to the western half of North Hall, which is named not after William Hall, but for its position above the South Wall. It is the most contested and confusing battle field on Greendale's campus, next to the English Memorial Spanish Center, named after English Memorial, a Portuguese sailor who discovered Greendale while looking for a fountain that cured syphilis."

* TheRainman: The opening narration describes Abed as "unable to pay parking tickets or know left from right without mouthing the Pledge of Allegiance."

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Apparently, the spellcheck on Jeff's phone changed the spelling of his message so that it read that he heard Chang's crew were really 'ducking' things up.
** Doubles as some minor TruthInTelevision and a possible TakeThat; most smartphones, especially iPhones, tend to revert the F-word with "ducking" in an effort to keep texts "clean."
** Annie's text to Jeff: "WTF? Sadface. Special icon of a downward thumb"

* AllForNothing: The Guinness Book of Records executive gets fired and isn't coming, thus rendering the entire conflict utterly pointless. As soon as they learn this, everyone sheepishly and dispiritedly gives up and goes home [[ItsPersonal except for Troy and Abed]].

* MaleGaze: As Annie is introduced in the voiceover introduction, the camera shows a photo of just her torso and then pans up to include her face.* MattressTagGag: Chang's army of 12-year-olds make ''[[CreepySouvenir necklace out of them]]''.

* {{Mockumentary}}: The entire episode is done in the style of a Creator/KenBurns war documentary like ''The Civil War'' or ''The War''.

* PowderKegCrowd: The two factions are on the brink of a riot when Star-Burns who HatesBeingNicknamed lashes out at the opposition and ... the first battle is on.

* NurseWithGoodIntentions: Played with, in that Annie's nursing skills do sort of come in handy; the joke, however, is that given the nature of the conflict it's either for extremely minor boo-boos or essentially brushing feathers off people, which everyone treats as if she were Florence Nightingale.

* ShaggyDogStory: The Guinness Book of Records executive gets fired and isn't coming, thus rendering the entire conflict utterly pointless. As soon as they learn this, everyone sheepishly and dispiritedly gives up and goes home [[ItsPersonal except for Troy and Abed]].