History Literature / TheRobberHotzenplotz

* WhipItGood: When Zwackelmann returns and Kasper has managed to leave the castle (which the sorcerer thinks is impossible for him), Zwackelmann gets angry and summons a kind of whip to punish Kasper.

* ApothecaryAlligator: Zwackelmann has one, as every true sorcerer should have.
* BioluminescenceIsCool: The fairy weed.

* BoisterousBruiser: Hotzenplotz
* BoundAndGagged: At the beginning of book 2, Hotzenplotz broke out of the prison (well... the fire engine house - it's a really small village, they had no real jail), took Dimpfelmoser's uniform, bound him with a fire hose and put a bucket over his head. Later, they manage to do it to him - they fool him into thinking that the mushrooms he ate were poisonous and would make him explode, so they'd have to bind him.

* LovableRogue: Hotzenplotz
* MadeASlave: Kasper and Seppel when the robber catches them.
* MagicCarpet: Zwackelmann's coat/robe doubles as one.
* MistakenIdentity: Kasper and Seppel "disguise" as each other - by swapping their hats. It works, at least for Hotzenplotz - and when they state who they really are, he doesn't believe them. This becomes a plot point later.
* MundaneUtility: Averted. Zwackelmann can do a lot of things with magic - except peeling potatoes, so he has to do it himself and hates it. And is enjoyed when he gets a servant to do this work instead.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Kasper, when Hotzenplotz has caught them, deliberately pronounces Hotzenplotz' name wrong. As a result he's sold to the sorcerer Zwackelmann as a servant - Zwackelmann needs a stupid servant who won't snoop around.
* PlotHole: In the first movie. Kasper can break out of the sorcerer's castle if he leaves back something he wears, so he leaves back his - or rather, Seppel's - hat. The problem: Earlier, when he tried to flee without success, he also didn't wear the hat, so why didn't it work? Sometimes {{handwave}}d in that you have to be conscious of how the trick works.
* PoliceAreUseless: Dimpfelmoser is a MeaningfulName - "Dimpfel" is Bavarian German for "TheDitz".

* {{Seers}}: The widow Schlotterbeck. Complete with CrystalBall.
* {{Spoonerism}}: Deliberately. To make fun of Hotzenplotz and Zwackelmann.

* TapOnTheHead: Kasper knocks down Dimpfelmoser (whom he mistakes for Hotzenplotz, who stole Dimpfelmoser's uniform earlier). Worse: They bind the policeman in the same way he's been before - thinking they give Hotzenplotz a taste of his own medicine.

* BalefulPolymorph: Zwackelmann turned the fairy godmother Amaryllis into a fire-bellied toad and Hotzenplotz into a bullfinch. And in the second book, we meet a dachshund polymorphed into a crocodile. Fortunately, there is a special fairy weed (but you can only pluck it when there is a full moon) that can turn them back.

* NiceHat:
** Kasper's trademark hat. He is not pleased when he learns that Hotzenplotz burnt it to KickTheDog. Neither is Zwackelmann, for other reasons.
** The ''pickelhaube'' Dimpfelmoser wears also counts.
** Zwackelmann wears a wizard's hat, of course.
** And Hotzenplotz has a big hat with a black feather.

* KnifeNut: Hotzenplotz carries no less than seven knives in his belt. He never uses them to hurt humans, though.

''The Robber Hotzenplotz'' is a German children's book by [[Creator/OtfriedPreussler Otfried Preußler]], also famous for his adaptation of the ''Literature/{{Krabat}}'' legend.

* AntagonistTitle

* DawsonCasting: Seppel in the 1974 movie is played by 19-year-old Gerhard Acktun. He's supposed to be a preteen boy. Even more JustForFun/{{egregious}} in the sequel, where the actors of Kasper and Seppel were ''29 and 33'' respectively.

* [[spoiler:HeelFaceTurn:]] In book 3. [[spoiler:To demonstrate that he means it, Hotzenplotz blows up his gunpowder in a place where noone gets hurt, and throws his seven knives into the swamp, with Kasper and Seppel as witnesses.]]

* MagnumOpusDissonance: Preußler worked ten years on ''Krabat'' (with breaks). When the darkness of this story was too much, he decided to write something LighterAndSofter instead. It took him just a few weeks to write the first Hotzenplotz book, and he got very surprised by its popularity and the demand for sequels.

* MusicalEpisode: The Gert Fröbe movie had several musical interludes, for unexplained, if not [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment unexplainable]] reasons.

* TheOtherDarrin: The film sequel of 1979 changed the ''whole casting''.

* WrapItUp: In book 3, Preußler meticulously made sure that there were no possible {{Plot Hook}}s for yet another book.

Set in an unspecified (but certainly pre-UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, and pretty technology-free) past Germany, it's essentially a ''Kasper'' (German equivalent to [[Theatre/PunchAndJudy Punch]]) story: It has Kasper, his best friend Seppel (Joseph), Kasper's grandmother, a policeman, a robber, a sorcerer and a fairy godmother. And even a crocodile (although it's really a polymorphed dachshund). But no LoveInterest [[GirlsHaveCooties for Kasper or Seppel, however]].

* Creator/AugsburgerPuppenkiste: Were involved in making the first movie.
* BalefulPolymorph: Zwackelmann turned the fairy godmother Amaryllis into a fire-bellied toad and Hotzenplotz into a bullfinch. And in the second book, we meet a dachshund polymorphed into a crocodile. Fortunately, there is a special fairy weed (but you can only pluck it when there is a full moon) which can turn them back.

* BoundAndGagged: At the beginning of book 2, Hotzenplotz broke out of the prison (well... the fire engine house - it's a really small village, they had no real jail), took Dimpfelmoser's uniform, bound him with a fire hose and put a bucket over his head.
** Later, they manage to do it to him - they fool him into thinking that the mushrooms he ate were poisonous and would make him explode, so they'd have to bind him.

* [[MadeASlave Made a Servant]]: Kasper and Seppel when the robber catches them.
* MagicCarpet: Zwackelmann's coat / robe doubles as one.

* [[StupidCrooks Stupid Crook]]: Hotzenplotz falls for the trick the boys play on him: They transport a big wooden box with "ATTENTION: GOLD!" prominently written on it. (It's full of sand, and there's a small hole in the bottom, so when he steals it, he leaves a track to his secret cave.)

''The Robber Hotzenplotz'' is a German children's book by Otfried Preußler, also famous for his adaptation of the ''Literature/{{Krabat}}'' legend.

!!This work contains examples of:

* NeverSplitTheParty: After the boys fooled him into leaving a track of sand leading to his cave, he fools them in return by making a second track with sand. They're not GenreSavvy enough to avoid this trope.
* NiceHat

* DawsonCasting: Seppel in the 1974 movie is played by 19-year-old Gerhard Acktun. He's supposed to be a preteen boy. Even more {{egregious}} in the sequel, where the actors of Kasper and Seppel were ''29 and 33'' respectively.

Set in an unspecified (but certainly pre-WorldWarOne, and pretty technology-free) past Germany, it's essentially a ''Kasper'' (German equivalent to [[Theatre/PunchAndJudy Punch]]) story: It has Kasper, his best friend Seppel (Joseph), Kasper's grandmother, a policeman, a robber, a sorcerer and a fairy godmother. And even a crocodile (although it's really a polymorphed dachshund). But no LoveInterest [[GirlsHaveCooties for Kasper or Seppel, however]].

Set in an unspecified (but certainly pre-WorldWarOne, and pretty technology-free) past Germany, it's essentially a ''Kasper'' (German equivalent to [[PunchAndJudy Punch]]) story: It has Kasper, his best friend Seppel (Joseph), Kasper's grandmother, a policeman, a robber, a sorcerer and a fairy godmother. And even a crocodile (although it's really a polymorphed dachshund). But no LoveInterest [[GirlsHaveCooties for Kasper or Seppel, however]].

Set in an unspecified (but certainly pre-WorldWarOne, and pretty technology-free) past Germany, it's essentially a ''Kasper'' (German equivalent to [[PunchAndJudy Punch]]) story: It has Kasper, his best friend Seppel (Joseph), Kasper's grandmother, a policeman, a robber, a sorceror and a fairy godmother. And even a crocodile (although it's really a polymorphed dachshund). But no LoveInterest [[GirlsHaveCooties for Kasper or Seppel, however]].

The plot: One day, the robber Hotzenplotz steals the grandma's most favorite thing - her coffee mill which can play a song when used - so her grandson Kasper and his friend Seppel develop a plan how to get it back. After this mundane start, the story also involves fantasy elements like a sorceror and a fairy godmother, which may come as a surprise to some folks.

* ApothecaryAlligator: Zwackelmann has one, as every true sorceror should have.

* EvilSorceror: Petrosilius Zwackelmann

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Kasper, when Hotzenplotz has caught them, deliberately pronounces Hotzenplotz' name wrong. As a result he's sold to the sorceror Zwackelmann as a servant - Zwackelmann needs a stupid servant who won't snoop around.

* PlotHole: In the first movie. Kasper can break out of the sorceror's castle if he leaves back something he wears, so he leaves back his - or rather, Seppel's - hat. The problem: Earlier, when he tried to flee without success, he also didn't wear the hat, so why didn't it work? Sometimes {{handwave}}d in that you have to be conscious of how the trick works.

* WhipItGood: When Zwackelmann returns and Kasper has managed to leave the castle (which the sorceror thinks is impossible for him), Zwackelmann gets angry and summons a kind of whip to punish Kasper.

* MyNameIsNotDurwood: Kasper deliberately calls Zwackelmann by the wrong name in the hope of getting kicked out, but it doesn't work. He manages to never repeat himself, which is quite an achievement for someone (supposedly) so ditzy.

* AugsburgerPuppenkiste: Were involved in making the first movie.

----