K.O. teams up with an unlikely ally to take on an old foe.
Tropes:
- Alternate Identity Amnesia: Professor Venomous had no idea he'd been turning into Shadowy Figure.
- Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity: Venomous tries his best to bond with K.O., but their opposite moralities doesn't leave them with much in the way of common interests. They eventually settle for trying to find and subdue Shadowy Figure.
- Art Shift: Fink's anger makes her face briefly look like that of Mouse Fitzgerald.
- Beat the Curse Out of Him: After Shadowy Figure takes over Professor Venomous's body, Fink worries the former will never let the latter come back, but at K.O.'s suggestion, the two of them team up and finally deal Shadowy his first defeat in the series, which changes him back to Venomous.
- Chekhov's Gun: When K.O. takes Venomous and Fink to the Lakewood Tree, he forbids them both from stealing any glorbs, but Fink still grabs and pockets one when he isn't looking. She later uses this glorb to go Turbo for her and K.O.'s fight with Shadowy Figure.
- Delayed Reaction: It takes Foxtail a few seconds to realize K.O. called Professor Venomous his dad.
- Dramatic Irony: K.O., Venomous, and Fink are unable to find Shadowy Figure in their search for him, even when they go to locations that they know he usually lurks such as the glorb tree and his own lair. As Fink knows, they can't find Shadowy Figure as long as Venomous is around, because Venomous is Shadowy (even though he doesn't know it himself).
- Dramatic Unmask: A variant in that we already know the identity of the unmasked person. When Shadowy Figure takes over Venomous's body, he has his hood off for the first time, showing his full face (with Boss Subtitles included) and confirming beyond all doubt that, yes, he is indeed Venomous's Turbo form.
- Enemy Mine: Fink agrees to team up with K.O. to defeat Shadowy Figure, on the condition that they remain enemies afterwards.
- Foreshadowing: Most of the past theories about Professor Venomous and Shadowy Figure were that either 1) they're the same person, just two different aliases (like Laserblast and Venomous), or 2) they're two different people. And yet, there are hints towards The Reveal that neither of these are quite true (or, alternatively, that they're both true) throughout the episode:
- Even when K.O., Venomous, and Fink go to all the places they know of for sure that Shadowy can usually be found—like in sewer pipes, the Lakewood Tree (where, the past times K.O.'s been there, Shadowy entered as soon as K.O. opened the door), and his own lair—they still don't encounter him. Venomous is present the whole time during all of this, hinting that they really are the same person because they can't both be present at the same time.
- If Shadowy Figure really was just a different alias Venomous uses for himself, you'd expect him to not want to search for him, and/or sabotage their efforts to find him. And yet, Venomous's words and behavior all give the impression that he's perfectly sincere in his efforts to help K.O. find Shadowy, especially since he's the one who suggests it in the first place as a way to bond with K.O. and has multiple ideas for ways they could hunt him down. All of which leads up to the revelation that he truly had no idea that he is Shadowy, and is shocked and upset at learning this.
- Hired to Hunt Yourself: K.O. enlists Professor Venomous's help to find Shadowy Figure, but as Fink knows, they're one and the same.
- Internal Reveal: Foxtail learns that Venomous is K.O.'s father. But, she apparently doesn't know that he's also Laserblast.
- The Man Behind the Man: Foxtail reveals that she got her Glorbs from Shadowy Figure.
- Mirror Character: K.O. realizes that Venomous and Shadowy Figure are just like himself and T.K.O. It's even implied their alter egos were born from the same thing: feelings of helplessness and inadequacy from not being strong enough.
- The Missus and the Ex: Boxman tries to make conversation with Carol about Venomous, but Carol is having none of it. Keep in mind, PV and Boxman are in a romantic relationship by this point.
- The Reveal:
- Foxtail got the glorbs that she was using to power up the P.O.I.N.T. students in Season 2 from Shadowy Figure, and picked them up from Shadowy's secret lair, which was directly below Professor Venomous's old house.
- Professor Venomous and Shadowy Figure are the same person...or, more accurately, Shadowy is a Split Personality of Venomous as his Turbo form, meaning that they're simultaneously the same person and separate people in a similar manner to K.O. and T.K.O.
- Venomous genuinely had no idea that Shadowy Figure is his alter ego. The only other person (besides Shadowy himself) who did know this was Fink, who was forced to keep it from him.
- Secret-Keeper: Fink, who, up until now, was the only other person besides Shadowy Figure himself who was aware that Professor Venomous and Shadowy Figure are the same person. She was essentially forced to become this against her will by Shadowy, who threatened to permanently take over Venomous's body if she ever told him.
- Shared Family Quirks: It turns K.O. isn't the only one in his family who developed a Split Personality.
- Split Personality: Professor Venomous' attempts to restore his lost powers actually worked, creating a separate identity (heretofore unbeknownst to him) in Shadowy Figure.
- Split-Personality Takeover: Shadowy Figure blackmailed Fink into keeping silent about his existence by threatening to take over Venomous' body full-time. He seemingly does just that when exposed, but K.O. and Fink manage to Beat the Curse Out of Him at least temporarily.
- The Unsmile: When going to see Foxtail at P.O.I.N.T. Academy, K.O. asks Venomous to at least smile a little. He gives him a sinister grimace with sharp pointed fangs.
- Villainous Breakdown: In his previous appearances, Shadowy Figure only ever got violent with K.O. after the latter started fights with him, otherwise leaving him unharmed since it was hinted he had future plans for him (or rather, for T.K.O.). This time, though, he's so angry with Fink and K.O. for outing him to Venomous that he spends pretty much the entirety of his screentime this episode in one of these, furiously attacking and trying to hurt them.Shadowy Figure: (As K.O. and Fink tremble in fear) How dare you. I never wanted that Venomous to know. But now you brats have ruined it for me! *Attacks them*
- Villainous BSoD: Professor Venomous has one when he finds out that he was Shadowy Figure all along, and Shadowy took great measures to keep him from ever learning about this, including blackmailing Fink. This gives Shadowy an opportunity to take over once again.
- Wham Episode: In a plot twist on top of a plot twist, we finally learn who Shadowy Figure really is, and it utterly topples all of the initial "one or the other" belief regarding all three of Steven Ogg's characters as it is revealed that Professor Venomous (already revealed to have once been Laserblast) had unknowingly developed his own "Turbo" alter-ego in his experiments to try to regain the powers he had lost long ago...and Shadowy Figure IS that Turbo Alter-Ego!!!
