This is only 3/4 of 'em. We counted.
Oscar and the OscarbotsAirdates: December 2, 2014 note , December 15, 2014 note , February 7, 2015 note
When five of Oscar’s Oscarbots (robots made in his own image) become lost in town, Olive and Otto must help him find them.
Tropes:
- Ace Pilot: Oscarbot 10 is one. He somehow managed to get ahold of an Odd Squad-branded bi-plane.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Downplayed. Only five Oscarbots stray away from their original programming, and none of them become downright evil, nor do any protest when Olive, Otto and Oscar find them and order them to return.
- It's played straight when all 25 form a giant robot, however; it's implied that when in this form, they turn evil.
- Avengers Assemble: Oscar tells the Oscarbots, who are all in a line sorted by number, to assemble in his lab, and they each go down the slide saying their respective number.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: It's subtle, but Oscar's comment after the Oscarbots are lined up falls under this.Oscar: When I see them all lined up like that, I realize I really do need a haircut.
- Bears Are Bad News: A bear somehow breaks into the dojo. But while the teacher quickly makes his escape, Ms. O ends up battling the creature — which towers above her — and winning after only 20 seconds.
- Brick Break: Ms. O breaks a board cleanly in two with enough force to send the person holding it — who is an adult nearly twice her weight — to the ground. And yet she still demands he get up so she can do it again.
- Chekhov's Gag: The Donut Room seen at the beginning of the episode is where Oscarbots 4 and 8 happen to be located, which in turn grants Otto a chance to visit it for the first time.
- Combining Mecha: It's revealed that the 25 Oscarbots can combine to make a larger robot. However, its design is only shown in a Shadow Discretion Shot, and looms over Oscar and Ms. O.
- Comically Missing the Point: Oscar seems to be oblivious to Otto's yearning for donuts throughout the episode.Otto: 12 is a dozen! And we know what comes in a dozen... [rubs his hands together]Oscar: Eggs!Olive: Donuts. Let's go. [she and Otto leave]Oscar: Well I guess that too...
- Continuity Nod: The donut shop owner from "Double Trouble" makes a cameo appearance in the background of the Donut Room scene.
- Deus ex 'Scuse Me: Ms. O is at karate practice for a large majority of the episode, allowing Oscar and his Oscarbots to finish the machine, go to the movies, and return only to find some missing. When Ms. O begins to wrap up her practice, Oscar is forced to stall her with successful results... but only because of Contrived Coincidences that force her to stay longer.
- Dragged by the Collar: Oscar drags Olive and Otto away from the Donut Room's entrance by their arms.
- Embarrassing Ringtone: Unlike Olive and Otto's ringtones — which play the Odd Squad theme song — Oscar's ringtone is something that sounds like it belongs in a circus show.
- Flat Joy: When Olive permits him to grab a donut that Oscarbots 4 and 8 were sharing, Otto gives a small, but cheerful, "yay" that could put him on par with Fluttershy.
- Here We Go Again!: Invoked by Olive, who leads Otto away to the Cake Room before the stess of staying up all night causes him to let loose against Ms. O and Oscar. Like with the Donut Room, Otto has no clue of its existence until Olive informs him, and immediately latches on, forgoing any instance of upset he had.
- Ms. O also gets another chance to fight something twice her size, taking on Oscar's Combining Mecha at the end of the episode.
- Heroes Fight Barehanded: It's implied that Ms. O took out the bear with nothing but her bare hands and her martial arts skills.
- Heroic BSoD: Oscar enters one when Ms. O tells him he has 20 seconds to find the last two Oscarbots, lamenting how he's going to be fired from Odd Squad to the point where his voice breaks and he's about to cry. He manages to snap out of it once an offhand comment from him about Oscarbots 4 and 8 being together spurs Olive to realize they should add 8 and 4 together to find out where the robots are.
- Hidden Depths: Beneath her Jerk with a Heart of Gold exterior, Olive is apparently the Life of the Party, frequenting the town's nightclub enough for the bouncer to know her by name.
- Just in Time: Oscar, Olive and Otto manage to round up all five missing Oscarbots just as Ms. O walks into the bullpen below them.
- Kung-Fu Kid: Ms. O is one, being strong enough to break multiple cinder blocks and take down a bear. They don't call her Little Miss Badass for nothing.
- Machine Blood: One Oscarbot has red paint in place of blood, which it shoots out of its fingers.
- Married to the Job: Olive openly defies any sort of notion of this; while she is dedicated to her work and is loyal to Odd Squad, she makes time for herself as well.Olive: What? I have a life outside of work!
- Obsessed with Food: At this point, it's a Once an Episode occurrence for Otto — his main motivator for this episode is going to the Donut Room after finding out about its existence from a tube operator, and he gets denied almost every time.Olive: I have an idea.Otto: We are going to the Donut Room!Olive: Not even close.Otto: [thinking out loud] 25...25... (as he comes up with an idea) They sell donuts in a dozen! A dozen is 25!Olive: A dozen is 12, but nice try.
- One Crazy Night: The episode takes place over the course of one night, where most everyone has gone home except for the Main 4.
- Pokémon Speak: Oscarbots are only able to say their respective number and nothing else.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: All 25 Oscarbots look exactly like their creator, and act perfectly humanoid. Olive even lampshades this, believing that Oscar initially cloned himself 25 times.Olive: You cloned yourself?Oscar: Noooo, what am I, crazy?! They're robots.
- Robo Family: Of a sort. It's clear that Oscar cares for his Oscarbots enough to take them all to the movies in celebration for Ms. O's machine working, but it's left ambiguous whether he thinks of them as family or as mere machines.
- Robotic Assembly Lines: All 25 Oscarbots form one to make Ms. O's "machine".
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The episode is spent attempting to get all of the missing Oscarbots back to headquarters in order for them to build a top-secret machine of Ms. O's...only for the "machine" to simply be the perfect juice box. It's lampshaded by Otto, who isn't happy about staying up all night and begins to take it out on Ms. O and Oscar before Olive interrupts.
- Single-Task Robot: Each Oscarbot is designed to do one thing to help build Ms. O's machine, and if even one is gone, it messes up the entire assembly.
- Skewed Priorities: After learning of the Donut Room's existence from O'Scarlett, Otto is quick to ask Olive:Otto: Why wasn't this the first thing you ever told me?! Even before your name!
- Suddenly Always Knew That: Ms. O has never displayed any kind of martial arts prior to this episode, but is exceptionally skilled at it. Justified, as all Odd Squad Directors receive martial arts training when being promoted to precinct heads, and Ms. O is incredibly strong as it is.
- Suddenly Shouting: Done by Ms. O after her first phone conversation with Oscar.Ms. O: Nothing has ever been more important. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. NOTHING!!!!
- This Is Unforgivable!: Ms. O says this to Oscar when she asks him to build the machine during a Flashback Cut, telling him that if it doesn't work, she'll never forgive him.Oscar: If this machine doesn't work, Ms. O will never forgive me!Otto: I'm sure that's not true.[flashback starts]Ms. O: If this machine doesn't work, I'll never forgive you.[flashback ends]Otto: Point taken.
- Violence Discretion Shot: An Oscarbot presumably slices his face open with a chainsaw (which is in place of his hand), but it cuts to Olive and Otto's reactions
during the massacre.
Airdates: December 2, 2014 note , December 15, 2014 note , February 7, 2015 note
Olive and Otto must figure out why people in town are becoming plaid and striped.
Tropes:
- Affably Evil: While Glenn does cause oddness, and was listed as a villain on the old version of the PBS Kids website, he doesn't act evil at all. While he does revel in his oddness, he is nowhere near antagonistic to Odd Squad, and even helps them fix the odd problem he caused.
- All Planets Are Earth-Like: Lampshaded by Glenn upon arriving in the Mathroom.Glenn: Are we even still on Earth?Otto: Well, it's more like a paper world, full of math...
- Anger Montage: Orchid begins to throw a tantrum as she wrecks the interrogation room where Oscar has equipment set up for pictures, in an attempt to stall him.
- Animation Bump: A live-action example. The scenes with Oscar taking photos are far more fluid than other scenes in the episode, which may be due to the usage of a different camera or smoother editing.
- Artistic License – Physics: Glenn accidentally drops the "antidote", a #10 Glenn Gusher, onto the ground, causing it to break into pieces. However, the height between the cart and the ground isn't very high; the most the glass should have had as a result was a crack or two in it, but otherwise be drinkable.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: Done by Olive when discussing how to fix a client who has turned plaid with the use of a gadget.Otto: The Plaid-Go-Bye-Bye-Machine-Thing?Olive: Yes!Client: [soft chuckle]Olive: But it's broken.
- Big Word Shout: Upon realizing how dangerous the Glenn Gushers are, Olive gives an "Otto, STOP!!" as she races over to him. Unfortunately she's too late, and he's already taken a sip of the drink.
- Characterization Marches On: Agent Orchid isn't as much of a Bratty Half-Pint as she is in later episodes. She also doesn't have any bad history with Otto in particular, instead treating him like a co-worker when compared to episodes like "Moustache Confidential", where he explicitly states that he and Orchid are on negative terms with each other.
- Continuity Nod: Ronnie and Donnie, who were last seen in "My Better Half", appear again in the Cold Open.
- Desperate Object Catch: Subverted. Otto lunges for the Plum #1 Glenn Gusher just as the indecisive man is about to drink it, and manages to catch it (albeit not without removing half the bottle's contents).
- Determinator: Otto becomes one in this episode, even going so far as to tell two clients to stop eating entirely just so the case can be solved and he can get his photo.
- Didn't Think This Through: With no gadget available to immediately fix the problem, Olive decides to have the two patterned clients switch blankets. While they do like the designs, she doesn't know what to do next.
- Distinction Without a Difference: Olive is quick to point out how Otto's "new" photo looks the same as his old photo.Otto: I finally took a good photo![he shows Olive the new ID]Otto: What are you talking about? They're totally different![he puts the two IDs side by side]Otto: See? In this one (the new one), my chin is tilted a little bit this way. [tilts chin to the right][Olive shoots him a What the Hell, Hero?-worthy look]
- The Ditherer: The man whom Otto is stuck in line behind while at Glenn's stand is of "The Ditz-erer" type. He is Slower Than a Snail and takes a long while to decide what drink he wants, to the annoyance of Otto, whom he lets ahead of him.
- Does Not Like Spam: Otto — known for being a Big Eater — throws up in his mouth at seeing the "Tuna Melon"-flavored Glenn Gusher.
- Embarrassing Old Photo: Otto's last ID picture looks like he's on the verge of an Ill-Timed Sneeze, and his overall goal is to get a better photo.
- Kinda Busy Here: Otto is busy on the phone when Olive asks him what to do after having the two clients exchange blankets, causing her to grow annoyed before waving him off in a "forget it" motion.
- Last-Second Photo Failure: Otto's first ID picture has his face contorted as though he's about to sneeze, and he expresses interest in getting a new picture taken because of it. At the end of the episode, he gets a normal picture taken, but the new picture that is produced looks identical to the old one (save a shift in chin placement to the right, according to Otto himself). Olive is quick to point out how similar the two photos are, despite Otto's insistence that they are different.
- MockGuffin: Otto's new ID photo can fall under this, considering that, in an anticlimactic twist, it's a shameless copy of his old photo. May be justified in that Oscar either mixed up his photos, or isn't as good at photography as he thinks he is; both Olive and Otto notice issues with the two photos when placed side-by-side.
- My Card: Otto and other Odd Squad agents have IDs that show their appearances, their badge number (in the upper-right corner), and a barcode. However, no one is seen actively wearing their IDs, and many clients can easily distinguish an agent from a normal child.
- Running Gag: The gong sound that plays upon being turned patterned, as well as people actually saying the noise aloud.
- Oh, Crap!: Olive gets one upon realizing that the Glenn Gushers are the source of oddness, and that she sent Otto away to get one.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. Glenn is the name of the cupcake shop owner seen in "Zero Effect". Here, another Glenn is introduced, who is a drink vendor.
- Photobooth Montage: Played with; there's no photo booth, and it's just Oscar taking a series of selfies with his camera, making funny faces and poses.
- Picture Day: Focuses on Otto as he attempts to get a better picture for his ID. Naturally, Hilarity Ensues.
- Portmanteau: Glenn uses these quite a lot in his speech, combining "Glenn" with adjectives like "wonderful" or "fantastic".
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Both clients, as well as Olive, say "gong" when describing the sound produced upon changing into various patterns.
- Serious Business: For Oscar, it's photography. It gets to a point where Olive and Otto have to wait nine hours to eat with him because he's busy taking selfies.
- Shout-Out: Otto turning yellow and polka-dotted is a potential reference to the song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie-Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" by Brian Hyland.
- Slow "NO!": Olive and Otto both cry out "Stop!" as the indecisive man from before is about to drink the Glenn Gusher needed to turn Otto back to normal.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: It's revealed that the Glenn Gushers are turning people into different colors and patterns, and it's also implied that Glenn tampered with his drinks himself since he is aware of its effects. Once Olive, Otto and the two clients are aware of this, they unleash a load of What the Hell, Hero? on him.
- Unflattering ID Photo: Otto is keen to get a new ID photo as his old one shows him with his mouth open and his eyes closed. The end of the episode shows that his new photo is almost identical, except this time his eyes are open.
- We Need a Distraction: After realizing that Otto won't be much help with the case (what with his Determinator status), Olive decides to give some of her money to Otto so he can pay for a "Glenn Gusher" drink. He is completely oblivious to the reason behind the gesture, and thanks Olive before heading off.
