Ashamed of Buster's missing hand, Lucille recruits George Michael to compete in the 30th annual "Motherboy" contest with her.
The Arrested Development episode "Motherboy XXX" provides examples of:
- And I'm the Queen of Sheba: The actor playing Tobias comments on Tobias' campiness."If that man's straight, then I am sober."
- Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: Parodied when Buster sees reminders of the seal biting off his hand, from his hand chair, to his stuffed seal with a yellow bow-tie that he won in a children's game, to the words "ALARM OFF" on his alarm clock, minus the first two letters.
- Double-Meaning Title: The title can be read as "Motherboy Triple X" or "Motherboy Thirty".
- Improvised Zipline: Improvised hook for a zipline. It doesn't work out for Buster though.
- Incest Subtext: Again, the title.
- Intentionally Awkward Title: The episode features a pageant for mothers and their sons called "Motherboy", in its thirtieth year.
- Jumping the Shark: A subtle joke in this episode references the Trope Namer: Barry Zuckercorn (played by Henry Winkler, who played Fonzie on Happy Days), hops over the shark that bit off the flipper of the seal that bit off Buster's hand.
- Mistaken from Behind: Buster spots a woman and a boy from behind wearing sailor outfits and thinks it must be Lucille and George Michael. Turns out he was wrong.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Twice by GOB. He spends the whole episode trying to get an annulment from his marriage with his wife, not willing to admit the truth that he never consummated the marriage. When he finally agrees to "lie" about it, he actually does end up having sex with her. However, he catches a break when the pictures she took of him don't show his face, meaning there's no evidence that it was him in the photo. But then...GOB: Oh, that's me, judge. (bragging) I [bleep]ed my wife.
- Product Placement: Lampshaded when Tobias meets with his former-acting-coach Carl Weathers at Burger King, and Carl continually brings up the name of the venue. As Carl leaves, Tobias calls out, "It's a wonderful restaurant!" and the Narrator awkwardly laughs, adding, "It sure is!"
- Stealth Pun: When Lucille is driving George Michael to Motherboy, the narrator makes one:Narrator: George Michael should have realized by the sailor suit Lucille dressed him in that he wasn't going north to the Promise Land. No, he was going south. South to Motherboy.
- Vanity License Plate: This episode marks the introduction of Tobias', a variety of which we see, including "INM8 2", "BLUMN", "CONMN 2" and "DR HOUSE".
