Glomgold hatches a scheme to use metal-eating mites to wipe out Scrooge's fortunes.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Ambiguous Syntax: Upon first being told of the metal mites, Glomgold initially believed they were made of metal. His head scientist then explains that metal is what they eat.
- Brought Down to Badass: Fenton loses the Gizmosuit to the metal mites but is still able to save the day by realizing that the mites ingesting the Gizmosuit means he can call them to him like he did the suit.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Fenton is able to call and assemble the Gizmosuit despite it being broken down into thousands of pieces.
- Crazy-Prepared:
- Apparently, the Gizmosuit has microscopic handcuffs. Unfortunately, when Gizmoduck tries to put them on the metal mites, they end up eating them and his glove.
- It's awfully convenient that the Money Bin has a tractor with a rototiller right next to it that the kids were able to use to create a moat around it. It ends up being pointless when the mites use Dijon as a bridge to cross said moat.
- Scrooge just so happens to have a wheelbarrow full of cement right outside his own office that his group was able to use to seal off the door to his vault. Their efforts are quickly negated when the mites eat through an alarm panel and get into the wall.
- Darker and Edgier: The mites were played very seriously despite the fact that they were tiny insects. After all, they were designed to eat metal! So they caused plenty of damage all over the city, and they even devoured Fenton's otherwise indestructible Gizmoduck suit.
- Didn't Think This Through:
- Fenton immediately realizes he made a big mistake when he sucks the metal mites into his Gizmo suit.
- It also turns out the Mites' voracious appetite for metal was a bad idea, as devouring the Gizmo suit allowed Fenton to just call them by using his catch phrase and then rendering them helpless with a magnet. Whoops!
- From the frustrated groan he makes when Dijon tells him that Scrooge was making millions using the metal mites as a wrecking company, Glomgold obviously realizes that's something he could've done with them.
- Explosive Breeder: The mites are capable of multiplying rapidly with every bit of metal they eat.
- Evil Is Petty: When his research team comes up with metal-eating insects, rather than using them in a useful and profitable manner (like Scrooge eventually does), Glomgold decides to use them to destroy Scrooge's money. He comes to regret this in the end.
- Fantastic Aesop: Lose your Super Powers? That doesn't mean you're worthless or even a non-badass, you can still save the day!
- From Bad to Worse: The mites are devouring every scrap of metal in the city, then they eat the Gizmosuit…
- Good News, Bad News: At the end, Dijon comes to Glomgold, saying he has good and bad news. The bad news is, Scrooge has found a way to make millions off the metal mites by using them as wrecking company tools. The good news is, he managed to grab a few. However, he doesn't think through the consequences of showing them to his boss while Glomgold has some of his gold coins out.
- Grey Goo: The metal mites sweep across DuckBurg devouring anything metal including the Gizmosuit!
- Hope Spot: The nephews and Webby manage to successfully dig a moat around the money bin and fill it with water to keep the mites from crossing, only for Dijon to stumble and fall across the gap, making his unconscious body the perfect bridge for the mites to cross and continue their trek to the bin.
- Idiot Ball: Trying to stop the metal mites by sucking them inside your metal Power Armor? Oh, Fenton...
- Laser-Guided Karma: Glomgold tries to use his newly invented metal mites to eat Scrooge's fortune. By the end of the episode, it's not his rival's money that's in danger from the mites.
- Metal Muncher: The Metal Mites are insects that eat metal.
- Misapplied Phlebotinum: After capturing the metal mites, Fenton and Scrooge figure out how to use them in a very profitable manner as a wrecking crew, something that Glomgold could've done had he not gone the petty route and tried to destroy Scrooge's fortune with them.
- Near-Villain Victory: The metal mites were moments away from eating Scrooge's money before Fenton stopped them. Glomgold even lamented that he was "so close!".
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Gyro tries to stop the mites using an automatic bubble gum blowing machine. Unfortunately, the bubble they get stuck to gets carried by the wind and blows them on course for Scrooge's money bin.Scrooge: (To Gyro) You bubble brain! Now look what you've done!
- Rules of the Road: When the metal mites approach a traffic sign at a sidewalk corner, it changes from "Walk" to "Don't Crawl" and then "Crawl". When they start eating it, it hurriedly flashes "Don't Eat!".
- Running Gag: Dijon can never get Glomgold's name right.
- Shout-Out:
- After the mites eat the Gizmosuit, Fenton laments that without it, he's just "mild-mannered Fenton Crackshell".
- When the metal mites arrive at the bin, Webby says, "They're heeere."
- The Swarm: The mites.
- Termite Trouble: The mites are insects designed by Glomgold's scientists to eat metal instead of wood. They cause plenty of damage all over Duckburg and even manage to devour Fenton's otherwise indestructible Gizmoduck suit.
- Unknown Rival: Scrooge never finds out that Glomgold was the one behind the metal mites that were a danger to his fortune.
- Wham Episode: The Gizmosuit is completely destroyed in this episode. Granted, Fenton says he'll get Gyro to build a new one, but still...
- Zerg Rush
