During Kongo-Bongo's annual ceasefire, K.Rool decides to have Donkey Kong removed not through direct assault, but by framing him for a series of misdeeds. When it works, DK is banished to the White Mountains and Diddy is named future ruler in his place; but can the former-sidekick rise to the challenge?
Tropes
- Almost Kiss: Between Diddy and Dixie, until Cranky interrupts.Diddy: Bad timing, Cranky.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: As established here, part of the reason DK was labelled future ruler is because he's the only one strong enough to handle K. Rool and actually protect the island; when Diddy tries to intervene, he proves completely helpless against the Kremlings, forcing Cranky to get DK back.
- Banana Peel: K. Rool's first trick involves using one of these. Candy slips on it and, because DK was chowing down on bananas earlier, she assumes 'he' left it and gets mad at him.
- BSoD Song:
- "Nobody's Hero", sung by DK after he gets banished.
- "Second Banana", sung by Diddy once he realizes that being future ruler has far more negative sides than he thought.
- The Chains of Commanding: Diddy is initially ecstatic to be named future ruler, but quickly realizes it's not all it's cracked up to be when Cranky tells him he's expected to risk his life "at a moment's notice" and protect the people.
- Didn't Think This Through: Cranky making Diddy, the smaller and physically weaker monkey, the future ruler as opposed to DK. He quickly realizes what a bad idea this was when he discovers K. Rool's plan to raid the Barrelworks.Cranky: Blast! What was I thinking, putting Diddy's face in the Coconut!?
- Everyone Has Standards: Cranky reveals that he didn't want to send away DK without at least packing some bananas for him in the suitcase.
- Frame-Up: K. Rool frames DK for a series of misdeeds, which eventually leads to DK being stripped of his future ruler title and banished to the White Mountains.
- Hollywood Mirage: DK falls victim to one of these in the White Mountains. Chasing what he thinks is a banana tree leads to him falling off a cliff and into a snowbank.
- It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Diddy takes great pride in being named future ruler, only to discover that it's not all fun and games and he's expected to protect the people and fight off K. Rool just as DK did before.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Bluster, for once. He admits that he doesn’t have a chance of being future ruler like DK, but he does have Bluster Barrelworks in his future, and points out that Diddy seems to be the only ape among them who doesn’t have anything going for him. Which turns out to be a sore spot for Diddy.
- Karma Houdini: K. Rool gets off very lightly for framing DK and getting him banished from Kongo Bongo; by the end of the episode, it seems as though everyone still thinks DK did all of those misdeeds. Unless Cranky told them after learning what happened when he saw K. Rool explain everything in the Crystal Coconut.
- Mood Whiplash: We have a melancholy DK singing "Nobody's Hero" until we pull back from him as the last note echoes and we fade to a commercial. Later, we cut back to a whiny DK hungry for bananas, hallucinating a banana tree and ending up falling into a pile of snow.
- Oh, Crap!: Diddy's reaction when Cranky tells him that, as future ruler, he's expected to risk his life to protect Kongo Bongo."My life?!"
- The Resenter: Part of the plot is Diddy being jealous of DK for being future ruler; he laments over the fact that his only real future is as his sidekick, and when DK is banished and he's declared the new future ruler, Diddy is ecstatic over no longer being second banana and brags about it to Dixie. That all comes to an end when he discovers that DK was chosen for a reason, and he's simply not cut out for the job.
- Sick and Wrong: Krusha imitates DK's voice and makes passes at Dixie behind their back, which cause her to think DK is hitting on her. Obviously Diddy is pretty pissed about this whole incident.
- Truce Trickery: The Kongs and Kremlings have an annual ceasefire. However, King K. Rool opts to take advantage of this to ruin Donkey Kong's reputation and even get him banished so that stealing the Crystal Coconut will be easier.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Zig-zagged and ultimately averted. K. Rool intentionally kept his plan secret from Klump to ensure it's success: as he puts it, it wouldn't be a surprise attack if anyone knew about it. That said, even after he explains "Operation Crush Kong" to Klump, his plan still goes off without a hitch and gets DK banished.
- Vetinari Job Security: DK is banished to the White Mountains and Diddy declared the future ruler in his place. However, when the Kremlings launch an attack on the Barrelworks and Diddy tries to intervene, he's left completely helpless and Cranky, realizing that making a small monkey like Diddy future ruler was a bad idea, quickly retrieves DK from the mountains to handle the situation.Cranky: The pipsqueak's in over his head! You're the only one who can do the job!
- Wanting Is Better Than Having: Diddy is overjoyed when he's named Future-Ruler in DK's place, since he's no longer second banana... until he discovers that he's expected to fight the Kremlings and protect the island in DK's place, and risk his life at a moment's notice to do so.
- Was Too Hard on Him: Cranky comes to this conclusion when he realizes his mistake in banishing DK and installing Diddy as future ruler.Cranky: Flew off the handle... I think I might have been a little hard on DK!
