History Videogame / Scribblenauts

* DarkSkinnedRedhead: The DJ, who is both a summonable character and one of the avatars.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Any animals who bear a superficial resemblance to each other are treated as the same species by the game. Examples include (but are not limited to) earthworm and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caecilian caecilian]], mouse and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pika pika]], and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Velociraptor]]'' and ''Herrerasaurus''.

* SmallTaxonomyPools: Any animals who bear a superficial resemblance to each other are treated as the same species by the game. Examples include (but are not limited to) earthworm and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caecilian caecilian]], mouse and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pika pika]], and ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Velociraptor]]'' and ''Herrerasaurus''.

* ILoveNuclearPower: Dropping a radioactive rock on someone turns them into a mutant.

%%* ILoveNuclearPower: Handle the "Nuclear" adjective with extreme care.

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: The games will certainly reward any player who had a childhood obsession with dinosaurs, as it lets you summon many [[StockDinosaurs well-known]] and obscure ones.

* StockDinosaurs: The Saurus Park has (apart from whatever else you might choose to summon) ''Allosaurus'', ''Pachycephalosaurus'', ''Plesiosaurus'', a pterosaur, a dromaeosaurid, an unnamed brachiosaurid, ''Stegosaurus'', ''Triceratops'', ''Tyrannosaurus'' [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and a sheep]].

[[quoteright:334:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/scribblenauts.png]]
[[caption-width-right:334: Make anything. Yes, ''[[DevelopersForesight anything]]''.]]

** ''Plateosaurus'' is not a hadrosaur, but typing its name summons one.

** The word "Ichtyostega" (note the absence of the second "h") summons a plesiosaur.

* NiceHat: Maxwell's helmet is race-car red and has three crests on tip. It's usually referred to as a rooster hat.

* TheTetrisEffect: After playing ''Scribblenauts'', you'll find yourself coming up with ludicrous ways to solve problems in real life, regardless of whatever you have available.

** "Post 217." Looks like a billboard based on the "ROBOT ZOMBIES" story, [[spoiler: acts like a nuke]].

* MemeticMutation: The original game threw in many references to [[https://scribblenauts.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Internet_Memes Internet memes]] of the time as {{Easter egg}}s, and these were iconic enough to be included in later games as well, with new ones being added. Unfortunately, [[ScrewedByTheLawyers this got the devs into a bit of trouble]], as they included [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyan_Cat Nyan Cat]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_Cat Keyboard Cat]] in ''Unlimited'' without realizing that both were trademarked, and owned by people willing to go to court to defend said trademarks. The case was settled out of court and the characters were licensed for the game, but as a result, all memes (except Invisible Bike, and [[InJoke in-jokes]] like Post 217) were removed from ''Unmasked''.[[invoked]]

* GuideDangIt: To get the final merit, you must "apply the [[GuideDangIt secret]] Super Scribblenauts adjective". The only clue is that the merit is called "The Fourth Wall". [[spoiler: The adjective is Scribblenautical if you were wondering. It gives everything the rooster hat.]]

* BookEnds: The first and last thing you create is a doctor. The first one is to heal Lily, the last is to heal [[spoiler: Doppelganger]].

* EnemyMine: During the [[spoiler: final mission]], Maxwell has to select one of the many Lantern Corps batteries to get backup that can assist Hal Jordan in fighting the Sinestro Corps. It is possible to summon the Black Lantern Corps, the Red Lantern Corps, or the Orange Lantern Corps as your allies in this battle.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: During the intro, the paper that Maxwell wrote 'Gotham City' on it has a D on the other side. [[spoiler: Say, doesn't "Doppelganger" start with a D?]]
** There are also a few hints throughout the game that [[spoiler: Brainiac is the main antagonist]].
* FinalBoss: [[spoiler: Brainiac]]

* NarratorAllAlong: [[spoiler: The narrator doing the starting and ending cut scenes turns out to be Alfred, Bruce's loyal butler.]]

* PuzzleBoss: [[spoiler: Brainiac. He simply teleports the other heroes outside of his base before his fight begins, but Lily figures out that the key to beating Brainiac is to summon alternate versions of the DC heroes due to Cyborg noting that Brainiac can only teleport his other counterparts or people from his home dimension and therefore has no power over Maxwell and Lily. The key to defeating Brainiac is to summon the Elseworlds incarnations of the superheroes, such as the Red Son version of Superman or the Batman Beyond version of Batman.]]

* RunTheGauntlet: After fighting The Joker, Harley Quinn, Zoom, Lex Luthor, Ocean Master, Sinestro and Cheetah in the previous stages, you have to face all of them again during the final stage [[spoiler: on board of Brainiac's ship]]. Averted with General Zod, Ra's al Ghul and Scarecrow, who do not return for the finale.

* StableTimeLoop: In the Arkham Asylum level, Barbara Gordon appears as Batgirl, apparently never [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke having her spine damaged by the Joker]]. After the level is beaten, Maxwell shows his thanks for Batgirl saving him by [[spoiler: going back in time and implicitly preventing the Joker from crippling her]].
* VillainDecay: Happens to a lot of the stronger DC comics villains, especially if you use adjectives. For example, in the Fortress of Solitute level, Maxwell has to fight Doomsday, the Anti-Monitor and a gigantic Darkseid, 3 of the physically strongest DC villains, but they go down easily [[spoiler: by making them fall asleep, stick a bomb on them and use a mirror respectively]].

** In earlier games, the "psycho" and "stalker" entities look similar to the "girlfriend" or "[[AllGuysWantCheerleaders cheerleader]]", but come equipped with [[KnifeNut a knife]].

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Has 2000 characters from the DC Universe, some of which being obscure characters that only appeared a handful of times. Specific examples are the 100+ ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' mythos characters, [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bat Family]], the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes, Franchise/{{Superman}}, as well as their respective [[RoguesGallery Rogues Galleries]]; even ''ComicBook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew'' are around. In fact, there's achievements for summoning alternate copies of the Justice League and 150 Green Lanterns.
** Unfortunately, this inevitably led to quantity over quality, especially with the more obscure characters. For example, even though Mother of Champions from the Great Ten is immune to radiation (and it even says so in her description), she can still be harmed and killed by radiation just as any other character.

* {{Superhero}}es: The game is based on DC comics and features tons of superheroes and supervillains from that company, per LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters, 2000 of them!

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Has 2000 characters from the DC Universe, some of which being obscure characters that only appeared a handful of times. Specific examples are the 100+ ''Franchise/GreenLantern'' mythos characters, [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Bat Family]], the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes, Franchise/{{Superman}}, as well as their respective [[RoguesGallery Rogues Galleries]]. In fact, there's achievements for summoning alternate copies of the Justice League and 150 Green Lanterns.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: One level has an "[[EvolutionaryLevels evolutionary ladder]] which goes: amoeba, fish, frog, lizard, dinosaur, mammoth, primate, caveman. Even people who know nothing about biology will probably recognise that mammoths didn't evolve from dinosaurs.

* TheGreys: The standard alien object is grey, bald, and has black eyes. Typing in "Xenomorph" also results in one of these.

* AllMythsAreTrue: There's plenty of choices in the "mythical creatures" department, including ''Cthulhu''!

* BigBad: [[spoiler: Brainiac]]