Kid begins to suspect that the Planet Protection Group may be holding the secret behind the Fourteenth Cosmic Stone. Knowing that this is attended to keep Kid occupied, Papa G struggles to try and tell him the sad truth.
Jo, meanwhile, rallies everyone else to find a way out of the Fake Earth.
Tropes:
- Air Guitar: Hamburg does this with his spatula when the cast is rocking out to "Here Comes The Gang".
- Armor-Piercing Question: Flo wonders about her daughter believing that Fantos threw them into the Fake Earth when Tuna Sandwich's Precognition has been off since they arrives. Jo responds in a way that no one can argue:Jo: What's more likely? "This world is a complete fabrication" , or "This world is real and we are its greatest heroes"?
- Berserk Button: Papa G firmly comes down on telling Kid the truth when the fantasy version of his parents tell him they essentially abandoned him until he could prove himself worth reconnecting with. It makes him outraged to suggest Kid has to earn the love of his parents to be with them after putting him through the tragedy of losing them.
- Brick Joke:
- When the cast is sleeping, Fry tries to steal Hamburg's spatula but he is stopped by Jo portaling them all into one place. When I.R.I.S. is trying to convince the cast to stay in the fantasy world, she offers Fry Hamburg's old spatula.
- When I.R.I.S. shows herself to Carl's face, he thinks I.R.I.S. is a vampire. One scene later, Jo mentions Carl stabbed the I.R.I.S. robot with a stake through the heart.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with the Local Heroes floating in space with no immediate chance of rescue.
- Cutting the Knot: After failing numerous times to escape the Fake Earth, Jo is shocked that Kid unknowingly provided the simplest solution: simply ask to leave.
- Double-Meaning Title: "Kid Cosmic and the Global Conspiracy" can either refer to Kid believing that the PPG is hiding a deep dark secret from the world, or that the whole world itself is a fabrication made to fool our heroes.
- Driving Question: Last episode, Jo discovers that she and her friends are trapped in a fantasy Earth, which now brings up two questions: What if they never defeated Fantos and Erodius last season, and where are they now?
- Evolving Credits: With the Fake Earth disappearing, I.R.I.S's voice begins to distort more and more before she disappears along with it.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: After finally breaking the fantasy world, Tuna and the adults come to a horrific realization: If the Local Heroes were never sent back to Earth, they would still be floating in deep space, which they do at the end of the episode.
- Faking the Dead: The false versions of Kid's mom and dad tell him they faked their own deaths to allegedly keep him safe. The reunion that comes from this trope is also deconstructed; how can someone claim to love you after putting you through the pain of losing them, with some justification that you were somehow unworthy before then for them to reveal themselves?
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: An interesting variation is done with Papa G's clones. The "angel" clone tries to convince Papa G to tell the truth while the "devil" clone tells Papa G to hold off on telling Kid.
- Major Injury Underreaction: In The Stinger, I.R.I.S. reacts to the fantasy world fading away by quietly saying "Ouch. This hurts. I am dying."
- Oh, Crap!: Almost everyone has this reaction when they realize that the Lotus-Eater Machine disappearing means they'll be stranded in space.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Kid's Lotus-Eater Machine parents essentially say that the only way they'd ever reunite with their son was if Kid proved himself worthy by collecting the stones. Kid refuses to reunite with them because he knows that his real parents would never abandon him for petty reasons like that.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Kid thinks there's a conspiracy going on, but believes the PPG are evil and does not know the real truth.
- Secret Test: The Lotus-Eater versions of Kid's parents claim that they abandoned Kid because if Kid was worthy to wield the stones, he'd find his way back to them.
- Self-Deprecation: When Jo tries to tell the others that they're stuck in a Lotus-Eater Machine, most of them are a bit skeptical. She then points out the fact that, if everything over the past few weeks has been real, it would mean that they are legitimately the world's greatest heroes. Everyone is immediately convinced.Chuck: Yeah, it all falls apart right there, doesn't it?
- Becomes a bit more dramatic when you consider the fact that Kid meeting his parents, his greatest fantasy, has the subtext that they faked their deaths and didn't tell him until he could prove he was good enough to reveal themselves.
- Shout-Out:
- To escape the Lotus-Eater Machine, Rosa suggests a using a magic word like "Zizzlemix". Chuck says that's not a magic word, but rather a magic elf.
- One of the places Jo portals to looks suspiciously like the iconic bus stop of My Neighbor Totoro.
- Like previous episodes, the comic book covers we see are homages to past real ones:
- Speed Demon #58 seems to be one of The Flash #111
. - Amazing Myths #35 features a Wonder Woman-like character, Pamazon, posed with a bunch of other superheroes on the ground around her like Jean Grey on the cover of Uncanny X-Men #135 (the page image for The Dark Phoenix Saga page).
- Doctor Conundrum #1 (an apparent Doctor Strange Expy) seems based on Doctor Strange #32.
- Speed Demon #58 seems to be one of The Flash #111
- Skewed Priorities: Carlos and Ramona are seemingly upset by I.R.I.S. tricking Rosa into staying in the Lotus-Eater Machine by offering Rosa a chance to ride a dinosaur princess, but back off when I.R.I.S. says the dinosaur is genetically engineered to be toothless and friendly.
- Sticky Fingers: For some reason, Fry tries to take Hamburg's spatula while he's sleeping.
- TV Head Robot: I.R.I.S. inexplicably takes a more humanoid form with a round screen for a head in this episode.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: When the cast tries to figure out how to escape the fantasy realm, Carl suggests various tactics to kill vampires instead. He also thinks I.R.I.S. is a vampire.
- Your Heart's Desire: In a bid to get the Local Heroes to stay in the fantasy world, I.R.I.S. offers the cast various things they would want out of life. Kid gets his heart's desire too— the chance to be reunited with his mom and dad.
