Squeeze Sticks
Manny is called to stop an out-of-control carousel in the park- unfortunately, when he goes to Kelly’s to pick up some spare parts, the tools are drawn to a box of horseshoe magnets. Then a magnet sticks Squeeze to a passing Kevin’s scooter, and she soon finds herself in for a wild ride all over town as the magnet pulls her onto all sorts of metal things…
Tropes in “Squeeze Sticks”:
- Alliterative Title: Squeeze Sticks
- Anti-Climax: Played for Laughs. Manny makes a dramatic proclamation that they’ll get Squeeze back no matter how far they have to go… and then the truck Squeeze was stuck to stops right in front of them.Stretch: Well, that was easy.
- Bringing Running Shoes to a Car Chase: Manny ends up having this problem when Squeeze gets magnetically stuck to a delivery truck, having to chase it first on foot and then on a (not-much-faster) scooter borrowed from Kevin.
- Call-Back: The carousel in the park returns, with a broken lever on its control panel causing it to not be able to be turned off.
- Character Action Title: The title refers to Squeeze sticking to something (namely, a magnet from Kelly's hardware store).
- Chekhov's Gun: Early in the episode, Kelly mentions she’s getting new hardware delivered to her store. Guess where the delivery truck Squeeze gets stuck to ends up stopping.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: One is triggered when Squeeze is offered a ride on the now-fixed carousel and she declines, saying that she’s “had enough rides for today”.
- Failed a Spot Check: Somehow, Kevin fails to notice Squeeze when she’s magnetically stuck to his scooter, despite her hollering at the top of her (metaphorical) lungs.
- Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: When Manny borrows Kevin’s scooter, he makes sure to also get his helmet, and knee and elbow pads as well.
- Hero Stole My Bike: Manny ends up having to borrow Kevin’s scooter to chase down the delivery stuck Squeeze was stuck to. This is actually one of the few instances of this trope where the audience gets to see the vehicle being returned after the chase is done.
- Hollywood Magnetism: Let’s see… there’s magnets not attracting metal until triggered by Tempting Fate, magnets not affecting each other, magnets pulling tools towards them without being pulled back towards the tools, and, as the absolute crux of absurdity, a magnet sticking to Dusty’s PLASTIC handle.
- It's a Long Story: Felipe says this when questioned by Kelly about what happened with Squeeze and the magnet.Felipe: It’s a long story. First she got stuck to a scooter, then a carousel, then the truck… Hey, that was actually kind of a short story.
- Mundane Made Awesome: The chase between Manny and Kevin has a dramatic shot of… Manny jumping over a row of not-very-high bushes.
- One Size Fits All: Somehow, the helmet Kevin (a young child) wears while scootering fits perfectly on Manny.
- Selective Magnetism: There are at least two scenes where tools are standing near magnets without being attracted to them, until suddenly, for no clear reason, the magnets do start pulling them towards them. Also, none of the magnets ever seem to attract or repel each other.
- Stock Phrases: Stretch says “Here we go again!” when Squeeze and the magnet get flung off the carousel and stuck to a delivery truck.
- Visible Odor: Mr. Lopart’s Super Smell-Erator releases a bright pink cloud of “candy aroma” when it breaks.
Basketball For All
Coach Johnson calls Manny to fix a basketball hoop in the community gym, but he soon gets sidetracked from this simple job, as he builds a way for wheelchair-bound athlete Chris to get into the gym despite the stairs in front of its door.
“Basketball For All” contains instances of the following tropes:
- Banana Peel: At one point, Mr. Lopart slips on one and tumbles into a nearby trash can (implicitly where the peel came from).
- Bizarre Taste in Food: Felipe likes salsa… on popcorn.
- Brick Joke: The tools’ various outlandish suggestions for how Chris could get into the gym (a slingshot, a cannon, and a giant hill of dirt) are repeated as ways to reach a box of nails on a high shelf.
- The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right: Of all the tools’ suggestions for what they could make to let Chris enter the gym, Pat’s idea (a hill of dirt Chris could roll up), while not entirely correct, was by far the closest one to the actual proper solution (a ramp).
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Set off when Rusty gets hit yet again by a basketball.
- Rhyming Title: Has one.
- Rule of Three: Three suggestions are made as to how Chris can get into the gym: Dusty wants to build a supersized slingshot to shoot him up the stairs, Felipe thinks the shooting should be done from a circus cannon, and Pat wants… a hill of dirt he can roll up.
- Running Gag: Rusty being (or narrowly missing being) hit by stray basketballs.
- Stock Phrases: Coach Johnson utters the standard coach-y phrase of “practice makes perfect” a few times.
