Line #95 WebAnimation/CharlieTheUnicorn


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wqon8xidxlclrxu1uh1b67hxb3yqg11nsbeuyhz7jmmxefrfwc91lqy3jtm0waaaabjru5erkjggg.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Just another regular day for Charlie.]]
3	%%
4	->'''Blue:''' ''Hey! Hey Charlie! Wake up!''\
5	'''Pink:''' ''Yeah Charlie! You silly sleepy-head, wake up!''
6
7	One of the very first viral hits to come out of Website/YouTube, ''Charlie The Unicorn'' is a series of very silly animated videos created by Creator/FilmCow. It depicts the short adventure of two [[CloudCuckoolander absent-minded]] unicorns, one pink and one blue, dragging their [[WithFriendsLikeThese "friend"]] and OnlySaneMan Charlie, a gray unicorn, on adventures which almost always end in him [[ButtMonkey on the receiving end of some humiliating, traumatic pain]].
8
9	In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsGYh8AacgY first installment]], originally released on Platform/{{Newgrounds}} in November of 2005, Charlie is coerced into venturing to the magical Candy Mountain. [[http://www.filmcow.com/charlietheunicorn2.html A sequel]] came out three years later, this time following their quest to return the magical amulet to the Banana King. The following year saw [[http://www.filmcow.com/charlietheunicorn3.html a third episode]] about saving the future. Popular demand led to the creation of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbF9nLhOqLU a fourth installment]] three years later. A GrandFinale was [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1556971210/charlie-the-unicorn-the-grand-finale funded through Kickstarter]] and was set to be released in six installments, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HvyUSZcDk4&t=3s the first]] being released in October of 2019. The completed Finale was released on October 23, 2021, finally bringing the series to a close.
10
11	A pair of possibly canon [[http://www.filmcow.com/charliepromo.html one-shot]] [[http://www.filmcow.com/charlieyoutube.html shorts]] were released for the [[Website/YouTube YouTube Live]] event, as well as [[http://www.filmcow.com/charliehottopic.html another]] advertising Charlie the Unicorn merchandise at Hot Topic, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVdn3Dn7Yrw this one]] for the Playlist LIVE event.
12
13	Then there's the spin-off/parody/mindscrew videos, [[http://www.filmcow.com/charlietehunicron.html charlie teh]] [[{{Franchise/Transformers}} unicron]] ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Nz8p3EP7A&list=PL772AD75DE1C94F98 1]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRHrImhFnZY 2]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiIRHtn0-34&list=PL772AD75DE1C94F98 3]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve2axCkztF0&list=PL772AD75DE1C94F98 4]]). Be warned that the only thing that you will learn from watching these is that the Liopleurodon is named Leo. No joke. There's also a dragon at the Poconos, and [[RainbowPuke unicorns puke rainbows]], and they are also pyromaniacs, and they like pancakes. Jason Steele says that they're basically what Charlie the Unicorn would be like if it was written by [=YouTube=] commenters. Steele has also stated that there is going to be one more ''charlie teh unicron'' episode similarly to the GrandFinale.
14
15	There's also a spinoff called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6obFRHGzFdA Charlie the Yannicorn]], which... [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext speaks for itself]].
16
17	%% All lowercase letters in trope entries regarding the "charlie teh unicron" series are intentional to follow the style of the show. %%
18
19	----
20	!!This series provides examples of:
21	* AbhorrentAdmirer: Starfish... "WANTS TO BE WITH [CHARLIE] FOREVER!"
22	* ActuallyIAmHim:
23	** Fool! Charlie did speak to the weasel, for [[spoiler:the Blue unicorn ''is'' the weasel]]!
24	** Mayor Sluv [[spoiler:reveals himself to have been DeadAllAlong and puppeted by the monster Nyx is trying to stop.]]
25	--> '''Mayor Sluv:''' [[spoiler:It's gross, but still electable.]]
26	* AdaptationPersonalityChange: As part of the intentional suckiness of "Charlie Teh Unicron", none of the characters are quite right: Charlie is much more meek and passive than aggressive and surly, and pink and blue are much more lucid and mature, using curse words and behaving violently, recontextualizing their random behavior as trollish and memetic rather than childlike and unsettling.
27	* AGodAmI: The Millipede declares herself one, among many other things.
28	* AmbiguouslyGay:
29	** In "charlie teh unicron 2", pink suggests they all make out. Due to the ambiguous gender this trope may apply.
30	** Ditto Starfish.
31	* AmbiguousGender: Charlie lampshades this in the second episode: "Guys? Guys? Or girls. I'm not really sure ''what'' you two are." WordOfGod says that their genders are deliberately not specified because [[RuleOfFunny it's funnier that way]]. [[spoiler:The revelation that they're ageless, shapeless demons from another dimension that have already possessed a whole world's worth of creatures makes their genders even less relevant.]]
32	** Aaand finally confirmed on Twitter by Filmcow, who describes them as "agender".
33	* AnthropomorphicTypography: The letters spelling "CANDY" from the Candy Mountain sign (but not those spelling "MOUNTAIN") come to life. The letter Y sings a musical number about all the treats in Candy Mountain.
34	* AntiClimax:
35	-->'''Charlie:''' What is "The Door?"\
36	'''Blue:''' The Door is everything.\
37	'''Pink:''' All that once was and all that will be!\
38	'''Blue:''' The Door controls time and space.\
39	'''Pink:''' Love and death!\
40	'''Blue:''' The Door can see into your mind!\
41	'''Pink:''' The Door can ''see'' into your '''''soul'''''!\
42	'''Charlie:''' ''[Shaken]'' Really? The... the Door can do all that?\
43	'''Pink:''' [[spoiler:Heh, ''no'']].
44	* ApocalypseHow: [[spoiler:The GrandFinale reveals that, the whole time, the series was set in a post-apocalyptic world. 10,000 years before Charlie's time, two demons were unleashed upon the world and proceeded to kill everyone. Almost every character in the series is simply a meat puppet being controlled by the demons, including Pink and Blue. The only reason they've left a few survivors like Charlie is to torment them. When you think about it, it's a lot like the setting of ''Literature/IHaveNoMouthAndIMustScream'', what with a RealityWarper bringing about the apocalypse and leaving a few survivors out of CruelMercy.]]
45	* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: The three unicorns can breathe underwater, which Charlie decides he's not even going to ask how. In Episode 4, [[spoiler:they actually do go to space]]. Again, no problems with breathing.
46	* BigBad:
47	** [[spoiler:The finale reveals that the spinning cube things]] are this to the entire series. The pink and blue unicorns [[spoiler:are merely corpses that they have been using as puppets to speak to their victims]].
48	** The "charlie teh unicron" vids have [[spoiler:the Grand Slamwich-loving waitress.]]
49	* BigEater: Star Catfish from the Yannicorn spinoff is constantly hungry, even if he's just eaten.
50	* BilingualBonus:
51	** In the [=YouTube=] Live short, the pink and blue unicorns inexplicably don fur hats and beards and start speaking in Russian; as it turns out, they're saying MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels. At the end, when they're being menaced by Music/RickAstley, the pink one goes back into Russian mode and shouts "Communism!"
52	** In one of the one-shots, they encounter a... well, [[MakesjustAsMuchSenseInContext giant Z]]. Upon meeting it they start speaking in Spanish. Considering the rest of the series, though, it probably doesn't mean anything. That said, we do have WebAnimation/LlamasWithHats...
53	--->'''Blue:''' ¡El hombre con el sombrero nos envió! (The man with the hat sent us!)\
54	'''Pink:''' ¡Él nos contó muchas historias asombrosas! (He told us many amazing stories!)
55	* BitchInSheepsClothing: In the course of the series, those two sugary, dimwitted "friends" of Charlie: knock him out to steal his kidney, his TV, and his horn [[spoiler:just so they can make a snowman]]. That's if you don't count merely ''being near them'' as a horror in itself. The fourth episode reveals that [[spoiler:they really are just trying to kill him, most likely out of boredom, and that they are planning to do this to other people too.]]
56	* BittersweetEnding: Episode four ends with [[spoiler:Pink and Blue attempting to destroy both the [[DetonationMoon moon]] and Charlie out of [[ForTheEvulz pure boredom]] with a massive bomb. However Starfish comes just in the nick of time and saves Charlie's life by making a wish at the cost of his own [[FlayingAlive skin]]. Pink and Blue are then shown back on earth celebrating the destruction of the moon and the death of Charlie. However thanks to Charlie's wish, he teleports right next to them, much to their surprise. The episode then abruptly ends with Starfish's skinless body landing on earth yelling out "YOLO!"]].
57	** [[spoiler:The Grand Finale features Charlie using his cynicism to exorcise Blue and Pink, sending them back to their realm forever. However, the ending reel shows various locations from the series, now completely devoid of life. This, along with the backstory of the two demons, gives the impression that though Charlie is now free, he's also completely alone in an utterly dead world that only had any life at all because it was being puppeted. A line from Episode 4 implies there may be other survivors; according to WordOfGod, [[https://twitter.com/FilmCow/status/1452035134878883842 Charlie will one day find them]], though it won't be easy. This is on top of Charlie having already expressed sadness over Blue and Pink being corpses. At least he still has the ghost of Starfish.]]
58	* BodyHorror: All over the place, such as when Pink loses their head and grows several mutated fish heads in its place.
59	* BraggingThemeTune: ''I Am a Millipede'' and the Magical Cat's part of ''The Temple of the Cat''.
60	* BrickJoke:
61	** "Oh, look, it's [[spoiler:my kidney]]."
62	** From "charlie teh unicron":
63	--->'''pink:''' Oh no way!\
64	'''blue:''' That crap's still burning!\
65	'''pink:''' Man, that is from last episode, how is that still goin'?
66	** [[spoiler:Starfish returns]] at the end of Charlie the Unicorn 4.
67	** The waitress from the end of "charlie teh unicron 2" [[spoiler:returns at the end of "charlie teh unicron 3". She's working at a Red Lobster now, but she still suggests that the group orders a basket of Grand Slamwiches, to the dismay of blue and pink]]. Then [[spoiler:she returns as the BigBad of "charlie teh unicron 4". She also appears in the Filmcow short, "The Robber", preventing George from finally getting his eggs by replacing his order with 2 orders of Grand Slamwiches.]]
68	** From the Kickstarter video:
69	--->'''Blue:''' You know that thing you're always asking about the meadow?\
70	'''Charlie:''' Uhh...\
71	'''Blue:''' Well it finally happened.\
72	''(Cut to meadow on fire.)''
73	%%* ButtMonkey: Charlie.
74	* TheCameo: Charlie makes a cameo appearance at the end of the music video for the Weezer song "Pork and Beans".
75	* CallBack:
76	** Pink and Blue burning down the forest is a reference to Charlie asking them if the meadow was on fire in the first episode.
77	** In "charlie teh unicron 2", Pink points out at Denny's that the fire was from the episode before. Lampshaded by Blue, who asks how it's still burning.
78	** In the GrandFinale, Nyx, in this exact order, meets a powerful ruler (who threw Nyx's warning letter in the bin with a banana peel), visits an underwater utopia, and encounters a society of giant, talking arthropods living in outer space. Back in episode two, Pink and Blue take Charlie to see the banana king, then in episode 3, what appears to be the ruins of an underwater city, and in the following episode, they take him to the moon where they meet a giant, talking millipede. [[spoiler:With the revelation that Charlie's story is set 10,000 years after Nyx's, it would seem Pink and Blue are putting Charlie through Nyx's footsteps.]]
79	* CameBackWrong: Used verbatim in the Playlist LIVE video to describe [[spoiler:the resurrected Jenna Marbles.]]
80	* CannibalLarder: The Order of Tuletary Weasels keeps a walk-in freezer full of sliced up voles. Norwell [[BlatantLies claims]] that it's LessDisturbingInContext ...because they were very hungry and voles are easy to deceive.
81	* CaptainObvious:
82	** "We're on a bridge, Charlie!"
83	** "Charlie!" "What?!" "We're ''naked''!"
84	* CastFromHitPoints: [[spoiler:Starfish can grant wishes at the cost of a layer of biomass.]]
85	* CentralTheme: Forcing yourself to be happy and ignore problems vs. the realist value that can be found in cynicism. Over the course of the series, numerous characters keep calling Charlie out over his grumpy nature and tell him to be happy. This is in spite of the fact that [[ButtMonkey Charlie has every right to not be happy after all the misery those same characters keep dragging him into, and the Grand Finale unpeels several systemic flaws that have doomed the world to control by chaotic forces]]. [[spoiler:This comes to head in the GrandFinale where Charlie's cynicism and refusal to act like things are okay is what finally seals away Pink and Blue for good, complete with a rewritten reprise of a song previously sung to manipulate and shame him for his outlook.]]
86	* CharacterActionTitle: "Goes to Candy Mountain".
87	* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler:Starfish returns to save Charlie in episode 4 and plays a major role in the GrandFinale.]]
88	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Everyone who's not Charlie.
89	* ContinuityNod:
90	** "Oh, hey, look, it's [[spoiler:my kidney]]."
91	** The fourth episode has Charlie's horn held together with a band-aid.
92	* ConvectionSchmonvection: Double Subverted in the Hot Topic video. The blue unicorn is in a room full of lava, and then proceeds to be set on fire from the heat. Then in the next scene, they're not on fire anymore, but still in the room full of lava. Assuming that the blue unicorn bursting into flames had anything to do with the heat.
93	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Mayor Sluv of Magic City: City of Magic is very blatantly one of these. One of his direct questions is to ask if the magic-eating monster can be harnessed. [[BlatantLies For money, not evil]].
94	-->'''Mayor Sluv:''' Quick question. Sorry to interrupt. Can we harness this siphon?\
95	'''Nyx:''' No.\
96	'''Mayor Sluv:''' I mean for money, not evil. Money.\
97	'''Nyx:''' No.
98	* CrapsaccharineWorld:
99	** A world that is shaped by two sadistic unicorns was bound to be this, at least for Charlie.
100	** Magic City: City of Magic appears to be a [[OneNationUnderCopyright barely-disguised corporate-run hellhole]] under Mayor Sluv's thumb. [[spoiler:Until the monster gets there. Then it ends up just being a hellhole.]]
101	* CreepyTwins: Pink and Blue. There's no confirmation as to whether or not they're actually twins, but they certainly have several traits of this trope (almost identical, always in synch with each other, etc.)
102	* CrossdressingVoices: The Millipede has an obviously male voice, but in addition to claiming to have "three hundred eggs", the mothmen use female pronouns when singing along with her at the end of the song.
103	* CurbstompBattle: Practically a [[spoiler:curbstomp ''apocalypse''. After the Order of Tutelary Weasels unleashes the chaos spirits on Charlie the Unicorn's world, they kill the overwhelming majority of its occupants. We never see any weapons or methods of resistance with a hope of success employed against them. Indeed, City of the Sea actively collaborates with them, giving up useful information in exchange for gold and a promise not to be exterminated for awhile. The only being who is shown trying to fight back, Nyx, ends up likely making the situation even worse by releasing ''another'' chaos spirit because they doesn't know what they're doing. Ghost Norwell's song admits that his civilization put up "barely a fight."]]
104	* DarkerAndEdgier: The GrandFinale really ups the level of seriousness for the series. It includes blood, gore and dismemberment, the world and Charlie are in genuine peril here, and the exact nature of the pink and blue unicorns is revealed. It, in Charlie's words, is all "very upsetting".
105	* DeadpanSnarker: Charlie.
106	-->'''Pink:''' We're from the future!\
107	'''Charlie:''' Oh, I bet.
108	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment:
109	** Charlie, this is redundant, Charlie!
110	** Candy Mountain! It's a land of sweets and joy... and joyness...
111	** Magic City: City of Magic. Mayor Sluv considers it ''very'' important you say the entire title, colon included.
112	* DetonationMoon: [[spoiler:The ending of the fourth episode.]]
113	* DidYouSeeThatToo: When Frogrus appears in Part Two, Charlie asks the other two unicorns for confirmation that they see it. They do not give it to him.
114	* DisneyAcidSequence: Each episode has a bizarre musical number toward the end.
115	* DissonantSerenity: Pink and Blue almost always talk with insanely cheerful, singsong voices.
116	-->'''Pink:''' Yaaay! DARKNESS!
117	* DownerEnding:
118	** Episode one ends with [[spoiler:Pink and Blue knocking out Charlie after convincing him to enter the Candy Mountain Cave and then proceed to [[OrganTheft steal his kidney while he's still unconscious]].]]
119	** Episode two ends with [[spoiler:Pink, Blue and the Banana People convincing Charlie he's the Banana King and immediately steal all of his belongings after they distract him]].
120	** Episode three ends with [[spoiler:Pink and Blue knocking out Charlie again, this time with sleeping gas. Then when Charlie wakes up, he finds himself in the middle of a snowy tundra and realizes that his horn has been cut off. Charlie then sees a snowman in front of him with his horn acting as the nose and [[ContinuityNod his kidney stuck on the bottom side of it]]]].
121	** [[spoiler:Part Four of the finale concludes Nyx's story/prologue, ending with their death at the hands of the spinning cubes.]]
122	* EldritchAbomination:
123	** The Cube Demon of the GrandFinale: a cube-shaped being that feeds on magic and [[spoiler:can puppet people’s corpses. Part Four reveals that there are actually two of them, and that Pink and Blue are actually just the latest hosts to the cubes]].
124	*** By the end of the finale, we find out that the cubes aren't even the creatures' true forms [[spoiler:but rather self-sustaining containment devices that amplify their powers. As far as we know, they are amorphous spiritual creatures who lack any physical form.]]
125	** Music/RickAstley in the [=YouTube=] Live episode is played like an Eldritch Abomination from ''the internet''.
126	* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: [[invoked]] Charlie [[InUniverse briefly indulges in this line of thought]] in the third episode, when he conjectures that he's already dead and the other two unicorns are his eternal punishment. [[spoiler:Ironically, Charlie is the only one who ''hasn't'' been DeadAllAlong.]]
127	* EverythingExplodesEnding: All the songs that are sung to Charlie involve the singer exploding. This is how he "defeats" the Millipede.
128	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: The only things that ever seems to truly take Pink and Blue by surprise are [[spoiler:Charlie surviving the fourth episode through Starfish's love and the fact that in Part Four, he crosses through the tower portal without dying, also thanks to Starfish's aid.]]
129	* ExactWords: In episode 4, the two other unicorns promise Charlie that if he enters the Cavern of the Red Wind on the moon, it will be the last he ever sees of them. [[spoiler:This is because they plan to [[DetonationMoon blow the moon up]], and him with it.]]
130	* TheFairFolk: [[spoiler:Charlie the Unicorn (the ancient sorcerer)]] says "fairies" is a valid name for the monsters, along with "demons" and "chaos spirits". It's actually the most fitting name of all for them, since they're sadistic reality-bending tricksters.
131	* FalseReassurance: In ''Charlie the Unicorn 4'':
132	--> '''Blue''': If you go into the Cavern [[spoiler:we'll never bother you again.]]
133	--> '''Charlie''': [[spoiler:Never?]]
134	--> '''Pink''': We promise! [[spoiler:It'll be the [[ExactWords last you ever see of us]], Charlie.]]
135	* {{Flanderization}}: In the first episode, Pink and Blue are... unsettling, but have few, if ''any'', of their reality warping powers. Their ability to screw with the laws of nature gets stronger each episode.
136	* FlatWhat: All the time. On encountering the giant Z:
137	-->'''Blue:''' ¡El hombre con el sombrero nos envió!\
138	'''Pink:''' ¡Él nos contó muchas historias asombrosas!\
139	'''Z:''' ''(Bing bing bing dodolo dodolo!)''\
140	'''Pink and Blue:''' Ho ho ho ho ho!\
141	'''Charlie:''' ...What?
142	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Throughout episode three's song, Starfish keeps going offscript to flaunt how much he loves Charlie. [[spoiler:This makes sense, given the fact that he is one of the few characters to not be a MeatPuppet under the Cubes' control, and thus is not actually part of the song]].
143	* ForTheEvulz: Nyx asks why the Cubes seem to want to just torment and kill everything. The cube, in their flesh host puppet, simply responds that they find it funny. [[spoiler:Now knowing the nature of Pink and Blue, this really puts their actions into perspective.]]
144	* FreudianExcuse: While it doesn't justify their actions, [[spoiler:the choice by the chaos spirits to kill the majority of Charlie the Unicorn's world and torment him in particular is at least motivated by Charlie the Unicorn CEO's enslavement of them.]]
145	* GainaxEnding: Almost all of the one-shot shorts end on this note.
146	** "[=YouTube=] Live" ends with [[spoiler:the entire world merging with Website/YouTube and going into maintenance mode only for Music/RickAstley to come out of a [[BrickJoke portal again]], to presumably kill Charlie, Pink and Blue.]]
147	** "Charlie the Unicorn and the Tomb of Horrors" (often known as "Hot Topic") ends with [[spoiler:Pink and Blue telling Charlie to not speak to "The Weasel" before Blue immediately saying that he was actually the weasel the whole time. [[CaptainObvious Pink then yells out that they are all naked]], abruptly ending the short.]]
148	* GoingToSeeTheElephant: The plot of the first episode, three unicorns going to find Candy Mountain.
149	* GoKartingWithBowser: In "Charlie Teh Uunicron 2", after Pink and Blue shoot the banana king, they go with Charlie and the banana king to eat at a Denny's. [[UnexplainedRecovery The banana king is completely fine.]]
150	* GrandTheftMe: Pink and Blue [[spoiler:are actually dead bodies that have been possessed by two extradimensional cube demons. Mayor Sluv and the leader of the bug people suffer similar fates.]]
151	* HappinessIsMandatory: Becomes text by the finale, where the dolphin's song is all about Charlie being wrong for not being happy, and it's all on him to feel different.
152	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Starfish]].
153	--> '''JUST DO IT MY LOVE! ''WIIIIISH!'''''
154	* HiveMind: [[spoiler:The GrandFinale reveals that, assumedly, the population of the ''entire world'' outside of Charlie and Starfish are being controlled by only two demons, who use Pink and Blue as their main avatars.]]
155	* IAmSong: "I Am a Millipede" from episode 4.
156	* InsistentTerminology: It's not "Magic City", it's "Magic City: City of Magic".
157	* InterspeciesRomance: In the Grand Finale, the ghost of Norwell, an anthropomorphic weasel, hooks up with a sentient, talking coat.
158	* IWantMyJetpack: In-universe.
159	-->'''Blue:''' Charlie! We're here!\
160	'''Pink:''' In the future! ''(Blows party horn.)''\
161	'''Charlie:''' This looks ''exactly'' the same!
162	* IronicEcho: The wig-wearing dolphin in the grand finale victim blames Charlie for being unhappy in song with the line, "Everyone's smiling but you've got a frown." Later in the episode, the line repeats [[spoiler:as Charlie sings it while sealing Blue and Pink back in their dimension--and for once, ''they're'' the ones frowning.]]
163	* ItAmusedMe: The reason why the pink and blue unicorns did what they did to Charlie.
164	* {{Jerkass}}: Charlie, though considering who he's surrounded by it's entirely justified.
165	--> '''Charlie''': -you know what I think? I think I died long ago and you two are my eternal punishment.
166	-->'''Blue''': You're like a constant downer, huh?
167	* KarmaHoudini: For all the crap they put Charlie through, the pink and blue unicorns don't get much comeuppance over the series. Episode 4 implies they've [[spoiler:been getting away with this sort of thing even longer than they have been doing it to Charlie, and they've also gotten away with ''killing'' their previous victims when they got bored.]]
168	** KarmaHoudiniWarranty: [[spoiler:In the GrandFinale, the power of Charlie's cynicism seals Pink and Blue back to their empty realm; freeing him from their torment]].
169	* LamePunReaction: Yannicorn groans when Star Catfish, having been told that there's nowhere around to get a pot pie, says that he feels like he's going to ''pot cry''.
170	* LessDisturbingInContext: Norwell [[BlatantLies tries to claim this]] about the walk-in freezer full of sliced up voles. The context is that they were very hungry and voles are easy to deceive, so not really less disturbing at all.
171	* LighterAndSofter: Probably the most family friendly of [[Creator/FilmCow Film Cow's]] works, who is otherwise known for ''very'' morbid BlackComedy. Not that the series isn't deranged in its own way.
172	* LampshadeHanging: In the second and third episodes, Charlie takes note of how each time, the singer explodes. The third episode also has him realize that the unicorns' adventures are always just [[spoiler:some ploy to steal something of his]].
173	* LandSeaSky:
174	** Episodes one and two involve Charlie being led on foot to Candy Mountain and the Temple of the Banana King respectively (Land), episode three features him being taken to an underwater city (Sea) and episode four features him being taken up into space (Sky).
175	** The GrandFinale has Nyx repeat the pattern -- they head to Magic City: City of Magic on foot (Land), enter Sea City: City of the Sea ([[CaptainObvious Sea]]) and finally are summoned to space by the bugs (Sky).
176	* LevelAte: Candy Mountain. [[spoiler:Allegedly.]]
177	* LimitedAnimation: Pink and Blue simply bounce between their front and back hooves, as opposed to Charlie, who has a proper walk cycle. [[spoiler:This is why, when they walk normally in the Grand Finale, it's a WhamShot.]]
178	* MadeOfExplodium: Anything that sings to Charlie, apparently.
179	* ManOnFire: "CHARLIE, I'M ON FIRE! TELL ME!"
180	* MacGuffin: The amulet. (Or not.)
181	* MacGuffinEscortMission: The plot of the second episode, returning the amulet to the Banana King.
182	* MagicEater: The Cube Demons of the finale. [[spoiler:They're actually chaos spirits enchanted with magic siphons by a unicorn sorcerer also named Charlie]].
183	* MakeAWish: [[spoiler:Starfish tells Charlie to do this to escape the bomb in episode 4.]]
184	* MasterOfIllusion: The Millipede in episode 4, although she mostly just uses it for special effects.
185	* MeatPuppet: [[spoiler:Mayor Sluv's corpse gets used as one by the Cube Demon. Later, we learn that the Cube Demons do this as a matter of course, and that - thousands of years later - this includes Blue, Pink, and nearly everything Charlie has encountered on his misadventures.]]
186	* MegaCorp: Sluv Industries, owned by Mayor Sluv, has total control of Magic City: City of Magic.
187	* MindScrew: PlayedForLaughs. Almost every single scene in the series borders on near nonsensical gags that do nothing but confuse and anger Charlie.
188	** MindScrewdriver: The GrandFinale [[spoiler:reveals that most of said nonsensical scenes are fabrications created by the Cube Demons deliberately trying to screw with Charlie]].
189	* MoodWhiplash: Norwell plays a melancholy duet on his keyboard with his husband the coat. Norwell's verses are about the fall of the world and are as melancholy as the tune. The coat's verses are a boisterous rap about how much he likes weasel booty.
190	* MoralEventHorizon: Charlie [[InvokedTrope certainly thinks]] that [[spoiler:Blue and Pink cross this in episode 4.]]
191	--> '''Charlie''': Uhh... You guys are going a little far this time, huh? Guys? Guys?... ''[[DespairEventHorizon Guuuys?]]''
192	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: The last lines in the Hot Topic video.
193	-->'''Pink:''' Charlie!\
194	'''Charlie:''' What?\
195	'''Pink:''' We're ''naked!''
196	%%* {{Narcissist}}: The Millipede.
197	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Nyx is characterized as a voice of reason trying to stop a force for evil in the world [[spoiler: but arguably the whole crisis with the Chaos Spirits is to a significant degree their fault. They arrive at the door leading to the other dimension with the intent of studying it because they fear it might be dangerous, but they expressed no contingency plans for what to do about the danger, and is never shown attempting to stop the Chaos in any way except a late HailMary. The Order of Tutelary Weasels didn't know the door to the other dimension existed and apparently didn't even want to go explore the cave containing it until Nyx arrived and expressed their intentions. During a climactic confrontation the villain calls Nyx out on having no real idea what they're doing.]]
198	* NoNameGiven: The pink and blue unicorns who aren't Charlie. Steele originally referred to them as "Lolz" (Blue) and "Roffle" (Pink), when writing scripts, but never implemented the names and accepts the names Blue and Pink. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/whoarepinkandblue/comments/4a4npy/possible_clues_in_a_night_of_spatula_madness/ Fathomos, Jason Steele on Reddit, discusses it here.]]
199	* NoOntologicalInertia: [[spoiler:The end credits of the finale show all the things the chaos spirits created in previous episodes decaying after their re-banishment]].
200	* NoRespectGuy: Charlie, Charlie, Charlie.
201	* ObfuscatingStupidity: The other two unicorns appear to be childish and stupid, but the occasional line of insight [[spoiler:and the fact that all of the episodes are plots to steal things from Charlie]] reveal it's just an act.
202	* OffTheRails: Everything made after the third episode, losing all grips on what loose idea you could call reality in the first videos.
203	* OhCrap: [[spoiler:Pink and Blue's cheerful facades evaporate when Charlie successfully passes through the tower portal unharmed.]]
204	* OneNationUnderCopyright: Magic City: City of Magic is this, with Sluv Industries as the ruling body.
205	* OnlySaneMan:
206	** Charlie considers his adventures to be ridiculous, and wishes the other two unicorns would stop repeating everything.
207	** Nyx is similarly sane compared to everyone around them.
208	* OrganTheft: [[spoiler:The twist ending of episode 1. "Aw, they took my freakin' kidney!"]]
209	* OverlyLongTongue: In episode 3, Pink and Blue tell Charlie to grab to their tongues to travel to the future and to save him from an invisible creature. Charlie finds their tongues all over his face and neck gross.
210	* PreMortemOneLiner: In "charlie teh unicron", pink and blue drag charlie to go with them to kill the banana king for selling candy at their street.
211	-->'''banana king:''' Y'all need to learn some economics!\
212	'''pink:''' Well, you need to learn some ''DIE!!''
213	* PsychopathicManchild: Pink and Blue act very much like a pair of sugar-high kids dragging someone along on a pretend adventure - they speak childishly, often make up monsters and exaggerate fanciful things that are obviously not there, and tend to get distracted along the adventures by playing kids games (like "the floor is lava") and making silly jokes. Only in this case, a great deal of the things they imagine up are hellishly real in some way, much to Charlie's torment - which they are callous towards. This extends all the way to the end of the fourth video [[spoiler:where they attempt to kill Charlie simply because they've gotten bored with the "games" they've been playing with him.]] The finale reveals that [[spoiler:they've been trolling and murdering people for over ''10,000 years'' purely ForTheEvulz]].
214	* RainbowPuke: In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Nz8p3EP7A the first episode]] of "charlie teh unicron", Pink randomly throws up a rainbow while he and Blue are talking to Charlie...in the middle of a forest fire.
215	* RandomEventsPlot: Yeah.
216	* RealityWarper: Pink and Blue, [[spoiler:due to all the magic they've siphoned]]. Lampshaded by Charlie in episode 4.
217	-->'''Charlie''': I don't understand how you can do these things!
218	* TheReveal: The last twelve minutes of the finale has three of these. [[spoiler:First, we find out that the whole Nyx and evil spinning demon cube story is set ''10,000'' years before Charlie was even born. Then, we find out that the pink and blue unicorns, as well as every single other wacky, singing fantasy creature Charlie has encountered since the first episode are actually dead bodies being used as puppets by the demon cubes, and that Charlie is just their latest plaything. The final reveal tells us that the spinning cubes are just two of a legion of interdimensional "chaos spirits" that, a long time ago, were weaponized by a powerful unicorn sorcerer who's name incidentally was also Charlie. One of them rebelled and killed the sorcerer, and along with its compatriot, escaped into the real world and set in motion the events of the series.]]
219	* RunningGag: Characters singing to Charlie and then exploding.
220	* SatelliteCharacter: In the "charlie teh unicron" spinoffs, charlie himself really doesn't do much but sit back and watch whatever craziness pink and blue are up to.
221	* SayMyName:
222	--> "Charlie! ''Charlie!'' ''Chaaaaarliiie!'''"
223	--> "''I'm right here, what do you want!?''"
224	--> " [[CaptainObvious We're on a bridge,]] [[NonSequitur Charlie!]]"
225	* SealedEvilInAnotherWorld: Flashbacks in the GrandFinale show us that chaos spirits once escaped their home dimension through a portal and tormented civilization for thousands of years. In the end, Charlie manages to banish them back where they came from, with the help of his cynical song that activates the machine to open the portal once again.
226	* SelfDeprecation: "Charlie teh Unicron" is a self-parody by Filmcow that makes fun of the original. According to WordOfGod, it's also a TakeThat to fans who email Filmcow with suggestions for future Charlie the Unicorn episodes, "a parody of what Charlie the Unicorn would be like if it was written by random internet people".
227	* SerialKiller: It's implied in episode 4 that [[spoiler:Pink and Blue have killed many people before Charlie out of boredom.]] In part four of the finale [[spoiler:this is confirmed to be very much true, though the true scale of their malicious activities is far more horrific.]]
228	* SequelEscalation: Each short gets more insane than the last one: The first short involves Charlie, Pink and Blue travelling to Candy Mountain, the second short involves them bringing an amulet to the Banana King, the third short is about Charlie being taken to the future where he then has to go underwater to finish building a snowman, and the fourth short involves them going to the moon to fight the Millipede Queen to save the Cavern of the Red Wind.
229	* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: The Millipede is really quite well-spoken for a bug.
230	* ShaggyDogStory: The first three episodes end with [[spoiler:the two crazy unicorns robbing Charlie, the entire insane journey having just been an elaborate plot to steal his kidney, TV, and horn, respectively]].Good news is, [[spoiler:he finds his kidney again in the third episode]]...
231	* SheIsTheKing: The Millipede refers to herself as one, despite the fact that she's supposed to be female (admittedly, you wouldn't know that from her voice). Subverted because [[SmallNameBigEgo she's mostly just talking herself up]].
232	* ShoutOut:
233	** The [[AWildRapperAppears rap breakdown]] from "In the Ocean Blue" is the "[[Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries Pokérap]]," [[JustForFun/RecycledInSpace with fish!]]
234	** In the [=YouTube=] Live video: "Oh my God, it's [[Music/TayZonday raining chocolate]]!"
235	* SignificantNameOverlap: [[spoiler:Charlie happens to share names with another Charlie the Unicorn, the (former) ruler of the demon dimension. This is why Charlie is the only one capable of entering the dimension without dying like Nyx, and is possibly a significant factor as to why the demons fixate on him, as they noticeably latch onto his name once he introduces himself, perhaps registering it as familiar.]]
236	-->[[spoiler:'''elder Charlie the Unicorn:''' ''I think I've found a loophole in my security system...'']]
237	* SpinOff: Technically. The only real difference between "Charlie teh Unicron" and the main series is that pink and blue act more adult and lose the EldritchAbomination feel. Plus, Charlie is less of a straight man and more a bystander. Weird things still happen, they just seem more "normal", in the sense that you could believe that's just how the universe works in this world.
238	* SmallNameBigEgo: The Millipede would like to inform you how great she is.
239	* SnarkToSnarkCombat: In "Charlie the Yannicorn", Star-cat-fish and Yannicorn Charlie sound like an odd meeting of a stock cartoon "comic relief" character from a few decades back and a less-tormented, better-adjusted Charlie (with a human face and an accent from somewhere in Europe) freestyling and playing off of his complaints.
240	* {{Squick}}: The pink and blue unicorns ask Charlie to grab on to their absurdly long tongues twice in the third video. This is Charlie's reaction. [[invoked]]
241	* StalkerWithACrush:
242	-->'''Starfish:''' STARFISH REALLY LOVES YOU!\
243	'''Starfish:''' ''LOVE ME, LOVE ME!''\
244	'''Starfish:''' ''I WANT TO BE WITH YOU FOREVER!''
245	::(His face as he says this and [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Patrick]]-like voice really drive it home.)
246	* StylisticSuck: The ''charlie teh unicron'' series when compared to ''Charlie the Unicorn''.
247	* SuperNotDrowningSkills: Charlie has no idea how he's breathing underwater in the third instalment, and frankly, [[HandWave he'd rather not ask]].
248	* TakeThatAudience: ''charlie teh unicron'' is a rather crudely drawn and animated ''Charlie the Unicorn'' pastiche and was aimed at people who kept requesting new episodes of the latter.
249	* ThrowTheDogABone: Episode 4 is the first time in the entire series where Charlie successfully manages to avoid being screwed over by Pink and Blue. [[spoiler:By the end of the finale, he's rid of them for good]].
250	* TimeTravel: Possibly. Notable in that the three unicorns live in a forest, so there is absolutely no visual difference between the "present" and the "future". Their future clothes disappear when they're in the future too.
251	* TrademarkFavoriteFood:
252	** The Denny's waitress absolutely adores "Grand Slamwiches", and refuses to let customers order anything else.
253	** In the Yannicorn spinoff, Star Catfish has a strange fixation on marshmallow pie.
254	* UnexplainedRecovery: The banana king in "charlie teh unicron 2". In one scene he's shot dead by Pink and Blue. In the next scene he's alive and well, reconciled, and eating at Denny's with them and Charlie.
255	* TriumphantReprise: Charlie's song in ''The Grand Finale''.
256	* UnwittingPawn: Charlie, three times over. Not that they are complicated plans. Granted, Charlie seems to know that something bad is going to happen, yet goes with along with Pink and Blue anyway.
257	* VillainSong: The Millipede gets one in the fourth episode.
258	* VocalEvolution:
259	** Compare Blue and Pink's voices in the first segment to their voices in the Hot Topic video. Or the "charlie teh unicron" videos.
260	** A small one and nowhere as near as noticeable as Pink and Blue's, but Charlie's voice gets slightly higher as the series progresses.
261	* WhamLine: "10,000 years later", revealing that [[spoiler:Nyx's story was not concurrent with Charlie's as framed, but millennia ago, showing just how long the Chaos Spirits have been ravaging the world]].
262	* WhamShot: A subtle, easy-to-miss one in the finale. [[spoiler:Pink and Blue walk normally, like Charlie (instead of bouncing around like ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' characters like they always do), meaning that it's the reveal of them before they were possessed by demonic chaos spirits.]]
263	* WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises: "THE DOOR CAN SEE INTO YOUR ''SOULLLLLLL!!!''"
264	* AWildRapperAppears: In the third episode's musical number.
265	* WithFriendsLikeThese: Charlie and the two unicorns -- that is, assuming they really do consider Charlie their "friend" (he sure doesn't see it that way) and it's not just a ploy that's part of their insane agenda.
266	* YankTheDogsChain: Episode 4... except it ends up subverted, or given the trope, DoubleSubverted. [[spoiler:Point is, Pink and Blue promise Charlie that they'll never bedevil him again if he goes into the cavern, but apparently only because they expected this to be the one that outright ''kills him'' while they float off again. Then Starfish shows up and saves him, leading to an awkward moment where they're all alive earthside, and that's where the episode ends.]]
267	* ZeroEffortBoss: The Millipede.
268	-->'''Blue & Pink:''' You did it, Charlie! You defeated the Millipede!\
269	'''Charlie:''' It just exploded! ''LIKE EVERYTHING DOES WHEN IT SINGS TO ME!''

Context WebAnimation / CharlieTheUnicorn