Kickassia provides examples of the following tropes:
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0% Approval Rating: The Critic by Part 4. Or rather one percent, as Film Brain is still loyal to him. By the end of Part 5. Film Brain went to the other side to avenge Santa Christ's murder by N. Bison.
Angrish: What Film Brain spouts as he holds the Cinema Snob at gunpoint inside the hotel room.Lampshaded by the Snob himself.
Cinema Snob: Is that even English?!
Apathetic Citizens: None of the people of Molossia cares that their nation is being invaded, nor do they when Molossia IS taken over. This happens a few times, even.
The family:"Mmmmmm-hmmm."
One of them finally notices in Part 6 when Angry Joe announces their freedom.
"What?"
Apple of Discord: In Part 3, Baron Fritz von Baugh started to plant seeds of dissent against The Nostalgia Critic, saying that someone else could do better as a leader. Considering these guys, it gets lampshaded but still played straight.
Angry Joe: How about we gut them open and wear their organs as hairnets!?
Film Brain, who seems way too excited at the prospect of senselessly torturing somebody.
Spoony in the background, for his own reasons. Dr. Insano.
Bennett the Sage and his suggestion regarding what to do with the Nostalgia Critic: Castrate him with a fork, tie him to a cactus, and play pinata with his entrails. The crew of Channel Awesome immediately lampshades this by staring at him in disgust and pointing out how fast he came up with the idea. Except for Jew Wario, who liked it.
The Nostalgia Critic. He rigs the entire base to explode in case you're a "nasty-wasty".
While undeniably one of the more sane and collected members of the cast, Linkara certainly does get into it when he commands an assault on the Critic's regime.
The Nostalgia Chick pulls one, by letting the others remove the Nostalgia Critic from power. Not only was she relying on the Critic being removed from power by the others, and that she would have no opposition when it came to replacing him as president, but that the others would just let her seize control despite not actually doing a single thing to help them remove the Nostalgia Critic from power.
Whilst cut from filming, the original script called for the scene where everyone argued over who should be the new President of Kickassia to be longer. In the original scene, Spoony was going to grab the Nostalgia Critic's hat, and give a speech about why they shouldn't fight anymore, which everyone would buy into. At this point, Spoony was going to reveal he was still Dr. Insano, who had been pretending to be Spoony on the off-chance that he would get the opportunity to seize control of Kickassia for himself.
Handsome Tom, who is relegated to the job of flagpole.
Billing Displacement: People are billed roughly according to their prominence on the site, rather than in the actual story. This results in things like fourth-billed Spoony having the second-largest role, and Film Brain, whose name is well into the opening credits, having a much bigger part than some of the people who are listed ahead of him. In contrast, Linkara, who has third billing, also has the smallest role of any of the major characters. This is rectified on the DVD cover. Nostalgia Chick herself claimed to be surprised that she received second billing despite her (relatively) small role.
Black and Gray Morality: Team TGWTG aren't exactly nice guys, but they're a hell of a lot better than the Nostalgia Critic. To put that into perspective: they were fine when he was plotting a hostile takeover of a country, comparing them to Nazis to motivate them, and planning to conquer the entire earth, but upset now that he sits around watching Hogan's Heroes all day. Sure, he rigged the place to blow, but they can leave at any time and actually live in a hotel a safe distance away. It's just that blowing the place up would stop them from ruling it. While a lot of them did want to rule it, arguably they were also working under the assumption that a guy who'd rig an acre of land with twenty tons of dynamite in the event that someone hypothetically should try to usurp his position is definitely not safe in any position of power.
Bloodless Carnage: Oh so very much. President Baugh bitch-slaps the TGWTG crew with a sword!
Book End: The beginning started off with the Nostalgia Critic knocking on Kevin Baugh's door and telling him he's going to invade Molossia. The last stretch of Part 6 has the Nostalgia Critic knocking on his door again and telling him that he can have his nation back.
Handsome Tom. First he was offered to be used as a battering ram (but was told his head is too soft), then used as a horse by 8-Bit Mickey, then used as the flagpole (and "saluted" [see Strange Salute below]), and punched by MarzGurl for being too tall. It is indeed a sad day for Handsome Tom.
8-Bit Mickey also has a few moments of Butt Monkey-dom; someone sits on him in the hotel room without noticing, and Angry Joe punches him repeatedly, also without noticing.
Phelous comes up with brilliant ideas only to have N. Bison slap him, then take the idea as his own. He makes it work for him in the end.
The Caligula: The Nostalgia Critic. Some of his actions include rigging dynamite to blow up Molossia if someone tries to overthrow him, and banishing The Cinema Snob for pointing out the fact that he's, you know, nuts.
Nostalgia Critic: Oh! That reminds me, I gotta call Sean. Nostalgia Chick: Who? Nostalgia Critic: The Epic Fail guy! Nostalgia Chick: Oh, yeah! He's funny.
Angry Joe is still bitter about Chik-fil-A being closed on Sundays...
Angry Joe: I'm behind you one hundred and ten percent, Critic! Any Chik-fil-A refusing to serve us delicious nuggets on Sundays from here on out will be blown sky high! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
In Part 2, Linkara's reaction to thinking MarzGurl's been killed when she hasn't is to cradle her in his arms and tell her about Disney Land, which is a Shout Out to the The Spoony One and his review of Strike Commando.
Dr. Insano pulls off a "Shoryuken", which Spoony did in the first anniversary brawl.
Dr. Insano was scared after he got defeated by N. Bison and so he pleaded for help, with the exact same quote the Nostalgia Critic used in his review of the Star Wars Holiday Special.
Dr. Insano: Help me, Santa! Help me, Jesus Christ! Help me... Santa Christ!!
"Remember your roots Critic! Remember your roots!!"
The Cluster F-Bomb battle between the Critic and the Snob seems to be a Call Back to the one between the Critic and the Nerd in the Brawl. The Critic says "Fuck you!" in exactly the same way as he does in the Brawl at least once.
When the other reviewers are about give the Nostalgia Critic his comeuppance and kick his ass, That Guy tells everyone to "Hold it!" from off-screen before making his appearance in much the same way he did in the Epic Brawl a year earlier. However, this time he doesn't get everyone to stop the violence; he simply remarks he's just there to make his cameo appearance, before telling the others they can carry on attacking the Nostalgia Critic.
"Et tu, Film Brain?" calls back to a similar line to Lee in the Brawl.
Linkara is seen wearing a Power Rangers communicator, and during the second invasion attempt, both he and MarzGurl are wearing color-coded Sentai-like masks and have synchronised poses. Linkara previously used the Green Ranger's dagger as a weapon in the Brawl and in episodes of Atop The Fourth Wall, and also successfully used a Power Rangers morpher in AT4W.
Doug appears as Spider-Dr. Smith from the Critic's Lost In Space review in Part 1 for a few seconds, suggesting an invasion involving an army of spiiiideeeers. He has another brief one in Part 4, pushing much the same ideas. That idea being spiiiiiideerrrsss.
The Critic tries calling Goggles, Sean, and Little Miss Gamer, none of whom can make it to the invasion.
During the invasion in Part 2, Chester A. Bum appears at one point and immediately runs away when a cannon shell explodes next to him.
In Part 4, Ma-Ti (or at least the spiritual image of him), along with the Critic's review room, shows up to warn the Critic to stop being such a douchebag.
Chris Larios: Mr. Critic, would you say your diabolical plan is to... take over the world? Nostalgia Critic: Naturally! Chris Larios: Well, then, would your say your plan is to one day conquer the galaxy? Nostalgia Critic: Eventually! Chris Larios: Oh, Mr. Critic, do you some day plan on being bigger than God? Nostalgia Critic: OF... That question you can definitely say yes to. Chris Larios: Say, Critic... Do you get a lot of pussy with that outfit? Nostalgia Critic:OF COURSE!
And, well, just about everyone else (except Phelous and The Nostalgia Chick, and even they go pretty nuts by the end). Cinema Snob is an exception... except for his evil laugh at the end.
Civil War: Once the takeover of Molossia is complete, the TGWTG gang starts to fracture over the spoils. Nostalgia Critic goes completely insane with power, and the others having to stop him before he tries to take over the world. (Naturally.)stops sitting on the couch watching TV long enough to blow everything up out of paranoia.
Subverted and parodied with President Baugh's alter ego, Baron Fritz von Baugh. He insists that he's not the President; nobody believes him, but they go along with it anyway.
And then there's where The Cinema Snob easily recognizes that all Spoony has to do to become Dr. Insano is put on the goggles and labcoat.
Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Double Subverted. All of TGWTG comes together in a last ditch effort to resurrect Santa Christ. At first it seems to fail, but he needs three days to be resurrected.
Kevin Baugh. In his meeting in Part 1, he consulted with himself as Fritz von Baugh about the Critic's invasion. Justified: he is the self-proclaimed President of a sovereign microstate within the United States. It comes with the territory.
Continuity Lockout: The movie is almost completely unwatchable unless you already have a decent grounding in the memes and recurring jokes and characters on the site. Even fans of the site found the ratio of "callback jokes" to "actual jokes" a bit off. Doug learned his lesson from this, and the next year's special Suburban Knights is far less dependent on knowing everyone's schtick.
Costume Copycat: Film Brain mentions in his commentary that his character dresses like the Nostalgia Critic as part of his fanboyism, but it ended up not standing out very much because the Critic was wearing his N. Bison costume rather than his usual clothes. A tie might have helped. Especially for those who haven't seen a whole lot of Film Brain's videos and might think him wearing a blazer is just normal.
Angry Joe suggesting they should disembowel President Baugh and wear his organs as hair nets.
Later:
Bennet the Sage: I say we castrate him with a fork, tie him to a cactus, and play pinata with his entrails!
A Day in the Limelight: Compared to the Brawl, which was basically everyone randomly spouting their catchphrases while beating each other senseless, here most of the contributors get a chance to be showcased and can play to their strengths.
Deadpan Snarker: Pretty much everyone, but especially Phelous.
Defector from Decadence: Film Brain, who had been the Critic's Yes Man throughout the whole series, finally turns on his leader after he shoots "one Santa Christ too many".
"My army is quite literally unstoppable, undefeatable, and of course, invincible."
"Go! And never return!" (Pause) "Ever!" (Longer pause) "RETURN!" (Longest pause) "AGAIN!!"
There's also Board James' "...[You have your] game board because every board game has a game board."
In the loudest and hammiest voice possible: "I know it was your point! It's just that when you say I'm out of order and the system is out of order it's kind of redundant!"
The Critic: "Give in, Spoony. Give in for me. And the team. And me!"
And echoed by Benzaie later: "If not the team, then do it for us! The team!"
Cinema Snob: Look, I'll have a talk with the Critic, see if any of this is true. Paw: What if he suspects us going behind his back? Cinema Snob: He won't suspect us. I'll put it very delicately. (Gilligan Cut to:) Cinema Snob: Everybody thinks you're nuts.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: With how the kitchen scene in Part 6 is shot, you wouldn't be surprised if they were leading up to a gangbang instead of just a beatdown.
Drunk with Power: Predictably, victory immediately goes to the Nostalgia Critic's head. By Part 3, all he does is watch Hogan's Heroes and look important while everyone else does the work. He doesn't even want to do film reviews any more.
Dull Surprise: Baugh deliberately is acting completely nonchalant about everything. Behind the scenes, he insisted that would be funnier than overacting like the rest of the cast.
Dutch Angle: All over the place. The greater the tilt, the greater the hamminess in the scene. Maybe The Critic had been reading his notes from the Battlefield Earth review? Rob Walker mentions in his commentary that most of the Dutch Angles were his work, partly due to Sam Raimi influence, and partly to compensate for surroundings that were otherwise mildly boring.
The Empire: What the Critic wants to eventually make out of Molossia, using the Nazis as a comparison.
Enemy Mine: In a moment of desperation, the group recruits Doctor Insano.
Even The Cinema Snob, he who first tries to take down the Critic, thinks that Paw's plan to get him out of Government House by playing Michael Bolton music is going too far.
On a greater scale, even Bennett the Sage, who is sick enough to gross out even Ask That Guy, is appalled and saddened when The Nostalgia Critic kills Santa Christ.
Evil Chancellor: The Nostalgia Chick, the Scheming Vice-President variant. She continually plans to off the Nostalgia Critic and take his place, and her schemes seem to have nothing to do with the building rebellion among the rest of the team.
Evil Costume Switch: Handsome Tom uncrosses his arms to reveal his "Hero" shirt now reads "Villain".
Evil Is Not a Toy: Nostalgia Critic's and later, the rest of the Channel Awesome team's attempts to draw out Doctor Insano.
Exact Words: The Nostalgia Critic promises to book everyone a room at a hotel just outside of Molossia. Gilligan Cut to everyone sharing a single hotel room.
Face Heel Turn: Pretty much the entire That Guy with the Glasses crew do this when they choose to invade Molossia. Lampshaded by Handsome Tom when he changes his "Hero" shirt to a "Villain" shirt, and by a Genre Savvy Spoony in regards to becoming Dr. Insano. The Nostalgia Critic is a more of a heel right from the beginning.
Face Palm: Linkara at the start of Part 5, in disbelief that they'd unleashed Insano.
Fancy Fucking Hats: The Nostalgia Critic's, of course, though Angry Joe's is nothing to sneeze at either. And Linkara's still wearing his, except when he's channeling his inner Patton.note The "fancy fucking hats" line comes from Paw's rant on the Kickassian radio.
One piece of epicness set the saga to "The Cell Block Tango", making it look like Critic had really got around (in his usual Fandom Bike way) and the others wanted to kill him because of that kind of betrayal. Extra funny because Critic had earlier put Cell Block Tango on his "Top 11 Villain Songs".
Fauxlosophic Narration: In the last part, when the TGWTG crew are leaving Molossia, the narrator throws around clichéd movie quotes from various sources. The Nostalgia Critic gets tired of this and shoots him.
Nostalgia Critic: Blahblahblah, I'm just saying some lines to you. It doesn't matter what I say, because I'm just gonna put in some dialogue later.
Firing in the Air a Lot: Angry Joe. In a Twitter post after it aired, he claimed he was providing suppression fire in the event Molossia had an air force, or legion of invisible ninjas.
Flash Step: Linkara does the illusion variety. "As a matter of fact, I'm not even standing in front of you." (appears behind Chris)
Flat "What.": The Cinema Snob after N. Bison confirmed that he had been the one to order 20 tons of dynamite in Part 4.
Forced Meme: There was a push to get #kickassia attached to as many Twitter posts as possible, a dedicated Facebook group, and twibbons for profile pictures.
You really think TGWTG is going to come back home with a micronation? Industrial-class spoilage was contained at the Molossian website before the event even aired.
Similarly, nobody really expected Santa Christ to stay dead. It's worth noting that in the original cut, his death and resurrection all happened in the same episode.
Foreshadowing: Used quite a bit to build up Spoony's tranformation into Dr. Insano. People keep asking him if he's "that doctor guy", and a few instances where he briefly acts Insano-ish.
Freudian Slip: At one point, the Nostalgia Critic refers to Phelous as "Phallus". Might not count, since he seems to be doing it on purpose.
Funny Background Event: Cinema Snob says that most of his favorite Spoony moments in the movie are just him reacting silently in the background of what's happening, especially his face after Sage suggests torturing the N. Bison.
Phelous, who keeps Lampshading the more obvious jokes (sometimes in advance), such as the "I got everyone a hotel room" Visual Pun.
Naturally, all of them are this to a certain degree, since knowing the genre is pretty much their job. They, for example, almost immediately realize that "Fritz" is trying to turn them against the Nostalgia Critic and suspect that he set up everything to let the NC look like a bigger douche than he actually is. Subverted when it turns out that the NC actually is that much of a douche, since Fritz did, in fact, not order the 20 tons of dynamite.
Phelous: Hey guys, uh, I got a idea. This might seem like a shot in the dark, but what if we'd just used weapons? Nostalgia Critic: Nah, nah, it's a terrible idea. (beat) Wait! I have an idea! Phelous: (delightfully snarky) Gee, does it involve using weapo—? Nostalgia Critic: (hamming it up) It involves using weapons!
In Part 3, Phelous tells the reporter that a frequent routine is that he suggests an idea to the Nostalgia Critic, the Critic slaps him, then claims the idea as his own. It's to the point where we see Phelous suggest charging for tourism, the Critic rejecting the idea, then Phelous counting down on his fingers the exact amount of time before the Critic "suggests" the same thing. It actually gets beyond that point when Phelous invokes the trope by suggesting they banish Cinema Snob forever.
Godwin's Law / Hitler Ate Sugar: Somehow simultaneously played straight and inverted. In Part 1, The Nostalgia Critic gives a speech that compares the cast to the Nazis both as a positive and a negative.
Nostalgia Critic: Are you a Nazi? Or are you a Nazi!?
Good Old Fisticuffs: The Nostalgia Critic and Doctor Insano battle each other hand-to-hand in Part 5, but they end up breaking out the Beam-O-War to finish the fight.
Cinema Snob: (laughing) There's even a rumor going around that you ordered twenty tons of dynamite for yourself. Nostalgia Critic: (laughing) Ha ha ha, nooo... That part was true.
Ham-to-Ham Combat: Really, it's fair to say the entire movie is nothing but a plethora of Hams duking it out.
The Nostalgia Critic and Spoony see who can eat the most scenery in the opening of Part 2.
And this becomes literal combat later on with Critic fighting Dr. Insano. The ham becomes a Godzilla-sized monster of its own during the battle when the Critic goes on his rant about superconducting electromagnetism, complete with epic, bombastic music.
N. Bison: Certainly you've heard of it? It levitates bullet trains from Tokyo to Osaka. It will levitate my rocket chair... once it finally arrives. And it also levitates....ME.
And then the Critic and Ma-Ti.
Hand Wave: After Dr. Insano is defeated, he reappears in Part 6 as Spoony. His excuse? He got better.note Less of one following the reveal that the original script called for Spoony to reveal he was still Dr. Insano whilst everyone argued over who should be the new President of Kickassia. Unfortunately the scene was cut because of time and the fact that Insano's glasses broke the day after the big fight.
Heel Less Heel Turn: The rest of the That Guy with the Glasses crew, save for Film Brain, turn against the Critic mostly to save their hides and take over Molossia for themselves. The Nostalgia Chick is also against him, but not working with the rest team. Later, Film Brain has one after the death of Santa Christ.
Heel Realization: Film Brain. He slowly realizes that he has sold out in completely supporting the Nostalgia Critic's take over. The ultimate tipping point is when the Critic kills Santa Christ. He also starts the realization when NC says they aren't going to do any more reviews. Ever.
Hitler Cam: Used often with the Nostalgia Critic. Taken Up to Eleven with Dr. Insano. In Part 5, The Nostalgia Chick takes to this when she takes the Nostalgia Critic's hat.
Hulking Out: Don't make Lee angry. You wouldn't like him when he's three-dimensional and KICKING YOUR ASS.
Linkara: Joe, Joe, Joe, I know we've had our differences in the past... Angry Joe: We have? Linkara: Yes. I don't like you very much. Angry Joe: (sadly) Oh...
Ignored Epiphany: Sorta, as N. Bison obviously longs for the good old days as the Nostalgia Critic in the Ma-Ti scene, but he refuses to give up his hold on Molossia or his paranoia towards the others.
Nostalgia Critic uses this to win over the others. See the Nazi example above.
Surgeon General Sage proves that holding an Uzi makes you unkillable with overwhelming evidence such that he's holding one and isn't dead. Returns later after Santa Christ is shot, lamenting that "He should've held an Uzi."
Angry Joe: It's no use! The bullets are just going right through the hooooollleeess!!
A deleted scene shows this being played straight, when LordKaT takes one look at the footstool, and instead opts to go through the gate. Which just happens to be a few steps away.
Invisibility: As it turns out, Jew Wario is really good at stealth.
Juggling Loaded Guns: Pretty much all of Sage's interactions with his weapon. Especially when, after the banishment of the Cinema Snob, Sage wiped his tears away with the barrel end of his Uzi.
Kangaroo Court: Really, what trial would work when the only judge and jury is the Nostalgia Critic himself?
Karma Houdini: The Nostalgia Chick. The Critic got a Humiliation Conga for being a prick, Film Brain got broken when Santa Christ got shot and had to prove to the others he wasn't betraying them again, but the only "punishment" she got for being a Manipulative Bitch was not getting to rule at the end. She even got a present — the game Othello, which she loves. It might help that she never actually succeeded in doing any harm.
Katanas Are Just Better: All right, it's a toy sword, but it gives the president of Molossia the ability to teleport and bitch slap five people all at once with it.
Keeping The Enemy Close: This may be the reason why the Channel Awesome team decided to keep "Fritz Von Baugh" around even though they all knew that he was obviously Kevin Baugh in a Paper-Thin Disguise. This ultimately backfires, as it allows Fritz Von Baugh to undermine Kickassia's government.
Keet: Film Brain seems just a little too excited about all this.
Of special note are the Nostalgia Critic and Spoony.
Angry Joe also repeatedly takes large bites out of the scenery.
Linkara: Are you HIGH?! Angry Joe: (demented smile)
Laser Blade: Spoony can be seen holding one. Technically it was a cheap lightsaber he won in a casino. In his commentary, Spoony seemed mighty pleased with it and mentioned that he struck a perfect attack pose with it when the reviewers all kicked the president out in the first episode... unfortunately, he's in the back of the group and no-one can see it.
Limb Sensation Fascination: When 2D Lee becomes 3D Lee, he spends most of the following episodes touching things and exulting in how he has tactile stimulation now.
Lock and Load Montage: Played straight and subverted as some members of the Critic army didn't really do anything other than change poses. Well, Handsome Tom changed his shirt, Benzaie pulled down his sleeves, and the Snob took off his glasses... and then put them back on.
Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Many Channel Awesome reviewers from around the world came together to film the second anniversary special. Pretty much everyone after Santa Christ dies.
Death of Santa Christ Lampshaded with "Well, gee, that's sad."
Also done so fast in Part 6 it'll make your neck hurt. First, there's the kitchen scene where everyone is pinning Critic to the fridge, which as it goes on starts to get a bit creepy. Second, Ask That Guy comes in just for his cameo and it's funny. Third, Critic looks terrified and about to cry, which is heartbreaking. Then the crew beats him up Adam West-Batman style and it's hilarious.
The Movie: Essentially what this whole series turned out to be. If all the pieces were linked together, it would clock in at approximately 92 minutes.
Mundane Fantastic: No one finds any of the teleportation or superpowers that strange.
Murder Is the Best Solution: The Nostalgia Chick's method of dealing with the Critic. According to the Nostalgia Critic, though, she is the vice-president and holding out for president is all they do.
Evidently hearing a lot of wank about this before the saga had even finished, Lewis noted this in his Twitter:
To #Kickassia and those who say people are acting out of character, remember that we didn't do anything that we didn't want to do. ^_~
Film Brain responded to this as well, saying that everyone is just playing facets of their personalities, and that he can actually be quite bouncy and enthusiastic in reality.
Cinema Snob, Phelous and Benzaie's commentary also says that during filming they were doing things like intentionally changing the order they were standing in between shots to mess with the people who were looking for continuity errors.
Never Trust a Trailer: While everything from the trailer is in the special, the trailer made it look like the invasion would be the major part of the story, with some of the most defining lines deliberately leaving out the Critic being addressed. On the other hand, it made it very obvious that Dr. Insano would show up at some point.
The Nostalgia Chick becomes a flanderized Sarah Palin. The Channel Awesome reporter even discusses the trope with her.
Kevin Baugh uses his alternate persona of the Minister of Making Things Orderly to appear benign while covertly inciting rebellion among various cabinet members.
Offscreen Teleportation: Linkara, though it's more that he was never where he was to begin with.
Oh Crap: Insano's reaction to not having quite defeated N. Bison.
Ominous Latin Chanting: Used in the trailer. Except it's just "Kickassia" over and over again. The end of Part 4 features a straighter example with the reveal of Dr. Insano.
Only Mostly Dead: Beary apparently had to put himself back together after his premature explosion. But there are not enough stitches to heal the emotional damage.
Only Sane Man: While most of the commenters during The Kickassian War read their lines in the style of a Ken Burns documentary, LordKaT sounds perfectly normal, and is rational enough to notice how insane everyone is getting.
The people of Channel Awesome (except Linkara) all agree that only Dr. Insano can defeat the Nostalgia Critic.
Angry Joe: Sometimes the best way to deal with a madman is to send in another madman... Linkara:That's a stupid plan! Angry Joe: Exactly! A stupid plan, for a stupid man! Linkara:Are you high?!
Also the reason for the Critic to pick the Chick as Vice-President.
Nostalgia Critic: You're the only one that can keep the Nostalgia name alive... mostly because it's in your name.
Orcus on His Throne: Once Nostalgia Critic gains control of Molossia, instead of going through with his plan of eventually taking over the world, all he wants to do is sit on the couch and watch TV. Possibly due to the fact that his rocket chair hasn't arrived yet.
Out of Character: Nearly all the reviewers, to an extent, acted at least a little out of character for the special. The most notable example, however, was Film Brain, who was portrayed as more childlike and innocent than his sarcastic self from Bad Movie Beatdown.
Papa Wolf: The Kickassia-themed Ask That Guy is one huge Take That to the Fan Dumb. When it gets into questions of who shouldn't be included, Doug doesn't take it well.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Kevin the President as Baron Fritz von Baugh, Minister of Making Things Orderly. He gets that a lot, though. In Spoony's commentary on the special, he mentions that Nostalgia Critic was initially a bit confused about the character, asking Kevin the President, "You don't wanna do an accent or anything?" Kevin explained that the Baron was supposed to be a Paper-Thin Disguise, and that was the entire point of the character — it's obviously him and they buy his excuses. Even after saying "It's so obviously you." "I get that a lot."
Pay Crazy Unto Crazy: The rationale behind turning Dr. Insano loose on the Critic.
The Plan: Kevin Baugh possibly planned one as he indirectly dismantled Kickassia's government from the inside out.
Power Floats: Subverted in the fight between Dr. Insano and N. Bison. They set it up like N. Bison's levitating, but he's really just walking on his tippy toes.
Power Walk: Which becomes a Power Charge in the first invasion attempt by the Critic army.
Properly Paranoid: N. Bison becomes convinced that his army wants to depose him from power and that Nostalgia Chick is trying to poison his tea. He's right on all accounts.
The Quiet One: Kevin Baugh in his presidential persona, who has a total of three lines. His alter ego, Fritz von Baugh, Minister of Making Things Orderly, is noticeably more talkative.
Radio Voice: Chris "RolloT" Larios, giving the news report on the founding of Kickassia, has this kind of voice (and always speaks with a newsreel-narrator cadence), but no-one else in the report does. He did that on purpose to spoof the old newsreels. You can hear his regular speaking voice in the Brawl.
Railroad Tracks of Doom: While passing the Molossia Railroad in Part 2, Jew Wario trips and faceplants right on the tracks, and just lies there screaming as the toy train comes toward him. Lampshaded: His rescuer states that it was just a toy train.
Rule of Symbolism: In Part 2 and 3, when he's talking to Spoony and Film Brain respectively, Critic has a lot of shadow around him while they're still in the light.
The Runt at the End: Said after the entire group runs out the door yelling and screaming:
"And 8-Bit Mickey!"
Sanity Ball: It gets passed around quite a lot. Phelous, Linkara and the Cinema Snob are the most common holders. Occasionally vanishes altogether.
Sanity Slippage: Never exactly a paragon of sanity to begin with, actually having power turns the Nostalgia Critic totally insane. The "Nasty-Wasties" monologue is genuinely terrifying. And unexpectedlyso.
Sarcastic Clapping: The Nostalgia Chick, after everyone overthrows the Nostalgia Critic.
Say Your Prayers: After being beaten by the Nostalgia Critic, Insano reverts to screaming for help from Jesus and Santa.
Scary Shiny Glasses: Probably unintentional, but in Part 3, when the Critic says the creepy "Forever", the light is reflecting directly into Film Brain's eyes.
Sealed Evil in a Can / Superpowered Evil Side: Pretty much how Dr. Insano is portrayed, with Spoony having defeated his evil split personality, and now determined to never let it out again. It completely clashes with all of Insano's previous appearances, but the character runs on Negative Continuity anyway. As Spoony has said, "There is no continuity: there is only Insano."
Series Continuity Error: According to Cinema Snob, Phelous and Benzaie, during filming they were intentionally doing things like changing the order they were standing in between shots to mess with people.
A funny variation. A main focus of the series was Spoony's constant struggle to contain the mad Dr. Insano within him. People constantly say that he resembles Insano and he's been asked a couple of times to give in and turn into Insano. At the end of Part 4 he finally gives in and turns into Dr. Insano, complete with transformation sequence and dark music playing. Dr. Insano has finally returned! Then in Part 5 he finally confronts the power-mad Nostalgia Critic... and the ensuing fight ends with Critic kicking Insano's ass.
Dr Insano gave the most fight out of any single one of Channel Awesome's cast. The only one with the same kind of "power" was Kevin Baugh. He had Critic on the ropes most of the time, and when the scene cut to Benzaie and Linkara, the CRITIC was the one exclaiming OH MY GOD! And the kicker? Even when surprised by the Critic's "revival", Insano still fought back and DAMN NEAR won the BeamWar if Critic hadn't stepped to the side. As the good doctor says, "I'M SCIENCIER!!!!"
The series as a whole; the former president is given his land again and the team accomplishes about nothing. But at least Lee knows how it is to be 3D now.
Linkara and MarzGurl a few times. Part 1, they're shown holding hands, wearing very similar masks, and jointly executing an Anime-esque battle pose. In Part 2, she falls because of an explosion which causes him to cradle her and specifically mention "his masculine arms." Which is ironic as hell since the last special had them attacking each other, despite being on the same side. At least two commentators have suggested fanfic.
Also Chick/Nella in the "Kickassian War" DVD extra — lampshaded, of course:
My darling Nella, thoughts of you are the only thing that keep me afloat in these dark, dark times, even though I know people will take that quote and use it as an excuse to write erotic fanfiction about the two of us.
Shock and Awe: The Nostalgia Critic and Dr. Insano can both shoot lightning out of their hands.
Shoryuken: Of the Insano variety. Used against a guy dressed as a Street Fighter character, no less.
The episode titles are pretty serious and dramatic — "The Withering Eye", "Inglorious Glory", "The Fall of the Risen" — but end with "All The Really Bad Shit Happens".
Also:
Ma-Ti: The warning is... (beat) STOP BEING A DOUCHEBAG, IT'S TOTALLY GONNA BACKFIRE!
The Starscream: The Nostalgia Chick toward the Critic. He's completely oblivious to it no matter how obvious she is. Her actions are also completely self-motivated and have nothing to do with the rebellion.
Stealth Pun: N. Bison makes one in Part 6: "Who knew running a dictatorship could be so one-sided?"
Status Quo Is God: The Grand Finale results in Nostalgia Critic being defeated by his former comrades, who in turn have him tell Baugh he can take back Molossia.
Stepford Snarker: Vice President Nostalgia Chick has signs of this.
The Stoic: Kevin, whose expression almost never changes, even under the threat of the invaders. He only smirks when his plans go sucessfully. Fritz von Baugh, his alter ego, is the same way.
Stock Sound Effects: Almost every fight scene. One example of this is every time you hear a punch, its basically the same sound effect no matter who is hit.
Stop Helping Me!: In Part 5, the Critic asks for Nostalgia Chick's help when Insano attacks. She pulls out a baseball bat and... attacks The Critic. He's too dense to realize she's turned on him, but still punches her out all the same.
Straight Man: Or rather, Straight Chick. At the end of Part 2, the Nostalgia Chick is drinking some beer during the Critic's rousing speech. Subverted later on, when she pretty much turns into a homicidal Sarah Palin. The Cinema Snob falls under this a good chunk of the time.
Strange Salute: The Kickassia salute consists of one hand holding out the middle finger while the other hand bars the elbow on the rise of the opposing arm — a combination of the "flipping the bird" and "up yours" gestures.
Summon Bigger Fish: The Channel Awesome crew's solution to dealing with an insane, power-mad Critic? Send in an even more insane and more power-mad Dr. Insano. Linkara is the only one to point out "That's a STUPID plan!"
N. Bison has a moment like this when Baugh is fleeing into his house. Everyone just stands there watching him escape, and once he gets inside, N. Bison turns to his army and says "...Follow him?" in an exasperated tone.
Sympathetic P.O.V.: We're with the Critic for most of the movie, so he's still likable (totally crazy and slightly broken... but still likable). If we'd been with, say, Film Brain for 80% of it, the perception would have been very different.
Also, Paw's reason for why he's a "shock jock" radio DJ.
Jimmy Carter ("Nice people always do so well in politics. Just look at Carter!") and pretty much every president in general.
Cinema Snob: It's like the job of the president is to sit on his ass completely removed from reality while everybody else does all the hard work. Benzaie:Yeah, imagine that.
Nostalgia Critic: First we start with Texas... Then Canada. Then France. And then... THE WOOOOOORLD!
Lampshaded after Chris Larios tries to get the Critic to say "OF COURSE!" when dressed as N. Bison, and proceeds to ask him if he intends over the world, before escalating to the galaxy and finally, being bigger than God.
Taking You with Me: Nostalgia Critic has this sort of contingency plan for when he ever finds himself in danger of losing his position of power.
Subverted — Santa Christ's theme plays... and then he's shot dead just as he walks into the room.
Played straight when Santa Christ comes back to life three days later.
Think of The Children: Jew Wario exclaims this in Part 4. Due to it simply being the Critic and Cinema Snob shouting "Fuck you!"s to one another, it only elicits blank stares.
3D Lee — until he realizes what happened, after which he spends the rest of the plot trying to grasp the wonders of being three dimensional.
Dr. Insano. For the first time, he actually fights and wins the first round. He also has fingerbeams all of a sudden.
Nostalgia Critic in the same scenes. Though putting those together kind of cancels them out. Both of them only put up such a good fight because they're fighting each other rather than someone competent.
The trailer makes it seem like the entire series is about the invasion of Molossia. It succeeds in Part 2, and the following four (where a good deal of the trailer clips come from) are about the others getting fed up with Nostalgia Critic and rebelling against him.
It also seems to imply that Chris Larios, from Channel Awesome News would be a big part of the invasion. He appears for all of one episode — not even completely.
Not so much the trailer as other supplementary material: the Molossia website posted an article right after filming that completely gave away the invasion's outcome and aftermath. In Molossia, this was news. Everywhere else, it's a spoiler. And after it was released, the Molossia website announced that the whole thing was part of a Truman Show Plot. Yeah.
Beary gets blown up with explosives in Part 2 and in Part 3 he claims he only needed stitches. But there'll never be enough for all the emotional pain he's going through.
Santa Christ. Like one half of his namesake it takes him three days.
The Unintelligible: Film Brain when he's arresting the Cinema Snob. According to Film Brain's commentary, this was because Doug Walker's direction told him to act like a SWAT team — not just a member of the team, but everyone on it at once, so most of his speech for that scene was unintelligible yelling.
Angry Joe is firing his guns in the air. President Baugh's family's response:
"Mmm-hmm."
When Spoony gives in to the madness and fully transforms into Dr. Insano, Critic goes, "Oh, hey, you gave in to the madness! That's awesome," and goes back to watching television.
Victory Is Boring: The crew were much, much more fired up about invading a country than running it.
Film Brain: We'll annihilate them, Critic! We'll annihilate them!! Nostalgia Critic: Yes, Film Brain. But save your energy! You'll need it for all the senseless torturing we'll be doing. Film Brain: Aaah. (rubs his hands together eagerly)
Lampshaded when Handsome Tom switches from his Hero shirt to a Villain shirt at the end of Part 1.
The Voice: That Chick with the Goggles and Sean (THE EPIC FAIL GUY!) aren't actually able to appear for the events, just their voices over the phone. And then Part 5 came in.
Wheres The Kaboom: The Critic tries to blow up Kickassia with the explosives he wired in Part 6, even though Cinema Snob informed him that after he was banished, he defused the bombs. He pushes it anyway...
Would Hit a Girl: Nostalgia Critic punches Nostalgia Chick when she kept purposely hitting him with a baseball bat.
World of Ham: Nearly EVERYONE on this series has been Chewing the Scenery, the exceptions being the Nostalgia Chick at the beginning, Kevin Baugh, and Chris Larios. And LordKaT, for the most part. Brad Jones (a.k.a. The Cinema Snob) was also one of the more subdued actors in the film. In fact, much of the humor related to his character involved his lack of hamminess in contrast to everyone else in the movie. The Chick gets a chance to ham it up when we see her as vice-president and she is in full Sarah Palin impersonation.
You Are A Tree, Charlie Brown: Handsome Tom is forced to be a flagpole (and 8-Bit Mickey's horse). In a behind-the-scenes video, Doug apologizes to Tom for writing his character as pretty much being "an object." Tom seems pretty cool and says that objects are still useful.
You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In the midst of his What the Hell, Hero? speech, Ma-Ti tries to get Critic to remember that he's strong-willed and loyal to the people he actually cares about. Critic's consumed by power at this point, though, so it doesn't work.
a one-acre independent nation within the continental United States and usurp its president, Kevin Baugh. Hilarity, as well as movie references and heavy artillery, ensue.The series started on May 17, 2010, with a new installment posted online per day. The series is as follows:The trailer
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