Sandbox / Nuclear Sheep

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Colin

• Brainy Brunette: A Scholarship Student because of his maths skills.
• The Defroster: To both Joel and Noah.
• Nice Guy: To the point of even being described as such by Julia in-universe.

Noah

• Commitment Issues: Noah is afraid of getting into a relationship with Colin because he fears it'll end like his parents marriage.
• Locked in a Room: Joel locks Noah and Ava in the basement to make them talk about their feelings and fears.
• Love Confessor: Confesses his love for Colin to Ava while they're both locked in the basement.

Noah & Colin

• First Love: Noah and Colin for each other, with both of them saying they've never been in love before.
• Foreshadowing: In episode 1053, Noah claims that love ruins everything. Two episodes later, Colin talks to Noah about his romantic feelings for him, leading to Noah lashing out at him and Colin leaving the school.

Colin & Joel

• Big Damn Hug: Joel runs after Colin and they share one last hug before Colin leaves for Cologne.
• Friendship Moment: Episode 1056 has Joel desperately trying to keep Colin from leaving, even to the point of trying to build a dividing wall in their room to physically seperate him from Noah.

Noah & Joel

• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Joel calls Noah out because he made Colin leave the school and doesn't even have the courage to say goodbye to him.
• Misdirected Outburst: Noah lashes out at Joel but, as Ava puts it, he's actually angry because he made Colin leave.

Joel

• Character Development: Goes from being an arrogant loner who only cares about his business to being a caring and protective friend for Colin.
• Comically Missing the Point: When Ms Schiller catches him trying to build a dividing wall in his room.
  Ms Schiller: You didn't mention you were going to wall Noahin !
  Joel: Nobody's getting walled in. To build a plasterboard wall, you only need a hammer, nails and a drill. And Noah gets his own door of course.
• Feather Boa Constrictor: Wears a fake one at Nesrin and Annika's party.
• Suddenly Always Knew That: When he sees Noah prepare his Kung Fu sequence, Joel casually mentions that he attended a Kung Fu workshop once and offers to help him.

Io & Leon

• Amicable Exes: Io and Leon break up because Io realised she's no longer in love with him but they are both thankful for the time they spent with each other.
• Bathroom Stall of Angst: Io cries in a bathroom stall because she can't figure out how to break up with Leon and tell everyone she's leaving for England.

Tahmi

• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!
• The Klutz: Her first apperance shows her accidentally crashing into a plant. One episode later, she breaks a toaster and accidentally lets the washing machine overflow.

Joshua

• Aloof Big Brother
• Birthday Episode: Episode 1058 has Elly, Reena and Massuda organize a Surprise Party for his 14th birthday, much to his dismay.
• Birthday Hater
• Bookworm: A big fan of fictional author J.J. Dutton's sci-fi saga.
• Deadpan Snarker

Elly

• Annoying Younger Sibling: Joshua thinks of her this way.

Ava

• Gamer Chick: A big fan of the fictional video game Shields of Dalos
• Wrench Wench: A skilled bike mechanic

Chiara

• Girlish Pigtails: Often sports them on either her real hair or her anime-style wig, fitting with her general optimism and cheerfulness.
• Granola Girl: Uses singing bowls and and incense sticks, often talks about the colour of people's auras (including her own) and other esoteric concepts, believes in the power of the universe and treats her plants like they're human beings.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Rike who in turn was one to Alva.

Treasure Hunt Plot

• Cannot Tell a Lie: Karl is unable to lie and has to learn three sentences by heart to cover for Maxi.
• Chekhov's Gun: The painting Tahmina almost destroys in the first episode turns out to contain a hint about where to find the third piece of the treasure map.
• Didn't See That Coming: Maxi's team and Joshua and Chiara both think they got the real Stasi file and thwarted the other team's plan. Instead Elly thwarted the plans of both teams and acquired the real file.
• MacGuffin: The Überall family's buried toy collection.
• Rivals Team Up: Episode 1066 has Maxi and Karl form one big team with Tahmina and Mikka and Marlon and Annika, who were each looking for the treasure individually, to prevent Joshua and Chiara from finding the treasure before them.
• Treasure Map: Maxi owns one piece of a treasure map that leads to a box hidden by a family who fled the GDR. Her grandmother and her friends found and re-buried it when they were 13.
• "What's Inside?" Plot: Karl wants to find out what's in Maxi's secret box.

General/Other

• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Massuda doesn't want to blackmail Mr Zech, she wants to "suggest a deal" to him.
• Breather Episode: Episode 1058 and 1059 both feature parties right after Colins emotional farewell in episode 1056.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Massuda is guilt-ridden after using AI to write her essay and comes clean to Mr Zech who gives her 0 points on her essay.
• Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Joshua (grumpy) and Chiara (gleeful).
• One-Person Birthday Party: Elly tells Reena and Massuda that nobody came to Joshua's birthday party in first grade. This turns out to be a lie by Elly to get back at her brother by throwing an unwanted birthday party for him.
• Rain, Rain, Go Away: Episode 1059. Nesrin and Annika try to have fun together which turns into a room party, Dr Zech hosts a book club and Massuda and Elly study for a test.
• Senior Year Struggles: Season 25 shows Viktor, Badu, Pawel and Sibel preparing for their graduation. Sibel struggels with a pressure to perform because she wants to study medicine, Viktor has to learn courtly dances for his exam and Pawel worries that his fellow students will forget about him after he graduates.
• Sibling Rivalry: Elly and Joshua
• Two Aliases, One Character: Gabriele Knauer is the legal name of Gaby Saalfeld.