As the end of the semester approaches, Hiro must come up with a final project that can impress Granville. Meanwhile, Obake only needs one more thing for his master plan, to recreate Lenore Shimamoto's invention.
Tropes in this episode:
- Actually a Doombot: When Hiro thinks he found Obake in an abandoned deli, it turns out to be an android version of him.
- Alternate Aesop Interpretation: In-Universe, Obake interpreting a lesson about Icarus his own way.Why Icarus plunged to his doom? Because he needed better wings.
- Apocalypse How: This is Obake's plan, finally revealed after a season's worth of buildup: Causing a Class 0 on San Fransokyo, and remake it in his own image.
- Batman Gambit: The first step of Obake's plan counts on Hiro being arrogant and brash enough to want to create an energy amplifier despite all advice against it. It works, but it's ultimately Deconstructed with the rest of the steps, as the characters don't act the way he expected them to.
- Black Comedy: A bit on Krei's part when discussing all of the warehouse fires the project caused.Krei: What? Everybody lived.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Thanks to Noodle Burger Boy, Baymax gets infected with a program made by Obake, making him follow his orders.
- Clark Kenting: Finally subverted when Big Hero 6 confronts Granville. She always recognized them in spite of their costumes. This was brought up in "Mini-Max" by GoGo that Granville is too smart for this trope.
- Collapsing Lair: Obake's base becomes unstable due to the shockwave from the blast, and he decides to accept his fate.
- Comically Missing the Point: As Granville reveals Obake's past, all Fred gets out of it is "His real name’s Bob?!"
- Continuity Cavalcade: There's various nods to previous events in the season, among them, Fred recreated the Kentucky Kaiju, Wendy Wower (who now has the title of Doctor) and Liv Amara are at SFIT for the open house event, and Honey Lemon and Wasabi go to Baron Von Steamer's lair from Fred's Bro-Tillion to get a phonograph to hear Shimamoto's log. Granville's paperweight from the pilot is also revealed to have been Obake's failed prototype. Krei is still upset over his stolen wallet and that's what makes him agree to help with Big Hero 6's trap for Globby.
- Didn't See That Coming: Globby turning good is literally the only reason Obake's plan failed - even with the rest of Big Hero 6 out and about, they would have had no way of blocking the tidal wave without his help.
- Driven to Suicide: Obake commits suicide by letting his lair collapse on him when his whole plan has failed.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Once Globby realized Obake will destroy the whole city, he doesn't want to be a part of it anymore, so he decides to defect to the heroes.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
- Obake believes Hiro will see things his way once he destroys his city and friends. Unlikely.
- He also didn't count on Globby still having some decency inside him.
- Evil Feels Good: His comment to Baymax implies that Obake hasn't had his brain damage treated because he enjoys the freedom it gives him from his moral compass. It certainly fits in with how he hates limits.
- Fame Through Infamy: This is what Obake believes he will achieve.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The passcode Granville uses to lock the energy amplifier in a safe at the end is 4-4-7-6, which can read "HIRO" on a standard telephone pad.
- Heel–Face Turn: Globby helps Hiro escape Obake and helps the team protect the city from Obake's plan, since he doesn't want the city to be destroyed.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Obake spent various episodes testing Big Hero 6 with greater and greater challenges, and they rose up to the occasion every time. Now that he's unveiled his masterstroke, it will be no different, and it results in his death by Collapsing Lair. Also, recruiting a small-time criminal with mass alteration powers without telling him you wanted to destroy his city.
- Icarus Allusion: Obake references Icarus in a bit of
Alternate Aesop Interpretation where he says he just needed better wings. - Internal Reveal: Hiro finds out Trina is a robot when he sees her in Obake's lair, with her head full of wires detached from her body. This had already been revealed to the audience in the epilogue of her debut episode.
- Let Me Get This Straight...: Krei's reaction when Fred asks for his help with the plan to capture Globby.
- Macguffin Delivery Service: Hiro spends a good portion of the episode building an energy amplifier, (unknowingly) at Obake's suggestion. Then Obake just waltzes into the school and takes it.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Obake made a number of mistakes when executing his grand plan, including underestimating Big Hero 6 and the very poor timing of revealing his intentions to Globby.
- Even without Obake's somewhat dubious judgment, it's easy to see how similar the sentiments beneath "[Professor Granville] will be too impressed to be mad" and "Winning tends to settle any argument" are.
- Not So Stoic: Prof Grandville loses it when she finds out Hiro wants to make an energy amplifier.
- Only Friend: Globby doesn't want San Fransokyo destroyed because all his friends live there. By his own admission, Felony Carl is the "whole list".
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- In Part 2, Hiro notices that Baymax didn't respond to him saying "ow" and finds Obake's chip in him afterward, and then ends up captured.
- In contrast to her normally stern demeanor, Granville was absolutely livid and emotional when she rejected Hiro's proposal for his final project.
- Pet the Dog: Obake frees Baymax from his control and tells him to save Hiro after his plan is stopped.
- Poor Communication Saves: If Obake had simply informed Globby what his plan was, he could have done away with him sooner without having to deal with him becoming a turncoat and ruining his plan.
- Restart the World: Obake wants to do this to San Fransokyo, not for any well-meaning reasons, but just because he wants to be remembered forever.
- The Reveal: Lenore Shimamoto's invention was the cause of the Great Catastrophe. She made a miniature star that collapsed on itself, creating a shockwave that destroyed the city. Obake (really Bob Aken, Granville's protegé who had the accident that made her resign) plans to recreate the Catastrophe in a larger scale (albeit one that is more controlled), so he can rebuild San Fransokyo as a city of science and investigation without any limits. Additionally, the accident that nearly killed Obake is revealed to have damaged the part of his brain responsible for his sense of right and wrong.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: After Obake's attack, Granville reveals she always knew Big Hero 6 were her students.
- Shout-Out:
- When Hiro is about to enter the restaurant, he exclaims "It's hero time!", referencing the catchphrase of another Man Of Action creation.
- The android Obake Hiro ran into looks a lot like Metallo.
- As Globby rampages through SFIT in Tyrannosaurus rex form, he knocks down the "Open House" banner that falls down in front of him, recreating the iconic shot from the ending of Jurassic Park.
- When Baymax accidentally mentions Obake in front of Aunt Cass, Hiro comes up with a cover story that it's a phone-based video game where you need to capture "obake" creatures, and leaves to "catch some obakes". Obake means monster in japanese, so it can be interpreted as "catch some monsters".
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Granville always knew the identities of Big Hero 6. It isn't stated exactly, but there had been previous comments from the team over how their faces were exposed.
- Honey Lemon finds a hidden wax cylinder recording from Shimamoto...that has at least a century's worth of dust and grime covering it. Wasabi had to spend a good deal of time cleaning it up properly for the open house.
- Hiro tries to ask for an extension on his project - he didn't even have an idea for it - but Granville refused. It was the end of semester, which meant there was really no extra time to get.
- Being a Token Good Teammate means that you are going to have standards higher than most of your team, so when the Evil Plan is to destroy San Fransokyo, Globby decides on a Heel–Face Turn, since it meant not just the destruction of millions of people, but the life of his only friend, Felony Carl.
- Because he has no super suit and is dependent on Baymax most of the time, Hiro is powerless when Baymax is Brainwashed and Crazy and brings him to Obake's lair.
- Title Drop: Bluff Dunder refers to the events that almost caused a second Great Catastrophe as a "countdown to catastrophe" in his news report on its prevention.
- The Unfettered: Obake's main flaw is that, thanks to a probable combination of both his brain damage and Granville failing to set proper limits for him, he doesn't get that just because you can do something it doesn't mean that you should, his Icarus comment showing a disdain for the idea of limits in general.
- Unwitting Pawn: As ever, the actions of Hiro and friends play right into Obake's hands... right up to the point where it all comes crashing down on him. Literally.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Obake expresses this sentiment, but it's not like he cares either way.
- Villainous Breakdown: After Hiro and the others save the city, Obake laments from his crumbling lair over how he could've rebuilt San Fransokyo into something "perfect". When Baymax offers to save Obake, the latter refuses and orders Baymax to return to Hiro. As Obake's lair begins to fall apart around him, he sits in his chair, resigning himself to his fate.
- Villainous Crush: Trina calls Hiro "cute" for not having realized she was a robot before. Her body also clasps her hands in a dreamy manner when she says it.
- Villain Team-Up: Calling back to previous episodes, Obake has enlisted the help of Globby, Noodle Burger Boy and Momakase to realize his plan. Trina is also among the villains in his lair, but she does not play any big part in the episode.
- This is also the first time Obake's various henchmen get together to fight Big Hero 6. Noodle Burger Boy provides back-up for Globby when he attacks Krei Tech and Momakase joins them in the fight at SFIT.
- We Can Rule Together: Obake wants to turn Hiro into his student, so he can "reach his full potential" without Granville's or SFIT's limits.
- Wham Episode: Aside from Obake's endgame, the episode also reveals that Granville knew who Big Hero 6 was the whole time.
- You Can't Thwart Stage One: Hiro seemingly disables Obake's machine, but by then the reaction had become self-sustaining.
- You Monster!: Krei calls Globby this upon learning Globby lost his stolen wallet.
