The eleventh episode of the third season of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.
Gromble's Opening Line: "Fess up, slimeball!"
Fistful of Toenails: Krumm finds a box of old black-and-white Westerns. While at first he and his friends think they're a delicious delicacy, they soon realize the true value of what they've found, and start binging on the forbidden human movies. Soon, they're acting out their own take on the genre, which soon gets Zimbo's attention. Rather than simply reporting their rule-breaking, he decides to have some fun at their expense first, leading to a showdown at High Moon.
Blind Love, Monster Love: While scaring patrons at the park, Ickis is distracted by a Punch and Judy puppet show. Judy wonders aloud if she'll ever find love, and he's immediately smitten. Not even The Gromble's wrath and a good Snorching can snap him out of his squishy haze. Once Oblina and Krumm realize what's wrong, they encourage him to go tell Judy how he feels, unaware that he's fallen for a puppet.
Fistful of Toenails contains examples of:
- Cowboy Episode: In this episode, the Monsters act like cowboys and a cowgirl after finding a box of discarded western movies and watching them. After Zimbo rats them out and gets them punished, the Monsters challenge him to a showdown.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Zimbo decides to encourage the trio's fantasies by stealing the movies and getting them to challenge him to a showdown. He expects to bring in The Snorch for a quick Curb-Stomp Battle, humilating them in front of everyone. However, Oblina challenges him to a one-on-one duel, and The Snorch decides to respect that.
- I Surrender, Suckers: Zimbo's too intimidated to face Oblina head-on, so he surrenders. As soon as she turns her back on him, though, he grabs a plunger and tries to strike her down.
- Laser-Guided Karma: On top of losing the showdown, Zimbo gets punished alongside the trio when The Gromble shows up. Since The Gromble sticks him inside his guitar while he's playing, it might be even worse.
- Not So Above It All: Oblina's quick to remind Ickis of the fact that anything pertaining to human culture is forbidden. Yet she's arguably the most infatuated by the movies, especially given her insistence on dueling Zimbo.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Ickis's reaction when he sees The Snorch is with Zimbo, and that Oblina's nowhere in sight. (Turns out she wanted to set up her Big Entrance.)
- Zimbo follows suit upon realizing his big buddy isn't going to back him up this time and he's facing Oblina's challenge alone.
- And everyone reacts this way when The Gromble shows up.
- Train Job: The trio pull off a risky scare inspired by this, where they break in to scare an entire car's worth of passengers at once.
- Voice Changeling: Ickis adopts a deep-voiced drawl that seems worlds removed from his usual screeching.
Blind Love, Monster Love contains examples of:
- Abuse Mistake: When Ickis goes to check if Judy's read his Love Letter, he sees the puppeteer putting her away and freaks out, assuming the worst.
- Bad Liar: After finding out the truth about Judy, Ickis tries to pretend he knew all along and the whole thing was a prank. He's too heartbroken to stick with the lie for long, though.
- Bittersweet Ending: Thanks to Oblina's quick thinking and The Gromble playing along, Ickis's public confession of loving the puppet Judy is passed off as a surreal Practical Joke. However, Ickis is still heartbroken, and sadly returns Judy to her owner.
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: While most versions of the traditional play have Punch as the aggressor, whenever Ickis is watching, Judy is the one beating the heck out of her partner.
- Hand Puppet: Punch and Judy. Naturally, Ickis doesn't realize this.
- Hidden Depths: Krumm knows enough about love to recognize the symptoms before Oblina does. When Ickis is trying to figure out what to say to Judy, Krumm rattles off a poetic series of lines about how to tell her how he feels.
- Interspecies Romance: After Ickis tells Oblina that his squish isn't a monster, she immediately asks, horrified, if she's human.
- Love at First Sight: Ickis towards Judy.
- No-Sell: Ickis is so squish-struck that he sits through a Snorching without even being phased.
- Pet the Dog: Once The Gromble catches on to what's happening, he immediately plays along with Oblina's insistence that the whole thing is a joke, ushering all the other students out. He also strongly discourages the doctor's desire to stick around and examine Ickis.
- Please Wake Up: After saving Judy from the puppetmaster and bringing her back, Ickis becomes increasingly overwrought when she won't respond.
- Practical Joke: Oblina tries to explain away Ickis' odd behavior by claiming the whole thing was a joke played on the other students.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Krumm's ending narration describes Ickis and Judy this way, comparing them to Romeo and Juliet.
