Fanfic / The Simpsons: Team L.A.S.H.

Top to bottom, left to right: Liv, Mrs. Gunderson, Hikaru, Otto, Anastasia, and Simon.

The Simpsons: Team L.A.S.H. is a The Simpsons Script Fic written by FlamingMercury5. Like her most popular fan work (Total Drama Legacy), it's a Flash Forward Fic, emulates the source material as closely as it can (or, at least, a Lighter and Softer version of it), the main characters are all Fan-Created Offspring of canon characters, and each chapter of it is meant to be analogous to a TV episode. However, unlike Total Drama Legacy (which was meant to be a continuation of the Total Drama series), Team L.A.S.H. is not designed as a fan-made season of The Simpsons, but a Spin-Offspring Kid Com set in the same place, albeit 10 years later.

The series focuses on the titular Team L.A.S.H., a quartet of second-graders attending Springfield Elementary. Its members, whose initials are the source of the team's name, are:

• Liv Krustofsky (daughter of Krusty the Clown and Miss Pennycandy), a reckless, attention-loving Class Clown who stars alongside her dad on The Krusty the Clown Show under the Stage Name "Sideshow Liv".
• Anastasia Burns (adoptive daughter of Mr. Burns and Smithers), a spoiled, behind-the-times Ojou and the heir to Mr. Burns' vast fortune.
• Simon Skinner-Chalmers (surrogacy-conceived son of Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers), an intelligent, stone-faced Teacher's Pet (or, more aptly, Principal's Pet) and the head hall monitor at Springfield Elementary.
• Hikaru Albertson (son of Comic Book Guy and Kumiko), a cheerful, video-game-obsessed Keet who shares his dad's love of comic books, sci-fi, and baseball.

Accompanied by a near-bottomless supporting cast (drawing off of both the huge cast of the source material and FlamingMercury5’s talent for creating OCs), these four have various comedic misadventures.

---

The Simpsons: Team L.A.S.H. contains examples of:

• Abhorrent Admirer: In "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree", Rich Texan introduces the Burns family to his grandson Austin, who "likes football and trucks" and is prone to Firing in the Air a Lot just like his grandfather (though he does it with squirt guns). Austin then proceeds to flirt with Anastasia, and Anastasia reacts with disgust, calling him a "foul-smelling barbarian".
• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Discussed in “Carol of the Burns”. Simon watches an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon called “Cat Trick”, where Itchy and Scratchy are opposing hockey players. Itchy kills Scratchy by using his ice skates to slice him into a bunch of pieces. Simon remarks that the cartoon is extremely inaccurate because ice skates on their own are not nearly sharp enough to cut through bone.
• Academic Alpha Bitch: Simon is a male example. As the product of an Office Romance between a principal and his superintendent, he's been raised to think that his education is the single most important thing in his life. As a result, he's a Control Freak of a hall monitor who's constantly snitching on his classmates, sucks up to faculty members, and is Obsessed with Perfect Attendance to the point where he refuses to take sick days.
• Academic Athlete: Simon loves school, gets phenomenal grades, and serves as Team L.A.S.H.'s resident brainiac. He also enjoys playing hockey, and "First Day of Cruel" establishes that he's exceptionally physically strong and agile.
• Accidental Misnaming:
  • A Running Gag is Homer being unable to pronounce or properly recall Anastasia’s name, and instead referring to her with sound-alikes like "Angelica" or "Anesthesia". Even when Anastasia outright says her name to him, he repeats it back as "Anamastasia". This is meant to mirror the original show's Running Gag of Mr. Burns not remembering who Homer Simpson is.
  • Agnes Skinner occasionally slips up and calls her grandson Simon by his father's name, "Seymour". Whether this is a sign that she's trying to relive Seymour's childhood through Simon or just the result of dementia is unclear.
• Acrofatic: Hikaru, the fattest member of Team L.A.S.H., is also the most energetic, and an accomplished athlete to boot.
• Actually Pretty Funny: In "Getting Carded", a lot of the people that get Harutamon cards based on them don't end up being insulted for unauthorized use of their image; rather, they find them clever and cool. Of note is Seymour Skinner, who is initially insulted when he finds out Hikaru and Webcomic Kid are selling cards depicting Springfield residents as monsters, but when he sees the card based on himself ("See-More Skinneret"), he thinks it makes him look "stern and fearsome" and finds the Punny Name amusing.
• Adaptational Explanation: In the Simpsons episode "Flaming Moe", it's never explained why Calliope Juniper broke up with Seymour Skinner (in-universe, anyways; the out-of-universe explanation is simply that Status Quo Is God). However, "A Trip Down Memory Lane" explains that she broke up with Skinner because he had a Teeny Weenie.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Ling Bouvier. In canon, she's a sweet little girl pushed too hard by her mother to be perfect. Fast-forward ten years, however, and she's an Alpha Bitch with a vaping addiction.
• Adaptational Job Change: In the video game The Simpsons: Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly, Canon Foreigner Ironfist Burns is the nephew of C. Montgomery Burns and the head counselor at the titular Camp Deadly. Because the ending of the game involves Camp Deadly closing down for good, FlamingMercury5 had to come up with a new job for him for his appearance in “Carol of the Burns”. So, going off of his Drill Sergeant Nasty vibes in the source material, she made him a drill sergeant for the U.S. Army.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • Going off of an offhand comment in "My Fair Laddy" about gym teacher Brunella Pommelhorst taking a leave of absence to return as "Mr. Pommelhorst, the new shop teacher", said character is portrayed as having fully transitioned in "A Liv of Their Own", and is referred to as Hercules Pommelhorst.
  • Elizabeth Hoover is now Elizabeth Gunderson, reflecting how she and Gil Gunderson fell in love in the Season 34 episode "Habeas Tortoise". FlamingMercury5 began writing Team L.A.S.H. as Season 34 was in production, and since it was unclear whether or not the scene where Gil puts a ring on Miss Hoover’s hand indicated that they were engaged or not, she took a leap of faith and referred to her as "Mrs. Gunderson" rather than "Miss Hoover".
  • Similarly, Waylon Smithers is now Waylon Burns, having achieved his dream of marrying Mr. Burns some time after the events of The Simpsons. While it's rare for same-sex couples to have one partner take the other's name upon marriage, Smithers' decision to change his last name has precedent in canon: the supplemental book C. Montgomery Burns' Handbook of World Domination contains an image◊ showing Smithers writing "Waylon S. Burns" on a piece of paper. Because of the change in last name, he's usually referred to as "Waylon" rather than "Smithers" (even though in canon, most people both in- and out-of-universe refer to him as "Smithers" rather than "Waylon"). This name change is lampshaded in "A Liv of Their Own":
  Mr. Burns: SMITHERS!
  Waylon: Sir, we've been married for eight years. You don't have to call me by my bachelor name.
  Mr. Burns: My apologies, Waylon. Old habits die hard.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • In canon, Principal Skinner is usually portrayed as a strict Dean Bitterman constantly getting in the way of Bart Simpson and his allies. In Team L.A.S.H., however, he's a straight-up example of Putting the "Pal" in Principal, and while he is occasionally portrayed as strict, he's usually shown to be kindhearted, helpful, and a Doting Parent towards his son Simon. (Then again, what else do you expect from a fic written by an author who, at the time she started the fic, had a screencap of Principal Skinner as her profile picture?)
  • Superintendent Chalmers also gets a niceness upgrade too. In canon, he's a hot-tempered grouch who hates Principal Skinner. In Team L.A.S.H., he's a lot more level-headed, and is married to Principal Skinner. And while he does still yell at and berate Skinner, their arguments are more two-sided and more Belligerent Sexual Tension-y.
  • Mr. Burns, a heartless Corrupt Corporate Executive in canon, is portrayed as a very affectionate husband towards Smithers and a caring, if a bit aloof, father towards Anastasia. He does occasionally lapse back into his usual evil characterization, however.
• Adoption Diss: Several members of the Burns family, embittered over being passed over in Mr. Burns’ inheritance in favor of Anastasia, mock and insult her for being adopted. Particular things they lay into her for are looking nothing like the rest of the Burns family and her birth family being unknown lower- or middle-class people rather than an Old Money family.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Principal Skinner often does this to Simon, to the point of it being a Character Tic.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Agnes has a whole host of these for her grandson Simon, but her most commonly used ones are "Spanky Jr." and "Simey-wimey". And during the rare moments when she's feeling affectionate towards her son Seymour, she still refers to him as "Spanky".
  • Waylon refers to his daughter Anastasia as "Stacy" (traditionally a diminutive of the name Anastasia), in honor of the Malibu Stacy doll line, which he is a huge fan of.
  • Speaking of Anastasia, she has a lot of these applied to her. Her other father Mr. Burns calls her "princess", the news media calls her "Baby Burns", and Liv calls her "Ana".
  • Krusty often refers to Liv as "bubbeleh", which is Yiddish for "sweetie".
  • Principal Skinner refers to Simon as his "golden child".
• Alliterative Family: The Skinners have three generations of men with “S” names: Sheldon, Seymour, and Simon.
• Alpha Bitch: Ling Bouvier. Simon Skinner-Chalmers puts it best in "The Heiress Diaries":

Every school has a beautiful but cruel girl at the top of the social pyramid, and Ling is ours.

• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: When Anastasia is having dinner with Liv and her family in "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever.", Krusty mentions several things Liv got up to as a child, including taking off all her clothes while her parents had guests over, drawing all over her face with marker and wrapping her face in tape so no one would find out, and falling into a public toilet. Liv, naturally, is very embarrassed.
• Amicable Exes: As revealed in "A Trip Down Memory Lane", Seymour Skinner and Calliope Juniper were amicable enough for her to agree to carry his child.
• And Call Him "George": As shown basically every time she greets her grandson Simon, Agnes Skinner’s hugs are just like her parenting style: smothering.
• And Your Reward Is Edible: When the Springfield Elementary gymnastics teams wins their first meet of the season in "A Liv of Their Own", Apu treats them all to Squishees.
• Animal Motifs:
  • Anastasia, like her father Mr. Burns, is associated with birds, especially vultures. She's commonly seen wearing Fluffy Fashion Feathers, owns two pet parrots, is a very good singer (birds being commonly associated with singing), writes her diary entries with a black feather pen, dresses up like a swan in "A Trip Down Memory Lane", and is generally portrayed as agile and prone to leaps and aerial moves. The desk gag in "Getting Carded", which depicts Team L.A.S.H. as animals in a zoo, depicts her as a vulture.
  • Simon is associated with pumas, the mascot of Springfield Elementary, as well as felines more broadly. Not only is he a cat owner, his personality is very similar to how pumas are often portrayed: solitary, haughty, stoic, secretive, and skilled at catching and taking down their prey (in Simon’s case, anyone who’s breaking the school rules). In addition, in “Worst. Camping Trip. Ever.”, he’s shown to be really good at climbing mountains, and Reverend Lovejoy straight-up compares him to a puma; and in "Getting Carded"'s desk gag, he's depicted as a puma. Also, much like a cat, he loves being petted.
• Antiquated Linguistics: Both Mr. Burns (as in canon) and his daughter Anastasia (due to his influence).
• Apathetic Clerk: The cashier at Saks Fifth Grade in "Science Fair and Impartial".

Enjoy your day or whatever.

• Apathetic Teacher: Mrs. Gunderson (neé Hoover), as in canon. She takes frequent "bathroom breaks" (i.e. smoke breaks), shows her students educational videos and slapped-together slideshows instead of actually instructing them, and often gives her students worksheets or assignments to do on their own while she kicks back and listens to podcasts. Her apathy and "bare-minimum" teaching style often puts her at odds with Simon, who loves school and actually looks forward to getting assignments.
• Artifact Title: The Simpson family barely shows up in this fic. Maggie is a recurring secondary character, and gets a spotlight episode in "The Rumble on the Jungle Gym", but the other Simpsons are relegated to only occasional appearances. So the use of "The Simpsons" in the title only serves to connect it back to the TV series.
• Artistic License – Education: A minor example, but one that the author herself points out. The B-plot in "Getting Carded" has Simon Skinner-Chalmers compete in the school's Geography Bee. While the Geography Bee was a real competition often held in American elementary schools in The '90s, the Turn of the Millennium, and The New '10s (which FlamingMercury5 claims to have won first place in when she was a child), it was open to students from 4th grade to 8th grade. Simon, a 2nd-grader, would be too young to qualify.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Ling Bouvier, a tertiary character introduced in Season 16 whose only appearances were as a Satellite Character for her mother Selma, becomes a recurring character in Team L.A.S.H. as Springfield Elementary's resident Alpha Bitch.
  • The Nahasapeemapetilon octuplets, who basically function as a unit on the show, are given much-needed Divergent Character Evolution in this fic, and become key characters in many episodes. However, Pria gets the biggest boost in prominence; since "A Liv of Their Own", she's served as Anastasia's close friend and confidant, and has at times acted as an unofficial fifth member of Team L.A.S.H..
  • Maggie Simpson goes from a character who never speaks to the only character who gets to speak in the Title Sequence. Also, since she's 11 years old now, she has her own distinct personality, and even gets to be the antagonist of "The Rumble on the Jungle Gym".
  • While an unassuming reader might assume Student Council President Jack Fairfax is an Original Character, FlamingMercury5 has confirmed that he's actually the brown-haired baby with the white shirt and gray overalls◊ in "Mommie Beerest". Thus, one of the fic's recurring secondary characters is a background character in canon.
• Attention Whore: Liv. As a child actress, she is very used to being in the spotlight, and thus will do anything to call attention to herself.
• Baby Be Mine: Mr. Burns is a Rare Male Example. In "A Trip Down Memory Lane", it's revealed that he was so desperate for a child and heir that he hired a hitman to kidnap a newborn baby from Shelbyville and kill their parents- and that child turned out to be Anastasia Burns.
• Baby's First Words: According to Superintendent Chalmers, Simon's first word was "SKIN-NERRRRR!"
• Barbershop Quartets Are Funny: And heartwarming, too! In "A Trip Down Memory Lane", the story of Simon's birth ends with the Be Sharps having an impromptu reunion and singing "Baby on Board" to the recently-born Simon Skinner-Chalmers.
• Baseball Episode: "A Liv of Their Own", in which Liv joins the Springfield Elementary baseball team, and ends up being the sole female member of the team.
• Based on a Great Big Lie: In-Universe. With The Reveal that Anastasia's birth parents were actually murdered and she was stolen from them, Nuclear Family: The Baby Burns Story, the made-for-TV movie from The Rumble On The Jungle Gym, retroactively becomes this.
• Beautiful Singing Voice: Anastasia is shown on numerous occasions to be an amazing singer, with a particular affinity for opera. In fact, she's so good at singing that her music teacher, Mr. Largo, doesn't really know what to do with her, since she's leaps and bounds ahead of her classmates in terms of musical ability.
• Bickering Couple, Peaceful Couple: The parents of the Team LASH members contain a twofold example of this dynamic. On the bickering end, you've got Seymour and Gary (who are constantly arguing with each other, often in a Slap-Slap-Kiss fashion) and Lois and Krusty (with Lois often disapproving of what Krusty does and says in front of Liv). On the peaceful end, you've got Monty and Waylon (who are insanely Happily Married to the point of being Sickeningly Sweethearts), and Comic Book Guy and Kumiko (who, in spite of their different outlooks on life, work very well together and are very happy with each other).
• Big Fun: Hikaru, full stop. He's a fat kid who is also an optimistic and good-natured Keet.
• Big Man on Campus: Jack Fairfax: Student Council President, basketball star, ladies' man, and the most popular boy at Springfield Elementary. And while he is incredibly egotistical, he's a genuinely good leader and is admired by his fellow students rather than feared.
• Birthday Episode: "A Trip Down Memory Lane" takes place on Anastasia's eighth birthday.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In "My Beloved Grandsmother", Agnes Skinner at first appears to have gotten the Adaptational Nice Guy treatment, as she’s polite and friendly towards Anastasia… but as soon as she finds out Anastasia is Mr. Burns’ daughter, her true colors are revealed and she returns to being the Jerkass she is in canon.
• Bland-Name Product:
  • Skein, the fashion company Liv signs with in "The Heiress Diaries", is a parody of real-life fast-fashion company Shein. Like Skein, Shein is known for its low prices, and has become infamous for quality control issues and using sweatshop labor.
  • In "A Liv of Their Own", the Opposing Sports Team (a private Christian school) is said to use a workout routine called "TrueCrossFit", a Christian-tinged parody of CrossFit. Aside from the Punny Name (a portmanteau of the "True Cross", the cross on which Jesus was crucified, and "CrossFit"), it's also said to be so intense that its practitioners are constantly getting injured, which is a common criticism of CrossFit.
  • While its appearance is never described in the text, FlamingMercury5's artwork depicts Hikaru's gaming console as a Nintendo DS look-alike. Because the DS was a gaming console that FlamingMercury5 owned and constantly played when she was in elementary school, this is likely a case of Write What You Know.
• Born in the Wrong Century: Due to her adoptive father Monty being both incredibly old and incredibly out-of-touch with modern times, Anastasia is effectively an Edwardian girl a century too late.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: In "My Beloved Grandsmother", after Kumiko’s manga gets an Award Snub, Webcomic Kid says "Worst. Award show. Ever." Comic Book Guy is so proud of her.
• Brother–Sister Team: Hikaru and Webcomic Kid in "Getting Carded". The two of them team up to make a successful line of trading cards, with Hikaru coming up with the names and ideas and Webcomic Kid drawing the pictures.
• Burn Baby Burn: "A Trip Down Memory Lane" reveals that when Mr. Burns adopted Anastasia, she was wrapped in a baby blanket that her birth parents had given her. He unwrapped her from said baby blanket and threw it into the fireplace, symbolizing a severing of any ties to her life before her adoption.
• Camping Episode: "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever." which revolves around Hikaru joining the Junior Campers and having to go on a father-son camping trip with his dad Comic Book Guy.
• Canon Welding: The details of Skinner and Chalmers' wedding in "A Trip Down Memory Lane" match up perfectly with those in I Hope You're Prepared For An Unforgettable Wedding!, a previous Simpsons fanfic by the same author, confirming that they both take place in the same continuity.
• Cerebus Retcon: Remember the heartwarming story of Anastasia's adoption from "A Liv of Their Own", and the cheesy made-for-TV movie that was made about it in "The Rumble on the Jungle Gym"? Yeah, it turns out that Mr. Burns' claim that he "happened upon" Anastasia, saved her from being killed, and took her in after realizing her parents were already dead was a lie that Mr. Burns came up with to make himself look better. In reality, he hired a hitman to go to Shelbyville, kill a married couple with a new baby who was returning to their car from the hospital, steal the baby, and bring the baby back to him- and that was how he managed to adopt Anastasia.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • Anastasia steals her father's catchphrase, "Excellent.", and Liv steals her father's catchphrase, "Hey hey!".
  • Simon has "Pathetic." and "PRINCIPAL DAAAAAAAAAAAD!"
  • Hikaru has "Sweet RNGsus!"
  • Otto has "I used to have X. But then ASHLEY took it in the divorce!"
• Charity Ball: The Burns family attends one in "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree".
• Chosen Conception Partner: "A Trip Down Memory Lane" reveals that Seymour Skinner used Calliope Juniper as a surrogate mother for his son Simon.
• Christmas Episode: “Carol of the Burns”, released on December 23rd and centered around Team L.A.S.H. celebrating the holidays.
• Church of Happyology: When the Junior Campers are talking about their faiths in "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever.", Greg mentions that his family believes an alien named Scrank will one day come down and take all his followers to another planet. Hikaru then says "Dude. I think you're in a cult."
• Clashing Cousins: Anastasia’s cousins (Edwin, Marie, and Ironfist) absolutely hate her, especially once they learned that she’d receive the lion’s share of Mr. Burns’ fortune when he died while they wouldn’t get a cent from him. In “Carol of the Burns”, when they come over to spend Christmas with her, they continuously insult her for not being biologically related to them and for being too young and inexperienced, making her feel insecure about herself. The episode also indicates that they hate each other as well.
• Class Clown: Liv, quite literally. She's always cracking jokes and pulling pranks at school.
• Classical Elements Ensemble: The desk gag in "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever." depicts each of them with powers over one of the four classical elements (Liv- air, Anastasia- water, Simon- earth, Hikaru- fire).
• Climbing Climax: The Anastasia vs. Maggie fight in "The Rumble on the Jungle Gym".
• Clingy Child: Simon, towards his dads. He's always following his "Principal Dad" and/or "Superintendent Dad" around like a lost puppy.
• Color-Coded Characters: As seen on the logo, each member of Team L.A.S.H. is associated with a specific color, which can be found on their outfit: Liv is associated with pink, Anastasia with purple, Simon with green, and Hikaru with blue.
• Come Back to Bed, Honey: In "Getting Carded", Mayor Quimby becomes so angry over the Harutamon card depicting him that he almost storms out of the room while having a "sexy night" with Miss Springfield. She convinces him to stay with her so he can "blow off some steam", and he agrees, but warns her that "it'll be rough".
• Comforting Comforter: After doing Anastasia's science fair project for her in "Science Fair and Impartial", Mr. Burns is exhausted and begins to fall asleep. His husband Waylon notices this, picks him up, carries him to the bedroom, and tucks him in.
• Commonality Connection: In “Carol of the Burns”, Anastasia and Larry bond over the fact that they’re both considered “not really members of the Burns family” by the family’s more snobbish members (due to Larry being illegitimate and raised in a lower-class environment, and Anastasia being adopted and born into a lower-class environment).
• Competition Freak: A Compressed Vice of Liv’s, as shown in “Carol of the Burns”. During Hanukkah, since it’s too cold to play most sports outside but not snowy enough to have snowball fights, Liv redirects her competitive energy towards playing dreidel with her cousins once-removed. She gets so intense about it and so addicted to the rush of the game that she intimidates Jake and Noah, exhausts her aunt Miriam’s supply of chocolate coins, and resorts to using her own allowance money to play.
• Composite Character: Sort of. While FlamingMercury5, like most Simpsons fans and even Matt Groening himself, disregards "The Principal and the Pauper" as non-canonical, she did take one element from Armin Tamzarian and incorporate it into her portrayal of Seymour Skinner: his Armenian heritage. Not wanting to take away representation from the Armenians (as Armenians are more forgiving of "The Principal and the Pauper" due to the reveal that Skinner is one of their own) but also not wanting to grapple with the harrowing implications of "The Principal and the Pauper", FlamingMercury5 decided to Take a Third Option by claiming that Seymour Skinner was always Seymour Skinner, but has Armenian ancestry through his mother Agnes. After all, we know basically nothing of Agnes' childhood (or, heck, her life outside of being Seymour's beloved smother) and her maiden name has never been revealed, so her having Armenian ancestry is still plausible.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: All of the members of Team L.A.S.H. are stark contrasts from the previous protagonists, the four main members of the Simpson family.
  • The most noticeable of these is Simon, who is effectively the "anti-Bart". While Bart is a Book Dumb juvenile delinquent who's constantly getting in trouble and hates Principal Skinner, Simon is a Book Smart goody-two-shoes who's constantly snitching on troublemakers and loves Principal Skinner. Effectively, he is the "cop" to Bart's "criminal", upholding order just as Bart upheld chaos.
  • Anastasia shares Homer's status as the Series Mascot and the character most associated with the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, but aside from that, the two of them couldn't be more different. Homer is male, dumb, lazy, immature, doesn't care about his appearance, speaks in a Simpleton Voice, has only a few hairs left, and is an example of This Loser Is You; by contrast, Anastasia is female, intelligent, driven, mature, incredibly vain, speaks in Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, has a very elaborate hairdo, and is an Escapist Character. Heck, on the occasions that Homer and Anastasia interact in Team L.A.S.H., they have an almost "boke and tsukkomi" dynamic (with Homer acting stupid and Anastasia having to exasperatedly correct him), further establishing the contrast between them.
  • Liv may look incredibly similar to Lisa, but her personality is very different. Lisa is highly intelligent, does very well in school, and has a hard time making friends with people her own age, while Liv is stupid even by 8-year-old standards, does poorly in school, and attended school for the sole purpose of making friends her own age. Lisa's biggest strengths are Liv's biggest deficiencies, and vice versa.
  • Rounding out the quartet, Hikaru provides an effective contrast to Marge. While Marge is level-headed and down-to-earth to the point of being boring, Hikaru is excitable and perky to the point of being annoying. While Marge exists to tell the other characters to calm down, Hikaru exists to tell the other characters to go wild. And while they both have to contend with their mean older sisters, Patty and Selma are constantly trying to meddle in Marge's life, while Webcomic Kid doesn't care at all about what's going on in Hikaru's life.
  • And of course, the biggest difference between these two quartets is that Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa are all of different ages but are in the same family and live together, and Team L.A.S.H. are all the same age but in different families and live in different homes.
• Cosmic Motifs: Liv is commonly associated with stars: she wears star-shaped earrings, has star-patterned bedsheets, wears a costume covered in stars at the Masquerade Ball in "A Trip Down Memory Lane", and her middle name, Esther, means "star". This is fitting, as she is a TV star.
• Couch Gag: Two of them in the Title Sequence: the "to-do list gag" (basically the equivalent of the source material's "chalkboard gag"; Simon writes something down on his to-do list as he and his dad head off to school), and the "desk gag" (basically the equivalent of the source material's trope-naming "couch gag"; the four of them rush to their desks in Mrs. Gunderson's class, and Mrs. Gunderson turns on the projector).
• Crappy Holidays: Downplayed. In “Carol of the Burns”, Anastasia enjoys Christmas greatly, until Mr. Burns’ extended family comes over to spend the holidays with her. Because they’re so mean to her, they make her Christmas unpleasant, until Mr. Burns has enough of them and drives them out of Burns Manor. With them out of the way, the Burns family is able to have a merry Christmas.
• Creepy Loner Girl: Webcomic Kid, Hikaru's older sister. She's described as having long, unkempt black hair and Exhausted Eye Bags, rarely interacts with her classmates, and cares more about the internet than real life. She's also implied to be a fan of Homestuck, a webcomic that is known for being very hard to get into; a fitting interest for a socially uncool person like her.
• Crush Blush: On two occasions in "First Day of Cruel", Anastasia blushes when Simon talks to her.
• Damned by Faint Praise: In “Carol of the Burns”, after driving most of the relatives he invited over out of the house by releasing the hounds on them, Larry Burns is the only one of his guests left, and Mr. Burns lets him stay because he’s “less bothersome” than the others.
• Darwinist Desire: Downplayed. When Dr. Hibbert is selecting an egg to inseminate using Principal Skinner's sperm, Skinner tells him that he would prefer that the egg be from an intelligent woman. As he puts it:

"I don't want to wait six years for my child to start school only for them to come home with all F's."

• David Versus Goliath: In "The Rumble on the Jungle Gym", Maggie challenges Anastasia (who is three grades below her) to a fight. Despite Maggie having the advantage in terms of height, weight, and physical strength, Anastasia manages to use her gymnastics training to outmaneuver Maggie with acrobatic moves and win the fight.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • "My Beloved Grandsmother" reveals that Abraham Simpson passed away, presumably of old age, two years prior to the events of Team L.A.S.H.
  • "A Trip Down Memory Lane" reveals that Artie Ziff was shot and killed while in Shelbyville shortly before Anastasia was born. Unlike the previous example, this death doesn’t have any weight to it and is very much an example of Dropped a Bridge on Him. This was almost certainly done out of spite, as FlamingMercury5 has made her disdain for Ziff quite clear on social media.
• Detention Episode: Liv gets detention in "First Day of Cruel", and is extremely torn up about it.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Often times, Anastasia lets her romantic feelings for Simon slip, but then denies she said anything whenever someone asks her what she just said. For example, in "First Day of Cruel", when Simon enters the classroom and the classmates are saying what they've heard about him ("he can give out detentions" and "the teachers have to answer to him") Anastasia replies "I heard he has exceptional abs underneath his shirt!". One of her classmates says "What?" and she replies back with "What?"
• Dinner and a Show: In “Carol of the Burns”, the Burns family has an argument during afternoon tea over who “should have” received the largest share of Mr. Burns’ inheritance. Mr. Burns steps in to quell the argument just as it’s coming to a boil… only to suggest they talk about politics instead.
• The Ditz: Liv. She's especially bad at spelling; she can't even spell her last name, and once spelled the word "large" with a J.
• Divorce Assets Conflict: A Running Gag is Otto complaining about things his ex-wife Ashley took from him in the divorce. For example, she took the house in the divorce, but then sold it and moved to another town just to spite him.
• Doomed New Clothes: In "The Heiress Diaries", Liv signs a deal with Skein (a fast-fashion company that prioritizes affordability over quality) to create a line of Sideshow Liv-themed clothes, and to promote her brand, decides to wear clothes from that line on school picture day. However, as she goes through the school day, her clothes begin falling apart and getting damaged, until she's left with ripped pants, a tunic that was torn in a fight with a classmate, a sneaker whose sole fell off, two broken earrings, and a headband without a decoration on it.
• Doting Grandparent: Agnes Skinner, to an unhealthy extreme. Seymour's beloved smother has become Simon's beloved grandsmother. She greets him by giving him a painfully tight hug, has a whole host of Affectionate Nicknames for him, cheers for him (not his team, just him) at his peewee hockey games, offers cookies to him and exclusively him when he comes over, has pictures of him all over her house, and is very prone to Cuteness Proximity whenever she's around him. However, her affection for him is tied up in a lot of infantilization; she speaks to him in borderline Baby Talk, treats him like he's younger than he actually is, and still makes him sleep in a crib and wear very childlike outfits. Simon, naturally, finds Agnes's smothering of him annoying and patronizing, and often complains about it.
• Doting Parent:
  • Seymour Skinner, full stop. If his son Simon wasn't so clingy, he would be the ultimate Embarrassing Relative Teacher. He showers his "golden child" with praise and affection, he gives his son preferential treatment compared to the other students at his school, and he often brags about his son's great grades and numerous talents. Then again, considering his mother Agnes is the Trope Namer for My Beloved Smother, you can see why he spoils his son so much.
  • Monty and Waylon Burns are both extremely proud of their daughter Anastasia, and will never hesitate to talk up her accomplishments and skills (namely, her physical appearance, Beautiful Singing Voice, and how much she takes after Monty). As expected given Monty's financial wealth and Waylon's toadying nature, the two of them also spoil her rotten.
  • Otto Mann is very affectionate towards his son Axl, and treasures him above everyone else. This is justified, though, as after a nasty Divorce Assets Conflict with his ex-wife, Axl was pretty much the only thing he was allowed to keep.
  • Selma Bouvier has shades of this, especially in "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree", where she goes to the talent show solely to watch her daughter Ling's hula-hoop tricks, as she thinks every other student performing in the talent show "sucks".
• The Dreaded Pretend Tea-Party: When Simon comes over to Anastasia's house to study in "Getting Carded", Anastasia forces him to sit through one of these before they can get any studying done.
• Dreadful Musician: Hikaru's attempt at playing the guitar in "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree". It's so awful that his father Comic Book Guy barges in and stops him in the middle of a song.
• Dreaming of a White Christmas: Zig-zagged in “Carol of the Burns”. When the students are going home for winter break, it’s snowing lightly. Then, for much of winter break, it doesn’t snow… until a few days before Christmas, when it snows heavily.
• Embarrassing Old Photo: In “Carol of the Burns”, Mr. Burns shows his family members a photo of a five-year-old Anastasia screaming as a bird lands on her head, solely because he finds that picture funny. Anastasia, however, finds the picture embarrassing.
• Embarrassing Relative Teacher: Inverted with Simon. Yes, his father is the principal of Springfield Elementary, but he isn't embarrassed by that fact; in fact, he wears it like a badge of honor, and uses his position as the principal's son to get what he wants from other students and even the teachers. And even though Principal Skinner is a Doting Parent, Simon is not an Affection-Hating Kid by any means (quite the opposite, really), so he revels in his father's open praise of him rather than rejecting it.
  • Hikaru lampshades how atypical Simon's lack of shame over his dad being the principal is in "First Day of Cruel".

If my dad worked at this school, I’d be embarrassed by him, not following him around like a baby Metroid.

• Ensemble Cast: Effectively, it has four protagonists, all given about the same level of importance.
• Entertainment Above Their Age: Webcomic Kid is canonically nine years old, but enjoys Homestuck, a webcomic filled with death, swearing, gory violence, and references to sex.
• Escalating War: Anastasia and Maggie's feud in "The Rumble on the Jungle Gym". It starts with Maggie spilling soda on Anastasia at a party, and gradually snowballs until they're engaging in fisticuffs atop the jungle gym at recess.
• Everyone Loves Blondes: Blonde-haired Anastasia is considered a very pretty girl in-universe; "a rose blooming from irradiated soil", as her father Montgomery puts it.
• Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy: In the Title Sequence, when Anastasia gets on the bus, she greets Otto with a curtsy.
• Evil Laugh: Anastasia does this in "Science Fair and Impartial" after coming up with her plan to get her parents to make something for the Science Fair and pass it off as her own.
• Exact Eavesdropping: Anastasia formulates her plan for the science fair in the girls' bathroom, which Groundskeeper Willie just so happened to be cleaning. And he overheard everything she said.
• Exhaustion-Induced Idiocy: In "The Heiress Diaries", Ling's stepdad, Moe Szyslak, was convinced by his wife Selma to make lunch for Ling and send her off to school while she went to buy coffee. However, because Moe just woke up and had not gotten enough sleep, he just slapped together a lunch with whatever he found in the fridge, including a beer.
• Exit, Pursued by a Bear: Anastasia’s Jerkass relatives in “Carol of the Burns” are chased away by the hounds at the end of the episode.
• Failures on Ice: When the Burns family (including Larry Burns, who’s staying with them for the holidays) goes ice skating in “Carol of the Burns”, Larry is described as “struggling to keep himself balanced on the ice”.
• Farts on Fire: Sideshow Liv has become quite famous for doing this on The Krusty the Clown Show.
• The Fashionista: Anastasia is extremely conscious about what she wears, has a near-bottomless wardrobe, and is subscribed to a Fashion Magazine called Clotheshorse Monthly. In fact, in "The Heiress Diaries", when Liv tells her that she's partnered with Skein for her fashion line, Anastasia informs her of the low quality of Skein's clothes, which Liv doesn't pay any mind to until her outfit starts falling apart.
• Faux Horrific: When the Team L.A.S.H. kids are all telling scary stories in “Bedroom of Horror”, Simon’s scary story is about the scariest thing he can imagine happening to him- getting a D- on a test.
• Feeling the Baby Kick: During a flashback in "A Trip Down Memory Lane", Agnes places a hand on Calliope Juniper's extremely pregnant belly and says she can feel baby Simon moving around in there.
• Fell Off the Back of a Truck: When Hikaru asks Fat Tony where he got his Halloween decorations (which are, in actuality, real dismembered body parts), this is his answer.
• Feud Episode:
  • The B-plot in "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree" revolves around a feud between Anastasia and Liv. It starts when Liv gives Anastasia a preview of the stand-up comedy routine she's doing for the school talent show (which is about "the 8 types of farts"), and Anastasia, who does not understand the appeal of Toilet Humour, criticizes it harshly. Liv then fires back by claiming Anastasia's talent show act, an operatic aria, will be unpopular with the talent show audience because Classical Music Is Boring. That night, Liv is hosting an Auction which the Burns family is also attending, and just to spite Anastasia, Liv uses chandelier bidding to prevent her from buying a tiara. Over the course of the next week, the two of them constantly trade verbal blows and insist that they will come out on top in the talent show. And once the talent show results are in… they end up tied for second place, as the judges felt they were of equal quality. The two girls then realize their entire feud was pointless, and their friendship is restored.
  • "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever." revolves around Hikaru trying to get more Junior Campers badges than Simon, and when that fails, trying to get a badge before Simon does. Ultimately, he does end up getting a badge before Simon does- the "Bug Catching" badge.
  • "Ta-Ra-Ra Bouvier"'s B-plot is about Sandeep and Nabendu Nahasapeemapetilon having a very intense Sibling Rivalry and being so focused on competing with each other that they forget to work together. Worse still, Lunchlady Doris actually encourages their fighting.
• Fictional Counterpart: The Historical Cuties doll line that Anastasia is a huge fan of is an obvious parody of the American Girls Collection, as it's a line of expensive dolls depicting young girls from various eras of history that come with accompanying books.
• Fictional Fan, Real Celebrity: Hikaru is a massive fan of Ichiro Suzuki, a famous baseball player who played for the Seattle Mariners.
• First Day of School Episode: "First Day Of Cruel", which also happens to be the first episode. It focuses on New Transfer Student Liv's first day at Springfield Elementary, and all the people she meets on that day.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Liv (choleric) is reckless and boisterous, Anastasia (phlegmatic) is mellow and polite, Simon (melancholic) is stoic and hardworking, and Hikaru (sanguine) is cheerful and friendly.
• A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted: Comic Book Guy ends up spending most of the money he and his children earned from the Harutamon cards on the services of Elsie Hutz, a lawyer who charges her clients very high prices.
• Frivolous Lawsuit: In "Getting Carded", Mayor Quimby, Chief Wiggum, and Helen Lovejoy sue Hikaru and Webcomic Kid because they find the Harutamon cards based on them to be too offensive.
• Funny Background Event: In "My Beloved Grandsmother" there’s a scene where Simon is served green beans, which he does not like, and his grandmother Agnes makes him eat them. As she has a conversation with Anastasia, Simon tries to choke down a bite of green bean, gagging and making disgusted faces the whole time.
• Fun with Acronyms: "L.A.S.H." is an acronym for "Liv, Anastasia, Simon, Hikaru".
• The Gambling Addict: Krusty, as in canon. In "My Beloved Grandsmother", it’s mentioned that he gambled away his private plane, his car, his favorite bowtie, and his dog, and Liv just narrowly manages to talk him out of a very high-stakes card game with the Yakuza.
• Gasshole: Liv, who loves fart jokes, can fart on cue, and often sets her farts on fire.
• Gentleman and a Scholar: While he is very harsh towards people who break the rules, by default, Simon is very polite and helpful. In fact, his politeness is stated to be the reason Anastasia is attracted to him. He's also the best student in the class, and possesses a high intellect.
• Gilligan Cut: In "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever.", Ned Flanders mentions his son Rod is off at college, and says he hopes Rod is making the right decisions. Cut to Rod at a wild party engaging in Wacky Fratboy Hijinx.
• Glass-Shattering Sound: Before Springfield Elementary's first hockey game in "A Liv of Their Own" (which is held in a rink that doubles as a freezer room for the cafeteria food), Principal Skinner's mother Agnes sings the national anthem, having successfully badgered her son into letting her do so. The thing is, she overestimates her own singing ability and fails to adjust the anthem for her vocal range, so when she hits the high notes, her shrieking vocals cause an icicle on the ceiling to crack and hit Groundskeeper Willie on the head.
• Global Ignorance: In "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever.", Simon informs Hikaru of his Armenian heritage. Hikaru then asks if Armenia is in South America.
• Grandparent Favoritism: Agnes treats her grandson Simon far, far better than she treats her son Seymour. "My Beloved Grandsmother" outright confirms that she’s more affectionate towards Simon because Seymour is a grown man and is less "cute" than Simon.

Seymour: Mother, didn't this frame used to have a picture of the two of us in it?

Agnes: Don't you see, Seymour? I have a favorite, and it isn't you.

• G-Rated Drug: Liv's addiction to salty snacks is framed as a parallel to her dad Krusty's smoking habit, complete with a shot in "The Heiress Diaries" where she puts a French fry in her mouth at the same time Krusty puts a cigarette in his.
• The Great Whodini: In "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree", Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers do a skit where Chalmers is a Stage Magician and Principal Skinner is his Lovely Assistant. At the beginning of the skit, Chalmers refers to himself as "The Great Garibaldi".^note If you don't get it, the episode "The Road To Cincinnati" reveals that Superintendent Chalmers' first name is "Garibaldi".
• The Ground Is Lava: Per Anastasia's suggestion, the fight between her and Maggie in "The Rumble on the Jungle Gym" is based around not touching the ground: the two girls fight on top of the jungle gym, and the first one to fall off is the loser. (Maggie even straight-up says the fight operates on "Floor is Lava" rules.) As such, both girls spend much of the fight trying to Ring Out each other, with Anastasia ultimately succeeding in knocking Maggie off.
• Halloween Cosplay: During the Framing Device for "Bedroom of Horror", we see the four members of Team L.A.S.H. dressed in their Halloween costumes. Hikaru, whose defining trait is his love of video games, is dressed up as Ness from EarthBound (1994).
• Halloween Episode: The ninth episode, "Bedroom of Horror", was released on October 25th and is a Treehouse of Horror episode in all but name. It starts with a Framing Device of Team L.A.S.H. going to Liv's house after trick-or-treating and telling spooky stories in her bedroom, and then follows that up with three non-canonical shorts starring the Team L.A.S.H. characters, depicting these spooky stories. The shorts are as follows:
  • "Home Im-boo-vement", a parody of Luigi's Mansion starring Hikaru as Luigi, Comic Book Guy as Mario, and Professor Frink as Professor E. Gadd.
  • "Rotten Egg", a parody of Alien starring Liv as Ellen Ripley (with the rest of Team L.A.S.H. as other crew members on the Nostromo) and the Crazy Cat Lady as the Xenomorph.
  • "The Spectre of the Opera", a parody of The Phantom of the Opera (complete with Filk Songs) starring Anastasia as Christine, Simon as Raoul, and Mr. Burns as the Phantom.
• Hanukkah Episode: The B-plot of “Carol of the Burns” revolves around Liv celebrating Hanukkah with her family. She gorges herself on latkes and plays a lot of dreidel with her young relatives.
• Happily Adopted: Anastasia. Due to Mr. Burns' advanced age and the many years he’s worked at the nuclear power plant, he was unable to father a child naturally, but he still wanted an heir, so he and his husband decided to adopt a child instead.
• Happily Married: Pretty much every currently-married couple shown on-screen has moments of tenderness, but none are happier with each other than Monty and Waylon Burns. Given how many years Waylon spent as Monty's Ignored Enamored Underling, it's pretty much expected that he'd shower Monty with affection once they actually did get together, but the thing is, Monty is just as affectionate towards Waylon, even though in canon he only thought of him as a friend. (Then again, it has been 10 years, and a lot can change over the course of a decade.) The two of them are constantly showering each other with affection, giving each other gifts, and making passionate love.
• Happy Holidays Dress: Anastasia wears one in “Carol of the Burns”. It’s described as a green Victorian-style dress, and she wears it either with a red poinsettia flower in her hair (indoors) or with a red bonnet and a red fur-lined cloak (outdoors).
• Heh Heh, You Said "X": This exchange between Mr. Burns and a 12-year-old Bart in a flashback:

Mr. Burns: My goodness, Bartholomew, you're growing like a weed!

Bart: Heh heh... weed.

Mr. Burns: Ugh! Don't you youngsters know how to treat your elders with respect? And aren't you aware that as a host, it is your duty to be polite towards your guests?

Bart: Heh heh... doody.

Mr. Burns: CEASE WITH YOUR JUVENILE UTTERANCES, YOU UNCIVILIZED BOOB!

Bart: Heh heh... boob.

• Hello, Attorney!: Elsie Hutz, the lawyer the Albertsons get help from in "Getting Carded", is described as a beautiful and fashionably-dressed woman with big boobs. In fact, the first thing she asks her clients is "Do you think I look pretty?". However, it's also revealed that her vanity is the reason why she charges such high prices for her clients, as she spends most of it on fancy clothes, makeup, and plastic surgery.
• Hidden First Act Parallel: In "Getting Carded", Anastasia fails to qualify for the school Geography Bee because she referred to Thailand as "Siam". During the actual Geography Bee, Simon, due to using Anastasia's outdated world atlas to study, gets ejected for similar reasons- referring to Zambia and Zimbabwe as "Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia".
• Icarus Allusion: In "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever." Simon knocks down a hornet's nest while trying to catch a bug for his Bug Catching badge, and he and Superintendent Chalmers get stung multiple times. When Ned Flanders asks what happened to them, Chalmers replies with "Well, we found a hornet's nest, and Icarus here decided to fly too close to the sun."
• If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: In "A Liv of Their Own", Mr. Burns prepares a shake to help Anastasia get stronger, which contains milk, protein powder, eggs, cod liver oil, brain and nerve tonic, and strawberries (Anastasia's favorite fruit). When Anastasia remarks that it tastes like vomit, Mr. Burns says "Well, that just means it's good for you. Now, DRINK UP!"
• Impossibly Tacky Clothes: In "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree", Agnes pressures her grandson Simon into wearing an outfit that she had recently given him- a sailor suit that used to belong to his father Seymour- for his performance in the school talent show. Simon is not happy about this, and is understandably nervous about being made fun of for wearing it. However, in a subversion, most of his classmates don't care what he's wearing, and Anastasia actually thinks he looks cute in his sailor suit.
• Innocent Prodigy: Anastasia is extremely well-spoken for an 8-year-old, and is astute enough to understand and appreciate Opera; and yet, she has absolutely no idea what her parents are always doing in their bedroom.
• Insistent Terminology: During the story of Anastasia's adoption in "A Trip Down Memory Lane", Waylon raises concerns that Monty might face consequences for kidnapping a baby from their murdered parents, and Monty insists that what he's doing isn't kidnapping, it's "surprise adoption".
• Insufferable Genius: Simon can be this at times, often using his high intellect and great grades as an excuse to be smug towards his peers.
• Intergenerational Friendship:
  • Liv and Sideshow Mel, due to being co-stars on The Krusty the Clown Show.
  • Due to being an Adorably Precocious Child, Anastasia makes friends with adults very easily. She’s incredibly close to both of her dads, has a close friendship with her former au pair Frieda, and gets along well with Otto.
  • Simon is not only incredibly close to his father Principal Skinner, he gets along well with many of Springfield Elementary's other faculty members. Of particular note is his bond with Lunchlady Dora: not only is she his hockey coach and has great trust in his skills as a hockey player, she has been feeding him, and taking notice of his favorite foods, since he was a little boy.
• Interrupted Intimacy: Anastasia comes home from her visit to Agnes’ house while her dads are partaking in puppy play. Mr. Burns hastily throws on a bathrobe to avoid being seen naked, but Waylon doesn’t have time to change out of his puppy ears and tail, and Anastasia sees him like this. Burns tries to hurry her up the stairs and into her room as quickly as he can, and when she asks him about what Waylon is wearing, he claims they were rehearsing for a play.
• Ironic Echo Cut: In “Carol of the Burns”, at one point Liv says “This day is just getting better and better!”. It then cuts to Anastasia complaining that “This day is just getting worse and worse.”
• Istanbul (Not Constantinople): "Getting Carded" shows that Anastasia still refers to Thailand as "Siam", and because Simon uses an old atlas owned by her father Mr. Burns to study for the Geography Bee, Simon ends up obliviously referring to Zambia and Zimbabwe as "Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia".
• Japanese Politeness: Invoked and inverted in "First Day of Cruel". When Anastasia explains that her attraction to Simon Skinner-Chalmers began when she noticed how polite he was to her, Hikaru responds thusly:

Hikaru: Wait… that’s why you like him? Because he’s polite? Well, he ain’t special. I’m half-Japanese. Politeness is in my DNA.

Anastasia: …Hikaru, you are not polite. You’re loud, impulsive, have no filter, and you eat like a wild beast.

Hikaru: (while shoving handfuls of food into his mouth) I DO NOT!

• Keet: Hikaru. He's always excited and bursting with energy.
• KidAnova: Jack Fairfax; he's only in fifth grade, but he's very popular with the ladies.
• Kid Detective: Simon. He wants to be a detective when he grows up, and seems to have a natural affinity for solving mysteries, as seen in "The Heiress Diaries".
• Kids Shouldn't Watch Horror Films: During their Slumber Party in "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever.", Liv convinces Anastasia to watch a Slasher Movie called Massacre Mansion. They get really scared, to the point where, when Liv's mom comes up the stairs to give them some freshly cut strawberries, Liv and Anastasia think that the killer from the movie is coming for them.
• Kill the Parent, Raise the Child: In "A Trip Down Memory Lane", it’s revealed that, instead of adopting a child through legal means, Mr. Burns ordered a hitman to kill a couple from Shelbyville and steal their baby for him to raise as his own. This is how he acquired his adoptive daughter Anastasia. He’s kept this fact a secret from everyone except for his husband Waylon.
• Kinky Spanking: In "A Trip Down Memory Lane", when Seymour Skinner has to provide a sperm sample for Dr. Hibbert, he tells himself to "think sexy thoughts". He imagines a shirtless Superintendent Chalmers holding a paddle and intending to spank him with it.
• Ladies and Germs: In “Carol of the Burns”, when having dinner with his family, Mr. Burns addresses them as “ladies, gentlemen, and hounds wandering around the table looking for fallen scraps”.
• Lady in Red: When Anastasia shows up for her "date" (actually just a study session) with Simon in "Getting Carded", she's wearing a red dress. Simon even admits that the color red looks good on her.
• Laxative Prank: In "The Rumble on the Jungle Gym", Maggie Simpson puts laxative powder in a bottle of lemonade, and originally plans to give it to Anastasia as revenge for setting off her Hair-Trigger Temper the previous day, which led to Anastasia getting punched by Maggie and Maggie getting detention because of that. However, after Anastasia punches Maggie as retaliation for the aforementioned punch, Maggie decides a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown at recess is more apt. She instead gives the bottle to Simon, to ensure he won't be there to see the fight and tell the principal about it. Sure enough, Simon's Potty Emergency causes him to miss recess, but Maggie makes the mistake of bragging about what she did to Anastasia as Simon is stuck on the toilet. Sure enough, after the fight, Anastasia tells Simon what Maggie did, and Simon tells his father Principal Skinner. Needless to say, Skinner is not happy about Maggie doing such a thing to his son, and gives her two weeks' detention.
• Like Father, Like Son:
  • Hoo boy. If we were to list all the ways Simon Skinner-Chalmers was like his father Seymour Skinner, we'd be here all day. From the way they look to the way they act, the two of them are damn near identical.
  • Anastasia Burns has not only picked up her father Monty's Antiquated Linguistics and catchphrase of "Excellent", she's also just as ruthless as he is, and plans on taking over his nuclear power plant when he dies.
  • In regards to her other father Waylon, Anastasia has a doll collection that could rival his, shares his appreciation for musical theater, and is just as much of a hopeless romantic as he is (if not more).
  • Mayor Quimby’s illegitimate son Jack Fairfax shares his father’s "er, uh" Verbal Tic, womanizing ways, and political aspirations.
  • Much like her mother Selma, Ling Bouvier has a nicotine addiction- in her case, she vapes.
• Limited Wardrobe: Lampshaded in "Ta-Ra-Ra Bouvier". When Ling complains about not being able to afford a new outfit for Jack Fairfax’s party, her mother Selma says "Well, frankly, I don't think you need a new outfit for the party. I've worn the same blue dress for most of my life, and it's worked out fine."
• Literal Metaphor: Monty Burns married a man much younger than he was, and his adoptive daughter was stolen from her birth parents. He's a literal cradle-robber.
• Literal-Minded: A variant in "Getting Carded". Due to a misunderstanding of what the phrase "it's a date" means, Anastasia assumes that Simon's taking her on a date. So she shows up to Simon's house dressed in a formal outfit and wearing perfume, even though Simon just invited her to his house to study.
• Little "No": The last line in "Getting Carded" is this. After Apu and some of his octuplets manage to cheer up Webcomic Kid with anecdotes about how much the Harutamon cards she and Hikaru made affected people, Hikaru then asks, because their cards have touched Apu and many others, if he can get a Squishee for free. Apu replies with "No."
• Living Emotional Crutch: Agnes uses Simon as this in "My Beloved Grandsmother", as she gets uncontrollably sad on the anniversary of her husband’s death and she needs Simon to be around to comfort her. Simon, however, dislikes being forced to comfort her, saying it stresses him out.
• Make-Out Kids: Monty and Waylon Burns are a rare example of an adult married couple being this. The two of them are constantly canoodling, and will launch into make-out sessions at the drop of a hat- which makes everyone around them, especially their daughter Anastasia, feel very awkward.
• Marshmallow Hell: Agnes Skinner greets her grandson Simon by hugging him and shoving his face into her chest. Simon, apparently, hates having his face smashed into her drooping breasts.
• Masquerade Ball: Anastasia holds one for her eighth birthday in "A Trip Down Memory Lane". In addition to the classic elaborate European-style outfits you'd expect from such an event (like Anastasia's swan costume and Krusty's Court Jester-inspired getup), some guests wear Boring, but Practical formal wear (like Simon, who wears a suit and tie with a Domino Mask), Kumiko and Hikaru wear kimonos and Japanese-style masks, and Comic Book Guy just wears a Wolverine cosplay.
• Mature Work, Child Protagonists: Despite being a Kid Com that primarily revolves around the misadventures of four second-graders, this is still a fanfic for an adult animated series, and contains jokes about murder, sex, and drugs. It's rated "T" for a reason.
• Mature Younger Sibling: Simon is far more rational and responsible than his much older stepsister, Shauna. In fact, in "Science Fair and Impartial", he's the one who reminds her that she should get a job.
• Meaningful Echo: In “Carol of the Burns”, Liv’s cousins once-removed, Jake and Noah, see her wearing Heelys indoors (which her mom specifically told her not to do) and point it out, to which Liv responds “SHHHHH! She doesn’t have to know.” Later on, when Liv tells Krusty that her Competition Freak side came out while playing dreidel because it was too cold for her to play sports and not snowy enough for a snowball fight, Krusty suggests he teach her how to play pool, but Liv reminds him that her mom had sent her to her room and told her not to come out until she said so. Krusty then says “Shhhh. She doesn’t have to know.”
• Meaningful Name: "A Trip Down Memory Lane" reveals why each of the Team L.A.S.H. kids has the name that they do:
  • The name "Livna" means "white", and Liv was very pale as a baby due to being born prematurely. However, her skin tanned later in her childhood due to playing outside so much, making this an Artifact Name.
  • The name "Anastasia" means "resurrection", and Mr. Burns adopted Anastasia so he could have an heir to carry on his business ventures and inherit his power plant, essentially resurrecting them.
  • The name "Simon" means "listening", and Principal Skinner wanted Simon to be an obedient child who always listened to his parents and teachers (which, fortunately, he did end up being). In addition, Simon was also a very quiet baby, so the name became fitting in two ways.
  • The name "Hikaru" means "light", and Kumiko described Hikaru as the light of her life. It's even more fitting nowadays, due to his sunny personality. In addition, he's named after Hikaru Sulu from Star Trek: The Original Series, as his father Comic Book Guy is a Trekkie.
• Meaningful Release Date: A good portion of "My Beloved Grandsmother" takes place on Veterans Day- and it was published on Veterans Day of 2023.
• Mistaken for Servant: Happens twice in the episode “Carol of the Burns”. First, Edwin Burns arrives at his uncle Montgomery’s manor for the first time in nine years, and as he’s never met Anastasia before, he walks past her and says “My, that’s an awfully small domestic servant you have.” Later on, Mr. Burns’ younger brother Zeph arrives, and his wife Florence (who is a bit of a Scatterbrained Senior) asks Waylon “Are you the butler?”
• Mistaken from Behind: Happens twice in "My Beloved Grandsmother": once when Liv mistakes a fat boy with a bowl cut for Hikaru, and once when Hikaru mistakes a girl wearing a green wig for Liv.
• Mr. Smith: In "A Trip Down Memory Lane", the hitman who killed Anastasia's birth parents and brought her back to the Burns family was identified as "Mr. Jones." Waylon remarks that he highly doubts "Mr. Jones" is his real name.
• My God, You Are Serious!: When Principal Skinner mentions the birth of his son Simon, Krusty the Clown asks how Superintendent Chalmers was able to get him pregnant. Skinner laughs and compliments Krusty on his joke, and Krusty replies that it was a genuine question and he wasn't trying to be funny.
• My New Gift Is Lame: In “Carol of the Burns”, Liv only gets boring gifts on the first few days of Hanukkah, like a knit sweater that’s too big for her, a toothbrush, and a dictionary.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling: When Liv puts tacks on Mrs. Gunderson's chair in "First Day of Cruel", Simon gets a feeling in his bones that "someone’s doing something they shouldn’t".
• Mysterious Teacher's Lounge: In "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever." Luis Riviera (yes, Dr. Nick's kid) claims that the teachers all live in the school, and the teacher's lounge is their sleeping quarters.
• Mystery Episode: "The Heiress Diaries", in which Anastasia loses her diary and she and Simon have to figure out who stole it.
• Mythical Motifs:
  • Ling Bouvier is associated with dragons; not only because she's from China, but because she wears a scale-patterned top, has a single pearl on her choker (many Eastern dragons have a round jewel on their neck), and is constantly breathing smoke (i.e. vaping). In "Getting Carded", Hikaru and Webcomic Kid even make a trading card depicting her as a Chinese dragon.
  • In "Getting Carded", we see Mr. Burns has a painting of the Greek god Hades in his study, and Anastasia mentions it's because Hades reminds Mr. Burns of himself; he's the god of wealth, is an authority figure, is guarded by vicious dogs, is very Happily Married to his much younger spouse, and is commonly viewed as terrifying.
• Nepotism: In "Science Fair and Impartial", Principal Skinner states that he's not allowed to judge the science fair for as long as his son Simon is in school, because during the first year that Simon was eligible to compete in it, he ended up getting first place. It's downplayed, however, because Simon is genuinely intelligent and won the science fair at least partially on his own merits, and his goal in the episode is to prove that he can win the science fair without his father's bias on his side.
• Nerds Love Tough Schoolwork: Simon genuinely enjoys studying, getting assignments, taking tests, and working on school projects. He himself states in "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree" that "any time in school spent not doing work is time wasted", and in response, his teacher refers to him as a "little Workaholic".
• New Transfer Student: Liv Krustofsky. She was homeschooled through kindergarten and first grade so her showbiz career could continue unimpeded, but her mom then realized she had no friends her own age and decided she needed to be sent to an actual school so she could make friends. And since she was banned from Springfield Preparatory School for life after pulling a nasty prank on them, she was sent to the significantly-less-glamorous Springfield Elementary.
• Noodle Incident: At one point in "My Beloved Grandsmother", Hikaru says to Liv "…and that’s why I’ve never eaten an avocado."
• No Social Skills: Simon is said to have difficulty with social interaction in "First Day of Cruel", and further episodes showcase that. "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever." reveals that this is because he's autistic.
• Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: In "First Day of Cruel", after getting put through the wringer by both Principal Skinner and his son Simon, Liv comes to see them as fun-crushing killjoys who personally have it in for her. However, after watching Kent Brockman interview Principal Skinner for "Eye on Springfield", she realizes not only why the two of them were raining on her parade (Skinner wants to instill good habits into her so she doesn't end up as a Former Child Star in adulthood), but also that Skinner deliberately put Liv and Simon in the same class so that Simon could potentially befriend her (as Simon has few friends and No Social Skills).
• Number of the Beast: When Mr. Burns sent out a hitman to bring back a baby to him, he gave him $666,000 dollars as payment.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: In "My Beloved Grandsmother", we see that Agnes Skinner often treats her son-in-law, Gary Chalmers, with scorn.
• Obsessed with Perfect Attendance: Simon. Mirroring his father Seymour's insistence on keeping the school open no matter what, Simon insists on attending school no matter what. This is showcased in "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree", where Simon goes to school with a cold and unintentionally ends up getting Hikaru sick as well. And, apparently, this isn't even the worst example of this; as Principal Skinner recounts, Simon got stomach flu a year ago, and was so adamant about not missing a day of school that he snuck into Principal Skinner's car and rode with him to Springfield Elementary.

Hikaru: Simon doesn't seem to believe in sick days. He could be suffering from multiple organ failure or have his arm cut off and he'll still show up to class. He's like some kind of… non-missing-school guy.^note That statement is a reference to the fact that Simon's father, Principal Skinner, is the Trope Namer for Non-Giving-Up School Guy.

• Obstructive Bureaucrat: "A Trip Down Memory Lane" reveals that Mr. Burns originally planned to adopt a child from the Springfield Orphanage, but the employees there wouldn't let him do that until he filled out a huge stack of paperwork, and even after he filled it all out, it would take him months to get an adoptive child of his own, due to all the red tape.
• Odd Friendship: Anastasia and her half-brother Larry. Despite their obvious differences in age, social class, and mannerisms, the two of them seem to get along well in “Carol of the Burns”.
• Ojou: Anastasia. She’s the pampered daughter of a Corrupt Corporate Executive, acts in a haughty and princess-like way, is a Proper Lady, speaks in an excessively formal manner, and has not one, but two pairs of Ojou Ringlets.
• Ojou Ringlets: As mentioned before, Anastasia has them; both in the form of her drill-shaped twintails, and the curled tendrils that frame her face.
• Old People are Nonsexual: In "A Liv of Their Own", one of Mr. Burns' maids overhears him and his husband doing it (which is apparently something that happens often) and says to herself "You'd think with his age, he'd be a lot less… active."
• Only in It for the Money: When Shauna is asked why she wants to work at the Pizza Palace in "Science Fair and Impartial", she states that she needs the money.
• Opposing Sports Team: Onward Christian Schoolboys Academy's baseball team, the Sluggin' Thessalonians, in "A Liv of Their Own". They're considered The Dreaded by other schools' baseball teams (or at least Springfield Elementary's) due to their intense workout routine and how seriously they take baseball. And on top of that, they're arrogant, casually sexist Christian fundamentalists who hold a massive grudge against Springfield Elementary because they teach their kids about LGBT+ topics and their principal is married to another man.
• Oral Fixation: Reflecting how dependent she was on her pacifier when she was a baby, Maggie chews bubble gum at almost all times, and bites her old pacifier (which she wears on a pendant around her neck) when she’s stressed.
• Origins Episode: "A Trip Down Memory Lane" has the parents of the Team L.A.S.H. kids share their kids' birth stories.
• Oven Logic: Mr. Burns' reasoning behind putting Anastasia through Training from Hell is revealed to be an example of this.

Anastasia: I literally just started gymnastics last week. Why do you expect me to train like a professional when I'm still a neophyte?

Mr. Burns: Relax. Instead of having you improve with one hour of exercise each day over the course of several weeks, I'm having you improve with several hours of exercise each day over the course of one week! Mathematically, it would produce the same results.

Anastasia: Really, Father? That's like assuming nine women can make a baby in one month.

• Overlord Jr.: Simon is presented as this in "First Day of Cruel", as a wet-blanket snitch who is terrifyingly strong and agile and serves as a right-hand man to his Dean Bitterman father. At least, that's how Liv perceives it. However, near the end of the episode, we find out that neither Simon nor Principal Skinner are actually evil; they're both just trying to help Liv improve as a person.
• Paparazzi: As a celebrity, Liv has several run-ins with these, including in the Title Sequence.
• Papa Wolf: Principal Skinner is fiercely protective over his son Simon, and picking on him in any way is a one-way ticket to several days of detention.
  • Surprisingly, Mr. Burns shows this quality in “Carol of the Burns”. After learning that they’ve been treating his daughter Anastasia like she’s not a “real” member of the family (due to her status as an adopted child), he releases the hounds on them, driving them all out of his manor and back to their cars to leave.
• Parental Title Characterization:
  • In regards to her two dads, Anastasia refers to Monty (the older, wealthier, and more aloof of the two) as "Father", while the younger and sweeter Waylon is referred to as "Daddy". Both of these titles are fitting for Anastasia's character ("Father" is old-fashioned and polite, while "Daddy" is stereotypically often used by spoiled rich girls), but who she refers to with what title also says something about how she perceives each parent.
  • The other character with two dads, Simon, distinguishes between them in a very different way. He calls them both by their professional titles followed by "Dad"; Principal Skinner is "Principal Dad" and Superintendent Chalmers is "Superintendent Dad". (Think how the Koopa Kids refer to their father as "King Dad", or how Darwin Watterson refers to his parents as "Mrs. Mom" and "Mr. Dad".) While the use of "Dad" instead of "Father" or "Seymour/Gary" does establish that he has a close relationship with his parents (which he very much does), the appended title is a reflection of Simon's stiffness, formality, and obsession with his education.
• The Parent-Produced Project: In "Science Fair and Impartial", Anastasia is so distracted by her new Historical Cuties doll that she forgets all about the science fair until the day before it happens. Upon realizing that she doesn't have a science fair project, she decides to get her dads, Monty and Waylon, to do the project for her. They, of course, build a nuclear generator. Unfortunately, she formulates her plan in a bathroom stall, within earshot of Groundskeeper Willie (who is cleaning the bathroom), and upon realizing she isn't alone, she does not regret what she said, but instead asks for a cell phone to call her parents. As such, at the science fair, Willie exposes her as a fraud who didn't even do her own work, causing Professor Frink and Mrs. Gunderson to realize that her project was very clearly not done by her.
• Passionate Sports Girl: Pria Nahasapeemapetilon, a skilled gymnast who loves anything physical.
  • Liv also qualifies, as she loves cycling and knows all kinds of bike tricks.
• Peer Pressure Makes You Evil: Downplayed. Peer pressure doesn't cause Anastasia to become evil in "Ta-Ra-Ra Bouvier", but it does cause her to do things she doesn't like and associate with people who bully her friends.
• Pet's Homage Name: Anastasia Burns, snob that she is, names all her pets after opera characters. The most notable of these is her dog Turandot, but "A Liv of Their Own" also reveals that she has two pet lovebirds named Tristan and Isolde and a pony named Konstanze.
• Plastic Bitch: In "Getting Carded", Elsie Hutz mentions that she charges high prices for her clients so she can spend the extra money on plastic surgery.
  Do you even know how much this boob job cost?
• Popular Is Evil: "Ta-Ra-Ra Bouvier" depicts the popular kids at Springfield Elementary as primarily consisting of bullies who bash Simon for being a Teacher's Pet and for losing a hockey game, and who only like Anastasia when she conforms to what they think is "cool".
• Practically Different Generations: Exaggerated. Anastasia’s half-brother Larry is old enough to be her grandfather.
  • Shauna Chalmers is in her twenties, and her stepbrother Simon Skinner-Chalmers is eight years old.
• Pregnancy Makes You Crazy: As revealed in "A Trip Down Memory Lane" Lois was a constantly paranoid Nervous Wreck when pregnant with Liv, due to a combination of pregnancy hormones and stress from being hounded by the Paparazzi.
• Premature Birth Drama: "A Trip Down Memory Lane" reveals that the stress of being constantly hounded by the Paparazzi during her pregnancy caused Lois to go into early labor, and resulted in her daughter Liv being born preterm. In fact, the reason why Liv is the shortest member of Team L.A.S.H. is because she was a preemie and her growth was stunted.
• Pretty in Mink: In cold-weather situations, Anastasia often wears fur coats and other fur garments to indicate her wealth and sense of style. Of course, since she’s Mr. Burns’ daughter, she’s not above wearing fur clothes made from rare or endangered animals. Her panda-fur coat, introduced in “Carol of the Burns”, is a standout example.
• Primal Scene: Implied. In "My Beloved Grandsmother" Simon offhandedly mentions having once walked in on his dads while they were "nighttime wrestling".
• Prone to Tears: According to Principal Skinner (and as seen in episodes like "The Heiress Diaries" and "Science Fair and Impartial"), Anastasia cries whenever she's stressed.
• Punny Name:
  • Simon Skinner-Chalmers is always bossing people around and telling them what they can and can't do at school. "Simon Says", anyone?
  • Robbie Turley likes to steal things; in other words, he robs people.
  • Axl Mann's name is not only a reference to Axl Rose, it's a pun on "axle", which is a part of a car or bus. Overlaps with Family Theme Naming; his father Otto's name is a pun on "automobile".
  • In keeping with his daughter Paris Texan (whose name is a pun on Paris, Texas), Rich Texan is revealed to have a grandson named Austin Texan.
• Puppy Love: Anastasia's massive crush on Simon.
• Putting the "Pal" in Principal: Raising a child and not having to be around Bart Simpson anymore seems to have really mellowed Principal Skinner out, as he's shown to be significantly more kind and personable than his canon self (mainly because he's FlamingMercury5's favorite Simpsons character, and thus she tends to paint him in a very flattering light). In fact, he serves as something of a mentor figure for the protagonists, especially Simon, and is always willing to help out Team L.A.S.H. if they're in a pinch.
• Queer Flowers: In "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree", Mr. Burns and Smithers wear green carnations in their lapels to the charity ball.
• Quirky Curls: Liv has curly hair, and is a reckless and energetic Class Clown.
• Rage Breaking Point: During the hockey game in "Ta-Ra-Ra Bouvier", when Sandeep and Nabendu Nahasapeemapetilon spend too much time competing with each other to pass Simon the puck, Simon has an angry meltdown, screaming at both of them and punching Nabendu.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Anastasia gives a big one to all the popular kids when being forced to kiss a boy she doesn't like when playing Spin the Bottle at Jack Fairfax's birthday party, especially to Ling Bouvier, who has been treating her horribly.
  • During a flashback in "A Trip Down Memory Lane", upon realizing that the stress of being hounded by the paparazzi caused his wife to give birth prematurely, Krusty goes out and gives the paparazzi a piece of his mind. He tells them that they need to leave her alone and lay off her, because she's an ordinary lady thrust into the life of a celebrity and isn't used to that level of attention. The paparazzi all have a collective Heel Realization and go back home.
• Red Scare: When Anastasia buys a historical fiction book about a girl living in the Soviet Union in "Science Fair and Impartial", Mr. Burns starts worrying that said book will turn her into a communist.
• Regal Ringlets: Anastasia's hairstyle includes two giant ringlets (her drill-shaped Girlish Pigtails) and two smaller ones that frame her face. This is meant to emphasize her ladylike personality and financial wealth.
• Related in the Adaptation: In “Tis the Fifteenth Season”, there’s no indication that Kathy from personnel is related to Mr. Burns; all we know is that they look incredibly similar. However, “Carol of the Burns” portrays her as Mr. Burns’ cousin.
• Revenge Is a Dish Best Served: In "My Beloved Grandsmother", because Anastasia’s father was mean to her and her husband in the past, Agnes spits in Anastasia’s soup.
• Right-Hand Cat: The oyabun of the Yakuza family that Liv and Krusty cross paths with in "My Beloved Grandsmother" owns a pet cat, and is petting it the entire time he and Krusty are talking to each other.
• Right Through the Wall: The end of "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever." has a scene where Anastasia is lying awake in bed and hears her dads loudly moaning while having sex. Being a child who doesn't know what sex is, Anastasia assumes that they're fighting off a Madwoman in the Attic that Mr. Burns has locked under the floorboards of his bedroom.
• "Risky Business" Dance: Anastasia does this to celebrate her victory against Maggie in "The Rumble on the Jungle Gym".
• Scary Stinging Swarm: Simon ends up accidentally knocking down a hornets' nest during the bug-catching contest in "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever.", and he and Superintendent Chalmers end up getting stung by a swarm of hornets.
• Science Fair: "Science Fair and Impartial" revolves around one of these being held at Springfield Elementary. And to prevent accusations of Nepotism on Principal Skinner's part (because his son is a student at that school), it's judged by Professor Frink.
• Scout-Out: The Junior Campers, as in canon, are basically a copyright-free version of the Boy Scouts.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Simon is the son of Principal Skinner, and he uses his father's position as a way to threaten people and get what he wants. This quote from "A Liv of Their Own" says it best:

Move aside, everyone, I'm the principal's son!

• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Simon and Hikaru. Hikaru is the optimistic and creative Sensitive Guy to Simon’s stoic and authoritative Manly Man.
• Serenade Your Lover: At one point during “Carol of the Burns”, the Burns family gathers around the piano to sing Christmas carols. When it’s Waylon’s turn to sing, he turns towards his beloved husband Monty and sings “Santa Baby”.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Anastasia, as a part of her antiquated way of speaking. She often uses long and flowery words that no second-grader would ever use, let alone in casual conversation. Mrs. Gunderson lampshades Anastasia's verbosity in "The Heiress Diaries"; when discussing her good grades in English class, she says Anastasia's vocabulary is "too advanced" for her age. Anastasia proceeds to call Mrs. Gunderson an "ignoramus", thereby proving Mrs. Gunderson's point.
• Shared Family Quirks: All four members of Team L.A.S.H. share a few quirks with at least one of their parents.
  • Liv has Krusty's Signature Laugh and "Hey hey!" catchphrase, as well as similar problems with addiction (Krusty is a heavy smoker, and Liv gorges herself on salty snacks).
  • Anastasia shares a lot of quirks with Mr. Burns: Antiquated Linguistics, a tendency towards Finger-Tenting and saying "Excellent…", answering the phone with "Ahoy-hoy?", a fondness for dogs and birds, and a generally haughty attitude.
  • Simon, just like Principal Skinner, has a very stilted and precise way of speaking, is Obsessed with Perfect Attendance, and is way too attached to his parent(s) (Simon is a Clingy Child, and Seymour is a Momma's Boy). Heck, in "First Day of Cruel", he responds to one of Hikaru's questions with a Blunt "Yes" that is specifically described as "with the same inflection as Skinner when asked about the aurora borealis in his kitchen".
  • Hikaru shares Comic Book Guy's love of, well, comic books, as well as geek culture more broadly. In addition, in "First Day of Cruel", he describes a week in which he was banned from using electronics as the "Worst. Week. Ever."
• Shout-Out: Lots.
  • Hikaru wears a T-shirt with Pac-Man on it.
  • Axl Mann is named after Axl Rose, lead singer of Guns N' Roses.
  • Anastasia makes references to several operas, and to list every instance of that would take all day.
  • "First Day of Cruel":
    • Hikaru says Simon follows around his dad "like a baby Metroid".
    • When Anastasia asks to sit with the popular girls, they all make judgmental comments at her, and Chloe says "And stop trying to make 'excellent' happen, Anastasia. It’s not going to happen."
    • When Liv claims gym class isn't gonna be that bad, Anastasia says "Oh, you sweet summer child."
    • Hikaru sees Simon doing acrobatic tricks and calls him a "pint-sized Prince of Persia".
  • "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree":
    • When Mrs. Trunch announces the class's "miniature town" art project, Hikaru asks if, once everyone's made their buildings, she's gonna come into class in a Godzilla costume and smash them all.
    • Hikaru mentions singing "Air Man Ga Taosenai" at one point, and during the episode, he sings "Puttin' On the Ritz", the Pokémon: The Original Series theme song, and "Live and Learn".
    • Simon has a Utica Comets poster in his bedroom. Well, one of his dads IS from Utica…
    • When Comic Book Guy hears Hikaru playing the guitar, he exclaims "WHAT ON INFINITE EARTHS IS THAT HORRIBLE RACKET?" Furthermore, it's revealed that in the Albertson household, Time Out is referred to as "the Phantom Zone".
    • Hikaru's bedroom is Super Mario Bros. themed, with the walls painted to resemble World 1-1.
    • Maggie and Gerald win the talent show with a rendition of "Seven Nation Army".
  • "The Heiress Diaries":
    • The name of the episode is a pun on The Princess Diaries.
    • The "to-do list gag" for this episode is "Look up this Josuke Higashikata guy that Hikaru’s mother said my hair reminds her of".
    • The Itchy and Scratchy cartoon "Dragon Maul Z" is, as its name suggests, a parody of Dragon Ball Z.
    • When Hikaru is being photographed, he says "Fuzzy pickles!"
    • At one point, the whole class, especially Simon, goes wild for Bill Nye the Science Guy.
  • "A Liv of Their Own":
    • The name of the episode is a pun on A League of Their Own.
    • When Hikaru runs through the crowd, he says "Gotta go fast! Like Sonic the Hedgehog!"
    • Hikaru also notices Liv has very muscular legs (due to how much biking she does), and compares her to Chun-Li.
    • When Homer calls Anastasia "Angelica", she clarifies "It's Anastasia. Like the Don Bluth film."
    • During Mr. Burns and Anastasia's Training Montage, one of the things he makes her do is run after him while he's riding a bicycle. Drederick Tatum even sees her doing this and asks if she's training to take him down in a boxing match.
    • When Anastasia complains about how hard her Sports Dad is pushing her and how it's made gymnastics less fun for her, Pria says "That's rough, buddy."
  • "The Rumble on the Jungle Gym":
    • This episode's "desk gag" has all the characters driving and parking cars, and Hikaru is driving the Mach Five.
    • When Mrs. Gunderson is asking for name suggestions for the Class Pet (a fish), Hikaru suggests they name it "Magikarp".
    • Mrs. Gunderson reads James and the Giant Peach to her students.
    • Before the fight, Hikaru reminds Anastasia to "be like water". He also says "If Revenge of the Sith has taught me anything, it's the importance of the high ground."
    • To celebrate winning the fight against Maggie, Anastasia dances around alone in her house to "Dancing Queen".
  • "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever.":
    • Hikaru overhears Simon talking about Junior Campers merit badge he’s planning to earn and mistakes it for a Gym badge.
    • To earn his "Collections" badge, Hikaru photographs his Yu-Gi-Oh! card collection.
    • Ned Flanders describes the fruit leather that Simon made for the troop as “scrum-diddly-umptious”.
    • When describing Simon to Comic Book Guy, Hikaru paints him as a Stock Shōnen Rival in the vain of Vegeta, Seto Kaiba, or Gary Oak.
    • Among the camping supplies Comic Book Guy brings with him are a Bat-Signal flashlight, an Organization XIII raincoat, and replicas of the Silver Rod and Golden Rod from Animal Crossing.
    • When Liv talks about how she’s gonna get shot out of a cannon, she mentions that she’ll finally know what it’s like to fly. Hikaru says getting shot out of a cannon isn’t exactly flying, but "more like… falling with style".
    • Comic Book Guy plays the Indiana Jones theme as they travel to the campsite. The journey is even established using an Indiana Jones-esque Travel Montage.
    • Hikaru wears a Spider-Man swimsuit.
    • When Comic Book Guy refuses to go into the lake, Superintendent Chalmers convinces him to get in by saying "Would Namor the Sub-Mariner refuse to swim in water that’s too cold?"
    • When Simon and Hikaru are whittling, Hikaru tries to sculpt an X-wing.
    • Liv greets Anastasia by saying "Whazzaaaaaaaaaap?"
    • At one point, Simon and Superintendent Chalmers wear Buffalo Sabres hockey jerseys, and Hikaru wears a black hoodie with PlayStation symbols on it.
    • When Comic Book Guy and Hikaru have a fight with their flaming marshmallows on sticks, they reference the famous "It’s over, Anakin! I have the high ground!" scene from Revenge of the Sith.
    • The aforementioned fight results in a shrub getting accidentally set on fire, which Simon tells their troop leader, Ned Flanders, about. Flanders then says to his troop, "Alright, camperinos. I heard from an anon-diddly-onymous source that SOMEONE has been playing with fire. Not. Cool. Dudes."
    • Comic Book Guy says he lost his sense of childlike wonder after seeing Gwen Stacy die.
  • "Science Fair and Impartial":
    • The desk gag has the four of them do the famous "Dance of the Little Swans" from Swan Lake.
    • Hikaru decides to do his science fair project on whether or not it's possible to throw fireballs underwater.
    • Anastasia is revealed to be a big fan of Little Einsteins.
    • When Monty and Waylon are going into a secret laboratory to build a generator for Anastasia, they reenact the famous "Pull the lever, Kronk! ...WRONG LEVERRRRRRRRRR!" scene from The Emperor's New Groove.
    • Professor Frink says that the construction of Anastasia's generator is "very complex, with the wiring, and the radioactivity, and the DANGER DANGER, HIGH VOLTAGE!"
  • "Ta-Ra-Ra Bouvier":
    • The name of the episode is a pun on the song "Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-De-Ay".
    • The to-do list gag for this episode is "Miss 100% of the shots I don’t take".
    • Ling mentions Paris Hilton as an example of the type of person Anastasia should strive to be.
    • At one point, Anastasia watches Survivor, at Ling's suggestion.
    • The episode ends with Anastasia, Simon, and Hikaru playing Super Smash Bros. Melee.
  • "Bedroom of Horror":
    • The Special Edition Title depicts Liv, whom earlier episodes have established as a skilled BMX biker, as a broomstick-riding witch. Sound familiar?
    • Anastasia dresses up as a Valkyrie for Halloween, a clear reference to The Ring of the Nibelung, and Hikaru dresses up as Ness.
    • The Three Shorts in this episode are parodies of Luigi's Mansion, Alien, and The Phantom of the Opera respectively.
    • Speaking of that Luigi's Mansion parody, its title, "Home Im-boo-vement", is a clear pun on Home Improvement.
    • In "Home Im-boo-vement", when Kumiko tells Comic Book Guy that the free mansion he just won is probably a scam, CBG replies "A scam? It's free real estate!"
    • Also in "Home Im-boo-vement", Hikaru refers to one ghost's tactic of duplicating itself as a "shadow-clone-jutsu".
    • In "Rotten Egg", when Simon is encountered and accused of prioritizing the life of the xenomorph over the life of the crew, he says "Some of you may die, but that's a sacrifice I was willing to make."
    • In “The Spectre of the Opera”, when Meg de Beaumarchais (played by Pria) complains about the way her mother (played by Manjula) instructs their dance classes, her mother responds with “Shut up, Meg.”
  • "My Beloved Grandsmother":
    • The desk gag for this episode is a reference to Super Mario Bros., with Hikaru, Simon, Anastasia, and Liv (dressed as Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad respectively) sliding down the flagpole at the end of the level.
    • Anastasia offhandedly mentions having played the role of Dolore in Madama Butterfly.
    • To lull himself (and Anastasia) to sleep, Simon plays Gustav Holst’s “Venus, the Bringer of Peace”.
    • While visiting Japan, Hikaru and Webcomic Kid try to convince their parents to buy the newest Pokémon games, which are “not even out in America yet”. (Based on the fanfic’s Turn of the Millennium setting and Hikaru’s video game console resembling a Nintendo DS, the games in question are most likely Pokémon Diamond and Pearl or Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver.) Their parents refuse, but as a compromise, Kumiko tells them that there are plenty of stores selling Pokémon toys… and points to a Digimon toy.
    • Hikaru mistakes a Sailor Neptune cosplayer for Liv, due to their similar curly teal hair.
    • At the Kogane Fude award ceremony, Hikaru wears a replica of Donkey Kong’s tie.
  • "A Trip Down Memory Lane":
    • The episode's desk gag is a reference to a previous series of fanfics that FlamingMercury5 wrote: the Child of Legends trilogy. Hikaru even remarks "Uh… I think we're in the wrong fanfic."
    • Comic Book Guy dresses up as Wolverine at the masquerade ball.
    • In Hikaru's "birth story" segment, we see Kumiko placing a Doraemon plushie in Hikaru's crib.
    • Comic Book Guy suggests the name "Peter Parker Albertson" and Kumiko, wanting her child to have a Japanese name, suggests the name "Jotaro Albertson".
    • It is also revealed that Hikaru was named after Hikaru Sulu.
    • Sideshow Bob sings the "Toreador Song" from Carmen at Krusty and Lois's wedding.
    • When Principal Skinner tells the patrons at Moe’s Tavern that his son’s name is Simon, Barney says "Oh, cool! Like Simon & Garfunkel!"
  • "Getting Carded":
    • The to-do list gag for this episode is "Convince Liv that J. R. R. Tolkien's real name is "Jolkien Rolkien Rolkien Tolkien".
    • The main plot of the episode is kicked off by Hikaru watching Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.
    • Webcomic Kid is described as having a Pokémon-themed bedroom.
    • When Hikaru goes to ask his sister if she can make art for his set of trading cards, she says "Go away! I'm reading Bob and George."
    • Elsie Hutz's law firm is called "Legally Brunette", a reference to the movie Legally Blonde.
    • Webcomic Kid compares Elsie Hutz's outfit- which is primarily teal and black with red accents- to something Terezi Pyrope would wear.
  • “Carol of the Burns”:
    • The title is a reference to the famous Christmas carol “Carol of the Bells”, (the song that spawned the Chaos of the Bells trope).
    • When the Burns family makes a Gingerbread House for the holidays, Mr. Burns makes a little “witch” out of candy and toothpicks and places her by the door, saying “You can’t have a gingerbread house without a cannibalistic witch who’s using it to lure in children for her to eat.”
    • When Anastasia is singing Christmas carols, Larry asks if she could sing “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer”.
    • Speaking of that scene, Waylon asks if he can sing a Christmas carol after her… and he sings “Santa Baby”.
    • Simon gives Anastasia a copy of Sense and Sensibility as a Christmas gift.
    • When the Krustofsky family goes bowling, Krusty walks on his tiptoes before rolling the ball down the lane, just like Fred Flintstone. When he ends up getting a gutter ball, he says "Damn. I thought that would work like it does on TV."
    • Waylon reads an adaptation of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King to Anastasia as a bedtime story.
• Sick Episode: The second act of "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree" has Hikaru catch a cold from Simon.
• Singing in the Shower: In "A Liv of Their Own", Anastasia sings "Poor Wandering One" from The Pirates of Penzance while she's showering.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Anastasia doesn't seem to be attracted to any boy aside from Simon. In "Hikaru Fills Out His Skill Tree", Mr. Burns remarks that for the past year, she's been unimpressed with every single suitor he's presented to her, and Anastasia explains that the reason behind that is that she met Simon a year ago and he captured her heart. In "The Heiress Diaries", she offhandedly remarks that she doesn't find Jack Fairfax attractive and is considered unusual for that. And in "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever.", when she and Liv are playing MASH (a children's pencil-and-paper game used to "predict" one's future), Liv's piece of paper has three celebrities and the aforementioned Jack Fairfax as her potential future husbands, while Anastasia's has "Simon Skinner-Chalmers" written four times.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: The reason why Anastasia has a crush on Simon is because he's so much more polite than other boys his age.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Agnes’ grudge against Anastasia Burns in "My Beloved Grandsmother" is solely predicated on the fact that she’s Mr. Burns’ daughter, and Mr. Burns was cruel towards her, her husband, and the other members of the Flying Hellfish Unit in the past.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Principal Skinner and Superintendent Chalmers, and how. In fact, on two separate occasions in "Science Fair and Impartial", they get into an argument and then lunge towards each other in a kiss.
• Slobs Versus Snobs: Liv Krustofsky and Anastasia Burns. Liv is a crass, Hot-Blooded, practically illiterate Tomboy from a Nouveau Riche family who delights in getting a rise out of people, while Anastasia is a refined, level-headed, ridiculously verbose Girly Girl from an Old Money family who always minds her manners.
• Slumber Party: Liv and Anastasia have one in "Worst. Camping Trip. Ever."
• Solomon Divorce: Apparently, Otto had two kids with his ex-wife Ashley, Axl and Rose, but when they divorced, each of them got custody of one kid.
• Special Edition Title: The title sequence for "Bedroom of Horror" features a spooky version of Springfield with all the characters in the title sequence depicted as classic Halloween creatures. Principal Skinner and Simon are a Mad Scientist and his artificial "son"; Hikaru is a Japanese-style ghost with a white kimono and zukin; Anastasia is an elegant vampire girl to match her parents being Dracula and Renfield; Liv is a Witch Classic with a broomstick instead of a BMX bike; Otto is a skeleton; Groundskeeper Willie is a werewolf; and Mrs. Gunderson is a zombie.
• Sports Dad: Mr. Burns in "A Liv of Their Own". To relive his days as a college football star, he pushes Anastasia to her absolute limit as a gymnast, to the point where she's utterly drained.
• Stay in the Kitchen: In "A Liv of Their Own", when the Opposing Sports Team's coach sees one of the players on the opposing team is a girl, he says "A woman's place is in the home, not on the baseball field."
• Sticky Fingers: Robbie Turley. As his Punny Name implies, he'll steal anything that isn't nailed down, especially things that belong to the Nahasapeemapetilon octuplets. You can tell he takes after his father, Snake.
• Sticky Situation: The "extra-sticky slime" Webcomic Kid makes for the Science Fair.
• The Stoic: Simon. He rarely shows emotion, and when he does, it's very subdued.
• The Stoner: Otto, as in canon. This quote from "First Day of Cruel" puts it best:

Simon: Why did you just ignore me like that? Are you high?

Otto: Constantly.

• Stoners Are Funny: The aforementioned Otto is normally used for comic relief.
• The Stool Pigeon: Simon. He's a notorious tattletale who's always calling or threatening to call his principal father whenever he sees a student misbehaving, to the point where his classmates have nicknamed him "The Snitch".
• Student Council President: Jack Fairfax, the bastard son of Mayor Quimby and basically a miniature version of his dad.
• Stylistic Suck: Nuclear Family: The Baby Burns Story, a made-for-TV movie about Anastasia's adoption made by Channel 6. It stars Rainier Wolfcastle wearing an unconvincing bald cap and prosthetic nose as Mr. Burns, Troy McClure as Smithers, and Sideshow Mel as the criminal who killed Anastasia's parents, all of whom don't even bother to change their mannerisms. The movie clearly has No Budget, with terribly obvious practical effects and very obvious use of a dummy when the criminal goes flying into the street and gets hit by a car.
• Superior Successor: Elsie Hutz is Lionel Hutz's niece, and is an attorney just like he was. She's also established as being much better at her job than her incompetent Amoral Attorney of an uncle. However, while she's not nearly as slimy as Lionel is, she is very greedy, and charges very high prices for her services so she can spend it on beauty products and plastic surgery.
• Surprise Pregnancy: "A Trip Down Memory Lane" reveals that Hikaru's conception was completely accidental.
• Suspicion Aesop: In "My Beloved Grandsmother", Agnes Skinner finds out that Anastasia is Mr. Burns’ daughter, and, having had bad experiences with Mr. Burns in the past, assumes that Anastasia is just like him and would be a bad influence on her grandson. Anastasia tries to be nice to her, but Agnes continues to be bitter and spew hateful words at her. It’s only after she sees Anastasia put a flower on the grave of Abraham Simpson, a man whom Mr. Burns had a bitter feud with in life, and expresses regret for her father’s cruel actions towards him that Agnes realizes Anastasia isn’t a bad person, and in fact, can be very kind.
• Swans A-Swimming: Anastasia's outfit in "A Trip Down Memory Lane" is based on a swan, consisting of a white gown with wing-like sleeves, a black mask with an orange "beak" over her nose, and lots of Fluffy Fashion Feathers. Since swans are associated with beauty and grace, it’s a fitting costume for a Proper Lady like herself, and the fact that they mate for life also reflects her Single-Target Sexuality towards Simon.
• Take That!:
  • In "Ta-Ra-Ra Bouvier", Simon states that school popularity is "something you grow out of, like booster seats, or Shark Tale."
  • The "Bedroom of Horror" short "Home Im-boo-vement" has a ghost who resembles Lois Griffin from Family Guy. Her name is said to be "Meloise Plagiarissima", and it's said that all she does is make references to other works.
  • “Carol of the Burns” includes a potshot at most examples of the Phonýmon trope (a Pet-Peeve Trope of FlamingMercury5’s, as seen on her Twitter account). Simon watches a cartoon where Itchy and Scratchy play hockey, but because Simon is a hockey player and knows so much about the sport, he just gets angry about the inaccuracies. He then remarks “This must be how Hikaru and his sister feel whenever a TV show does a parody of Pokémon.”
• Team Title: Eeyup.
• Team Hand-Stack: The Springfield Elementary Pumas baseball team do this before their game against the Sluggin' Thessalonians.
• Tempting Fate: In "Science Fair and Impartial", Simon warns Anastasia against putting together a Last-Minute Project. And what do you know, she ends up doing just that.
• Theme Twin Naming: "Getting Carded" reveals that Axl has a twin sister named Rose (whom ASHLEY took in the divorce). Their names are obviously a reference to Axl Rose, the lead singer of Guns N' Roses.
• There Is Only One Bed: When the crib that Agnes makes Simon sleep in is unable to support his weight and breaks, Simon instead decides to sleep in the guest bed- which Anastasia is also sleeping in. Of course, since she has a huge crush on Simon, Anastasia isn’t complaining.
• This Ain't Rocket Surgery: When Simon decides to do a project about bottle rockets in "Science Fair and Impartial", he claims that it's sure to impress the judges because it's "literally rocket science".
• This Is Going to Be Huge: Team L.A.S.H. takes place during the Turn of the Millennium, and in a flashback in "My Beloved Grandsmother" (which is implied to have taken place a year or two ago), Mr. Burns says he met with the president of the Tokyo Electronic Power Corporation (TEPCO), who bragged that his company’s nuclear power plants were the safest in the world and there was no way any of them could fail. Yeah, about that…
• Thumbtack on the Chair: In "First Day of Cruel", Liv puts five thumbtacks on Mrs. Gunderson's chair. However, Simon catches her in the act, and she ends up getting sent to Principal Skinner's office.
• Toast of Tardiness: During the Title Sequence, Hikaru rushes to the bus stop with a piece of toast in his mouth.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Liv and Anastasia. Liv is the crass and thrill-seeking Tomboy to Anastasia’s polite and fashion-conscious Girly Girl.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Each of the characters has a clear favorite food: Liv’s is French fries, Anastasia’s is strawberry sundaes, Simon’s is hot dogs with nothing on them, and Hikaru’s is takoyaki.
• Training Montage: Mr. Burns and Anastasia have one in "A Liv of Their Own" in preparation for her first gymnastics meet. They even lampshade it before the montage happens.
• Triumphant Reprise: In its debut episode, "Baby On Board" was just a silly song Homer Simpson wrote about the "baby on board" sticker on the back of his car- albeit one that would make his barbershop quartet, the Be Sharps, very famous. However, in the "Simon's Birth Story" segment of "A Trip Down Memory Lane", Seymour Skinner, a founding member of the Be Sharps, finally has a child after years of childlessness. He and the rest of the Be Sharps celebrate by singing "Baby On Board" to his newborn son, now framed as a straight-up Parental Love Song.
• Troubled Fetal Position: Liv curls up into one when her mom sends her to her room for bad behavior in “Carol of the Burns”.
• Turning Into Your Parent: In "Science Fair and Impartial", Superintendent Chalmers accuses Principal Skinner of coddling Simon, just like Skinner's mother Agnes coddled him. However, Skinner vehemently denies this.
• Turn of the Millennium: According to the Author's Note at the beginning of the fic, Team L.A.S.H. is vaguely set in the 2000s (because it's set 10 years after The Simpsons and a lot of things in that show don't make sense outside of The '90s). FlamingMercury5 has also stated that she was in elementary school during that time period, so she writes from personal experience.
• The Unsmile: When Simon is getting his school picture taken in "The Heiress Diaries", the photographer instructs him to give a "big smile". Simon then forces himself into an awkward grin that looks more like a Slasher Smile than a genuine expression of joy, which even the photographer says is too forced and extreme.
• Unusual Euphemism: In "A Trip Down Memory Lane", Lois described being impregnated by Krusty as him "throwing a pie" into her "squirting flower".
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: "A Trip Down Memory Lane" reveals that Webcomic Kid, now an apathetic grouch, was much more sweet and cheerful when she was little.
• Vacation Episode: The B-plot of "My Beloved Grandsmother" is about Hikaru and his family going to Tokyo to attend an award ceremony that one of Kumiko’s manga was nominated for, and Liv, coincidentally, also going to Tokyo to watch her father perform in a wacky Japanese game show. Throughout their entire vacation, they both attempt to look for each other.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Nominally, Anastasia and Liv are very close friends. However, due to their very different personalities, the two of them are constantly getting into arguments.
• We Named the Monkey "Jack": Principal Skinner’s pet cat, Miss Edna, is named after his ex-girlfriend Edna Krabappel. Since Edna died with her voice actress in Season 25, this also overlaps with Dead Guy Junior.
• Whole Episode Flashback: "A Trip Down Memory Lane" is four flashbacks within an episode.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: When Superintendent Chalmers and Principal Skinner put on a skit to announce the talent show, Chalmers plays the role of a Stage Magician, and Skinner plays the role of his Lovely Assistant. Apparently, Skinner came up with the idea for the skit, as he wanted an excuse to wear a red dress that he says "makes [his] butt look good".
• Workout Fanservice: In "A Liv of Their Own", when the Burns family is working out, Mr. Burns demands his husband Waylon exercise while wearing booty shorts and no shirt. As he's spotting Anastasia, he spends a lot of time admiring Waylon, to the point where after they're done working out and Anastasia is busy taking a shower, the two of them have sex.
• Writer on Board: In the show itself, Springfield Elementary is consistently portrayed as a Sucky School and an Assimilation Academy. However, FlamingMercury5 grew up in a very well-funded school district and was a Teacher's Pet, so her perception of the American educational system, especially elementary school, is very… rose-tinted. Hence why, in contrast to the general School Is for Losers attitude of The Simpsons proper, one of the central themes of Team L.A.S.H. is “school is awesome, actually”. In fact, the very first episode, "First Day of Cruel", does initially portray Springfield Elementary as a harsh Assimilation Academy, with Simon and Principal Skinner being stern disciplinarians towards Liv, before the ending reveals "actually, Skinner just has Liv's best interests in mind, and Simon is just lonely".
  • She does seem to be against school bullying, however. "Ta-Ra-Ra Bouvier" is ultimately about how peer pressure and the desire to be popular causes people to suppress their interests and put on a fake persona that doesn't reflect their true self.
  • FlamingMercury5 is also very pro-nuclear power, and uses the character of Waylon Smithers to espouse the benefits of nuclear energy and make side swipes at The Simpsons franchise’s heavy use of Artistic License – Nuclear Physics.
• Yakuza: In "My Beloved Grandsmother", Liv wants to go to the Kogane Fude Awards to see Hikaru and his family, and Krusty asks a Japanese TV executive, Mr. Yamaguchi, if he could get them in. Mr. Yamaguchi then takes them to a yakuza house to make a deal with some yakuza members in order to get them in.
• Yellow Sash of Power: Simon. As Springfield Elementary's "head hall monitor", he has a level of power comparable to the teachers, and is said to be the only hall monitor who can give out detentions. And as if he didn't have enough power to lord over people, his dad is the principal.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In the episode “Carol of the Burns”, after an onslaught of Adoption Disses from various members of the Burns family, Anastasia begins to feel insecure about her status as Mr. Burns’ heiress. She states that they’ve made her feel like she’s not really a member of the Burns family. In a rare moment of empathy for him, Mr. Burns recognizes her distress and reminds her that she’s just as much of a member of the Burns family as anyone else. He mentions that adopting unrelated children as heirs dates all the way back to Ancient Rome, that he adopted her because none of his relatives would be suitable successors and would tear each other apart over his inheritance, and that family isn’t about who you share genes with; it’s about who raised you and shaped you into the person you are today. This causes Anastasia to feel a lot better about herself and her place in the Burns family.
• You Go, Girl!: The main plot of "A Liv of Their Own" involves Liv joining a baseball team and being the only girl to do so. The thing is, she's never played baseball before, so she has to not only contend with sexist remarks from her teammates, but also her own inexperience in regards to the sport. Eventually, after lots of practice, she manages to prove her naysayers wrong.
• You Killed My Father: A downplayed, non-lethal variant; Anastasia's hatred of Maggie Simpson is primarily derived from the fact that Maggie shot Anastasia's father ten years ago.
• You Should Have Died Instead: At one point in "My Beloved Grandsmother", Agnes bemoans how her husband Sheldon didn’t deserve to die in a parade float accident, and that Mr. Burns (who was also on the float) should have died instead. In front of Mr. Burns’ daughter.

---