With the exception of Corrupt Crossover itself, all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Corrupt Crossover is a Massive Multiplayer Crossover "visual fanfiction" by writer and musician logbat99 and BadWolfMusic53 (often shortened to BWM53). It intends to take Rule 50 to the extreme while still containing a significant amount of plot. It has been released on YouTube, with a planned but cancelled Wattpad release.
The story is the same across the whole series: Set in Japannote and 20 Minutes into the Future, in an Alternate Universe called Earth-V3, a band of six unlikely heroes from various video games form an alliance and are tasked to take down the hostile Technologically Advanced Foes known as Despair Robots. There's a problem, though: there exists only one Despair Robot left on the planet, and he has turned invulnerable and formed a Nebulous Evil Organisation that acts as a direct opposite to the six heroes. With the support of F-Zero racing machines and a few helpers, the Hope Bringers known as the New Hope Warriorsnote fight the forces of despair.
Other notable factions include the Kent Brockman News programme "Super High School Level News" (which also appears outside of the main series), and the Local Hangout and occasionally Good-Guy Bar La Soleil from Nekopara.
After a strange departure in the first series, the second added Byakuya Togami as the newest New Hope Warrior and a Foil to Jeff. New villains would emerge in the form of Byakuya's longtime rivals, the Fans, five masked vigilantes who only kill out of boredom. Infamous serial killer Genocide Jack would also make one-off appearances, acting as the Sixth Ranger of Neo Ultimate Despair. Clone characters were also brought in after previously being a Monster of the Week: evil copies of the original characters with a Photoshop Filter of Evil. Rias Gremory now ditches her Early-Bird Cameo appearances (temporarily) and makes her full physical debut here.
Series 3 upped the ante by introducing three major characters: Roxanne Wolf, Kenny McCormick, and Ernst von Adler — the lattermost alongside the Elektrosoldats, his clones. Speaking of clones, more of them were introduced, including ones of the glamrock band's decommissioned variants. It also introduced a mysterious military project known as Operation Iron Horse, mainly confined to the PizzaPlex and used as part of an attempt to put an end to the Warriors.
After a Sequel Hook at the end of the series 3 finale that was meant to be a Deleted Scene was unveiled by mistake, the fourth and final series was developed that wrapped up any and all loose ends and was split into series 4A and series 4B. Bringing back third series veteran Roxanne Wolf, series 4 introduced two characters — one of which is Rias Gremory after her Early-Bird Cameos, who would also officially introduce the rest of the High School D×D universe as a whole and become more plot-relevant. And, in a Mid-Season Twist, the second character is the single largest Walking Spoiler in the entire series, due to being revealed in said Deleted Scene.
The trailer for the series was released on April 14th, 2024, with an announced initial release in 2025.
- Ace Attorney: Minor character Phoenix Wright and scenes made in Objection.lol
- Akatsuki Blitzkampf: Series 3's Arc Villain Ernst von Adler and his Elektrosoldat clones, series 3's Final Boss Blitztank
- Danganronpa has the largest number of characters in the project.
- Franchise-wide: Major villains Junko Enoshima and Monokuma
- From 1: Major protagonists Celestia Ludenberg, Alter Ego and Byakuya Togami, minor villain Genocide Jack
- From 2: Major supporting character Mikan Tsumiki, recurring characters Ibuki Mioda and Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu, minor characters Hajime Hinata and Nagito Komaeda
- From V3: Major series 1-exclusive protagonist Miu Iruma, major supporting character Tsumugi Shirogane, recurring characters Kaede Akamatsu, Shuichi Saihara and Kokichi Oma, Exisal used for the appearance of series 1's Final Boss, the Iron Minch
- From Fan Works: Series 4's Arc Villain and Final Boss Kanade Otonokoji
- Doctor Who: Recurring Dalek appearances
- Doki Doki Literature Club!: Main protagonist Monika
- Dragon Ball: Minor villain Frieza. The Clone Army is also inspired by FighterZ
- Five Nights at Freddy's: Recurring villain Springtrap, series 3-4 recurring ally Roxanne Wolf
- F-Zero: All 41 machines from GX and several others from the other games
- High School D×D: Series 4 regular Rias Gremory
- Hotline Miami: Recurring villains Richard and the Fans
- Mario Kart: Various vehicles, mainly from Tour, including a double-decker bus that is lampshaded as a Running Gag
- Mega Man: Major protagonist Mega Man and the Quirky Miniboss Squad that is the Robot Masters
- Microsoft Windows: Cars from Microsoft's 3D library form part of the vehicles, for example Fuyuhiko's police cars
- Mother: Main protagonist Jeff Andonuts and antagonist Porky Minch, minor antagonist Masked Man, frequent Pigmask appearances
- Nekopara: Minor characters Chocola and Vanilla and location La Soleil
- OMORI: Recurring characters Captain Spaceboy and Something
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Series 2's Final Boss Walpurgisnacht
- Redout: The Class IV ships are available vehicles.
- RWBY: Series 2 and 3-exclusive villain Neopolitan (spelled Neo Politan as in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle)
- SCP Foundation: A variation of the Foundation exists on Earth-V3 and is brought up regularly. Something is identified within it as "Subject 8"
- SiIvaGunner: In-Universe Camera Unregistered HyperCam 2
- Sonic the Hedgehog: Major characters Sonic and Infinite, minor character Sage, and Team Sonic Racing's vehicles
- From Fan Works: Creepypasta clones Sonic.exe and Sonic.EYX
- South Park: Series 3 semi-regular Kenny McCormick
- Undertale: Regular characters Sans and Mettaton
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Recurring minions; monster souls trapped in trading cards
- Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright
- Akatsuki Blitzkampfnote
- Danganronpa 2 — Female Studentsnote
- Danganronpa 2 — Male Studentsnote
- Danganronpa — Byakuya Togami
- Danganronpa — Celestia Ludenberg
- Danganronpa — Junko Enoshima
- Danganronpa — Kokichi Oma
- Danganronpa — Miu Iruma
- Danganronpa — Monokuma
- Danganronpa — Toko Fukawanote
- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havocnote
- Danganronpa V3 — Male Studentsnote
- Danganronpa V3 — Female Studentsnote
- Doctor Who – Daleks
- Doki Doki Literature Club!note
- Dragon Ball: Frieza
- EarthBound: The Chosen Fournote
- EarthBound: Antagonistsnote
- Five Nights at Freddy's: Seventh Generationnote
- Five Nights at Freddy's: William Afton (Springtrap)
- High School DxD: Occult Research Clubnote
- Hotline Miaminote
- Mega Man (Classic) Heroesnote
- Mega Man (Classic) - Robot Masters (NES)
- Mega Man (Classic) - Robot Masters (Post-NES)
- Mother 3note
- Nekoparanote
- OMORI – Headspacenote
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Witchesnote
- RWBY: Salem's Factionnote
- SiIvaGunnernote
- Sonic the Hedgehog - Eggman Empirenote
- Sonic the Hedgehog — Modern Era Antagonists 2note
- Sonic the Hedgehog - Sonic the Hedgehog
- South Park: Kenny McCormick
- Super Danganronpa Another 2note
- Undertale - Mettaton
- Undertale - Sans
Tropes present in the series:
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Which apparently leads directly into a Fire and Brimstone Hell in the middle of nowhere, as shown in "Four is Death". Tony is chased through here by the then-unknown Phantomorph after freeing Rias from her chains. Of course, another place the sewer leads to is the unnamed city from the rest of the plot.
- Absurd Phobia: According to a Freeze-Frame Bonus and her time in Room 101, the Phantomorph has a fear of The Human Centipede.
- Accidental Misnaming: Sonic.exe mistakenly believes that Princess Monaco of Kent is a Princess of Equestria. Infinite does a Double Take at this.
- Acid-Trip Dimension: The battlefields for Oktavia and Walpurgisnacht are horrifyingly bizarre.
- Acquired Error at the Printer: Discussed and Played for Laughs in The Teaser for "Lost & Found".Kokichi: Before we actually begin the episode proper, we would like to apologise for the printing error in this week's Super High School Level Newspaper regarding this episode's villain. It should say that he "hails from Germany". Not "heils".note
- Adaptational Backstory Change: Pretty much the entire cast. For example, Something was disconnected from Sunny following the events of OMORI, Tsumugi was fired from her own group, leading to her Heel–Face Turn, and Sonic.exe was once a regular Sonic clone who didn't follow the Photoshop Filter of Evil rule and was thrown into a vat of blood-red chemicals in the SCP Foundation.
- Adaptational Comic Relief: Zig-zagged with Something, who's a Talkative Loon who still has elements of horror slipped in.
- Adaptational Gender Identity: Mangle goes from "yes" to transgender.
- Adaptational Modesty: Exaggerated and justified. In Elfen Lied, Lucy was completely naked save for a helmet when escaping the facility. In "Dangerous Diclonius" when she escapes containment, she starts out naked (her breasts are covered by a Gag Censor), but following a Time Skip and a Super High School Level News report, she is fully clothed for the rest of the episode - this could be due to her M.U.G.E.N sprites, which is where CMC+ gets them. Lampshaded with Jimmy the Moto Bug telling her to Please Put Some Clothes On within ten seconds of seeing her for the first time.
- Also justified for Rias who, in High School D×D, had several instances of her bare breasts being focused on, especially since Issei is incredibly interested in them in both media. This too was Gag Censored.
- Adaptational Nationality: Jeff is now British, just like logbat99 himself.
- Adaptation Species Change: Porky goes from a human to a near-indestructible robot, in case the pilot didn't make it obvious enough. Same goes for Kanade Otonokoji.
- Aerith and Bob: To be expected given the combination of English and Japanese names. As examples:
- On the Aerith side, we have Miu, Byakuya, Junko, Monokuma, Tsumugi, Ibuki, Mikan, Celeste, Rias, and Kanade.
- On the Bob side, we have Jeff, Richard, Corey, Tony, Alex, Ash, Mark, Williamnote , Roxanne, and Kenny.
- Affectionate Nickname: Junko calls Porky "Minchie", which he despises.
- A God Am I: Once again, this is Sonic.exe's most-used phrase. In the creepypasta's debut, this comment from Jeff is triggered:Jeff: Well, that's turned me into an atheist!
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Despair Robots are actually incredibly hostile should you pose as something of a threat to them.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Junko's death towards the end of series 4B is this.
- Alliterative Title: Corrupt Crossover.
- all lowercase letters: Sans speaks like this, with his usual Comic Sans to boot. On Wattpad, he also retains his text box style from Undertale.
- All There in the Manual: There exists around 200 bios as a PowerPoint file in the Google Drive folder that is expanded upon with each episode containing major characters (and sometimes even the minor ones as well) that detail characters' backstories, some of which are not discussed in the main series. For example, there's nothing mentioned about Sonic.EYX being created in the Upside Down except in his bio.
- Downplayed with Sonic.exe. It's not mentioned in his bio that he was once a regular Sonic clone that was thrown into a vat of blood-red chemicals when fighting the real Sonic in the SCP Foundation. This point is instead referenced in the bio for Harley Quinnnote .
- Averted entirely with "joke bios" that are simple references, like Combee (Bee Movie) and ChaosGallantmon (The Man Your Man Could Smell Like).
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us:
- The title of the episode in which Frieza makes his debut has the trope's name. He himself does just that.
- The first thing the Phantomorph does in Series 4B is storm an attack on Hope's Peak.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Despair Robots are, in general, evil machines.
- Ambidextrous Sprite: Flip the masks of the Swans and the numbers on them are reversed along with the position of the mask itself.
- Ambiguous Syntax: According to Magnet Man, Sans once made a cover of a packet of breakfast sausages. The words "prick with a fork" were positioned next to a picture of Steve from Minecraft.
- Anachronic Order: The first Christmas Episode was released before series 2 but canonically takes place halfway through. The Fans' absence is explained in the second half of that series because they took a holiday break from killing.
- Anachronism Stew: Sometimes, time periods interlock with each other. Especially noticeable with Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? being the motif for "Labyrinth of the Minotaur" — it is highly medieval and set in a fantasy world, whereas Corrupt Crossover is highly futuristic.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: While Jeff Andonuts is the central character (one of them, at least), certain other characters get their own share of adventures as the plot progresses (for example, "Dangerous Diclonius" is Sonic's first solo mission), up to and including Porky Minch in the final series.
- And Show It to You: Porky defeats the Phantomorph in this way. Because she's a robot, a CPU is used.
- April Fools' Day:
- In the official bios, Vaporeon's has all of its text, except the first sentence, replaced with a recreation of the infamous Vaporeon copypasta (with some alterations). After series 3, this has been made into a separate bio from the one for Vaporeon itself, and the joke has died down.
- A Meaningful Release Date for Jimmy and Rock Lobster's bios; both of them appeared in CMC+ first in its April Fools build before the main releases.
- An in-universe example happens when Corey buys Tony a Barbie-themed pink car as an April Fool.
- Series 3 introduced a joke where the link to behind-the-scenes material Coconut Malls the user in Google Drive video form.
- Apologises a Lot: Mikan even when she trips over, due to her rather low self-esteem.
- Animal Motifs: Subverted; Porky now hates anything pig-related.
- Arc Number: The number 53 frequently shows up. For example, one of the team members is called BadWolfMusic53, there are 53 photographs of Junko taken by Mahiru Koizumi in the former's debut, the Final Boss of series 1 took 53 attempts to build, and Lucy had caused 53 fatalities prior to her time in containment; all from the first series. Despite this, the true meaning of the number's inclusions is unknown to the public. Its usage has also died down to the point of being near-absent in Series 4B.
- As a Mythology Gag, Something (alias Subject 8) throws in the Arc Number of his home game: as well as his "Subject 8" form being a Giant Spider, 1+4+3=8.
- Arc Villain:
- Ernst von Adler in series 3.
- The Phantomorph in series 4.
- Arc Words: Despair: the hostile species of robots is called the Despair Robots, Junko is also the Ultimate Despair, and two supporting cast members originate from a game with the subtitle "Goodbye Despair".
- An Arm and a Leg: During his fight with Diclonius Thirteen, Porky loses several components, mostly limbs, that grow back a few minutes later.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
- From the Big Fat Quiz of the Year-themed animation test:Jeff: If you want to play this game at home, it's simple. You only need a pen, paper, a scoreboard if more than one of you is playing, and the weird guy from Puss in Boots.
[camera cuts to Death sporting Visible Silence] - This volley of insults from "Last of the Despair Robots":Porky: Nice job on the Daleks, Missy.
Kanade: Beat it, Harold Saxon.
Porky: Make me, Android 21.
Kanade: Don't call me Android 21...!
- From the Big Fat Quiz of the Year-themed animation test:
- Artistic License – Chemistry: Subverted when Porky throws a small candle at a large puddle of petrol/gasoline, setting it ablaze as an attempt to kill Rias and/or the Phantomorph near the end of "Ultimate Annihilation". Petrol/gasoline is a highly flammable liquid in Real Life. It is able to react rapidly and explosively with oxygen, which explains the Stuff Blowing Up that one tiny candle causes.
- Artistic License – Geography: Although the series is set in Japan, there are some hints of other countries embedded in the location, mainly America.
- The currency is in pounds sterling, in reference to logbat99's British nationality, and shifts back and forth between it, United States dollars, and Japanese yen.
- Fuyuhiko reads out the Miranda Rights when interrogating Jeff after falsely believing him to be guilty of vandalism.
- Downplayed with the Mariana Trench, where Oktavia von Seckendorff is fought, which is found near to but not exactly in Japan. To be specific, the Pacific Ocean.
- Adler, based in either Germany or Russia, spouts the first sentence of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address before passing out.
- Artistic License – History:
- In 2023, Twitter was rebranded to X. So the reason why Porky asks "Who posted the blueprints on Twitter dot com?" in the near-future is unclear.
- Similarly, at one point near the end of "Labyrinth of the Minotaur", Sonic.exe calls out "How do you like that, Obama? I destroyed the Babel Dungeon, you idiot! This being set 20 Minutes into the Future, it's clear that Barack Obama is not the current President. Either that, or he's referring to Obama as he's depicted in CMC+ Bloopers.
- According to Alter Ego in the series 3 finale, Blitztank is responsible for the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Tsumugi then points out that Blitztank is a German invention and the bombings were caused by America, before Byakuya claims that there has been a Blitztank unit in the United States (and then tries and fails to say America Won World War II).
- Artistic License – Law Enforcement: In this series, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu is the living embodiment of this. The only time he ever defies this trope is with his own handwritten cue card containing the (American) Miranda Rights, and that's before questioning Jeff about his act of vandalism he didn't commit.
- Art Shift:
- The Ace Attorney courtroom scenes are made as ever in Objection.lol.
- Over half of "Dangerous Diclonius" is animated in CMC+ and contains Undertale text boxes. Apparently this gives logbat99 a break from animating an entire episode.
- An Ass-Kicking Christmas: "How the Minch Stole Christmas", for obvious reasons.
- Ass Shove: Spaceboy threatens Junko with this in the series 3 opener.Spaceboy: You know what? I've got a good mind to shove that clipboard up your whatsit!
- Aspect Ratio Switch: Exclusive to Ultra Robot Wars, 80% of the stages are square to fit their arcade cabinet feel.
- As the Good Book Says...: The first scene in Series 4 is a quote from Matthew, which appropriately describes what Tony has to encounter afterwards:note This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Three out of four Final Bosses: the Iron Minch was specifically built to be this, Walpurgisnacht adds on to this by floating upside down, and Blitztank... is also a giant tank. Not fitting this category is the second Iron Minch, which downplays the trope as it is significantly smaller than the first.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: One Dalek gets distracted in "Neko Hell":Dalek: Exterminate! Exterminate! Ext— oh my, what a lovely room!
- Attract Mode: Fictional Video Game Ultra Robot Wars has one which plays the game by itself, with both CPUs on the hardest difficulty.
- Ax-Crazy: Some of the villains:
- Genocide Jack, much like her canon self.
- The leading member of the Fans, Tony, is also the most violent, despite his requests not to use any weapons.
- Cyborg!Adler following the third series. He is much more aggressive, especially when working in tandem with Inazuma.
- Badass Biker: Roxy downplays this in a similar way to Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach. Although she's only ever seen to drive an F-Zero machine, the Great Star, she sometimes wears Biker's helmet while doing so. And as seen in her official wallpaper and "Shatter in the PizzaPlex", one of her props in her green room is a motorbike.
- Badass Pacifist: Monika usually stays away from the battles and gives directions regarding the stage of the mission.
- Bait-and-Switch: "Dangerous Diclonius" already contains an Elfen Lied motif in the title and cold open, so some viewers would think this will be the episode's theme. (So much for a Dark Fic.) Cue Art Shift to CMC+ less than a minute into the video.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: From two official bios:Raynare's bio: "Tony’s ex-girlfriend, a Fallen Angel, and Subject 69 have all seen Raynare on the battlefield."
Akeno's bio: "The Priestess of Thunder and Light, a Fallen Angel reincarnated as a devil, and the vice president of the Occult Research Club were just three of the people we invited to be another series 4 newcomer, but instead we have one of the most unexpected characters in the whole project." - Banana Peel: Yamato Man, having no use for it, tosses one aside in "Labyrinth of the Minotaur". In a Brick Joke, Raiden Shogun slips on the same peel five minutes later and falls on her backside.
- Bathos: Even with the few serious themes, logbat99 and the rest of the team have a good sense of humour and include it in every episode.
- Battle of the Still Frames: This can happen due to the visual novel medium.
- Berserk Button:
- Much like his source game, Infinite hates being called weak. He also doesn't take kindly to his mum being called "weaker than a tree" in the Grand Finale, as the Phantomorph finds out the hard way.
- Do not, under any circumstances, associate Porky with pigs.
- Don't make fun of Tony's Doesn't Like Guns attribute unless you want to Talk to the Fist.
- Adler hates being called German. This might be due to the uniform he wears in series 3. He has a Kolechian upbringing resulting in a Russian accent.
- Big Bad: Porky Minch is the main antagonist of the series and the leader of Neo Ultimate Despair.
- Big Good: Conversely, Jeff Andonuts is the main protagonist and the leader of the New Hope Warriors.
- Bilingual Bonus: Exploited:Porky: You are making things harder than it has to be.
Miu: Um... thing is, das hat sie gesagt.
Porky: [Visible Silence] ...That's What She Said?
Miu: Oh, come on! - Bittersweet Ending: Despite the loss of Junko Enoshima, the entire story ends on a near-happy note.
- Black Comedy: In the Final Battle of the whole series, Monokuma's nickname for the Phantomorph is "I killed Junko Enoshima And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt".
- *Bleep*-dammit!: A rare visual example with "no [EXPLETIVE DELETED], Sherlock".
- Blood Iron: Adler's "Death to Arstotzka" outfit is made from his own blood.
- Bloodless Carnage: Every single instance of blood is either removed or cut away from. Justified in Porky's case as Despair Robots don't bleed, and exaggerated with Diclonius Thirteen, aka Lucy, who originates from a manga with a large amount of violence and blood. Subverted with the Despair Video the Phantomorph is Forced to Watch.
- The Body Parts That Must Not Be Named: Discussing the gender of the diclonii in the lab:Jimmy: [Y]ou know what they always say: born under Venus, look for a—
Infinite: Diclonius Thirteen, what are you doing? - Bookends:
- The first and last things that damage Miu are related to Porky Minch.
- The first and last episodes of Series 4 introduce a High School D×D character. In the latter case, it's yet another failed attempt at an Original Character.
- Boss Rush: Parodied when the Phantomorph throws simulations of every single villain the New Hope Warriors have faced into her plan (except the Iron Minch). However, Jeff (who is initially absent from the scene) can handle this just by destroying the machine that makes them.
- Boss Subtitles: Non-game example with the episode's Monster of the Week.
- Bottle Episode: "Kawaii Devil" only features Jeff, Ame/KAngel, Kaede, and Somethingnote in the cast, and takes place mainly in Ame's home.
- Bound and Gagged: Rias (minus the "Gagged") in a Fire and Brimstone Hell during "Four Is Death".
- Bowdlerise:
- Any and all swear words are covered with "[EXPLETIVE DELETED]". This does not apply to the Phantomorph.
- The episode themed around Elfen Lied removes all of the blood and humorously censors the nudity with "Censored by Mettaton because our lawyers advised it during the editing process."
- A similar thing happens to scenes lifted and edited from High School D×D, with Rias' breasts being "Removed to conform with Corrupt Crossover censorship laws" every time they're shown. (For example, before her Nightmare Sequence involving Richard, as she Sleeps in the Nude.)
- Brainy Pig: Averted — HARD — by the Pigmasks. They constantly bicker with each other, and around 75% of their voice lines are Internet memes.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: What's shown in the Despair Video the Phantomorph is Forced to Watch? Every single execution from across the Danganronpa universe. And a Freeze-Frame Bonus of The Human Centipede.
- Brick Joke:
- Three in "Nightmare Moon":
- In the cold open of the episode, when Sonic.exe and Infinite first arrive in Equestria, .exe accuses Infinite of being a brony, which he declines on the grounds that he Read the Map Upside Down. Later, when Infinite sics the titular Monster of the Week Nightmare Moon on the Warriors, .exe's only response is "Yeah, definitely a brony." This becomes a Running Gag for the rest of the project.
- When the team discusses how Nightmare Moon causes panic on Equestria by bringing eternal darkness, Jeff notes that on the plus side, it's a good setting for a surprise attack. Guess what happens when said eternal darkness actually is brought onto Equestria.
- Early in the episode, Infinite bets Nightmare Moon a fiver that no ponies will destroy her. Sure enough, when Celestia (the goth, not the unicorn) starts Storming the Castle, complete with lively descriptions from Sonic.exe, Infinite caps this off by stating he's won a fiver.
- Infinite name-dropping the CMCnote in the same episode is brought back in "Dangerous Diclonius" when Gallantmon reveals he was created by the CMC. Sonic.exe proceeds to call him a brony as wellnote , much to his accomplice Greymon's amusement.
- It's said in "Attack of the Daleks" that Daleks can appear in the strangest of places. This is especially true half a series later when they inhabit a dungeon and later a volcano.
- In "Dangerous Diclonius", Jimmy gives the statement that he's able to examine Lucy by himself with nothing in his way. Then Blitztank (no, not that one) rams him into the middle of next week. Later, Jimmy rears up to take down his opponents, the New Hope Warriors. Cue Blitztank again.
- The air conditioning in "There's Something Behind You"note . When the Humphrey buds gang up on Something in Giant Spider form, one bud turns on the air conditioning, and the buds all form a Spontaneous Crowd Formation around it, visibly distracted. Then, right before the shift to Faraway Town, a Pigmask left behind turns on the air conditioning. While the Humphrey buds are currently helping Bubsy with his slime pool relaxation. They still form a Spontaneous Crowd Formation, they just take Bubsy with them.
- Though non-canon, the Fanvid for the Para One remix of "The Prime Time of Your Life" brings back Lucy's Gag Censor. This time, it reads "Censored by Mettaton again. Give it a rest, BadWolfMusic53!"
- In "Labyrinth of the Minotaur", Yamato Man tosses a Banana Peel on the ground, claiming to have no use for it. It is slipped on by Raiden Shogun five minutes later.
- The body pillow in "Kawaii Devil". In the first few scenes of the episode, Ame tosses one aside, claiming it to be useless. Forty-five (in-universe) minutes later, Something trips over it and does a Staircase Tumble.
- Japanese nightclub Atom Tokyo is first referenced in one of the stingers which in turn references I'm Sorry I Haven't a Cluenote . It is later brought up in "Shatter in the PizzaPlex" when Sonic sarcastically remarks that "This [the PizzaPlex] isn't Atom Tokyo."
- During the tennis match described under Villains Out Shopping:[close-up of Akeno hitting the ball away from her]
Tony: I must admit, though, sir: they're very good sports—
[a tennis ball hits him on the head, he Wilhelm screams and falls on the ground]
Mark: Out — fifteen-love!
[later in the episode, when Akeno hits the ball away again]
Tony: She can't be stupid enough to try again—
[again, a tennis ball hits his mask, with the same outcome]
Mark: Out — thirty-love!
- Three in "Nightmare Moon":
- The Bus Came Back: After four episodes and over one year of being absent, and after having been written out following Blitztank's rampage, Adler is one of two Monsters of the Week in "Death to Arstotzka", now converted into a Cyborg.
- Calling Card: Sonic.exe and Genocide Jack each have similar ones: writing in what looks like blood but is actually paint near a crime scene, with different phrases. .exe has "I AM GOD" and Jack has "BLOODLUST".
- Cameo Cluster: One key point about the series is the large number of characters who make cameos, and there's three to five each episode. This is a Massive Multiplayer Crossover, after all.
- Cat Girl: The majority of the La Soleil staff are unusually cute catgirls. Justified because of their source material.
- Cerebus Rollercoaster: There's a mix of comedy and horror in here... or as much horror as logbat99 can take before he has to turn it back into a funny moment.
- Chainsaw Good: Once again, Alex's preferred weapon is a chainsaw.
- Character Catchphrase: Jeff has "This is X all over again, isn't it?" where X is a Shout-Out to media that relates to the event that is unfolding in some way.
- Character Tics: Jeff adjusts his glasses, his bow tie, or his glasses and bow tie.
- Chekhov's Gag: For some reason, aphrodisiacs have a different effect on Despair Robots than they do on humans. While humans have their Extreme Libido increased, Despair Robots can't take this seemingly unknown substance and instead have short bursts of lightning flowing through and harming their body. This point is first established by in "Origins of the Despair Robots" when Hiyoko Saionji spills some into Porky's soup on purpose and reappears two episodes later when Porky and Teruteru Hanamura are chased by the Phantomorph who is held back for a good amount of time.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- Seiko Kimura is both The Cameo in "Hope Breakout" and the Monster of the Week in "Pharmacist of Peril" and "Teraphobia".
- Kanade Otonokoji is the Reused Character Design for Ash Davis and ends up becoming the true identity of the Phantomorph.
- Chekhov's News: Rias Gremory used to be a Page Four Stunna, as seen in "Fun is Infinite" when Jeff and Miu read the local paper. Come series 4B, she's a secondary protagonist.
- Christmas Episode: The appropriately-named "How the Minch Stole Christmas".
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Porky Minch (target: Rias Gremory).
- Clothing Damage: It's not shown on anyone except Porky and Kanade, who both play it for drama. Underneath their clothing (as seen, respectively, when An Arm and a Leg is lost to Lucy and Issei uses Dress Break) is SkeleBot 9000 appearances taken from the Terminator.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Sans. And Sonic.exe, to some extent.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: In the latter case, Infinite is the one to keep his attitude (copied from Sonic himself) at bay.
- Code Emergency: When an explosion goes off in Ponyville, a person wearing a Jones mask asks for Inspector Sands to report to the Carousel Boutique.
- Code Name: Porky receives a new one each week that he uses to try to conceal his identity. They're all clearly based on Changed Daily's names.
- Colony Drop: For the fights against both the Iron Minch and Walpurgisnacht, entire buildings are thrown at the Warriors.
- Company Cross References: The official bios feature CMC+ Bloopers characters, as does "Dangerous Diclonius".
- Complete Immortality: Being a completely immortal robot, Porky is immune to death. This is ironically reflected when he tells Junko that We All Die Someday bar him moments before Junko dies. Thus Porky spends the rest of his time visiting Junko's grave.
- Composite Character: Porky does not use his Mother 3 appearance, yet his age is somewhere in the thousands.
- Convection, Schmonvection: When fighting in a volcano near the end of "Labyrinth of the Minotaur", none of the characters feel any extreme heat, except one Dalek who malfunctions mid-battle and burns himself in the lava. Even the Honking Arriving Car is immune to the heat.
- Cool Car: Many characters have F-Zero machines that match either their character or their personality. As an example, Sonic.exe is an evil clone of Sonic, and he drives the Blood Hawk, the original pilot of which is Blood Falcon, an evil clone of Captain Falcon.
- Cosplay Café: La Soleil has become this in the absence of Kashou Minaduki. 6 out of 7 members of staff have cat ears and tails that are not cosplay.
- Country Matters:
- Cut Man recalls how Wind Man once used his power to attack a local cinema and knock the "o" off The Count of Monte Cristo... and the result was the letters reading The Count of Monte Crist.
- Kanade Otonokoji blurts out several in a Deleted Scene as a Shout-Out to The Thick of It.
- Crack Fic: Can be described as this. The videos are meant to parody Massive Multiplayer Crossovers, given that one of its aims was to turn Rule 50 to the max while still containing a good storyline.
- Creator Cameo:
- Apparently, logbat99 enjoys playing games from The Jackbox Party Pack such as Trivia Murder Party 2, as he can be seen playing the games along with the New Hope Warriors, the evidence being his name on the screen in the background.
- "logbat99" is the password for Jeff's laptop.
- Creepily Long Arms: Sonic.EYX has the longest arms in the series, which can form a makeshift ropeway. It's heavily implied they have Jiggle Physics as well!
- Crossover Couple: Between Porky Minch and Junko Enoshima... in a downplayed example. They are together a lot, but not in a relationship at all.
- Curse Cut Short:
- "Hope Breakout" features Fuyuhiko yelling "Son of a—!" before his police car forms part of the wreckage that greets him.
- "Pharmacist of Peril" has this when one Pigmask sees Seiko becoming monstrous:Pigmask: WHAT? WHAT THE FU--? [is hit by falling rubble]
- In one episode, "bus wankers" — Bounce Man, the speaker, is hit by Low Clearance before he can finish.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Despite being The Medic of the team, Mikan Tsumiki constantly trips over due to her shy nature.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: The Blitz Motor converts organic matter into cybernetic material. This is what turned the Despair Robots into Full-Conversion Cyborgs.
- Cyberpunk Is Techno: A variant. No matter where the unnamed futuristic city is, there is definitely a techno soundtrack in it. It is the Genre Motif of the series in general, despite it being very little cyberpunk itself.
- Darker and Edgier: Series 4 takes this turn, with a Fire and Brimstone Hell followed by an Absurdly Spacious Sewer in the first episode, a soldier with a uniform made from his own blood, the series' first and only Ms. Fanservice villain — Raynare, who comes from a series with a lot of fanservice — Mark's right arm being crushed (good thing he's left-handed), and a Shapeshifting Trickster Arc Villain who claims to be the true last of the Despair Robots, is near-invulnerable, and has uncensored swear words.
- Dark Fic: A lot of the content here is rather dark even with the creators' sense of humor, especially when the series reaches series 4B territory (as above).
- Dark Is Not Evil: Celestia Ludenberg was intentionally added to the New Hope Warriors as a form of contrasting image.
- Dark Lord on Life Support: Porky Minch is fuelled on liquid Despair Disease.
- Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Nixon: During a Funny Background Event in the Christmas Episode, one Pigmask reads 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to the others and accidentally calls Prancer "Spamton", much to the others' dismay. (That or he's distracted by Spamton himself on the battlefield.) He tries again later and calls Blitzen "Blitztank", causing the other Pigmasks to beat him up.
- Dateless Grave: Due to Year X, many gravestones in the Hope's Peak cemetery do not have dates on them. Including that of Junko Enoshima.
- Dead to Begin With: Miu Iruma is described this way, with the Trope Namer rererenced, in series 2's first episode, "The Fans".
- Death from Above: Kenny is killed in "The Assault of the Royal Knight" with falling rubble.
- Death Is Dramatic: Junko's, particularly.
- Deceptive Legacy: Jeff's father, Dr. Andonuts, is not missing, he is dead. The Phantomorph reveals she killed him because of his nuclear weapons against the Despair Robots.
- Deconstructed Trope: In "Dangerous Diclonius", Lucy deconstructs her role as a Monster of the Week. Although she's villainous in her home series, here she's being manipulated by Infinite into killing the New Hope Warriors. As soon as she realises what she's done, she turns on Porky Minch and fights him. Both survive their encounter, but Lucy willingly accepts containment.
- Deliberate VHS Quality: Some of Electrohead's TV graphics as part of his disco (including this Once per Episode Early-Bird Cameo of Rias Gremory) are given a vaporwave aesthetic which gives them this look. The quality drops slightly when Tony gatecrashes the party.
- Demographic-Dissonant Crossover: Unless one counts M.U.G.E.N, you'd never see, for example, Sonic the Hedgehog alongside the Danganronpa cast. Exaggerated with the announcement of High School D×D, a series Best Known for the Fanservice, arriving in series 4.
- Demoted to Extra:
- Porky is only mentioned by name in "Nightmare House"; we don't see him onscreen.
- Supporting villain Richard, who appears semi-regularly in the first three and a half seasons, is reduced to appearing solely in Rias' Nightmare Sequence in series 4B.
- Despair Event Horizon: Permanently crossed by Porky Minch when Junko dies.
- Destination Defenestration: If Tony punches someone near a window, chances are they'll go flying straight through it, complete with shattered glass flying everywhere. This includes Raynare, although it takes four hits for her to do so.
- Development Gag: The music when Tony gatecrashes DJ Electrohead's dance party is "Kill Your TV". A Discord thread reveals that this was the music used for the Title Sequence of three early episodes from 2022 that got themselves deleted due to real life issues. Doubles as a Mythology Gag as the same music plays when Electrohead is confronted in his source game.
- Deus ex Nukina: The lore reveals that Dr. Andonuts, Jeff's father, wiped out nearly all of the usually-indestructible Despair Robots with a single nuke.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Junko Enoshima was hit with every single execution and was crushed to death. Here, she's killed with a single bullet to the stomach.
- Diner Brawl: The fight with Sonic.EYX in "Neko Hell".
- Disappeared Dad: Since Jeff joined his boarding school, his father went missing, and he's still not been discovered. Turns out the Phantomorph killed him.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Non-video game example. At about the three-quarter mark of Part One of "Witch Hunt", Oktavia von Seckendorff, inhabitant of the Mariana Trench, is set up to be the Final Boss of the second series, only for her to be revealed as one of Walpurgisnacht's henchmen.
- Disintegrator Ray: One is used by Blitztank to kill Kenny and burn down the PizzaPlex.
- Distracted by the Sexy: One fight in Series 2 grinds to a halt the minute Tony sees Android 21 materialise out of nowhere. Mark has to snap Tony out of his trance by shooting 21 with both of his MP5s.
- Doctor Whomage: Jeff is a childlike version of the Doctor who has an English accent, wears a bow tie, is asexual, and pilots a Falcon Flyer that's Bigger on the Inside. The Daleks themselves even appear as common enemies. However, the Doctor Doesn't Like Guns; Jeff, on the other hand...
- Doesn't Like Guns: Tony, true to Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. His punches can deal massive damage and even knock people out cold, but he decides not to use guns or other weapons as a trade-off, and is the only Fan with this attribute.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Nobody in-universe was expecting Kanade Otonokoji to be the true identity of the Phantomorph.
- Do Not Spoil This Ending: There is a rule on the Discord server that any and all spoilers (except Blitztank under certain conditions) are not to be discussed until a fortnight after the series finale's release. Series 4 would extend this limit further: any and all mentions of the Phantomorph except in spoiler channels are banned until the full release of series 4B.
- The Dragon: Junko Enoshima is the second-in-command of Neo Ultimate Despair.
- Drop the Cow: Being part-Muppet Newsman, Kokichi is sometimes subject to this. For example, Drop the Nebular Pillar in The Teaser for "Lord of the Moon".Kokichi: [after the Nebula Pillar falls on him mid-report] ...Help?
- Early-Bird Cameo:
- The Cosplay Café La Soleil is first mentioned in the trailer and debuts in the first episode of the series, getting its own spotlight in "Neko Hell".
- Prior to becoming a one-time companion in series 2 followed by a supporting cast member in 4A, Rias Gremory provides several background cameos. Highlights include a Page Four Stunna in the local paper, a pin-up in Miu's room, and DJ Electrohead's dance party's TV graphics showing the ending of the anime's first series and giving it a vaporwave filter.
- Mettaton first appears by name in a Gag Censor in "Dangerous Diclonius" before becoming a news reporter later in the story.
- Eldritch Ocean Abyss: The Mariana Trench, where Oktavia lurks.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Celestia Ludenberg.
- Elite Four: Junko Enoshima, Monokuma, Sonic.exe and Infinite.
- Embarrassing Browser History: The Phantomorph has one which they claim is "classified information" every single time it is mentioned. Not so much classified when Sage does an impromptu reveal that one of the items is "2 Girls 1 Cup". Right in the middle of the Final Battle.
- Embarrassing Ringtone:
- From "Hope Breakout", Seiko Kimura's phone rickrolls everyone on the battlefield.
- Similarly, "Andonuts the Adventurer" features "Baby Got Back" as Shuichi's ringtone.
- Embarrassing Slide: Adler's PowerPoint presentation on Operation Iron Horse and Blitz Motors is organised collaboratively by various villains... including Sans, who justifies this trope by setting one slide to play a rickroll.
- Emotional Powers: The Iron Minch Mk. 2 is apparently fuelled partially on Porky's Unstoppable Rage against the Phantomorph.
- Enemy Mine: Porky Minch with the protagonists, especially Rias Gremory, in Series 4B. Where Rias doesn't mind someone helping her carry out her quest of destroying all threats to the world, Porky outright hates her and states that he does not need any help. Even after the Nightmare Sequence Rias receives.
- Escaped from the Lab: Subjects 4 and 8 in their respective first appearances. 4 in particular goes on to continue escaping on several other occasions in CMC+ Bloopers (set after Corrupt Crossover).
- Establishing Character Moment:
- "The First Problem" demonstrates the New Hope Warriors' characteristics in their debuts.
- The first time Jeff appears, he guns down two Pigmasks with ease.
- Celeste acts polite to Jeff, and offers to clear up La Soleil.
- Right off the bat, Miu accuses one careless driver of being a "road hog".
- Tony's first appearance highlights his punches being able to kill in one hit — or at the very least, knock someone out unconscious — and his Doesn't Like Guns attitude.
- In-universe when Porky Minch punches Rias in the face the first time he meets her.
- The Phantomorph is first seen killing Lusamine. While using the appearance of Sailor Mercury.
- "The First Problem" demonstrates the New Hope Warriors' characteristics in their debuts.
- Even the Subtitler Is Stumped: In Sonic.EYX's debut, his first breathing noises are translated in the text box as "*what is that noise he's making*".
- Evil Brit: Implied for Porky Minch, given who he's voiced by in later episodes.
- Evolving Credits: The Title Sequence changes over the course of the story.
- In the first series, all six New Hope Warriors, their biggest fan, and the main antagonist, are displayed onscreen alongside their machine.
- Following Miu's departure from the series (read: death by Iron Minch), she is replaced with Byakuya Togami, a former one-off character in "Tragedy of the Warriors", in the second season.
- In the third series, the titles change in style and music drastically, but the character order stays the same.
- When Roxanne Wolf becomes a major series 3 ally to the Warriors, she replaces Porky Minch and swaps places with Tsumugi in character order.
- In the final series (4B in particular), the backgrounds glitch with increasing intensity to represent the terror unfolding and the Arc Villain's increasing destruction. Also, Rias Gremory has a Promotion to Opening Titles and replaces Roxanne Wolf to show this, even if Roxy herself is also present.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin:
- The series as a whole is a crossover gone corrupt by the Despair Robots.
- Ultra Robot Wars participant Jailbot is a robot who guards a jail. The trope is name-dropped in its official bio.
- The song that plays when Subject 8 escapes is called "Subject 8 Escapes".
- Excuse Plot: The first episode had this, before it was expanded over the course of the series.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: During Series 4B:Rias: [Porky] almost died! I need to revive him!
Jeff: Actually, A) he's already got motifs revolving around devils of some sort, and B) he never dies because he's a Despair Robot. Just like his opponent... oh no. - Expospeak Gag: In "Tragedy of the Warriors", instead of telling Sonic.exe to shut up, Porky does this:Porky: Sonic.exe...? There's something on your face. [...] It's hanging off the front of your face. It's a sort of... uhh... huge shelf of bone and flesh... and probably other material... and it's flapping about making a horrible noise, will you make it stop?
- Expy:
- Infinite shares a few motifs with The Phantom of the Opera. Sure, there's the mask, but whatever's underneath it has been hideously disfigured since he was thrown in the reactor of the Eggman Empire Fortress. Infinite, like the Phantom, is also a Master of Illusion.
- Alter Ego, much like J.A.R.V.I.S, is extremely advanced Artificial Intelligence that sometimes becomes a Deadpan Snarker.
- Byakuya shares some similarities in backstory with John Wick. He used to be an assassin (and, judging by his role outside of the New Hope Warriors, still is one), and the Togami family had died from a mysterious illness. In "The Fans", his machine, the Fat Shark, is stolen by the titular antagonists, who also beat him up and throw him into the Falcon Flyer, setting up his role as a major protagonist.
- The Clone Army is clearly based on the one from Dragon Ball FighterZ.
- Sonic.EYX is based on Fake Peppino: he is a deformed and Body Horror-filled version of the character he's based on.
- The Yu-Gi-Oh! Spell card Jackpot 7 has a fighting style based on the slot machine boss from the original Star Fox.
- Word of God is that the Phantomorph is based on Queen Chrysalis. Both characters are Shapeshifting Tricksters, but where Chrysalis is limited to transforming into other ponies, the Phantomorph expands her target to include anything, living or dead. Their true identities are also both female.
- Eye of Horus Means Egypt: Egyptian-themed Monster of the Week Pharaoh Man has a shield of light that looks like the Eye of Horus.
- Fake Crossover: The first trailer blatantly states that this is an alternate universe in the Opening Scroll at the end.
- Fanservice Extra: Rias Gremory on the cover of the Series 4 soundtrack. Inverted and downplayed; she is also a supporting cast member throughout that series, and her clothes aren't that revealing.
- Fictional Document: Super High School Level News' weekly newspaper.
- Fictional Video Game: M.U.G.E.N-made video game Ultra Robot Wars, which has been described as "Robot Combat In the Style of Street Fighter". It also foreshadows some future events in the plotline...
- Final Boss:
- The Iron Minch in series 1.
- Walpurgisnacht in series 2.
- Blitztank in series 3.
- Series 4 has two: Inazuma (unofficially) for 4A, and the Phantomorph for 4B.
- Fire and Brimstone Hell: Where Rias Gremory first appears, having been chained up and tortured endlessly by the then-unidentified Phantomorph. Once Tony frees her, they both have to escape the place as well.
- 555: Super High School Level News' number is 555-9712 in the first trailer and 555-4253 elsewhere. Averted in "Black Hole Bombed" where they use Jenny's Number instead.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: At one point in "The Fans", Jeff and Mega Man spot Mark holding Sailor Venus captive in a laboratory, with her attached to several wires. Jeff wonders what this could be about, and then two Sailor Venus clones burst out of the door and attack the two.
- Foreshadowing:
- In "Bear Behaving Badly", Kaede sends a text to Jeff about a new fashion sensation in Hope's Peak. In "Tragedy of the Warriors", it's revealed early on that said sensation is then-Monster of the Week Junko Enoshima.
- The first thing that hits Miu and causes her machine to fly into the glass is Porky Minch's Black Bull. The last thing that hits Miu and kills her is a laser beam from Porky Minch's Humongous Mecha.
- The Christmas Episode sees one Pigmask call Blitzen "Blitztank", likely because he's a frequent Ultra Robot Wars player, got confused, and mixed up his sources. This is why the other Pigmasks beat him up. And then Blitztank itself went on to become the Final Boss of the third series.
- In "The Fans", Byakuya Togami pilots a tank, or at least he knows how to. Fast-forward to series 3, and in Soviet Russia, tank pilots you.
- Hidden in a Doctor Who reference: "I thought I sent you [Sans] to Hiroshima for a packet of sweets." Blitztank is apparently responsible for the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
- The lampshading of Inconsistent Spelling applying to Neo Politan involves Infinite bringing up BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. Neo and Blitztank are both in that game.
- Adler being playable in Ultra Robot Wars makes sense when he becomes a cyborg in Series 4.
- The Phantomorph's fake Boss Rush leaving out the Iron Minch hints at another Iron Minch in the series.
- The Fictional Video Game Ultra Robot Wars is this to the Final Battle, in which two robots brawl against each other.
- Fountain of Memes: In-universe with the Pigmasks, in which 75% of their lines are stock Internet memes, making them almost literal Fountains of Memes.
- Four Is Death:
- Sonic.exe first appears in the fourth episodenote .
- Porky's full name is also Porky Minch the Fourth.
- Given that the number 4 is unlucky in most Asian cultures, this might also explain why Subject 4 a.k.a. Diclonius Thirteen a.k.a Lucy comes from Japanese media.
- There are four seasons overall, with the fourth and final series being the one where Cerebus Syndrome kicks in... partially, and all loose ends in the plot are tied up. (The first episode of series four even has this trope's name as its title!)
- 419 Scam: Corey narrowly avoids falling for one in "The Fans". Turns out she's entirely disinterested in MASSIVE YACHTS.
- Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: There exists an "askbox" in which viewers submit YouTube comments and emails containing questions, which are answered by the cast. Of course, ones that ask whether or not Junko is Porky's girlfriend and that ask about logbat99 himself are ignored.
- Freaky Electronic Music: Emphasis on the "freaky". The Phantomorph, after she goes insane at seeing the Despair Video, obtains the Leitmotif of "Fahkeet" from Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number: a strange and distorted track with a lot of Gratuitous Panning.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: Hidden within the Despair Video is a scene from The Human Centipede.
- Full-Conversion Cyborg: The Despair Robots, after their encounters with Blitz Motors.
- Fun with Acronyms:
- A Non Sequitur mid-"Andonuts the Adventurer" features one Pigmask telling Shadow Man to "KYS". A Dalek who struggles with online acronyms and slang terminology asks him what it means, and the Pigmask tells him it means "Keep Yourself Safe".
- Also the basis of an I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue game played on the official Discord server, in which players think of new meanings for various acronyms.
- Gag Censor: Parodied throughout the first 10% of "Dangerous Diclonius". In order to bowdlerise the nudity from the original, titular diclonius Lucy's breasts are covered by an Undertale text box reading "Censored by Mettaton because our lawyers advised it during the editing process."
- There's also some scenes of Rias lifted directly from the original anime. Like Lucy before her, her initially uncensored breasts are "Removed to conform with Corrupt Crossover censorship laws".
- Gender Flip: Ash Davis is female here.
- Genre Mashup:
- Series-wise, the fic is a Massive Multiplayer Crossover that combines science fiction with Action and Digital Horror and also throws in Harry Potter spells and fantasy worlds like that of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. No wonder the teaser for Series 4B said it was like Murder Drones.
- Music-wise, the soundtracks are primarily electronic, especially synthwave. There are also traces of rock, orchestra, and a combination of the three.
- Genre Motif: Electronic music, mostly synthwave. There have also been some rock-based and orchestral techno tracks.
- Genre Refugee:
- The cast of Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? certainly doesn't belong in a futuristic setting.
- Death also qualifies, as he comes from a world of fairy tales, despite the Company Cross References with CMC+ Bloopers.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The Final Boss of series 2 appears with little to no warning in the series finale. There isn't a single trace of foreshadowing present elsewhere.
- Giant Spider: Subject 8, a.k.a. Something in the Walls.
- Girl with Psycho Weapon: Alex with a chainsaw. Also applies to the twins from Riser Phenex's peerage that she and Ash encounter.
- The Goombanote : Pigmasks are the weakest type of henchman and are constantly killed off.
- Gratuitous French: "La Soleil", the name of the local restaurant, is French for "the Sun".
- Grave-Marking Scene: At the end of the series, Porky Minch visits the grave of Junko Enoshima while locked in a permanent state of grief, and he still does to this day.
- Grimmification: Given to Sonic the Hedgehog a lot. Thanks, Infinite.
- The Grinch: The only thing Porky likes about Christmas is the fact that second-in-command Junko's birthday is on Christmas Eve.
- His reaction to a Secret Santa suggested by Sonic.exe: "What fresh hell is this?"
- Guest-Star Party Member: The series 1 finale gives this role to Monomi.
- Gut Punch: Though downplayed, the arrival of the Phantomorph as a whole is this.
- Heartbroken Badass: Porky Minch, of all people, gets this treatment when his accomplice Junko Enoshima dies.
- Humongous Mecha: The Iron Minch, the Final Boss of series 1, built by Porky Minch himself. Which was so popular in-universe it got itself a sequel for the Grand Finale.
- I Do Not Own: In the descriptions of the videos and channel.
- If I Had a Nickel...: How the She Is Not My Girlfriend Running Gag culminates.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The first blow Porky lands on Kanade in the Grand Finale is him turning his hand into a spear and nearly ripping out her heart. He misses by mere millimetres, but still severely damages her.
- Implied Death Threat: Also a Shout-Out to Poker Night 2: Porky's answer to the question "What's black and white and red all over?" is "Tony if he doesn't complete his current mission".note
- Inadvertent Entrance Cue: During a Series 3 episode, the SOS Brigade is looking for new members. According to Jeff, it's specifically seeking espers, aliens, time-travellers and— cue the TARDIS bursting into the assembly hall.Spaceboy: Sorry, uh, you lot carry on. [nervous laugh] Nothing to see.
[the TARDIS vworps out of existence] - Inherently Funny Words:
- "Harvey Wallbanger" from "Attack of the Daleks".
- In "Cyber-Conversion", the phrase "Big Gay Al and his Big Scottish Pal" causes Sonic.exe to burst into uncontrollable laughter.
- In-Series Nickname: Several characters get nicknames over the course of the series that more often than not lead into Shout-Out territory.
- Insignificant Little Blue Planet: Earth in this context is taken this way. The planet the series takes place on is Earth-V3.
- Insistent Terminology: The series is a "visual fanfiction", referred to as such in almost all trailers.
- Insult Backfire:
- Interactive Narrator: logbat99 himself on occasion talks to the characters.
- Introductory Opening Credits: The title sequence displays eight characters with their name, title, and machine.
- In-Universe Factoid Failure: In "A Shapeshifter Among Us", Porky asks Rias if she originates from Fifty Shades of Grey. Those who have actually read the fic or have seen High School D×D will know precisely that he's wrong.
- In-Universe Soundtrack:
- The Everywhere at the End of Time songs (stages 1, 2 and a bit of 3 only) give this implication: there is a grammophone in scenes the songs appear in.
- Ibuki's Fire Stingray plays a snippet of BABYMETAL whenever she drives past in a temporary Background Music Override (although during the climax of "Death to Arstotzka", Snow halation plays instead).
- Also a cause of the Wrong Song Gags below.
- Ironic Name: The Old Hope Warriors. Although the "Old" part comes from them being the original Warriors of Hope, all five of them are children, and used to take sides with Junko on the "despair" side. The latter point has since been turned on its head, as the Old Warriors now rival Junko.
- Irony: Sonic's theme (titled "Afterburner") comes from Fortnite, Mythology Gag aside.
- Irregular Series: Considering the amount of time it takes to make the YouTube videos...
- I Take Offense to That Last One: In "The Darkest Day", when Porky Minch infiltrates the Galar region and plans to take Eternatus for himself, Galar champion Leon insults him with the words "time traveller", "esper", and "alien". Porky responds by asking Leon if he looks alien.
- Jacob Marley Warning: Given by Porky to Junko in "Witch Hunt" when she is about to make a contract with Kyubey: should she accept, her soul would be converted into a Soul Jar that slowly darkens over time and, once fully darkened, would force you to turn into a witch. Given that Porky's Soul Jar is later revealed to be the indestructible Blitz Motor, which converts organic matter into cybernetic material, it's implied that both his appearance in the series and his equivalent to a "witch" form are exactly the same.
- Jiggle Physics: But not in the way you'd expect. It's implied Sonic.EYX's arms have this.
- Joke Character: Sans. He is a walking talking skeleton who enjoys telling bad puns, doesn't really help much in battle, and has also been known to go Leeroy Jenkins on occasion. Not a single thing he does aids the villains, other than provide a good laugh for the Pigmasks. He's even portrayed as a Memetic Badass In-Universe.
- Kent Brockman News: The fictional news programme Super High School Level News (or SHSL News for short - fittingly, "Ultimate" is "Super High School Level" in the original Japanese releases). Here's how it differs from other Kent Brockman News examples:
- Its Tagline is "The logbat99 Info Programme", meaning it extends outside of the stories and makes its way into logbat99's YouTube videos, even making their debut outside the project. Sometimes, the broadcasts even interject his Twitch streams.
- Its intro music is actually the Big Brother UK theme, but was outdated until series 3: Big Brother UK saw a revival in late 2023. The Corrupt Crossover pilot was released in 2025, meaning SHSL News is stuck on the original theme. Despite this, both songs are electronic music to fit with the rest of the series.
- Killed Off for Real: Both Miu Iruma and Junko Enoshima die during the story, even when others come back without a scratch.
- Killer Finale: For the first and fourth seasons, in which, respectively, Miu Iruma and Junko Enoshima are killed.
- Kinetic Novel: The series attempts to mimic the style of one, having zero interactivity (they're YouTube videos) and therefore only one ending.
- Knight of Cerebus: The arrival of the Phantomorph signals the series taking a Darker and Edgier turn near the end of it.
- The Krampus: As revealed in the second Christmas Episode, Porky used to be good friends with him.
- Lady Macbeth: According to Tony, his ex-girlfriend Raynare used to be this, and she was the one who initially manipulated him into killing people (thanks to the punches that kill someonenote in one hit), becoming the vigilante he is today. Subverted when Raynare, as the Monster of the Week, shows no signs of manipulating Tony, although he does call her this name at one point.
- Lady Not-Appearing-in-This-Game: In-universe with Android 21, who is featured prominently in Ultra Robot Wars promotional material which ultimately leads to Mettaton and later Es kicking her out. (To be fair, her appearances were moments before her cancellation.)
- Laser Blade: The Masked Man's sword is this, heavily based on Star Wars lightsabers.
- Last Episode, New Character: The second Iron Minch debuts in the final episode of series 4 and the Grand Finale overall.
- Last-Name Basis: Neo is only referred to as "Miss Politan". Justified, she's the silent secretary of The Psycho Rangers.
- Last of His Kind: Porky Minch is the last of the Despair Robots.
- Lucy is also, seemingly, the last of the diclonii. Infinite describes this as being "the exact opposite of the Hunger Games districts" (referring to the code name Diclonius Thirteen).
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: To be expected, given the frequent Mythology Gags and plot twists from source material.
- From series 2 onwards, expect Miu Iruma to be in the same conversation as her death.
- The Phantomorph, half-Junko Enoshima and half-Tsumugi Shirogane, is seen on the cover of the Series 4 soundtrack despite being a Walking Spoiler across the series.
- Leave the Camera Running: The Uncomfortable Elevator Moment between the evil Sonic animals in "Shatter in the PizzaPlex".
- Leeroy Jenkins: Being the Joke Character of the series, Sans is prone to doing this, and even shouts the trope name. It all comes to a head when he tries and fails to do this against Walpurgisnacht in "Witch Hunt", with Iron Bundle watching him fail humorously.
- Downplayed with Jeff. He's not afraid to run headlong into the face of danger, but he always goes over the battle plans in case of possible flaws prior to his attack.
- Legacy Character: The Fans have different outfits because Word of God states that they're the descendants of the original Fans, who died in 1991. (Shame the people wearing the swan masks were both girls.) It's unknown if the same is true for the rest of the cast, though CMC+ Bloopers confirms that Porky the Despair Robot is an entirely different character.
- Lightmare Fuel: There's a limit to how much horror can be in the series. Special mention goes to Something, who, despite being an Anthropomorphic Personification of irrational phobias, isn't really that scary here. Mari even tries to pet one of his spiders.
- Literal-Minded: Sans, and not just his puns. For example, when someone tells him to "hit it" (as in play the music) he walks offscreen and hits something that lets out a Wilhelm scream. He even pulls out Rias' bra and calls it a Booby Trap in "Ultimate Annihilation" (though this one increases the Sans Pun Count to 42).
- Monokuma is implied to be this as well. The only time this happens is in "Reconstruction of the Cybermen" where we get this exchange after he falls from a huge height:Monokuma: Guys, I need backup! Send someone here ASAP!
[Something in the Walls drops down and begins to carry him up]
Monokuma: Excuse me, I said someONE, not someTHING!
- Monokuma is implied to be this as well. The only time this happens is in "Reconstruction of the Cybermen" where we get this exchange after he falls from a huge height:
- Literary Allusion Title: "A Battle Lost and Won" is this to Macbeth.
- Local Hangout: La Soleil is the main restaurant the New Hope Warriors go to. It often turns into a Good-Guy Bar.
- LOL, 69: Raynare has SCP Foundation code name Subject 69.
- The Lost Lenore: The death of Junko hits Porky harder than ever, locking him into a permanent state of grief. Downplayed; this is only the end of the story.
- Low Clearance: Bounce Man falls victim to this in "Cyber-Conversion":[while on the road]
Bounce Man: I'll get you, you little— Ooh, hello!
Knight Man: Bounce, don't!
Bounce Man: [climbs on top of the car] BUS WAN-
[sign reading "LOW BRIDGE" appears behind him, camera cuts to Knight Man with a Sound-Only Death and a Wilhelm scream]
Knight Man: I did warn him. - The Ludovico Technique: A variation. In the scene where the Phantomorph is forced to watch the Despair Video, she is restrained to a chair, but her eyes are not forced open, presumably to prevent the scene getting too dark. This was done in the hopes that her nightmares from when she was trapped in Room 101 would be released from her. Which didn't happen - it only made her stronger.
- MacGuffin: Subverted for the Cave of Wonders in "Labyrinth of the Minotaur". There is a golden cup in the background with a lowercase "h" in a medieval-style font. It provides no purpose other than to distract Galaxy Man.
- Malevolent Masked Men: The Hotline Miami representatives:
- Richard is the least aggressive, though he has a habit of invading people's dreams and leaving cryptic clues to their life in the form of questions.
- All five of the Fans are ruthless killing machines who only commit evil acts For the Evulz. Especially noticeable with Tony, who Doesn't Like Guns yet his punches can kill in one hit.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Oh so very much, to the point that one of the series' intentions was to crank Rule 50 up to 11.
- Meaningful Name: More like Meaningful Codename for the subjects in the SCP Foundation of Earth-V3:
- Subject 8 (Something) was numbered as such for two reasons: a spider has eight legs, and 1 + 4 + 3 = 8.
- Subject 4 (Lucy) because Four Is Death; bonus points for originating from Japanese media.
- Subject 7 (Nihilego) comes from the seventh generation of Pokémon.
- Subject 69 (Raynare) attempts to avert the trope, unless her ex-boyfriend Tony can explain otherwise.
- Meido: And cat ones at that; this is the uniform for the La Soleil staff.
- Memorial for the Antagonist: The New Hope Warriors and their allies pay respects to Junko Enoshima towards the end of the final series.
- Mid-Season Twist: Series 4B involves the Phantomorph becoming the Arc Villain and True Final Boss of the entire series, with Porky undergoing severe Character Development and realising what happened prior to and during the events of the seasons before this.
- Monster of the Week: A different threat is faced in each episode, though this trope is often zig-zagged given that the plot is nearly always Hijacked by Porky. Fully averted in series 4B.
- Mood Dissonance: In "Hope Breakout", Kokichi's "alter egos" on La Soleil's television mix with Porky releasing Izuru Kamukura from containment and "Technoir" blaring in the background.
- Mooks: From low ranking to high ranking:
- Pigmasks are The Goomba, a collection of idiotic henchmen who always get mowed over by at least one New Hope Warrior. (Mostly Jeff.) Their Mook Mobile is the Wild Boar.
- From the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game, monster souls trapped in trading cards. There's more versions of them than the Robot Masters, each with varying attack, defence, power and abilities. The problem is that many are Bit Characters.
- Robot Masters and the occasional Maverick Boss are a Quirky Miniboss Squad of Elite Mooks, each with their own unique abilities. However, some abilities are weak to certain Robot Mastersnote .
- Daleks are a Henchmen Race of Heavily Armored Mooks whose weak spot is their eyestalk. Otherwise they don't suffer much damage. There also exists a King Mook, the Supreme Dalek. Their Mook Mobile is the Crazy Bear.
- The Clone Army is a series of near-exact copies of the original characters that lack personality and utilise a Photoshop Filter of Evil. Brace yourself for at least one Mirror Match.
- Move Along, Nothing to See Here: Said by Spaceboy after his TARDIS makes an Inadvertent Entrance Cue.
- Ms. Fanservice: The Monster of the Week for "Containment Breach", Raynare, has the most stripperiffic appearance in the series.
- Mummy Wrap: How Pharaoh Man restrains those who disobey him.
- My Name Is ???: Unknown plot-relevant personnel are given the name "???" before their true name is revealed by either them or another character.
- Mythology Gag: Now has its own folder.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Examples include the Death Anchor, the Night Thunder (ironically belonging to a New Hope Warrior), Springtrap, some Yu-Gi-Oh! monsters, Genocide Jack, the God Delusion, and Eternatus.
- The Napoleon: Monokuma. Short height, short fuse (and not just literally).
- Narrative Profanity Filter: "[EXPLETIVE DELETED]".
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: Adler, the Arc Villain of series 3, and his Elektrosoldat henchmen, are patriotic but aren't even German. They're Russian instead due to Adler's Kolechian upbringing.
- Neon City: If the GIS Syndrome is anything to go by.
- Nepharious Pharaoh: Pharaoh Man from Mega Man 4.
- Nightmare Sequence: Rias has one during which Richard makes his only appearance in series 4. (This helps to reinforce the fact that Richard can mysteriously invade people's dreams.) In the nightmare, Rias is motivated into destroying the Phantomorph, and Richard also clues her in on how Porky will need to get involved and how the Phantomorph will destroy the entire planet if she is let loose (the latter visually).
- Ninja Prop: In "Neko Hell", then-Monster of the Week Sonic.EYX goes as far as to telekinetically lift up and throw the (now-empty) text box at his targets, in order to fulfil his goals of destroying La Soleil and its inhabitants.
- No Man of Woman Born: A variant. Porky concludes that no man can truly be the Phantomorph, because all Despair Robots can shapeshift and have no true identity, except him. The Phantomorph is later revealed to be a woman who does have a true identity.
- Non-Indicative Name: One of the founders, BadWolfMusic53, rarely if ever makes any music.note
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*:
- Before Ibuki passes out due to a side effect of one of Jeff's dad's now-failed experiments, she shouts "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side!"
- Adler, of all people, has this to say on his first defeat: "Four score and seven years ago..."Explanation
- Not His Sled: Several home series plot twists are changed either partially or entirely. For example, Porky Minch, who does not use his Mother 3 appearance, has an ancestor that does yet is rarely shown onscreen.
- Notzilla: The Iron Minch, the Final Boss of the first series, clearly looks like a giant beast and rampages the city in order to cause destruction, with its primary target being the New Hope Warriors. Its fireballs are spewed out of a cannon just near its mouth, and it even does a "King Kong" Climb to extend its range even further. Lampshaded and later Played for Laughs when Jeff first sees it.
- Nuclear Option: All Despair Robots except one were destroyed with a single nuclear weapon from Dr. Andonuts.
- The Nudifier: Played for horror when, in the penultimate episode, Issei uses Dress Break on Kanade, who has a SkeleBot 9000 body, revealing herself to be a Despair Robot and therefore the true identity of the Phantomorph.
- Number of the Beast: Porky's phone number starts with this and not 555.
- Obfuscating Disability:
- Subverted with Old Hope Warrior Monaca Towa. She used to fake her disability to make others feel sympathy for her, but after an accident never shown in the lore, she was ironically wheelchair-bound for the rest of her life up until her debut.
- Played straight to some extent with Mark who, in Series 4, has the Reused Character Design of Haiji Towanote . He looks like he has an injured arm, but it's said he can move it about just fine. He's actually faking weakness to try to increase his strength and even reveals he's actually left-handed.
- Once per Episode: Each episode features a Doctor Who reference and a Rias Gremory Early-Bird Cameo. There's at least one of each.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted for Celestia Ludenberg and Princess Celestia. Lampshaded in "Nightmare Moon":Sonic.exe: Infinite, Nightmare Moon, Celestia is arriving!
Nightmare Moon: What fun! Another poor soul for me to torture!
Infinite: Hang on. Which Celestia?
Sonic.exe: The goth! She's torn through all the guards, she's heading towards you, she's furious!
Infinite: And I've won a fiver.note [...] I guess they do have some differences. One can't even use magic, and look at me...! - Operation: [Blank]: Operation Iron Horse in series 3.
- Our Mermaids Are Different: The Mariana Trench is inhabited by a large mermaid-looking... thing called Oktavia von Seckendorff. The New Hope Warriors falling in attracts her attention.
- Our Souls Are Different: Porky's especially: it is the cyber-converting Blitz Motor, fitting for a robotic character.
- Out Sick: The Animated Outtakes for the second series reveals that Porky was going to appear in "Nightmare House" had he not projectile vomited at the sight of Barbieland.
- Outside-Genre Foe: One episode takes place in an underground dungeon that wouldn't look out of place in Genshin Impact, and a minotaur is the Monster of the Week. It still involves Daleks and Robot Masters.
- Page Three Stunna: While reading the Super High School Level Newspaper in "Fun is Infinite", Jeff is excited that his group has made the front page. Miu, on the other hand, is interested in page four, containing the first and currently only example of the trope in the paper. Doubles as Chekhov's News, as it's a Rias Gremory Early-Bird Cameo.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The password to get into Jeff's laptop computer is "logbat99".
- Paying for the Action Scene: A Funny Background Event in "It's Not Pharaoh". A few minutes after Pharaoh Man bursts through the wall of the Egyptian museum, Mark hastily throws coins at a baffled person wearing a Nigel mask.
- The Peeping Tom: Tony briefly becomes this in his first appearance. Infinite has to drag him out of it.
- Photoshop Filter of Evil: Around 80% of the Clone Army are sprites of the regular characters with a negative filter.
- Pineapple Ruins Pizza: A Seinfeldian Conversation between two Pigmasks in "Send In the Clones" involves what toppings should go on pizza. Fuse Man beats up one of them when he says pineapple.
- Pink Elephants: Referenced: one of the additional songs on the OST is a remix of "Pink Elephants on Parade".
- Playing Games at Work: In "The Assault of the Royal Knight", two Pigmasks get caught playing BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle against each other.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Junko's Last Words involve this; justified as she is scared of Dying Alone. Porky has to leave her, and explains alongside other things that We All Die Someday — except him, as he has Complete Immortality.
- Plucky Comic Relief: This is literally Sans' only role in the series.
- Pokémon Speak: The Trope Namer provides an aversion for once: every Pokémon both here and in CMC+ Bloopersnote can properly talk by default.
- Police Are Useless: Zig-zagged with Fuyuhiko. He's a Cowboy Cop who has managed to arrest villains less times than they've escaped.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: "Send in the Clones" reveals that Infinite doesn't know what a Slytherin is. And yet he retaliates when Himiko Yumeno calls him Snape...
- The following episode continues the joke with him not knowing who Harry Potter even is.
- Posthumous Character: Miu Iruma in later seasons.
- P.O.V. Cam: Jeff and Porky each have one. Jeff's does nothing special, but Porky's is a Robo Cam that mimics that of the Terminator.
- Powered Armor: Not entirely. The appearance of the Iron Minch Mk. 2 is based on Issei's Red Deagon Emperor form (otherwise known as his Scale Mail armour) from High School D×D, which is already this trope, but since it has been made larger and was converted to pure robotics, it is actually a Humongous Mecha that resembles Powered Armor.
- Power Glows: When the Phantomorph attacks, a bright red aura emerges.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
- Jeff in "Tragedy of the Warriors":Jeff: She's a celebrity, get her out of here.
- Porky in "Ultimate Annihilation":Porky: To quote a friend of mine: it's punishment time. [deploys the second Iron Minch]
Kanade: You're fucking kidding.
- Jeff in "Tragedy of the Warriors":
- Precision F-Strike: Punctuated in Sonic.EYX's case with a Five Nights at Freddy's Jump Scare sound effect.
- Similarly, Tony of the Fans isn't afraid to blurt out "arse" in its uncensored form despite profanity being covered with "[EXPLETIVE DELETED]" almost everywhere else.
- Profanity Police: Jeff towards Miu and Infinite towards Sonic.EYX (of course, the latter is rarer).
- Psycho Pink: Kanade has pink hair and is rather mentally unstable.
- The Psycho Rangers: Neo Ultimate Despair in general; a direct opposite to the New Hope Warriors formed by Porky Minch himself. Every member is the opposite of a New Hope Warrior (e.g. Sonic.exe for Sonic, Infinite for Celeste, and Sans for Tsumugi).
- "Psycho" Shower Murder Parody: Parodied in The Teaser for "Neko Hell". Something (as Something in the Dark) tries to do this on Sayaka Maizono (who was told to check the shower for blockages) under the guidance of Richardnote , but fails when one of his hands gets stuck in the drain.
- Rainbow Speak: In dialogue, key plot elements are in bold yellow text, certain exclamations are in red, speech from the Interactive Narrator is green, and characters' thoughts are blue.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Defied. Corey buys Tony a pink car for April Fools' Day. Tony simply kicks it aside, having no use for it. It becomes a Running Gag later.
- Real-Place Background: One background that got itself cancelled but is in the Google Drive folder is a digitally modified photo of Bank Top in Blackburn.
- Rearrange the Song:
- During development of the first series, BadWolfMusic53 found a remix of Daft Punk's "The Prime Time of Your Life" that removes the Nightmare Fuel to create a heavy-hitting electronic soundtrack. Given the themes of the song, this is the Leitmotif of Porkynote and Monokumanote and is the only version of the song to appear in the series.
- Series 3 saw a change in the jingle for Super High School Level News. For the first three seasons, logbat99 was oblivious to Big Brother UK's revival in late 2023 and used an old version of its Theme Tune. Late into the story, he found the mistake and changed the audio file in all subsequent SHSL News broadcasts to the version of the Theme Tune used in the revival series.note
- Record Needle Scratch: Used in "Andonuts the Adventurer" when the embrace between Monika and Sayori is interrupted by Byakuya.
- And again at one point in series 4A when Infinite interrupts an Almost Kiss between Cinnamon and Maple.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: The color scheme of Porky's shirt.
- Red Is Heroic: The main protagonist Jeff's machine is the Red Gazelle.
- Red Is Violent:
- Porky Minch wears a red and black shirt, and he is viewed as a physical embodiment of violence and despair.
- By default, the Captain Spaceboy clones do not have a Photoshop Filter of Evil and are instead locked into the Furious state, which turns the entire sprite red. Fitting for clones of a character who likes to go all-out a lot.
- The crimson-coloured second Iron Minch is way more agressive and destructive than the black-coloured first one.
- Red Ones Go Faster: It's said that Jeff's Red Gazelle is the New Hope Warriors' fastest machine. The Gazelle has an A boost in its home series.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni:
- On the good side, Miu is the Red to Celeste's Blue.
- On the evil side, Porky is the Red to Junko's Blue.
- Despite their colour schemes, Infinite is the Blue to Sonic.exe's Red. This means that the colours of their machines determine their Onis.
- In series 4, Porky becomes the Blue to Kanade's Red.
- Resurrective Immortality: Porky can come back to life every time he is brutally injured.
- Reused Character Design: Played with. The Hotline Miami representatives (Richard, the Fans, and some background extras) all use the bodies of already-existing charactersnote while still wearing their respective masks.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Sans blurts out this in "The Assault of the Royal Knight", which doubles as a Shout-Out to an Association Football Crowd Chant: "Your Mom's your dad, your dad's your mum, you're interbred, you Fortnite scum!"
- Robo Cam: Porky has one akin to the Terminator, making him one of the few characters in the series with a P.O.V. Cam.
- Robotic Reveal: Issei at one point uses Dress Break on Kanade, a Despair Robot like Porky. It's not just clothing that is torn off, but skin as well.
- Rogues Gallery: A large number of villains have been faced over the series. So far, we've had Springtrap, Vanny, Something, Neo Politan, Seiko Kimura, the Fans, Sonic.EYX, Nightmare Moon, the Masked Man, Oktavia von Seckendorff, Adler, Inazuma, Susano'o, Arakune, Jiren, Eternatus, Gallantmon, Raynare, Pharaoh Man, Nihilego, and potentially much more.
- Room 101: The Trope Namer is referenced: the Phantomorph was apparently put in there when she first wreaked havoc, and she literally lived out their own nightmares. This didn't work and she joined forces with the nightmares.
- Running Gag: Several:
- The London double-decker bus being lampshaded.
- Porky slipping and Face Planting when trying to safely get out of his Black Bull. He really needs to install a ladder into the cockpit.
- Any time Porky has to confirm regarding Junko that She Is Not My Girlfriend.
- Someone (usually Porky) gets rickrolled once every few episodes.
- The Sans Pun Count.
- The Honking Arriving Car from Peter Pan Goes Wrong showing up in the most improbable of places. Including in a volcano.Porky: Prepare for the flames of eternal pun—!
[car horn honks]
Tony: A CAB?! WHY IS THERE A CAB IN A VOLCANO?! - After his short stint in assisting Nightmare Moon in her titular episode, Infinite is repeatedly called a brony by Sonic.exe across several other episodes.
- "Authorised exceptions" to the "Super Mario Bros. is banned" rule.
- The pink car Corey bought Tony as an April Fool is frequently brought up, usually with a negative exclamation from Tony himself.
- One of the few jokes carried over from the source material is Teruteru Hanamura shouting out celebrities' names when in distress.
- The Grand Finale has a unique one: BOOST! and Porky's inability to turn the sound off. At one point he starts complaining about the sound engineer.
- Russian Reversal: Mainly in the third series.
- The Visual Pun when Pepperman takes a bite out of one of the Russian soldiers called Elektrosoldats. In Soviet Russia, food eats you.
- There's also one which is proven during series 3's Operation Iron Horse military project: In Japan, you pilot tank. In Soviet Russia, tank pilots you.
- The first line of the description of "Expect the Unexpected" is "In Soviet Russia, one of the last episodes of Corrupt Crossover watches you."
- Sailor Earth: Simultaneously zig-zagged and downplayed with the Phantomorph. She is a Despair Robot like Porky, but is a Shapeshifting Trickster, turns against Porky himself, and only appears in series 4B.
- Sampling: Original song "Future Occult" samples radio messages within space shuttles, notably Neil Armstrong's famous "one small step for man" statement.
- Samus Is a Girl: Downplayed. It's already been hinted at in her first appearance, but the Phantomorph is actually a female entity despite also being a Voluntary Shapeshifter. This is exemplified when Mikado Sannoji, who is male, is one of the suspects and Jeff is obviously incorrect, and not just because Despair Robots don't bleed.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: The minute Tony sees Blitztank. It sounds exactly like the zombie in the infamous K-fee Screamer Prank commercials. (Minus the Sensory Abuse, of course.)
- Schizo Tech: One of the focuses of "Labyrinth of the Minotaur". Daleks would most likely not be found in a fantasy dungeon.
- Sea Monster: Oktavia von Seckendorff.
- Self-Deprecation:
- Some cold opens present logbat99 and BadWolfMusic53 (the creators of the series) as the butt of jokes about their inability to DJ properly, which was inspired by Colin Sell from I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.
- The Iron Minch(es) and the Phantomorph are, according to a Discord thread, the physical embodiments of logbat99's inability to create Original Characters.
- Seven Deadly Sins: With the possible exception of Gluttony, Porky contains all of them (wrath all the time, sloth as he sometimes brings in his minions to do the dirty work for him, lust... just a bit, mainly towards Junko, etc). He's even an embodiment of the eighth sin in Orthodox Christianity: Despair.
- Shapeshifting Trickster: The Phantomorph.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Porky has to confirm this if anyone asks this to him about Junko. Every. Single. Time.
- Shout-Out: Has its own folder.
- Show Within a Show: Sweetheart's Quest for Hearts. It's so unpopular in-universe, it's frequently stormed by the Corrupt Crossover cast because the timeslot is needed, much to Sweetheart's annoyance.
- Sidelined Protagonist Crossover: In order for the lore to properly fit, several characters were cut from their home games. For example:
- Akatsuki Blitzkampf: Adler and his clones, the Elektrosoldats, are the Arc Villains of the third series. The game's protagonist, Akatsuki, doesn't appear.
- Danganronpa: Despite the large number of characters, especially the Mascot Villain, series protagonist Makoto Naegi is absent.
- EarthBound: Jeff is the central character and Porky is the main antagonist, but main protagonist Ness is missing.
- High School D×D: Poster girl Rias Gremory is a supporting cast member. Downplayed in this case; Issei is Demoted to Extra.
- Pokémon: Multiple Pokémon appear as cameos across the series. None of them are Pikachu.
- South Park: Kenny is the only one of the four boys who appears the most in episodes.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Although there are several Bit Characters in the form of monsters from the Trading Card Game, series protagonist Yami Yugi is absent.
- Single Tear: Porky sheds one when he first visits Junko's grave.
- Sir Cameos-a-Lot: Rias Gremory pre-series 4; in each episode she provides at least one Early-Bird Cameo.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: The Phantomorph is the biggest example and swears the most out of the cast. The swears are also uncensored, presumably to take the series taking a Darker and Edgier turn.
- Skewed Priorities: Near the end of the first series...Miu: There are Pigmasks all over the base, and I'm in my swimsuit!
- Skull for a Head: Blitztank has one, but it's not a human skull. It's actually a version of Skeletron Prime, a.k.a. Subject 9, that was not part of an attempt to revive Cthulhu.
- Sleeps in the Nude: A Gag Censored example with Rias, for reasons never explained. Richard, who appears in her Nightmare Sequence, is strangely unfazed.
- Small Reference Pools: Subverted given the theme of the series.
- Smug Snake: Adler.
- Sole Survivor: Porky Minch, of the Despair Robots. Or so it seems...
- Soundtrack Dissonance: For a few minutes in the climax of "Death to Arstotzka", Ibuki's Fire Stingray's In-Universe Soundtrack is not BABYMETAL but Snow halation.
- Southpaw Advantage: After Mark (seemingly) gets his right arm injured in series 4, he reveals to the rest of the Fans that he's really left-handed, meaning he can still fire at least one of his two MP5s just fine.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Everyone has apparently survived their source material. Or, if they've been Killed Off for Real in their source series, they have been resurrected for reasons never explained.
- Speak of the Devil: Twice Porky calls Homura Akemi a Witch with a Capital "B", and on both occasions Walpurgisnacht appears.
- The Speechless: When Sonic.EYX attempts to speak, all that comes out is Vader Breath, which is translated by Infinite.
- Spell My Name with a "The": The first few times Blitztank is mentioned in series 3, he is referred to as "the Blitztank".
- Spider Limbs: Despair Robots have these on their backs.
- Spiders Are Scary: According to most of the cast, thanks to Something. For example:Tenko Chabashira: [to Tony] You degenerate little—! [Something in the Walls drops down] AIEEE!!
Something: Have I missed anything...?
Tenko: GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU FREAK! - Spit Take: Celeste does this the very first time Junko Enoshima is mentioned. By Tsumugi Shirogane, no less. Seems like she's clearly got some memory of her.
- Spoiler Title: "Rise of the Iron Minch" spoils the Final Boss of the first series.
- Spotlight-Stealing Crossover: The show really likes using Danganronpa characters and F-Zero machines, and for In-Universe examples, a quarter of the Ultra Robot Wars cast is Transformers.
- Stealth Pun: In "Witch Hunt", it takes eight hits from Jeff's dad's submarine to cause Oktavia to admit defeat and reveal herself as the Disc-One Final Boss.
- Stock Jokes:
- Subverted in "The Assault of the Royal Knight":
Plug Man: Hey, who was that lady I saw you with last night?
Pigmask: That was no lady, that was Your Mom!
[overlay of this clip]
Dalek: Does not compute.- The "bar joke" is alluded to in "Ultimate Annihilation", just before one of many Final Battles:
Kanade: Well, look at this lineup! A nerd, a hedgehog, a fashion model and a rogue Despair Robot.
Pigmask: ...walk into a bar...
[everyone but Porky and Kanade starts laughing]
Kanade: They're weird.
Porky: Tell me about it. - Stock Scream: The Wilhelm scream happens at least Once per Episode. There has also been at least one use of the Howie Long scream.
- Stock Sound Effects: Other stock sounds include gunshots, laser beams, Stuff Blowing Up, cars racing across, and more.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Many of the villains like doing this, especially Bomb Man.
- Sturgeon's Law: 95% of Junko's predictions as the Ultimate Analyst are useless. (The other 5% is Blitztank.)
- Stylistic Suck: There is very little fluid animation due to the visual novel style, more often than not resulting in a Battle of the Still Frames, with the only properly-animated portions being the title sequence, credits, and Freeze-Frame Introduction of characters. This is actually unintentional given logbat99's lack of professionality.
- Succubi and Incubi: Porky remembers firing at least one succubus from his organisation. Fridge Horror: succubi are sometimes portrayed as Voluntary Shapeshifters. Could that have been the Phantomorph? We're never told.
- Super Window Jump: The first time Inazuma from EN-Eins Perfektewelt Anastasis appears in "Death to Arstotzka", he bursts through the train window.
- Surprisingly Creepy Moment: The final series. 4A consists of regular episodes, lighthearted and comical as they are. And then the plot takes an unexpected turn in 4B with the Phantomorph, despite the Lightmare Fuel.
- Suspect Existence Failure: In order to find out who the Phantomorph is, Monika downplays this trope by badly injuring Mikado Sannoji with her own glitches. It's only when Jeff realises Despair Robots don't bleed, thus proving Mikado's innocence, that the two don't believe he's the Phantomorph. Technically, however, it's the right game, just the wrong character.
- Swiper, No Swiping!: The part in Series 4B when Rias tells Porky to finally stop attacking her; both of them have a common goal (destroy the Phantomorph) and she doesn't want him to form an additional blockade. Porky, being Porky, ignores this request.
- Take That!:
- Both creators have their own personal dislikes that are insulted regularly.
- logbat99 really doesn't like Fortnite and jabs at it here, there and everywhere. For example, the Fans kill Jonesy and the other Rangers in their own Battle Bus (complete with Wilhelm scream) only because the Fans believe the Rangers suck. Then he crashes the Battle Bus.Tony: Renegade Raider my backside! Get outta here!
- BadWolfMusic53, who wrote the story for "Lord of the Moon", and dislikes the Super Mario Bros. franchise so much that he banned it in the series (vehicles and music are authorised exceptions), insults Wonder without mentioning it by name by having Kokichi call it "that useless 2D platformer released on the creator's birthday with the elephant man."
- logbat99 really doesn't like Fortnite and jabs at it here, there and everywhere. For example, the Fans kill Jonesy and the other Rangers in their own Battle Bus (complete with Wilhelm scream) only because the Fans believe the Rangers suck. Then he crashes the Battle Bus.
- "Nightmare Moon" is a large one to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, which was an unexpected series to be included both in and out of universe. As shown in the episode's cold open, BWM53 bet logbat99 a month's Discord Nitro that the series wouldn't include it, and let's just say he still wants his Nitro.
- To Barbie (2023) when, in the Animated Outtakes for the second series, Porky gets a Vomit Discretion Shot the first time he sees Barbieland.
- To Minecraft when Porky wanders through the wrong portal in "Black Hole Bombed" and tells the team "This game stinks."
- One during Series 4B in which the in-universe audience supplies the punchline.Kokichi: Small Minecraft and Injustice YouTuber and— [stock booing] ...and crowd favourite MrCrazyDerp...
- From the same series, the report that goes off on a tangent about the missing head of the cheerleaders (Tiffany Maye from HuniePop) is cut short by the Phantomorph throwing a knife at the television they're watching and shouting "Bullshit!"
- Both creators have their own personal dislikes that are insulted regularly.
- Talking with Signs: Neo does this to communicate, similar to her appearance in RWBY Chibi.
- Tank Goodness: Blitztank, playable in Ultra Robot Wars, is a Sapient Tank that has a whole load of weapons inside it. It is also the Final Boss of series 3, being the result of Operation Iron Horse.
- Techno Dystopia: On Earth-V3, the major city is constantly taken over by the Despair Robot(s), more often than not resulting in the New Hope Warriors taking them down. Even when there's only one left. Maybe two.
- Technologically Advanced Foe: Porky Minch, the Last of His Kind. He is a savage, near-indestructible machine with all kinds of tricks and traps in his artillery. The Phantomorph of the same species has an additional Voluntary Shapeshifting ability.
- Technology Porn: The unnamed main city and nearly everything around it.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: When the Phantomorph wreaks havoc on the world, Porky Minch is forced to side with Jeff Andonuts on the grounds that they are both Despair Robots who see each other as the true last, making Porky de facto the Token Heroic Orc of series 4B.
- Tempting Fate: A lot, but here are some moments that stand out:
- "A Battle Lost and Won", the series 1 finale, features a scene referencing the Doctor Who episode "The Impossible Planet" that follows a loud rumbling in the Falcon Flyer. One-time ally Monomi quips "Oh, well, that wasn't so bad" — resulting in the Iron Minch bursting through the floor. It's strange because the Flyer is Bigger on the Inside.
- Midway through "Dangerous Diclonius", Jimmy gives the statement that he's able to examine Lucy by himself with no obstacles. Then Blitztank (no, not that one) rams him into oblivion. Later in the same episode, Jimmy rears up to destroy the New Hope Warriors... and Blitztank goes berserk and gets him again.
- In "Symbiont of Supremacy", when the New Hope Warriors are flung into Ultra Space:Byakuya: Seriously, though, it’s not like a giant jellyfish thing is going to come out of nowhere and try to destroy us— [Nihilego appears] MY GOSH!!
- And then one episode later on the train to Japan:Byakuya: What are you expecting anyway, one of our old foes appearing and trying to kill us as everyone does these days? That's almost as dumb as— [Adler from Series 3 bursts into the train carriage] ARE YOU KIDDING ME, THE SAME THING?!
- Terminator Impersonator: Both the Terminator and Porky Minch are Killer Robots, look human outside but are cybernetic inside, show robotic innards when a lot of damage is taken, can repair themselves, go Guns Akimbo a lot, have a German accent (Porky's is brief as his CPU is dodgy), and have a large vehicle. Porky is not actually large, though, and still shows some hints of pain, remorse and fear.
- Terrible Trio: The three animal villains: Infinite, Monokuma, and Sonic.exe.
- That's What She Said: Miu Iruma is physically incapable of resisting an opportunity to use this joke. Even right before her death.
- Defied in one episode where Jeff threatens to punch Miu in the face should she respond with this to his comment of "we have to go deeper".
- In the series finale, Miu Iruma says it in German. To a Despair Robot who can understand German.
- After Miu's absence, Tony tries to take up the joke in his Establishing Character Moment. It doesn't work.
- Defied again in "We Do a Little Trolling", before the team travels to New York:Byakuya: Jeff, I think the multitude of blaster guns should be toned down. Way too big to fit in there.
Jeff: Yeah, that's what she said.
Byakuya: Jeff! You're going rogue!
Jeff: No, she really did say that.
Celeste: [walks in] Didn't I tell you already that's way too many blaster guns to fit in there?
Byakuya: Oh God, I feel a right idiot now. - The "said the actress to the bishop" variant is used by Porky, of all people, in "Last of the Despair Robots" in response to Jeff saying "there's no way all that stuff is going to fit in [the Falcon Flyer]" (also a Call-Back to "We Do a Little Trolling").
- They Killed Kenny Again: Complete with Trope Namer! Over the course of the series, Kenny is killed by, in no particular order: a Metal Gear, a Dalek, falling rubble, Amanda the Adventurer in demon form, Susano'o, the Sonic Phantom, and Blitztank's Disintegrator Ray. And the list doesn't stop there.
- Jeff even contributes to the original phrase:
Stan: Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!
Jeff: And half the PizzaPlex with him! What do you think you're doing?
Kyle: You— AAH! [catches falling rock] Phew, that was close. - 13 Is Unlucky:
- Monokuma's Death Anchor bears the number 13.
- Lucy's non-SCP code name is "Diclonius Thirteen".
- In total, there are 13 episodes in Series 4.
- Token Evil Teammate: Byakuya Togami is the only one of the team to commit an evil act: he once tampered with a crime scene.
- Token Heroic Orc: Porky Minch, on the grounds that the other survivor of his species is terrorising the world.
- Tom the Dark Lord: Which crosses over into Fluffy the Terrible territory. The main antagonist of the entire fanfic and the Obviously Evil last of the Despair Robots is called... Porky.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: "A Battle Lost and Won" has this in the video description: "The one where a New Hope Warrior dies, but I'm not specifying which one yet."
- Trailers Always Spoil: At the end of the series 3 trailer, the Walking Spoiler Final Boss makes an appearance in a Freeze-Frame Bonus.
- Translator Buddy: Only Infinite can understand and translate what Sonic.EYX is saying.
- Troperiffic: So many tropes that they had to span at least four folders on this page. That said, it's most likely not the largest number of tropes in an unpublished work.
- Twisted Christmas: The Christmas Episode, "How the Minch Stole Christmas".
- Two Words: Added Emphasis: A variant in "Ultimate Annihilation". Porky tells Rias that he can change her life with three simple words. Rias suggests they are "I love you", much to Porky's disgust. It's only when Porky throws a candle at a puddle of liquid petroleum resulting in Stuff Blowing Up that the words are revealed to be "fire at will".
- Tyop on the Cover: The Episode Title Card for "Dangerous Diclonius" is missing the second "i".
- Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: In "Shatter in the PizzaPlex", Sonic.exe and Infinite are involved in this on the route to Springtrap. The former does not take this seriously and keeps asking "Are We There Yet?"
- Underwater Boss Battle: Non-video game example in "Witch Hunt" against Oktavia von Seckendorff, with Jeff having to use his dad's old submarine to fight against her.
- Unexpected Character: In-universe:
- To start, the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic representatives. Not even Sonic.exe could believe Infinite was teaming up with a villain from a series targeted primarily at young girls (and the odd brony).
- Speaking of My Little Pony, Jeff reacts to Doctor Hooves with utter disgust. Three guesses why, and the first two don't count.
- Rias Gremory of High School D×D fame prompts a similar reaction from Infinite.
- Unholy Matrimony: Subverted. Although Junko shows her lovestruck side when around Porky, he constantly tries to explain they're just partners in crime, and not in love with each other at all.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Played with on Junko's side. She thinks Porky is interested in her; turns out it's only partially, and he just wants assistance in his plots to destroy the world. Porky even protests that She Is Not My Girlfriend.
- The Un-Reveal: Near the end of "The Alliance of Haruhi Suzumiya", Sonic.exe is about to explain that Haruhi is a Reality Warper in front of Haruhi herself, only for Yuki Maeda wearing a Russell mask to hit him with a baseball bat on the back of the head, knocking him out.
- Unstoppable Rage: Porky's way of attack. Especially noticeable after Junko's death.
- Vader Breath: This is Sonic.EYX's only way of speaking. Sounds for added effect range from the Silence to Dementors to even Darth Vader himself.
- Verbal Tic: The Cat Girls insert "nya", the Japanese onomatopoeia for "meow", in most of their sentences.
- Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: Porky and his Pigmasks, respectively.
- Villains Out Shopping: One episode shows the Fans (bar Tony) having casual games of tennis with the members of the Occult Research Club: Alex and Ash versus Rias and Akeno, with Mark acting as the umpire and Corey the ball boy. Sans, confused over what Corey meant by "service", even brings out drinks for the two teams as refreshments.note
- Voice Grunting: The Pigmasks sometimes use voice clips to accompany their speech. Of course, it's mainly Internet memes.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Final Boss of the series as a whole, the Phantomorph, can twist her proportions into any character she wishes. No one truly knows what she looks like.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: As a possible Take That! to Barbie, in the Animated Outtakes for series 2, the camera cuts away from Porky just as he projectile vomits when he sees Barbieland.
- Walking Spoiler: Series finales are the main examples because they all contain a season-specific Final Boss. It is for this reason that logbat99 went as far as to ban any mention of them and the Final Bosses bar Blitztank on the official Discord server until a fortnight after the finale's release, and even then they all (except Blitztank under specific conditions) must be discussed in the spoiler channel.
- By far the biggest example yet is the Phantomorph, the Arc Villain of the fourth series and the Final Boss of the entire project. Even if it boils down to "there's another surviving Despair Robot and Porky becomes a Token Heroic Orc", it's very hard to talk about the series without mentioning her involvement. Her true identity, Kanade Otonokoji of Super Danganronpa Another 2 fame, is also very spoiler-heavy due to only appearing at the end of the series, as does Junko's death which she causes.
- Walk on Water:
- Sonic can run on water as he fears drowning. Take note Something!
- The F-Zero machines can also travel on water without retiring. The lore is that this feature was removed after the story to stop pilots cheating on Big Blue during official races.
- Weakened by the Light: Averted despite the actions of one Pigmask.
- We All Die Someday: Said by Porky Minch to Junko Enoshima when Junko is about to die. However, this does not include Porky himself.
- We Interrupt This Program: In the Style of The Secret Show. Across the series, Sweetheart tries to put on her live show Sweetheart's Quest for Hearts, but the other characters storm the set every time she does so, because the timeslot is needed urgently.
- Weird Crossover: So much so that the folder above titled "Major Series Represented" is just the tip and a few chunks of the iceberg.
- Wham Shot:
- The Iron Minch killing off Miu Iruma near the end of series one.
- "Symbiont of Supremacy" ends with Lusamine being killed by the Phantomorph.
- Immediately before the Title Sequence of "Ultimate Annihilation", Kanade Otonokoji reveals herself as the true identity of the Phantomorph. In the Title Sequence, Kanade's leitmotif does a Background Music Override for added effect.
- The mere existence of a second Iron Minch kicks off the Final Battle.Kanade: You're fucking kidding.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The Yu-Gi-Oh! monsters are forgotten about over the course of the narrative. They don't appear at all in Series 4.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: We're never told exactly where the unnamed city the New Hope Warriors reside in is. All we know is that it's somewhere in Japan, near Tokyo, and it does not border Night City.
- Wolverine Publicity: Android 21 in Ultra Robot Wars promotional material; see Lady Not-Appearing-in-This-Game for more information.
- Write What You Know: Tony killing a Renegade Raider, Infinite being mistaken for a brony after his short stint in Ponyville, and Porky frequently protesting that Junko isn't his girlfriend were all based on false rumours in logbat99's secondary school, according to a Discord thread.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: In-universe when one Dalek questions another Dalek about his wrongly-recited Pythagorean theorem he uses while attempting to prove his importance.note
- Written-In Absence: In-universe. The Animated Outtakes for the second series reveal the reason behind Porky's absence in "Nightmare House". He projectile vomited after seeing Barbieland for the first time, and was taken ill afterwards; this prompted Mettaton to write him out of the episode.
- Wrong Song Gag: Doubles as a Shout-Out to the Simpsons episode "Mother Simpson". In the first part of the series 1 finale, before the Iron Minch is unleashed, Porky plays a CD containing "dramatic music"note , but Sans, having recorded over the disc, is blamed for changing the song to "Baby Shark".
- Xenomorph Xerox: Lampshaded in Eternatus' official bio: "Not to be confused with the Xenomorph from Alien".
- Year X: The series takes place in 20XX.
- You Always Hear the Bullet: Averted, given that gunshots and deaths happen at the same time due to the animation limitations. The only straight example is the shot from the Phantomorph that kills Junko. She notices it, then falls dead.
- You Are Number 6: Earth-V3's SCP Foundation gives characters code names with the pattern "Subject X". For example, Something has the code name Subject 8.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Infinite's initial reaction to Rias Gremory.
- Young and in Charge: Jeff is the youngest and leading member of the New Hope Warriors.
- Your Mom: The series is no stranger to this type of joke.
- In "Robot Master Mayhem", Centaur Man says that Sonic's mom is so fat, she doesn't need the Internet: she's already worldwide.
- Gender-inverted in "All Your Base Are Belong to Us", when Nitro Man says that Jeff's Disappeared Dad is so stupid he got hit by a cup and reported a mugging. Jeff's response? "You're confusing him with Sans."
- "The Fans" sees Mark attempting to get into the clone laboratory, during which we get this exchange:Dalek: Intruder alert! Intruder alert!
Mark: [showing off a card] I have permission.
Dalek: Permission accepted. Who are you here to see?
Mark: I'm here to see your mom.
Dalek: Is that last name "Mom", first name "Your", or-?
[Mark shoots the Dalek, who lets out a robotic-filtered Wilhelm scream]
Mark: I hate that guy. - In "Lost and Found", Roxanne Wolf is insulted via a Pigmask telling her that her mom is a stuffed animal.
- A conversation between henchmen in "The Assault of the Royal Knight":Plug Man: Hey, who was that lady I saw you with last night?
Pigmask: That was no lady, that was your mom!
[cue overlay of this Supa Hot Fire clip]
Dalek: Does not compute. - Sans inverts this by saying his mom bought tickets to Xbox Live. Because she thought it was a concert.
- The Phantomorph calls Infinite's mom weaker than a tree. Which turns out to be a big mistake.
Tropes with their own folders:
General/Unsorted
- There has been an official Sonic game in Visual Novel form.
- Mettaton has already been a news reporter prior to this series.
- Most of the Daleks' lines are adapted from either official episodes or The Bugger Anthology. For example, when asked about declaring war on the Warriors (again): "This is not war! This is pest control!"
- Sans speaks in Comic Sans as he does anywhere else.
- RoboCop and the Terminator have faced prior to Ultra Robot Wars.
- The "D'oh!" sound file the Pigmasks use translates to "*annoyed grunt*" in the text box.
- Richard has the body of Leon Kuwata, Ultimate Baseball Star, by default. Jacket, who uses Richard as his default mask, has a baseball bat as one of his first weapons.
Series 1
- In "Hope Breakout", Richard of Hotline Miami fame apparently knows who John Wick is. Jacket and John Wick both appear in PAYDAY 2.
- Something's code name "Subject 8" references the Arc Number of his home game: 1 + 4 + 3 = 8.
Series 2
- Each Fan's Freeze-Frame Introduction during the scene in which they kill everyone in the Battle Bus uses the exact wording of how their abilities are described in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. Tony's has brackets around "No Weapons".
- The scene in which Tony rams the Battle Bus into the ground? The vehicle actually crashed in-game.
- From Tony to Infinite when they first meet: "Found that damn fourth Chaos Emerald yet?"
- Genocide Jack's Calling Card of "BLOODLUST" written on the wall of a crime scene.
- This exchange in response to Infinite being called "weak" again:
- This line from Porky doubles as a Take That! to Minecraft: "This game stinks."
- Homura Akemi sees Oktavia von Seckendorff as strikingly familiar. This also gives the implication that the events of everyone's source material tie in with the Alternate Universe setting.
Series 3
- Neo Politan communicates using signs and has already seen a tank before.
- When Electrohead is confronted, the music changes to "Kill Your TV". This is true for both "Lost & Found" and Katana ZERO.
- Discussing uniforms in "Operation Iron Horse", one Elektrosoldat suggests for the troops to wear white uniforms and Adler to wear red, so that their opponents know who to fear. This is the colour of their outfits in EN-Eins Perfektewelt, the sequel to Akatsuki Blitzkampf.
- As a Cyborg, Adler wears this outfit in the series 4A episode "Death to Arstotzka", except it's made from his own blood.
Series 4
- When Ryoko Otonashi is first mentioned in a series 4A episode while looking for the missing Junko, Porky has a sudden flashback. Ryoko and Junko are the same person.Porky: Wait a minute.
- From "Symbiont of Supremacy", Lusamine's Fusion Dance with Nihilego creating the Mother Beast again. This time, however, it's a Forced Transformation as a consequence of Infinite meddling with the latter's genetics.
- Rias Sleeping in the Nude and Richard invading her dream. During the latter, the BGM is the same as when Jacket encounters Richard ("Silver Lights").
- Issei's best move on Kanade is Dress Break, once again resulting in clothing being ripped off, as well as skin on this occasion.
General
- The logo for the series has the Geometry Dash font.
- Sonic.exe was a regular Sonic clone who was thrown into a vat of blood-red chemicals.
- The Sans Pun Count Running Gag.
- The possible non-Danganronpa sound effects that can punctuate text include a Vine boom and the Metal Gear Scare Chord.
- The Wilhelm scream and the rickroll are common Running Gags.
- The Super High School Level News intro music is the theme to Big Brother UK. Until series 3 rolled around, it was out-of-date.Explanation
- Every video description features Friends' iconic The One With… directly below the I Do Not Own and "Please read the channel description." on the final line.
- Sonic.EYX was created in the Upside Down. Or at least according to his bio.
- Many, many leitmotifs. For example, Porky's series 1 theme and Monokuma's series 2-4 theme is "The Prime Time of Your Life". Or rather, a remix that removes the Nightmare Fuel.
- How about episode titles? Some good examples include "Fun is Infinite", "How the Minch Stole Christmas", "The Man in the Iron Helmet", and "Last of the Despair Robots" (also, fittingly, the Grand Finale).
- Guess what Ultra Robot Wars is named after.
- The following sound effects are used as the replacements for Sonic.EYX's speech:
- The Silence.
- Dementors.
- Darth Vader (also the Trope Namer for Vader Breath).
- A Seeker's roar at the start of a round of Hide & Seek mode in Among Us.
- The sounds made by the Fans' abomination hallucinations in the Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number level "Apocalypse".
- For the odd Precision F-Strike, it's a Jump Scare sound from Five Nights at Freddy's with the volume lowered.
- A breathing sound assumed to be from Lobotomy Corporation. As well as some other sounds emitted by that game's Abnormalities.
- From "There's Something Behind You" onwards, the Show Within a Show Sweetheart's Quest for Hearts becomes a common cold open. This makes it subject to a We Interrupt This Program In the Style of The Secret Show. A Discord thread confirms it to be an Affectionate Parody.
Doctor Who
Let's be honest, it deserves its own category.- The Inherently Funny Words of "Harvey Wallbanger" in "Attack of the Daleks".
- In "A Battle Lost and Won", the series 1 finale, after a loud rumbling in the Falcon Flyer, the Warriors' ally for this episode, Monomi, briefly quips "Oh, well, that wasn't so bad" — cue the series' Final Boss bursting through the floor of a ship that's strangely Bigger on the Inside.
- From the episode before that with a Spoiler Title: "There are Pigmasks all over the base, and I'm in my swimsuit!"
- How does Porky attempt to divert Sans from a series 3 episode's current mission? By sending him to Hiroshima for a packet of sweets.
Series 1
- The first episode of the series is called "The First Problem". Sound familiar?
- In Porky's first appearance, someone spots Monokuma and tells him he's not supposed to be in Scene 11. Sounds like spotting an old man from Scene 24, doesn't it?
- This from "Tragedy of the Warriors", lifted from a Cabin Pressure episode.Porky: What on Fourside is going on? I'm waiting for you in my office for the mission briefing!
Infinite: Yes, we saw your light was on and we thought you might still be there.
Porky: And you're not even in yet!
Infinite: No, we saw your light was on and we thought you might still be there. - Jeff's first Pre-Asskicking One-Liner against Junko in the latter's debut.
- In "You're Too Slow", Junko, Sonic.exe and Infinite are collectively referred to as "Cinderella and the Ugly Sisters".Infinite: ...I'm not her sister.
- Starting from "Send In the Clones", Monokuma enjoys playing Yellow Car.
- In a failed attempt to make Ibuki smarter, the side effect is Ibuki saluting and shouting "The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side!" before collapsing.
- Monokuma's response to being told to divert attention away from Porky: he diverts attention towards him by saying "HI! I'M A SHOUTY MAN!"
- A few of the characters are birdwatching in "There's Something Behind You", and we get this joke from the Horrible Histories BBC Proms specialnote :Galaxy Man: What kind of bird is that?
Tsumugi: My book says it's a lyrebird.
Sans: looks pretty truthful to me.note - The bassline of "Subject 8 Escapes" is the same one used in "Battle Against the Masked Man".
- During a photoshoot held by Mahiru Koizumi, one Pigmask shouts "Bright light!" and gets punched in the face for it.
- Another Pigmask crashes into a T-Series billboard.
- The name "Iron Minch" certainly sounds familiar.
- Porky's reaction to the plans for the Iron Minch getting leaked by Jeff's computer Alter Ego: "Who posted the blueprints on Twitter dot com?!"
- Regarding Sans' latest plan in "A Battle Lost and Won":Porky: Sans, please. It looks to me like none of your plans will succeed until the last syllable of recorded time.
- The Christmas Episode provides a lot of pantomime references.
Series 2
- This conversation from "The Fans":Dalek: Who are you here to see?
Mark: I'm here to see Your Mom.
Dalek: Is that last name "Mom", first name "Your", or-? - Also in "The Fans", Corey ignores a 419 Scam involving MASSIVE YACHTS.
- During series 2's first car chase against the Fans:Byakuya: I gotta lose these chuckleheads.
- When Monokuma first meets Foxy in "Springtrapped", he asks, out of confusion, "Swiper, no swiping?"
- During the Diner Brawl in "Neko Hell", when Sonic.EYX crashes into the wall, Azuki tells him he "Should've gone to Specsavers".
- In one episode, the New Hope Warriors except Jeff can be seen playing Trivia Murder Party 2 on the television screennote .
- This line from Sonic.exe near the end of "Labyrinth of the Minotaur": "How do you like that, Obama? I destroyed the Babel Dungeon, you idiot!"
- "Diclonius Thirteen" is a remix of "Third District".
- When asked what happened to the other diclonii, Infinite describes the event as "the exact opposite of the Hunger Games districts".Explanation
- S stands for Spamton, according to "Reconstruction of the Cybermen".
- In "Cyber-Conversion", Bounce Man tries and fails to say "bus wankers" and is hit by a low bridge.
- Sonic.exe rattling off the princesses in "Nightmare Moon"... and failing:Sonic.exe: I think I know all of them. Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadance, Princess Monaco of Kent—
Infinite: Well, that answers that quest— wait, Princess Monaco of Kent?! - When an explosion goes off in Ponyville, a person wearing a Jones mask asks for Inspector Sands to report to the Carousel Boutique. "Inspector Sands" is a Code Emergency that describes a fire in train stations and theatres, which is initially ignored by the general public.
- Sonic: "What are we doing underwater? We're not The Octonauts!"
- When Oktavia finally goes down in Part One of "Witch Hunt", Sonic shouts "Ding, dong, the witch is dead!"
- Jeff responds to the above with "Oh, no it isn't!" upon spotting that said witch is the Disc-One Final Boss.
- The way Sonic.exe taunts the Warriors in Part Two: "What poor unfortunate souls you turn out to be!"
Series 3
- One trailer cuts short Porky Minch's name by one letter as it moves in from the left (so it reads "orky Minch"). Sans jokes that the animator's gone for a "P".
- Even TV Tropes itself can be referenced: after the above remark, Porky calls Sans "Captain Obvious".
- Throughout the series as a whole, Richard is essentially the hosts from Atmosfear if they wore chicken masks:
- His presence is announced with a clap of Dramatic Thunder. This is also true for series 4.
- He often tells the characters to "thrill me", Baron Samedi's Character Catchphrase, as he watches the carnage unfold. In "The Assault of the Royal Night", he instead says "indulge me", the catchphrase for Elizabeth Báthory.
- During the fight against the series' Final Boss, the above thunderclap is accompanied by him shouting "STOP!" to temporarily halt the action in the same way the Gatekeeper does so.
- "Shatter in the PizzaPlex" features the two prior references to The Wizard of Oz:
- The newspaper Roxanne Wolf shows Jeff has the headline "Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead".
- To try to prove his importance, one Dalek recites Pythagorean theorem. Wrongly.
- From the disco held by DJ Electrohead and gatecrashed by Tony: "Give me a fat beat for me to beat my clone's butt to."
- To this Association Football Crowd Chant in "The Assault of the Royal Knight":
- "DONTHUGME" provides another TV Tropes reference when White Face remarks that sitting on a chair isn't really descriptive.
- The unused "Operation Iron Horse" is a double remix: "Iron Horse" and "Master Porky's Theme". Interestingly, the former is Blitztank's leitmotif in his source game.
- Unintentionally when Adler tells Celeste to "Meet the Blitztank."
- The moment the Fans see Blitztank, Tony Screams Like a Little Girl. Or, more specifically, like the zombie in the infamous K-fee Screamer Prank commercials.
- Inspector Sands makes a return when Blitztank sets fire to the PizzaPlex.
- In the second Christmas Episode, right after the Fans' van's emergency brake is pulled and Tony is thrown into the glass of one of the windows, he shouts "WHO IN THE BLAZES APPLIED THAT EMERGENCY BRAKE?!"
Series 4
- Several Blood Brothers references are hidden throughout the series, including:
- In "Death to Arstotzka", Tony can be heard humming a few bars of "Shoes Upon the Table" (which was improvised by logbat99 himself).
- Discussing Porky's flamethrower: "It's not a toy, you idiot! You can't get up off the ground again if this thing hits you!" (A reference to "Kids Game".)
- The entire scene where the Phantomorph shoots Issei dead and Porky tries to stop her is a reference to Sammy's armed robbery. And then it's revealed that Issei was Faking the Dead.
- When Fuyuhiko asks what Kanade is doing in "Ultimate Annihilation", the latter responds with "waiting for the 92 bus".
- Kanade is described as having "a plate in her head", the same thing Sammy has. Both characters, as a result of this, perform incredibly violent behaviour.
- Yet another TV Tropes reference: The first episode of the series has the title "Four Is Death".
- It's also confirmed by Word of God to be a Shout-Out to Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School, with its first episode having the title "Third time's the charm".
- Tony seems to make a habit of calling Rias "Jessica Rabbit".
- Similarly, Porky asks Rias if she originates from Fifty Shades of Grey in "Four Is Death".
- With Raynare down but Tony still active, the latter gives this line: "They think it's all over... they're wrong!"
- The music for the Mother Beast fight is a combination of three Perturbator songs: "Technoir", "Humans Are Such Easy Prey", and "Sentient".
- The debut of the Phantomorph is accompanied by Everywhere at the End of Time.
- The backgrounds in the Series 4B title sequence glitching was inspired by the Logo Joke for the Five Nights at Freddy's movie.
- The lore reveals that there have been three batches of New Hope Warriors before the story, therefore this generation of New Hope Warriors is the fourth. Hmm...
- A lot of the Phantomorph's dialogue when enraged is in Zalgo.
- The Human Centipede makes a brief appearance as a Freeze-Frame Bonus in the Despair Video the Phantomorph is Forced to Watch. It's also her Absurd Phobia, if her time in Room 101 is anything to go by.
- Sans going Literal-Minded again:
- The Iron Minch Mk. 2 has the appearance of Issei's Red Dragon Emperor form.
- At one point in the Final Battle (ironic considering Kanade's personality):Porky: You are live on Super High School Level News. Please do not swear.
- The Phantomorph reveals in a Deleted Scene for series 4B that they've been following the basic premise of Tucker's LawExplanation . Then again, that character is a Sir Swears-a-Lot...