...something about this seems familiar.
The family visits a mysterious roadside oddities museum where every treasure comes with a price.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Alternate Self: Curator Ponds is a blatant expy of Stan, but Frog Soos implies that they're actually alternate counterparts of the Stan and Soos we know. An Easter Egg directly states that there is a Soos in every dimension.
- And I Must Scream: The statues in the museum turn out to be actual creatures encased in wax, still alive and still conscious enough to move their eyes.
- Black Comedy: At the end, Hop Pop notes how everything worked out for the best. Except for the Curator. He's definitely dead.
- Bland-Name Product: The Skipman is a parody of Sony's Discman and Walkman CD players.
- Can Only Move the Eyes: Polly gets scared when she sees one of the statues move their eyes. Her fear turns out to be justified when it's revealed to be a living creature that she accidentally sets free.
- Character Development: Despite previously being portrayed as being self centered, Anne tells the Plantars to save themselves. All this while she's neck deep in wax.
- Comically Small Bribe: The Curator offers to cut his exhibits in for 10% if they don't maul him, and tries to haggle up to 11.5. 12 is just a bridge too far.
- Continuity Nod: Hop Pop once again sleeps with his eyes open.
- Corrupted Character Copy: While not explicitly Stan Pines from Gravity Falls, Curator Ponds is far more unscrupulous in the pursuit of money than Stan ever was, as he tries to trap Anne in wax so he can put her on display in his museum permanently.
- In addition, the residents of Gravity Falls were enamoured by the Mystery Shack and Stan's "Mr. Mystery" tour guide act. In contrast, the locals of Stony Gulch have a vehement distaste for the Curiosity Hut and its creepy attractions.
- Damned by Faint Praise: As Anne is being coated in wax, the Curator jokingly offers her some canned meat, stating, "it's edible".
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: After Frog Soos postulates there are perhaps alternate universe versions of themselves, Ponds asks if he's been licking himself again.
- The Dog Bites Back: Curator Ponds ends up getting attacked and dragged away by the creatures he imprisoned after they're freed.
- Easter Egg: There's some secret messages in a Caesar cipher (ROT+3, rather than the ROT-3 usually used in Gravity Falls) hidden in the Curiosity Hut; one on the frame of the clown painting in the back room that translates to "There is a Soos in every dimension" and one near the corner of the closet door that translates to "Dipcifica 4 lyfe".
- Eye Scream: Anne shows off how the Skipman has a laser. Said laser hits Hop Pop right in the eye.
- Fatal Flaw: Greed for the Curator. If he hadn't planned to turn Anne into a permanent wax fixture, she would have gone on display as they agreed, and then went on her way to Newtopia; he even cheaped out on the wax machine, meaning that he couldn't efficiently betray her, either. Thanks to the Plantars coming to save her, he gets dragged into the dark instead.
- Flintstone Theming: Curator Ponds and his museum are frog versions of Stan Pines and his Mystery Shack, along with a custodian that's simply named "Frog Soos". He contemplates turning Sprig and Hop Pop into a "Two-headed Frog of Froglantis", and even yells "I'm not goin' back to frog prison!" when they confront him.Curator: Now we're cookin' with gas! Or whatever it is we frogs use.
- He's Okay: Played with. When Ponds is dragged into the dark room, a red fluid seeps out from under the door. The Curator then confirms it's just wax, but Hop Pop is pretty certain that he's dead.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: It's implied the Curator was trapped in wax by the captive creatures in his museum.
- I Lied: The Curator was never going to give Anne the Skip-Man, or hope that it may have clues of returning her back to Earth. He was going to encase her in wax instead.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: The Curator boasts "You'll never catch me!" He's caught immediately.
- Mood Whiplash:Hop Pop: [Warmly] Well, the important thing is, we're all okay. [Cheerfully] 'Cept for that curator. He's dead.
Sprig: Mmmmmm-hm. - Mythology Gag: As a tribute to Gravity Falls, there are plenty of Easter eggs to the show in the episode:
- There are statues of Fromes, a reference to the Gnomes encountered. One of them even says "Schmebulock."
- Curator Ponds is introduced after being mistaken for a model in his museum, much like the gag in "Headhunters" where Grunkle Stan is mistaken for a wax dummy of himself.
- Bill Cipher makes appearances on the window outside the hut as well as on a rug.
- One of the paintings in the back room is of a sad clown, a reference to Stan being enamored by a similar painting in the Gleeful house in "The Hand That Rocks the Mabel".
- Anne makes the mistake of making a deal with an enigmatic character voiced by Alex Hirsch who turns out to be more malevolent than he lets on, much like Bill Cipher.
- While Anne is trapped in his wax machine, Ponds passes time by eating some brown meat. Though it's not clear if he was saving that for an apocalypse.
- One of the translated cryptograms says, "There is a Soos in every dimension". This is a reference to the Lost Legends story, Don't Dimension It.
- Stan immobilizing people to make them into his exhibits calls to mind the end of "Little Gift Shop of Horrors" (a non-canon episode), when he did exactly that to a customer who didn't buy anything.
- Never Trust a Trailer: Ads for the episode bill it as a straightforward crossover with Gravity Falls, rather than heavily influenced by it.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently the Curator went to "frog prison" sometime before for an unspecified reasonnote .
- Obviously Evil: Curator Ponds is so blatantly suspicious that even he is surprised at how willing Anne was to blindly trust him.
- Ocular Gushers:
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Anne considers her phone her prized possession and loves how it provides new technology. When she sees a Skip-Man, however, it reminds her of her parents and she is curious about investigating it.
- Shout-Out:
- One Gravity Falls episode featured Grunkle Stan turning a guest unwilling to buy anything into a living, conscious display. Here, the Curator seeks to do the same to Anne, though she was offering to display herself for a day.
- One of the exhibits at the Curiosity Hut is "Air Bug", a mantis that plays bugball.
The Curator: There's no rule saying a mantis can't play bugball! - Symbolic Blood: Lampshaded by the Curator when a suspicious red fluid leaks from under the back room door after the oddities drag him there.The Curator: Calm down everyone. It's just wax.
- Tempting Fate: Anne offers to go on display for one day, in exchange for the Skip Man. Given she earned a bucket of coins just by doing a comedy act, the Curator would have been wealthy for a while. The Curator, however, wants a lifetime investment in such a display. Anne's life and body, to be precise.
- Too Dumb to Live: Considering how ominous the Curator was behaving, Anne should have known better than to meet him alone at night. Even if she really wanted the Skip-Man, that's still pretty suicidal.
- Trashy Tourist Trap: The Curiosity Hut, in keeping with its inspiration, the Mystery Shack. The difference is that, whereas the Mystery Shack's exhibits are all fake, the Curiosity Hut's are all very real.
- Wax Museum Morgue: The creatures on display at the Curiosity Hut are still alive, just trapped in a wax film. Curator Ponds plans to add Anne to his collection.
- Wham Episode: Anne discovers an item from her world that wasn't brought there by her, Sasha or Marcy. She also discovers that there are several more items like that, all of which are kept in Newtopia.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The episode is a tribute to Gravity Falls, with Alex Hirsch guest starring as both the Curator (aka Grunkle Stan) and Frog Soos. Amphibia creator Matt Braly previously worked on Gravity Falls as a storyboard artist and director.
