Line #18 Theatre/TheLeagueOfSTEAM


1	[[quoteright:343:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/League-of-Steam1_4345.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:343:[[WhoYouGonnaCall Whom should you telegram?]]]]
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4	The League of S.T.E.A.M. (Supernatural and Troublesome Ectoplasmic Apparition Management), a.k.a. the "Steampunk Ghostbusters", is a Southern Californian performance art troupe popular in the {{steampunk}} community and specializing in live interactive themed entertainment.
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6	The League is loosely modeled after the 1984 film ''Film/{{Ghostbusters\|1984}}'', translating the idea of a "paranormal pest control service" into a neo-Victorian steampunk setting. The four main members of the League have created backpacks reminiscent of the Ghostbusters' backpacks, each allegedly performing some necessary paranormal investigative function. They are known for these and other creative steampunk "inventions" (functional props), and have also been written about and interviewed as leading examples of steampunk style.
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8	They also produce a popular web series, ''The Adventures of the League of S.T.E.A.M.'', that has featured guest stars including ''Series/MythBusters''' Grant Imahara, Doug Jones (''Film/PansLabyrinth'', ''Film/{{Hellboy\|2004}}'', ''Film/FantasticFourRiseOfTheSilverSurfer'') and Phil [=LaMarr=] (''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', ''Film/PulpFiction''). The series chronicles the League on various comic adventures where they attempt to locate, capture or neutralize supernatural creatures.
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10	----
11	!!''The Adventures of the League of S.T.E.A.M.'' provide examples of:
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13	* ACMEProducts: Some of their devices are inspired by ACME, such as Crackitus Potts' expandable boxing glove, the potato cannon, the net gun and the plunger gun.
14	* ActionGirl: Lady Potts, Katherine Blackmoore, The Russian.
15	* AffectionateParody: Of ''Film/{{Ghostbusters 1984}}''.
16	* AlienBlood: When the leprechaun in "Fool's Gold" is dispatched, he turns into a pile of green goo. [[spoiler:Which then begins to reform, [[Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay T-1000]]-style...]]
17	* AllTrollsAreDifferent: The troll in "Big Trouble" is of the big, dumb, lumbering kind living under a bridge. Also rather blind.
18	%%* AwesomeAnachronisticApparel
19	* AwesomeBackpack: Several on the team have one -- a nod to the proton packs in the ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' franchise -- and each of them have different functions. For instance: Baron von Fogel's is a rocket pack, and [=JayAre=]'s is a device for recording [=EVP=]s on wax cylinders.
20	%%* BadassCrew
21	* BaldOfEvil: The main villain introduced in the Season 1 finale and seen throughout Season 2. Lampshaded and lampooned in [[spoiler:the Season 2 finale, "Dead End", when it's shown that he is a member of a league of bald villains, and their ultimate penalty for failure: being banished after having a wig glued onto his bald head.]]
22	* BandagedFace: Dr. Griffin, at the end of "Now You See Me...".
23	* BatterUp: Zombie-slayer Katherine Blackmoore's primary weapon is a cricket bat. (Perhaps a shout-out to ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead''.)
24	* BestServedCold: In "Tall Tails", Thaddeus has his revenge... and ''literally'' serves it afterward.
25	* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:The rest of the League arrives to save Crackitus, the Baron, Thaddeus and Katherine Blackmoore at the end of the Season 2 finale, "Dead End".]]
26	* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: "Hairy Hijinks"
27	* BlackCloak: Members of the league of evil villains opposed to the League all wear these.
28	%%* TheCavalry: See BigDamnHeroes.
29	* ChemistryCanDoAnything: Dr. Griffin is trying to create a new tooth whitener in "Now You See Me...", but it has unfortunate side-effects.
30	* ChristmasSpecial: The episode, "The Fright Before Christmas".
31	* ClockworkCreature: Their clockwork zombie-hunting cyborg, R.O.S.E.
32	* CoolAirship: In "Dead End", the villain is seen traveling in one.
33	* CursedItem: In "Curses!", the team have a cursed artifact appraised, in a curio shop run by [[Series/MythBusters Grant Imahara]] that apparently specializes in ArtifactsOfDoom. When our heroes realize what they have, they keep passing it to each other, greatly confusing the {{Mummy}} that's [[FailedASpotCheck sneaking up on them with hands outstretched]].
34	* DashinglyDapperDerby:
35	** Worn by Baron von Fogel.
36	** Coyote also sports one.
37	* DemonicPossession: In "Dining with the Devil".
38	* DistinguishedGentlemansPipe: Several members of the League smoke pipes.
39	* ElectromagneticGhosts:
40	** Jay Are's backpack is a device for detecting Electronic Voice Phenomenon ([=EVP=]s).
41	** The girls that stand in as "ghosts" during their live shows also have lights underneath their Victorian outfits to make them "glow".
42	* EverythingsDeaderWithZombies: If you can't beat'em... employ them!
43	* FantasyKitchenSink: Ghosts, vampires, leprechauns, swamp monsters, trolls, werewolves, zombies, demons, mummies, Kraken, Bigfoot, invisible men, Valkyries, gnomes... the steampunk world of the League sure isn't limited to one kind of monster.
44	* FunWithAcronyms:
45	** The League of S.T.E.A.M. (Supernatural and Troublesome Ectoplasmic Apparition Management);
46	** R.O.S.E. (Reanimate Optimized Search Engine);
47	** the H.U.G. (Hunting Utility Gun), a net gun;
48	** The Junior League W.A.T.C.H. (Worldwide Alliance for the Tracking of Creatures and Haunts).
49	* GadgeteerGenius: Several, especially Crackitus Potts.
50	* GentlemanAdventurer: Thaddeus is actually a ''Gentleman's'' Gentleman adventurer.
51	* GogglesDoNothing:
52	** Hey, it's steampunk, what did you expect?
53	** The goggles in "Big Trouble" ''do'' do something: they help the troll to see better.
54	* GulliverTieDown: The garden gnomes do this to Zed in "Bitter Gnomes and Gardens", with a garden hose.
55	* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: In at least three episodes, a bald villain, apparently the nemesis of the League, has been seen, but only from the back. (Although in one episode part of his face is seen, revealing that he has a [[BeardOfEvil goatee]].) His face is finally seen in the Season 2 finale, "Dead End".
56	* HeyThatsMyLine: Crackitus Potts is the ''de facto'' leader of the team and usually introduces the episodes he appears in. When someone else will occasionally start the introduction, he'll usually run to the camera to interrupt them and take over the intro.
57	* HollywoodDarkness: The episode "Full Moon Fiasco", supposedly happening [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin under a full moon]].
58	* HollywoodExorcism: In "Dining with the Devil".
59	* IDoNotDrinkWine: Alluded in "Two for Dinner", where Crackitus declines the (drugged) wine offered by his vampire guest with this line.
60	* IncessantMusicMadness: In "The Tiki Room", the League deals with a tiki idol that emits a drumming sound and Will. Not. Shut. Up. Fortunately no-one actually goes mad, but it does make it difficult to conduct an interrogation.
61	* InterspeciesRomance: Albeit briefly, in "Tall Tails": Thaddeus relates how he once supposedly fell in love with a mermaid... until she was taken away by the kraken. In "Now You See Me...", Thaddeus and his mermaid love are shown frolicking in a bathtub.
62	* InvisibleJerkass:
63	** The ghost monkeys in "Monkey Business".
64	** Dr. Griffin starts to become one in "Now You See Me..."
65	* IrisOut: The ending of most episodes, with an iris shaped like a cog.
66	* JetPack: Baron von Fogel's backpack is one.
67	* KrakenAndLeviathan: A Kraken appears in the "Tall Tails" of Crackitus, Thaddeus and Jasper.
68	* LadyOfAdventure: Lady Potts
69	* {{Leprechaun}}: In their award-winning webisode, "Fool's Gold", the League battles one.
70	* MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast: A clockwork singing RobotGirl is used to soothe the troll to sleep in "Big Trouble".
71	* MadScientist: Several in the League would probably qualify.
72	* ManiacMonkeys: The League sometimes has to deal with invisible ghost monkeys causing havoc (such as in their short, "Monkey Business").
73	* TheMatchmaker: Mrs. Potts tries to play this with Jay Are and The Russian in "Hairy Hijinks".
74	* MilesGloriosus: In "Tall Tails", Crackitus, Thaddeus and Jasper sit around telling stories of personal encounters with [[KrakenAndLeviathan the Kraken]]. Until it actually arrives...
75	* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: In "Two for Dinner", the clueless Crackitus is invited to dinner at the home of a vampire. Fortunately he invites his friend, vampire hunter Sir Conrad, along.
76	* NotUsingTheZedWord: Averted; their manservant is even ''named'' Zed.
77	* OldTimeyBathingSuit: Fittingly for the setting; seen in a flashback of "Tall Tails".
78	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: A trio of ghostly belles who are content with playfully messing with the living.
79	* OurGnomesAreWeirder: In "Bitter Gnomes and Gardens", the gnomes are of the garden gnome variety, with the peculiar weakness that they can only move if not seen, similar to the Weeping Angels of ''Series/DoctorWho'' ([[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in a ShoutOut).
80	* OurMermaidsAreDifferent: The mermaid in "Tall Tails" and "Now You See Me..." is of the standard "beautiful woman with fishlike tail" variety.
81	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The League has perfected (well, almost...) a technique for converting zombies into domestic servants.
82	* PowerTrio: Originally, it was a Power ''Foursome'', but with Professor Jager becoming inactive, the three main members of the team are Crackitus Potts, Baron von Fogel and Jay Are, but with an increasingly large support team.
83	* PunnyName: The leader of the League is named Crackitus Potts. [[DontExplainTheJoke Crackpot, get it?]] (Also an allusion to Caractacus Pott from ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang''.)
84	* TheRealSpoofbusters: They were conceived as being the ''Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}}'' in a {{Steampunk}} setting.
85	* RedShirt: Any Junior League W.A.T.C.H. member joining the team is given a red jacket... [[spoiler:as seen in "Prehistoric Peril!", after one gets eaten by a ''T. rex''.]]
86	* RobotGirl: R.O.S.E.
87	* ShoutOut: Plentiful.
88	** To ''Film/{{Ghostbusters\|1984}}'', obviously.
89	** ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'': In one episode, the League goes vampire hunting... in the line at the premiere of ''Twilight: New Moon''. HilarityEnsues.
90	** A Creator/CharlesDickens homage, in "The Fright Before Christmas".
91	** In "Fool's Gold", [[spoiler:the leprechaun reforms in the manner of the T-1000 from ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'']].
92	** The vampire in "Two for Dinner". "Fritz, there will be [[Series/SesameStreet two, two guests for dinner, ha ha]]."
93	** In "Prehistoric Peril!", to ''Film/JurassicPark'' of course, complete with ''T. rex'' and BadVibrations.
94	** "Curses!" features Literature/TheMonkeysPaw.
95	** In "Bitter Gnomes and Gardens", one of the plants Mrs. Potts is planting is [[Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors Audrey II]].
96	** Also it's noted that the gnomes' weakness is that they can only move if not seen, similar to the Weeping Angels of ''Series/DoctorWho''.
97	--->'''Coyote:''' All the others have been moving, but ''that'' one ''[pointing to a gnome looking at a mirror]'' hasn't. So what if they can't move while they're being looked at?\
98	'''Ellie:''' Like that situation that Doctor guy told us about.\
99	'''Coyote:''' Who?
100	** [[spoiler:The after-credit scene from ''Film/{{The Avengers\|2012}}'' is spoofed after the credits in the Season 2 finale, "Dead End".]]
101	* SlippingAMickey: The vampire in "Two for Dinner" tries this with the classical ring containing powdered drug.
102	* {{Steampunk}}: Obviously.
103	* SteampunkGadgeteers: Even more obviously.
104	* TallTale: In ''The Adventures of the League of S.T.E.A.M.'' episode "Tall Tails", three League members sit around telling stories of their encounter with a [[KrakenAndLeviathan Kraken]]... some of them being a bit hard to swallow.
105	* TastyGold: Crackitus bites into a coin from the leprechaun's pot in "Fool's Gold", insuring his wrath.
106	* TrollBridge: The troll in "Big Trouble" lives under one.
107	* TheTeamBenefactor: Albert Able, Esq.
108	* WhoYouGonnaCall: The ''Ghostbusters'' TV ad from the film is even parodied in a short.
109	* YouHaveFailedMe:
110	** The bald villain does this to a henchman by way of ForcedTransformation in "Jurassic Peril!"
111	** And then he crushes a garden gnome underfoot for the same reason in "Bitter Gnomes and Gardens".
112	** [[spoiler:The fate of said villain from his peers]] in Season 2 finale, "Dead End".
113	* ZergRush: The League members are good enough to take care of a dozen zombies without any trouble. Several times this number? Not so much.

Context Theatre / TheLeagueOfSTEAM