"No problems at all. Don't worry about it."
"If you'd like a promo in the next CTV, feel free to leave us an e-mail."
- Alex Bale
Alex Bale is a normal high school student with a passion for making promos. He leads the school broadcast's promos branch and has gained some popularity for the hilarious and wacky promos he's produced. Problem is, not everyone appreciates Alex's creative indulgences, and those people tend to wind up on the list. That leads to...problems. Still, he will not be stopped from making his art, and nobody will get in his way, even when they really should.
Promos is a web video series by Alex Bale, starring himself as...Alex Bale. It's a funny collection of absurd fake ads that become a proper story about an ego maniac teenager butting heads with his teachers and peers, often due to him creating the tension in the first place. To say it escalates is an understatement.
You can watch the series trailer here
, made after the series wrapped up. The full playlist is here.
This series provides examples of:
- And Then What?: Julian points out how ridiculous a plan it was to kidnap him. Turns out Alex really is just planning to keep him captive forever. It's an amusing gag in this series that becomes
Fridge Horror in Pizza Time Pizza. - Anti-Humor: A common device in Alex's promos, most obviously used in Promo #8."Alex, how do I stop my parents from... getting a divorce. Uh... I... I'm sorry, I..."
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Alex really lets the popularity of his promos get to his head to absurd degrees. This may have been started even before this, as he owns a trophy for winning a school lip synching competition, which he proudly displays in promo #20. This trope is also played much more seriously here, using it as the driving force for all the conflict that occurs in the series.
- Acting Unnatural: Used on purpose for comedic effect, though the line is blurred with Austin who acts roughly the same on and off camera.
- Arch-Enemy: Julian and Alex. Alex also considers Tyler Rose one, for seemingly no reason.
- Back for the Finale: The List and Julian, who were both last seen in any meaningful way in the Winter finale.
- Bathos: Sure, Alex may have kidnapped Julian, but he did get him a Bop-it to play with."I don't know, man. Use your feet or something. You'll figure it out."
- Batman Gambit: Julian's ploy successfully gets Alex to try and bury The List, and he manages another in the finale by threatening Alex's friends.
- Berserk Button: Do not try to destroy The List. Alex really doesn't like that.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Alex, full stop.
- Big Bad: The series gains one as of #18 with The Blue Man. It's actually Alex.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: Alex can't help but demonize Mr. Pinney, or at least use him for gag fodder. He frames him as a serial killer in #14, and one can guess he didn't appreciate this come #18 where he becomes a censor.
- Bloody Hilarious: A common tactic of Alex's for his promos, and they tend to get him in trouble. This is a significant plot point when Mr. Pinney becomes his censor, getting him strikes for promo #25 and #28.
- Broken Pedestal: Jodi and Austin are very upset with Alex kidnapping Austin to frame Mr. Pinney.
- Butt-Monkey: Austin.
- Character Catchphrase: "Leave us an e-mail" and various versions of it close most episodes.
- Cerebus Syndrome: Starting with #9, as the series gains a plot and darker turns begin to occur.
- Chekhov's Gag: The List ends up becoming extremely important in the series finale after missing since the Winter finale.
- Class Clown: Alex, and he often pushes it too far, from making people think Tyler Rose was part of the Illuminati, to having surprise gore in his promos.
- Clear Their Name: Julian returns in the finale to do this for Mr. Pinney, remembering when Alex kidnapped him and sensing fowl play.
- Comedic Sociopathy: Used purposefully in promo #18, where Alex pretends he's some sort of two-faced rage monster for comedic effect.
- Comedy as a Weapon: Alex does this on occasion, like how he tries to slander Tyler Rose under the guise of absurdist humor.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Alex says Tyler Rose is apart of the Illuminati. It is unknown if he truly believes that.
- Dance-Off: Promo #32.
- Death as Comedy: Promo #2.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Julian tries to destroy The List. Alex kidnaps him.
- Distressed Dude: Julian in the Winter finale and Austin in the Spring finale.
- Documentary Episode: Played With in episode #18, a homage to The Office (US). Episode #9 is also a re-edited episode of a short doc series produced by Julian.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Julian did not appreciate the edits made to his Behind the Badge episode on Tyler Rose.
- Enemies List: The List is this, a list of people Alex dedicates himself to ruining. It only ever has two people on it the whole series, Tyler Rose and Julian Glasthal. It becomes much, much longer in one of the last secret videos in Pizza Time Pizza.
- Fatal Flaw: Alex's desire for attention.
- Foreshadowing: You can sometimes see an eye on a hand symbol in some spots, including a line of cameras that use the symbol. This doesn't foreshadow anything in Promos, but it does for Pizza Time Pizza.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: Promo #9 is actually an episode of Julian's show Behind the Badge, which was edited by Alex behind Julian's back. The next episode has them on a live debate. #14 and #15 are full on narrative episodes and help define the rest of the series structure.
- Frame-Up: Alex frames Mr. Pinney as The Blue Man and Austin's kidnapper.
- Good Is Not Soft: Julian counter-blackmails Alex in the finale. Alex manages to protect himself with a falsified promo, so he threatens to take Jodi and Austin down instead.
- The Heavy: Alex is responsible for every single conflict in the series.
- Heel–Face Turn: Alex by the end of the series. Remains so by Pizza Time Pizza, despite what first impressions would suggest.
- Hero Antagonist: Julian. His feud with Alex is justified more and more with every season finale.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Alex turns himself in to protect Jodi and Austin from taking the fall for him.
- Hollywood Hacking: The Blue Man dabbles in it. Justified, as Alex directs films and thus would have a theatrical flair in these videos.
- Insane Troll Logic: Used in promo #9 to paint Tyler Rose as a member of the Illuminati."Roses are a type of plant. Plants are green. You know what else is green? The color green."
- Irrational Hatred: Alex really does not like Tyler Rose, who just appears to be some guy.
- It's All About Me: Alex's ego is his fatal flaw and what drives the series conflicts.
- Large Ham: Alex plays one in promo #4.
- Le Film Artistique: Promo #24.
- Malicious Slander: Alex's main weapon against his enemies.
- Manipulative Bastard: Alex kidnaps Austin to frame Mr. Pinney, then manages to squirm out of it when nearly caught by making a fake promo to make the only evidence against him useless.
- Manipulative Editing: What Alex does to Julian's Behind the Badge segment in #9. Also, the fake promo Alex makes in the finale is meant to obfuscate what The List is and make it useless as evidence.
- Missing Steps Plan: Kidnapping Julian was not Alex's smartest plan. As of Pizza Time Pizza, you could argue this was because Alex wasn't in his right mind due to being influenced by The Pizza Man, and their personalities weren't completely split yet.
- Morality Pet: Alex genuinely appreciates the friendship he has with Jodi and Austin. He turns himself in to protect them, even after they're no longer friends with him.
- Musical Episode: Promos #3, #20, and #32.
- Near-Villain Victory: Alex nearly manages to win by faking a promo to make The List useless as evidence against him. The only reason he loses is because he decides to when Jodi and Austin are threatened in his place.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer suggests that Julian investigates Alex and takes secret pictures of him. The pictures shown were taken by Alex himself in his Blue Man plot, while Julian doesn't take pictures until the final episodes.
- Noir Episode: Promo #33.
- No Sense of Humor: How Alex sees Mr. Pinney and Julian.
- Parody Episode: The series has a lot of parody elements, but the most blatant examples would be episodes #5 (Anime), #6 (Robot Wars), #18 (The Office (US)), and #26 (Stranger Things).
- Reasonable Authority Figure: All the teachers who have to put up with Alex.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Alex is the red to Julian's blue. Ironic, as Alex is usually wearing blue. A hint that he's The Blue Man.
- Self-Deprecation: Alex, Jodi, and Austin use this to some degree in their promos. Ironic in Alex's case, due to his monstrous ego.
- Show Within a Show: The promos you're watching are all filmed in the series itself by the character Alex Bale. There's also Behind the Badge in Promo #9.
- Smart Jerk and Nice Moron: Alex and Austin have a more subtle version of this dynamic.
- So Unfunny, It's Funny: Purposefully invoked by Alex and his team for a few promos, notably promo #11.
- Stalker Shot: Promo #18 ends with seeing The Blue Man from his point of view snapping pictures of Alex. It's actually a camera on a timer making fake pictures Alex uses to frame Mr. Pinney later.
- Straight Man: Mr. Pinney to Alex.
- Tragic Mistake: Kidnapping Austin to frame Mr. Pinney. Also, kidnapping Julian and keeping The List weren't great ideas.
- Unlucky Extra: Tyler Rose. He has seemingly done nothing to earn Alex's loathing.
- Unwitting Pawn: Jodi and Austin in Alex's Blue Man scheme.
- Villain Protagonist: Alex is this the whole series, but it's not completely clear until the Spring finale.
- Wham Episode: The season finales, where most plot development happens, and #18 for starting the Blue Man arc.
