The Runaway Guys are a collaborative group of Let's Players on YouTube, comprising probably the most popular YouTube LPers: ProtonJon, NintendoCapriSun, and Chuggaaconroy. Chugga is in charge of maintaining the channel, although Jon has made posts and comments for the channel as well. For the first two years, updates usually only occurred every Saturday, but this was changed to Saturday, Tuesday, and Thursday following an announcement on February 8th, 2013.Their first collaborative Let's Play was of the original Mario Party, recorded when they attended Magfest 2011. It premiered February 5, 2011. The three of them were the only ones participating, and they promised more in the future with additional players beyond the core three. A year and a half later, they revisited the game for filler videos focusing on Minigame Island and Pot o' Skills/Minigame Stadium.LP #2 was New Super Mario Bros Wii, mostly recorded at PAX East 2011. A fourth player, Josh Jepson, joined them for these recordings.LP #3 was Super Smash Bros. Brawl's "Subspace Emissary", recorded at E3 2011 and at Jon's home in Canada, with a return to three players. After this was finished, they also held a Brawl tournament with 7 other guest players, one of whom was JoshJepson. The tournament was recorded after New Super Mario Bros. Wii's latter recording. The champion was ProtonJon.LP #4 was Mario Party 2. The majority of this LP was recorded at Jon's house, and the rest was recorded at a hotel during Pax East 2012. They also went through the Mini-Game Coaster.A Mario Power Tennis tournament came next, before LP #5. It had 6 guest players—three returning from the Brawl tournament and three newcomers. The champion of this tournament was Chugga.LP #5 was Kirby's Return to Dream Land, with just the three of them (they had planned to have a guest player—implied to be JoshJepson—who couldn't make it due to a scheduling problem). Notably, this is their first LP of a game that does not feature Mario. It was recorded between two Paxes.LP #6 was Little Big Planet, which, being a Playstation 3 exclusive title, is the first game they LP'd on a console other than Nintendo. Lucahjin was the guest player for this LP. The recording started at Pax Prime 2012, and was continued at Chugga's house.LP #7 was Wii Party, which was started as filler before Little Big Planet. It was confirmed in the Little Big Planet finale that Wii Party would be continued as an actual Let's Play.After this, they held a Super Smash Bros. 64 tournament, with 16 competitors. The champion of this tournament was Tyler from Wii Rike To Pray.LP #8 was New Super Mario Bros U, with Josh Jepson returning as a guest player.In addition to the one-shot filler LP's, they also have some side collab projects that they update between projects and act as filler. Current projects in this vein include Fortune Street.On occasion at Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), the Runaway Guys have their own panel, called Thrown Controllers, essentially a game show inspired by Nick Arcade. In its debut at PAX East 2012, two teams (Team Mario and Team Sonic) take turns answering questions and playing video game challenges, either against each other, solo, or against members of the audience. The final, decisive game was a round of Pong, which was won by Team Mario. At PAX Prime 2012, they retooled the game (mostly due to the previous iteration being plagued by technical problems and a sluggish pace) into a single-person quiz show with challenges, similar to its initial conception except for one person at a time, and this is how it has been done since. Many prizes are awarded at these panels, ranging from character pins from Fangamer to (as a grand prize) an actual video game console, such as a Nintendo 3DS or a Wii U.They have a Shout Out page here, a Character Sheet here, a Ho Yay page here, an Epic Fail page here, and a Drinking Gamehere.
. This tournament was double-elimination style (if you lose a round, you go to the loser's bracket. If you lose another round, you're out of the tournament).
Book Ends: Every regular let's play that they've completed so far has an example of this, whether subtle or blatant. See the folders for the games below for individual examples.
Butt Monkey: NCS. If something bad is going to happen to someone, it's probably going to be him. So much so that the others seem kind of protective of him, and avoid picking on him whilst bickering amongst themselves. What's strange about this is that Tim has, in the past, proven himself MORE than a capable gamer with challenges like the swordless or 3-heart runs of The Legend of Zelda.
An excellent example of this is part one of Mystery Land in the Mario Party 2 LP. He actually manages to get lucky enough to have more coins than anyone else... and then, due to A Day At The Races and Chance Time, he goes from over 80 coins toone.
In the very last Mario Party video, he finished the Pot o' Skills with 2 coins. The Pot o' Skills has no stars and is determined completely by coins.
Canada, Eh?: Where Jon is from, and where the latter half of Subspace Emissary (so far) is being recorded.
Catch Phrase: Just about everyone sings "To the left, to the left, to the left" whenever one of them says to go left. Chugga will also often go "Might as welllll JUMP!"
In Subspace, "GAME!" is sometimes replaced by "CAMERA!"
Whenever someone makes a reference or shout out, Jon will usually say, "Thanks/Thank you (whatever is being referenced here)." Examples include "Thanks Maxwell." and "Thank you, Yu-Gi-Oh!"
DOH, I MISSED!
Collective Groan: Often in response to a pun made by one of the Guys.
Several L Per's look to be seeing the same perks with the Brawl tournament. They even get little bios of what they LP for the viewers.
First Name Basis: Over time, they've been calling each other by first names and not their usernames, more and more (not counting Jon's first name being in his username).
Friendly Fireproof: Chugga has revealed that this is enough to disqualify a game from being played by the Guys. Kirby's Epic Yarn being the prime example - in the first episode of his solo LP of the game, Chugga says that they were considering it for a collab project, but the deciding factor (apart from being limited to two players) was the inability to screw each other over made for a much less entertaining LP.
Incredibly Lame Pun: Just as bad as in Chugga's solo videos. To Tim and Jon's eternal pain.
When Jon makes one in episode 5, Chugga immediately calls him on it .
When NCS makes one at the end of Episode 6 (MP), everyone laughs.
No Indoor Voice: I DARE you to find even a single episode that doesn't have any one of the guys yelling.
Especially when they are recording at Jon's house and don't have to worry about waking up people in the hotel.
Chugga is especially notable for this, as he's already known for having No Indoor Voice in his own Let's Plays; he really takes it Up to Eleven here.
Out of Focus: When it comes to Mario Party videos (from either game), Luigi gets the least screen time, since he doesn't have an amusing voice clip or isn't considered to be the hardest opponent.
At the most, they usually resort to "Damn it!" But even Tim squeezes an actual F-Strike when he loses an intense game of Hot Rope Jump in Mario Party 2. He immediately apologizes for it.
Running Gag: Many. Chugga's bad puns, Jon being an asshole, Press L to P (In The Bathroom!).
There are also some longer-range ones that only show up occasionally, such as Jon claiming a character is "dead" and acting shocked.
Shout Out: The group's name is a reference to the band known as The Runaway Five in EarthBound, which both Tim and Chugga have LPed in the past.
A small section of commentary in Episode 3 of New Super Mario Bros. is missing. During this segment, an explanation is displayed on the video: they discussed some of their future projects, and didn't want to spoil anyone. Jon is thanked/blamed for this.
Also at one point during their Subspace Emissary playthrough, the Wii actually crashed. Hilarity Ensues
What Could Have Been: Several channel names were considered: Splitscreen Shenanigans, Loud Players, Let's Play Crossover, and Press Start to LP.
Then it's placed into humorous proportions as Chugga says,
Chugga: I got it! 'Press L to P!'
Jon: (tries to say something then sighs) I hate you so much.
Mario Party
A Day in the Limelight: The had Luigi as their partner for the Mini-Game Island giving him more of a spotlight. This was also their reason for picking Luigi as the CPU in the Mini-Game Stadium.
Actually Pretty Funny: During Bowser's Magma Mountain, Chugga talked about a review he saw that described him as "Proton Jon if he actually posted videos often." Even Jon admitted it was pretty funny.
Affably Evil: They points out that Bowser is more polite in his Event Block encounters. He says "thank you" when conning coins and doesn't gloat.
Angrish: Jon in the last board, once his poor luck takes its toll.
Jon: We set the man out to drown in the oceannote Shy Guy Says, and then you threw a bomb at himnote Hot Bob-Omb. Chugga: And stole all his money. Jon: That poor... man.
Artificial Stupidity: Wario, who had enough coins for a star, decides to waste 10 to use a shortcut. He loses, is now forced to visit Toad, and can't afford it.
This particular case edges into Fridge Brilliance when you realize just how close it ended up being to Wario winning. The star would've cost Wario 20 coins, attempting the shortcut would put Wario under 20 coins (a cost of 10 coins). Wario peaked at 111 coins in-game, and if he had gotten the star, all other turns held the same as they ended up going, he would've peaked at 101 coins. Chuggaaconroy got exactly 112 coins before buying his one star, and never got above that number. Sure, he would have had one more star... but that's one more star that Chugga would have gotten.
This becomes a minor gag, with the guys even replaying the clip of Wario's horrible decision later.
In Buried Treasure in Mini-Game Island, Peach fund the chest first and would have won had she not turned away from the chest, giving Jon the victory!
Aside Glance: Lampshaded in Peach's Birthday Cake, when Bowser gives 20 coins to the completely broke DK (Chugga). "Even DK wants to know, 'What the hell was that crap?'"
Awesome McCoolname: One of the many subjects they discussed was official name changes. Brought up was a story of someone who had their name officially changed to Buzz Lightyear.
Berserk Button: Just about everyone hates Chance Time. Chugga gets even louder when he loses coins.
As seen above, Chugga and Jon hate the memes they created.
Big "WHAT?!": Twice during Peach's Birthday Cake during one conversation:
Chugga: I've never seen an Indiana Jones film. *beat* Jon: You-WHAT?! Sorry, that took a second to click. Tim: Wait a minute. Wait. A minute. You haven't seen Indiana Jones? Even I've seen Indiana Jones. Chugga: I've never seen an Indiana Jones movie. Jon: How could you have not seen an Indiana Jones movie? It's like THE action movie. Tim: Aw, man. Chugga: I've never seen a Back to the Future movie, either. Jon: NO WAY!! Tim: WHAT?! OH MY GOD!! Jon: What kind of human being are you?! Chugga: One who doesn't watch a lot of movies?
Blessed with Suck: Chugga claims he's stolen Jon's power to get mini-game names wrong.
Book Ends: Even lampshaded by Chugga in editing — the same minigame (Shy Guy Says) was played on the first turn of the first board, and the last turn of the final board with Chugga as the victor on both.
The LP also ends with the LP'ers talking about how they're "The Runaway Guys" over the opening cutscene.
An ironic one with Chugga, who plays Donkey Kong. DK is a monkey, yet he has the least number of Butt Monkey moments.
Played straight with a second Casting Gag with Chugga and Jon together — Jon is Mario and Chugga is Donkey Kong. In several games, DK is Mario's rival and vice versa.
Cliffhanger: Probably the only intentional example: Bowser's Magma Mountain, the end of the fourth video. Wario had 3 Stars and everybody else only had one. The video ended with Chance Time and the wheels were set to Wario swapping Stars with someone. It was on the last turn right before the mini-game, so the lucky participant would pretty much be guaranteed to win. It turned out to be Chugga, leading to his fourth victory and him being the majority winner of the LP.
The description of the vídeo states that this cliffhanger was something M. Night Shyamalan would be proud of.
During a Paddle Battle minigame, Compu!Luigi rockets the raft all the way across the river in one mighty stroke after the guys get him to take a hit. Screams of this commence.
On Bowser's Magma Mountain: "WHAT?! THAT WAS A STAR!"
Apparently, this is actually a bug. The first Mario Party predetermined all random-number results (Dice Blocks, the Roulette Block prompting the above quote, possibly even Chance Time) before each turn. Further proven in the next episode (and the previous one too, though that went unmentioned) when a Star is selected even though the block was clearly showing Bowser.
Dark Horse Victory: When you have three human players and one random computer opponent, this is almost inevitable sometimes.
The most obvious example of this is in Wario's Battle Canyon; Jon had the lead for most of the game, until the very end when NCS, who had been in last place most of the time, suddenly snatched it from him.
Chugga: Yoshi?!
Jon: Whoa, Tim wins?!
Chugga: Tim?! Where the hell did he come from?!
Jon: Outta nowhere!
Chugga winning Bowser's Magma Mountain also counts. It was magnificent.
Chugga: I was one of the few people who actually had the first [Mario Party]... and I was too poor to afford anymore after that, because I was really poor.
Dialogue Reversal: In Episode 1 of "Donkey Kong's Jungle Adventure"...
*during Bowser Balloon Burst* Chugga: Wow, I'm doing terribly. Jon: That's what I like to hear. *later, during Bobsled Run* Jon: Oh man, we're [Jon and NCS] doing horribly. Chugga: That's what I like to hear.
Dissimile: Chugga, on Knock Block Tower: "It's like Jenga, except not at all."
Even Evil Has Standards: In Luigi's Engine Room, Chugga gets Boo and has enough coins to steal a Star, with Jon being the only one aside from him to have one. Chugga instead steals coins.
Jon: I thought you were gonna do something else there.
Chugga: I'm not that mean. You are though.
Jon: Yeah, 'cause I did it last time!
On one board, Bowser actually gives Chugga money when he's broke.
Even Nerds Have Standards: When NCS makes the inevitable reference to "Move Faster Pokey", Chugga, of all people, immediately chastises him for it, claiming that even he wouldn't have gone that far.
Hypocritical Humor: He then proceeds to make the reference in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Jon spends the rest of the level and the beginning of the next one trying to kill him.
Facepalm: Yoshi's game-loss animation, which they nickname "eyes-palm" or "face-eyes".
Fan Nickname: Invoked — Proton Jon always refers to the "Bowser Revolution" event as "Bowser Communism".
Chugga: And you say I'm racist. Jon: Ra— how is that racist!? It's a dinosaur! Chugga: Dinosaurs are people too, you know! Jon: No they're not, they're dinosaurs! That's why they're called dinosaurs! Tim: *on the brink of laughing* No comment.
Also how Chugga pronounces Knock Block Tower. It's gets even more racist as the boards go by.
For Want of a Nail: The only thing that stopped Wario from winning the Bowser's Magma Mountain board was Chugga having ONE MORE COIN than him, thus letting Chugga win the Coin Star.
A harder to catch version was during Eternal Star; Peach came in second, and on the last mini-game (Shy Guy Says), Chugga won. If you look at the final results screen, it showed that the 10 coins Chugga got allowed him to keep ahead of Peach after the bonus stars were awarded.
Foreshadowing: Possibly intentional: Josh Jepson is mentioned at one point during the LP. Guess who joins them for their next LP.
In episode 11 at 9:10, Chugga is singing the main theme of Super Smash Bros. Brawl (though it's hard to tell, because it's so bad). Their next LP turns out to be that very game.
Four is Death: Inverted. A person in Mario Party who leads by 4 stars means death to everyone else. Clearly demostrated in Eternal Star, as Chugga was the one that had 4 stars. Guess who won the board?
And John's languish cries of GAAAMEEE! was said 4 times in a row when first used in Yoshi's Island Adventure.
Fridge Logic: Invoked in the last part of the LP. "You didn't have numbers in 1927?"
Fun with Acronyms: In one chance time, Jon — having lost a star — tells the game 'FU so much.' And Chugga gives us this:
Chugga: If you see Kay, tell her I said 'hi!'
Funny Background Event: In Mini-Game Island, the Guys overhear a conversation between drug dealers. Later on, in Mini-Game Stadium, the mic picks up the sound of the police siren on their way to arrest the drug dealers.
Gang Up on theComputer: The three of them often partake in this when they aren't explicitly screwing each other over. In Luigi's Engine Room, they even officially formed an Anti-Peach Allegiance.
During the Yoshi board, they decide to gang up on Chugga instead.
Jon even states that he would even help Tim win just so Chugga couldn't.
They'll often target the computer player with Boo even if the computer is already in last place. Justified by the computer's Coins and Stars not being put into the in-game bank at game's end... at least for Mario Party 1.
Genre Savvy: Chuggaaconroy knows Jon is better than him in button tapping and thus won't compete with him in Crane Game.
Yoshi's Tropical Island Part 1 had one of these for Jon. He got a poison mushroom from a Mushroom Space; Luigi then got a warp block, swapped places with Jon, and got a normal mushroom. Later in that same turn, NCS also got a normal mushroom. Jon was not amused.
On the final turn of Wario's Battle Canyon, Chugga — whose turn immediately precedes Jon's — reaches Boo and steals a star from Jon. Then on Jon's turn, he gets a Minus Block note player loses a number of coins equal to the dice roll. And rolls a 10.
Chugga: Hey, Jon. Hey, Jon. Don't eat the mushroom. Jon: ...I hate your face. *Chugga laughs, NCS groans* NCS: Man, talk about perfect timing! Chugga: I was saving that joke! Jon: I like how you scripted jokes for— to say— Chugga: Well, I just thought of it on the plane! Jon: You thought of it on the wa— You literally have thought of this for days! You've been waiting days to make a "Don't eat the mushroom" reference! Chugga: Well, I guess I knew it would bug you! I knew it would bug you, that's why I did it.
Mind Screw: Jon has one of these moments when Chugga reveals that Mario Party has Canon.
Mix-and-Match Critters: The trio has a tendency to laugh whenever one of the characters ends up in a Bowser suit with their ridiculously mismatched head peeking out.
Mood Whiplash: Chugga during Wario's Battle Canyon: "(gets shot by a cannon, lands two spaces behind Boo) NO! (lands on Mini Game) Oh, cool! (gets Slot Machine) NO!"
Chugga on several occations. Most notably when he wins a Chance Time in the last round of Bowser's Lava Mountain. They even warn the watchers to turn their earphones down.
Noodle Incident: At the very beginning of Mario's Rainbow Castle — Episode 4:
Overly Long Gag: The very last mini-game they play is Shy Guy Says. The mini-game goes on for 40 seconds before Jon and Chugga are the only ones left standing. They then proceed to survive the mini-game for the next minute and 28 seconds, making the mini-game last for two minutes and eight seconds. Doesn't sound too long, but watching it does feel ridiculous after the first half minute.
Chugga: Buried Treasure, alright. I won this every time we played it last game, hopefully I can do so again. Jon: We only played it once last game. Chugga: That was every time!
Rule of Three: All over the place. The Runaway Guys are composed of three core players, many players winning the game by having 3 stars, many mini-games have been played up to three times so far, etc.
Running Gag: "Don't eat the mushroom" is a very easy quote to toss around.
Chugga says "Knocka Blocka Towaa" every time said game is selected.
"I don't like that omen." is often said by Jon or Chugga whenever the Chance Time's pre-set mode shows Mario or DK giving coins to another player. Eventually, they start saying it every time someone hits Chance Time. Ironically, Chugga later wins Bowser's Magma Mountain as a direct result of Chance Time.
"Oh look, <x> is giving ten coins to himself, how generous of him!"
On the instruction screen of minigames, Chugga will often move his character around and announce how he's attacking the others.
Schedule Slip: It happened once with Yoshi's Tropical Island due to PAX East '11 (though that was due to the internet at their hotel being crappy).
Chugga also pokes at Jon's slow updates during one minigame, when he said "And I'll start updating every 5 years" to which Jon remarks "I LP faster than that."
There's a three-week pause planned between World 7 and 8 of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but filler videos have been promised to keep the viewers occupied.
Screw Destiny: You know that 'Mario Party has canon' bit in the first episode? They made sure Wario didn't win at Bowser's Magma Mountain.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Called out word-for-word during a failed "Bowl Over" game, where the shell hits the "gutter" and the Koopa Troopa used as the bowling ball pops its head and limbs out of its shell and runs off.
So Bad, It's Good: invoked Chugga references this trope almost verbatim, claiming that Shaq Fu is "So Bad It's Great".
Chugga: You know what else isn't making it into the final cut? Jon: What? (Insert long bleep here) Jon: Yeah, that just threw me off guard, actually. ...In case you were wondering, Chugga just shouted and thought that the censor fit better in editing!
Stay in the Kitchen: In the intro to the game itself, Chugga explains the premise ofMario Party — they try to figure out who among them is the best, but he chimes that it can't be Peach, "because she's a woman." He's immediately called out on this.
Sure, Why Not?: During a loud bit between Chugga and Jon after the shocking realization of Chugga's Epic Win at the end of Bowser's Magma Mountain.
Chugga: I won by one coin! Jon: You won by Chance Time, Chugga. You won by Chance Time! IT WAS BY MY WILL, IT WAS BY MY WILL THAT YOUR- Chugga:-THAT I WAS GIVEN FLESH! Jon: THAT TOO! SURE, WE'LL ROLL WITH THAT!
The Stinger: Thrown in at the end of Bowser's Magma Mountain, just to remind everyone of Wario's moment of monumentalArtificial Stupidity.
In Handcar Havoc, Jon states that you never had to use the brakes... and then both teams fall into the lava as they tried to go through a curve.
Chugga: You say we never needed the brake button! *(beat)* Jon: My bad. Chugga: SEE?! Jon: I have never- n- never ever needed the brake button on that! Never. Chugga: TOLD! YOU! Jon: That's the first time I've ever seen it- Chugga:TOLD! YOU!
And in Eternal Star:
Jon: And I'm gonna roll a two. (A Slow Block pops upnote Guaranteeing that his dice roll is between one and three)GAAAAME!!!
Though he did get a three, this was immediately followed by Chugga getting a Speed Blocknote eight to ten, resulting in angrish from Jon.
In Yoshi's Island:
Jon:(gets a Mushroom Block) Oh, this could be good...
That Russian Squat Dance: During the minigame island run, Jon mentions that Wario looks like he's doing this in the limbo game.
Throw the Dog a Bone: NCS's victory in Wario's Battle Canyon, though it was due to pure luck, and landing on lots of Happening Spaces.
Also, Jon finally getting a regular mushroom.
Too Soon: When Chugga and NCS fall off the slope in Bobsled Run, Jon says afterwards that they had a Jamaican bobsled accident, then asks if it's too soon straight after.
Yank the Dog's Chain: On Peach's Birthday Cake, NCS lands on a hidden block that gives him 20 coins, which is enough to pay for the star that's right ahead. Too bad that the star he earns is taken from him a few minutes later when he lands on a happening space.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
AGoddessAm I: Chugga declares himself to be Amaterasu. He also points out when another guy is God, usually when they're mini and running across water.
Apologetic Attacker: Whenever Tim gets in the crossfire of Chugga and Jon's attempts to kill each other, they tend to tell him they're sorry for that.
Back-to-Back Badasses: In a sense. During parts of a ghost house involving a descending platform surrounded by Boos, the group paired up and faced back-to-back to look at the ghosts and keep them away. They weren't really doing anything other than that (aside from the time Josh decided to just throw fireballs randomly).
Bash Brothers: Josh and Jon when not trying to kill each other. They both even give the killing blow to Roy, tag teamed Lemmy, Jon launched a star empowered Josh at Boos, worked together to get several of the Star Coins, and seem to be the ones to pull off the combo ground pound most of the time.
It was even discussed in LPCatchPhrases' interview with Jon: the man himself says he thinks of Josh as "a younger him" and they tend to team up like brothers a lot, particularly Josh backing Jon up when he calls out Chugga for certain things.
In episode 14; Josh lets a huge one out when they learn they'll have to repeat the entirety of 6-7 after going through hell to get all the star coins, then die right before the end.
In episode 16, Chugga dies just before hitting the second switch in the final castle, forcing them to restart the level. Chugga, NCS, and Josh let out several of these.
Big "YES!": Jon, on the other hand, cheers, since that meant he had another chance to be the one to hit the switch. He lets out another when he actually does hit it.
Book Ends: It's a case of Blink and You'll Miss It, but it's there. Nintendo Capri Sun's first death? The first Goomba of the first stage. His last death? The last Goomba of the last stage.
In Episode 5, a reference is made to Stevethe Red Pikmin. Of course, Chugga doesn't like it.
'Steve' was also alluded to during the Yoshi's Tropical Island run in the Mario Party LP.
The intros to each video, as mentioned in Running Gag below, reference each players' intro styles in their own videos... and in one special case:
Jon:Alright, guys,welcome back toano- the next romhack. We're gonna be playing a four-player Mario romhack sent to us by S. Miyamata, I dunno... I can't read his name, it's kinda weird. Um... it looks... looks pretty good, actually, it's got a lot of work done to it, it's got a pretty big map...
"DINOSAURS ARE PEOPLE TOO!" "No, they're dinosaurs."
Episode 11 has the Guys bring up 'Rapanese'.
Josh finds out that Chugga never saw Indiana Jones or Back to the Future, and reacts pretty much the exact same way that Jon and Tim did.
Catch Phrase: Jon tends to cheerfully call, "Bye guys!" whiler rushing ahead of everybody.
Chekhov's Gun: Remember those two lives Chugga got in episode 17, part 1, around the 7 minutes and 30 seconds mark? Had he not gotten those lives, he would almost definitely have used a continue as Jon wanted, as later on there was a period where he had only two lives remaining.
Cluster F-Bomb: When compared to the mere precision F-bombs dropped in their other group works. JoshJepson is a large contributor to this.
Epic Fail: At the end of World 6-1. Josh was about to reach the flag pole and bubbled. Jon pops him, getting knocked away from the top in the process, This sends Josh high enough to reach the top of the flagpole, but Josh bubbles again. Chugga pops on his way to the flagpole only for Josh to bubble a third time.
Episode 14. They even had to change to ending format, because the causes of death wouldn't all fit on screen. And the death count at the end: Jon 19, Josh 29, Chugga 43 and NCS 47.
Levels 7-4 and 7-6 especially.
Episode 17. World 9-3. That one Star Coin.It took 12 tries to get it.
At the end, both NCS and Josh's most common causes of death were self-induced pitfalls.
Failed a Spot Check: Happens a lot to Josh and Tim. Notably, Josh fails to spot an incoming Bullet Bill during Episode 14, causing all three of the others to yell.
Jon: How did you not see that?!
Foregone Conclusion: It's either going to be Jon or Chuggaconroy winning in almost all of the categories; if not for making sure (more) levels don't have to be replayed due to multiple stupid deaths, Tim and Josh might as well not even be there.
They actually Lampshade this in episode 9.
It comes true, they are the two that defeat Bowser.
Foreshadowing: Brought up by Chugga but avoided. He points out that the Blue Toad dies during the demo play and that he will be played by Jon. As it stands, he's died the least times out of everyone.
Forgot About His Powers: In the game, whenever two or more players ground pound at the same time, it causes a shockwave that functions like a POW Block. The four of them use this ability all the time in those balloon-collecting minigames to kill everything right off the bat and make it easier, but they never think to use it to knock down Star Coins floating in the air, and frequently complain about missing coins and having to revisit the level later if they lose the POW Block that would be required to knock them down in singleplayer.
Chugga points this out during the coin cleanup in episode 12, but it didn't get a passing acknowledgement from anyone else.
Heh Heh, You Said X: In Episode 11, Jon said the phrase "number 2", and Josh, Chugga, and Tim all said this.
Chugga: I SACRIFICED MYSELF FOR MONEY! I REGRET NOTHING!
Hey, That's My Line!: In episode 12, Jon and Chugga get into an argument because Chugga keeps saying things Jon said.
In Episode 15, Chugga starts using Josh's catch phrases. Jon is not amused.
Inverted in the Episode 7 intro, Jon's upset he DOESN'T have a line to steal
Hoist by His Own Petard: The bubble mechanic gets abused — a lot. This occasionally comes back to bite the guys in the ass whenever they fail a level because three of the players are stuck in bubbles — voluntarily or otherwise — and the last guy dies. Episode 14 is the shining example of this trope in this LP.
The finale stated that they knocked themselves out of the level by all bubbling at the same time 20 times. Yes, you read that right, Twenty.
Human Shield: Chugga does this to Jon in episode 12. Jon was less than pleased, mostly because everyone had just picked up an item that grants invincibility.
Jon: *After dying* Argh! Thanks for using me like an umbrella, guys; while you had Starmen!
It's All About Me: Jokingly, on various occasions; one of the guys will say that everything is all right because they survived something, even though the other three are perfectly fine as well.
Laser-Guided Karma: Near the beginning of World 1-4, Proton Jon acquires two Ice Flowers from a ? Block, and proceeds to taunt everyone else, only to get hit by a fish almost immediately thereafter, losing his powerup. Subverted when he picks up another ice flower that had fallen below the bottom of the screen, then doubly subverted when he gets hit by the next fish. All of this happens in the space of about thirteen seconds.
Jon's attempted Taking You with Me. During Episode 4, Chugga eats Jon with his Yoshi. Jon promptly escapes, and steals Chugga's Yoshi with a ground-pound. As Chugga protests, Jon immediately eats him, while he's falling into a pit, trying to kill them both. Chugga manages to escape and bubble to safety, while only Jon falls to his death.
Zigzagged: Chugga manages a role reversal in episode 6, and it worked.
Late Arrival Spoiler: In Episode 7, Chugga references the ending of Mario Party. The others immediately Lampshade this, and proceed to discuss it in greater detail.
Late to the Punchline: During the send-off for episode 6, one of the guys doesn't understand the pun in "join us next time for World 4," and has to have it spelled out.
Leeroy Jenkins: Chugga will often cry this when anyone utters the words, "All right, let's do this." Sometimes he cuts himself off, saying he won't make the joke, only to fully do so a few minutes later.
The trope actually occurs in the finale; while the others discussed how to get a particular star coin in World 9-5, Josh rushed ahead to claim it while they weren't looking. Subverted, though, because he succeeded.
The Medic: NCS, in a way. He usually doesn't do too much during the actual stages, but when the other guys die, he avoids traps so he can pop their bubbles and bring them back into the game. Ironically, he'll often die immediately after saving someone.
Mondegreen: Josh said "Geez it's thrusting", which sounded like "Jesus frosting".
Jon The superpower of teamwork isn't going to save us this time!
Real Men Wear Pink: Chugga's choice of Yoshi, the "fabulous" pink Yoshi.
Running Gag: Josh's eternal quest for 1-ups and Jon stealing them.
Also, Jon's tendency to run up ahead of everyone else with a cheerful "Bye guys!"
For the first few episodes, each episode is introduced by one member of the group in turn in the style of their usual LP's. Particularly funny when Proton Jon (referring to his reputation for LPing Mario romhacks) acts as though the game is an unusually good romhack sent to him by "someone called S. Miyamoto".
The yellow Toad sounding like a chicken.
NCS keeps accidentally pausing or hitting the home button on the controller.
NCS bubbling right before the flag.
Chugga admitting to not seeing certain popular/classic movies, and the others' reactions.
Comparing the look of the Propeller Shroom suit to a jogging suit, and when all four of them have it equipped, saying how they're going to go jogging.
Josh: I'm gonna be yellow Toad, and I'll be the best yellow Toad you've ever seen!
Jon: And I'll be leaving, thank you.
Jon attempts this later during their Star Coin collection run through Roy's castle, by trying to take a different path than the others. Key word being 'trying'.
Status Quo Is God: Despite Jon saying in an interview he's willing to stop deliberately killing Chugga during the next recording session, he gets worse if anything.
Josh had a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass episode, finally getting some lives and doing the best. However, right after, he goes back to being the 1-Up needing Butt Monkey.
Stealth Pun: Most likely unintentional, but at the end of episode 3, we have this exchange.
They pull off another accidental pun when they accidentally use Mini-Mushrooms before 9-7, but decide to do the level anyway. The person who gets the farthest while Mini'd is NCS: Tiny Tim.
Strange Minds Think Alike: Chugga resists making a pun, only for Josh to make it immediately after Chugga said he didn't want to say it.
Before then, in the same level, there's a more subtle variation...
Josh: When [the Boos] laugh at me, it lowers my self esteem.
(Platform starts falling really fast.)
All: AAAAAAAAAAAAH!
And in episode 17, during the world 9-3. "I LOVE this level! I want to do it a... FIFTH time!" ...Well, let's say that the second star coin grants this wish.
That Came Out Wrong: Jon has been carrying Tim around for a bit, but there's a star coin on the other side of a lava stream. Jon says to Tim, "The question is, if we're going to go for that coin, you gotta get off my head, so flip off."
Not just episode 16. Judging by most of the Guys' reactions, several episodes have started with a simple joke or quote that dissolved into a series of improvised lines, and almost always a Crowning Moment of Funny.
Throw the Dog a Bone: In Episode 5, after not gaining anything in the first 1UP house they visit, Josh manages to snag four in the second one.
Token Evil Teammate: Though generally everyone in the group has bouts of sociopathy, Jon is especially dedicated to making his teammates suffer. See the Woobie Destroyer Of Worlds entry on YMMV for details.
Took a Level in Badass: Tim and Josh actually seem to improve as the game goes on, and by the end, during the harder stages, they end up helping out quite a bit.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Jon in the second half of the LP towards Chugga, particularly trying to kill him more and more. *
, the reason for this is because they were cracking jokes before recording the second half of the LP, and Chugga playfully threw a hard cylindrical pillow in Jon's direction which nailed him right in the face and gave him a black eye.]]
Too Many Cooks Spoil The Soup: They often end up sabotaging themselves by accident just by getting in each other's way. It's especially bad in levels that require precise jumps, where they end up bouncing off each other and knocking each other around.
Troll: Jon. To elaborate, in episode 14 at one point while both Josh and Tim are out of lives and Chugga is stuck in a bubble, Jon starts farming 1-Ups.
Jon: *singing* "I am an asshole, I am an asshole, I am SUCH an asshole!"
He also actually says "I haven't been trolling enough."
On his Formspring, Jon said a few days before the video came out "Actually, video spoilers, for the last levels I just put the controller down to see how well they do without me." Which turned out to be Blatant Lies.
Who Is This Guy Again?: They mistook Lemmy Koopa with Iggy Koopa in parts 5 and 6. Iggy doesn't appear until World 5.
Your Princess Is in Another Castle/Interface Spoiler: In Episode 15, Jon gets so angry at Chugga that he yells "That's it! We are ending this part here!" The video then cuts to their ending screen. Probably would have been more effective if it didn't happen around six minutes in.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
A Date with Rosie Palms: While playing with a sticky Gamecube controller borrowed from a friend, Jon accuses the other guys of this; before he finishes his question, a platform ends up crushing Pikachu (played by Chugga).
Amusing Injuries: Episode 6 opens with Chuggaaconroy slipping and falling off the bed when getting in position to record. The rest of the intro involves him, Nintendo Capri Sun, and Proton Jon arguing over whether or not they're really gonna use it.
Book Ends: The series (not counting their free-for-all video) starts and ends with playing as Kirby and fighting in a stadium.
Brick Joke: At the end of episode 11, Chugga kicks himself out of Jon's house, leaving the others to finish the recording. Flash-forward to episode 12's intro, and Chugga knocking on the door to be let back in after being outside "for a week."
Catch Phrase: Jon's seems to have developed into saying "Really, that's what we're going with?" after someone (usually Chugga) gives a video a questionable intro.
Also "My heroes", which seems to have replaced "Bye guys!"
Combat Pragmatist: The giant, dark Diddy Kong attacks Jon and Tim while the words 'GET READY' are displaying.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Throughout Subspace Emissary, Chugga tended to play rather poorly. However, during the Free-For-All match, he wins against both Jon and Tim. Twice.
Dan Browned: In the cutscene that comes after beating Petey Piranha, Chugga claims that the official name of the cannon Wario is seen with is called a Dark Gun, when its actual name is the Dark Cannon.
Dissimile: At one point in the second episode, Jon states his main dislike with the Subspace Emissary is how it plays more like a beat 'em up rather than Brawl's multiplayer.
Eureka Moment: Near the end of episode 11, Jon realizes that he could just kick Chugga out, because they're playing at Jon's house. Chugga takes off soon after, leaving Jon and Tim to finish the recording.
Fandom Nod: In Episode 3, they make a nod to Chugga's Flanderized love of wearing polo shirts, which he even turns into a Cargo Ship moment. "STOP TRYING TO MAKE OUT WITH POLO SHIRTS!"
Fan Nickname: They refer to the dark subspace versions of the charcters as Cyber-(Name) due to the Cyberspace-like background effects.
Four is Death: Guess how long the first round of Fox (NCS) vs Jigglypuff lasts? Four seconds.
Fridge Logic: Invoked by the guys, who question why the princess not saved by Kirby can't avoid Wario's dark cannon and its long charge time, or how clouds in both the World of Trophies and the Mario series can be sturdy enough to support weight.
Funny Background Event: They get a Game Over because Jon and Chugga were so busy arguing that they started ignoring the game.
Near the start of episode 7, they think they've solved a problem with Tim's controller not being connected, and they start chatting idly as they wait for the game to load. However, the game has actually crashed, and you can hear the long beep that signifies it's crashed. So for a little while, the guys are just talking, not realizing the game is frozen.
Get Out: During the Dark Samus battle in episode 9 (recorded during Jon's birthday), Chugga and Jon talk about Zero Suit Samus actually wearing a suit, just not her birthday suit. Chugga somehow segues into suggesting Jon regularly plays Brawl naked.
Chugga: Isn't that a great birthday present?
Jon: Imagining myself naked!? No! Get out of my house!
In episode 11, he actually does get out of Jon's house.
Humiliation Conga: Episode 10 of Brawl is a HUGE one for Chugga. Jon's usual torment is taken Up to Eleven with the Steve jokes. In the first cutscene, Captain Falcon kills all but a single Red Leaf Pikmin (Steve). Despite not playing the level, Chugga is subjected to Jon's Captain Falcon impression. Remembers, too late, that Steve is part of Olimar's Trophy AND portrait. Once it's his turn, Jon forces him to play as Olimar, and as a result, Steve. Once the level starts, he doesn't get Steve, only to end up plucking him a few seconds later. Dies, resulting in a Game Over JUST as NCS defeats the last three enemies, forcing him to play as Olimar AGAIN, this time, spawning with Steve. After tossing five Pikmin off the level to get rid of Steve, he plucks ANOTHER. But, that's not all. Even after the Olimar levels, he ends up repeatedly frozen by Glices as Ice Climbers and the ending results show he took 1341% damage, more than either Jon or NCS.
Tim gets one in the Bonus Episode. And since Jon was Player 2 and therefore bound to Tim, he suffered by association.
Laser-Guided Karma: Early on in the Sea of Clouds, Jon (who is playing as Kirby) ends up hanging on a ledge at one point, prompting him to say "I'm just hanging around; literally." As soon as he finishes his sentence, a Glunder rolls up to him and attacks Kirby. Chugga lampshades Jon's misfortune.
Chugga: See? When you make bad puns, you get punished!
Late to the Punchline: In episode 8, Tim missed Wario in a cutscene and Chugga's response to that was "Doh!". The next twenty seconds or so of the commentary is Jon trying to figure out the joke.
It happens to him again in episode 4 and ends up giving them a Game Over.
Chugga continues the trend in episode five by getting hit by almost every missile fired by a R.O.B. Blaster, and Tim joins in on the fun by getting hit by almost every enemy thrown explosive.
Mood Whiplash: In episode 10, Chugga makes a Spongebob reference ,and Jon asks when Spongebob came out. Chugga responds that it came out when his parents were still together... when he was 8. Cue uncomfortable silence aside from the game sounds and Jon muttering, "Awkward..."
Replacement Goldfish: Chugga theorizes that this is the case for Nana, and that every time she dies her mother has another girl named Nana who looks exactly the same. Jon is understandably horrified at this train of thought when Chugga points out this means their mother would have to be pregnant and give birth every five minutes.
Proton Jon doesn't want to refer to himself by name in the beginnings and ends of the videos, so Chugga will refer to Jon by whatever comes out of Jon's mouth.
Jon has also gained a habit, that began in Super Mario Bros. Wii, of insulting their opening intro and being annoyed/shocked that they're "[are we] really using that?", constantly. Or saying that it's the worst one they've had so far.
Chugga leaving Jon's house at the end of the video is becoming this.
Chugga's attempts at using a smart bomb always winds up with him blowing up in his face (The one time this didn't happen, the bomb wound up getting NCS killed, leaving them confused as to if that counted or not).
Sarcastic Clapping: Jon does this practically every time Chugga or NCS get a Game Over.
Shout Out: When Chugga won't stop saying "and" at the end of Episode 3, Jon references the Tally Hall song, "&." He is a big fan of the band, according to this tweet.
Status Quo Is God: Everyone treats each other normally again, as opposed to being at each others' throats like at the end of New Super Mario Bros Wii. Though, since you can't attack teammates in this game, it's justified. Jon does still have his fun on occasion, but not nearly to the same extent as last time.
Stealth Pun: Likely an unintentional example, but knowing Chugga, you never know:
Chugga: See? When you make bad puns, you get punished!
Take That: During the opening cutscene of The Jungle (the first level to feature Donkey Kong and Diddy), the guys get in several potshots against the DKC cartoon.
Jon takes a shot at Dragon Ball Z's infamous charging mechanics,
Jon: I have to charge up a bit, hang on. *starts spamming Fox's "charging" taunt* I've gotta be here for... about 25 minutes, and when the credits start playing, I'll be ready to fight.
Annoyed at the Great Maze's constant Backtracking, Chugga sarcastically quips "This is a great idea, it worked so great in Devil May Cry 4."
Tempting Fate: Due to the fact that Chugga keeps hurting himself with Smart Bombs, he quips, "Wow, Jon, I just turn into a suicide bomber around you." Not a second after he says this, a Bob-Omb materializes right on top of him, right as he (as Link) swings his sword. Cue death.
In Episode 9, Jon starts intentionallyTempting Fate during the second try at the Giant Diddy Kong fight For the Evulz, saying how much better Chugga and NCS are doing this time around. Complete with Chugga screaming "No, Jon, DON'T SAY THAT OUT LOUD!"
In the Bonus Episode:
Jon: Now, if you lose to Jigglypuff, I'm just gonna throw my controller and walk away. Just stating that now.
That Came Out Wrong: A variation: in episode 11, Chugga comments that Tim's collectible total might end in the positive zone for once when he's collecting a few stickers. He then says it sounded a lot less mean in his head, and Jon promptly agrees.
Every comment that Chugga makes on Tim's skills is bound to be this.
Throw the Dog a Bone: After messing up their turn order, the Guys work out a solution that involves Tim playing nine straight rounds (with Chugga playing the first five with him and Jon the next four) as Player 2 (enabling him to Press X to Not Die).
Too Dumb to Live: Chugga, as Pikachu, keeps using Thunder on Metal Primids, who automatically reflect energy attacks. This results in the guys getting a Game Over.
Many of Tim's actions in the later parts of Subspace Emissary are... questionable. Granted, he got distracted easily, but even then, some of his deaths seem ridiculous.
Waxing Lyrical: Jon quotes You Give Love a Bad Name by Bon Jovi. The reference goes right over Chugga's head.
“Well Done Son” Guy: According to Chugga in Episode 4, this is his relationship with Jon.
What the Hell, Player?: Jon invokes this when he realizes that since they didn't save Ike in subspace, he doesn't appear in the ending cutscene.
Jon (In shock): Ike is dead! You guys are dicks!
You Can't Fight Fate: It seems Chugga will always get blown up by a Smart Bomb if he gets his hands on one. Always.
Subverted in episode 17, where he throws it and it doesn't hit him. Double subverted because he misses the enemy and hits Tim instead.
As if to hammer this point home, Tabuu uses his giant laser to knock Chugga (playing as Captain Falcon) into the explosion of the smart bomb he just threw.
Mario Party 2
Also Sprach Zarathustra: Jon starts singing this when he's deciding whether to steal a star from Chugga or Tim.
Artificial Stupidity: In the last minigame of Pirate Land, Luigi goes only for Tim, shooting in the same place, which Tim keeps dodging.
Big "NO!": Chugga is REALLY prone to these, although he cut it off once in Bowser Land because he miscalculated where he was going to land (thankfully for him).
Book Ends: Before even starting, it's already a subtle case of it. The very first game the guys played was the original Mario Party. Their next LP, another Mario Party game, was announced on their one-year anniversary.
A case within the series itself: Pirate Land and Bowser Land, the first and last boards respectively, were the only times Jon used a Magic Lamp.
Born Lucky: In the Mystery Land map, can anyone guess how many times Jon got hidden blocks with stars? Three times!
And he's gotten one on pretty much every map before that as well.
All of the guys have gotten Hidden Blocks filled with stars in the most unexpected of times. Ranging from Chugga getting one on the last turn in Pirate Land (when he wanted to go to Boo), Jon getting his after landing on a Happening Space in Space Land, and Tim got his on the first turn in Bowser Land.
Mystery Land itself is prone to give players extreme amounts or luck - or not. Case inpoint.
Borrowed Catchphrase: NCS borrows Jon's "GAAAAAAAAME!!" when the AI steals his coins with Chance Time.
Brick Joke: Episode 16 of their New Super Mario Bros Wii playthrough has, 'Bowser Land, the happiest place on Earth,' in the description. When they get around to playing the Bowser Land board, the description is, 'the happiest place on Earth.'
Camera Screw: On the first Torpedo Targets minigame of Western Land. As Chugga puts it:
Chugga: Oh — what the hell, what is the camera doing?
Chekhov's Gun: The first Chance Time on Pirate Land ends up playing a crucial role in deciding the outcome of the board.
Colbert Bump: The guys attempt to do this to Clone High; Chugga in particular hopes their constant quoting of it will get other people to watch it.
The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: According to Chugga, the hard-leveled CPU's AI can mash the A-button faster than any human player. The AI even exceeds how fast the N64 controller processes button pressing.
And in Western Land, Chugga retaliates by shipping Jon with Wario. Add in the NintendoCapriSun X NintendoCapriSun joke from Brawl, and all three guys have taken part in this.
Cuteness Proximity: At one point, Jon's cat wanders in while they're recording. Jon is immediately distracted, and starts making kissy-noises at her.
"Kitty! Do you want to be on the Internet? <3 I hear the Internet loves kitties~!"
Darkhorse Victory: In Pirate Land, Chugga wants the computer player to get one of these.
Flat "What.": Jon's response to Chugga after the latter sang along with the title screen music.
Foreshadowing: This game was referenced in one of Tim's vlogs before he removed the bit that referenced it.
For Want of a Nail: In Mystery Land, if the AI didn't land on the Battle Space on the final turn, then Tim would've been the one to win the board because he had won both the Minigame and Coin star while Jon just got the Happening Star. But since the AI did just that, Jon won all three stars, and Tim won nothing.
Also, if Jon didn't steal Chugga's star and went for Tim, he probably wouldn't have won.
Groin Attack: Chugga throws his controller at the end of Bowser Land, and nails Jon.
Hope Spot: Jon and Tim each get one on Pirate Land. Jon was worried that Chugga would use Boo to steal his Star on the last turn if Chugga rolls a high roll, which would give him the board. Chugga didn't make it, to Jon's relief. And then Chugga found a Hidden Block, which gave him both the star and the game anyways! Chugga even lampshaded it. Meanwhile, a star appeared just a few spaces in front of Tim. Said star would get him out of 4th place. He had over 100 coins, and had two turns, and 5 spaces to get that star! He didn't make it!
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Computer-controlled Wario, when he has an opportunity to fire torpedos from Jon's submarine. "Doh, I missed" is an understatement here.
Kick the Dog: A small example. After Jon got a star, the next star space appeared right on the space where Tim was, meaning Tim had no chance to get that and he would have had to make an entire trek around the board if he wanted that star.
The Problem with Pen Island: Discussed Trope, Chugga mentions Okami, in which there are enemies called 'molesters' (which were mole-themed and supposed to be pronounced 'mole-sters'). There's no 'E' in their name in-game, though, but it is a joke among fans of Okami.
The Load: Wario often never helps much in 2-vs-2 minigames.
Opposite Day: In-universe, they refer to Bowser Land as the board version of this: The bank gives coins instead of taking them (with the caveat that whoever lands on the space pays them back), the item shop forces items on you, Baby Bowser is the host instead of Toad, etc. It's also kind of opposite on a meta level for the guys: Tim spends most of the game in first place and gets really lucky, they play almost every Battle Minigame exceptDay at the Races, and Jon is more cheerful generally, while Chugga is more sarcastic.
Out of Character: Chugga and Jon, as listed above, basically swap personalities on Bowser Land; Chugga becomes more sarcastic and annoyed, while Jon becomes cheerful and upbeat. However, they do occasionally lapse into their regular roles.
Tim has his occasional moments of yelling, such as an Ironic Echo "WHERE YOU AT!" in Pirate Land.
Pop Cultural Osmosis: In-series. During the Mini-game Coaster, Chugga and Jon were both amazed that Chugga knew the song "One Week" by the Barenaked Ladies. Jon then asked if Chugga knew it because of the Weird Al song. He did.
Chugga also thought that Tom Clancy was a game designer rather than an author, not knowing that the games were based off his books.
The Power of Hate: In the final game of the Mini-game Coaster, the Guys have trouble beating the Baby Bowser Bunch in a three-on-one game of Shell Shocked. Once Jon battles them a second time, Chugga suggests he pretends they're him. Jon proceeds to win, without taking a single hit.
In Bowser Land, they end up playing seven battle games, but not one of them is "A Day at the Races". This makes the Guys so sad that they try to play it as its own minigame in the minigame area, only to find out it hadn't been unlocked yet. This leads into the entire "Minigame Coaster" playthrough, after which they finally unlock it, and they play it as their very last minigame. Chugga wins. Maybe.
And all three of them have gotten stars from hidden blocks on their first turn.
Scare Chord: The Bowser Land episodes begin with silence, and then Tim screaming almost instantly.
Space Pirates: In Pirate Land, the characters all wear pirate costumes — then when Jon gets the Magic Lamp, the Mushroom Genie flies him into space and down again to reach Toad, leading Jon to namecheck this trope.
Space X: Jon has his fun with this on the space board.
Tim is confirmed to have done this during Bowser Land when yet another "Tim, his wife!" reference is made.
Spoonerism: In Horror Land, Angrish turns NCS mentioning "button mashing" into "mutton bashing", and then "baton munching", which Jon mishears as "Batman munching".
Suspiciously Specific Denial: Chugga says he doesn't keep a list somewhere of every game where Wario says "Doh, I missed". Jon's not so sure.
That Came Out Wrong: During the last Minigame of Space Land, Toad Bandstand, Tim starts to 'scat' to the music, resulting in Chugga saying "I love Tim's scat."
In Horror Land, Jon manages to defeat Chugga in the 1-on-3 game of Bob-omb Barrage, which, up until that point, only the 1 player had won. Chugga then shouts that Jon "blew him in the ass."
Tempting Fate: Jon's using this to the point of weaponizing it. In the last two boards (which were recorded several months after the first two), he even explicitly refers to it as "weaponizing jinxes."
During the Minigame coaster, Jon hoped that the fans wouldn't make a montage of every "D'oh, I missed" was used. Less than aday later...
This Is Gonna Suck: During the opening thirty seconds of the first part of Horror Land (the first of a new batch of recordings by the guys), when Jon and Chugga are already arguing you can hear Tim mutter "We're not gonna make it through this week..."
Took a Level in Badass: NCS plays way more competently than he did in Mario Party. However, he still rolls ridiculously low numbers, which is made more ridiculous since he failed to get an easy to reach Star.
This is even more pronounced in Western Land, where NCS managed to beat the other three players in a Crane Game, thus preventing Jon from getting a star on the next turn. For the uninitiated, Crane Game is a game where you have to pick someone up from a crane and mash A as fast as you can to drop them down a pipe. Even with a hard CPU, who can mash the buttons faster than an N64 controller could register, and Jon, who's clearly shown his button mashing prowess in the previous Crane Games.
Not to mention that NCS stayed as first place for the majority of Bowser Land until Jon won at the end.
Unusual Euphemism: Referring to his Catch Phrase of "Press L to P!", Chugga says partway through Bowser Land that he has to "go press L" before going to the bathroom.
Big "WHAT?!": Their reaction to the final target in Ninja Dojo.
Chugga: IT'S PAC-MAN!
Book Ends: Early in the first episode, Chugga jokes about the panel, and the end of the last episode their is a message that says there will be no episode the following week because they are going to Pax. What's one of the things they do at Pax? Their improved panel!
Brick Joke: Tim starts Episode 9 with mentioning the Fire Nation attacking. Later when Kirby gets the Water ability to use on some fire hazards, he can be heard in the background.
"So much for the Fire Nation."
Chekhov's Skill: In episode 5, Jon (as Meta-Knight) accidentally cuts a rope with his wings, causing a platform to fall on him. Later in the episode, he intentionally does this, sacrificing himself so the group can reach a gear.
Of course, he comes back and steals the gear for himself. What did you expect? It's Jon.
Colour Coded Characters: Discussed when first selecting their characters: Jon notes that while he'll usually play Meta-Knight, he may switch it up and play a Kirby as well, which, due to his being the third player, would automatically color-code him as blue.
Discussed during Ninja Dojo, where they are briefly confused over who has what coloured star and take a moment to figure it out.
Dark Horse Victory: Tim wins the third round of Ninja Dojo nigh-effortlessly by over 200 points.
Deadly Graduation: After Tim gets killed due to Chugga trying to get the Ninja powerup in episode 11, Chugga claims that in order to become a ninja you have to sacrifice the life of one of your best friends.
Establishing Character Moment: The very first thing in the series is the introduction of the game, and each Guy speaking for the character they would play as, in their own way.
Exact Words: In episode 9, Chugga sings the theme from Sonic SATAM; Jon reacts by forbidding him from ever singing any Nineties cartoon theme song ever again...so Chugga sings the Inspector Gadget theme song, pointing out that it's an Eighties cartoon theme song.
Fail O Sucky Name: In-universe, Chugga (rightfully) applies this mindset to the boss, Fatty Puffer.
Flat "What.": Jon lets out a series of these in response to one of the target gimmicks in Ninja Dojo.
Fridge Horror: In-universe; in the bonus episodes they discuss how fridge-creepy the Kirby series is, given that it effectively involves "killing people by throwing the corpses of other people at them". invoked
Heroic Sacrifice: A reluctant Jon sacrifices a life to cut a rope that leads to a door to an Energy Sphere in episode 5. Immediately upon coming back, he takes the Energy Sphere right when Chugga was going to.
Chugga: Screw you for flying.
Jon: I killed myself for that. I deserved that one. I don't care what you say.
How Do I Shot Web?: In Episode 3, Chugga is briefly confused as to whether or not he can jump in Snow Bowl form. When he figures it out, Jon orders him to Read the Freaking Manual.
This actually comes up several times throughout the LP, with Jon having to explain what moves some of the abilities can do to Chugga.
Hypocritical Humour: Jon, in the opening cutscene, is voicing Meta Knight, and this happens:
Jon (Meta Knight): (as Kirby (Chugga) and King Dedede (Tim) are riding the Warpstar) Hey. I can fly. You're all losers, taking the star. (Meta Knight grabs onto the star as well) ...But I'm lazy.
Insane Troll Logic: In the last episode, from the fact that King Dedede has a flower in his hat when he's extracted from landing head-down in the ground, the guys decide 'he's just come back from Hawaii' and stretch that into the Another Dimension being Hawaii, and the Final BossMagolor being the King of Hawaii.
Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: When they play Ninja Dojo, Jon notes that Meta Knight was already awesome, and giving him Ninja Stars just makes him even more awesome.
Irony: Chugga states he's not a fan of Kirby games, with this game being a rare exception. Despite this, he apparently did the best in their practice, which is why he plays as Kirby.
Ironic Echo: When Tim manages to get two gears at once before Chugga can, he can be heard saying "where you at", if one listens closely.
It Is Pronounced Tro PAY: Jon jokingly calls Meta Knight without the silent K. In other words, "Meta Ki-night".
In Episode 9, Chugga calls out people who pronounce Luffy and Yuffie with short U sounds instead of long U sounds.
The Messiah: Parodied in Episode 9, Tim is now the savior of mankind.
Minor Insult Meltdown: More of a 'hey I resent that' than a meltdown, but Chugga can't take Jon's ribbing as well as he usually could throughout this game.
Mr. Exposition: Jon takes over Chugga's usual role as this for this LP.
Nice Hat: In episode 9, Chugga, as Water Kirby, claims that since they are currently swimming in a water-filled area, the entire area is his hat, which is made of water in that form.
Pet the Dog: Jon invokes it by stating he has to be very nice to Chugga as the latter is Kirby, and if he dies, they have to start at the previous checkpoint.
Running Gag: Chugga using the Mega Powers rapidly before Jon or Tim can enter the Phantom Zone, just to slow them down. Jon even lampshades this when it first happens.
Jon has a point, Chugga tries to deflect it by saying it's not the point, Jon says that it is the point.
Smooch of Victory: Jon, as Meta Knight, saves Kirby from being eaten. After Jon says he's a hero, Kirby kisses him. note He charges extra for that.
Stealth Pun: In the first episode, Chugga (playing as Kirby) "sucks up" Tim, quietly claiming afterward, "I ate him! I a-Tim."
Tempting Fate: In Episode 12, Super Sword Kirby attacks with a giant fish for the first time, immediately after Jon asks if they've done that yet.
The Tetris Effect: Chugga admits to having Xenoblade on the brain after hesitating upon entering one of the special zones: the sudden lack of saturation had him expecting a future tag sequence.
Total Party Kill: Tim manages to kill everyone twice in Episode 9.
Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Jon expresses annoyance at the fact that he can't kill Chugga, who's playing as Kirby, without having to restart a stage.
Vocal Dissonance: Chugga keeps the high-pitched voice for Magolor even after his transformation, albeit he adjusts it to be louder and hammier than before.
Little Big Planet
A God Am I: Jon becomes slightly megalomaniac at the end of the final level...
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: All of them, but especially Jon randomly sticking accessories on everything and trying to break the game.
Author Catchphrase: In episode 10, with them all using Antiquated Linguistics, Chugga likes using the words 'orthodox' and 'barbaric' a lot. Jon calls him out at one point for using 'orthodox' in a context where it doesn't really make sense.
Bad Impressionists: Chugga's attempt at Stephen Fry (the narrator) sounds more like a cross between Bane and Scooby-Doo. Of course, after Jon complains he proceeds to read out every text box in the voice, even if it's not something Stephen Fry narrates in the game.
In episode 9, Jon thinks attempts at Japanese accents by Chugga and Lucah respectively sound more like Scooby-Doo and Kyle's mum from South Park.
Book Ends: The first episode ends with Jon enlarging a King of Hearts card, yelling "AND THE KING OF ALL CAAAAAAAAARDS!" while doing so. The finale begins with the guys discussing the King of All Cards as though he is a wanted criminal, and Jon enlarges the card again.
Also, the guys (without Lucahjin) were playing Wii Party before they switched to this game, then went back to Wii Party when they finished. So the weeks directly before and after this collab started had Wii Party videos.
Call Back: Lucahjin makes several references to MAH BALLS from her Barbie LP, including her character's costume.
Jon's Mexican Waluigi voice appears again in Episode 6, this time with Waluigi as a detective.
In the finale, NCS compares a stage to one in Battletoads and he and Jon mention the race of that game they both took part in.
Cross Player: Tim as "Victorian Lady Gaga". Leads to Viewer Gender Confusion in episode 4 with Chugga accidentally referring to Tim as 'she'.
Camera Screw: Partway into Episode 8, Tim gets left behind at a Spawn Point while the other Guys and Lucajihn are jumping over things, almost leading to their deaths.
Foreshadowing: An odd case. While the Guys were good about keeping Lucahjin's identity under wraps until the first video debuted, there were some strange references to her in the videos shortly preceding this one, what with the drug-dealer look-alike of Lucahjin outside their window when they were filming Minigame Island and the computer picking "Luca" as their fourth player in Board Game Island. It seems the universe was foreshadowing her involvement in this LP.
There was also the "Mexican Penguin" cryptic reference from Fortune Street.
Gosh Dang It to Heck!: In episode 9, NCS falls into some poisonous gas and lets out a small "fuck!". He quickly corrects himself, leading to Jon and Chugga to make their own family-friendly swears.
Insane Troll Logic: In episode 6, Jon invokes it to try and explain the strangely unrelated pictures used to illustrate the Rolling Run level. "It's medium difficulty because her hair is black...just like her eyes".
He also claims repeatedly that penguins are experienced with fire.
Leeroy Jenkins: Chugga's playing style, leading Jon to dub him 'Impatient Shark'. The result is that he has more deaths than usual as he runs into traps, but also wins most levels because he gets most of the score bubbles before the others can.
Overly Long Gag: In episode 10, they carry out the aforementioned Take That for an entire half hour.
In the final episode, The Stinger: "YEAH COFFEE! YEAH COFFEE! YEAH COFFEE!" Which has its own stinger where Jon reverses it: "Less coffee... less coffee... less coffee..."
Perspective Flip: In the finale, Chugga suggests that Big BadFinal Boss The Collector is like an accomplished Pokemon player who really had caught them all, and the Guys effectively erased his save file, making them the real villains.
Running Gag: At the start of nearly every episode Jon had added some ridiculous accessory to his costume (like tentacles or springy hands). Often he's put them on Lucahjin too.
An unintentional one is that almost every episode starts with a disclaimer about how something or other has gone wrong with technical aspects of the recording. Eventually they start to lampshade this.
Jon's habit of sticking hipster glasses on things getting bigger and more audacious with every episode.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: At the end of Episode 9, Tim gets up and leaves before the group can do the outro. Jon and Chugga jokingly act like it was this.
Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: In episode 4, Jon puts a bow on Lucah's head instead of on her neck, so she's not "wearing it like a boy." This is the only visual clue that Lucah's a girl, since it's Tim who's playing Victorian Lady Gaga.
Ungrateful Bastard: A very minor example; at the start of episode 5, Chugga announces that he got Tim, Jon, and Lucah gifts since he hasn't seen them in a while. Tim and Lucah are surprised and curious, but in the background, you can hear Jon sigh in annoyance. Possibly justified, given how the last two times Chugga did this, he got Poison Mushrooms.
Then subverted, double-subverted, and Played for Laughs in the span of a few seconds; when Jon actually gets his gift (a "Batman For President" shirt), he seems genuinely surprised and thankful...then he covers Chugga's in-game player avatar in zebra stripes.
In Jon's defense, Chugga did eventually take a liking to the rainbow shark.
Viewer Gender Confusion: Chugga once accidentally calls Tim 'she' due to him using a female avatar (as does Jon later), and also insists some skeletal Aztec-ish characters 'look like women', which Jon finds bizarre.
World of Chaos: The game already has shades of this to start with, but it goes Up to Eleven when Jon is let loose.
Wii Party
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In "Around the World", Jon takes offense both at the souvenir for Canada being maple syrup ("THAT'S RACIST!") and that the location of the maple syrup is geographically wrong.
Jon: That's racist! And why is it in Vancouver? Is should be in Quebec!
Be Careful What You Say: In Wii Party Swap Meet Part 2, Jon mentioned that people should put Chugga's face on a penguin. They did, and, this is what ensued.
Black Comedy: Chugga states that Captain Falcon is the new Steve Irwin. Jon responds, "that didn't end well for Steve Irwin, you might wanna take that back."
Call Back: Chugga uses a variant on his Magolor voice from Kirby for the announcer, Jon briefly uses the Waluigi voice from Fortune Street.
Likely unintentional, but the outro music (at least for all episodes so far) is the same as it was in Fortune Street.
Chocolate Baby: They play a mini-game which involves comforting crying babies. Jon notices that both he and Chugga have babies with significantly darker skin than their Miis.
Jon: I'm going to have a hard time explaining this one to my girlfriend...
Colour Coded Characters: Parodied when their colours get "mixed up" - Chugga becomes blue, Tim becomes red, and Jon becomes green.
Contrived Coincidence: The game is asked to pick a random name for their fourth AI player. It chooses Luca.
Crack Pairing: In-universe, in the Friend Connection game, the game picks Captain Falcon and Mr. Ed as the best couple. This gets a lot of comments from the Guys.
Development Hell / Schedule Slip: Of a sort, and justified. After Globe Trot, the let's play was suddenly stopped in favour of beginning Little Big Planet, leading to a lot of people thinking that Wii Party was just filler. As it turns out, it is actually its own let's play, and is being continued now that Little Big Planet is over.
Foreshadowing: At the start of Board Game Island, the Guys note that their current set up could get awkward, but don't explain what or how until it becomes an issue later.
Hollywood Atlas: The "Around the World" mode of Wii Party is like this to begin with, but it gets exacerbated when Canadian Jon buys maple syrup in Canada, and partially-Mexican Chugga picks up a sombrero in Mexico. They tell one another to Stop Being Stereotypical.
Later in "Spin Off", Jon claims an advantage in a lumberjack-based game because of being Canadian.
Interface Screw: During Board Game Island, the awkward position of the Wii sensor bar relative to the Guys makes Friendly Face-Off a lot more awkward.
Interspecies Romance: Captain Falcon apparently dating Mr. Ed in Friend Connection.
Tempting Fate: Used by Jon against Chugga, over and over before the Shifty Gifts minigame: "Emile never lost this one. Emile never lost this one. I can't believe Emile never lost this one. Emile, why did you never lose this one?" Emile lost that one.
This comes back to bite Jon, though, as he automatically assumes he'll win Chin-Up Champ before it starts. He doesn't.
In the first Spin Off episode, Chugga states these words: "We'll be tackling both Spin Off and Bingo today and these are both luck based, so we know how this is gonna go for Jon already." Jon wins both games.
Unsettling Gender Reveal: Played with by Tim and Jon when the male 'Luca' Mii appears and they identify it with Lucahjin, Tim references his old crush on Lucahjin and acts squicked.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: One minigame being introduced with the phrase "Another day in the robot factory..." leads Jon to read it out in an apathetic Seen It All voice.
“Well Done Son” Guy: Jon apparently now looks up to Captain Falcon and doesn't want to disappoint him.
First, Tim is in the lead or at least doing rather well for most of the game, but in the last couple of turns he gets sent very far back, then into the volcano.
Then, Jon reaches the final challenge, but fails to roll a six...then Chugga reaches the final challenge that turn, rolls a six, and wins.
New Super Mario Bros. U
Actually Pretty Funny: Josh's reaction to Chuggaa's "Meet the Timstones" intro, much to Jon's surprise.
Book Ends: Episode 16 begins and ends with Jon and Josh chanting, most notably "You messed up!" to Chuggaa.
Borrowed Catchphrase: Three examples in episode 5; Chugga borrows Jon's "Bye guys!"; Tim borrows Josh's "Swiiiiirly!" (to do a pun on 'Squirrrrly' for squirrel); Tim also borrows Lucahjin's "MAH BALLS" when someone mentions horses.
Amusingly, Jon then mentions how he was flagged for spoilers on Miiverse for saying the level "Perilous Pokey Cave" has Pokeys in it.
Chekhov's Skill: In the last episode, Chugga tries to justify his running ahead as a skill for "Run for It." Jon doesn't go for it.
Jon: Look at him. He's trying to justify his running ahead all the time.
Epic Fail: In Episode 15, Jon actually condones the use of a P-Acorn for one of the harder levels in the game. Everyone dies anyway due to going back for a Star Coin they missed.
It gets worse: said Star Coin was missed after they reached the midpoint, meaning after dying, they had to go back and get the coin again.
Everybody Lives: There are absolutely no deaths in Episode 3, surprisingly.
Everyone Has Standards: In episode 9, Josh threatens to reference Steve the Pikmin to torment Chugga, and Jon says not even he does that to Chugga anymore.
Also a Call Back to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, when Josh referenced "MOVE FASTER POKEY!" and Chugga said even he doesn't do that to Jon anymore.
Evil Laugh: Tim, of all people, lets out a quiet one in Episode 8 after he causes Emile to be knocked into a spike trap by jumping on his head.
Face Heel Turn: Chuggaconroy, in what ranks as one of the most mild examples, completes this by about episode 8. By the point where he's giggling about how fun it is being evil and calling himself "Evil Chugga," it's become this trope.
Fan Nickname: Chugga refers to the P-acorn item as the "Arabian Acorn" because he says the white shell looks like a turban.
Follow the Bouncing Ball: Chugga's "Meet the Timstones" song in episode 2, using the Runaway Guys logo as the ball.
Godzilla Threshold: Jon seems to have no problem letting the P-Acorns clutter up the inventory, and is at the time arguing with Chugga to save them up for difficult levels... and then the group sees that the next level is Painted Swampland. Jon immediately says to use one. They all die anyway - not just all dying in the stage, everyone being dead at the same time and being KICKED OUT of the stage.
Hero Killer: Evil Chugga has no problem with killing Josh.
Interface Spoiler: In the second episode of Superstar Road, Chugga and Jon get into a brief argument over whether or not to keep going and finish the world or finish it off in the next video. When they decide to finish it off after a coin flip, Jon points out how people could have just looked at the video timer to see whether or not they would do it.
Chugga also has a Running Gag of mentioning embarrassing details, whether true or not, about the guys and then saying something to the effect of "there you go, fanfic materials."
Episode 13 begins with the discussion of gender-bending. The fanfic potential is immediately pointed out.
Only Sane Man: Tim, even moreso than in the previous projects.
Overly Narrow Superlative: In episode 1, when Josh does a Call Back to his introduction in the earlier LP and says he's "the best Yellow Toad you've ever had!", Chugga points out that he's also the only Yellow Toad they've ever had.
Overly Preprepared Gag: Chugga's "Meet The Timstones" intro, to which Jon mentions that he actually had the lines written down beforehand.
Pandering to the Base: invoked Often when Chugga is doing something silly or mean (or just plain annoying Jon), he will claim that he's "doing it for the fans!"
Planet of Steves: In a Call Back to them mixing up the Koopalings and saying two different ones were Iggy back in the previous LP, they now decide that all the Koopalings will be called Iggy.
Poke the Poodle: Jon's mischief in the early episodes involve... not telling the rest of the Guys that a block doesn't contain power-ups, and generally not being overly helpful. Chugga indulges in a bit of this as well come episode 8.
Portmanteau: In episode 6, Josh refers to the Toad Bros. as "Broads" (rhymes with toads).
Quip to Black: Jon's "Dancing with the Stars" pun in episode 23, though with a Collective Groan rather than a "YEEEAAAH!"
Running Gag: Josh is not a true Runaway Guy. He is Four.
Tim is getting all of the star coins.
Every time someone gets a star, Josh will shout, "Hug me!" to the point that it's practically a Catch Phrase. An acceptable case however, as he's always either trying to get the Star power or trying to give it to the others.
Josh rapidly ducking over and over while he makes a dubstep beat in time with it.
At various points through the playthrough, Josh (playing off of how astounded he was when he discovered that he could do this) will suddenly pause the game and shout, "SO MUCH POWER!"
Chugga checking out the Miiverse comments and the other Guys mocking them, especially how people use the Two Words: Obvious Trope phrase only to follow it with more than two words.
Josh: Welcome, everybody, to The Runaway Assholes. My name is JoshJepson, I'm here with these three assholes... AssholeJon, Chugga Asshole - or Asshole Conroy - or just Asshole Asshole, and NintendoCapriSun.
Tempting Fate: In Episode 11, Chugga comments on how easy they've had it so far. Jon calls him out on this; Chugga's defense is that he wants to jinx them to make it more interesting. "You're welcome, viewers!"
That Came Out Wrong: After the Guys are told to concentrate, Josh attempts to do a joke about them all going to a summer camp dedicated to concentrating. A concentration camp. This actually prompts Chuggaa to join Jon in his sarcastic clapping.
Throw the Dog a Bone: Josh ends up getting the final hit on the Final Battle against Bowser, getting a kiss and 13 STDs from Peach as a reward.
Tomato Surprise: Joked about in episode 9 when everyone (including Jon himself in a Dull Surprise fashion) claim that Jon's dark secret is that he's actually a hat.
Too Awesome to Use: They argue about this with respect to the P-acorns filling up their limited inventory space.
Took a Level in Badass: NCS and Josh especially are contributing a lot more and dying only a fraction as much as they were in Wii.
Episode 14 has Tim actually reach 99 lives.
And Episode 15 has Josh hit 99 as well.
Everybody in the first video of Superstar Road. The normally disorganized team essentially Zerg Rushes their way through the entire first half of the bonus world, collecting all of the Star Coins in a single run, not the least of which is "Run For It" where everyone contributes to a nigh-perfect playthrough.
Chugga: TRG for the mothereffing win!
Troll: Jon promises in the first episode to not do this. However, he states that if someone draws first blood on him, then all bets are off.
Exact Words: He only said that he wouldn't kill people, nothing about verbal trolling or ninjaing powerups was mentioned.
As of Episode 6, first blood was drawn on him, meaning he can stop holding back.
In Episode 8, Chugga begins trolling, as he begins understanding why Jon loved doing it.
In the finale, Jon kills people EIGHT times. Including a Total Party Kill (minus himself) when he drops the bridge out from under Bowser.
"World of Cardboard" Speech: Jon mentions how he's holding back on everyone until either first blood is drawn on him, or he reaches 99 lives. Chuggaa kills him in episode 6. Time will tell how badly he lets loose.
Episode 15 finally sees Jon cutting loose on Chugga. It gets to the point that whenever Jon lifts Chugga up, the latter immediately bubbles to avoid potential death.
You Are Number Six: In episode 5 Josh brings up the fact that the other three Guys have microphones with their names on, but his just has the number '4' on it and he acts as though it's this trope.
Anti-Climax: The final battle ends with SKA killing himself via falling off the stage. Twice.
Apologetic Attacker: Jon apologises to Donnabellez before their battle, since she hadn't played the game in a long time and he had a big advantage over her.
Awesome McCoolname: Super Jeenius' nickname during the tournament is ύÓĚÇČ. He says this is because he had nothing else to put in there.
Battle Cry: According to the finale, Jon's is "I'm going to bed".
Big "NO!": Donnabellez lets one off when she loses her final stock in her first match.
Book Ends: The first and last battles of the tournament involve Proton Jon winning. If you don't count the preliminaries as an actual episode, then the first and last matches are also a Curb-Stomp Battle.
Butt Monkey: Donnabellez is the first to lose two matches and be eliminated from the tournament. The first match is a Curb-Stomp Battle, and the second match has her being killed in Sudden Death by Tim.
JoshJepson as well, getting beaten in the preliminaries by Jon and in the first loser's bracket round by Chugga, with neither of them breaking a sweat.
Ending Fatigue: In-Universe, the tournament starts to wear on some of the players, for going late into the night.
Even Nerds Have Standards: Jon reacts this way when Chugga starts wondering if Slowbeef is basically the God of Let's Playing and Diabetus is Jesus.
Foregone Conclusion: Donnabellez says her loss to Jon was this, since Jon is a pro at the game and she hadn't played it in a long time.
Jon being the winner was probably predictable, but not guaranteed. However, given that he still could lose twice by the time of the final match and the video didn't have enough time for one more match, it was no secret that he'd beat his final opponent.
Funny Background Event: For the players but unseen by the viewers; during the final match, Chugga, who is remaining quiet due to not being involved in the fight, apparently starts dancing.
One of these gets Diabetus's attention throughout a match — the Polar Bear on the Ice Climbers stage.
Irony: Tim, who normally is Yoshi, plays as Diddy Kong, while Donnabellez plays as Yoshi instead. Later, Tim fights Donna, meaning he's basically fighting his usual main. He wins, too.
Laser-Guided Karma: Jon dies almost instantly after noticing he had 69 damage and commenting on it.
Like a God to Me: Chugga refers to Slowbeef as the God of Let's Players (as he created the genre) and then wonders whether that would make Diabetus Jesus, an archangel, or the Voice of God.
Out of Focus: Due to the way it works, each of the main three Guys has least one video where they're either absent or not saying anything at all.
Chugga: (to Josh) FIRE YUMS, BALLS! note He then proceeds to kill Josh with a flaming soccer ball, for those wondering how this counts.
Running Gag: Take a drink everytime Lucas uses his Final Smash. It doesn't help that there were two in the tourney.
Also, every time NCS is MC, the tournament gets a new name
Tempting Fate: Lucahjin comments how she is "going to die in two seconds" at the start of her first match. She then almost instantly falls off the stage and dies.
Took a Level in Badass: Tim's skill in fighting has increased since Subspace Emissary, as shown in his fight with Donnabellez. Possibly inverted, as the tournament was recorded before Subspace Emissary.
Worthy Opponent: Jon considers ALoyalGamer and SuperJeenius to be this.
Anti-Climax: Jon Paula was likely the guest most fans were excited about...and he's the first one knocked out, beaten by Proton Jon in the very first match. Since this is single elimination and not double, that means he was out of the tournament less than five minutes in.
Ascended Meme: Tim randomly came up with the name 'invitational tournament' in the Brawl tournament; for this one everyone uses the phrase.
Curb-Stomp Battle: There were a few one-sided matches. However, Chugga to ProtonJon takes the cake, as the latter is the only receiver who didn't score!
One Steve Limit: The first game is a match between Jon and Jon. They spend several minutes discussing how not to get them confused.
The Last of These Is Not Like the Others: It's the last game the Guys are doing in a row that is a Mario game (or has Mario as a major character), and instead of being a regular Let's Play, it's a tournament.
And, in a case of the first of these not being like the others, the very first person to play (Johnny Paula) is not known for gaming, but for Is It A Good Idea To Microwave This.
Also, all of Chugga's matches are curbstomps in his favour, except the last one - he still wins, but it's actually a close match.
Smash 64 Tournament
Always Someone Better: Chugga acts as the announcer for the Josh vs. Tucans fight, and comes across as sensible and restrained next to Tucans...
Call Back: When Super Jeenius appears he introduces himself as "ůÓĚÇČ", the screen name he was using in the previous Smash Bros tournament.
When NCS introduces Tyson from WRTP he makes an "I'll take Tyson" reference.
In the Brawl tournament there was a running joke that every time NCS introduced a round, the title of the tournament got longer. This time, NCS comments that every time he does it the title seems to get shorter.
The Captain: Apparently Chugga was responsible for organising the tournament, and several of the guests refer to him as "Our Director".
Cherry Tapping: Super Jeenius kills Josh Jepson and wins the match by throwing a Pokeball at him. This leads to jokes in the comments that Jeenius caught Josh like a Pokémon.
Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Lampshaded aversion when NCS (Yoshi) fights Donnabellez (Kirby) but both of them choose yellow as their character's colour.
Lucah vs. Rodri. It helps that Lucah has stated that she didn't grow up with an N64, so it was only natural that she'd suck at Smash 64.
Josh vs. Tucans. Tucans has never played the game before and chooses Link, widely considered one of the weakest characters in SSB. He wins, retaining all three of his stocks and ending with 0% damage.
Damn You, Muscle Memory: Several players suffer from being used to having the air-dodging from Brawl which doesn't exist in this game.
Designated Girl Fight: Jon jokes about this when he commentates for Lucahjin vs. Donnabellez.
Exiled to the Couch: Chugga (and Stephen himself) joke about this when Stephen defeats his wife Mal in a match.
First Name Basis: At one point Jon refers to Captain Falcon as "Douglas".
Hypocritical Humour: Attacking Tucans pretending to be offended when StephenPlays says he was 'touching Link's butt' with the cursor in the pre-game screen.
In-Joke: During Josh Jepson vs. Super Jeenius, Jon complains that all the humour in the tournament so far is based on in-jokes that nobody will get.
In-Series Nickname: When Donna fights Lucah after both have had a few drinks, they refer to themselves as "Drunkabellez and Lucah-gin and tonic".
In the same match, Jon (the announcer) mentions how he's coined the neologismportmanteau "Let's Play-dies" for female Let's Players.
What really enrages Pcull when NCS accidentally reveals his real name (Patrick Cullen) is Jon pointing out that now people will start doing Twilight references.
Palette Swap: Jon plays as Mario, but changes his colour scheme to that of Wario (who's not in this game) and does a Wario voiceover.
Running Gag: In the random stage selection, the Pokemon stage showing up absurdly often, usually pointed out by Chugga. In the finale, Tim even compares it to "Day at the Races" from their Mario Party 2 LP.
This Explains So Much: Donnabellez and Lucahjin explain that they had a few drinks prior to their match, with Jon (and the audience) replying with this reaction.
NCS in general. He managed to put up a decent fight against Rodri and was doing very well, seemingly only losing due to Rodri managing to pick up two hammers and two Heart Containers (even Rodri admits he won due to items).
Vitriolic Best Buds: Donnabellez and Attacking Tucans, to an extent that rather shocks Jon (acting as the announcer) when Tucans yells "DUMB BITCH!" at Donna (as he does regularly in their co-ops, and she returns in kind).
Mario Kart: Double Dash
Foreshadowing: On Josh Jepsons blog, a scene was shown where the teams, who are not playing, are sitting in the hallway outside of the room talking. One of them says "You promise this is Mario Kart: Double Dash."
In Mario Stadium, Chugga claims that Mr. Dink is actually a pedophile.
Ascended Extra: Fortune Street was planned to be just filler, but the Yoshi's Island videos became so popular that the Guys decided to make it a "side collab" and it got its own playlist.
Badass Boast: Tim gets a good one in on the second playthrough after willingly landing on a space that closed all his shops. It helps that he won on the first playthrough.
Chugga: Why'd you close for the day? You could've gone to the arcade!
NCS: Yeah, I could've.
Jon: Or you could've gotten a suit.
NCS: I'm just trying to go easy on you.
Chugga: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!
Jon: What? WHAT?!
Chugga: Damn, boy! Tim's got an ego now that he's won!
NCS: You can just call me Egoraptor.
Beginner's Luck: Lucah, who's never played the game before, mentions trying to invoke this in The Observatory, and does manage to finish in second.
Brief Accent Imitation: Jon's Waluigi voice, which sounds like a bad Mexican accent to Chugga.
Broken Pedestal: (Jokingly) invoked by Chugga in The Observatory when he talks about how Jon inspired him to be an LP'er and now they're Vitriolic Best Buds. "Never meet your heroes!"
Butt Monkey: Chugga on Yoshi's Island, whose game goes from bad to worse thanks to poor rolls, terrible luck, and both the game and other players making sure he never gets a foothold. He finished with less than a quarter of the goal worth, beaten handily by the weakest AI in the game.
Hoist by His Own Petard: His decision to pay 400G for an 80G shop in the sticks was what initially left him severely underfunded.
Call Back: They compare the Slurpodrome minigame to "A Day at the Races" which plagued them in Mario Party 2.
Character Select Forcing: A meta example: after Jon's take on Waluigi was such an unexpected hit, Chugga notes at the start of the Observatory that he's basically expected to reprise his role. This is somewhat confusing for Chugga, as he actually plays as Waluigi a fair amount offscreen, and gets confused about this early on.
Designated Villain: Invoked on the Observatory playthrough: "What evil thing has Waluigi ever done in a Mario game?"
Foregone Conclusion: Near the end of the Observatory it becomes clear that Jon is going to win, so, in editing, Chugga just speeds up the video until the game is over.
Foreshadowing: On the Yoshi's Island board, mention is made of a 'Mexican Penguin', with Chugga adding that viewers "will know what that means in a few weeks." This is Jon's character in Little Big Planet.
Home Field Advantage: They play on Yoshi's Island. Tim plays as Yoshi. He does better than usual.
They also mention he loves Monopoly, so he was also playing a game he knew quite well.
Humiliation Conga: Happens to Chugga, but he doesn't let it bother him.
Until the Observatory board, where it happens again. It bothers him.
Incredibly Lame Pun: Lucah steals Chugga's thunder with her "How many Mexicans does it take to change a lightbulb? Juan!" joke, which causes him to high-five her.
Kingmaker Scenario: Chugga realizes he has no hope of winning on the Yoshi's Island board, so he devotes his efforts into making sure Jon doesn't.
Mascot Mook: Slime, who serves as the token COM player.
Name's the Same: According to the guys' cheering at the Slurpodrome, all the slimes are named Slime.
Role Association: In The Observatory, Chugga laments that Jon's interpretation of Waluigi has become so popular with the fans that now Chugga himself won't be allowed to play as Waluigi when they play the later Mario Party games.
Stay in the Kitchen: Jokes about this in The Observatory due to the fact that Lucah actually had been cleaning Chugga's kitchen.
Tempting Fate: An epic example at the end of Part 4 of The Observatory. Jon invests a large sum in improving a store that Tim is 1 away from, then Tim gets a card that increases the prices on every store for one turn by 20%. Chugga points out "if Tim gets a one"... He does.
Throw the Dog a Bone: Tim finally winning a board game for the first time in over a year.
What The Hell Is That Accent: Waluigi's distinctive accent, as provided by Jon. It actually gets worse as the game progresses.
Call Back: To Mario Party, when Jon yells "GET OFF MY PLANE!"
Curb-Stomp Battle: Chugga vs. Tim. To Jon and Chugga's surprise, this is subverted when Tim is able to hold his own against Jon for a while.
Damn You, Muscle Memory: Several instances of the Guys attributing Brawl mechanics to the original Super Smash Bros, such as forgetting that air-dodging didn't exist yet and that Yoshi's egg toss did not propel it upward.
Jon has to learn to use a Wii Classic Controller while playing the final match.
Ambiguously Gay: Jon starts to think this of Chugga when his constant cries of "SUCK IT!" take an even more awkward turn:
Chugga: *about to ram into Jon with his kart and defeat him* "SUCK IT!" *misses* "AGH! Dang it! I almost made him suck-" *dissolves into laughter*
Jon: "Would you stop saying 'suck'?!"
Chugga: "I didn't mean to say it..."
Jon: "I'm really starting to wonder what your sexual preference is!"
Call Back: Quite a few. Among them were "I'm witnessing something", "Press L to P", and their "thing" conversation.
Darkhorse Victory: Tim absolutely curbstomping Jon and Chugga, including on Rainbow Road.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Apparently, the original take had Jon winning every battle. Even for him, that is impressive. That recording was lost and we never got to see it.
Another offscreen moment that may also double as a moment of funny is when Tim was so excited he yelled "YES!" so loud it reached Chugga levels. Considering who he usually is, this is pretty cool. Fortunately, they managed to recover at least that audio portion and play it for us. He then later does a slightly quieter one when he wins on Rainbow Road.
Wii Sports
Curb-Stomp Battle: Jon vs. Tim, in Boxing. Jon managed to knock out Tim in 12 seconds.
In-Series Nickname: Their Miis are given nicknames based on the way they look: Smug Man (Jon), Dipped Nose (Tim), and Generic Face (Chugga).
Only Sane Man: Chugga tries to invoke this at the end of the recording, and is immediately called out on it by Tim and Jon.
Chugga: They're not listening, I'm the only sane one here.
Jon: You wish!
Tim: Shut up!
New Super Mario Bros. 2
Viral Marketing: According to Jon in a Retsutalk video, Nintendo actually contacted the guys to get them to promote NSMB2, and even gave them prizes to give out.
Thrown Controllers
PAX East 2012 Panel
Anti-Climax: The final game is a round of Pong that is announced in an epic manner, complete with "the Final Countdown" playing in the background, getting the audience excited...but then it takes forever to set up due to computer issues and ends in less than a minute once it starts.
Continuity Nod: The name of the panel, Thrown Controllers, could be a Call Back to when Jon got pissed at Tim in Subspace Emissary's bonus episode and threw his controller.
There are a few references to the Guys' videos, as expected.
Curb-Stomp Battle: The Brawl 3-on-1 match between a Pikachu-player and three audience members playing as Ness, Lucas, and Kirby. Three guesses as to how that ended, and the first two don't count.
The final, deciding game of Pong was also this in Team Mario's favour.
The Cameo: Slowbeef showed up near the end of the video and Diabetus was heard in the background. Medibot also showed up but he passed himself off as Oyster (another SA LPer). Ironically, they (except Medibot) were partially there to Retsupurae them (Though Slowbeef admitted in his video that he also wanted to support Jon).
Early Installment Weirdness: The first of the Thrown Controller panels is the black sheep of them for a variety of reasons, from the different setup to the technical problems that made it run far less smoothly than the others.
Finagle's Law: The panel started about twenty minutes late due to technical problems, and when it finally did work the program could not be fullscreened and ran slowly. When they had to skip to the end of the event due to this lost time, Jon's computer crashed as everyone got pumped up for the final challenge and the entire thing had to be restarted in front of 700 people. This led to the aforementioned Anti-Climax.
Funny Background Event: A vocal one rather than a visual one; a couple of times, when Jon stops the counter to allow the player to move, you can hear someone in the audience call out the number like the Count from Sesame Street if you listen closely:
Person: Two! Two spaces! Ah hah hah!
Someone also recites the Konami code.
Both were said by the same person, as seen here and here. It might have been a Funny Background Event to most people, but the kid was actually obnoxious and annoying for a majority of the panel.
Hey, It's That Guy!: A minor example; he doesn't introduce himself or say a whole lot, but you can see JoshJepson helping out during the panel.
Out of Focus: Chugga and Tim don't say much aside from the odd comment, with Jon taking over as the main announcer.
Take That: Chugga's hatred of a certain Sonic game doesn't seem to stop in his let's plays:
Jon: (referring to Sonic's slow walking in a game they're doing) 'Cause Sonic runs that fast all the time.
Chugga: It's Sonic Next Gen.
PAX Prime 2012 Panel
Epileptic Flashing Lights: It's nowhere near the technical issues in the Pax East Panel, but the screens facing the audience flicker on and off whenever a game with too little resolution (like Super Mario Bros. 3) is played.
Handicapped Badass: One of the Video Game challenges was a Runaway Challenge in which a Runaway Guy chose what challenge to do. The person who was doing this had to fight Glass Joe...blindfolded. The contestant successfully pulls it off, making this a Crowning Moment of Awesome!
Incredibly Lame Pun: Chugga says this after a person named Spencer came up to play:
Chugga: So, if we could ''dispense'' some prizes on you...
Lethal Joke Character: A contestant fights Chuggaaconroy in a Pokémon Stadium 1-on-1 fight, the only stipulation being that their choice must be a starter Pokémon from any of the games. Chuggaa chooses Squirtle, and the contestant chooses Meowth, a starter from the Mystery Dungeon series. When the Pokémon are revealed, the battle appears to be in Chugga's favor... until Meowth's moveset comes out and it's revealed he has Thunder! Cue Curb-Stomp Battle.
Oh Crap: After the above happens, the audience slowly starts to gasp and yell as the gravity of the situation sinks in, Chugga himself can be seen putting his hand over his mouth in obvious flabbergasted shock, and Jon just kind of stammers.
are a collaborative group of Let's Players on YouTube, comprising probably the most popular YouTube LPers: ProtonJon, NintendoCapriSun, and Chuggaaconroy. Chugga is in charge of maintaining the channel, although Jon has made posts and comments for the channel as well. For the first two years, updates usually only occurred every Saturday, but this was changed to Saturday, Tuesday, and Thursday following an announcement on February 8th, 2013.Their first collaborative Let's Play was of the original Mario Party, recorded when they attended Magfest 2011. It premiered February 5, 2011. The three of them were the only ones participating, and they promised more in the future with additional players beyond the core three. A year and a half later, they revisited the game for filler videos focusing on Minigame Island and Pot o' Skills/Minigame Stadium.LP #2 was New Super Mario Bros Wii, mostly recorded at PAX East 2011. A fourth player, Josh Jepson, joined them for these recordings.LP #3 was Super Smash Bros. Brawl's "Subspace Emissary", recorded at E3 2011 and at Jon's home in Canada, with a return to three players. After this was finished, they also held a Brawl tournament with 7 other guest players, one of whom was JoshJepson. The tournament was recorded after New Super Mario Bros. Wii's latter recording. The champion was ProtonJon.LP #4 was Mario Party 2. The majority of this LP was recorded at Jon's house, and the rest was recorded at a hotel during Pax East 2012. They also went through the Mini-Game Coaster.A Mario Power Tennis tournament came next, before LP #5. It had 6 guest players—three returning from the Brawl tournament and three newcomers. The champion of this tournament was Chugga.LP #5 was Kirby's Return to Dream Land, with just the three of them (they had planned to have a guest player—implied to be JoshJepson—who couldn't make it due to a scheduling problem). Notably, this is their first LP of a game that does not feature Mario. It was recorded between two Paxes.LP #6 was Little Big Planet, which, being a Playstation 3 exclusive title, is the first game they LP'd on a console other than Nintendo. Lucahjin was the guest player for this LP. The recording started at Pax Prime 2012, and was continued at Chugga's house.LP #7 was Wii Party, which was started as filler before Little Big Planet. It was confirmed in the Little Big Planet finale that Wii Party would be continued as an actual Let's Play.After this, they held a Super Smash Bros. 64 tournament, with 16 competitors. The champion of this tournament was Tyler from Wii Rike To Pray.LP #8 was New Super Mario Bros U, with Josh Jepson returning as a guest player.In addition to the one-shot filler LP's, they also have some side collab projects that they update between projects and act as filler. Current projects in this vein include Fortune Street.On occasion at Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), the Runaway Guys have their own panel, called Thrown Controllers, essentially a game show inspired by Nick Arcade. In its debut at PAX East 2012, two teams (Team Mario and Team Sonic) take turns answering questions and playing video game challenges, either against each other, solo, or against members of the audience. The final, decisive game was a round of Pong, which was won by Team Mario. At PAX Prime 2012, they retooled the game (mostly due to the previous iteration being plagued by technical problems and a sluggish pace) into a single-person quiz show with challenges, similar to its initial conception except for one person at a time, and this is how it has been done since. Many prizes are awarded at these panels, ranging from character pins from Fangamer to (as a grand prize) an actual video game console, such as a Nintendo 3DS or a Wii U.They have a Shout Out page here, a Character Sheet here, a Ho Yay page here, an Epic Fail page here, and a Drinking Game here.
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