Comic Book / Regular Show: 25 Years Later

Grown older, but never grown up.

Regular Show: 25 Years Later is a six-issue comic book based on the TV series, Regular Show. Written by Christopher Hastings.

As the name suggests, this is set 25 years after the Grand Finale of the TV series and takes place directly after the last scene of the final episode. Mordecai and Rigby have gotten older, have families of their own, and have recently gathered at the park for a reunion with the rest of the Park Crew. As things wind down, the duo head off for more ice, reminiscing about their previous adventures when they wander into a weird dimension inhabited by fey creatures. They meet an imp being who help them get some ice and overhear them wishing they could relive their younger days. Though the duo shrug off the encounter as nothing, the next day they suddenly find they're now back in their 20s. But what's more, their kids are now gone with a letter from said imp claiming he took them as payment for their restored youth. Now Mordecai and Rigby have to find the imp again so they can get their kids back and restore their rightful ages.

Fair warning, as this comic takes place after the series, it assumes you know what has already transpired. So SPOILERS AHEAD if you haven't finished the TV series.

---

Has the following tropes:

• A Twinkle in the Sky: In the final issue, after Alberich reset things back to normal and claims it was just all in good fun. Mordecai and Rigby promptly grab, drag him to the space center, tape him to a rocket and send it to the moon in retribution.
• Actually, I Am Him: In the first issue, there's talk of a viceroy who rules the spirit world though the duo never seem to run into him. At the end of the issue, it's revealed the magical being that saved and helped them was the viceroy.
• Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: Skips invokes this when Mordecai, Rigby and him arrive back in the Spirit World to get the monsters within to back off. Telling them the Viceroy blessed them with his magic (and with Skips being immortal that goes for him too) and is technically one of them.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: The plot kicks off when, while going to refill the ice for the reunion party, the duo come across a unknown pathway. Rigby convinces Mordecai they should take it to relive their younger adventures. No sooner then the duo do so, Mordecai gets his wallet stolen, they nearly get eaten by a living hotel, are attacked by living sodas to be taken to "The Viceroy", nearly awaken a sleeping weather guardian giant and, at the end, get turned back into 20 year olds due to a literal wish they unwittingly made in front of said viceroy...who takes their kids as payment. Whoops.
• Big Bad: Viceroy Alberich, a little midget and leader of a spirit relam who takes Mordecai and Rigby's kids in a rigged deal in exchange for making them young again. It's later revealed he wanted them as replacements for his own bratty children to rule in his place when he retires.
• Big Damn Heroes: Margaret shows up to save Mordecai, Rigby and the Viceroy's daughter, Portoosha, from the Benson made video game the three were trapped in.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Time Loop Orb. After Alberich is sent to the moon by Mordecai and Rigby for all the crap he pulled. He prepares to take his revenge only to find the orb which of course, starts rewinding time.
• Complexity Addiction:
  • In the second issue, Mordecai and Rigby figure they can open the portal to the spirit realm by changing the street name so it can match up with the time. Skips points out they could just find another street that can match up with the time. Instead the two run for mayor, manage to win, get the street name legally changed, and concede the title back to the previous mayor to re-open the portal. And all of this in less than a day!
  • They nearly go through it again in the third issue when they proclaim to find a way to reverse time so that their "deal" with the Viceroy never happens though are reminded of paradoxes if they attempted it. Skips manages to stop this by brokering a deal with the Viceroy.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In issue 3, the duo remember an artifact they need is stashed on a moon. To which they go visit the astronauts from "Grilled Cheese Deluxe" to help them. At first it seems the astronauts will reject them due to remembering the events of the episode. But then cheerfully agree to help on account they did help save the universe from Anti-Pops.
  • Said artifact is from a season eight short called "Time Loop" though it's never reveled how they managed to get out from the time loop it placed them in back then. Only that they barely managed to the last time.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: In the second issue, after they miss the time for entering the portal, Skips tells the duo they could've simply found the portal again by finding a similar street intersection. Instead, they spend the next 12 hours running for mayor so they can rename it. Skips is forced to concede that their plan, though convoluted, still worked when they succeed.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Amusingly inverted. In the final issue, the duo try to sneak into a anniversary party of Alberich taking over the world who honors the celebration by having Fey creatures dress up as the duo when they first met him. So the duo try to go incognito in the regular clothes from the start of the story... and are instantly found out by Alberich within the crowd.
  Elieen: (Watching this via binoculars from a roof) Whoops.
  Stef: (Ditto) Bad plan?
  Elieen: Yep ^note It was their plan, btw
• Extinct in the Future: When the heroes have been at war with Alberich and his children for 25 years, it's mentioned that cows have gone extinct.
• Fountain of Youth: The first issue ends with the Mordecai and Rigby suddenly turning back into their 20-year old selves due to the magic being who helped them and and overheard them slightly wishing the could relive their younger days.
• Get Out!: Said by Muscle Man to Trabbles when he insults his kids.
• Gone Horribly Right: The duo manage to reform Trabbles and Portoosha and make them worthy heirs to the Viceroy... who then go on to help the Viceroy lead an invasion on the Earth realm. Whoops.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: The duo use a time orb to help Trabbles learn to talk to people better without being rude so he can have multiple chances when he messes up. This ends up backfiring when the orb keeps restarting things long after Trabbles finally manages.
• Hope Spot:
  • In issue 3, Mordecai and Rigby try to get their kids to remember them, even explaining what happen to them. They seem to but unfortunately they likewise reject them for failing to save them.
  • Issue 5, the duo finally succeed on the end of their deal with Alberich who returns their kids. All's well that ends well, save for his army invading the Earth realm.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Trabbles, the Viceroy's son, tries to make friends by bribing people with his royal belongings. But his rancid attitude quickly push folks away.
• Immediate Sequel: The story takes place on the same night and the following day of the final episode's "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue.
• Killed Offscreen: Muscle Man reveals he "Misses his mother" in issue 4. From Mordecai and Rigby's expressions, it's pretty clear she died during the 25 year interim.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The comic pretty much spoils that Pops and his father, Mr. Maellard, have passed on.
• Living Forever Is Awesome: More "Regaining My Youth Is Awesome" as Margaret mentions she's more than happy to be de-aged back to her twenties to keep her newscasting career going and actually surprised the duo don't want to keep their youth. Of course, she seem to have forgotten they got it at the expense of their kids.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Stef. Since she met Mordecai later in life, she wasn't familiar with the antics that he and Rigby got up to in their youth and felt left out in the fifth issue. Didn't help that Margaret was likewise there and helping.
• Logical Latecomer: Mordecai's wife Stef, who met Mordecai years after the events of the series and is thus very annoyed and confused by everyone else taking all the weirdness in stride with no complaint.
  Stef: None of you had normal lives growing up, huh?
• Loophole Abuse: Skips manages to find one in the Viceroy's deal with Mordecai and Rigby: If they manage to get the Viceroy's kids to be worthy successors for him, he'll undo all the magic he cast and give the duo back their kids.
• Medium Awareness: Kinda, in issue four, the duo manage to get out of the time time loop by simply realizing that that if they're remembering everything, time is still actually moving forward. This lets them literally climb out of the panel where the loop keeps resetting and walk to the next page.
• Noodle Incident:
  • When considering going after the orb that briefly resets time, the duo mention the last time they encountered it, they barely got out of its power. Indeed in the "Time Loop" short, it ended with the Park Crew unable to destroy it and forced to run as it continued to reset time.
  • When the duo meet Margaret again. They notice she likewise regained her youth. She states it was from a cursed mirror at a truck stop she found.
• Nonhuman Humanoid Hybrid: Mordecai's kids are both a combination of bird and and bat, the latter forming mostly as bat ears.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • In issue one,the duo get it twofold. One for suddenly becoming young again and another when they find that their kids are gone and taken as payment by the Viceroy for said youth.
  • The duo get this in issue four when their wives, Stef and Eileen, come across them in the gaming shed and demand an explanation.
• Older and Wiser: The duo have gotten a bit more mature since their younger days. Ends up subverted, as their physical regression back to their mid-twenties had likewise lowered their intelligence and maturity back to that point.
  Skips: Your magical youth didn't just come at the cost of your children. It made you a couple of morons again.
• Papa Wolf: Becoming parents have definitely turned Mordecai and Rigby into this and they stop at nothing to get their kids back when the Viceroy takes them.
  Rigby: (When Mordecai, Skips and him arrive in the Spirit World and are surrounded by monsters) I am in no mood!
  Mordecai: Believe! Tell em 'bout our mood!
  Rigby: I am an angry daddy on the loose. My mood is fire and purpose!
  Mordecai: (Impressed) Most poetic.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Mordecai and Rigby try to fool their wives that they're still their older selves by shaving Rigby's behind and sticking the fur onto their faces to emulate Mordecai's five o'clock shadow and Rigby's mustache. Benson instantly asks what is on their faces.
• Reset Button: In the final issue, Alberich resets the timeline and the world back to normal, claiming it was all part of his "game" of having Mordecai and Rigby relive their youth as promised. The duo are less then happy for what he put them through.
• Spirit World: Mordecai and Rigby end up in one in the first issue while trying to get ice for their reunion party.
• Super Window Jump: Mordecai and Rigby do this when their plan of trying to look older by stapling Rigby's fur to their faces to make a beard doesn't fool Benson and their wives.
• The Slow Path:
  • When Mordecai, Rigby and Skip finally arrive back in the Spirit World in the second issue. They briefly manage to find the kids but the Viceroy poofs them away before they can reach them and explains to the three he sent them to a school in the past to train them in succeeding him. Not a second later, their kids show up, unable to remember them.
  • Ironically it took another 25 years for the duo to get Alberich to fix things which during that time, he and his kids took over the Earth.
• Time Skip: Another 25 Years pass in the final issue and sees the world now taken over by the Fey creatures with Alberich, Trabbles and Portoosha ruling things while Mordecai, Rigby, their wives, kids and Park Crew lead a resistance against them.
• Wasn't That Fun?: In the end, after Alberich reverses time and sends everyone back to the start of the series. He claim it was his way of granting Mordecai and Rigby's wish to have adventures of their youth again, allowing them to live another 25 years of it... fighting Alberich's forces. The two naturally don't appreciate his "gift" and send him to the moon in response.
• Wham Episode: Issue five ends with Viceroy Alberich and his now reformed children leading an invasion on the Spirit World to Earth. Issue Six opens with them succeeding and 25 more years passing where the Spirit World denizens have pretty much finished conquering the last holdouts the world's major cities while Mordecai, Rigby, Elieen, Stef and the remaining Park Crew lead a rebellion in trying to stop them. Since the duo were aged into their 20s at the time. They're back to their 25 year appearances while their wives are much older.
• Verbal Backpedaling: When lamenting that they would do "anything" to regain their youth, Mordecai quickly tries to tell the magical being "not almost anything" but by that point he's gone and the damage has been done.

---