In this episode, the Eds are trying to pull off an arcade scam, but Ed keeps getting distracted by the drawings of a monster, professing a desire to be one constantly. Double D, trying to keep Eddy from tearing Ed's head off, decides to make Ed a real live monster for the purposes of attracting business to their arcade games. Double D makes him a very realistic and convincing costume (while still featuring the monobrow Ed's known for), Double D goes to get a mirror for Ed to see what he looks like...
... And then all hell breaks loose.
The episode provides examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny:
- While most of the kids are pissed that the Eds tricked them, Jonny tells Plank "Right on! Ed had me going too, buddy!".
- Eddy also, who finds most of the chaos Ed is causing to be absolutely hilarious, even calling Edd a killjoy for trying to stop Ed. At least until he realizes that he's about to be Ed's next victim and it stops being funny.
- An Aesop: Don’t go too far with your imagination and playing pretend, otherwise you might hurt someone.
- Becoming the Mask: The entire premise of the episode. Ed gets WAAAY too into playing monster.
- Blame Game: Edd and Eddy play this after Ed breaks out.
- Brick Joke: In one scene, Edd tosses one of Rolf's chickens offscreen to distract Ed. Said chicken can later be seen pasted to the wall with the rest of Ed's "victims".
- Bring My Brown Pants: Happens to Rolf who proceeds to jump onto Kevin.Rolf: "What is the sound that makes Rolf soil his trousers?"
- Call-Back: In desperation, Edd, Eddy, Nazz, and Rolf try to escape the monster in the club house from "Vert-Ed-Go".
- Crazy-Prepared: Eddy keeps a couple months worth of supplies under his bed in the event the heat from a scam goes too high.
- Deer in the Headlights: When Eddy sees Ed looming over him with jaws open, he freezes up in fear with pupils wide and shimmering, not moving until Edd yanks him out of the way.
- Downer Ending: Yes, Ed is neutralized before he can do any further harm, but he's also too far gone in his imagination, which bothers Edd and Eddy, who are hiding from the ensuing consequences under the latter's bed. The Kids don't fare better since they're still stuck to the wall, covered in chewed-up Chunky Puffs, desperately yelling at the Eds to come get them down.
- *Drool* Hello: Taking out his jar, Eddy demands 50 cents a pop in exchange for helping the others off the wall. As a shadow looms over him, the jar starts filling with drool.
- Dwindling Party: The cul-de-sac kids. First Jimmy, then Jonny, followed by Kevin, Rolf, and Nazz.
- Exact Words: When Ed is getting dressed up, he promises to be the best monster he can be. He lives up to his word.
- Face–Monster Turn: Thanks to his hyperactive imagination, Ed loses his humanity when he puts the suit on, resulting in him going on a rampage until Sarah accidentally saves everyone by unmasking him, bringing him to his senses.
- Gone Horribly Right: Double D makes Ed a costume so real, everyone else mistakes him for a monster. Especially Ed...
- Here We Go Again!: Ed's overactive imagination doesn't stop when the mask is off. He keeps goofing around when the trio are hiding under Eddy's bed "until the heat dies down".Edd: "We've lost him, Eddy."
- Human Sacrifice: Rolf trying to offer Nazz as a sacrifice to Ed only to be stopped by Double D. He gets a bump on his head for his efforts.Rolf: The beast circles with hunger! WE MUST APPEASE IT WITH A SACRIFICE!
- Idiot Ball: Edd. He's the one who made the monster costume for Ed, despite also acknowledging his overactive imagination. And when Ed's rampage sends the kids on a blind panic, Edd never tries to explain who the monster actually is, apparently assuming it would be obvious to the others.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Eddy brings up that while Double D knew that Ed was over-imaginative, he still dressed him up anyway. Double D later acknowledges he "created a monster".
- Lost in Character: The main premise of the episode. Once dressed up, Ed almost immediately comes to believe he really is a monster and acts accordingly.
- Mistaken for Badass: Since all the kids think it is a real monster attacking them and don't know it's really Ed in a costume, they think Double D is a brave badass Action Survivor. Double D saying he'll leave the clubhouse and give Ed a timeout seems like he is sacrificing himself (which earns him a kiss on the check from Nazz), and Kevin seems genuinely impressed when Double D starts yelling at the "monster".
- Monster Delay: Ed’s monster form isn’t seen in full until two-thirds into the episode.
- Moral Myopia: Eddy is largely amused by all the chaos Ed is causing as a monster... until the drooling Ed is baring down on him and about to attack.
- Murderer P.O.V.: At some points, we see things from Ed's point of view. Subverted, as it turns out he didn't kill anyone and very likely only wanted to trap people.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Edd spends most of the episode fretting over the fact that he put Ed in the position to cause all this destruction, unintentional it may be.Double D: (sobbing) What have I done?? I've actually created a monsterrr!!
- My God, You Are Serious!: Not said face-to-face, but as Double D sees the damage Ed is doing, he realizes that Ed isn't play acting, he actually believes he is a monster.
- Never My Fault: After Ed attacks Eddy and busts through the garage door, Double D remarks that he warned him about Ed's overactive imagination and he can't control himself, when it was Double D's idea to dress Ed up as a monster to begin with; Eddy even calls him on it.
- Non-Protagonist Resolver: When Ed is set to attack both Edd and Eddy in his basement, it's Sarah who ultimately saves them by yanking off the head of the costume and bringing Ed back to reality, all because she thought Ed was throwing a party without her.Sarah: Mom said no parties unless I'm invited!
- Nothing Is Scarier: Edd and Eddy spend most of the episode tracking Ed and witnessing the destruction he's wrought. And it is extensive.
- Obliviously Evil: Ed genuinely thinks he's a real monster while in the costume and causes all sorts of havoc in the Cul-de-Sac. But of course this is because of his hyperactive imagination and general idiocy rather than any malice.
- Oh, Crap!: Nearly everybody in the episode gets one on noticing Ed's not playing around, this time...
- Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: The Eds get off pretty easy while the cul-de-sac kids are still glued to the wall covered in chewed-up Chunky Puffs and saliva.
- Pass the Popcorn: Eddy's reaction to seeing Ed's monstrous rampage for a majority of the episode is to laugh uproariously.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Through Ed's viewpoint, his eyes tint red whilst staring at Eddy and snarling.Ed: I AM A MONSTER! [attacks Eddy]
- Shadow Discretion Shot: When Ed attacks Eddy, it's shown from the shadowed window of the garage.
- Shout-Out:
- Most of the shots prior to the reveal of Ed's monster form are taken directly from Jaws and the first Alien movie.
- Ed's costume is very close to the Xenomorph from Alien.
- Ed plasters the Kids (and one of Rolf's chickens) to his basement wall with chewed-up Chunky Puffs similar to what the Xenomorphs do to their victims in the Alien movies.
- Edd actually lampshades all the Alien references by saying "Ed must be acting out a science-fiction movie he may have seen".
- Skewed Priorities: After Ed attacks Eddy in his monster costume and leaves, Double D seems more distressed about the garage being wrecked than Eddy being obviously hurt.
- Also Eddy when he tries extorting the kids for money in exchange for peeling them off the wall even though Monster Ed should be his much bigger concern.
- Smooch of Victory: Nazz awards Double D with a kiss when he agrees to sacrifice himself to Ed, much to Eddy's shock.
- Smug Snake: Eddy claims he's a pro when he decides to demonstrate to Double D on how to play the games to attract customers by playing Whack-an-Ed only for him to not land a single hit on Ed. This frustrates Eddy and causes him to be sarcastically mocked by Double D for his attempted showboating.
- Teeth Flying: Lampshaded; Eddy says that any teeth lying around when the clubhouse was knocked out of the tree are his.
- This Is Gonna Suck: While hiding under Eddy's bed, Edd dreads what will happen after the other kids inevitably flake off the wall and come looking for them.
- Throwing the Distraction: Edd manages to distract Ed by tossing a chicken. That was apparently in Rolf's pocket. Rolf was going to throw Nazz to the monster out of desperation when they become trapped in the club house.Rolf: "Take to your heels, Gertrude!"
- Use Your Head: When Eddy, Edd, Nazz and Rolf take refuge in the treehouse, Ed resorts to slamming his head into the tree trunk to shake them down. He briefly staggers at one point from pain, before resuming and causing the treehouse to collapse.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Ed immediately returns to the realm of reality when the costume's head is pulled off.
