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Protagonists
Zed
Zed Necrodopolis
Played by: Milo Manheim
The main male character. A zombie from Necropolis who hopes to get equal rights for the zombies of Seabrook.- All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Played With. While the girl he falls for, Addison, does want to become a cheerleader, what attracts Zed to her is her kind personality.
- Attractive Zombie: He thinks it's one of his redeeming qualities. Addison shares the same sentiments.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Zed and Addison both talk to the audience.
- Establishing Character Moment: Zed playing puppy with his little sister because Zombies aren't allowed to have pets.
- Fighting from the Inside: In full zombie mode, Zed is about to attack Bucky, but his morals are strong enough to actually help resist and stop himself from doing so long enough to get stunned and Brought Down to Normal.
- First Girl Wins: Goes both ways: Addison is the first human girl that Zed meets and in turn Zed is the first zombie guy that Addison meets.
- Love at First Punch: How Addison and Zed meet. To be fair it was a fear reflex, and she even apologized for it.
- Lovable Jock
- Meaningful Name: "Zed" rhymes with "dead." Could possibly be short for "Zedekiah"
, the last king of Judah. (His last name also suggests he is of Jewish heritage.) - Mr. Exposition: Zed and Addison explain Seabrook's ideals, how the zombie outbreak started, and everything that ensued fifty years later in their opening narratives.
- Official Couple: With Addison at the first movie.
- One Head Taller: Zed is noticeably taller than Addison.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Gender inverted example. Zed shows up at Addison's home for their homecoming date dressed in a nice suit and impressing her parents. It's also played with and Lampshaded by Addison as he was also able to pass as human by putting his health at risk swiping his Z-band.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Zed and Addison.
Addison
Addison Wells
Played by: Meg Donnelly
The main female character. She's a human girl from Seabrook who wishes to become a cheerleader.- Abusive Parents: Though not as bad as some, they do shame her into believing she has to hide who she is down to her natural hair color and be just like everyone else.
- Absurd Phobia: Addison hiding her real hair because she thought people would hate her for it even though people love and accepted her.
- Affectionate Nickname: Those who actually care about Addison can be identified by calling her "Addie".
- Ambiguously Human: It's becoming apparent that she may not be entirely human. In the first movie, she says her natural born white hair cannot be dyed and nothing sticks; she also claims she wore a wig to hide it "as long as [she] can remember." In the second movie, her hair glows as a strange meteor falls out of the sky. In the miniseries she's the only one immune to Vanna's vampire hypnosis, which according to her should be impossible, causing Vanna to ask her What the Hell Are You?. The third movie reveals all this is because Addison is a quarter alien.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Zed and Addison both talk to the audience.
- But Your Wings Are Beautiful: Zed thinks Addison's "freakish" white hair is beautiful.
- The Chosen One:
- The werewolves in Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2 specifically seek her out because of a prophecy that states that the Great Alpha, a girl with white hair, would lead their pack and lead them to the moonstone they need to recharge their amulets. Unfortunately for her, she's not it.
- Played Straight in the third movie, where its revealed she's the map the aliens are looking for to help their race find "Utopia", their new planet.
- Dark Secret: She was born with unusually white hair which cannot be dyed. She has to hide such under a blonde wig because the people of Seabrook don't accept anything different.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: Somewhat Justified. Addison's family has been traumatized by her paternal grandpa (assuming Bucky's from her dad's side of the family) nearly being gobbled up by a zombie. Therefore her parents assume all zombies are man-eaters.
- Despair Event Horizon:
- Revealing her hair after Zed is arrested…and getting booed for it. This breaks Addison's spirit so badly that she even is in support of Eliza's dangerous, potential murderous, scheme against the cheerleaders, one of whom is her own cousin! Thankfully, Zed brings her back to her senses.
- She gets hit with this again in the sequel when after believing that she's a werewolf because of her hair, she doesn't become one when she wears the moonstone.
- Dumb Blonde: She can sometimes be a bit ditzy, despite being intelligent and levelheaded.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: After fully accepting her alien nature in 3, her hair turns from white to medium blue like the aliens, as a sign of her awakening her stardust powers.
- First Girl Wins: Goes both ways: Addison is the first human girl that Zed meets and in turn Zed is the first zombie guy that Addison meets. Addison is also the first girl introduced all together, both on and off camera.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: It's a wig. Her real hair is platinum blonde. Doesn't stop her from being the nicest girl.
- Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: Addison may be a cheerleader and like typical "girly" things, but she's also into weird things like Zed's species, likes being tough and is a great fighter.
- "I Am Becoming" Song:
- "Stand" from the first film, in which she decides she's no longer going to hide who she really is. Culminates in her shedding her blonde wig revealing her unusually natural white hair.
- "I'm Finally Me" from 3, where shortly upon realizing her true heritage as an alien, she finally embraces her true self and prepares to face whatever comes her way.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Addison desperately want to be this, due to being born with white hair.
- I Know Karate: "The only thing more deadly than my high kick is my low kick." Thankfully nobody fights. Kinda justifiable since cheerleading helps you a bit in learning martial arts.
- Interspecies Romance: With Zed.
- Immune to Mind Control: She is the only one who cannot be hypnotized by Vanna.
- Limited Wardrobe: Like with every resident of Seabrook and because of the anti-difference law, Addison's clothing colors are limited to pastel pink and blue.
- Long Hair Is Feminine: Her blonde wig is long to represent her femininity. Plays even straighter with her real hair in the sequel, which has grown long like the wig.
- Love at First Punch:
- How Addison and Zed meet. To be fair it was a fear reflex, and she even apologized for it.
- Nearly brought up a Brick Joke in their first "Someday" sequence when Addie pulled up her other fist before Zed.
- Happens again in the second film when he finds her lost in the woods.
- Happens again in the third film when they run into each other on the alien spaceship.
- Mr. Exposition: Zed and Addison explain Seabrook's ideals, how the zombie outbreak started, and everything that ensued fifty years later in their opening narratives.
- My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: A running gag between installments has her attempting to speak monster languages poorly. When trying to say a greeting in Zombie Tongue, she ends up saying "Thanks for rubbing peanut butter on my umbrella." When she tries werewolf howling in the second film, she makes nonsense phrases like "ostrich boots" and "polka dot unicorn".
- Mystical White Hair: No explanation has been given as to why she was born with it. They tried dyeing it but nothing sticks. That is, until the third movie, where it’s revealed that she’s 1/4 alien, and her mother has also been hiding her own white hair under a wig, as well.
- Nice Girl: Addison is very kind, sweet, levelheaded, caring and loving yet a bit ditzy.
- Otherworldly Technicolour Hair: Addison is of alien descent (from her mother's side), hence her white hair.
- Not Like Other Girls: Addison kept convincing herself she was something else other than human because of her white hair. She believe she was not like others girl because of her hair (which annoyed lots of the audience).
- Official Couple: With Zed at the first movie.
- Pink Is Feminine: Half of Addison's outfits worn onscreen are pink. The rest of them are blue.
- Plucky Girl: For most of the first movie, although she eventually reaches her Despair Event Horizon after Bucky and the Aceys plot.
- Power Incontinence: Once Allison begins awakens her "spark" in the third movie, she can't help but repeatedly shock and hurt Zed with her powers whenever he tries to make physical contact. While she slowly learns to control her powers, it takes until the end of the movie before she's able to touch him without hurting him.
- Punny Name: Her full name is Allison Roslyn Wells.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Addison quickly falls for good guy Zed.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Zed and Addison.
- The Sociopath: Addison considers herself to be alone despite having many friends and loving parents.
- Tomboyish Voice: She has a kind of sweet yet deep, boyish and raspy voice.
- Uptown Girl: Daughter of the mayor and the chief of police in Seabrook. And cousin of the cheer captain.
- Uneven Hybrid: As the third movie reveal, she's actually 1/4 alien, with her alien heritage coming from her mother.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Do not insult or hurt Zed!
- Zombie Advocate: From the moment she fell in love with him. To be fair he’s nice and very hot for a dead guy. She continues this in the sequels, where she's the only one to accepts the werewolves when they first enroll with open arms and the aliens when they signed up for the national cheerleading competitions after a unintentionally dangerous first contact.
Humans
Bree
Bree
Played by: Carla Jeffrey
- Beta Couple: She and Bonzo by the third film.
- Black and Nerdy: Black, and a top academic.
-
The Cast Showoff: Carla Jeffrey was a cheerleader in school, and makes good use of her skills in the films. - Nervous Wreck: Initially, she becomes one whenever there are zombies present. She gets over it, though.
- Ship Tease: Bree and Bonzo during the first two films.
- Shrinking Violet: Unlike Addison, she's very shy.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Her relationship arc with Bonzo.
Bucky
Bucky Buchanan
Played by: Trevor Tordjman
Addison's showy and obnoxious cousin and the head cheerleader of Seabrook High.
- Aesop Amnesia: While he overcomes his prejudice against zombies at the end of the first film, any lesson learned about his egomania are forgotten between scenes, much less between films.
- Ambiguously Gay: Somehow manages to walk a very fine line between being gay-coded and homophobic-coded.
- Alliterative Name: Bucky Buchanan.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: When they're not discussing zombies, Bucky and Addison seem to get along fine.
- Big Bad: He is the main antagonist of the first Z-O-M-B-I-E-S film and causes most of the external conflict.
- Break the Haughty: Bucky naturally has to undergo this before his Heel–Face Turn. It doesn't last.
- Bullying a Dragon: Early in the movie, he confidently taunts an undead mutant twice his size on the other side of a chain-link fence. In response said zombie ''lunges'' at him. He's lucky Bonzo's a pacifist despite his fearsome appearance.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He's nowhere to be seen in Addison's Moonstone Mystery.
- Heel–Face Turn: It looks like he's not ever going to have one, until he is confronted by Zoey's innocence and can no longer justify his prejudice to himself any longer.
- Ignored Epiphany: He realizes that zombies are not monsters deep down when Zed actually resists his instincts to kill him while in full zombie mode. In the "Stand" song number, he expresses that he is terrified of actually confronting his prejudices and re-evaluating everything he thought he knew, and so he doubles down by banning any zombie supporter from the cheer squad, which comes back to bite him at the championship.
- It's All About Me: Bucky's defining trait. His primary concern in the first film seems to be that actually accepting zombies into society will detract from his importance. Motivates him to run for class president and at the end of the third film travel to space to spread his personal brand of cheer.
- Jerk Jock: Of the cheerleading variety.
- Morality Pet: He's protective of his cousin (after all, their grandpa was almost DEVOURED by a radioactive ghoul). Ironically, also Zoey, the little sister of the zombie he doesn't like.
- Noble Bigot: While his main concern about accepting zombies is selfish, he does hold the sincere belief that zombies are inherently dangerous and thinks he's protecting Addison by keeping her from Zed.
- Reacts the same towards the werewolves in the second film.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Upon his Heel–Face Turn. He even gave Bree his position during the cheer championship.
The Aceys
In General
- Bullying a Dragon: The Aceys have either be very brave or very stupid to mess with undead, radioactive, former cannibals.
- Heel–Face Turn: They all go through one by the end of the movie.
- Satellite Character: The Aceys don't have much of a personality apart from each other.
- Theme Naming: All their names end in -acey.
Lacey
Played by: Emilia McCarthy
- Dumb Blonde: Implied since she confused lactose intolerance with ''zombie'' intolerance.
Stacey
Played by: Jasmine Thomas
- Hidden Depths: Proves to be a bit capable in programming when Zed's swiping disables the firewall in Eliza's computer and allows Stacey to mess with Zed's, Eliza's and Bonzo's Z-bands.
Tracey
Played by: Mickeey Nguyen
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Does not appear in Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2 for unknown reasons.
- Dirty Coward: Tracey's such a great friend for offering poor Lacey as a human sacrifice.
- Gender-Blender Name: Justified as there are few traditionally boys' names that rhyme with Stacey and Lacey.
J.C.
Played by: Noah Zulfikar
- Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name is Kevin, but changed it so he can join the Aceys.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Replaces Tracey after the first film for an unknown reason.
Faculty
Coach
Played by: Jonathan Langdon
- Artistic License – Sports: He's more likely to risk his career by encouraging Zed to cheat using his own perscriptional drugs, the z-bands as mood stablizers rather than steroids, and endangering his player's life...er afterlife.
- Innocently Insensitive: He didn't mean to rude, but when he used lines such as "monster" and "throw a bone", Zed's likely thinking "Sure, make dead guy jokes in front of the dead guy."
- Kindhearted Cat Lover
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Becomes this after getting the nerve to add Zed to the team.
Principal Lee
Played by: Naomi Snieckus
- Dean Bitterman: When the zombie students first arrive, she acts as though they're diseased.
Dale
Played by: Paul Hopkins
- Henpecked Husband: Downplayed. He often echoes Missy who finishes his sentences, but does have his own lines.
Missy
Played by: Marie Ward
- Apron Matron: Downplayed. She finishes her husband's sentences when it takes a bit longer for him to think, and is more often the one who makes the decisions in the house. Also she's the mayor of Seabrook.
Officer Gus
Played by: Michael Brown
- Police Brutality: He's an officer who specializes in arresting zombies for breaking curfew and tasering rogue zombies.
Zombies
In General
- Beware the Nice Ones: They're a generally affable group. If you deactivate their Z-bands, however...
- Dark Is Not Evil: Mostly vegetarian these days.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Played with. The zombies have been able to abolish cannibalism... as long as their wristbands are stable.
- Interspecies Romance: A girl and a Zombie.
- Our Zombies Are Different: This being a Disney movie, the zombie outbreak is caused by a spill of lime soda at a power plant, causing a green, noxious haze that turns the exposed into a Technically-Living Zombie. Aside from having pale white skin and green hair (that makes them all look like The Joker with the
Serial Numbers Filed Off), they look like regular humans. In their natural state, they're feral, black veined monsters that crave brains; however, thanks to special bracelets created by the government, they're able to stay sane and lead relatively normal lives (due to subtle shocks said to be soothing).- There are also different generations of zombies that weren't alive during the initial outbreak, meaning that the children of the infected are born as zombies.
- People of Hair Color: The natural hair color of Zombies is varying shades of green.
- Primal Fear: All Zombies are afraid of fire, though Bonzo seems to have it more than most.
- Superpowered Evil Side: Without their wristbands, they revert to their natural state: a feral, black-veined, growling monster — which is also incredibly strong.
- Theme Naming: All of the zombie characters have names with Zs in them.
- Wrong Side of the Tracks: Zombietown, where all zombies are forced to live. It's slightly nicer than a ghetto, in that they have electricity and running water, but they have to scrounge most of their belongings or build them from junk. In the sequel, the town is opened to outsiders, and becomes a much nicer place.
Bonzo
Bonzo
Played by: James Godfrey
- Beta Couple: Him and Bree by the end of the second movie.
- The Big Guy: He has a thick neck and broad shoulders, is taller than even Zed, and got his name from Led Zeppelin's drummer John "Bonzo" Bonham.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Does not appear in Addison's Moonstone Mystery for unknown reasons.
- Cuddle Bug: Gives Addie a hug after sending her a message from Zed, and later gives Zed one when he notices the latter is hurt.
- Driving Test: His primary arc in the third film.
- Eloquent in My Native Tongue: Zombie Tongue. Even drops a rap verse in it (which Zed explains boils down to "I'm hungry.").
- Genius Bruiser: With an interest in art and music, he's actually smarter than he looks.
- Gentle Giant: Towers over everyone in the school, but is actually a talented Nice Guy who likes to hug people.
- Mr. Fanservice: Upon first appearance, he's very muscular and at one point wears mostly black denim with the sleeves cut off, giving him a mysterious, exotic, bad boy look.
- Odd Name Out: He is one of two zombies whose name doesn't begin with Z but rather have said letter somewhere in the middle.
- Renaissance Man: Can play at least 32 instruments (including 7 he created himself!) and is a resident DJ at the Zombietown "club". Can make a flower out of apple skin. Possibly also did some of the artwork (in-universe) in the club, too.
- Ship Tease: Bree and Bonzo have some of this during the cheer competition. Continues through the second film before becoming the Beta Couple behind Zed & Addison.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: Subverted. He likes to wear cut-off vests over long-sleeved shirts.
- The Unintelligible: He only speaks in zombie gibberish. However, Zed and the others have no problem understanding him.
- Weak to Fire: All zombies suffer from this trope, which justifies Bonzo being deadly afraid of it.
Eliza
Eliza Zambi
Played by: Kylee Russell
- Black and Nerdy: Not just limited to a Gadgeteer Genius, but Eliza shows to have enough political knowledge to possibly start a revolution.
- Character Development: Towards the end of the movie, Eliza is shown to throw most of her hatred for humans aside.
- Cool Big Sis: Appears to be so towards Zoe.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Eliza is very tech savvy, showing an interest in computer coding club. She even builds an explosive device that she plans to set off during the cheer finals (apparently to take out the power, since she has the junction box marked on her map, but it's never quite clear)-though Zed and Bonzo quickly talk her out of it.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She may be snarky, vindictive extremist, but it's clear that she cares for zombie rights and loves her friends dearly.
- La Résistance: Her rap verse in "My Year" establishes this.
- Odd Name Out: Her name does not start with Z, but has said letter somewhere in the middle.
- Sassy Black Woman: Has her moments.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Eliza, the tomboy zombie, and Addison, the girly-girl cheerleader.
- Won't Take "Yes" for an Answer: Eliza is so certain that Addison will try to talk her out of sabotaging the cheerleading competition it takes some time for her to realize Addison encouraged her.
- World of Jerkass: Clearly Eliza's perspective. She isn't entirely wrong, though her proposed solution only threatens to make things worse.
Zoey
Zoey Necrodopolis
Played by: Kingston Foster
- Big Brother Worship: With Zed as a big brother, can you blame her?
- Extends to an inverse of Big Brother Instinct in the third film, twice willing to fight alongside her brother.
- Cheerful Child: Nothing seems to get her down. Even wants to be a cheerleader!
- Children Are Innocent: The youngest character and also the nicest.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Along with Bonzo, she's completely absent from Addison's Moonstone Mystery.
- Friend to All Living Things: She seems to have zero prejudices, and loves animals — especially dogs.
- From the Mouths of Babes: Despite all of Bucky's prejudice toward zombies, she holds no prejudice toward him and tells him that he's the best cheerleader she ever saw. This sparks his Heel–Face Turn, since he cannot justify being prejudiced toward such a sweet child.
- Girlish Pigtails: Her usual hairstyle.
- Monster Brother, Cutie Sister: A downplayed example, considering the film's Attractive Zombie premise, but true nonetheless.
Zevon
Zevon Necrodopolis
Played by: Tony Nappo
- Good Parents: A stark contrast between him and Addison's parents is that Zevon doesn't stifle his kids.Zevon: You don't have to change who you are, son. I love who you are.
- Gratuitous Greek: His surname, as referred to by Principal Lee, is Necrodopoulos. May also count as a Pun.
- Papa Wolf: Is protective of Zed and Zoey, even when the former gets arrested.
- So Unfunny, It's Funny: He generally avoids the Bumbling Dad stereotype, but he's not immune to telling terrible jokes.Zed: Just don't make any zombie dad jokes.Zevon: But the working stiffs love 'em!
Janitor
Werewolves
In General
- Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: Their jeweled necklaces which contain their powers, which channels their wolf abilities and can be used as a power source and mess with technology.
- Amulet of Dependency: Their amulets are also their lifelines and need to be recharged every century or else they grow ill and die.
- Anti-Villain: While they're the antagonists of the sequel, all they want to do is to find and retrieve their Moonstone so they can recharge their necklaces and not die.
- Berserk Button: They collectively gain one in the third movie in outsiders getting involved with the Moonstone. They clearly don't want it messed with again.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The werewolves are mainly dressed in purple, brown, and gold.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Where the zombies' plight in the first movie was an allegory for racial segregation, the werewolves' is one for displacement of indigenous people to exploit their land's resources.
- Little Bit Beastly: Pointy ears, fangs, and sharp claws are the only signs that they're not human.
- Selective Magnetism: The Amulets are a magical version of this, as they not only cling to metal objects, but also screw with tech its cling on, like magnets on a computer. Willa first displays this ability by flinging her necklace at a nearby scanner, shutting it down while she takes a book from a library, and it ends up costing Zed's bid for presidency when the one he steals from Addison clings onto his Z-Band.
- Sickly Green Glow: Their necklaces turn green as they are losing their powers.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: Werewolves all wear vests.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Their wolf powers manifest with their eyes glowing bright gold, but that's all they do. They never once transform into wolves.
- Theme Naming: All the werewolves' names start with W.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Their 100 years is nearly up by the time of the movie; and they show signs of illness as a warning before then (i.e. coughing constantly).
Willa
Willa Lykensen
Played by: Chandler Kinney
- Alpha Bitch: Willa is the leader of the wolf pack, and a nasty one at that.
- Deadpan Snarker: She definitely has her moments
Wyatt
Wynter
Wynter Barkowitz
Played by: "Baby" Ariel Martin
- My Nayme Is: It's "Wynter" and not "Winter."
- Unusual Pets for Unusual People: "Wynter Transport" reveals that she has a pet giant cricket named Mr. Paddlesticks.
Aliens
In General
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Aliens are an allegory for immigrant refugees, displaced from their homeworld by their negligence destroying its ecosystem.
- Emotion Suppression: Have emotion suppressors that they turn off during the film. Connected to their telepathy and obsession with harmony.
- Innocent Aliens: While they are full of themselves thanks to their advanced technology and their abilities, they never directly attack others, have no problem helping when they can and, despite their methods, only just want to find a new home for their people.
- Individuality Is Illegal: They practice a downplayed version of this trope, where they put a focus on maintaining social harmony with each other, to the extent that they're quick to get back on the same track whenever they disagree with each other. They even go so far as to have emotion suppressors. They focus on this so much that it's the main reason they lost their original planet; no one wanted to disrupt their harmony while an enviromental blight was happening until it was too late.
- Masculine, Feminine, Androgyne Trio: A-Lan is male, A-Li is female, while A-Spen is nonbinary.
- Theme Naming: In a similar vein to the werewolves, all of the aliens' names start with "A".
A-Lan
Played by: Matt Cornett
- Competition Freak: After discovering what competition is, he starts breaking academic and sports records left and right because, in his own words, "he can't help being the best at everything".
A-Li
A-Li
Played by: Kyra Tantao
- Blood Knight: A-Li's go-to response is to threaten to vaporize people.
- Can't Argue with Elves: Her other characterization besides being aggressive is being casually boastful about the aliens' superiority. She is often immediately proven wrong.
- The Smurfette Principle: She's the female alien of the main trio.
A-Spen
A-Spen
Played by: Terry Hu
- Amazon Chaser: Falls for Willa at the cheer competition because of her “passion,” and when informed that she almost certainly wants to rip their heart out, remarks that they would gladly let her.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: In the "Robot Space Bear" short, they refuse to choose between fighting the titular monster and trying to talk to it, instead expressing an interest in seeing if it tries to kill them and their friends.
- Non-Human Non-Binary: A-Spen is a non-binary alien.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Falls for Zed due to his kindness and goes through the entire lifespan of a relationship on their own, completely without Zed even knowing their feelings.
Addison's Moonstone Mystery characters
Vanna
A mysterious new girl at Seabrook High whom Addison befriends, but harbors a dark secret.
- Anti-Villain: She mind controls everyone to do her bidding but this is only so she can reunite with her family.
- Big Bad: The main antagonist of Addison's Moonstone Mystery.
- Hypnotic Eyes: Can "Vanna-tize" others.
