Line #58 Recap/TheSimpsonsS25E20BrickLikeMe


1	[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_simpsons_brick_like_me_poster.jpg]]
2	In the series' 550th episode, Homer wakes up to a world made out of [[Franchise/{{LEGO}} LEGO bricks]] and grows to like this new world, where everything fits in and no one gets hurt -- until he begins seeing flashes of a previous life and, with help from The Comic Book Guy, discovers how he ended up in the LEGO world.
3
4	!!Examples:
5	* AbnormalAmmo: Bart's robot shoots lions, lightsabers and Skinner's head.
6	-->'''Skinner:''' This is strangely exhilarating!
7	* AllJustADream: The Lego portions turn out to be the result of Homer dreaming after being knocked out by Comic Book Guy's Lego statue of the episode's [[Film/TheHungerGames Katniss Everdeen]] parody.
8	* AllMenArePerverts: The real world Comic Book Guy defends his Lego statue of the Katniss Everdeen {{Expy}} as a strong feminist icon, only to then giddily increase her (already large) bust size with more bricks.
9	* ArcWords: "Everything fits together and no one gets hurt."
10	* ArtShift: The episode toggles between the show's usual 2D, digital ink and paint style and Lego-style stop-motion/computer animation.
11	* BeforeAndAfterPictures: A weight loss clinic advertises itself with pictures of a female minifigure in a bikini. Close observation from the viewer would reveal that the "after" picture is simply the "before" picture with extra shading applied to the minifig's torso-making her appear to have an hourglass figure-and her mouth changed from a frown to a smile.
12	* BigDamnHeroes: Bart spends his entire subplot having his creativity suppressed by Skinner as he's forced to rebuild the Lego school according to the instructions on the box, despite having countless ideas for alternate ways to use the bricks. When Homer yells "Who could build something awesome enough to save me?! ''Who?!"'', Bart [[JumpedAtTheCall is there like a shot]] with a full-scale battle mech housing numerous unlikely sources of ammo.
13	-->'''Homer:''' What is that thing?!
14	-->'''Bart:''' [[IndyPloy I have no idea]], but it's gonna ''kick his butt!''
15	* BlackComedy: To a degree, considering most of the episode is set in a Lego world where the Lego minifigures can undergo what would be grievous injuries and fatal accidents to living people due to not feeling pain. Krusty being shattered by Homer's distracted driving and Homer taking off his own head and kicking it come to mind.
16	* BuiltWithLEGO
17	* CrazyPrepared: Lego Comic Book Guy is well prepared to stop Homer from going home due to having every Lego set in existence to both build a fortress around the Perky Patty's Princess Shoppe box and summon ninja and pirate minifigures to attack Homer.
18	* DoubleAesop: Homer learns to enjoy the special bonding experience he had with Lisa, but also learns that he can't hold her back from growing up and getting other interests either.
19	* EvilAllAlong: A variation occurs when Lego Comic Book Guy turns out to be the antagonist of the episode, revealing that he's the part of Homer that doesn't want to leave the Lego world. Lampshaded when Homer says he thought he was just the "[[MisterExposition rule explainer guy]]".
20	* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Homer's explanation to the Lego version of Lisa about why he PrefersTheIllusion causes him to realize all its drawbacks: he'll be stuck in the same job forever, he'll never get to watch his kids grow up and he and Marge won't grow old together.
21	* FeelNoPain: The Lego people can happily disassemble and reassemble themselves; Homer even crashes his car into Lego Krusty, and the latter is totally cool about it.
22	-->'''Krusty:''' Good thing we don't feel pain!
23	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Comic Book Guy having a "NO OUTSIDE REALITIES" sign in his shop indicates that he's aware that his world is a part of Homer's subconscious, and that he'll do anything to prevent a DreamApocalypse.
24	* FormulaBreakingEpisode: A twofer: the episode is the 550th overall and most of the animation is stop-motion using Lego bricks.
25	* FridgeHorror: An in-verse example is how Homer comes to realize the Lego world is not as nice as it seems, considering he'll still have the same crappy job, will never get to enjoy retirement with Marge, and will never see his kids grow up. [[invoked]]
26	* GRatedSex: What exactly Lego sex entails is unclear, but by the time Homer and Marge are done with it their heads are perched contentedly together on their pillows while their limbs are strewn all over the room.
27	* HappyPlace: Homer creates the Lego world inside his head as a place where everything stays the same and nobody gets hurt.
28	* HypocriticalHumor: Groundskeeper Willie scolds Bart and Milhouse for breaking the school's support bricks. Once they tell him they're chasing a skunk, Willie crashes right through said support bricks to pursue it.
29	* ImprobableWeaponUser: Lego Bart's self-built battle mech is made from a combination of "Batmobile, Hobbit Hole and [=SpongeBob=] playsets" and fires artillery ranging from lightsabers to Lego Skinner's detached head.
30	* InsistentTerminology: "Muh... it's not selling out, it's co-branding... co-branding!"
31	* JustHereForGodzilla: InUniverse. Homer is painfully bored by the romantic subplots in Film/TheHungerGames parody and just came to see kids killing each other.
32	* LateArrivalSpoiler: A joke near the end spoils a major plot point in ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie The Lego Movie]]''.
33	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: This scene in the beginning:
34	-->'''Bart:''' Hmm... is it just me or does something seem weird today?\
35	'''Marge:''' You're right. Something is very different about [[TitleDrop the Simpsons]] today... your father's wearing a tie!\
36	'''Bart:''' Oh, ''that's'' what's different!\
37	'''Lisa:''' [[BlatantLies That's the one and only thing!]]
38	* TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday: After Lego Homer sees animated Homer in the bathroom mirror, he asks Marge if she got a replacement mirror from one those stores.
39	-->'''Homer:''' Marge! Did you replace our regular mirror with a magical mirror from a mystical salesman at a weird store that if we went back to find it it wouldn’t be there anymore?
40	-->'''Marge:''' [[SubvertedTrope No.]]
41	-->'''Homer:''' ([[OhCrap screams]])
42	* LotusEaterMachine: What the Lego Springfield turns out to be (which is naturally lampshaded by Lego Comic Book Guy when he picks up on Homer's "hallucinations" due to his knowledge of second-rate sci-fi stories). Homer's initially not worried about the possibility of being trapped in there given how much fun he can have, but he soon realizes how the lack of change will actually make things worse.
43	* MacGuffin: The box to the Perky Patty's Princess Shoppe set built by Homer and Lisa in the real world that allows Lego Homer to realize the truth and return to the real world
44	* MediumBlending: As Lego Homer experiences more and more "hallucinations", the regular ''Simpsons'' animation begins bleeding into the CG Lego world. A notable example is when his clawed hands suddenly become the flesh and blood varieties of his real self, while the rest of him is still a minifig.
45	* MistakenForRacist: Lego Homer freaks out at the sight of the real Homer appearing in place of his reflection in the Kwik-E-Mart display windows. He angrily yells at his reflection to go back "where [he] came from", which Apu, who is on the other side of the window, misinterprets as a racist remark.
46	* OffWithHisHead: A RunningGag of the episode done with various characters to demonstrate their durability as minifigures. Most notably used when Bart fires Principal Skinner's head out of his mech's cannon to destroy Lego Comic Book Guy's fortress.
47	* PrefersTheIllusion: Homer, when he first realizes what's going on. Even after he changes his mind, his efforts to awaken from his dream world are challenged by Comic Book Guy, who represents the part of him that still feels this way.
48	* PiratesVersusNinjas: Subverted when the Comic Book Guy send a pirate boat and a ninja hoover jet against Homer. Pirates and ninjas team up against him instead of fighting each others.
49	* SelfDeprecation: Homer mumbling in his sleep at the beginning of the episode:
50	-->'''Homer:''' Muh... it's not selling out, it's co-branding... co-branding!
51	** Homer realizing the fatal flaw of the dream world (everything stays as it is with no chance for growth) seems to be a commentary on the show's longevity.
52	* ShakingTheRump: "Kiss my flat, plastic butt, reality!"
53	* ShoutOut: ''Many'' to various forms of Lego products, from Maggie being a Duplo baby to an orange brick separator (akin to what's available in larger sets) standing in place of the cross at the church. The Perky Patty's Princess Shoppe is also somewhat reminiscent of the Lego Friends and Disney Princess lines.
54	** Even a non-construction-related Lego toy, namely the [[http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/LEGO_Duck Lego Duck]], receives a nod in the form of a stained glass church window.
55	** Naturally, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'' itself is referenced in various ways throughout the episode. The most notable examples include the premise, Comic Book Guy's head spinning a la Good Cop/Bad Cop, Bart's designing of a mech to save the day, and Homer denying any familiarity between the episode's plot and the film as a Lego display of Emmet and Wyldstyle is wheeled behind him.
56	** Lego Bart's mech vomits [[Franchise/StarWars Sith lightsabers]].
57	** ''[[Film/TheHungerGames The Survival Games]]''
58	** The shelves at the comic book store are stacked with books by Creator/PhilipKDick (or rather, Philip K. ''Brick''), which alludes to the true nature of the Lego world. [[GeniusBonus "Perky Patty"]] as in Perky Pat from "The Three Stigmatas of [[{{Pun}} Homer]] Eldritch".
59	** The ending sequence is a direct homage to the ending of the film Film/TimeBandits
60	** Comic Book Guy turns his head to switch from a smiling to a scowling face, like [[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas the Mayor of Halloween Town]]. [[labelnote:*]] Or The Lego Movie's own Good [=Cop/Bad=] Cop.[[/labelnote]]
61	* SmellySkunk: A Lego variation that Bart brings to school, that inevitably causes the school to collapse when Groundskeeper Willie destroys the support bricks to pursue it.
62	* TakeThat: According to Homer, ''what'' is "the most inhumane torture ever devised by man"? TabletopGame/CandyLand.
63	* TemptingFate: After successfully using his mech to beat Comic Book Guy, Lego Bart declares, "I am gonna enjoy playing with this thing ''forever!"'', only for the mech to immediately destabilize.
64	-->'''Bart:''' I'm a creative but undisciplined builder!
65	* WholePlotReference: "Brick Like Me" is essentially a ''Simpsons'' take on ''The Lego Movie'', albeit with a somewhat different direction and moral (as both have Aesops about creativity and accepting change, but "Brick Like Me" is more directly concerning a person's attempt to escape the real world through immersing themselves in Legos). Lampshaded by Homer when he describes the experience to Lisa as "having a dream where [he] was in a world made of Lego bricks and learned important lessons about parenting". The episode apparently started production before the crew was told by Lego about the movie.

Context Recap / TheSimpsonsS25E20BrickLikeMe