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From left to right: Chase, Adam, Leo, Donald and Bree.

Narrator: The world's first bionic superhumans. They're stronger then us. Faster. Smarter. The next generation of the human race is...
Leo: ...Living in my basement?!note 

Lab Rats is a Science Fiction Kid Com created by Chris Peterson and Bryan Moore that aired on Disney XD, running for four seasons from February 27, 2012 to February 3, 2016.

When 14-year-old Leo (Tyrel Jackson Williams) moves in with his new stepdad, Donald Davenport (Hal Sparks), he snoops around Donald's mansion and discovers Adam (Spencer Boldman), Bree (Kelli Berglund), and Chase (Billy Unger) — three bionic siblings (each equipped with hi-tech apps) living in a lab beneath the house. An unlikely friendship develops as he sneaks them out to school for their first taste of freedom while they help him to become the most popular kid in school. But when their bionic glitches go off, things get chaotic very quickly!

After Lab Rats premiered, it became Disney XD's top-rated live-action series. For its fourth season, the series underwent a Retool with the main cast now mentoring other bionic teens at Davenport Bionic Academy, an artificial island (also earning it the new subtitle Bionic Island).

In addition to several Red Skies Crossover and Cross Through links with other Disney XD series, it was announced in September 2015 that both Lab Rats and Mighty Med would be replaced by a permanent crossover series called Lab Rats: Elite Force, which ran for one season.

Unrelated to the BBC sitcom of the same name.

All spoilers are unmarked. Any spoilers relating to the spin-off will be spoiler tagged if necessary.


Lab Rats exhibits these tropes:

    open/close all folders 

    A-C 
  • Abhorrent Admirer: Perry towards Douglas.
    • "Robot Fight Club" has Caitlin be this towards Adam, and then Chase.
  • Abusive Parent: Donald was this (unintentionally) to Adam, Bree and Chase before Leo met them. He only kept them isolated because he was afraid (with good reason) they wouldn't be able to control their powers without proper training. As he puts it, he was so busy training their superhuman side that he forgot about their human side. The real winner is his brother. Douglas attempted to turn his biological kids into weapons and didn't seem at all sad when he revealed that Marcus' life expectancy (as an android) is 16. On the other hand, he wanted to hold family game nights with the kids, to at least show he's not a total monster.
  • An Aesop: Bob Zombie gives an important lesson on how one shouldn't change people just to make them better, but rather, it's better to accept them, because they are special in their own way.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Surprisingly averted. Eddy is a pain in the butt but for the most part glitch-free (or is he, really?), while the AI in Donald's car in Speed Trapped only went awry because of Marcus.
    • Played straight with Robo Perry in "Perry 2.0" when in her default mode, which is search and destroy.
  • Alliterative Name: Donald and Douglas Davenport. Also, the high school mascot, Dewey Dingo.
  • Alphabetical Theme Naming: Adam, Bree, Chase, Donald and Eddie.
    • Turns out this was invoked by Douglas for all his kids— Adam, Bree, Chase, and Daniel. This was actually because their original names were subject A, subject B, subject C, and subject D.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Toyed with in the webisode series Who Is Marcus?
  • All Your Powers Combined: Marcus has all the Lab Rats' abilities and more.
  • Amazingly Embarrassing Parent: Tasha plays this in "Trucked Out". Even Donald is not well-versed in teenage culture.
  • And the Adventure Continues: After Giselle and Marcus are defeated, the Lab Rats' and Bionic Soldiers' chips are restored. However, with the soldiers now at expert level, there is no need for the mentors anymore, causing Adam and Leo to stay at the academy and oversee the transition. Davenport creates a new team, which Chase and Bree join, leading them to their new adventure in Lab Rats: Elite Force.
  • Angrish: Donald in the pilot, when he goes to retrieve the kids. "So - how was school? GET IN THE HELICOPTER!"
  • Anguished Declaration of Love: Adam has a platonic one toward Chase after they think he died in Bionic Action Hero.
    I never got to tell him that I loved him.
  • Animal Eye Spy: Played with with the mechanical flies.
  • Apocalyptic Log: Leo finds out that Donald has made one for the Rats that will activate in event of a real emergency.
  • Applied Phlebotinum: Some of Donald's inventions have explanations that involve something like this, but throwing in scientific terms to make them sound plausible.
  • A Minor Kidroduction: There is a flashback in the pilot of a much younger Adam, Bree and Chase, all showcasing their powers.
  • Archnemesis Dad: The Lab Rats' real father, Douglas. Not so much after his Heel–Face Turn.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In Avalanche, Chase's line mocking Douglas.
    Chase: So, what's on your agenda for the day? Build some bombs, take over a tiny country, steal money from old ladies?
    • In Trucked Out:
    Leo: The only things that motivates [Principal Perry] are revenge, rage and kitty calendars.
  • Artificial Human: Marcus is an android.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: In Which Father Knows Best? Chase upgraded Donald's motorcycle to reach 400 mph. Chase gave it a test run, but it ran out of gas too quickly because it gets 12 inches to the gallon. As it turns out, if you upgrade to increase a vehicle's top speed, its gas mileage will decrease.
  • Badass Bookworm: Chase.
    • In Quarantined, Donald shows that he also has some serious fighting skills - which were actually foreshadowed in Bionic Birthday Fail.
  • Badass Family: The Lab Rats are bionic, but Donald and his brother are experts at combat. The Perrys themselves also qualify.
  • Bad "Bad Acting": Leo and Adam in "Leo's Jam", when enacting their plan to get Leo to impress Danielle.
  • Barrier Warrior: Chase is capable of creating a shield to protect himself and others, and can extend it to encompass other objects.
  • Beach Episode: Downplayed in Dude, Where's My Lab? Most of the episode takes place off the beach, and they all wear light summer clothes.
  • Berserk Button: In Crush, Chop and Burn, the Lab Rats are visibly offended when Tasha asks if they're robots.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Douglas is one sick puppy.
  • Big Bad: Principal Perry, sort of, as she is the most recurring antagonist.
    • Douglas Davenport has taken over this position as of Bionic Showdown, reducing Principal Perry to The Heavy.
    • Victor Krane usurps the position from Douglas in Season 3.
    • Sebastian, aka S-3 from Krane's bionic army, was the Arc Villain from the Season 3 finale until the Season 4 premiere.
    • Victor Krane still has a strong influence in Season 4, but it seems Giselle has taken this role, and intends to bring back Marcus.
    • The Incapacitator in Lab Rats vs. Mighty Med.
    • Dr. Gao in Space Colony.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Adam. It's never explicitly stated, but when they are in danger Adam does try to shield Bree or Chase. He also unlocks his hidden ability when Leo is in danger. Sure, he punches Chase all the time, but he has his own way of expressing it.
  • Big Good: The President.
  • Bizarre and Improbable Golf Game: Spoofed in "Hole In One". While Principal Perry's golf course is an example of this, Chase uses his telekinesis to move the ball to the hole.
  • Bland-Name Product: ePods and ePhones.
  • Blooper: In the episode "Face Off", Adam pantses Chase in the crowded hallway and all of the students laugh at Chase, who is left standing in his boxer briefs. However, when Chase's pants are around his ankles, and subsequently when he pulls them back up, you can see that they are unbuttoned, and the fly is partially unzipped. Since it's unlikely that Chase (or anyone else) would wear their pants like this, it appears that Billy Unger, the actor playing Chase, deliberately left his pants unbuttoned and unzipped so that Spencer Boldman, the actor playing Adam, could more easily pull them down.
  • Body Surf: In "Three Minus Bree", Leo invents a flu-curing pill which Tasha uses for her cold. When copying the schematics to get the diagnosis, Leo accidentally transfers Eddy's data to the pill, resulting in Eddy taking over Tasha's body.
  • Book Ends: The series began and ended with a two-part episode (the pilot "Crush, Chop, and Burn", and the finale "The Vanishing").
  • Both Sides Have a Point: In "Three Minus Bree", Bree just wanted some freedom from her bionic life and felt Donald was taking too much away from her life. While she does have a legitimate argument about taking the lead on her own life, Donald is also right in reminding her that she has responsibilities as a member of the team, even if it means forsaking other opportunities. By destroying her chip, Bree took her point too far, to the extent that it leaned towards selfishness.
    • On the flip side, Donald's refusal to hear her out or compromise in the slightest, especially when dealing with a teenager who has been forced into a high stress lifestyle against her will, means that Bree destroying the chip can be seen as the logical, albeit extreme, resolution to the matter.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Douglas manages to install an app into Adam, Bree, and Chase that lets him do this to them in the Season 3 premiere.
    • Chase and Bree become this again in "The Curse of the Screaming Skull".
  • Broken Masquerade: As of Season 3. Not only were the heroes on Youtube, but they are now government-sanctioned. And Government OWNED.
    • Strangely enough, the crossover with Mighty Med reveals that superheroes have been unaware of the existence of the Lab Rats, even though they've been all over the news like crazy. The only ones who caught on to the Bionic Heroes were Kaz and Oliver, and they're normos among the superhero community. To be fair, due to the nature of bionic technology copying superpowers, superheroes don't consider bionics to be anything special.
  • Bumbling Dad: Donald. Douglas can fall under this too.
  • Butt-Monkey: Chase, and occasionally Leo. And just about any student around Principal Perry. If Lindsay is present amongst the background extras during a Perry scene, it's a sure sign that she's about to be publicly humiliated.
  • Cain and Abel: Douglas is the Cain and Donald is the Abel.
  • Call-Back: The exoskeleton from Exoskeleton Vs. Grandma, in Bionic Showdown.
  • Candid Camera Prank: Donald's slide show showcasing his security cameras catching the kids misbehavior, in Drone Alone. Inverted when Eddy refuses to reveal what Marcus did in Concert In A Can, and says nothing about his activities in Mission:Space, Who Is Marcus? and Speed Trapped.
    • Last one is arguably an aversion since Donald had shut Eddie down for awhile due to him messing with Tasha on their anniversary.
  • The Cast Show Off:
    • Billy Unger often gets to show off his martial arts skills.
    • Kelli Berglund gets to show some of her dance moves in "Leo's Jam". Tyrel Jackson Williams isn't a slouch in the dance department, either.
    • Even Hal Sparks is a martial artist and a guitarist.
  • Casual Danger Dialogue: Many in "Bionic Showdown", such as Adam speaking with "Jewish accent", and Bree's "YOLO", all while they were trapped in Douglas' house. Leo and Eddy count too, as they argue about things like the red cart Leo is using when they set off to rescue their family.
  • Catchphrase:
    • Donald's "BOOM!" He even argues about it with Douglas.
    • Also, Adam's "Saved it!"
  • Killed Off for Real:
    • Victor Krane gets shot into space during Space Colony.
    • Giselle gets killed in the series finale, by being sliced to several pieces by her own whip.
  • Child Soldiers: Douglas was the one responsible for giving bionics to the Lab Rats, for the purpose of training them as living weapons for sale to the highest bidder. Cue Donald taking the kids and putting them in hiding before the series.
  • Christmas Episode: Twas the Mission Before Christmas and Merry Glitchmas.
  • Cliffhanger: The Season 2 finale, "No Going Back", ends with the Lab Rats running away from home, Leo and Donald stuck in the elevator, Donald without any money, and the lab completely destroyed]].
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Adam. He keeps random strands of hair he uses to make fake mustaches in his locker.
  • Comedic Underwear Exposure: In the episode "Face Off," Chase is left in his boxer briefs in front of a hallway full of students when Adam pantses him to prove to Bree that he could embarrass somebody besides her.
  • Comically Missing the Point: From Bionic Birthday Fail:
    Adam: Woohoo! Leo's having a surprise party!
    Chase: Adam, if Leo was having a surprise party, don't you think we'd be invited?
    Adam: Yeah, you're right! Who is Tasha thinking she is not inviting us?
    • From Leo vs. Evil, some time after Tasha had been teleported.
    Chase: [seeing the teleported chair distorted by the return function] This is awful.
    Adam: I know. I love that chair, I did some of my best sitting in it.
  • Cool and Unusual Punishment: what the Principal puts the siblings through in order to attempt to get out of detention early, in ''Missin' The Mission'.
  • "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: After Tasha has to jump through hoops trying to convince Rose that Adam, Bree, and Chase were the Davenport household's staff, Donald gives a sanitized version of the truth: they are his brother's kids that he adopted. Rose immediately lampshades this by asking, "Why didn't you just say so?!"
  • Crazy Cat Lady: Principal Perry.
  • Curse Cut Short: In the pilot episode.
    Donald: WHAT THE F— [Leo honks a horn as he drives into the living room]
  • Custom Uniform: The bionic teens’ mission suits each have different designs. Later on, Leo’s has a hood and a red right sleeve indicating where his bionic arm is.
  • Cutaway Gag: A few ones:
    • In Commando App, showing the yesteryear's Christmas party of the Lab Rats, when Spike appeared to retaliate after Adam tried using his new boxing gloves on him.
    • In Trucked Out, there is a scene with Adam after he had an accident with his new bicycle.

    D-E 
  • Designer Babies: The Lab Rats, initially described by Donald as "genetically-engineered superhuman[s]", are implied to be this, with their individual powersets being based off their biological traits.
  • Disney Death:
    • Leo in Back From The Future.
    • Turns out Marcus is not technically dead, being an android and all, but his body remains intact to the point Giselle can fix him and reactivate him.
    • Happens to S-1 in Rise of The Secret Soldiers, where Leo fires her into the sky. Come Season 4, turns out she survived.
  • Diagonal Cut: Implied to happen to Giselle in the series finale, courtesy of her own laser whip; we see it wrap around her with no ill effects, but once it cuts away, we hear her pieces falling to the floor.
  • Disturbing Statistic: In the pilot, after Chase, Bree, and Adam cause chaos in the gym at Leo's school, Chase tries to defuse the ensuing panic by saying that statistically speaking, at least 70% of them will make it out alive if they stay calm. Panic resumes shortly after.
  • The Ditz: Adam, but not ALL the time.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Leo is offended when he is placed in the beginner level of students at the academy while Adam, Bree and Chase are made mentors. He soon acknowledges that he has a lot to learn and quickly begins advancing through the ranks.
  • Dumbass Has a Point: From Donald's point-of-view, Leo's suggestions that save the day in Missin' The Mission.
    • Adam also saves Tasha's life in Leo Vs. Evil by having her catch a bus home, rather than have her go through the malfunctioning teleporter.
  • Dumb Muscle: Adam.
  • Dynamic Entry: Leo's arrival in Bionic Showdown, when he shows up in the combat exoskeleton that he wore in Exoskeleton Vs. Grandma.
  • Easily Forgiven: The bionic soldiers, once freed from the Triton app, are not punished for their actions and are in fact taken to the Bionic Island to be trained to use their bionics more efficiently. Justified, considering the Triton app wearing off also gave them amnesia.
  • Egg Sitting: The subplot of "Spy Fly", where Adam and Chase must take care of baby dolls, but then try to destroy each other's.
  • Embarrassing First Name/Embarrassing Middle Name: The (female) principal's name is Terry Cherry Perry.
    • Subverted when Douglas's middle name is revealed to be Orville. Leo tries to bust his chops about it, but since Douglas is in the middle of marrying Principal Perry, having his middle name revealed is hardly the most embarrassing thing to happen at that particular moment.
  • Explosive Overclocking: in Bionic Showdown, Adam discovers the ability to absorb energy from the surrounding area and supercharge his plasma grenades into a single blast that turns him into a walking Wave-Motion Gun with no ill effects.
  • Expy:
    • Donald has similarities to Tony Stark.
    • Billy Unger even cited this comparison to explain the series in more than one interview before the show was released.
  • Emergency Trainee Battle Deployment: When the team discovers Krane has manufactured an army of bionic soldiers that is too many for even them to fight, they return to the Lab and report that it's time for everyone to mobilize. Leo anticipates that he will be slated for Mission Specialist Desk Duty, only to be stopped by Donald and told this time, he's going with the team.
  • Empty Piles of Clothing: When Adam shrinks in "My Little Brother", his clothes are left normal size in a heap.
  • Epic Fail: Eddy as a security system. For example, he allowed Marcus to roam about inside the Davenport home. However, him not immediately informing Donald about Marcus firing his eye lasers at Leo and threatening to expose them all is justified since he was likely still shut down at the time.
  • Evil Doppelgänger: Inverted. Principal Perry has a good counterpart in a parallel universe.
  • Evil Nephew: Kerry Perry, behind her aunt's back. Sure, Principal Perry herself admits to being callous, but doesn't like to think her niece is like her.
  • Evolving Credits:
    • The clips in the theme song change with each season, along with the end shot of Leo and the Davenports together.
    • The final season receives a major update to the Opening Narration and Leo's quote following such, to reflect the Retool to Bionic Island.
  • Eye Beams: Adam has heat vision as one of his bionic abilities. Marcus also shows that he has this power in Speed Trapped - and he has no problem using it on people.

    F 
  • Fake Guest Star: The most glaring example is Maile Flanagan, who by Season 3 plays a comparable role to Hal Sparks; most fans agree she should have been added to the opening credits that season. Same with Jeremy Kent Jackson as of Season 4. Angel Parker and Will Forte are also this, to a lesser extent.
  • Fascinating Eyebrow: Marcus does this a lot, especially when he's thinking up a scheme. Leo nicknames him Captain Eyebrows.
  • Five-Second Foreshadowing: Astute viewers will notice that Leo is suddenly missing from the helicopter that rescues Adam, Bree, and Chase from the freighter. That clue keys in the audience that it is actually Douglas in disguise.
    • Perry insists that the island's weapon supply has been stolen despite it being right in front of them. Bree sarcastically quips that the weapons are back through 'the miracle of cinema'. A few seconds later, it is revealed that the weapons were in fact stolen and everyone is looking at a hologram.
  • Flanderization: In terms of annoyance with Adam and Bree. They (specially Adam) start picking on Chase a lot more from later Season 2 on.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Coincidentally or not, Donald telling Rose that Adam, Bree and Chase are his brother's children that he adopted after their father fell in a volcano to hide that they are his bionic project is almost completely true, as evidenced in "Bionic Showdown".
    • At one point in "Bionic Showdown", Adam briefly thinks Douglas has a dog because of his comment that "just 'cause a dog gets out of his cage doesn't mean he's going for a walk", in response to Donald and the Lab Rats managing to escape his trap. Come Season 4, it turns out Douglas does have a dog after all.
    • Leo having bionic powers in "Parallel Universe", now that he actually has bionics (albeit with very different abilities).
    • The ending of The Vanishing. Sad as it is to break the team up, Davenport's tone indicates that it's out of extremely serious circumstances, and mentions a new team. We find out how serious the situation is in Lab Rats: Elite Force.
  • Fun T-Shirt: Leo is always seen wearing these. Averted is season three, when Leo starts dressing more to impress (the girls).
  • Future Me Scares Me: Averted with Future!Leo and played with with Future!Donald (mostly because Future!Donald REALLY let himself go in the weight department after the Lab Rats died in his future).

    G-I 
  • Genki Girl: Bree, naturally.
  • Gratuitous Spanish: In "Concert in a Can", as Donald mentions he is a multilingual millionaire, Marcus responds with "ooh, gracias", followed by a "de nada" by Donald.
  • Harmless Freezing: Davenport's freeze ray, accidentally used on Janelle and Tasha. Intentionally used on Douglas.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Douglas in Season 3. Later, S-1 in Season 4.
  • Height Insult: Adam regularly jokes about Chase being small, calling him "microscopically small" one time.
  • Hidden Depths: While not possessing Obfuscating Stupidity by any means, Adam is occasionally far more clever than anyone gives him credit for.
  • Hi, Mom!: Hilariously unusual example in "Rats in the Train". Leo says this to the camera... but it's his mother interviewing him.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: When Leo ends up in a fix, it's usually by this method. Played horrifyingly straight in Speed Trapped, when Marcus tries to eliminate him because Leo takes his job as 'the enforcer' seriously.
  • Hostage-Handler Huddle: There's a special in which the bionic students turn on Donald Davenport and his family. The leader, Sebastian, tells the students that they must destroy Leo if they're truly committed to the rebellion. When they congregate to decide which method is best, Leo changes his voice and says "I say we sleep on it."
  • Hypocrite: Each member of the Perry family who appeared, especially Principal Perry, has mocked Chase for his height despite the fact that they were all shorter than him.
  • Idiosyncratic Wipes: The show uses four of them:
    • The scene ends in a computer screen and switches to another one.
    • The door with the iconic bionic emblem closes and opens showing another scene.
    • Bree runs through the screen leaving a trail of blue hexes that disappear right after.
    • Chase lands on the floor causing blue hexes to appear and disappear.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Bree and Adam occasionally dip into this.
  • I Just Want to Be Special: Leo shows signs of being this. Chase also dips into this, feeling he's not given enough recognition.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Done to Chase by Leo in "Sink Or Swim, Part 2" when Douglas and Victor have taken control of Adam, Bree and Chase and made them run amok.
  • I Never Said It Was Poison: How Leo realizes Marcus hijacked the car in "Speed Trapped."
    Marcus: Leo, I am so happy you're home safe! I can't believe you almost ended up at the bottom of the ocean!
    Leo: Wait... how did you know where the car was set to go?
    Marcus: I... Didn't...?
  • Incredible Shrinking Man: In "My Little Brother," Adam gets shrunk down to 6 inches.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: From "Smart and Smarter,"
    Leo: I'm sorry. I just got a little carried away... with you carrying me away. (Beat) Oh come on, it's funny!
  • Insistent Terminology: Referring to the Lab Rats as robots is always going to be corrected to bionic. Also a way to push their Berserk Button.
  • Insufferable Genius: Chase and Donald all the way.
  • Insult Backfire: In response to Chase's Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking insult above.
    Chase: So, what's on your agenda for the day? Build some bombs, take over a tiny country, steal money from old ladies?
    Douglas: Well, not in that order.
  • It Amused Me: At the end of "Parallel Universe":
    Bree: Oh, that cured my boredom.
  • I Thought You Were Dead: Donald said this when he learns his brother, Douglas, is alive. Douglas said he made Donald, the police, and their mother think he was dead.

    J-M 
  • Just Smile and Nod: In "Can I Borrow the Helicopter?", when Adam is talking about his horse, Donald tells Tasha he isn't getting it, but he smiles and nods till it's over.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: In Scramble The Orbs, the school board has been observing Trent's actions, and warn him not to abuse other students anymore since there's a huge difference between a student bullying another student and a faculty member harassing a student.
  • Kent Brockman News: Tasha's job mostly consists of stories of babies that look like ex-presidents and stuff. The runaway train was her first real assignment according to her.
  • Killer Robot: Marcus sics one on Leo when he discovers Marcus and Douglas evil lair, in Leo vs. Evil.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Like most Disney shows, the majority of the villains are reasonably harmless and normally portrayed as light-hearted. Marcus on the other hand, once he drops his nice guy act, is presented as a sociopathic bully that realistically tries to murder Leo.
    • It gets worse when they introduce his creator, Douglas Davenport. Although still seemingly light hearted, he is a coldblooded Mad Scientist who's committed a list of crimes over a mile long, including experimenting on Children, violating medical ethics, kidnapping, brainwashing and is also perfectly willing to commit outright murder when it suits him. When he appears the show takes a much darker tone.
      • Exaggerated when Douglas' benefactor Krane (who has also been given bionics) shows up, and demonstrates that he has zero consideration for the well-being or lives of anyone who gets in the way of his plans.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Bree and Adam make their own cheer routine in Air Leo, they explain the use of their abilities as "special effects".
  • Limited Wardrobe: Not to the extremes as seen in cartoons, but the characters are often seen wearing a signature article of clothing (Chase's plaid shirt, Bree's Dr. Martens boots, Donald's black jacket, etc.)
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Douglas does this to the Rats in Bionic Showdown. Defied when the Rats tell Donald that they see him as their father, not Douglas.
  • Manchild: Donald again. The man's got a bedroom full of video games and action figures.
  • Mauve Shirt: Out of all the Bionic Soldiers, Lexi's, Tank's, and Kate's characterizations are limited to the episodes they appear in. On the other hand, Spin, Bob and Sebastian have had prominent recurring roles throughout.
  • Mind-Control Eyes: Whoever is affected by the Triton app will have these.
  • Mirror Universe: In the episode Parallel Universe. Things are very much opposite; to begin with, Leo in that world has the bionics of the Lab Rats along with abilities he's never seen before, and Adam, Bree and Chase are neither bionic nor related to Donald, but also Evil Counterparts in the sense that they are antagonistic to Leo after finding out he is bionic. Personality wise, Donald is an insecure inventor-in-training, his mom is a Jerkass tech mogul who abuses Donald, Adam, Bree and Chase have opposite personalities (Adam is philosophical, Bree is an even bigger brat than her main counterpart, and Chase is a Jerk Jock instead of a snarky nerd). In addition, Principal Perry is good, kind and altruistic, even helping Leo escape the government agents and the Lab Rats' alternate counterparts.
  • Mission Control: Leo's assigned position on the team as of Missin' The Mission. Though overall, Donald usually serves this role for the team, giving them instructions and orders from the lab.
  • Money Fetish: Chase seems to have developed this in "Chore Wars".
  • Mood Whiplash: Every time an episode ends in a dramatic cliffhanger, followed by the upbeat credits music.
    • Actually, expect this to be in play rather often thanks to the episodes usually having an A and B plot to work with. In "Which Father Knows Best" for example, while the A plot involves Donald and Douglas feuding while also struggling to fix Bree's bionic chip, the B plot involves a comedic series of events from Adam and Chase trying to figure out how to get around due to Bree no longer having her superspeed. And the episode prior to it, "Three Minus Bree", had the rather serious A plot of Bree dealing with the consequences of destroying her bionic chip, while Leo dealt with Eddy hijacking Tasha's body in the B plot.
  • Muggles: The entire population of Mission Creek besides the Davenports and Principal Perry, who used to be the most prominent example. More notable examples are Caitlin, Trent and Grandma Rose.
    • While Donald and Leo are normal humans, they take part on missions. Tasha just knows their secret, like Perry.
  • Mundane Solution: In "Leo vs. Evil," Adam calls Tasha on her cell phone and tells her to get home by public transport instead of waiting for the dangerous and unstable teleporter.

    N-O 
  • Naked People Are Funny: In "The Haunting of Mission Creek High", school bully Trent steals Leo's clothes and leaves him in nothing but a Modesty Towel. And then he eventually takes the towel, too (offscreen, of course). Instinctively everyone comes to see poor naked Leo.
  • Nested Story Reveal: "Principal from Another Planet", which at the end of the episode is revealed to be just a movie Leo made for a sci-fi film festival.
  • Never Say "Die": VERY much averted by Season 3 and 4.
  • Never Wake Up a Sleepwalker: In Under Siege Douglas says that waking up Leo too suddenly could cause his already malfunctioning bionics to short circuit.
  • Non-Uniform Uniform: Each Lab Rat has a different mission suit design. Donald also has one.
  • Noodle Incident: Perry has dozens of these, which becomes a plot point in Spike Fright.
  • No One Could Survive That!: Both Victor Krane and S-1 were shot into the sky when they were defeated, and were presumed deceased due to the hits they took. However, it later turns out S-1 survived—she woke up in a field and had been in hiding since the end of the battle, later reuniting with her brothers and sisters and is no longer evil. As for Krane, he ended up being severely injured, but the evil scientist Dr. Gao found him and gave him a mask to help him breathe. Krane ended up returning in "Space Colony", but was finally killed during the space battle.
  • No Waterproofing in the Future: For all their powerful abilities, androids are lethally vulnerable to water, as Bree demonstrates with Troy in Bionic Action Hero.
  • Not Me This Time: In Under Siege, everyone assumes Kerry, Perry's troublemaking niece who happened to be visiting the academy, was responsible for the suspicious events happening in the academy. Sure, Kerry did end up stealing their belongings, but it turned out it wasn't her who was destroying the academy, it was a sleepwalking Leo.
  • Not So Above It All:
    • In "The Haunting of Mission Creek High", when a ghost terrorizing the school is revealed to be a prank played once a decade by Principal Perry, Ms Thistle (an absent minded old lady) uses one of Davenport's electromagnetic rifles to taser Principal Perry, leaving her paralyzed on the floor and conscious while she states "It wasn't that funny 20 years ago and it's not funny now."
    • When revealing himself on Davenportia, Krane stops posturing and takes a moment with the Lab Rats to enjoy watching Perry fail and crash on a jetpack.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Despite his Cloudcuckoolander status (or, perhaps, because of it), Adam has started out Season Two in this corner. He's a long way from Genius Bruiser status, but he's not nearly as firmly rooted in the Too Dumb to Live section as Chase and Bree's behavior towards him would seem.
  • Obnoxious In-Laws: Tasha's mother, Rose, isn't very welcoming to not just Donald, but anyone in his family. Even if she hadn't met him, it's pretty clear she wouldn't have any liking for Douglas either.
  • Ominous Message from the Future: Future!Leo traveling back in time to warn the present Leo Adam, Bree and Chase are going to die during their next mission in "Back From the Future".
  • Once a Season:
    • Spike appears only once per season.
    • Adam taking home an animal/living being that's randomly unattended; A horse in Season 1, a llama in Season 2, 30 bionic solders in Season 3, Otis (who happened to be Douglas's dog) in Season 4.
  • Once More, with Volume!: In "Bionic Showdown":
    Chase: Well, maybe your orders aren't always right.
    Donald: Excuse me?
    Adam: He said maybe your orders aren't...
    Donald: I HEARD IT!!
  • Only Sane Man: Tasha is shaping up to be this.

    P-R 
  • Pants-Pulling Prank: IN the episode "Face Off," Chase, Adam and Bree are standing in their school's hallway. Bree asks Adam why he couldn't embarrass somebody else besides her. Adam responds that he could, and proceeds to turn around and yank down Chase's pants, leaving an embarrassed Chase standing in the hall in his very short red plaid boxer briefs (or possibly trunks) as everyone else in the hall points at him and laughs.
  • Personality Powers: The kids' powers come across like this.
  • Post-Final Boss: In "The Vanishing: Part Two", after all is said and done, after the heroes saved the bionic students from Giselle, Daniel had destroyed Marcus, and Donald and Douglas have made a new chip to keep Adam, Bree, and Chase from going obsolete, everything seems well and done, and Leo even gets to toss around Marcus' remains to get one over him while he's alone in the lab... Only for Marcus to then reassemble himself, with Leo preparing to face off with him one last time. As Douglas then proceeds to snipe Marcus from offscreen, melting down his android skeleton, much to Leo's dismay.
    Leo: Again... I wanted to do that!
  • Power Incontinence: Bionics were not meant for human subjects, which is what causes the Rats’ powers to occasionally glitch.
  • Power Makes Your Voice Deep: Appears to be a side-effect of bionic powers in overdrive, as it happens when Chase becomes Spike and when Adam discovers his hidden bionic ability of a supercharged energy blast (in Bionic Showdown). Later, when Bree loses her temper, her vocal manipulation will kick in and make her speak in a deep, angry voice.
    • When Marcus is being evil (and using his powers,) he tends to speak in a deeper voice than when he's pretending to be a friend to the Lab Rats.
  • Power Trio
  • Pronouncing My Name for You: Bree in "Parallel Universe":
    Bree: It's pronounced "Br-AY"! Like "breath" without the "-thh"!
  • Reactive Continuous Scream: In "Crush, Chop and Burn", when the Lab Rats first meet Leo. First, they scream, then Leo, then them all together, and then Leo again.
  • Redshirt Army: The Bionic Soldiers aren't as effective as they were in Rise of The Secret Soldiers. In Bionic Action Hero, they couldn't take out even one Android. This is justified, as most of them are still learning to use their bionics well in combat and are no longer operating under the coordination of the Triton app.
  • Reminder Failure: Adam needs to remember one line for the school play. The line is, "Ma'am, you're standin' in it." He rehearses the line at least thirty-seven times. When the time comes for him to actually say the line, he can't remember it at all.
  • Rhetorical Question Blunder: In "Three Minus Bree," after Bree smashes her chip:
    Donald: What did you do?!
    Adam: Well, she smashed the...
    Donald: I know what she did!! [to Bree] How could you do that?
    Adam: She picked the...
    Donald: I GOT IT!!
  • Running Gag:
    • The table at the dining room constantly being broken (but replaced for the next scene or episode) is sort of one. Leo even asks why they always buy a glass table.
    • Bionic people are usually asked if they can fly.

    S 
  • Sadist Teacher: Principal Perry. She slowly moves out of this in Season 3.
  • Sarcastic Clapping: Adam does this in "Chip Switch".
  • Secret-Keeper: Leo and Tasha. Principal Perry joins in season 3. However, several of Donald's inventions aren't secret.
  • Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: When Adam shrinks, his clothes do not (forcing him to hide in his shoe to cover himself). Chase has to find him doll clothes to wear.
  • Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: Almost always averted. Many episodes also have Mission Creek High as the main setting, mainly because of Principal Perry.
    • It's interesting to notice that in "Missin' the Mission" the Lab Rats get detention for missing school a lot because they are on missions.
    • Played straight in Face Off, where Leo spends the entire episode at home, which is odd, considering the Lab Rats were shown attending school during the day as scenes switch back and forth to them.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Trent and Principal Perry with Leo.
  • Skyward Scream: Leo screaming "WHYYYY?!" learning that Janelle's mom is going to take her at his house but he will not be able to unfreeze her in time.
  • Smart Ball: Adam gets this sometimes. One example is when he decided to call Tasha to take a bus before the others could use the teleporter for a return trip (which would have ended REALLY badly.)
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: First we have Principal Perry, a ruthless, tyrant principal who enjoys making students grovel at her feet. Later, there's Marcus, an Ax-Crazy bionic android who has it out for Leo the most, and blackmails him into keeping quiet about his true nature. Then, there's Douglas Davenport, Donald's evil brother who wanted to use his creations as Super Soldiers. Finally, there is Victor Krane, who is bionic and wants to use his powers to kill the main characters.
  • Spandex, Latex, or Leather: The Rats and their new mission uniforms, as of Bionic Showdown.
  • Speaks in Binary: Chase and Scott, for fun.
  • Status Quo Is God: Usually, as much of the damage caused by Donald's inventions or troubles the Rats and Leo get into are solved at the end of their respective episodes. In addition, no matter how much the Lab Rats change their location, Perry will always end up in their lives. However, there are many averting examples:
    • As of season 2 "Trent Gets Schooled", Trent is the P.E. teacher in Mission Creek High.
    • As of season 2 finale "No Going Back", Principal Perry knows about the secret of Lab Rats.
    • As of season 3 "Mission: Mission Creek High", there is a new lab.
    • As of season 3 "Zip It", Chase and Bree work at Tech Town.
    • In "Three Minus Bree" from season 3, Bree destroys her chip so she is not bionic anymore. Only in the following episode, "Which Father Knows Best", she gets a new chip.
    • Episodes after You Posted What?!? zigzag this. The world does know they're bionic, but nonetheless, things proceed as they normally do.
    • Basically, every time something big happens, big changes will happen from that point onwards.
  • Stock Scream: In Bionic Birthday Fail, Adam trows a ninja away, who shouts a Wilhelm Scream.
  • Super Registration Act: The bionic army saved Leo's life, showing that without the Triton app, they were no longer a threat to the world. However, the President still gives the order to take them into custody since, benign or not, he can't have hundreds of teenagers with superpowers and no understanding of how the world works roaming free.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: S-1 is basically this to Marcus.
  • Swapped Roles: Frustrated and angry with Principal Perry's abuses of power, Bree insists she would make a better principal. Perry accepts the challenge and lets her be the principal for one day, convinced she'll crash and burn in less then 2 hours. When Bree's leadership actually improves the school, Perry retaliates by becoming a student hooligan who turns the school upside down just to sabotage the contest. Bree has the last laugh however, as she brings in Perry's authoritian and very scary mother to punish her for making trouble.

    T-V 
  • Tagline: "Every family has its glitches."
  • The Bully: Trent. This is why Principal Perry favors him over other students.
  • The Team Wannabe: Leo.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Douglas isn't going to hurt Leo, because he promised to let Marcus have that privilege.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Bree is the only female featured in the opening credits, although Tasha and Principal Perry are also major characters.
  • Title Drop: In the first episode, Chase says "We're like human lab rats!" then cut to Adam running on a giant hamster wheel.
  • Took A Level In BadButt: In Parallel Universe, Leo showed some actual fighting skills against the MIBs that showed up to capture him - as well as being willing to fire on his attackers first.
    • Leo's takedown of a berserk Eddy in Night of the Living Virus with a laser reflector. Note that he has no bionics and is a scrawny kid, against an A.I. that has helped to train the young bionic heroes.
  • Trash the Set: At the end of Season 2, Douglas blows up the lab, leading Donald to build a new, futuristic one that is featured in the next two seasons.
  • Triple Nipple: Adam is this, as stated in "Concert in a Can".
  • Troubled Fetal Position: Trent in "The Haunting of Mission Creek High", after he is "haunted" by Leo and the lab rats.
  • Two Lines, No Waiting: Many episodes use this format: the most common being Adam/Bree/Chase and Leo/Donald; or alternatively a plot with Leo and one of the rats and the other plot featuring the other two rats. Then in Season 4, another format is having all main characters for one plot, while the recurring characters get their own.
  • Unexpected Character: Trailers led fans to believe Dr. Gao is the main villain of Space Colony, but we find out Krane is back and Dr. Gao is his partner.
  • The Unmasqued World: Starting mid season three the Lab Rats are exposed to the world by Victor Krane.
  • Versus Title: Parodied with "Exoskeleton vs. Grandma", and played straight with "Leo vs. Evil".

    W-Z 
  • Villain: Exit, Stage Left: During the destruction of his base, Douglas makes his escape.
  • Villain Teleportation: Geo-leaping, the ability to teleport long distances. Of the many users of the ability, only one (Leo in Parallel Universe) isn't/wasn't antagonistic at some point in the series.
  • Vocal Evolution: Both Chase and Leo start with unusually high voices for teenage boys, and their voices slowly drop throughout the series.
  • Volleying Insults: The Tag of "Commando App" and "Spike's Got Talent" between Spike and Principal Perry.
  • We Are as Mayflies: Bionic abilities in androids leads to them burning out very quickly. According to Douglas, Marcus had very little time left.
  • Went to the Great X in the Sky: In "Drone Alone":
    Donald: So, if you're watching this, I must have gone to that big hard drive in the sky.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Leo's comment about how Eddy failed as a security system (he allowed Marcus to enter the lab, not to mention the spy camera that Eddy still hasn't detected, or Marcus' activities in Who Is Marcus?) hasn't been addressed by Donald yet. This might be averted due to the reveal of who Marcus' dad is (after all, who better to know where security leaks and how to hide stuff better than Donald's own brother). No excuse on the Who is Marcus? fiasco, though.
    • We haven't had any mention of Adam's plasma grenades or flame vision since "Air Leo", either, though the Plasma Grenade might be connected to Adam's new Kamehame Hadoken.
      • The flame vision may have just been an early version of his heat vision. Chase even calls it as such.
    • Nor have we seen Bree's ability to stick to the ceiling since "Mission Invisible."
  • Wham Episode:
    • Mission Space: Marcus is indeed a trouble-maker and is spying on the Davenports along with someone else.
    • Speed Trapped: Marcus is revealed to be bionic. Leo finds this out but has to keep quiet lest Marcus attack his family and reveal their secret.
    • Bionic Showdown: The appearance of Douglas Davenport, Donald's brother who reveals he's the real creator of Adam, Bree and Chase as well as Marcus. After a fight, Marcus is apparently crushed by debris but Douglas manages to escape.
    • Avalanche: Douglas reappears again and tries to sway Chase to his side. He fails and is frozen in an ice block and promptly sent to jail.
    • Season 2 finale No Going Back: Perry finds out about the kids being bionic and an FBI agent begins investigating their home. Adam, Bree and Chase fear the government will take them away and run away from home to avoid this. But it turns out the agent was looking into a case for Donald, whose bank account was hacked and left him broke. After Donald and Leo find out that the bionic siblings are missing, they set out to find them. Just as they do so, Douglas reveals he was behind the hacking, having been broken free from his ice prison by a mysterious bionic person. He then remotely blows up the lab, leaving Donald and Leo with no means to track the trio.
    • Season 3 opening, Sink or Swim: We meet the masked man, Victor Krane, who is revealed to be Douglas's benefactor and an adult bionic human who's shown to be even more dangerous threat than Douglas and Marcus have been.
    • Taken: Krane inevitably turns on Douglas and attempts to destroy Adam, Bree and Chase himself. Douglas ultimately has a change of heart and helps save them but has to go into hiding when Krane escapes.
    • Which Father Knows Best: Douglas helps restore Bree's bionic chip and Donald offers him a second chance, allowing him to move in with the family.
    • You Posted What!?!: Adam, Bree and Chase are caught on camera using their bionics and exposed to the rest of the world. Government agents soon come to their house to take them away but they refuse. In the middle of this it's revealed that Krane was responsible for outing them and even has a bionic child of his own named S-1 who filmed them. During an attack, Leo's right arm is crushed but Douglas saves it by making it bionic. After the group manage to defeat Krane and S-1, the siblings announce to the world they're bionic superheroes. However, Krane shows that he has more bionic soldiers lying in wait. A lot more.
    • Rise of the Secret Soldiers and the following episodes afterward sets up the events of the Bionic Island story arc.
    • Bionic Action Hero: Douglas's ex-girlfrend, Giselle, reveals she's trying to get into the bionic solider trade herself and attempts to steal the data from the bionic island under the guise of wanting to make a movie. Her plans are thwarted and her android is destroyed. But she manages to escape and heads to what's left of Douglas's old lair where she finds the remains of Marcus, intent on reviving him.
  • Wham Line:
    • From "Bionic Showdown": "I'm your father."
    • From the end of "You Posted What!?!": "Rise, bionic soldiers! Rise!"
    • From the end of "Bionic Action Hero": "Hello, Marcus."
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Averted. The show has made it very clear on multiple occasions, that the mere fact that Adam, Bree and Chase were created in a lab doesn't make them any less valuable than normal humans. Likewise, all of them (including Krane's army) are presented as being very human in needs, wants and feelings. Throughout, the only people who try and dehumanise them are always presented as unpleasant and bigoted at best, and outright psychotic at worst.
  • White Mask of Doom: The "Masked Man", later revealed to be Victor Krane, first appearing in "No Going Back".
  • Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Averted in the finale. The bionic teens are told their chips will be fried following a countdown, but Giselle actually did so with a flash of light while issuing the threat.
  • World of Snark: Everyone on the show is a Deadpan Snarker, but when and how often they use their snark interchange.
  • Women Are Wiser: Tasha may not be more intelligent, but she is more down to earth than her husband.
    • Averted, in that although Bree is occasionally the voice of reason, she is normally portrayed as irresponsible and prone to overreacting to minor things. Still, most of the problems in the series are caused by Adam and/or Leo. Then again, she is still a teenager; a BIONIC teenager to be precise.
  • X Called; They Want Their Y Back: a few times.
    • From "Commando App":
    Spike: (to Principal Perry) Hey, Ireland called, they want their leprechaun back!
    • From "Death Spiral Smackdown":
    Chase: (to Bree) "Well, the Tin Man called, he wants his neck back."
  • You Didn't Ask: In "Crush, Chop and Burn" part 2:
    Eddy: Oh, he [Leo] left. Something about a recycling center, neglectful parents, life and death, blah-blah-blah...
    Donald: Why don't you tell us any of this?!
    Eddy: You didn't ask.

 

Alternative Title(s): Lab Rats Bionic Island

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