Line #51 WesternAnimation/EvilConCarne


1	[[quoteright:313:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/evil_con_carne-show.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:313:Left to right: Hector Con Carne (and Boskov), Major Doctor Ghastly, and General Skarr]]
3
4	->''Our world is filled with incredible beauty''
5	->''And that is why I feel it's my duty''
6	->''To send armies of troops to invade the coastline''
7	->''To crush, and destroy... until it's all mine!''
8	-->-- '''Hector Con Carne'''
9
10	''Evil Con Carne'' was a [[ShortRunners short-lived]] Creator/CartoonNetwork series created by Creator/MaxwellAtoms and the final show in the station's ''Creator/CartoonCartoons'' series. Originally one of ThreeShorts on ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' (then called ''WesternAnimation/GrimAndEvil''), it was eventually spun off into its own half-hour series for a brief run, ending not too long after once the crew decided it was too difficult to work on two completely different shows at the same time.
11
12	Set in an AlternateHistory where the League of Nations was never disbanded and peace and harmony is the norm among the countries of the world, the plot concerns the misdeeds of VillainProtagonist Hector Con Carne (Creator/PhilLaMarr), a billionaire Hispanic arms smuggler reduced to [[BrainInAJar brain and stomach in jars]] status after an assassination attempt destroyed his mansion along with most of his body. Rescued by Major Doctor Ghastly (Creator/GreyDeLisle), a [[PerkyFemaleMinion perky female]] MadScientist who had fallen in love with him, and implanted into the body of a Russian circus bear named Boskov (Creator/FrankWelker), Hector now reigns over an arch-criminal organization named Evil Con Carne, which combats the League of Nations' forces in a grandiose attempt to conquer the Earth. The cast also features the sadistic [[ButtMonkey General Skarr]] (Creator/ArminShimerman), a competent military strategist and Hector's second-in-command, [[TheStarscream who constantly plots to overthrow Hector and seize ECC's reins for himself]].
13
14	The series takes place in the same universe as ''Billy and Mandy'', with General Skarr [[{{Transplant}} moving to Endsville]] sometime after the events of this show's last episode. Other ''ECC'' characters frequently had cameos for one-off gags, and eventually got a FullyAbsorbedFinale in the episode "Company Halt".
15	----
16	!!Tropes:
17	* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The shot of Bunny Island in the show's opening is blatantly made using computer animation.
18	* AccidentalMisnaming: Dr. Courage keeps getting his older son Rick's name wrong.
19	-->'''Rick:''' ''It's '''RIIIIIIIIIIIICCKKK!!!!!'''''
20	* ActionGirl: Major Doctor Ghastly, Kablammity Jane.
21	* ActorAllusion:
22	** [[Creator/PhilLaMarr Phil LaMarr]], who voiced Hector Con Carne got his head blown off first in ''Film/PulpFiction''.
23	** "Son of Evil" begins with Hector Con Carne watching a parody of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack''. Hector's voice actor [[Creator/PhilLaMarr Phil LaMarr]] also voiced the title character of that show.
24	* AffectionateParody: The song at the end of the MusicalEpisode seems to be at least partially based on Afroman's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Because_I_Got_High_%28song%29 "Because I Got High"]].
25	* AlternateHistory: The League of Nations has not disbanded, there is peace and harmony among the nations of the Earth, and Abraham Lincoln is still president. The show takes place in the year 2002, but it has a sort of 1960s chic to it.
26	* AmusinglyAwfulAim: Ghastly grabs a machine gun and opens fire on Hector after he calls her fat. She somehow misses every shot despite her target being a giant bear confined in the back seat of their car, which he lampshades.
27	* AnimateBodyParts: Hector's Brain and Stomach are both able to speak. And despite their jars flashing when they do, they still are able to speak without them. Oh, and the stomach has a mind of its own.
28	* ArchEnemy: Hector and Cod Commando, to each other.
29	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: In "Evil on Trial", a news report states that Hector is wanted for plotting world domination, robbing banks, and destroying gumball machines.
30	* ArtEvolution: The drawing style in the last few episodes became greatly more colorfully detailed and less flat looking, likely to look more different from ''Billy and Mandy''. Hector's design becomes less stylised and more like an actual brain, whilst Boskov becomes bulkier and has much darker fur.
31	* BadSanta: Hector's scheme in "Christmas Con Carne" involved taking over Santa's body so he could give the children toys that contained mind control devices.
32	* BearsAreBadNews: ''Seriously'' averted with Boskov--while he's not entirely "harmless," per se, Boskov's likely the ''least'' dangerous character on the show.
33	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Kid's show host Uncle Bob from the episode "Everyone Loves Uncle Bob" is understandably pissed when Hector Con Carne tries to take over his show and corrupt his audience, eventually gaining muscles and encouraging the children to beat the stuffing out of Hector and his minions.
34	* BigEater / ExtremeOmnivore: Boskov and Hector's stomach.
35	* BilingualBonus: "Con Carne" is Spanish for "with meat".
36	* BlahBlahBlah: Cod Commando speaks entirely like this.
37	* BlankWhiteEyes: General Skarr, who is blind in one eye.
38	* BloodlessCarnage: Subverted; as Cod Commando attempts to teach a group of primary-school children how to cross the street, he's instantly run over by a passing car. Cut to a surprisingly gory scene of him in a bloody mess on the road...right before he sits up, winks at the audience and gives the thumbs-up sign.
39	* BrainInAJar: Hector, post-explosion.
40	* BrainyBrunette: Major Dr. Ghastly.
41	* ButtMonkey: General Skarr (and how).
42	* TheCameo: Hector and Boskov appeared in the ''Billy and Mandy'' episode "Duck!" as one of the people the ghost duck got thrown in jail. Doubles as a nice little gem relating to the two shows splitting apart:
43	-->'''Hector''': I'm not even on this stupid show anymore!
44	* CallToAgriculture: What Skarr does in ''Billy and Mandy''. In fact, when Hector restored Evil Con Carne (the organization) and hired Skarr back, Skarr's obsession with his garden turned him against Hector when the Evil Con Carne forces damaged it.
45	* CardCarryingVillain: It's called '''Evil''' Con Carne. Hector and Skarr are the only ones who care however.
46	* CastingGag:
47	** Estroy, an {{Expy}} of Destro from ''Franchise/GIJoe'', was voiced by Creator/MauriceLaMarche, who voiced Destro in the Creator/DiCEntertainment-produced continuation of ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero''.
48	** "Christmas Con Carne" has Creator/MichaelDorn and Creator/CharlieAdler voicing the heroic Rupert the Green-Nosed Reindeer and the washed-up Snowman respectively, mimicking their previous role together on WesternAnimation/IAmWeasel.
49	* ChekhovsSkill: In the pilot, Hector orders Doctor Ghasty to create a mechanical body so he'll no longer need to use Boskov. Ghasty tries to convince Hector to give Boskov another chance by showing him the skills Boskov developed during his time as a circus bear. Hector sees no use for them but they later become what enables Boskov to save Hector's life.
50	* ChristmasEpisode: "Christmas Con Carne", where Hector Con Carne attempted to distribute toys containing mind control devices to children by taking control of Santa's body, only to be thwarted by a green-nosed reindeer named Rupert.
51	* CollidingCriminalConspiracies: Hector decided to start the League of Destruction because there were too many villains trying to take over the world at the same time.
52	* {{Crossover}}: Three times with ''Billy and Mandy''.
53	* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: Hector con Carne is a BrainInAJar (and stomach, in a separate jar) set atop a ''bear''. He's a possible parody of Brain from ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol''.
54	* DepravedKidsShowHost: Hector Con Carne's scheme in "Everyone Loves Uncle Bob" involved taking over a children's show in hopes of corrupting the children of the world and making them into his future soldiers. Unfortunately for him, the kids liked Uncle Bob better and Uncle Bob himself was unwilling to give up without a fight.
55	* TheDitz: A common complaint Hector has about Boskov is his stupidity.
56	* DitzyGenius: Major Doctor Ghastly is a highly skilled scientist and makes a lot of useful creations for Hector's plans, but also has a tendency to goof up by making silly mistakes.
57	* DontTellMama: Hector's blind mother doesn't know he's the head of a terrorist organization trying to take over the world and he wants to make sure she remains ignorant of that fact. [[spoiler:Subverted in that she only pretended she didn't know]].
58	* DressedAllInRubber: Dr. Ghastly's jumpsuit is a prime example of this.
59	** Agent Heidi from "Jealousy, Jealous Do" also embodies this trope, though her outfit is less mad scientist and more Swedish maid fetish.
60	* DumbMuscle: Boskov and Estroy's two sons. Hector (pre-explosion) was pretty muscular and, as we see him post-explosion, not very bright.
61	* EnemyMine: Hector and Cod Commando had a situation like this once.
62	* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Hector is so terrified of disappointing his elderly mother, all these years he's been pretending to be an oral surgeon as opposed to an international arch-criminal. Apparently, his mother never watches the news, because Hector's charade works for far longer than it should, even when his mom visits his lair. [[spoiler: Except it didn't]].
63	** Averted with Skarr, who ''hates'' his mother.
64	* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Ghastly and Hector. [[ObliviousToLove Hector didn't even realize Ghastly had feelings for him until meeting their future selves and their son]].
65	* EvilLawyerJoke: Used in "Devolver", when one of the lower life forms Skarr turns into is a lawyer.
66	* EvilVersusEvil: Hector versus Estroy. Also, when Hector decided to reunite the world's villains to form a League of Destruction, the league destroyed itself because nobody would accept anybody else as leader.
67	* {{Expy}}:
68	** Dr. Courage and his sons, Max and Rick, are obvious parodies of the main gang from ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest''.
69	** Hector's "neighbor" Estroy, an equally obvious parody of Destro from ''Franchise/GIJoe'', right down to their names both being a letter away from "destroy".
70	** Not to mention that General Skarr is an obvious homage to Herr Starr of ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', with a uniform that looks a lot like Fearless Leader from ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle''.
71	* TheFaceless: Hector's face, pre-explosion, is never shown; even old photos of him cut off at the neck. However, we do see that he was a very tall and very well-muscled man with flowing black hair tied back in a ponytail.
72	* GeniusBruiser: Hector's future son Destructicus is both intelligent and strong.
73	* HartmanHips: Major Doctor Ghastly has big hips.
74	* HeroAntagonist: Cod Commando. (Clearly a case of GoodIsNotNice, however, seeing as he's the reason Hector's body was destroyed.) Of course, a lot of antagonists on the show are just as villainous as Hector.
75	* HostileShowTakeover: One of Hector's plans to take over the world consists on taking over a kids' show called "Everybody Loves Uncle Bob".
76	* HumongousMecha: Hector's short-lived B-1000 Suit.
77	* IgnoredEnamouredUnderling: Poor Major Doctor Ghastly. She's in love with Hector, but he doesn't seem to notice.
78	* InadequateInheritor: Destructicus Con Carne, a good guy.
79	-->'''Ghastly:''' ''So what do you think? He's not'' too ''bad, is he?''
80	-->'''Hector:''' ''That's just it! He's not'' bad ''at all!''
81	* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Hector Con Carne and General Skarr.
82	* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Rupert the Green-Nosed Reindeer tries to talk Santa Claus into resisting the influence of Hector's control in "Christmas Con Carne". He is successful.
83	* IWasQuiteTheLooker: Hector was an undeniable {{Hunk}} back when he had a body, embodying the LatinLover stereotype through and through.
84	* KidFromTheFuture: Destructicus Con Carne, son of Hector and Ghastly.
85	* LatinLover: Hector before losing his body.
86	* LegionOfDoom: Hector once decided to unite all villains and form the "League of Destruction". The villains argued among themselves about who'd be the leader. By the time TheHero arrived at the Headquarters to stop them, the League of Destruction had lived up to the name by destroying itself.
87	* {{Leitmotif}}
88	* MadeOfIron: Hector is regularly removed from his tank and acts perfectly fine despite having no life support. General Skarr is also prone to large amounts of punishment.
89	* MusicalEpisode: "The Pie Who Loved Me" consists almost entirely of the characters singing. (see page quote)
90	* MadScientist: Major Doctor Ghastly uses her scientific genius to further Hector Con Carne's evil schemes.
91	* MeaningfulName: True with Skarr (who does have a scar) but not with Ghastly (who doesn't seem very ghastly at all).
92	** "Con Carne" means "with meat." Eventually, Hector would wind up as a few assorted meat scraps. More amusingly, when he had a body, he was a tall, sexy slab of muscle.
93	* NoodleIncident: Hector once conquered Canada but this was never seen onscreen. It was just mentioned when Hector tried to convince the other villains to accept him as the leader of the League of Destruction. Cataclysma gave a retort that implied that every villain has conquered Canada at some point.
94	* ObliviousToLove: Hector on Ghastly's feelings for him.
95	* ObviouslyNotFine: In "Devolver (Part 1)", General Skarr is hit with a TransformationRay, and Major Doctor Ghastly suggests he get to the infirmary. Skarr refuses, insisting [[TemptingFate "I've never felt better in my life"]], right before his transformation really starts to kick in.
96	* OnlySaneWoman: Major Dr. Ghastly is often the only reasonable member of Evil Con Carne.
97	* OpeningNarration: Got one after being split off into its own show.
98	-->'''Hector:''' Once upon a time, there was a jillionaire playboy who was blown up in a tremendous explosion. His brain survived--\
99	'''Stomach:''' Stomach, too!\
100	'''Hector:''' --and was attached to the body of a stupid circus bear. I am that brain. My name is Hector Con Carne, and I will one day rule the world! ''[EvilLaugh]''
101	* OrganAutonomy: Hector's stomach has a mind of its own.
102	* OriginsEpisode: "Bring Me the Face of Hector Con Carne" gives more detail on the circumstances under which Hector Con Carne was reduced to a disembodied brain after losing his body and also explains how Major Doctor Ghastly ended up working for him.
103	* {{Otaku}}: Hector adores Japanese culture.
104	* OverlyLongGag: In episode 10 (Tiptoe Through the Tulips, Part 2), Hector is out of his jar crawling in a corridor, when a mess call gets his entire army of minions marching over him.
105	* PaperThinDisguise:
106	** Estroy once disguised a bomb as a Skarr-like girl to get back at Hector. Skarr fell for it despite Hector and Ghastly having pointed out the fuse. Skarr was the only one who fell for the disguise.
107	** In "The Smell of Vengeance", Cod Commando disguises himself as Skarr simply by putting on his uniform. Hector doesn't see through the disguise until it's too late.
108	* PerkyFemaleMinion: Major Doctor Ghastly tends to be more good-natured and chipper than Hector and Skarr.
109	* PowerOfLove: Think a villain can't use this? In "The Pie that Loved Me", apparently they can, as the plan involves pies that have love as the "secret ingredient". (The plan doesn't work, but Ghastly still ''tried''.)
110	* PrimAndProperBun: Major Dr Ghastly wears her hair in a bun.
111	* PunchClockHero: Cod Commando and the guys at SPORK. The soldiers trying to capture Hector in the pilot are a bigger example. They interrupt a battle because it's lunch break and it gives Ghasty enough time to build a mechanical body that allows Hector to defeat them once they come back from lunch break.
112	* PunchClockVillain: Everyone at Evil Con Carne except Hector.
113	** Special mention goes to Major Dr. Ghastly. She's not really interested in taking over the world. She really only seems interested in inventing things and getting close to Hector.
114	* TheRival: Estroy, Hector's fellow evil genius.
115	* SameContentDifferentRating: Some of the segments are rated TV-Y7 and the rest are rated TV-Y7 FV.
116	* SavingChristmas: "Christmas Con Carne" had a snowman enlist the help of a green-nosed reindeer named Rupert to stop Hector's plan of ruining Christmas by distributing toys that contained mind control devices.
117	* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Lampshaded in-universe by General Skarr in ''Billy and Mandy''; while explaining to Billy why he's no longer a general in an evil organization, he mentions that the [[Creator/CartoonNetwork network]] executives bought out Evil Con Carne [[BitingTheHandHumor so they'd have less competition in their plans to conquer the world]].
118	* {{Snowlems}}: "Christmas Con Carne" featured an animate snowman as one of the good guys.
119	* SupervillainLair: As you might expect from a world-conquering supervillain brain, he has one. Just you might not be expecting it to be called Bunny Island and no, it's not ironic.
120	** Estroy has his own called Skull Island.
121	* TheStarscream: Skarr seems to think he'd be a better leader of Evil Con Carne than Hector, and in several episodes has tried to take over. However, in one episode, when Hector was incapacitated and Skarr took over in the mean time, he was completely useless. Seriously - he needed an ''instruction manual'' to figure out how to get the soldiers to ''stand to attention''.
122	** You have to remember, though, that this is more than Hector ever convinced those same soldiers to do. In an instant they knew perfect Drill and Ceremony, when seconds before they were useless.
123	** Skarr managed to take over when Hector replaced the mooks with Dreadbots and Skarr reprogrammed them to be loyal to him. It was a short-lived victory, as Skarr-bot followed his "father's" example and re-reprogrammed the Dreadbots. Skarr was proud of him, however.
124	* SurroundedByIdiots: Hector's soldiers apparently can't even aim a weapon straight. Once when one of Evil Con Carne's airships is attacked, a guy is ''shooting holes in the deck''. Not that the heads of the organisation are geniuses however...
125	* TerribleTrio: Hector, Ghastly, and Skarr.
126	* TimeSkip: The series takes place seven years after Hector lost his body.
127	* TooDumbToLive: Skarr was the only one who fell for the PaperThinDisguise (see above)
128	* {{Transplant}}: After ''Evil Con Carne'' was cancelled, General Skarr became a recurring character in ''Billy and Mandy''. Canonically, after Evil Con Carne (the organization) was abolished, he decided to go straight and get himself a house in the suburbs... the one right next to Billy's, much to his chagrin.
129	* TropicalIslandAdventure: The series is set on Bunny Island, a tropical island owned by Hector Con Carne and his minions. Estroy also has his own tropical island named Skull Island.
130	* {{Tuckerization}}: In an obscure interview, Maxwell Atoms mentioned that he'd caricatured his friends as ECC foot soldiers.
131	* TheUnfavorite: Rick. In the end, he tried to drive the boat to win his dad's appreciation to escape the villains. Only to have all of them (the villains included) end up stranded on a desert island. Dr. Courage berates Rick who's just sitting there sulking.
132	-->'''Dr. Courage:''' "I'm gonna make you proud, dad." Sheesh!
133	* UsurpingSanta: In "Christmas Con Carne", Hector has his men invade Christmas land to launch an evil plan to take over Christmas, placing Hector on Santa's head to control of him.
134	* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Major Doctor Ghastly is shown pulling a steak out of her cleavage while feeding the dolphins in "The HCCBDD".
135	* VillainProtagonist: Hector Con Carne is the main character of the show and also happens to be a villain planning world domination.
136	* VillainSong: "The Pie Who Loved Me" has Hector get his own song called "Things I Adore", where he sings about his love for world domination schemes.
137	* WidelySpacedJailBars: In the ''Max Courage'' episode, the kids are thrown into a cell that has gaps in the bars wide enough that they could crawl through them if they tried.
138	* WingdingEyes: In "Bring Me the Face of Hector Con Carne", Ghastly's eyes turn into hearts when she meets Hector for the first time.
139	* WordSaladTitle / GratuitousSpanish: "Con Carne" means "with meat", which makes it sound like "evil" is the main ingredient in an entree. Perhaps EvilTastesGood?
140	** It could also be translated, "Evil with flesh."
141	* YouAreNotAlone: "No No Nanook" ends with this. After [[ItMakesSenseInContext destroying the planet's gravity and floating into space]], Hector and Boskov are brought aboard a flying saucer crewed by various creatures that also have brains and stomachs in jars mounted to their bodies.

Context WesternAnimation / EvilConCarne