History WesternAnimation / TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndmandy

** Dean Toadblatt is voiced by John Vernon, who is remembered by many as the antagonistic Dean Wormer from ''AnimalHouse''.

** "Billy and Mandy Begins" had {{Shout Out}}s to ''Franchise/IndianaJones'', ''SilenceOfTheLambs'', ''{{Film/Airplane}}'', ''Franchise/StarWars'', and ''{{Film/Ghostbusters}}''. The title itself might also be a reference to ''[[Film/TheDarkKnightSaga Batman Begins]]'', since that episode aired around the same time that movie came out.

-->'''Billy:''' And you keep breaking my arms just because she wants you to. [[Literature/TheBible Who's the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him?]]

** Mandy even appears in ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends''.

* VagueAge: None of the main kids' (Billy, Mandy, Irwin, etc.) exact ages are ever mentioned, though they appear to be around 11 or 12. Billy mentions repeating the 2nd grade again, but that might have been just a one-off gag.

* KillEmAll: The episode "Wishbones". 9 characters have their wishes granted. Not many of them survive.

** Also, the earlier episodes were ''much'' darker in tone.

* EldritchAbomination: Nergal Jr's true form is apparently horrific. Cthulhu's also showed up, and Yog Sothoth almost did. Also, ''Mandy''. (At least to her antagonists.)

!! This show provides examples of:

* ProductionThrowback: The film grain effect during the title sequences hides this, but [[http://hurtermonkey.blogspot.com/2007/01/7-year-itch.html the gravestones are inscribed with the names of three fellow series]] (EvilConCarne, TimeSquad, and WhateverHappenedToRobotJones), all of which were cancelled during the production the show's first solo season.

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** The name "The Chocolate Sailor" is a nod to the GeorgeBernardShaw-inspired operetta "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chocolate_Soldier The Chocolate Soldier]]".

TheGrimReaper has come for a soul -- specifically, a hamster in his dying days -- but he's stopped from taking the hamster to the afterlife by two children: the [[DumbIsGood blissfully idiotic Billy]] (the hamster's owner) and the cynical, amoral Mandy (Billy's best friend). The pair challenge "Grim" to a limbo contest to save the hamster; when Grim loses, he becomes Billy and Mandy's newest friend -- and by "friend", we mean that he's contractually bound to be the kids' friend and cater to their every whim. Grim begrudgingly serves as something of an underworld version of Mary Poppins, thanklessly placating Billy's demands for cheap entertainment and Mandy's schemes for self-profit with his magical scythe while desperately trying to find a way to be rid of the duo for good. Thus go ''The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy''.

This show was actually the winner of a contest held by CartoonNetwork to determine what cartoon would be their next new show. On an interesting note, ''Billy and Mandy'' ended up lasting longer than most of the shows that CN greenlit without fan input; ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', the winner of the contest the following year, did likewise. (Think about this: those two shows, voted to greenlight status by the viewers, ended up lasting at least two more seasons than any other show CN greenlit afterward). ''Billy and Mandy'' was originally a much darker ThreeShorts show that included another cartoon, ''WesternAnimation/EvilConCarne'' (and known then as ''Grim & Evil''), but became the more comedic (but still pretty dark) ''Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy'' when ''Con Carne'' was dropped after the first season in an unsuccessful SpinOff attempt.

The show lasted seven seasons (2001-2008) with two movies, a couple of specials -- including a crossover with ''CodenameKidsNextDoor'' -- and a spin-off attempt called ''{{Underfist}}''.

* ActorAllusion: On the two-part episode, "Brown-Evil", Billy mistakes Hoss Delgado for a wussy video game character named Pat the Baker, both of which are voiced by Deiderich Bader.

* AlternateUniverse: It shares the same universe as ''WesternAnimation/EvilConCarne'', a universe where AbrahamLincoln is still President, and the League of Nations still exists. Its also hinted that it shares the same universe as CodenameKidsNextDoor and Ed Edd and Eddy, per the crossover. In one episode, due to the collapse of time and space, the universe is rebooted and the characters are reincarnated as the cast of ThePowerpuffGirls.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Billy's Martian pet, "Admiral Wolverine Lightningbolt".
* BadSanta: Voiced by Gilbert Gottfried in a Christmas episode/movie. Actually Santa isn't really bad, [[spoiler:he is occasionally turned into a vampire by Mrs. Claus, who was a vampire before they married. That's happened quite a few times before.]]

* BlackComedy: The whole genre in the series.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In the first episode she appeared in, Eris acted like a typical giddy blond teenage valley girl. Afterwards though she acted more regal and queenly with a British accent. Also a ShoutOut to {{Madonna}}.
** By her next appearance, her personality change is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] and {{Hand Wave}}d away by her going through "a Valley girl stage" as is Grim's crush on her during that episode/stage.

* ChristmasCake: Parodied with the host of Grim's favorite late-night show, [[{{Elvira}} Atrocia]], whose show was cancelled the moment she turned 30.

* CrapsackWorld: Though if the ''CodenameKidsNextDoor'' {{crossover}} is to be believed, it's confined to Endsville, and the rest of the world is just fine.

* CrossDressingVoices: Irwin is voiced by Vanessa Marshall, Pud'n is voiced by Jane Carr, and Nergal Jr. is voiced by Debi Derryberry.

** In "Modern Primitives", Billy finds [[TheFlintstones Fred Flintstone]] frozen in his backyard.

** The WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor crossover episode, which was not only a crossover of KND and this show, but of every one of CN's original shows. At least one character from each show appears in the episode, even one from SquirrelBoy.
** Mandy even appears in ''FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends''.

* DayInTheLimelight: The [[TheMovie finale movie]] starring the side characters, ''Underfist''. Billy, Mandy, and Grim only made some cameos.
* DeadBabyComedy: One of few kids shows with it, [[CrossesTheLineTwice combined]] with GrossOutShow.

* DeathsHourglass: Parodied when Grim, Billy and Mandy entered a sanctuary filled with the hourglasses of every human being on earth. Not only does Billy flip his and Mandy's hourglass, resulting in their lives instead moving backwards until the point where they don't exist anymore, but he even flipped Grim's hourglass too (odd considering Grim's hourglass was enormous). They also break at least one, causing that person (the show's ''creator'') to blip out of existence.
--> '''Irwin''': "Whose hourglass was that?"
--> '''Billy''': "Eh, prolly no one important."

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Jeff The Spider is a black widow. A male black widow. [[MakesSenseInContext Meaning he's a primordial fear of humanity (and Billy)]] [[FriendToAllLivingThings when all he wants is his "dad", Billy,]] [[TheWoobie to love him.]] [[TruthInTelevision Considering male black widows are HARMLESS,]] [[CrapsackWorld this makes sense in the twisted world of Endsville.]]
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Seen in "The Prank Call of Cthulhu".
* DifferentAsNightAndDay: Billy and Mandy. Extremes.

** Which is possibly a ShoutOut to RockosModernLife.

-->'''Billy:''' And you keep breaking my arms just because she wants you to. [[TheBible Who's the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him?]]

* ElvesVsDwarves

* EnfanteTerrible: Mandy is the [[Pantheon/HeroesAndVillains patron deity]].

* {{Expy}}: The eponymous characters are simply human (and gender-bended, in Mandy's case) forms of [[TheRenAndStimpyShow Ren And Stimpy]]. They even copied the ''nose''.

* {{Fanfiction}}: Fanfic/GrimTalesFromDownBelow derived from this.

* {{Flanderization}}: Mandy, believe it or not. Earlier in the show, she was very witty and snarky, but by no means intimidating enough to order her own parents (or anyone else other than Grim, Billy and Irwin) around. She also had a rare smirk or two in the early episodes before becoming a complete PerpetualFrowner whose smile could bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. She was probably more of a [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes Type IV Anti Hero]] in some of those earlier episodes rather than the more consistent Type V later on.

* ForgottenFallenFriend: In Nergal Jr.'s origin episode, he paralyzes a boy who was disgusted by his appearance and shapeshifts into his form, doing the same to all other children he meets who refuse to be his friend (as an homage to John Carpenter's The Thing). In future episodes, this boy's form is Nergal Jr.'s "default". The other children were rescued by Billy and Mandy, but Nergal Jr.'s [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse initial victim is never mentioned or seen again]]... [[FridgeHorror and this episode takes place in bitterly cold weather.]]

* FutureBadass: In the ''Dune'' parody in which Future Mandy rules the world, Irwin (or a descendant) is the huge, muscular leader of the LaResistance.

* HairRaisingHare: In ''Wishbones'' Pud'n wishes for a pet rabbit. The rabbit repeatedly attempts to kill him, no matter how badly injured it becomes.
* HeroicSociopath: Mandy and Grim.
* HoYay: Irwin and Nergal Jr. were both rejected by Mandy. At the Prom, they decide to dance together without hesitation.

-->'''[[EyepatchOfPower Hoss Delgado]]:''' No, but I don't trust one-eyed weirdos either.

* IFellForHours. An episode when Mandy was relating fairy tales and Billy was an egg (I don't remember the details)
** He was Humpty Dumpty.

* ITasteDelicious: In one episode, Billy is changed into pure chocolate, [[HilarityEnsues and can't stop eating himself.]]
* ImAHumanitarian: The series' version of Pinocchio believes that the only way he can become a real boy is if he eats the flesh of a real boy. One episode (Which Came First) has Sperg eat Pud'n's arms and legs after they get stranded in the desert together, though that becomes part of the show's NegativeContinuity, while another episode (Tastes Like Chicken) is all about Billy jumping to the conclusion that Mandy is a cannibal who's eaten his friends and family and plans to eat him next, which ends with a played-for-laughs implication that she actually has eaten Irwin.

--> Mandy: What are you doing?
--> Billy: I'm singing! There's always singing in animated movies!

* MusicalEpisode: The "evil meteor from outer space" short was a ShoutOut to ''The LittleShopOfHorrors'', with [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome original music]] by Music/{{Voltaire}}.

* NonIndicativeName: "The Incredible Shrinking Mandy" is actually about Billy attempting to shrink Mandy but accidentally making her giant.

* OneOfUs: Fictional example. In the "Brown Evil" episode, whereas Billy prefers playing a cheesy cooking game named "Pat the Baker", Mandy prefers a much more violent ResidentEvil parody featuring Hoss Delgado. At the end of the episode, Hoss states that he never leaves home without the former example and is seen cheerfully playing it alongside Billy.
** One episode, directly after the title song, has Mandy say, [[{{Freaks}} "We accept you. We accept you. One of us."]]

** At the end of the episode "Hoss Delgado: Spectral Exterminator", Hoss fights a werewolf. They jump up, and the camera pans, ''{{Matrix}}''-style, to (almost) the POV of the werewolf. Hoss fires his slime gun at the werewolf, filling the screen to a fade-to-black.

** Hoss Delgado is a blatant reference to both Ash from the ''EvilDead'' series and Snake from ''EscapeFromNewYork''.
** Their version of Dracula is not only [[Film/{{Blacula}} black]], but he's based on [[SanfordAndSon Redd Foxx]].

** ''{{Dune}}'' gets another ShoutOut in the beauty pageant episode, when one of the tests turns out to be ''gom jabbar''.

** [[EvilDead "This... is my DOOMSTICK!"]]

---> Grim: [[TheyCallMeMisterTibbs They call me Mister Grim!]]
** And there's Vampire Santa quoting [[EvilDead the Deadites' catchphrase]]:
---> Vampire Santa: ''I'll swallow your soul!''

** [[WordOfGod The creators of the show claimed]] that ''Big Boogey Adventure'' special was an indirect shout out to Star Trek: the Wrath of Kahn, since like Wrath of Kahn, a minor, one-time villain makes a comeback in a movie length special.

** "Billy and Mandy Begins" had {{Shout Out}}s to ''IndianaJones'', ''SilenceOfTheLambs'', ''{{Airplane}}'', ''StarWars'', and ''{{Ghostbusters}}''. The title itself might also be a reference to ''BatmanBegins'', since that episode aired around the same time that movie came out.

*** Later in another episode, Skarr's mutation makes him resemble the eponymous alien minions from {{Pikmin}}.
** In "Billy and Mandy Vs. the Martians", Grim casts a spell that gets Billy's nose stuck to an alien space ship. When Billy asks him to cast it again to undo it, Grim says he can't because it has a [[{{MMORPG}} ten minute cooldown]].
** And in the movie, during the race in River Styx, you can actually hear the ''MonkeyIsland'' theme playing, [[TheJimmyHartVersion maybe]].

** [[TalkingHeads "This is not my beautiful house! This is not my beautiful wife! Same as it ever was! Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was! Same as it ever was...]]
** Skarr gives one in his first CanonImmigrant appearance, getting into a battle mech and shouting [[GGundam "Take my love, my pain, and alllll of my anger!"]] (Not a direct quote to the series in reference, but still a clear ShoutOut).
** In the episode "Wishbones", Pud'n was being chased by a truck that resembled [[{{Transformers}} Optimus Prime]].

*** And they [[AffectionateParody parodied]] [[JohnnyCash Johnny Cash's music]] ''like an angry woman''...
** ''Son of Nergal'' has the kids sent off to "winter camp" - where the axe-wielding counselor is named [[TheShining John Jack Daniel Torrance]].
** Billy is admitted to a prestigious dancing academy, whose headmistress is actually a witch who feeds on her students to retain her immortality. This is a WholePlotReference to DarioArgento's ''{{Suspiria}}''.

** The episode "Hurter Monkey" contains a lot of them, you've got TheTerminator, TheMatrix, JohnWoo (with DisturbedDoves and DualWielding), Grim's [[ChristopherWalken Christopher Walken-esque]] attorney Harvey as mentioned below and {{Se7en}}.

** Also Dickie at one point call Grim [[HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse Skeletor]].

** In the episode where they went to Japan, Mandy's clothes and her list made it look like she was gonna [[KillBill kill Billy]] (even the music from [[KillBill Ironside]] played).
*** Also in the same episode, they gave Gamera, Godzilla, and Ultraman a run for their money [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome AT THE SAME FREAKING TIME!]]
** [[HarryPotter Nigel Platter and Toadblatt's School of Sorcery?]] And Lord Moldybutt- ''[=* BOOM* =]''

** Their version of Pandora looks oddly similar to another certain chara-OH wait Pan''[[DoraTheExplorer dora]]''. [[IncrediblyLamePun Har har.]]

** Mandy (off-camera) smells smoke after Grim and Billy accidentally torch the carpet. Mandy tells them that if she finds a scorch in the carpet that [[ThePowerpuffGirls "I'm opening up a can of Powerpuff on you two."]] Also, in the Kids Next Door crossover, Billy answers the door, sees the Kids and says "You're not the Powerpuff Girls!"

** [[DragonBallZ Chickenball Z.]].[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGjo_3xz4PY Here it is.]]
** The taboo on saying [[HarryPotter Moldybutt's]] name references, well, the taboo against saying Voldemort in HarryPotter.

** In Big Boogey Adventure, the Boogeyman goes into a pipe, complete with the Warp Pipe sound from ''SuperMarioBros''.

** In the episode "Crushed," Mandy receives a makeover a la Sandy from ''{{Grease}}'', with a heel-crushed lollipop in place of a cigarette.
** In "Grim in Love," Grim and his date recreate [[TheImmodestOrgasm that one scene]] from ''WhenHarryMetSally'', except Malaria fakes ''her death''.
*** From the same episode: Malaria and Grim dance the twist in a scene almost exactly like Mia and Vincent's in ''PulpFiction''.
* SidekickExMachina: Grim.

* SoapWithinAShow: Grim's favorite show ''[[MyLittlePony My Troubled Pony]]''.

* SpritualSucessor: To RenAndStimpy, right down to copying both characters (Albeit Mandy is being Gender bent.)

* SwissArmyAppendage: Hoss Delgado's prosthetic hand. It's typically a [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]] or ArmCannon.

* [=~The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter~=]: Gender inversion, Sperg and his HotMom.

** The [[LittleShopOfHorrors Mean Green Mother From Outer Space]] (voiced by {{Music/Voltaire}}) sang a song about how he wants to eat brains.

** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the crossover with KND, Numbuh 1 states all the weird stuff happening in Endsvile is why the KND prefer to stay away from that area.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The ''Underfist'' movie was meant as a possible pilot for a new spin-off series (made a bit more obvious due to the new animation style). But didn't click with CN's higher ups.
** Some sources say that the creator, Maxwell Atoms, pitched the idea as a prank.

-->''Mandy'': "I'm glad that's over with." ''[[BrickJoke *Gets mauled by the bears*]]''

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** More than one episode shouts out to the famous anime ''{{AKIRA}}'', but in particular [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mandykanedabikeakira_3742.jpg Mandy is seen riding Kaneda's]] CoolBike.

* BeyondTheImpossible: Billy managed to score himself a NEGATIVE 5 on an IQ test, being outperformed by a shovel and a pair of candy bracelets.

* BadSanta: Voiced by Gilbert Gottfried in a Christmas episode/movie. Actually Santa isn't really bad, [[spoiler:he is occasionally turned into a vampire by Mrs. Claus, who was a vampire before they married]].
** [[spoiler: Hell, that's happened quite a few times before.]]

* DeathsHourglass: Parodied both conceptually and literally in one episode where Grim, Billy and Mandy entered a sanctuary filled with the hourglasses of every human being on earth. Not only does Billy flip his and Mandy's hourglass, resulting in their lives instead moving backwards until the point where they don't exist anymore, but he even flipped Grim's hourglass too (odd considering Grim's hourglass was enormous). They also break at least one, causing that person (the show's ''creator'') to blip out of existence.

* DeusExMachina: Grim, but more specifically, his scythe which can do just about anything.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Seen literally in "The Prank Call of Cthulhu".

** Don't forget the Halloween episode where he was bitten by a werewolf.

* DontFearTheReaper: Grim tries his darndest to be scary, but let's face it: at his most {{badass}}, the guy's still an incompetent wuss.
** The way he became the Grim Reaper involved a pretty awesome display as revenge for [[spoiler:ruining his friendship with his best friend.]]
*** So, basically, he's somewhat weak-willed..[[BewareTheNiceOnes Unless you manage to REALLY piss him off.]]

* GiantSpider: Jeff, is a partial subversion - he is, literally, a giant spider, but he is extremely friendly, kind, and only wants his father (Billy) to love him. Of course, Billy's arachnophobia makes things very difficult...

* HumiliationConga: Boogie gets this to absolutely insane levels after Grim takes Horror's hand from him. A rock falls off the ceiling and lands on him, the ground he's standing on breaks and said rock falls on him again, the ground breaks ''again'' and of course the rock follows, he gets thrown into the ceiling by the giant squid from earlier in the episode, again, along with the rock, he lands (but not before getting attacked by a swarm of bats on the way down) and gets crushed by the rock, which breaks, only for ''a bus'' to come out of nowhere and send him flying into his ship, which tilts and sends him hurtling into a cannon, which fires him through his ship and into a wall, sinking it.

** Half of the show is pretty much one big lampshade hung up like a giant pinata.

* LittleMissSnarker: Hell, Mandy could be the trope namer.

** Billy is admitted to a prestigious dancing academy, whose headmistress is actually a witch who feeds on her students to retain her immortality. This is a WholePlotReference to DarioArgento's ''{{Suspiria}}'' of all things.

** In the episode where they went to Japan, Mandy's clothes and her list made it look like she was gonna [[KillBill kill Billy]] (hell, even the music from [[KillBill Ironside]] played).

** [[HarryPotter Nigel Platter and Toadblatt's School of Sorcery?]] Not to mention Lord Moldybutt- ''[=* BOOM* =]''

* ToiletHumor: Pretty much constantly. In "Hog Wild", Billy, fed up with rules, tries to poop on Grim. [[spoiler: Instead, he soils his pants.]]

* BewareTheSillyOnes: Billy is often the LovableIdiot of the show, but he has been shown to have bouts of psychotic rage that scares even Mandy.

* BeyondTheImpossible: Billy is out performed on an IQ test by a shovel. On a related note, he scored a NEGATIVE 5!

** [[TheWarriors "Dickie! Come out and PLAAAAYY!"]]