Ace Lightning - Television Tropes & Idioms

Get up, go to school, play videogames, save the world, not necessarily in that order.

“Level Seven: Activate, stand by...”

Move over, Superman, there's a new hero in town.

At first glance, Ace Lightning could be suspected of being pulled strraight from the pages of a videogame-related Fan Fiction. What it actually is, however, is a 39 episode series from 2004, created as a collaboration between Canadian and British entertainment industries, and which was unfortunately Too Good To Last.

Ace Lightning was one of the first weekly television shows to involve CGI animated effects as a substantial part of every episode, making the show both Western Animation and Live Action TV. The series is filmed with the “videogame characters” Ace created in 3D digital and blue screened in afterwards.

The protagonist of this strange tale is 13-year-old Mark Hollander, who has just immigrated to ~~Canada~~ North America from England. However getting to grips with life on the other side of the pond turns out to be the least of his problems, when, on his first night in their new home, the aerial of Mark's house is struck by lightning. As chance would have it, Mark was at that exact moment engaged in his favourite videogame: Ace Lightning and the Carnival of Doom, and had just uncovered a secret level which clearly wasn't supposed to exist. A message bleeps frustratingly on the screen in front of him: “Level Seven, Activate, stand by.”

Turns out this isn’t an ordinary copy of Ace Lightning and the Carnival of Doom. The next thing Mark knows the characters of his videogame –good and bad alike- have come to life and are engaging in battle in his back garden. Before he knows it Mark is elected as Ace Lightning’s new sidekick, and dragged into a quest to locate the shattered pieces of The Amulet of Zoar which will give it’s yielder power over the entire dimension. Mark’s new life has just gotten a lot more complicated.

While Mark is initially reluctant to join the cause, and Ace is naive about the way things work in “Reality”, the two of them develop an understanding which grows into friendship. As the show goes on more characters arrive, both good and evil (incredibly freaky evil, at that) and eventually it boils down to a showdown between Lightning Knights and Villains. Then we have the grand finale of the first series, followed by the arrival of the mysterious Master Programmer, and his Avatar, the new head bad guy: Kilobyte, who frankly makes Lord Fear look like a mewling bag of kittens.

The series starts out as a jaunt into the world of One Boy and His Superhero and later develops into a mire of Good Versus Evil, the nature of emotions in Artifical Beings, complex social networking while saving the world in your spare time, the nature of what is truly “real”, and even vague suggestions of Necrophilia and Metaphysical Ethics for the more observant (or obsessive) members of the fandom.

For most, however, it’s just a show about a superhero completely out of his depth in the real world, and a boy trying not to let his newfound “hero” status impact on his social life. You know. The usual.

Ace Lightning regularly takes the mick out of itself and the tropes associated with the Superhero genre and at no point tries to hide from the fact that it is, essentially, a superhero parody. Every CGI character in the show is a stereotype of more traditional heroes. You’ve got your spunky red headed sidekick, your bewitching black widow at first, anyway, your forbidden romances, and your bad guy who just happens to look like a living skeleton. Ace is an almost disturbingly traditional, typical superhero –super strong, super fast, able to shoot lightning energy from his fists, and surviving on electrical power sources. This program shows the audience what really happens when you stick a person with those kinds of abilities in a world which wasn’t built to accommodate them. The humans meanwhile, are normal (well, mostly) people living ordinary lives which contrast garishly with the superheroes. And while Ace is learning the finer points of humanity from Mark, Mark is learning that sometimes, a hero's gotta do what a hero's gotta do.

Ace Lightning has a small but loyal fanbase which, ironically enough, seems to contain a great many teenage females as well as the show’s original demographic of 10-to-14-year-old boys.

Ace Lightning contains examples of:

Ace Lightning Syndrome: Trope Namer, of course.
Action Girl: Sparx
Adults Are Useless: Mark’s parents are mostly oblivious to what’s going on in their son’s life.
- Other adults include a mean-spirited teacher driven half barmy by the CGI Villains, a Carnival Owner whose home gets taken over, and a Driving Instructor who is terrified by Mark’s performance (he didn’t realise that the car was being chased by Lord Fear on a killer motorcycle at the time, you see, and...)
Aesop: Every freaking episode ends with one of these, carefully tuned to the target demographic of ten to fourteen year old males (but not nessecarily tuned to what actually happened in the episode).
A Friend In Need: You can always count on Ace Lightning. Mark may also be very annoyed at Ace constantly , but he just can't seem to stay out of the game, and usually shows up to help.
A God Am I: Kilobyte, third season.
AI Is A Crapshoot: Ace is possessed in one episode, Random Virus has this problem constantly.
Amusement Park of Doom: In the videogame, the Ace Lightning characters fought against Lord Fear and his maniacal minions in the creepy and deserted Carnival of Doom. When they arrive in the real world, they locate a useful equivalent hideout in the Kent Brother’s Carnival.
Anvil On Head: Given that one of the villain’s henchmen is a giant, mutant Rhino with an actual anvil for a hand, you can imagine this happens quite a lot.
All Part Of The Show: Lord Fear invades Mark's school during a school play (a somewhat uncreative remake of the Phantom Of The Opera). Of course the audience thinks he's just a very convincing actor. Lord Fear relishes the attention, and Mark is the only one who freaks out because he's the only one who knows what's going on.
Angst - from most of the cast, though it's mainly either typical, teenage angst, angst about discovering you're really a videogame character and your whole world is just a fiction cooked up for schoolkids, or the kind of angst generated when your Split Personality can't decide whether to help people or to kill them. It's also not too heavy given the shows nature as a comedy first.
Applied Phlebotinum: The Amulet of Zoar, which everyone is after.
- Also, Mark Hollander’s Wrist Cannon, which he can apparently use despite not being a Lightning Knight.
  - In fact, forget that, any weapon being utilised by the Lightning Knights is one of these.
Artificial Limbs: Random Virus (though it is a bit [Nightmare Fuel-ish, what with the giant claw and the tread wheel in place of his feet.)
Author Avatar: Kilobyte - Rick’s Avatar
- It’s also interesting to note that the Master Programmer Rick Hummel has the same first name as the producer Rick Siggelkow though this is likely a coincidence.
Battle Butler: Meh. Sort of. More like Battle Maid in that Lady Illusion poses as the maid Felicity Fury, for the Hollander’s during the third season in order to infiltrate the good guys. And as Lady Illusion can really kick ass.
Bedsheet Ghost: Chuck terrifies the living daylights out of the bad guys when he gets caught in a sheet while they’re raiding Mark’s house.
Better Than It Sounds: A videogame superhero comes to life as a result of a well placed lightning bolt. Teenage boy helps videogame superhero save the world on school nights. And it is not a Fan Fiction.
Betty And Veronica: Sam and Heather have a mild version of this going throughout series one (afterwards, Samantha is Put On A Bus and Heather suffers from Character Derailment).
Big Bad: Early on, Lord Fear. Then Kilobyte, the incredibly overpowered villain of the third season, created by the Master Programmer in order to defeat Ace Lightning –only to Have Kilobyte turn on him and decide to banish all humans to the videogame.
Big Damn Heroes: Ace Lightning, Sparx and Random. Also a Power Trio.
Big No: In the finale. Interestingly, it’s one of the humans, Mark, who does so, when he believes Ace has been “fatally” shot turns out it was Lady Illusion in morph.
Bittersweet Ending: The third series.
Black Bestfriend: Pete, Mark’s best friend while he lived in the UK. Has a bit part throughout the series. Sam is also Heather’s best friend.
Brainwashed And Crazy: Ace, after a bite from Googler's puppets (yes, the puppets bite. They are freaky little dudes.)
Brought Down To Normal: Ace loses his powers in one episode, and gets them back just in time to save Mark's hide.
- He also accesses him human emotions in another episode, and finds that things aren't quite as simple as they used to be.
Cancellation: A lack of interest at the end of season three meant the show was cancelled.
Canon Sue: Many fans felt that the writers were trying a little too hard to make them like Mark’s replacement Girlfriend, Kat Adams.
Cant Stay Normal: Ace becomes “human” after losing his powers in one episode –and hates it. Mark is also regularly forced to confront the fact that he's a "hero" now, and heroes have responsibilities that outweigh going to a movie with your girlfriend.
The Cape: Ace (somewhat subverted in that he really doens't fit in the real world).
Catch Phrase: The Lightning Knights’ Motto: “Do Right and Fear Not”.
Character Derailment: Heather Hoffs was always a little on the acerbic side, but it got ridiculous in season three, when she went from self-assured potential love interest to a Bitch with a Grudge against the male protagonist, who mistreated her current boyfriend, in the third season. Possibly a result of the series’ new Canon Sue's universe warping.
Chase Scene: Occurs during Mark's driving lesson when Lord Fear decides to persue the training car in his Doom Cycle. The tutor is not amused by Mark's... achem, escape attempt.
Circus Of Fear: The Carnival of Doom
Cliffhanger: One or two of them. Including a minor one in the final episode, damn it.
Combat Tentacles: Very creepy combat tentacles. Mostly used for power drainage.
Colour Coded For Your Convenience: Literally. When Random Virus’ cyborg eye is green; it’s reasonably safe to approach him. When it turns red, however, you’d better run for the hills.
- The “good” characters also tend to shoot colour coded attacks which are either blue or pink. The bad guys are usually sharp green.
Comes Great Responsibility: Mark always eventually comes round to the importance of helping Ace save the world, regardless of how many relationships it screws up or how often he nearly gets killed.
Crowning Moment Of Awesome: Aplently.
- Ace gets a few, most notably when he let every ounce of power he had loose on Googler in a rage after the villain sent Sparx back to the sixth dimension, resulting in a massive electrical build up... Which missed its intended target, but he sure as hell got points for trying.
- Another good one for Ace is when he pulls a similar trick in Mark’s school (while the observing fan club members cheering for him think that he’s All Part Of The Show). Ace creates a literal wall of electrical energy which terrified Fear out of the building, saving Ace from actually having to use this incredible build up to actually attack.
- Sparx defeating Googler.
  Sparx: Ha! That ones for me! Now we’re tied!
- Chuck during an episode in which he obtained Temporary Superpowers –he gave the resident Jerk Jock and bully, Wayne, the wedgie of a lifetime.
- Lady Illusion. Just... Lady Illusion. especially when she takes Ace’s place and dies for him during the final episode.
- Sam, explaining to Mark how she wouldn’t be scared or disturbed if she ever saw aliens or anything out of the ordinary –but that she would feel better knowing that they weren’t alone
- Mark, taking on Googler’s puppets with a piece of metal piping –and kicking both their non-existent behinds. It was mostly the expression on his face: surprisedly pleased with himself bordering on merciless (and for once playing up to the superhero stereotypes of melodrama).
  Mark: Wanna join your friend?
- Lord Fear tearing up the highway on the Doom Cycle (yes, it’s a motorbike).
Also, it seems unlikely that one could make smashing a Magical Object Plot Device against an organ into a Crowning Moment Of Awesome, but Mark manages it, and it wins them the game.
- It leads to another Awesome Moment for Fear, who gives the typical "This isn't over, hero!" speech, accompanied by creepy, maniacal laughter, as he is fading away into Oblivion.
Crowning Momentof Heartwarming: Aplenty.
- Chuck waits for hours at the dance for his girlfriend to show up, and convinces himself she isn’t going to. And then she does, much to Chuck’s joy, and apologises profusely for being late. Chuck plays it cool.
  - Same episode, Sam telling Mark that he has nothing to apologise for:
    Sam: Who made friends with Chuck when noone else would? Who stood up to Wayne? Who put Chesborough in his place and convinced him to throw the dance?
    Mark: But that was just-
    Sam: Just doing the right thing. And that's what makes you my hero.
- Ashley tells her older cousin Mark “You’re a much better superhero anyway” after promising not to tell anyone else about Ace Lightning ever again. Cue hugging. Aww.
- Ace finally works out this whole friendship thing just in time to rescue Mark from Googler’s insane puppets.
- Ace and Lady Illusion’s final dance at the end of series one.
- At the end of the second series, Ace finally learns that everything he thought was real being an elaborate videogame. Mark talks him out of what could have been an understandable Heroic BSOD.
  Ace: I don’t belong here...
  Mark: Yes you do. It doesn’t matter where you came from. You’re my friend. You have feelings. You’re a hero and heroes never let you down.
  Ace: Where’d you get that line?
  Mark: From ''you''.
  - Just to turn the heartwarming up notch, a few second searlier Ace;’s arrival at Mark’s place was heralded by him nearly smashing through the window (as he did in the very first episode. Whereas the first time Mark was exasperatedly annoyed about the property damage, the second Ace this time mentions that “at least I didn’t break the window”, Mark blurts out “forget about the window.”
Cut Short.
Cybernetics Eat Your Soul - While it's never outright stated that random Virus's transformation into a cyborg played a part in his good-evil complex, it's certainly implied that the accident which caused him to be rebuilt had something to do with it.
Dating Catwoman: Ace Lightning and Lady Illusion, though she really does love him and ends up saving his life in the final episode by disguising herself as him and being shot in his place.
Death Is Cheap At least as long as it's a game character.
Downer Ending: Several episodes, including April Fools and Unidentified Flying Superhero: Sparx’s death episode.
Defeat Means Friendship: Intriguingly done with Random Virus and Ace –regularly Ace will have to resort to defeating his friend in a fight in order to quell his evil side and bring back his calmer, kinder personality. Random usually reverts back to bad guy status by their next meeting, however.
- Random’s evil side has some... odd ideas how good and evil work, defining “evil” as bravery, strength, and power, while cowardice, goodness and virtue were equated with weakness. On one occasion Random was unable to attack Mark because although Mark was afraid, he refused to back down. Therefore he was not a coward. Cue programing conflict.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Lady Illusion as she falls in love with Ace.
Does Not Know His Own Strength
Disney Death: Since most of the cast came out of a videogame, death isn't exactly permenant for them not that this makes Sparx's "death" in Unidentified Flying Superhero any less traumatic...
- Also happens to Chuck in the third season, when Ace shoots him by accident. There are a few moments of panic before they realise he's okay.
Distressed Damsel: Samantha, in at least four episodes. Not that she was aware of it at the time.
Dramatic Thunder: Occurs all the damn time from the first episode: the CGI characters were initially brought to life by a bolt of lightning striking the aerial of the protagonist’s house while he was playing their videogame.
- Amongst other things. It also occurs at an inopportune moment later in the series –when the main character happens to be in urgent need of a power up.
The End Of The World As We Know It: What will happen if the bad guys obtain all the pieces of the Amulet of Zoar (little thought is given as to how a bunch of computer game characters can really pose a threat to national security, but hey, they can exist and apparantly go some damage, so... Mark figures he'd better play it safe.
Evil Genius: Rick Hummel the Master Programmer. Albeit He calls his office his “Fortress of Solitude”.
Evil Overlord: Lord Fear in the first two seasons, Kilobyte in the third, though Lord Fear gained a few competence points after he was ousted.
Fan Nickname: Lady Illusion has acquired the fan nicknames (or rather, fan first names) of Elspeth and Li (made out of her initials). Another fan theory hangs about that Sparx is secretly a princess who’s “real” name is Amandine.
Fanfic: A surprisingly full section of fanfiction can be located here.
Fiery Redhead - Sparx.
Fire And Brimstone Hell: A level known as White Hot Oblivion in the Ace Videogame, in which Googler was imprisoned by Ace (he's notably annoyed by this). The audience never sees it.
Genre Blind: The characters from the Ace Lightning videogame have absolutely no idea that the world they knew was nothing more than a popular 3D platformer. As a result they are regularly surprised and alarmed by obvious traps, and regularly spurt out aNarmingly corny dialogue.
- Oddly enough, Mark (who is mainly supposed to point out Ace’s genre blindness) gets one of these during Episode Seven, Opposite Attraction, speaking about Ace and Lady Illusion.
Mark: ...I don’t get it. Nothing in the rulebook says they could fall in love.

Clearly the boy had never seen a single action hero movie in his life.

Genre Savvy: Mark, most of the time, though trying to explain that “THIS IS REALITY!” to Ace never seems to have the desired effect.
Fish Out Of Water: Ace. Very.
Mark: “Ace, we’ve been through this –they’re gnomes. They’re not going to attack you.”
- Theoretically all the Lightning Knights and Villains fit this trope(though Ace is the most out of his depth in the beginning) since the characters believe that Earth is just another “level” of their world (albeit a strange one, from their perspective). Random Virus tries to avoid all social interaction, and Sparx just doesn’t seem to have quite the same amount of trouble as the others.
  - Mark is something of a Fish Out Of Water, being a British Immigrant new to American Culture. Most people pass off his “odd” behaviour as a result of this, and not the fact that he’s hiding a living computer character from the world.
Foe Tossing Charge: Anvil does this to the good guys regularly throughout the series (and he’s a giant mutant humanoid rhino with a literal anvil in place of one hand, just so you know. Ouch).
- Ace in Unidentified Flying Superhero.
Frankensteins Monster: The original Frankenstein’s monster was a misunderstood creature shunned by the world (as well as his creator). Ace Lightning’s Frankenstein’s Monster is Kilobyte – a powerful, tattooed villain with tentacles that he used to drain the energy of those he catches. He wasn’t so much get shunned by his creator as rebel against him having discovered his identity as a Videogame Character.
Geek: Chuck Mugel: a geek of the computer-related variety.
Friendly Enemy: Random Virus and Ace are said to have been friends before the series began (that’s assuming you believe it happened), but due to Random’s dodgy programming, he now has a habit of turning evil at inopportune moments.
Hero For A Day: Chuck gets temporary superpowers in one episode.
Heroic BSOD: Ace has a literal Heroic BSOD when he contracts a virus during a data transfer – completely freezing him solid. It’s a kiss from Lady Illusion which snaps him out of it.
Heroic Sacrifice: Lady Illusion at the end of series three.
Hey Its That Voice: Random Virus is voiced by Cathal Dodd, who did Wolverine in Fox's X-Men cartoon.
Hidden In Plain Sight
Mark: ...The music. It's been the music all along!
Hostage For Mac Guffin: Usually Mark ends up being hostage for an amulet piece. It's happened to Sparx at least once, too.
I Did What I Had To Do: Mark nearly sets himself up for one of these at the end of the first series when faced with the option of either losing the game and allowing Lord Fear to take over the world, or deleting the videogame from his hard drive –which would delete Ace and all the other CG Is along with it. Fortunately he has a Last Minute realisation and is spared from making the choice.
I Have This Friend: This happens with Mark a few times (who uses it genuinely when he’s trying to figure out ways to help Ace without giving away the fact that said friend is actually a superhero who emerged from his videogame.)
I Just Want To Be Normal: Mark Hollander throughout most of the series.
I Know You Are In There Somewhere Fight: Ace is mind controlled during one episode, and Sparx (while being repeatedly attacked by him) tries desperately to remind him that "we're the good guys!"
- Also occurs between Ace and Random Virus. Rarely successfully.
Ironic Echo
Ace: At least I didn’t break the window.
Mark: Forget about the window! Are you alright?
I Want You To Meet An Old Friend Of Mine: The character of Pete, Mark’s best friend before he moved to America, appeared regularly in the introductions of episodes speaking to Mark from England via a videophone. He appeared in person in one episode of the second series while visiting Mark in America (kind of subverted, in that Pete decides it would be better if he didn’t meet Ace).
Jerk Jock: Wayne Fisgus
Jumped At The Call: Whereas Mark was initially confused and reluctant to play the Saving the World Game, videogame fanatic (and leader of the Ace Lightning Fan Club) Chuck Mugel jumped at it as soon as he realised what was going on.
Just Friends - Mark and Sam, after series two (ironically this is the only time you see them kiss but then this is that kind of show.
Kissing Discretion Shot - With the humans, (Mark and Kat probably kiss in sillouette in the final scene of the series) the CG I characters are less disguised about it.
Lightning Can Do Anything: Including bring the characters of a videogame to life, apparently...
- A deflected bolt of lightning from Ace once gave Chuck Mugel super strength for an episode. Ace himself mentioned that it was a “good job that was a deflected shot or he’d have been toast.”
Loners Are Freaks: Poor ol’ Random Virus.
Loves Me Not - With energy bombs no less.
Mac Guffin: The Amulet of Zoar, which is scattered in pieces throughout the carnival and must be completely reassembled in order to win the “game”.
Mad Scientist Laboratory: Well, angry scientist’s computer laboratory, really.
Mage In Manhattan: Lord Fear, Lady Illusion.
Magical Computer: Tonnes of them. Mostly courtesy of Chuck.
Magitek - The characters claim that the Amulet of Zoar is magic fuelled, but since they're actually characters who came from inside a videogame...
Mega Nekko: Jessica, though she gets tougher in later series.
Mentor: Ace is a mentor to Sparx (and Mark to an extent). Conversely, Mark often serves to mentor Ace in the ways of the Real World. Chuck also mentors Mark in some of the more complex areas of video gaming.
Mystery Meat: Whatever Mrs Kutcher the Cafeteria Lady is serving this week (Chuck’s her favourite and gets special treatment, though.)
Ms Kutcher: If I told you what was in it, you wouldn't eat it.
Names To Run Away From Really Fast: Lord Fear? Felicity Fury? Anvil? Dirty Rat?
Nightmare Fuel: Several instances.
- One which stands out is Sparx’s death scene in which Googler’s puppets shoot her in the heart with an energy blast from her own sword. She got better, but it was still disturbingly graphic.
- Come to think of it, Googler is Nightmare Fuel in and of himself.
- Anytime Pigface was let loose in a garbage can.
- Lord Fear’s rather... impressive displays of stretching complete with joints creaking and maniacal laughter (particularly creepy given that he’s a walking skeleton).
- Kilobyte’s Tentacles. Enough said.
Narm Charm - Most of the fans are of the opinion that Ace is big on this, and you really do either love it or hate it.
Normally I Would Be Dead Now - Chuck gets hit by Ace's lightning bolts twice. The first time gave him superpowers.
- Mark is surprised by his continued survival on a regular basis.
Perverse Puppet: Googler’s insane venom spitting, tree-chomping, scary-joke-telling hand puppets Zip and Snip. Not only are they creepy, sentient things while attached to him, but they can detach themselves and, well... zip and snip around seeking their prey. Hitting them is kind of like trying to swat flies – it’s near impossible.
Poor Communication Kills: Or at least, loses you girlfriends, because you keep running off and cancelling dates and generally being really weird… and can’t tell her that the reason for all this is NOT because you’re a jerk, but because you’re trying to save the world in your spare time. Mark loses no less than two girlfriends this way. Ace’s reasoning is that if Mark tells anyone else, he’s putting them in danger.
- But since often, the girls were in danger anyway, their knowing about Ace might actually have given them a better chance of staying in one piece
- Lady Illusion and Sparx just need to stop shooting at one another and talk for once.
Powers That Be: The Master Programmer Rick Hummel had been watching Mark and his friends actions since the beginning, waiting for Lord Fear to take over so he can command them and rule the world, though he was only introduced in the third season. (He hadn’t been doing a very good job until he created Kilobyte because the good guys kept winning).
Power Trio: Ace, Random Virus (when he’s in the right mood) and Sparx for the Lightning Knights. Mark, Chuck and Sam (later Kat) for the humans respectively.
Protectorate: Don't mess with Mark while Ace is around. Just... don't.
Red Headed Hero: Sparx.
Refusal Of The Call: Mark, initially. Sort of Random Virus, though it depends what mood he's in.
Revenge: Lord Fear’s beef with Ace Lightning appears to stem from the fact that Ace crippled him in battle a long time ago. Word Of God says there may have been more to it than that.
Running Gag: Ace constantly breaking things in Mark’s household –which his parents discover, sooner or later, and blame on “shoddy American construction”. (He gets better by the end of the series, though.) Also Sparx going off somewhere after she’s been told not to (and usually getting in trouble in the process).
Sadist Teacher: Mr Chesborough. Though really he’s more bitter and cruel (and later crazy) than sadistic.
Secret Keeper: Chuck is Mark’s Secret Keeper in the third season, as is Ashley Hollander throughout most of the series’.
Serkis Folk (many of whom were Circus Folk.)
Sidekick: Sparx and Mark, both to Ace. (Later on Chuck, too.)
Shape Shifter: Lady Illusion can shape shift into any form she desires (and supposedly also into objects, though this was never observed in the series).
She Cleans Up Nicely - Jessica, at the end of series one.
Shoot The Dog: Mark nearly has to at the end of series one when, anticipating the game being lost and the world being doomed, he nearly deletes the file of the Ace Lightning videogame: which would destroy all the bad guys, but take all the good guys with them. Fortunately he has a last minute breakthrough. In later series Mark chooses to help Ace and the other Lightning Knights to do things the Hard Way without even considering deletion.
Split Personality - Random Virus.
Squick: Oh boy...
- Kilobyte's tentacles. Utilised for power drainage. This is usually rather... graphic.
- Lady Illusion and Lord Fear are a couple for most of the first series (and yes they behave that way), right? He's a sentient skeleton, right? Right. Ew.
- Pigface's er... snot attack. Poor Heather gets a faceful of it, once.
Sword Fight: Only one character has a sword, but since it fires lightning, it makes for some pretty spectacular fight scenes anyway.
Supporting Protagonist: Mark is the protagonist of the series while Ace Lightning is the hero.
Sword Sparks: Sort of. Sparx’s sword shoots pink electricity.
Tear Jerker:
“Look after Ace, Kid. He needs you more than ever.”
- It’s Sparx’s death scene, in case you’re wondering. Also a bit of a woobie moment for Mark because he looked so damned upset about it. Never mind the fact that Ace damn near blew Googler’s head off afterward.
- Lady Illusion offers to take away the Human Emotions that Ace has been struggling with the entire season after Taking The Bullet for him in the final episode: Her “last gift to him”. He tells her not to. He wants to keep them.
Ace: "No. Let me keep them. These emotions. What I’m feeling for you... that’s the real gift."
Ten Minute Retirement: Mark, towards the end of series one in the episode Nobody's Hero.
The Call Knows Where You Live: Fortunately for Mark it’s not a very competent call. It is, however, a highly persistent one.
The Chessmaster: The Master Programmer Rick Hummel probably thinks it’s him, but really, it’s Kilobyte, who knows more about the game than anyone realises and is pulling countless strings to make things go his way.
The Dragon: Oddly, The Dragon in question is Staffhead – a talking (cockney for that matter), winged frog sitting on the staff that Lord Fear always carries.
The Glasses Gotta Go: When Jessica removes her glasses for the first time at the end of series dance, she seems instantly more attractive.
- Also subverted in that the video game expert and “geek” of the series, Chuck doesn’t get glasses until the third and final season and was cuter by then, probably on account of the actor aging.
The Power Of Friendship: Seeing Mark in danger and finally coming to understand what a friend is gives Ace the ability to recover his powers after having lost them.
- Occasionally, reminding him of their past helps Ace snap Random Virus out of his evil mode without having to resort to violence. More often, however, giving him a good whack is the only way to fix him.
The Power Of Love: Lady Illusion brings Ace out of a Heroic BSOD by kissing him.
The Last Dance: is quite literally a last dance for Lady Illusion and Ace Lightning during the finale of the first series, when they quietly and calmly finish the dance that they began several episodes earlier, before she vanishes back into the game. Sniff...
The Lifestream: Called TheDatastream, this is the swirling purple/blue energy portal that brings the CGI characters to earth from within Mark’s game. The portal can be opened by putting together pieces of the Amulet of Zoar.
The Man Behind The Man: The Master Programmer behind Kilobyte. Or Kilobyte behind the Master Programmer, depends which episode you're watching.
The Undead: The main villain of the first two series (and finally once again at the end in a rather awesome fashion), Lord Fear; walking skeleton and the resident Lich.
This Is Reality: Mark says this to Ace word for word in one episode. Ace just looks at him funny. Later on Ace becomes aware of the fact that he is “just a game character” and is understandably upset.
Tinman: Ace Lightning. He gradually comes to understand his newfound feelings. It isn’t that Ace didn’t have emotions to begin with so much as that he didn’t have access to human ones. His emotions were being kept in check and moderated by his programming. With that program destroyed, his emotions got the better of him and he became a bit of a bastard for a while. He hates it at first, but grows to accept them and when Lady Illusion dies for him, he realises he couldn’t let go of loving her, no matter how painful it was.
- It’s regularly suggested that Ace’s emotions have a direct effect on his powers. Seeing Mark in danger allowed him to recover them in one episode, and he reacted with incredible enthusiasm (and an insane power burst) aimed directly at Googler after he wiped out Sparx.
Trapped In Another World: The CGI's are stuck in the “real” world. A few human characters also get trapped in the videogame over the course of the series. Its Kilobyte’s ultimate goal to send the entire human population of the world to live inside the game. He clearly hasn’t entirely thought this through.
Too Good To Last: The show was cancelled after three seasons, leaving the viewers on something of a small cliff-hanger.
Tsundere: Heather, Kat
Unusual User Interface: Characters access the Sixth Dimension (the videogame world Ace hails from) by putting together pieces of the Amulet of Zoar.
Unstoppable Rage - Do not -repeat, not - get on Ace's bad side.
Villainous Breakdown: Lord Fear during the final episode of series (it’s rather creepy).
Voluntary Shapeshifting: Lady Illusion is capable of morphing into other beings. And does so regularly.
Wake Up Go To School Save The World: And try not to lose another girlfriend while you’re at it, Mark.
Welcome To The Real World: Ace Lightning and a gang of villains appear in the real world. It takes them a while to get used to this.
Wham Episode: "Unidentified Flying Superhero": Sparx’s death scene was so utterly unexpected and brutal (not to mention surprisingly handled) that nobody really cared that she would be back within a few episodes.
What Have I Become: Ace realises how dangerous and uncontrollable he has become now that he has human emotions - specifically when he nearly kills Chuck.
What The Hell Hero: After the part of his program controlling his emotions is screwed with, Ace finds it... a little difficult to keep control. Manifestations of "what the hell, hero?" include explosive anger at Fear, an outright outburst at a very confused Mark, and his accidentally shooting Chuck.
Wild Card: Random Virus, a powerful cyborg with a damaged program that causes him to switch between good and evil at Random (pun totally intended) intervals.
Woman Scorned: Heather really doesn’t appreciate Mark’s inability to pay attention to his girlfriends. There were some viewer complaints since she apparently went from Action Girl to petty bitch in the space of a season with no real explanation.
The Woobie: Mostly Ace, though Mark has his moments.
- As does Chuck
  - And Random Virus. Seriously.
Word Of God: The producer of the show Rick Sigglekow has informatively responded to emails and contacts from the fans, he even commented on a fanfiction once. He is awesome.
You Are Not Alone – Mark to Ace at the end of series two. The general theme seems to be when the chips are down, help out your friends
You Cant Go Home Again: Subverted. Ace and Sparx decide to return to the Sixth Dimension at the beginning of series three (despite the fact that Ace clearly hasn’t told her about the whole “we’re not real thing” and there’s no saying what’ll happen to them if they do return to the computer game).

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