Western Animation / Fangbone!

Skullbania's in mania; they fight to keep their rule
From the evil magic big toe of the Venomous Drool
One barbarian entrusted with the crusty toe of fate
Portal blasted to our planet, but can he keep us safe?!

—The first lines of the show's theme song

Fangbone! is the Animated Adaptation of bestselling children's author Michael Rex's hit graphic novel series Fangbone! Third Grade Barbarian, produced by Canadian studio Radical Sheep Productions (the creators of The Big Comfy Couch) and distributed by WildBrain. The show was developed for television by Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott (who had previously also adapted Grossology and created Spliced), although uniquely for a cartoon of its type, Michael Rex was heavily involved in its production as an executive producer and concept artist.

Like the books, the series centers around the eponymous Fangbone, a nine-year-old Barbarian Hero from Another Dimension known as Skullbania, a Sword and Sorcery fantasy world home to countless Barbarian Tribes that have fought against the forces of the Evil Sorcerer Venomous Drool for over a thousand years. Drool seeks to take over all of Skullbania, but fortunately, his incredible power is severely diminished by the fact that he is missing the primary source of his vile magic — his Big Toe of Evil, which is under the guardianship of Fangbone's own tribe, the Mighty Lizard Clan. To prevent Drool and his minions from acquiring the Toe and thus the power that Drool needs to conquer Skullbania, Fangbone has been entrusted with the title of Toe-Keeper and sent by the tribe's wizard Twinkle-Stick to Earth, where Drool will be unable to follow.

On Earth, a chance encounter during Fangbone's first hours in the new world leads to him befriending Bill Goodwin, an ordinary boy of his age who attends Eastwood Elementary. Bill helps Fangbone with adjusting to life on this strange and unfamiliar world and assists him in battling the various monsters that Venomous Drool sends out from Skullbania to take the Toe back, as well as other Skullbanian inhabitants that seek out the Toe for their own purposes. What follows is a mixture of action, adventure, and hilarity as Fangbone learns much about both Earth and Skullbania all while battling the forces of evil, trying to adapt to life as an elementary school student, and developing his newfound friendship with Bill.

The show's pilot "Warbrute of Friendship" was originally aired in 2014 on the Canadian version of Disney XD to warm reception (including multiple awards). Unfortunately, due to some major shifts in Canadian kids' TV, the show's release was delayed to 2016, and it instead debuted on Family CHRGD (now WildBrainTV). The show did air on Disney XD outside of Canada however, although its poor treatment in the United States resulted in the series running for only a single season of 26 episodes and ending on a cliffhanger.

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Fangbone! provides examples of:

• Abstract Eater: In "The Future of Mom", one of Drool's monsters ate Saturday, resulting in there now being 6 days a week instead of 7.
• Action Girl: Most female Skullbanians, like Cid, Hammerscab, Ingrit, and Wargrunt.
• Actionized Adaptation: While the original Fangbone! Third Grade Barbarian books did feature their fair share of scenes involving Fangbone and Bill fighting Drool's monsters, it was for the most part, about Fangbone having to adjust to life on Earth and the shenanigans that resulted from him attending school (such as dodgeball games, science fairs, and birthday parties). In contrast, the cartoon is much more action-oriented, with episodes instead usually involving fights against a Monster of the Week or some other Skullbanian threat and Fangbone also having to return to Skullbania every once in a while to carry out important missions on behalf of his tribe.
• Adaptation Expansion: The series expands greatly upon the content of the Fangbone! Third Grade Barbarian books. In particular, the setting of Skullbania and the character of Venomous Drool are built upon and given much more prominence.
  Michael Rex: Everything that has been added was done to open up the show, and allow for more varied stories. Skullbania doesn’t get much time in the books, but the creative team felt that it needed to be a big part of the show. Twinkle-Stick was created as a way for Fangbone to stay a bit more connected to his home world. Drool was greatly expanded on as well. He only lurks in the background in the books. Even though his actions are constantly felt, he doesn’t really get to do much.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The animated series goes into notably more depth about the challenges Fangbone faces as a barbarian being forced to stay in a completely foreign world to protect a powerful, evil magical object, with several episodes exploring Fangbone's loneliness and homesickness or how his sense of duty sometimes comes at the expense of his own well-being or his relationships with other people.
• Adaptational Backstory Change: In the original books, Fangbone and Bill became friends through a simple matter of convenience - Fangbone landed on Earth near Bill's school and decided to go there when he saw other children going towards it, encountering Bill as a result. The show, on the other hand, opts to throw that out of the window and give them a completely new origin story with the Origins Episode "The Forging of Friendship", which instead depicts the circumstances of how they first met as being much more complex and action-packed, with Fangbone assuming Bill to be an enemy, the Toe getting separated during Fangbone's arrival on Earth, and Venomous Drool sending a kraken to attack the duo.
• Adaptational Explanation: The original books never gave a proper reason for why it was Venomous Drool's big toe that was the MacGuffin, simply going with the idea for the sake of grossout humor. The series goes into greater depth about this, with episodes like "The Breaker of Oaths" and "The Keeper of Toe" giving actual explanations as to the origins of the Toe of Evil.
• Adapted Out: Duncan, The Bully, is the only major character from the books absent from the show, possibly due to the series focusing more on Fangbone's conflict with Venomous Drool than dealing with typical school scenarios.
• Adults Are Useless: Most of the grown-up characters on the show are completely oblivious to the daily destruction and havoc Drool's monsters cause, as well as the fact that Fangbone and Bill are constantly out battling the creatures.
• Alien Sky: Skullbania has three suns and two moons under its red skies.
• And the Adventure Continues: In the finale, the effects of the World Chain have made Earth and Skullbania so close to each other that portals to Skullbania now open at random, allowing monsters to slip through at any time and giving Fangbone and Bill continued reason to keep fighting monsters even after Drool has been defeated once and for all.
• Animated Adaptation: Of Michael Rex's graphic novel series Fangbone! Third Grade Barbarian. Rather than directly adapting the stories told in the books though, it opts to create completely new adventures for the cast.
  Michael Rex: [The books and the show]’re actually pretty close. One of the things that I am most happy with about the show is that it IS the books. While the stories in the books are a bit more involved than an 11-minute episode, the entirety of season 1 goes much deeper than the books. On the down side, the books don’t have a cool song at the beginning.
• Another Dimension: Skullbania is one, and it seems to be an entire planet.
• Antiquated Linguistics: Most of the Skullbanians (even the barbarians) tend to speak in a somewhat flowery manner that make them sound like characters from a fantasy novel in reflection of their status as inhabitants of a pseudo-medieval setting filled with magic and monsters.
• An Arm and a Leg: In "The Future of Mom" Other Mom of Bill has a cybernetic arm. A flashback implies that a bite she received from a rat caused her arm to become infected with no one around to treat it.
• Bad Future: One was created when Bill accidentally squished the Toe of Evil in his mom's high school yearbook and sent to the past. As a result, Bill's Mom became its keeper while she was a teenager, and Drool's monsters reduced Earth to a barren wasteland due to her initially having no idea how to deal with their constant attacks on her for the Toe.
• Back for the Finale: Fangbone and Bill manage to gather up numerous characters from over the course of the series to help them take down Drool once and for all in "The End of the Beginning", including the Shadowsteppers, the Duck of Always, the Skullbasher Clan, Hammerscab, and the Thundercrush. Also, the final scene reveals that the Toe has gathered up all the monsters and magical beings that Fangbone and Bill have encountered and/or fought over the course of the series under its service.
• Bad Ol' Badger: One of Venomous Drool's recurring monsters is a huge humanoid badger monster with fangs and armor.
• Barbarian Longhair: Many Skullbanians possess these.
• Barbarian Tribe: Skullbania is full of them, with Fangbone himself coming from the Mighty Lizard Clan. These barbarian tribes are devoted to preventing Venomous Drool from seizing control of their world.
• The Bard: Melodica, the Lady of the Lute, from "The Ballad of Meh", a spirit residing within a magical lute who also composed ballads dedicated to many of Skullbania's most legendary heroes.
• Battle Rapping: Done in "The Ballad of Meh" between Bill and Melodica, the Lady of the Lute.
• Battle Trophy: Fangbone has earned many over the course of the series. In fact, Skullbanians with enough battle trophies can turn them all in to acquire a Beast of Battle.
• Beard of Barbarism: Many of the older Skullbanians wear beards, notably Fangbone's chieftain Axebear.
• Bears Are Bad News: The Moonbear of No Tomorrow from the episode of the same name is an almost literal example of this, as its constellation is seen as an omen of death among Skullbanians.
• Beast of Battle: As revealed in "The Thundercrush of Responsibility", Skullbanians who earn enough Battle Trophies can turn them all in to earn one.
• Because Destiny Says So: Skullbanians are strong believers in this. Ironically, the show has more of a Screw Destiny theme, with many of the series' key background events being the result of luck and choice rather than any prophecy.
• Bewitched Amphibians: Ms. Gillian was turned into a giant frog by the Toe's power in "The Swamp of Education"
• BFS: Hammerscab wields one.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies:
  • One of Drool's more common monster minions is the Nitropede, a giant centipede with electric powers.
  • Skullbanian slugs are bigger than humans and spew acid, while Skullbanian snails are equally massive and lightning fast.
• Binary Suns: Skullbania has three suns, and they orbit around Skullbania.
  Fangbone: A barbarian rises with the first sun. Only sloth weasels rise with the second.
• The Blacksmith: "The Waffle of Iron" introduces us to Ingrit, a blacksmith who was tricked by Venomous Drool into crafting a powerful axe for him and then had her spirit imprisoned inside of said axe when she tried to stop Drool. Her spirit then ends up inhabiting Bill's waffle iron during a battle with one of Drool's monsters.
• Blood Knight: All Skullbanians love a good fight, but some more than others, like Hammerscab, who lives to seek out the strongest foes to challenge.
• Bond Breaker: In the pilot episode "Warbrute of Friendship", Fangbone and Bill both covet a new rock and roll guitar, and start to fight over it. Venomous Drool makes it worse by possessing their school teacher and forcing them onto different sides of a competition.
• Bond Creatures: In "The Squeak of Might", Bill gets his own Skullbanian spirit animal called a Squee-claw. However, he's not very happy with it and tries to get a new one, only to summon Venomous Drool's own spirit animal instead — a giant Tar Dragon.
• Braids of Action: Hammerscab possesses these. She uses them as weapons in battle.
• Cabin Fever: Skullbanians suffer from an extreme version called Hovelfroth that causes them to go rabid and feral if they are cooped up indoors for far too long.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Skullbania has its own names for certain things.
  • In "The Cavity Of Terror", it's revealed that dentists are known as "Toothsmiths".
  • Skullbanians refer to hot dogs as "Meat Tubes".
  • Camping is known as "Skysnoring" by Skullbanians.
• Cargo Cult: A group of astronomers began wearing robes and chanting after Drool deformed the projector in their planetarium to depict the Moonbear of No Tomorrow and brought it to life.
• Cast from Sanity: The Helmet of Dulling is a cursed horned helmet that converts the wearer's intellect into brawn. It can make someone a nigh unstoppable behemoth, strong enough to toss buildings around, which is good because they're otherwise Too Dumb to Live.
• Convection, Schmonvection: In "The Shadow of Bill", Fangbone, Bill and Cid escape from the dire razorworm by rafting along a lava flow.
• Cool Sword: Glimmerslash, a sword of diamond created by Stoneback the Solid to destroy the Ravenous Darkness.
• Cyborg: Bill's mom became one of these in the Bad Future seen in "The Future of Mom", giving her an Arm Cannon.
• A Day in the Limelight: A few episodes focus on characters who aren't Fangbone or Bill, such as "The Rowboat of Dibby" (which is about Dibby, as the name suggests) and "The Star of Gold" (which is mainly about Ms. Gillian).
• Depraved Dentist: In "The Cavity of Terror", Venomous Drool sends the dentist monster Toothsbane after the heroes after learning Fangbone is afraid of dentists. Toothsbane notably possesses the power to transform people into teeth which he places in his toothless mouth.
• The Dog Was the Mastermind: At the end of "The End Of The Beginning", it's revealed that Drool's Toe has a mind of its own, and manipulated the events of both parts of the episode to have Drool defeated so it could be free to implement its own plans.
• Double-Meaning Title: "The Bill of Magic" can either refer to the character learning magic or "bill" as the cost of using it and, in the context of the episode, learning it in a hurry.
• Drunk on the Dark Side: In "The Keepers of Toe", Wargrunt was the keeper of Drool's elbow. The burden of it led her to use its evil power for personal gains, which led to her being banished from her tribe who took the elbow from her, until it was taken by Drool's monsters. She tried to steal the Toe, due to being the most powerful body part.
• Dumb Muscle: The cursed Helmet of Dulling turns its wearer into one.
• Enemy Mine: In "The Forging of Friendship", Fangbone and Bill try to convince the barbarians and the Shadowsteppers should ally themselves to fight Drool and his monsters.
  • Though they do end up working together in "The End of the Beginning" 2-parter finale, with some convincing from Fangbone and Cid reminding One-Eye that she's his daughter.
• Evil Knockoff: Drool creates evil copies of Fangbone and Bill (Toothbreaker and Borb, respectively) in "The Brothers Of Battle" to steal the Toe. They ultimately decide to betray him and use the Toe themselves.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: Venomous Drool's lair is a towering palace built from the skeleton of a gigantic creature.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: One of Venomous Drool's monsters, the Doomgazer, is a hulking giant with eyes all over its chest and shoulders that fire lasers.
• F--: In "The Duck of Always", Bill has a nightmare where he gets an F minus in 'World Saving'.
• Face–Heel Turn: In the final scene of "The End Of The Beginning", Fred Bone and Other Bill's Mom are among the group of villains now working for Drool's Toe despite being good before. One possible explanation is that because the Toe's evil magic was used to create them, it has control over them.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Lampshaded when Fangbone saw a picture of a landscape and thought it was of Skullbania. Bill informs him that it's actually of Mongolia.
• Fantasy Pantheon: The Skullbanians have two gods: Grom (who is seen as good) and Morg (who is seen as evil).
• The Farmer and the Viper: A flashback in "The Future of Mom" shows Natalie in an alternate timeline getting bitten by a rat when she tries to share her food with it.
• Faux Horrific: Twinkle-Stick shudders at the thought of a park-keeper's head being turned into a goat's then his entire body covered in butter. It offsets the more horrific fates of other part-keepers; one was eaten by a man-lizard and another was turned inside-out.
• Fictional Sport: Skullbanians like to play Clobberball, which is a lot like American football/rugby, but with a rock and a lot more pain and violence.
• Fictional Zodiac: Skullbanians have a different set of constellations. Justified as they live in a different planet which isn't even in the same universe as Earth.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Seems like three of the most common career paths for Skullbanians are to become barbarian warriors, wizards, or Shadowsteppers. If they don't belong to any of those, they might be blacksmiths or bards.
• Folk Hero: The Skullbanians have Stoneback the Solid, whose improbable feats and incredible power is the source of numerous stories that Fangbone occasionally recounts when he wants to make a point.
• Forced Transformation:
  • The Mo-Ar Go-At curse turns people into goats by contact in the same manner as zombies. The difference is that mere touching won't do; it has to be a headbutt.
  • A Skullbanian forgemaster named Ingrit whose spirit was placed inside an axe and then a waffle iron. It doesn't get in the way of her job.
• The Game Come to Life: In "The Kat of Munching", Venomous Drool uses his magic to bring to life a character from a video game called Munchie-Kat that Fangbone became addicted to.
• Giant Squid: As revealed in "The Forging of Friendship", the very first monster Bill and Fangbone battled together was one such creature. They imprisoned it inside the water tower at the city dump.
• Going Native: The Skullbasher clan was sent to Earth from Skullbania via a World Maw and adapted by finding jobs in medieval reenactment, after some of them perished to unfamiliar Earth objects. They can't fight with real weapons anymore and Fangbone said that they became soft.
• Grand Finale: "The End of the Beginning" marks the final battle between Fangbone and Venomous Drool, as Drool merges Earth and Skullbania and successfully retakes his Toe, so Fangbone, Bill, and Cid gather up all their allies over the course of the series to take on Venomous Drool and his forces in one final battle.
• Great Big Book of Everything: The Big Book of Drool Keepers in "The Keepers of Toe", which details the history of all the barbarians who have guarded the different body parts of Venomous Drool and their fates.
• Hell Hound: The Hound of Hounding from the episode of the same name is a shadowy demon dog that manifests from the guilt of others and relentlessly torments them, feeding on their guilt until it is powerful enough to consume them.
• Heroes of Another Story: Fangbone's parents are absent from the series due to the fact they are on some undescribed quest in a faraway land.
• Hollywood Hacking: It happened in "The Rowboat of Dibby". Justified as it was Drool doing the hacking with a magical computer.
• Horns of Barbarism: Almost every barbarian character wears a helmet sporting these. Fangbone himself wears one with three small horns.
• Human Aliens: The Skullbanians are the barbarian-like inhabitants of Another Dimension who possess immense strength and ferocity, but are so human-like they can live on Earth and pass off for ordinary people.
• I Am Spartacus: In "The Mall of Doom", Bill and Fangbone's classmates all pretend to be Fangbone to save him from the Pigataur. Part of what makes this effective is that the monster has poor eyesight and instead relies on its sense of smell, so it smells multiple Fangbones due to the kids all wearing pieces of Fangbone's armor.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode is titled "The X of Y" in imitation of how Fangbone always uses "Y of X" instead of "X's Y" due to his Strange-Syntax Speaker habits.
• Implacable Man: The Duck of Always from the episode of the same name never stops hunting down those who it has been sent after and will always come back to life after being killed.
• Inherited Illiteracy Title:
  • Fangbone is a Strange-Syntax Speaker so some episode titles exaggerate this trait like "The Leg of Broken", "The Burg of Lar", and "The Back of Stone"^note It's a name so Fangbone refers to him as Stoneback in his regular speaking among many others.
  • "The Helmit of Durling" provides a different example. The titular cursed artifact is correctly spelled as "Helmet of Dulling" in the show, but the title deliberately misspells the artifact's name to reflect the incredibly stupidity the helmet inflicts on its wearer.
• It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: The series doesn't shy away from showing just how terrible it is to be a Drool-Keeper (someone entrusted with guarding a piece of Drool's body). You constantly have to be on guard, you can hardly get any sleep without being attacked, and it is almost impossible to trust anyone but yourself. "The Keeper of Toe" shows examples of the fates of Drool-Keepers who end up getting caught (eaten by monsters, getting turned inside-out, getting your head turned into a goat's and covered in butter), and in the case of Wargrunt, how easy it can be to become corrupted by using the magic of Drool's body parts.
• Killer Rabbit: In "The Cheeks of Darkness", Bill and Fangbone battle a world-devouring black hole monster called the Ravenous Darkness... which takes on the form of a hamster.
• Laser Blade: In "The Polluted Light of Destiny", Fangbone uses the laser pen as one against the Moonbear of No Tomorrow. However, the pen's too small to defeat it, and they instead use a stadium light to destroy the monster.
• Left Hanging: The final episode reveals Venomous Drool's Toe to be intelligent and every bit as evil as him, taking control of his fortress and minions to carry out its own plans. It probably would have become the Big Bad of the second season that ultimately never came to be, leaving a few questions unanswered as a result.
• Literal Split Personality: Fred Bone used to be just Fangbone not acting like himself until he gave his artistic side, which he thought to be too embarrassing for a barbarian, its own physical form through the Toe's power.
• Living Shadow: Venomous Drool animates his own shadow and sends it after Fangbone and his friends in "The Pitch of Black".
• MacGuffin: Venomous Drool's Toe of Evil. Its dark magical power originates from Drool dipping it into a pool of concentrated evil, and if he were to ever regain it, he would be at full power and be able to take over both Skullbania and Earth.
• MacGuffin Guardian: Fangbone and Bill are these for Drool's Toe. There were several other part-keepers before the events of the series but they were all defeated and some were even killed, leaving the Toe as the only part left for him to be completed and restored to full power.
• Magic Cauldron: Venomous Drool's scrying pool functions as one.
• Magic Eater: Venomous Drool sends such a creature after Bill in "The Bill of Magic" when Bill gains magical powers from prolonged exposure to Drool's Toe. It's a small, white, squishy, squeaky thing called a Voidsnarl that gets bigger as it eats spells thrown at it.
• The Mall: The episode "The Mall of Doom" is set at one called Mallhalla.
• Merged Reality: In "The End of the Beginning", Venomous Drool uses a powerful artifact called the World Chain to merge Earth and Skullbania together.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Some Skullbanian monsters, like the Tyrannopug, which has the body of a T-Rex and the head of a giant slobbering pug; the Eaglebear, which is a bipedal bear with the head of an eagle; and the Pony-Lizard, which is a giant fire-breathing six-legged lizard with a horse's head.
• Monster of the Week: Venomous Drool's minions make up the weekly threats of any given episode, with most episodes featuring a different monster for Fangbone and Bill to fight.
• Multi-Part Episode: "Warbrute of Friendship", "The Duck of Always", "The Field of Trip of Mayhem", "The Breaker of Oaths", and "The End of the Beginning" are full half-hour episodes divided into a Part 1 and Part 2.
• Not Himself: Fangbone becomes a polite and sophisticated boy named Fred Bone in "The Necktie of Change" when the Toe's magic transforms him while he is forced to wear a suit for school picture day.
• Oculothorax: Drool sometimes sends giant eyeballs with elongated eyelashes for tentacles to retrieve his Toe from Fangbone and Bill.
• One-Man Army: Hammerscab of the Clan of One, a Skullbanian warrior so strong that by the age of 10 she had defeated all willing challengers and every fellow member of her clan, leading them to abandon her due to her lust for battle being too much for them to handle.
• Origins Episode: In "The Forging of Friendship", while trying to prevent a(nother) war between the barbarians and the Shadowsteppers, Fangbone and Bill tell the story of how they first became friends.
• Our Dragons Are Different: The Tar Dragon from "The Squeak of Might" is a pretty standard dragon, except it has six legs and breathes thick black tar instead of fire. More ordinary dragons also appear in the show, although they rarely ever play major roles in a given episode.
• Our Goblins Are Different: "The Bucket of Goblins" features them as the Monster of the Week. They're depicted as short green humanoids who love filth and have slimy skin that makes them immune to fire and extreme heat. They're treated as common vermin by Venomous Drool and Fangbone, with the former even sending an anteater-like monster called a Goblin Gobbler to exterminate them.
• Our Monsters Are Weird: Most of the monsters that Fangbone and Bill battle look more like they came straight out of the back pages of a Dungeons & Dragons rulebook than anything found in your typical fantasy cartoon series.
• Our Orcs Are Different / All Trolls Are Different: Orcs and trolls make up Venomous Drool's mooks, although the show doesn't really differentiate them in any specific way, since they're both depicted as monstrous green-skinned humanoids.
• Parental Abandonment:
  • Fangbone's mother and father don't ever physically appear; he mentions that they are away on some kind of quest in "The Twinkle of Stick", but otherwise, the only time we ever see them is in a single flashback in "The Hound of Hounding".
  • In "The Glory of Defeat", in Hammerscab's flashback, she was abandoned by not only her parents, but her entire clan, because of her severe Blood Knight tendencies.
• Pelts of the Barbarian: The Skullbanians all dress up in typical barbarian fur pelts.
• The Phoenix: The Feather-Phoenix from "The Present of Feathers" is a monster bird that always leaves behind a single feather when destroyed. Said feather can possess objects to resurrect the Feather-Phoenix, giving it new attributes depending on the object it was brought back from (a garbage can for instance gives it the ability to spew trash and sludge).
• Pig Man: The Pigataur, one of Venomous Drool's monsters, is a hulking humanoid boar with a superb sense of smell that allows it to sniff out Fangbone in the winding dark corridors of the mall during a blackout.
• The Pig-Pen: The Goblins in "The Bucket Of Goblins" REALLY love filth. In fact, at the end of the episode, they decide to go look for the local garbage dump.
• Points of Light Setting: Skullbania seems to be mainly comprised of vast expanses of wilderness, with most of the settlements being the Barbarian Tribes' villages. The only form of Skullbanian civilization ever seen in the show is the city of Minkwater, where the Shadowsteppers are headquartered at.
• Portal Pool: Fangbone, Bill, and Cid use one to enter the Nightlands in "The Breaker of Oaths".
• Power-Up Food: "The Kat of Munching" where Fangbone and Bill eat fudge made from the pixels of Munchie-Kat. The fudge was supposed to give you a magical nice sweet feel and scent.
• Prehensile Hair: Hammerscab uses her hair this way during her battle with Fangbone.
• Proud Warrior Race: The Skullbanians, of course.
• Puppeteer Parasite: Venomous Drool creates one from his own earwax in the pilot episode "Warbrute of Friendship", which he uses to possess Ms. Gillian and drive a rift between Fangbone and Bill.
• The Reveal: In "The End of the Beginning", it's revealed Venomous Drool's Toe is sentient, and would have likely ascended to become the series' new Big Bad if the show hadn't been canned after only one season.
• Rhino Rampage: The Thundercrush from "The Thundercrush of Responsibility" is a huge rhino-like monster capable of chewing through steel. It's considered one of the best battle-beasts a Skullbanian can have.
• Roadside Wave: In "The Ballad of Meh", Fangbone attempts to defend his friends from a roadside wave with a sword, having mistaken it for a water demon. His friends still end up getting soaked.
• Rock Monster: Venomous Drool creates one in "The Necktie of Change", creatively named the Pile of Rocks Monster (he was low on ideas at the time).
• Sand Worm: Razorworms are giant carnivorous worms named for the axe-like blades growing from their bodies. Fangbone and Bill have fought a few over the course of the series, including a "dire" version.
• Screw Destiny: A recurring theme in the series. Although Fangbone and the other Skullbanians are big believers in fate and inevitability, many important background events in the series were by brought about by luck or choice, such as Bill's first encounter with Fangbone (and subsequent befriending) and Venomous Drool dipping his big toe in Morg's Puddle of Concentrated Evil to become all-powerful.
• Sealed Evil in a Six Pack: Before the Toe of Evil came to be under Bill and Fangbone's protection, Drool was dismembered and put back together again from all his other body parts. He can only regain all of his powers if every piece has been returned.
• Sentient Vehicle: One of Drool's recurring monster minions is the Warwagon, a monstrous self-driving chariot demon.
• Sequel Hook: "The End of the Beginning" ends with Skullbania and Earth now being so close to each other that rifts open on a regular basis, giving Bill and Fangbone reasons to continue fighting despite Drool being rendered powerless. Furthermore, Drool's Toe is revealed to be sentient and has now amassed control over all of Drool's monsters and beings created from its magic to become the new Big Bad.
• Shadow Archetype
  • "The Keeper of Toe" has Wargrunt, a barbarian who was a former Drool-Keeper like Fangbone, with her protecting Drool's left elbow while suffering from the stress and pressures of the job. Unlike Fangbone, who had Bill to help him ease his burdens and protect the Toe, Wargrunt was left to protect the elbow by herself and eventually started using its power for herself, becoming Drunk with Power until her clan confiscated it from her and exiled her.
  • "The Defeat of Glory" has Hammerscab, a young barbarian warrior like Fangbone who's just as much of a Blood Knight as he is if not moreso. However, while Fangbone has the sense to not let his love for fighting consume his life and skew his priorities, Hammerscab's insatiable battle lust ended up alienating her from everyone, including her own clan.
  • "The Burg of Lar" has Kael, a young but skilled Shadowstepper like Cid. Unlike Cid, Kael has a good relationship with One-eye, but is completely obnoxious and lacks the redeeming traits she has. He's pretty much what Cid would have been like had she not gone through the Character Development that she did up until that point.
• Show Within a Show: Bill is a huge fan of the Musculor film series, a Masters of the Universe parody that often parallels his adventures with Fangbone.
• Sleeping Dummy: Bill leaves one in his bed when he sneaks out of the house to collect his mother's presents in "The Present of Feathers".
• Smoke Out: The Shadowsteppers often use smoke bombs (crafted from the skulls of tiny animals) when fighting.
• Start of Darkness: As Fangbone, Bill, and Cid wander the Nightlands in "The Breaker of Oaths", they get to see pieces of Venomous Drool's lost memories being played out, revealing to them his backstory and how (and why) the Toe of Evil became the series' Macguffin.
• Status Quo Is God: A few episodes have ended with the status quo being restored immediately after a major shift in it earlier in the episode, such as Bill's mom learning about her son's monster-fighting in "The Mom of No Return" and Fangbone being banished from his clan in "The Field Trip of Mayhem."
• Stuffed into a Locker:
  • In the opening credits, Fangbone and Bill's classmates (and one troll) are inside lockers that open as Fangbone and Bill run past: although the reason why they are there is not clear. Except maybe to hide from said troll.
  • It happened to Ms. Gillian's class in "The Iron Fist of Bruce" when Principal Bruce turned into a tyrant after trying to emulate Skullbanian culture.
• Sword and Sorcery: Skullbania is based on these kinds of fantasy settings made famous by the Conan the Barbarian series and the Masters of the Universe franchise.
• Tempting Fate: In "The Pizzas of Day", while Fangbone, Bill, and their classmates eat at the hot dog restaurant, Fangbone believes the Drool has given up. Cue living hot dogs via dark magic.
  Bill: You Just Had to Say It!
• Thieves' Guild: The Shadowsteppers, who occasionally show up to try take Drool's Toe from Fangbone and Bill. One of them, Cid, is a recurring character.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Fangbone and Bill love waffles and hot dogs, and are often seen eating them.
  • The Shadowsteppers love donuts (or "doo-nuts" as they call them) and always try to get their hands on some when on Earth.
• Tribal Face Paint: Some Skullbanians possess these, notably Hammerscab.
• True Companions: Bill and Fangbone. Their friendship is a defining part of the series, and while they occasionally have their conflicts, they ultimately come back to each other in the end and their bond grows over the course of the show.
• Two Shorts: The series' standard formula.
• Two-Teacher School: We've only seen two teachers (Ms. Gillian and the P.E. coach) and the principal.
• Ultimate Blacksmith: Ingrit from "The Waffle of Iron" is so gifted that she's still forging weapons even when her spirit ends up in the body of a waffle iron.
• The Underworld: Or as it's called by Skullbanians, the Nightlands. Fangbone and Bill visit it in "The Oath of Breaking", depicted as a barren wasteland full of the memories of the deceased and with a vast feasting hall in the middle where all the dead barbarians enjoy themselves.
• Villainous Glutton: The Ravenous Darkness has an endless hunger.
• Vocal Dissonance: The Duck of Always speaks with a noble baritone voice despite appearing as little more than an ordinary duck in form.
• Waif-Fu: Hammerscab is a 10-year-old girl only slightly taller than Fangbone but famed for being one of the most powerful Skullbanian warriors.
• Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: Fangbone and Bill divide their time primarily between attending Eastwood Elementary and fighting Venomous Drool's minions.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Fangbone and the vast majority of Skullbanian men don't wear anything to cover up their chests.
• Wham Shot:
  • In "The Future of Mom": Other Mom of Bill still exists in the restored original timeline.
  • Plenty in "The End Of The Beginning".
    • Part 1 ended with Drool fusing Earth and Skullbania into one world.
    • Part 2 ended with Drool's Toe revealing itself to have a mind of its own, and free to enact its own plan with Drool out of the picture.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: The eponymous bird of "The Duck of Always" reveals that as a result of becoming immortal and having experienced everything Skullbania has to offer, he has become weary of life.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: In "The Cavity Of Terror", it's revealed that Fangbone is afraid of dentists.
• Wizard Classic: Invoked when Bill was discovered to have latent wizard powers and was given a Doorstopper from which he can read techniques and spells, with Twinkle-Stick warning him to not skip anything. It turns out that skipping and using a fast reading spell would cause him to grow old faster (even Drool abides by this restriction rigidly), giving a literal example of wisdom coming with age.
• World of Badass: Skullbania. Nearly everyone there is either a fearless barbarian warrior, a master thief with ninja skills, an all-powerful wizard, an ancient mystical being, or a ferocious monster.

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Fangbone: List of tropes done?
Bill: Yeah, pretty much.

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