Line #5 WesternAnimation/TwelveOunceMouse


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6	[[quoteright:444:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/12oz-Mouse-Fitz.png]]
7	[[caption-width-right:444: ''"Okay now, funny thing is, I have these weird flashes, like I've been somewhere before. Like I've been ripped from somewhere for reasons I don't understand. Does anyone else pick that up? That understanding of ripped-ness?"'']]
8
9	->''Outta my way, I'm drunk as hell!\
10	I'll blow your ass away, like a ring of a bell\
11	Pedal to the floor, and the whiskeys flowin'\
12	I got a porn-shoot, I gotta get goin'\
13	You don't understand, you don't give a damn\
14	(12 oz. Mouse, 12 oz. Mouse!)\
15	(12 oz. Mouse, 12 oz. Mouse!)\
16	Jet car's rollin' all night long, crankin' up the jams and singing along,\
17	Car full o' bitches and brand new bong!''\
18
19	-->-'''OpeningTheme'''
20
21	''12 oz. Mouse'' (sometimes [[PortmanteauSeriesNickname abbreviated]] as ''ozmo'') is an animated series that originally ran for two seasons on Creator/AdultSwim from 2005-2007, with a third season premiering [[SequelGap thirteen years later]] in 2020. It is the brainchild and pet project of ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' co-creator Matt Maiellaro.
22
23	The show's narrative centers around Mouse Fitzgerald ("Fitz"), a green, beer-swilling, [[ChaoticNeutral chaotic neutral]] [[FunnyAnimal mouse]] who lives in a [[CrapsackWorld violent, nihilistic town]] apparently made out of cardboard. Fitz takes on a series of oddjobs for Shark, a non-anthropomorphic blue shark, and botches each one spectacularly through his propensity for drinking and his [[TheDitz inability to focus]] on the simplest of tasks. As the series progresses, Fitz has [[FlashBack flashbacks]] of a lost previous life, including a [[DisappearedDad wife and daughter]] he didn't know he had. As he attempts to put together his forgotten past, he runs afoul of several of the town's more bizarre citizens, including a giant eyeball, a one-handed corndog farmer, and a wealthy [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin square]]. Everyone knows something, but they're not telling, and most of them have their own problems.
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25	Though ''ozmo'' is remarkable for its moody story, its brilliant soundtrack, and its breathy, melodramatic voice acting, the series is mostly remembered for its abject visual austerity. Most of the characters are rendered in simple line drawings (hand-drawn by Maiellaro) and the backgrounds are rarely more detailed than that; Maiellaro [[http://www.shriekingtree.com/12_oz_Mouse/ joked]] that he pitched the series by telling the network, "This will cost about five dollars and will take some of the paper sitting in the copier." If you've ever seen the show, it's not too hard to believe him.
26
27	A half-hour special aired in October 2018, followed by the announcement of the aforementioned third season in 2019. The third season began airing on July 20, 2020, and ended at the end of the same month on July 31. Sadly, in February 2021 creator Matt Maiellaro confirmed that the show was canceled once again, citing "a new agenda from [as] that the show didn't fall under".
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29	----
30
31	!! "I've got a lot on my mind and a lot of tropes in my hand."
32
33	* TheAlcoholic: Fitz's defining trait. In fact, one of the few pieces of merchandise produced for the show aside from the DVD was a drinking flask engraved with his image.
34	** The other characters get in their share of boozing, too. Peanut implies that drinking confers some kind of protection from the powers that be.
35	* AlternateRealityGame: Sort of, in a very limited way. One episode ended with a numeric code, and a hint to its decoding was provided on the Creator/AdultSwim forums. The fan who decoded it won $5 in loose change, some swag, and a note from RBM. Maiellaro also posted a riddle [[note]]Forever has 7. Mouse has 3. There's a man coming home to a man with a mask. His ears are all covered up with noise.[[/note]] to the forums in 2007, which was never officially solved.
36	* AmbiguousGender: Rectangular Business''man'' once referred to himself as a woman. Rhoda, who looks and speaks like a male, is sometimes called a "her". The Man/Woman can switch genders at will.
37	* AnimationBump: In the 23-minute 12 Oz. Mouse special "INVICTUS", where most of the animation style changes is sleeker and overall, it looks better than before such as the real-world being very colorful such as the background & design, resembling something like a kid's drawing & the cardboard city is used again but is taken from the show's intro, where the animation in those scenes are animated in Live-Action but the characters are still in their animated forms during these scenes.
38	* AntiHero: Fitz and Skillet have no problem robbing banks, killing off [[RedShirt Red Shirts]], and then getting drunk as their reward. But at least they aren't trying to destroy/control the whole world.
39	* ApothecaryAlligator: Liquor has an alligator on a shelf in his store.
40	* AnArmAndALeg: Roostre has his hand cut off as part of [[spoiler:a conspiracy by Shark and the Square Businessman to keep him from interfering with their plans.]] He gets a HookHand later on, but it doesn't impact his playing guitar.
41	* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Skillet in the season 2 finale "Prolegomenon". And depending on [[GainaxEnding how you see the ending]], everyone else who died on the show, Also in the 12 Oz. Mouse Special "INVICTUS", many characters like Shark, Rectangular Businessman, New Guy, Man-Woman, Rhoda (In a Giant Jar) & a few more are all alive with no explanation.]]
42	%%* BigBadDuumvirate: Shark and RBM.
43	* BreatherEpisode:
44	** "Star Wars VII", in which Shark spends most of the episode trying to restart his stalled car while his passenger, Rectangular Businessman, wanders off to buy a harmonica.
45	** And [[MusicalEpisode "Auraphull"]], of course.
46	* CartoonBomb: Fitz throws a few of these around in the early episodes.
47	%%* TheChessmaster: Rectangular Businessman
48	* ChekhovsGun: Many. Some of them are debated.
49	* TheCity: Played straight in the first two seasons, averted in the Internet episode.
50	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Due to the bizarre nature of the show's world, you'll probably have trouble telling whether someone is being a TalkativeLoon or is actually giving real background info. This is compounded by the cast being frequently attacked by "anti-language gas".
51	* CoolCar: Fitz's taxi appears to be a yellow jet with no wings.
52	* CoolShip: Shark's ship appears to be a giant flying metal shark.
53	%%* CrapsackWorld
54	* CreditsGag: In "Invictus", Creator/SethGreen (who voices Mouse in the special) is credited as "Baron Victor von Hamburger IV".
55	* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Fitz, Roostre.
56	* CrypticConversation: Every single conversation from every character in this whole show counts.
57	* CuteButCacophonic: Skillet's single frame of animation is adorable, but he speaks in loud squealing noises.
58	* DerangedAnimation: The first two seasons only.
59	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
60	** In "Bowtime", Fitz's wife says that: "We had a baby. When we had her, the time is coming that..... To her.... us.". It is possible that Fitz's daughter [[DeathOfAChild had died]].
61	** In "Prolegomenon", Fitz is seen unconcious, with his head attached to a machine. This scene has the same implications to AnimalTesting.
62	* DomesticOnlyCartoon: Like many other Williams Street shows.
63	* DumbIsGood: Contrast the protagonists, especially the stoner policeman, with the far more (relatively) intelligent villains, RBM and Shark.
64	* EldritchAbomination: Amalockh
65	* EnergyBeings: [[spoiler: CJ Muff in his orb form and Archeus from the season 2 finale.]]
66	* EternalRecurrence: It's heavily implied that the town is stuck in a loop that has gone through at least one iteration. Liquor even tells Roostre that's he's "too close to resetting everything".
67	* ExactWords: RBM says that Peanut was the "highest" marksman in his class, not the best.
68	* EyelessFace: Rectangular Businessman
69	* FreezeFrameBonus: Letters in the background of Shark's party spell out the messages, "Roostre knows", "Shark is an asshole", and "Skillet is key".
70	%%* TheFool: Peanut Cop.
71	* GreaterScopeVillain:
72	** The Shadowy Figure, who's the only person Rectangular Businessman answers to.
73	** Amalockh. After he's released, even Shark and Rectangular Businessman realize that they can't control him and become worried.
74	* GreenAesop: "Trees make ox-i-gen. I breathe it. You breathe it."
75	* GunsAndGunplayTropes: Too many to list here. To say the least, each character carries a signature gun and uses it with little or no provocation.
76	* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: [[spoiler:Rhoda the bartender's death]] in "Adventure Mouse", in which he is sliced to death by [[spoiler:the Rectangular Businessman]].
77	%%* ImmuneToBullets: Shark, Liquor. [[spoiler: Later subverted with Shark]].
78	* IncrediblyObviousBug: The hidden cameras in "Spider" which look like bright red dots on a plain white wall.
79	* ItsAllAboutMe: Rectangular Businessman. He can't go one minute without mentioning how rich he is.
80	* KilledOffForReal: Subverted multiple times in the first season (except for the Season 1 finale [[spoiler: where Rhoda died by the Rectangular Businessman]]), but the show started to play this trope straight in season 2.
81	* "LetMeGetThisStraight, you're...out of beer?"
82	* LivingShadow: The Shadowy Figure
83	* MagicalRealism of a particularly bleak and nihilistic kind.
84	* MindScrew: All over the place. There are two attitudes toward this show: the fans who love it, and the people who literally don't even think it has a plot. At all. They don't mean it as a pejorative--they literally aren't aware of the actual plot.
85	* TheMovie: Sort of--the show's DVD release edits all of the show's first and second seasons together into a single "movie".
86	* MusicalEpisode: "Auraphull".
87	* NamedByTheDub: The unnamed Man-Woman was given the name of María José/José María in the Latin American Spanish dub.
88	* NoIndoorVoice: Golden Joe. He's like "a human P.A. machine".
89	* NonIndicativeFirstEpisode: The first two episodes present the show as a pretty standard AnimatedShockComedy, with an UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist taking on various odd jobs and then [[LazyBum flaking on them partway through]]. Afterward, the odd jobs stop coming as the protagonist is revealed to be an AmnesiacHero, with a tenuous grip on reality, his put-upon boss reveals [[XanatosGambit that he's more in control than he lets on]], and the weirdness of the setting turns from SurrealHumor to SurrealHorror.
90	* NonMammalMammaries: Fitz's wife.
91	* NoNameGiven: Some characters are never really given names. The cop is finally called "Peanut" (one of the most common fan nicknames) in "Enter the Sandmouse". The annoying woman in the green sweater is never named until her transformation; WordOfGod refers to her as "Robogirl". The Producer Man's name has been revealed only in a few official episode summaries from Adult Swim and is also referred to "Talent Scout" on other sources.
92	* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Amalockh, Lee, and most of the season 3 characters are more detailed, looking more like ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' characters.
93	* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: Rectangular Businessman supposedly dies in an exploding building in the first episode. Later on, he comes back, with the explanation that he's "too rich to die."
94	* OhCrap: Rhoda when he [[spoiler: accidentally calls Shark instead of Fitz, thus signing his own death warrant]].
95	* OmnicidalManiac: Shark becomes one after his VillainousBreakdown. He unleashes all his evil robots into the city and sits back and watches as they all tear the city apart, killing anything in sight.
96	%%* OnlySaneMan: Roostre and Liquor.
97	* OntologicalMystery: The show's main story is Fitz realizing that he's in one. He starts having flashbacks to an earlier life, starts noticing that people are hiding things, and realizes that he doesn't even remember ever moving to the town. The story develops into his quest to find the answers to his past.
98	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Shortly after [[spoiler: Skillet dies near the end of the second season]], Peanut Cop says "That's not funny at all..." without even smiling or snickering ''once'', which is something he can't go five words without doing.
99	* OverlyLongGag: Several.
100	** [[ToiletHumor Golden Joe and Peanut Cop urinating]] in "Bowtime".
101	** Rectangular Businessman buying a harmonica in "Star Wars VII".
102	** Professor Wilx's dance in "Reveal".
103	* {{Pilot}}: This show had a pilot episode, but it's gone forever because the creator didn't properly archive it.
104	* RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]. "The magnitude of ''my'' wealth goes beyond any wall... of China".
105	* RightOnTheTick: The frozen clock.
106	* ScaryBlackMan: Halfway through the series, Shark announces, "I'm black now", and starts blowing up everything.
107	%%* SceneryGorn
108	* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: [[ExaggeratedTrope Exaggerated]] when Rectangular Businessman returns from his supposed death in an exploding building by explaining that he's ''too rich to die.''
109	* ShoutOut:
110	** In "Signals", Fitz mentions "Barney Rubles" to Shark, a reference to the character Barney Rubble from ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones''.
111	** In "Surgery Circus", Golden Joe mentions [[{{Series/SanfordAndSon}} Fred Sanford]].
112	** In "Enjoy the Arm", Fitz mentions [[{{Franchise/The Terminator}} the Terminator]] while talking to Skillet.
113	** In "Meat Warrior", Peanut Cop and Liquor accidentally run over a baby carriage that had harmless wine bottles in it. [[{{Film/Speed}} Sound familiar?]]
114	*** In the same episode, a few doves are seen flying during an action scene, referencing the films of Creator/JohnWoo.
115	** At the end of "Eighteen", Shark has a VillainousBreakdown and demands that Rectangular Businessman activate all the tie-bots and hovervacs to assist him in taking down Fitz, his friends, and Amalockh. The way he shouts out "'''EVERYONE!!!'''" is very similar to how Stansfield said it in ''Film/TheProfessional''.
116	** Uncle Grandfather's Temple from ''WesternAnimation/PerfectHairForever'' appears on one of Shark's monitors in "Invictus".
117	** [[spoiler:Industry Man]]'s design resembles that of Phoenix Wright from the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series.
118	** The title of the episode "Francis, Cheap & Out of Control" is a reference to the film ''Fast, Cheap & Out of Control''.
119	* SmugSnake: Shark. He tries to be as smart and witty as RBM, but he clearly isn't, and RBM knows it.
120	* StoppedClock: One that's an antagonist, to boot.
121	* TheStinger: A few episodes end with one; sadly, they're not in the DVD release.
122	* SurrealHumor / SurrealHorror intentionally toes the line between the two.
123	* SuspiciousSpending: "''Those'' are expensive beers. You must have pretty good ''jobs'' to pay for ''those'' kinds of beers."
124	* StylisticSelfParody: "I don't have any eyes."
125	** A subtle one occurs when a deadly tiebot attaches itself to Fitz's chest. He can't reach it because his arms don't bend.
126	* StylisticSuck: It's not known if it's true or not, but Creator/AdultSwim constantly jokes that this show basically came about as a challenge to see if it was possible to create a television show while completely wasted; they still frequently and proudly refer to it when using examples of the crappiest artwork in the world.
127	* TerrestrialSeaLife: Shark, although being a non-anthropomorphic shark out of the water, has to drag himself slowly across the floor, and needs a special rig to move around his control room.
128	* TrailersAlwaysLie
129	** The episode summaries given to cable providers were completely unrelated to the episodes. In fact, they were the summaries from episodes of ''Series/GoodTimes'', with the characters' names changed.
130	** The "Invictus" special on the Creator/AdultSwim website, cable providers and some streaming listings provide a summary clearly referencing ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''.
131	* VerbalTic: The Eye usual-eye speaks b-eye emphas-eye-zing the "eye" sound in ever-eye word he can.
132	** And then a few he c-eye-n't.
133	*** No. You can't do that.
134	* VillainousBreakdown: Shark finally becomes fed up with everything in "Eighteen" and tells RBM to unleash their entire army all at once.
135	--> '''Shark''': Get me everyone.
136	--> '''RBM''': What do you mean by 'everyone'? You want the tie-bots, or the hovervacs?
137	--> '''Shark''': '''EVERYONE!!!'''
138	* VitriolicBestBuds: Shark and RBM ''always'' insult each other at every turn. And yet, they continue to work together in their evil schemes.
139	* TheUnintelligible: Skillet, among others.
140	* TheVoiceless: A couple of them; most notably, Skillet, The Hand, Pronto, New Guy and Clock (save for the latter two, who are later voiced).
141	* WhamEpisode: The Season 1 finale. [[spoiler:Rhoda is sliced in half by Rectangular Businessman, Fitz is drugged and falls into a trap room, Skillet gets shot with a tranquilizer dart and is later captured, and the Eye has his leg chopped off by the Hand and passes out in his own pool of blood]].
142	* WhamLine:
143	** In "Spharktasm", when Rhoda realizes that he called the wrong person.
144	--> [[spoiler:'''Shark''': "This is Rhoda, isn't it?"]]
145	** And again in "Enjoy The Arm".
146	--> '''Eye''': Someone sounds mad back there.
147	--> [[spoiler:'''Second Eye''': ''[grows an arm, takes out a gun, and points it at the Eye]'' Yes. Someone does.]]
148	* ZenSurvivor: In the internet-only episode.
149
150	----
151
152	->''Now when nights get lonely, I need someone to save me''
153	->''Tonight is the night. I won't fall, won't break down\
154	Show me your surrender, I'm scared\
155	But I'll pretend I am not\
156	Nothing brings me back down\
157	I am the 12 oz. Mouse!''\
158

Context WesternAnimation / TwelveOunceMouse