My Giant Friend (Linus et Boom in French) is a French-Korean CGI-animated show by Genao Productions. It aired on French TV in 2009 and was sold abroad under the title My Giant Friend. It currently reruns on French channel Gulli.
Set in 2042. The valiant members of the Space Development Center (SDC) protect the Earth against those evil aliens who want to invade, control and eat innocent citizens...
Well, at least, that's what they'd like you to believe. Truth is, under the rule of Number 9, the SDC collects and enslaves any alien who has the misfortune to land or crash on Earth, turning them into Living Weapon, in order to one day rule the whole galaxy.
When a big red alien named Boom crashes on his balcony, the 12-year-old Linus has to hide him from the SDC. Thanks to Dr. K, Linus acquires the Scire Swatch which allows him, among other things, to put Boom under a human disguise at will. His friends Iris, Monroe and Taki soon join him in his mission to find aliens lost on Earth, free or protect them from the SDC, and safely send them back home. All of this while avoiding Chase, the most feared agent of the SDC. Things gets more complicated when Jenny, the girl Linus is in love with, develops a crush on Boom.
The show has some similarities with the Ben 10 franchise. The creators mentioned they got tired of young heroes slaughtering "monsters" without second thoughts and wanted to try something different. So their heroes do the opposite, protecting them. My Giant Friend tends to be formulaic with many points left unexplained (the 12 minutes format clearly didn't help the storytelling) but it has quite the charm, with interesting designs (both for aliens, mechas and technology), good music and endearing characters (especially Iris and Chase). The first season had 52 episodes and ended with an obvious Sequel Hook. A second season was planned and already written but got cancelled due to disagreements between the French and Korean producers.
Not to be confused with the show My Big, Big Friend.
Examples of tropes in My Giant Friend:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Sandborn is this to Chase. An Extremely Rare Male Example.
- Linus has to manage a space princess slug who wants to marry him and won't take "no" as an answer.
- Ace Pilot: Linus' dad
- All Love Is Unrequited: Classical love square: Iris loves Linus who loves Jenny who loves Boom who is not interested in the least.
- Almost Kiss: Between Linus and Iris.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Jenny's father.
- Audience Surrogate: Iris displays shades of this.
- Big Bad: Number 9, the head of the SDC. Subverted in last episode, he is merely a pawn of Siderno, an Evil Overlord who seeks to rule the galaxy.
- Big Eater: Boom.
- Big "NO!": Linus gets a belated one when Iris gets shot by Number 9.
- A much more comical one occurs when Sandborn takes the bullet for Chase.
- Black and Nerdy: Monroe.
- Book Dumb: Taki hates school and is actually repeating his year.
- Brainwashing: The SDC controls the aliens it captures with a chip that modifies their will and behaviour.
- Brainy Brunette: Iris has the best grades of Linus' class.
- The Bully: Cornell is the show's resident bully.
- Butt-Monkey: Sandborn.
- The Beebees also count.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Iris towards Linus. This doesn't stop her from doing her best to seduce him, though.
- Casanova Wannabe: Sandborn joined the SDC to get more chances to catch women.
- Chekhov's Gun: One alien mentions at the beginning of an episode that he can't stand Iris' perfume. This becomes later a plot point: this is precisely what protects her from his brainwashing pheromons.
- Child Hater: Chase. She even go as far to seriously claim she never was one, which contradicts some elements of the series and is gold mine for
fan theories. - City of Adventure: Any alien who crashes on Earth inexplicably lands in Cosmopolis, where both the SDC HQ and Linus' gang happen to be.
- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Each character has a colour pattern:
- Crapsaccharine World: The show is light-hearted and colourful, but there are media manipulation, brainwashing, and even hints that the SDC engineered a dictatorship.
- Crush Blush: Linus, Iris, Monroe, Taki... Anyone who gets a Love Interest, be it temporary or more lasting.
- Dark Action Girl: Chase is the best agent of the SDC, smart and very proficient in diverse areas. She gets defeated each episode nonetheless.
- Defector from Decadence: Linus' Dad, again.
- Demonization: Standard method of the SDC propaganda against aliens.
- Disney Death: Iris and Sandborn.
- Disproportionate Retribution: In episode 44, "Larva", a titular character wants do destroy an entire planet (Earth) just because Taki insulted her.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: We get to see some of the SDC's educational anti-alien propaganda. It's quite reminiscent of nazi antisemitic propaganda.
- *Drool* Hello: The Multiplex, at one point.
- Easy Amnesia: Happens to an alien who crashed on Earth.
- Ditto for Chase in one episode.
- Even Evil Has Standards: In the two-part Season Finale, when Chase and Sandborn learn that Number 9 wants to use the Omega Ray to destroy an alien planet, they turn against him.
- Everyone Can See It: Almost everyone knows that Iris is in love with Linus. When rejuvenated, it takes Chase less than an hour to figure it out, according to her own words.
- Evil Old Folks: Number 9 is visibly old.
- Expy: Iris is very similar to Hermione. While Linus is a redhead, hmmm...
- Extreme Omnivore: Given his alien biology, Boom can eat and actually finds devices made of metal or plastic delicious.
- Fantastic Racism: Most of the population swallows the propaganda of SDC and believe all the aliens are evil and a threat to humans.
- First Kiss: Viciously subverted. Technically it occurs in ep44, between Iris and Linus, but he can't remember it. Then again in ep52, but this time it's Iris who cannot remember it. And in between, there's been an Almost Kiss. So the two already kissed twice but
technically still didn't share their proper first kiss. - Foil: Linus and Sandborn are both redheaded guys who are particularly clumsy and oafish in their attempts to woo the girl they want.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Averted. Hally comes back as the face of the HQ computer.
- Geeky Turn-On: Monroe becomes even more smitten with Stella when she demonstrates how gifted she is in maths.
- Gentle Giant: Boom.
- Galactic Conqueror: Spoofed in the episode "Gabotz the Conqueror".
- The Glasses Gotta Go: Chase goes to her date without her glasses. She doesn't seem embarrassed in the least.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Siderno, the force behind the Number 9, and the one who ordered him to create Omega Ray, a planet-destroying weapon. He doesn't actually appear, but his voice is heard only in last episode.
- Hopeless Suitor: Linus towards Jenny.
- Humanoid Aliens: Most of the time, and also Caninoid once.
- Humans Are Ugly: Several aliens say it, even one who wants to marry Linus.
- The Illegal: Chase says she works for the SDC because she thinks illegal aliens are a threat.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: The SDC agents and mooks rarely hit.
- In-Series Nickname: The alien form of Boom is called "transgenic tomato" by the SDC, even if they perfectly know from which species and planet he is.
- Interspecies Romance: Monroe once fell in love with a girl who was an alien in disguise. It didn't change his feelings, and she reciprocated before going home.
- Happens later to Taki.
- Invisible Parents: Save for Linus' parents (with his father appearing only twice), we don't see any of the gang's parents. Neither their home, for that matter.
- Jerkass: Zotz steals ships (even those of his friends!) on a regular basis. He's also reckless and won't listen to advice to to show prudence. He gets better after his introductory episode.
- Killed Off for Real: Hally, sort of.
- The Klutz: Sandborn trips and falls at an alarming rate.
- KidAnova: Cornell is this, and at least a three-timer.
- Lampshade Hanging: The most blatant is about the Beebees. Explicitly no one knows why they were in Boom's spaceship, nor why they stay on Earth. They're simply taken for granted.
- Last-Name Basis: Chase and Sandborn.
- Limited Wardrobe: Everyone, save for Iris who appears in her orange dress twice.
- Lightning Bruiser: Zotz is very fast yet can deal a great amount of damage.
- Living Aphrodisiac: Joon, for the female humans. He's not a bad guy though.
- Lizard Folk: Zotz, one of Boom best friends.
- The Load: Sandborn is abysmally dumb and incompetent. He only got his job as a SDC agent because he's Number 9's nephew.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Jenny acts like the class queen and doesn't hesitate to bluntly tell Linus she's way out of his league. In the same time, she has a crush on Boom, because he's honest and not concerned with being popular. She also sees through Cornell’s shallowness. This doesn't stop her from acting bratty and manipulative sometimes.
- Love Confession: Iris towards Linus in episode 44, "Larva". Linus doesn't think it is meaningful out of this context, though.
- Meaningful Name: What does Chase do for a living ? She's chasing aliens !
- Mecha-Mook: Chase and Sandborn are the only field agents we get to see. Each time they ask for reinforcements, the SDC sends in mecha mooks.
- The Men in Black: The SDC is basically this, though they hunt aliens in plain sight and manipulate people rather than erasing their memories.
- Mission Control: Monroe usually stays at the group base, providing info and hacking the SDC's system.
- Moment Killer: Iris and Linus are about to kiss when Joon and Boom interrupt them.
- Monster of the Week: Alien of The Week, more like.
- New Transfer Student:
- More than one alien hid in Linus school this way.
- The rejuvenated Chase and Sandborn use this ploy to infiltrate the school.
- No Name Given: Most of the cast is only addressed by first or last name. As a consequence, we only know the complete name of Linus and his family (McLoon) and Andy Sandborn.
- Oblivious to Love: Linus doesn't have a clue that Iris loves him, to the snarky annoyance of his friends.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Number 9’s true name is unknown, despite being Sandborn's uncle.
- Same with Chase.
- Overly-Long Tongue: The Multiplex.
- Painted-On Pants: Chase, due to the CGI art.
- Parent Service: Chase is very sexy, with Hartman Hips, chest in a tight shirt, and an Impossible Hourglass Figure. She's always in high heels and has a fiery character.
- Pink Means Feminine: Chase's blasters tend to be pink, even if they're in no way girly.
- Plot-Driven Breakdown: The Swatch of Scire runs low on energy only when the plot requires it. There's no discernible scale of energy consumption of its various functionalities. One may think Linus is simply careless.
- Plucky Comic Relief: The Beebees are Ugly Cute, small, dumb, with an inflated ego and make toy noises. They also can be of an actual help once in a while.
- The Power of Love: Iris manages to break Linus free from a Love Potion spell by kissing him.
- Linus makes Iris escape the influence of Joon pheromones with a sincere Love Confession and an Almost Kiss. He denies it was genuine moments later, to Taki and Boom's furor. He makes up for it by taking Iris home.
- There's also a species of aliens whose lovers literally die if they stay apart for too long.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Chase proposes to save a captured Sandborn, not out of affection, but because the exchange may be an occasion to catch more aliens.
- Purely Aesthetic Glasses: Chase didn't need glasses when she was a child (if she ever was one), and she's too young (28) to have presbyopia.
- Green Right Hand: Number 9 has an engrafted green alien arm as his right forearm.
- Romance Arc: Between Linus and Iris. It doesn't appear in most of the episodes, though. Interesting in that this is pretty much the sole true arc which goes on throughout the whole season. We learn that Iris is in love with Linus in Ep.1 and the story is about how he will realize he loves her. It's pretty well done and very cute, and actually more interesting than the almost non-existent and unbuilt Myth Arc. One could even say this is Iris' story rather than Linus'.
- Running Gag: Coconuts regularly appear out of nowhere for comical effect.
- Selective Obliviousness: There's no other way to properly explain how Linus can ask Iris to ask Jenny if she fancies him 7 episodes after the brunette kissed him.
- Sequel Hook: Everything looks fine with Number 9 ousted from the SDC and under arrest. Then once alone, the new boss gets a Psychotic Smirk and a Red Eyes, Take Warning...
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Chase and Iris, in the same episode. Each has a date in the same café, respectively with Linus and a disguised alien guy.
- Ship Tease: Between Iris and Linus. The latter gradually becomes aware of his feelings towards her and there's blushing, hugging and even kissing, though the Relationship Upgrade doesn't occur due to external meddling.
- Shipper on Deck: Linus friends wonder when he will hook up with Iris and often make comments about it in his presence.
- Shout-Out:
- But of course, be it visually or in the name of the alien species. One of the most visible is Chase destroying two mecha mooks, Trinity style (ep19).
- Boom once stormed a hall, Grievous style (ep4).
- The room of the Omega Ray has a Bottomless Pit suspiciously similar to the one where Palpatine meets his end (ep52).
- Smitten Teenage Girl: Jenny towards Boom.
- Socially Awkward Hero:
- Thwarting the SDC nefarious plans is quite easy for our heroes. Meanwhile, Linus is terrible at trying to seduce Jenny.
- Iris Cannot Spit It Out towards Linus, though her approaches ar far more competent than his. Too bad he's usually too smitten towards Jenny (or gets distracted) to notice Iris. Even when she sports a little orange dress.
- Something about a Rose: Mercilessly spoofed. Sandborn seems to always have a rose at hand in order to seduce women. It never works and often backfires.
- Starfish Aliens: Space mantis, space slugs and so on. There's even a parasitic one whose true form is gazeous.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Given she works with Andy Sandborn, Chase does this a lot.
- Taken for Granite: The special ability of the Rockyrock species.
- Taking the Bullet: My Giant Friend loves this trope.
- Hally meets his end through this.
- Boom protects Zotz this way and gets captured as a result.
- Iris protects Linus from a laser.
- Sandborn of all people, to protect Chase.
- Technobabble: All around the place to explain the future or alien tech. Biggest offenders are Monroe and the Beebees.
- That Poor Cat: One of the most heard Stock Sound Effect.
- Time Stands Still: Ronk's power.
- Tranquil Fury: Linus after Number 9 hurts Iris.
- Transformation Sequence: Once an Episode when Boom goes back to his alien appearance.
- Transforming Mecha: The SDC antigrav cars can transform into a giant mecha.
- True Love's Kiss: Explicitly said so, between Linus and Iris. It's her initiative and she goes boldly to save him from an unwanted wedding. Note that Linus wasn't totally aware of his feelings towards Iris then. It works nonetheless, even if he seems to have forgotten it the next episode.
- Tsurime Eyes: Chase, which makes her look suspiciously Asian.
- 20 Minutes in the Future: The series takes place in 2042.
- Ultimate Job Security: Sandborn should have been fired countless times, but his status as Number 9's nephew protects him.
- The Unreveal: Chase is about to reveal her first name to her date when she sees Sandborn and angrily screams his name.
- Villain with Good Publicity: The SDC is quite popular thanks to its lies and manipulations.
- Will They or Won't They?: Iris and Linus relationship gradually becomes this. At the end of the first season, it's clear it's only a matter of time.
