When a charismatic huckster shows up to the plaza, the product he's selling turns everything upside down.
Tropes:
- All Just a Dream: It's revealed K.O. was just dreaming, though there really was a guy about to start selling skeleton remotes. Fortunately, K.O. had successfully prevented this from occurring.
- Clueless Aesop: No matter which side of the debate they stand on, most viewers agree that this show just isn't equipped to do a gun control Aesop. For one thing, many characters have superpowers that are far more dangerous and destructive than an actual firearm, let alone the skeleton remote that serves as a stand-in for a gun. Then there's the fact that said skeleton remote does nothing but turn people into living skeletons, which aren't that abnormal in the context of the setting, meaning it barely even has drawbacksnote . This wrecks the gun metaphor, for obvious reasons; firearms, unlike the skeleton remote, are dangerous and can kill you. Because the Aesop is presented in such a confusing way, child viewers probably won't see why the skeleton remote is so bad to begin with, and unless they already have a passing familiarity with the gun control debate and the language surrounding it, they definitely won't realize that the fictional skeleton remote is supposed to represent a real-world firearm. Additionally, the skeleton remote problem is solved before a single one is even sold, breaking the metaphor even further, as guns have been on the market for centuries.
- Disorganized Outline Speech: K.O.'s speech starts out with bits of Julius Caesar and the Gettysburg Address.
- Forced Transformation: The people turned into skeletons lose most or all of their powers.
- Homage:
- Skeleton Rad and Enid sneak out of doing work to the tune of a
Suspiciously Similar Song version of The Skeleton Dance. - Gil Ferris' song is a parody of "Trouble" from The Music Man.
- Skeleton Rad and Enid sneak out of doing work to the tune of a
- Metamorphosis: The skeleton remote's transformation is irreversible by design, its creator reasoning that it wouldn't be valued otherwise.
- No-Sell: The skeleton remote doesn't work on A Real Magic Skeleton since he's already a skeleton.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Mr. Gar's antagonistic behavior towards K.O. and his refusal to listen to Carol's side of the remote control debate is one of the major signs that this is a dream.
- Playing Both Sides: Gil Ferris starts sells his skeleton remotes to the heroes of Lakewood Plaza as a way to defend themselves from Box More and other villains. Then he starts selling them to the villains as well, placating the heroes' complaints by pulling out a (supposedly) more powerful version and claiming he'd only sell that one to heroes.
- Stealth Pun: The episode uses remotes as a metaphor for guns, but stops just short of anyone mentioning "remote control".
- Stock Scream: A Howie Long scream is heard when it's revealed Dendy has become a skeleton. K.O.'s reaction to this is a Wilhelm scream.
- Stripped to the Bone: Parodied; the skeleton remote is not a Disintegrator Ray, it literally turns its target into living skeleton as a form of Forced Transformation. It even turns inanimate objects into human (though still inanimate) skeletons!
- Transformation Ray: The skeleton remote is a Handy Remote Control that turns whatever or whoever it hits into a skeleton, and removes their special powers.
- Ultimate Authority Mayor: Comically exaggerated; a single member of Congress instantly and unilaterally decided whether the (real) skeleton remote would be legal.
- Very Special Episode: Basically an extended metaphor for gun control. Carol even tells the viewers to call their congressman at the end.
