Continuing from The Ice Tape, Earl, the sensei the park crew met at the end of the Ice Tape quest, starts Pops training against the Anti-Pops. However Pops pacifist nature prevents him from wishing to take on the upcoming task.
Tropes
- Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Sorta, when Pops goes to his secret place, there are butterflies flying around. This is especially poignant after Earl reveals the purpose behind Anti-Pops and him when it concerns the universe.
- Continuity Nod: Huge Head is still stuck in the black hole from the end of Season Six episode, Men In Uniform. However he apparently died of starvation due to it and only his remains are still on display plugging up the hole.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: When Mordecai and Rigby call out Earl on if he's really a kung fu master. Earl easily demonstrate this by making Rigby look like a fool.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Earl puts Pops through a very grueling training regiment in the hopes of focusing his powers.
- Killed Off for Real: Huge Head's remains can be seen when Pops runs off after seeing the vision of Pops in a previous universe.
- The Reveal: Turns out this isn't the first time Pops and Anti-Pops have battled. They've done so dozens of times, with each encounter destroying and re-creating the universe and both being reborn to do it all again. Earl has witnessed and lived through it each and every time. He hopes that this time will be different to break the cycle.
- Right Behind Me: Each time one of the Park workers make insults about Earl, he shows up behind them having heard it.
- Shout-Out:
- To the The Karate Kid as well as Kill Bill via the training montages.
- Two gigantic beings fighting around the universe resulting in Big Bangs? Hello again, Gurren Lagann.
- One of the worlds destroyed during the first Pops/Anti-Pops fight appears to be the Death Star.
- Training Montage: Naturally there is one of Pops doing one with Earl.
- Wax On, Wax Off: Earl's training seems to resemble these with Pop even literally doing doing it to floors and plates. He and the staff initially think he just having Pops do his chores. But at the end, it allows Pops to focus his power. Thus Earl can finally begin his real training.
- When You Snatch the Pebble: When Rigby doubts that he's a real kung fu master, Earl dares him to snatch the glass of lemonade from his hand. He gets thoroughly owned by Earl.
