Recap / Dr. Crafty Season 2 Month 4: Beach Month

Dr. Crafty Recap Index
Season:
Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4
Month:
#1: Season 2 Premiere Month | #2: Fakémon Month | #3: Nintendo Month
#4: Beach Month | #5: Fighting Month | #6: Yu-Gi-Oh Month
Bonus Content:
Season 2 Patreon Episodes | Season 2 Promotional Videos

Airing Range: 7/1/18 - 7/26/18

Summer has arrived, and the Crafty Crew celebrates with beach-themed content. There is a lot of fanservice abound, and everyone on the main cast gets to be a part of it. Indeed, this month is notable for getting Pepper and Messibelle involved in the main show a bit more than usual.

Tropes Applicable to the Month as a whole:

• Piano Drop: A Running Gag for "The Beachles" and "Dumb Dingies" involves Crafty being repeatedly hit on the head by pianos that his future self keeps dropping on him.

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Chara-Cafe E4: "A MERMAID MELODY FANDUB!"

Air Date: 7/1/18

Pepper is absolutely elated—this time, Crafty and she are touching upon some explicitly undersea concepts, with some expansive results.

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• Balloon Belly: This episode introduces Pepper's Octo-Bloat ability. It's a defensive maneuver where she puffs up with air and doubles her tum in size. To her chagrin, it can activate reflexively whenever she's startled. As Sebastian and his gang of crabs discover, any excess air that Pepper accumulates is expelled with great force, turning her into an involuntary battering ram.
• Call-Back: The kitchen floods again, much like it did back in "Journey to the Forbidden Water Temple." This time, it's caused by Sebastian sabotaging the pipes.
• Inflating Body Gag: This episode reveals that whenever Pepper feels threatened, her body bloats like a pufferfish. This comes in handy to get rid of Sebastian and his gang after they confront her.

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Top Ten Tub E4: "Aquatic Characters!"

Air Date: 7/1/18

Much like Pepper, Messi is also immensely excited for her Top Ten Tub Topic: Crafty's favorite aquatic characters.

This episode's list contains the following:

• 10. Mega Blastoise
• 9. Tidepool
• 8. Lapis Lazuli
• 7. Abe Sapien
• 6. Ursula
• 5. Azura
• 4. Cala Maria
• 3. Marina
• 2. Donald Duck
• 1. Sidon

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• Beach Episode: Appropriately enough for this episode's subject matter, Messi and Crafty hold this countdown on the beach.
• Call-Back: Like in "The Legend of Lonk," Prince Sidon arrives to offer praise to Crafty and his co-host, and he leaves just as soon as he appears.
• Expository Theme Tune: Crafty and Messibelle sing a parodied Brady Bunch theme to explain the backstory of Fire Emblem Fates.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: Prince Sidon, the #1 pick on this list, drops by as Crafty and Messi discuss him. He immediately causes Messi to question her sexuality—to the point where her ovaries rupture at the sound of his voice.

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Main Show E39: "The Beachles"

Air Date: 7/5/18

The Crafty Crew decides to take a brief vacation out at Florida's beaches, though not everyone seems especially thrilled with the idea—especially Crafty.

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• Beach Episode: This episode takes place during a beach vacation for everyone, although Crafty only chose to go to the beach so he can reminisce about Sasha.
• Busman's Holiday: The cohosts are surprised to find Crafty still drawing during this beach vacation.
• Declining Promotion: Pepper thinks she and Messibelle are being promoted because they're appearing in the main show instead of just the spin-offs, but Crafty quickly rejects that idea.
• Early-Bird Cameo: In the background of the art footage, Alex can be seen using the pieces from "Dumb Dingies" as reference material for this episode's poster. It hints that the show's artwork, in general, is made in a different order during production than how it's presented throughout the show’s chronology.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Pepper assumes that she and Messi are being promoted to becoming regulars on the main show, but Crafty scoffs at the idea. However, starting with "The Foreshadow Game," later main show episodes start including the spin-off hosts more often.
  • In the final scene, Nurse catches Crafty gazing forlornly out at the sea again. She wonders aloud why he's so down... then suddenly has a tiny flashback, where she remembers seeing a young Crafty sitting beside a short, plump figure on a beach. The identity of the person next to Crafty and her significance isn't elaborated upon until the next season.
• Rage Breaking Point: Nurse and Crafty immediately start bickering as the group comes together for the art footage. Pepper finally reaches her limit and snaps at the two of them to stop. After calming down, she urges them to focus on unwinding while they still have time at the beach. Unfortunately, her outburst does little to help the situation, as her fellow Crewmates immediately resume their argument.
  Pepper: EVERYONE! PLEASE, JUST STOP!!
  [Crafty and Nurse instantly quiet down.]
  Pepper: If... it is our day off, we should be enjoying ourselves, not wasting it by bickering with each other. O-okay...?
  Crafty: [smarmily] She's right, you know.
  Nurse: You're the one who dragged us out here! Just because she's the biggest, doesn't mean you can hide behind her like a shield!
  Crafty: Well, I dare say you're big enough for me to do that as well.
  Nurse: ... Ugh! Hmph!
  [Crafty chuckles to himself as Nurse runs off. Pepper moves away from Crafty, clearly disappointed in him.]
  Crafty: Yeah, I've got comebacks to spare.
  Pepper: This is setting up to be a recipe for disaster...

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Main Show E40: "Dumb Dingies"

Air Date: 7/12/18

Crafty decides to draw the Crafty Crew in swimwear, and he's quite adamant about which one he likes most.

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• Brick Joke: "The Beachles" ended with a piano dropping on Crafty’s head apropos of nothing. As it turns out, this piano was delivered by himself from the future as punishment for deciding to go on a beach vacation. We see him loading one up in a time machine at the start of this episode, then he decides to load in a second one because it just feels right. What happens to the second piano isn't shown, but Crafty starts the commentary off with a larger headache.
• The Immodest Orgasm: Nurse consults Pepper about a report she wrote on Pepper's biology. Off in the distance, Messi overhears the conversation, growing increasingly aroused over Pepper's strange fluids and bodily functions as Nurse describes them. By the end of the report, Messi practically creams herself, with her triumphant yell interlaced with a squishy, slimy sound:
  Messibelle: OHHHH, GOOPS~~~!!!!
  Nurse: Oh, will you KNOCK IT OFF, ALREADY?!
  [Messi tearfully slinks back offscreen.]
• Lame Pun Reaction: Crafty reacts pretty strongly towards Messi oogling her chibi drawing:
  Messibelle: Oh! Is it my turn now? She looks so... succulent~.
  Crafty: [somewhat uncomfortable now] Well, she's not a cactus...
  Messibelle: And if she was, she could prick me any time she wanted~.
  Crafty: ... By Mendele! You need to get your thirst under control; I just started drawing her! And besides, why in the bloody hell would you lust after yourself? It's just a chibi!
  Messibelle: Because... chi-bi dead sex-seh~...
  [Here, the camera zooms in on Messi while text appears to enunciate each individual syllable in Messi's sentence, really driving the pun home. When she finishes, the camera zooms out to show Crafty stewing in offended silence.]
  Crafty: ... COPERNICUS! That's the worst pun I've ever heard, and it's not even mine!
• Kick the Dog: Crafty completely tunes out Nurse's heartfelt discussion of her body image issues. Soon after she finishes, he unconsciously fat-shames her by unfavorably comparing his work on her chibi drawing to what he did for his own. Nurse can't bring herself to attack Crafty like she had a few times before during this season; she just leaves.
  [Nurse's chibi is finished and is displayed onscreen. Crafty and Nurse pop up to talk about it, but Crafty looks displeased with the result.]
  Nurse: What's wrong?
  Crafty: Ehhhhh, I don't feel like this turned out as well as it could have.
  Nurse: Well, I like it, at least.
  Crafty: Ehh, the figure. It's way too fat. Needs to be far skinnier...
  Nurse: EXCUSE ME?!?!
  Crafty: ... Aaaand the outfit doesn't really work. I think it would've been better with some kind of dapper, gentlemanly one-piece!
  [The camera follows Crafty as he leans over to the chibi drawing of himself.]
  Crafty: Something with oh so fashionably green on white stripes!
  [Offscreen, Nurse exits the lab, slamming the door on her way out. Crafty returns to Nurse's chibi drawing and sees that she's gone, and the music, which has been playing since the art production footage, abruptly stops.]
  Crafty: ... Whatever has gotten into her?
• Screw Yourself: Messi grows aroused by Crafty's chibi drawing of her, then attempts to create and have sex with her own clone. It's this moment where Messi's libido finally crosses too many lines: offscreen, Crafty suffers several consecutive panic attacks in response. Nurse arrives for damage control, and she addresses the matter head-on in an impromptu therapy session with Messi. Judging by her later appearances, the session firmly put Messi in her place.
• Synthetic Voice Actor: The video glitches out during the first commentary segment, causing Crafty and Nurse's voices to be replaced with text-to-speech programs. Crafty claims it to be a budget-saving maneuver after they went on vacation.

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Main Show E41: "Bikini Bodies"

Air Date: 7/19/18

For this piece, Nurse has set Crafty up with a machine that shocks him for acting lecherous. Considering the bikini-clad women involved in this latest piece, Crafty may be facing his biggest test yet.

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• Berserk Button: Crafty and Nurse talk about how to draw realistic breasts in various sizes. They hope to teach their viewers to avoid a common artist faux pax: exclusively drawing cartoonishly large cup sizes—and not particularly well. The subject just makes Crafty uncomfortable, but Nurse flips out before she even reaches the heart of the matter. After Crafty abruptly calms her down, she's audibly holding back her outrage.
  Nurse: For some reason... So. MANY. PEOPLE. Draw BALLOONS instead of ACTUAL BOO—
  [Crafty tosses a computer monitor at her, which instantly calms her down—complete with a Windows startup noise!]
• Groin Attack: Nurse tosses a computer at Crafty a few times. The one time she does it for a clear reason—to keep his horniness in check—she strikes him right in the crotch.
  Crafty: RRRRGH!! Honey Nut Cheerios!
• Visual Pun: Crafty's attempt to say "boobies" in the ending skit is censored by a pair of blue-footed boobies flying by.

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Main Show E42: "It Puts the Lootbox on its Legendary Skin"

Air Date: 7/26/18

The summer heat has reached its apex today, so Nurse and Crafty decide to try and cool down by drawing Overwatch skins themed after the season.

Tropes Found in This Episode:

• Heatwave: The lab is affected by the summer heat due to the air conditioning being broken. This causes Crafty to suffer from heatstroke, while Nurse's dead body parts start to stink.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: During the outro, Crafty discovers that he left the air conditioning off, and that's why it was suddenly hotter than usual.
  Nurse: ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!
• Oh, Crap!: The commentary is briefly derailed when Messi snatches a picture of D. Va in a lumberjack outfit. Crafty and Nurse immediately panic and rush to take the image away from Messi before she finds a way to reproduce with it.
• Take That!: At the end, the lab is attacked by the cast of Paladins. Nurse asks if Crafty will get rid of them, but he claims he doesn't have to as the free market beat him to it.

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