Echo Chamber: The Adventures of a TV Tropes Vlogger is a TV Tropes video show. The show is about the travails of a group of tropers trying to make a "Trope of the Week" video series. Which they do. Sort of. In spite of their best efforts.
Season 2-12: Season Finale! Mind Screw
Be sure to check out the rest of this season on our Blip! page.
Droste Image: Tom refers to the "David Hasselhoff's crotch" video version of this while trying to explain the trope. Even though it's completely irrelevant.
Tom: Zack, thank you for ruining the 20th take. Zack:(Totally missing the sarcasm.) You're welcome, man. Tom: Are you sorry? Zack: Nah. Tom: Yeah, I didn't think so.
Jerkass: Tom mentions that Dana thinks he is this. Dana confirms it.
Painting the Medium: By making the cameraman a character in this Show Within a Show. There's a scene showing Dana and Tom saying some very private things about Zack, and eventually revealing that Zack was there filming the whole thing. A later scene lampshades the fact that we the audience cannot see what Zack cannot film. Don't ask how he can jump between cuts mid-sentence in unedited footage or remain unseen while filming Tom at face level in that closet.
Pants Free: Tom records the vlog wearing his Batman boxers and spends the whole episode like this, including when they are outside.
Record Needle Scratch: Played as Dana says "That's it?" in response to Tom's self-pity story about his brother being generally superior to him throughout his childhood.
Sarcasm Mode: "Aww, how tragic. Watch as my hatred turns to pity."
Knife Nut: One of the interviewees plays with a folding knife throughout his scenes, then lampshades the trope:
Interviewee: Are you afraid of the knife?
Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Tom's Ex Shannon pops up, pissed off because Tom didn't tell her about the casting for a female actress and she had to find out about it on Facebook. She also seems to think they're still together.
Terrible Interviewees Montage: The actual montage included Zack's uncle (who's just as strange as he is), a porn-star, a girl who may have come for the counseling session the team hijacked, and possibly a serial-killer.
Administrator: You need conflict. Someone to argue with. Someone with whom you can have a very particular kind of tension. Ms. Shaw will appear in your next video.
Confusing Multiple Negatives: Dana initially calls the final intro "not unimpressive", but then corrects herself to "really good".
Credits Gag: In the final credits, Zack's position has been changed from "Director of Photography" to "Doctor of Photography". The credits card also notes that he is responsible for the "Crap Titles".
Dumbass Has a Point: Who would have thought Zack would know about After Effects?
Executive Meddling: Mr. Administrator insisting the title screen be changed.
Hidden Depths: Zack's knowledge of After Effects and his degree in art, which may or may not be real.
Hypocritical Humor: Tom tells Dana that anyone who always assumes a person can't do something right will eventually be proven wrong...right before Tom immediately scolds Zack for talking, as if assuming he can't possibly contribute.
Stylistic Suck: The first intros Tom makes for the vlog.
Wrong Genre Savvy: Tom assumes he's the dumbass when it's clearly Zack.
Tom: If you keep assuming someone can't do anything right, sooner or later you're going to get proven wrong. Zack: Yeah! Tom: God, I wish I had some duct tape right now! Zack: Why? Tom:To shut you up!
Dana: To be a "dumbass with a point", you need to have a point, dumbass. Tom: Trope still applies. Dana: Does not.
Chekhov's Gun: The phone call that interrupt's Tom's moment with Dana could be seen as one, seeing as the next episode features phone calls from his Psycho Ex-Girlfriend.
Insistent Terminology: Dana and Tom are trying to discuss their characters separately from themselves, in order to keep themselves distant from their roles. It leads to a lot of "I will... I mean she will..."
Armor-Piercing Question: When Shannon confronts Dana alone, Dana offhandedly said that Shannon could do better than Tom. Shannon's reaction to that made Dana realize that she was a "multi-stalker."
Tom: Have you seen her boobs, Dana? They are so good!
Butt Monkey: Meta example. One viewer mistook the reflection of Dave in the window for Shannon and commented on it. The comment is now a top-rated comment and gets regular snarky replies.
The Cameo: Zack's brother, Dave is visible holding a boom during the kitchen scene.
Credits Gag: Titles by Justin Hill & Zack Wallnau, Music by Justin Hill, Sound by Dave Unrelated Hill
Did You Just Have Sex?: How did Dana know Tom was sleeping with Shannon again? He was way too happy.
Zack: Dana, I followed you all day with my camera... because I love you. Dana: That's nice, Zack.
Male Gaze: Zack keeps the focus on Shannon's butt as she walks away after the first confrontation, dropping both Dana and Tom out of focus and out of frame briefly.
Sarcasm Mode: Dana's response when Shannon claims that Dana doesn't know anything about love.
Dana: Oh, no. My heart, she breaks. (Traces the outline of a teardrop down her cheek)
Visible Boom Mic: In the scene in the kitchen as Tom describes how crazy Shannon is, you can see Zack's brother Dave holding the boom mic and Zack off and on throughout the scene. Their reflection in the window is right in the middle of most of the shots to boot.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Plot relevant, as soon as Dana realizes the camera is on she bails, due to not being prepared (clothes and makeup) for filming.
Fourth Date Marriage: Tom believes this will happen with him and Porn Girl. He's dead wrong. Not only is she ticked off about Zack following them around, she's also very annoyed that Tom hasn't tried to sleep with her yet.
Just for Pun/Malaproper: Porn Girl says she doesn't do sex tapes "pro boner". It's not clear whether she intended the pun or just got the phrase "pro bono" ("for free") wrong.
Lampshade Hanging: After filming Tom and Porn Girl's dates, Zack audibly wonders, "Why am I here?"
Male Gaze: Is Zack zooming in on Porn Girl's ass for it's own sake, or is he artistically signalling the shallowness of Tom's attraction to her? We may never know.
No Name Given/Only Known by Their Nickname: While in the third episode, she's introduced as Alyssa (Another The Danza), in this episode Porn Girl is always Porn Girl. Tom even addresses her as "Porn Girl".
Anachronic Order: The episode goes back and forth between Tom arguing with Dana in the evening and Tom arguing with Shannon in the afternoon.
Arguments By Ponds: Word Of God has stated that they hope for this episode to be the Trope Codifier. The entire episode takes place by ponds, and there sure is a bunch of arguing. The production blog lampshades this in Shannon's voice.
Because I'm going to show him that no matter what that Dana girl does, I'll do better. They want to have a fight by a pond? Well, he and I will have an even BIGGER fight by an even PRETTIER pond!
Handpuppet: Sockpuppets, actually. Literally. Socks with faces painted on them during "Puppet Adventure, Episode 10: 'Mysterious Balloon' "
Limited Animation: Really limited, in "TV Tropes Cartoony Fun Times".
The Man Behind the Man: The Stinger implies that the Administrator may be being pressured into finding a capable vlog maker by a power higher up the ladder
Not So Different: Mr. Administrator tells this to Zack in that both their fathers forced them into doing something they don't want.
Stylistic Suck: All of their attempts to re-invent the show are progressively worse and sillier, eventually ending with a horrendous sock-puppet show with horrendously stilted dialog.
Silence, You Fool!: Mr. Administrator does this to Zack when he tries to ask where's the bathroom.
Sting: A dramatic one while the Administrator loses his temper with Tom and Dana and issues them an ultimatum.
Take That: A majority of the episode is devoted to Tom and Dana poking fun at the Administrator.
Visible Boom Mic: After filming the puppet show, part of the mic is visible in the top right hand corner of the frame.
Call Back: "Where are we going?" "Somewhere specific."
Comically Missing the Point: Gaelyn asks Zack to meet her for a date. He misses the "date" bit and concludes that they should be best friends. She's disappointed, but goes along with it.
Distaff Counterpart: Ace has a camerawoman who's just as Adorkable as Zack. Zack comes to the conclusion that they should be best friends.
The Door Slams You: Tom slams the door at Zack's face for, it seems, daring to say Ace is a nice guy.
The Faceless: Zack's Dad, who is briefly seen from behind. Zack's face is mostly seen in a blink-or-you-miss-it moment.
Love Triangle: Possible one between Zack, Gaelyn, and Dave.
"The Pittsburgh autumn rain had stopped just long enough for the sun to poke its head out and say, 'Hey, how's it going?' and for me to answer, 'Where were you the last four days?'"
Bad Boss: Umphrey...although it's all an act. However, Mr. Administrator qualifies for real when he refuses to pay Umphrey.
Batman Gambit: In The Stinger, we learn that Mr. Administrator contracted Umphrey so Tom and Dana could have a common enemy, which would motivate them to work better together.
Dude, Where's My Respect?: Zack, as usual. Tom and Dana don't include him in their high five after Umphrey quits, even though Zack is the one who drove him away.
Evil Brit: Umphrey has a British accent...a fake one.
Evil Cripple: Umphrey walks with a cane...which he doesn't really need.
Executive Meddling: Mr. Administrator does this by installing Umphrey as the new executive producer of Echo Chamber. Umphrey then does it by completely re-writing the new episode.
Fake Brit: Tom in Umphrey's video...as well as Umphrey himself.
Zack: Dad, your name's Mark? I thought it was "Dad".
A Day in the Limelight: Essentially one for Zack- Tom and Dana aren't even mentioned in this episode.
Drama Bomb: Although there's some humor, this episode is more serious than usual.
Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Mark thinks that there's no such thing as a PhD in art, and he's disappointed that Zack got one instead of "fulfilling his potential" by focusing on his cinematography career.
Character Development: Since this is a Coming of Age Story, this can't lack , specifically Zack leave his dad's house, quits Echo Chamber and thinks to have a real job.
The Faceless: Subverted. Thanks to Gaelyn's filming, we finally get to see Zack's whole face. Also, Mr. Administrator is seen very briefly from the side in the White Void Room
Fade to White: As Zack throws the camera to the floor after quitting.
Wham Episode: Where do we start? Zack quits Echo Chamber and moves in with Gaelyn. Gaelyn kisses Zack, and Zack apparently returns her feelings. Mr. Administrator is an admin for The Other Wiki. It's vital to Mr. Administrator's plan (which doesn't get revealed until the next episode) for Zack to return to Echo Chamber. [citation needed] is cancelled.
Who Are You?: Zack's dad gives an anguished one to Mr. Administrator in the last seconds of the episode.
Blue and Orange Morality: Mr. Administrator's plans don't sound all that threatening or sinister, although he seems to sell them as such. That is, the "infection" of multiple planes of reality with fiction, or Tropes. TVTropes will ruin our lives? A Mind Screw indeed.
Call Back: "Gurt"; the fact that the BRIGHTWHITELIGHT doesn't have a bathroom.
Even Evil Has Standards: One of the instantiations is called "weirdo" for the rest because of his exaggerated like of the word "gurt".
Facial Markings: One of the ways to distinguishMr. Administrator's instantiations. Naturally they are at the temples, which are above where Mr. Administrators face is normally seen by the other characters.
The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: In-Universe. Administrator Prime went out of the screen to punish one of his instatiations for his silliness.
Genre Shift: This episode veers more into Sci-Fi territory than previous episodes.
Man Behind the Man: Apparently, Administrator Prime is behind Mr. Administrator, the latter also being a copy of the former. Plus, there are lots of other copies of Administrator Prime and he's behind all of them.
Recursive Reality: Administrator Prime explains that there are infinite story layers, possibly implying that the viewer's reality may be one such layer. In other words, it's turtles all the way down.
Retcon/Snap Back/Status Quo Is God: Forcing this on Zack is Mr. Administrator's plan for getting Echo Chamber back "on track", whatever that means. Unfortuantely, that requires a lot more work than a simple Handwave.
You Have Failed Me: Mr. Administrator applies this in effect (if not using the direct phrase) on one of his instantiations and threatens it on a different instantiation.
Episode 1: Show Within a Show, in which the series and characters are introduced, and the cast struggle with the production of the TV Tropes vlog series.
Episode 2: Freudian Excuse, in which the characters try to shoot a video about the aforementioned subject, but fail repeatedly as they examine their bad childhoods.
Episode 4: Dumbass Has a Point, in which the gang is working on trying to come up with a better graphic effects opening montage. Tom is frustrated and is baffled as to how to make the montage work, until Zack—of all people—comes up with a surprisingly insightful suggestion.
Episode 5: Unresolved Sexual Tension, in which Dana and Tom try to determine whether there should be any between their characters on the show. Things get complicated when he reveals he's attracted to Dana. And Zack will always be alone.
Episode 6: Psycho Ex-Girlfriend, in which Shannon reappears and is just generally creepy. Also, Dana snarks a lot.
Episode 8: Romantic False Lead, in which Tom gets a date, and Dana may or may not care.
Episode 9: Did You Think I Can't Feel?, in which Tom and Dana hash it out, and someone leaves the show forever—all leading up to the season finale of Echo Chamber.
Episode 10, The Season Finale: Mysterious Employer, in which Mr. Administrator threatens to end the web show forever, unless Tom and Dana create something of transcendent beauty.
Episode 1: Always Someone Better, in which the gang finds out about a competitor vlog from The Other Wiki, who seems to be much better than Echo Chamber.
Episode 2: The Ace, where Tom and Dana try to persuade Ace (maker of the competitor vlog) to act as an ace in Echo Chamber so they can demonstrate that trope.
Episode 3: A Day in the Limelight, where Gaelyn takes the role of the main camera and she discovers Zack likes Dana.
Episode 4: Conflicting Loyalty: Dana now has to balance her life under the pressure of producing two web shows, and Gaelyn tries to invite Zack on a date.
Episode 7: Noir Episode, in which Tom and Zack learn that Dana has a secret.
Episode 8: Tyrant Takes the Helm: The gang has to deal with an ill-tempered new producer.
Episode 9: My Beloved Smother: Zack takes Gaelyn to meet his tyrannical father. Drama ensues.
Episode 10: Broken Ace: Tom challenges Dana to find out if [citation needed] really needs her.
Episode 11: Coming of Age Story: Zack makes choices that will determine his future—and the future of Echo Chamber.
Episode 12, The Season's Finale: Mind Screw: When Mr. Administrator is forced to deal with the fallout of Zack's decision, the secrets of his identity, his motives, and the nature of Echo Chamber itself are revealed.
In episode 6, Tom is terrified of Shannon... until he sleeps with her again. At which point he no longer cares that she's stalking him, because she has great boobs.
Zack:
Episode 5: "I'd do 'er." Episode 5: "Bend over backwards to accommodate me!" Episode 6: "It's like she couldn't even see my boner!"
In Episode 4, Tom tells Dana that the only food he has is rice, but that she could put salt on it. In Episode 6, you see Tom first cooking rice and later pouring copious amounts of salt onto it.
In Episode 1 Zack makes a joke about keeping a dead cat in a box (Schrodinger's Cat). In episode 16, he gives said box to Dana for her birthday.
Brutal Honesty: Dana apparently feels no need to be nice with anything she says to Tom, and tells him that he's completely incompetent, his videos are awful and she hates his guts.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Zack. He is good with After Effects, has a PhD, and delivered a baby once. He was also making amazing, heart-wrenching films when he was nine years old.
Cerebus Syndrome: Slides into this gradually; the first somewhat serious arc begins in episode 3, but the arc episodes get somewhat more common and serious in season 2. The last four episodes of season 2 each advance at least one of the show's arcs, all of them are Darker and Edgier than any of the episodes that came before them, and the season 2 finale in particular implies that there will be much more of this syndrome in the third season, (which Word Of God says will be the last one).
The Danza: Almost all the characters are named after their actors. The only exception so far is Umphrey Bridgeport from Tyrant Takes the Helm, who is played by Stefan Dezil. However, given The Reveal at the end of that episode, it's probable that this isn't the character's real name.
Tom is shown using an Apple laptop in episodes 4, 5, 6 and 10. Presumably, this trope will continue to show up in every episode where his computer is shown.
The Editing Suite where they speak to the Administrator also seems to be full of iMacs.
Dana is using an Apple laptop in Episode 10.
Executive Meddling: Mr. Administrator sometimes orders Tom and Dana to change their show in some way.
Expy: Mr. Administrator is somewhat reminiscent of The Chief from Agents Of Cracked, another webseries that depicts a fictionalized version of two people working to create content for a website.
Lampshaded in episode 10; the only defining features of Zack's sock puppet are a derpy tongue poking out and a camera.
The Season 1 finale has Zack talking with his face partially obscured by his camera and then when he pulls it down he is facing opposite the camera.
Zack starts to avert this slightly more as of Season 2, in several episodes (notably 2x09), there are moments where you can see pretty much all of him except his eyes.
The Administrator, who is both out of frame from just below the eyes and up, and back-lit so that his features are almost completely obscured by shadow. That's all we're saying about him. He scares us.
In 2.11, Zack is finally fully visible. And in The Stinger, so is Mr. Administrator.
Only Sane Employee: Dana. Justified twice - Tom recruits her specifically to fill this role, and she mentions in episode 3 that being one makes her feel much more useful than any of her other jobs did.
Tom filming without pants. There's a blink-and-you-miss-it shot in episode 2.5 where the camera pans down and you see he's in his boxers again - with his tuxedo shirt and jacket.
Type 1. In the first episode Dana suggests they have a Show Within a Show in their first vlog in order to demonstrate the trope, which from the viewer's perspective would make it a Show Within A Show Within A Show, but Tom decides against it. In the other episodes, we see them making the vlog, but we never see the finished vlog itself.
Season 2 has [citation needed], a competing vlog from The Other Wiki. [citation needed] itself has a Show Within A Show, as the excerpt played is explaining that trope by doing a Show Within A Show of its own. [citation needed] also talks about Echo Chamber in a different episode.
Stalker with a Crush: Zack follows Dana around because he loves her. Not that she cares.
The Stinger: The outtakes, following the final credits. The ones in episodes 1.5, 1.10 and 2.8 have actual plot relevance.
Trademark Favorite Food: Tom doesn't seem to eat anything but rice and salt. He does vary it in episode 1.6 with some breadcrumbs and grated parmesan.
Urban Fantasy: The show has elements of this from the beginning, thanks to Mr. Administrator's presence. It becomes especially prevalent with the revelations about him at the end of the second season.
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