In a series of vignettes, a magic skull that can grant wishes does so for Billy, Harold, Skarr, Irwin, Pud'n, Nergal Jr., Sperg, Mindy, and Grim, with disastrous results.
Tropes:
- Asshole Victim: Sperg and Mindy. The former beats up Junior for his cash and quickly gets karma when he uses his wish so he can go into the girls’ bathroom to harass some girls, only to get harassed himself while the latter proves to once again be an insufferable Alpha Bitch.
- Skarr to a lesser extent, once again attempting to go back to his Card-Carrying Villain ways.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: All the people who come into contact with Thromnambular end up getting hit with this.
- Billy: He wishes for a Jonny Quest-styled mission, but ends up seeing how dangerous it is.
- Harold: He wishes to relive his High School days, but constantly gets thrown into the trash can.
- Skarr: He wishes to reign high as Ruler of the World, only to be dragged into outer-space when Thromnambular unleashes a giant statue of him and he ends up being blown up due to the lack of oxygen in space.
- Irwin: He wishes to be in a Hip-Hop video while in his pool with Mandy joining him, only for Mandy to not appreciate being in such an awkward position and humiliates him as per always.note
- Pud'n: He wishes for a bunny to love him, only for the bunny to do so in psycho-yandere style.
- Nergal Jr.: He actually was careful what he wished for, only to waste his wish by wishing that he knew what to wish for.
- Sperg: He wished that he was a girl to go into the girl bathroom to bully them into giving him their cash, but the girls end up making fun of him.
- Mindy: She wishes to be a big star, only for Thromnambular to make her a star in the sky.
- Mandy: She doesn't actually make a wish and tries to sell the final wish to the highest bidder since she knows the wish would just backfire anyway, but a brawl breaks out and it soon causes Grim to wish that Billy and Mandy have never found Thromnambular, which causes the wishing skull to undo the episode's events.
- Grim: In The Tag, Grim wishes that he would be free from Billy and Mandy and that Thromnambular would be free from makes wishes, only for Thromnambular to make them switch places.
- Big "NO!": The Tag wraps up with Grim and Thromnambular trading places and Grim is evidently displeased at his new form as he screams this.
- Black Comedy: In a series already rife with this trope, this episode is quite full of dark humour.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: At the halfway mark, Thromnambular tells the audience to watch some commercials before the remaining wishes are shown.
- Butt-Monkey:
- Irwin so much so that he suffers the most during Billy's wish, being the one left behind during an attack.
- Harold. Oh dear lord, Harold. After he makes a wish to become a teenager, he’s slammed into a trashbin over and over.
- Complete Immortality: Thromnambular seems to have this, as he never gets injured or broken from being bitten to going out to space.
- Death as Comedy: Skarr and Mindy are effectively killed in their wishes and like most things of the show, it’s all Played for Laughs.
- Didn't Think This Through: Everyone's wishes for a multitude of reasons.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Killer Rabbit behaves similarly to a domestic abuser.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Sperg is fine with bullying others and stealing, but he balks at the idea of a boy entering the girls' bathroom.
- Exact Words: How Thromnambular screws over with people.
- Excellent Judge of Character: When Thromnambular is in Mandy’s grasps, she knows better than to ask for a wish from him.
- To a lesser extent, Nergal Jr. as well. While he ultimately wastes his wish without benefiting from it, he is mindful of all of the possible negative repercussions that could happen from his initial ideas and deftly avoids them.
- Hope Spot: After the truck explodes, Pud'n laments that the bunny was evil and had to die. The injured bunny reveals himself to be alive, saying he "forgives" Pud'n. We don't see what happens next, but evidently it ended poorly for Pud'n.
- Ignored Aesop: Harold is among those trying to buy Mandy's wish, saying he didn't learn anything from his own wish.
- Jackass Genie: Thromnambular fits this to a T as he manages to screw over anyone who makes a wish on him. Grim even says at the beginning that wishes can be corrupted. In fact, he doesn’t give Irwin a chance to think over his wish.
- Jerkass: Thromnambular could give out wishes without consequence if he wanted, but he does it anyways.
- Killer Rabbit: Thromnambular conjures up one after Pud'n makes his wish.
- Lacerating Love Language: Pud'n wishes for a pet bunny that will love him. But as the wish granter is a sentient skull functioning like a monkey's paw - meaning that Be Careful What You Wish For is in full effect - what Pud'n gets is a bunny that expresses its "love" first by hitting him, and then going to terrifying lengths trying to kill him. Just to drive the point home, the bunny says that "love hurts" and that it "loves him a lot".
- Large Ham: Skarr really goes all out when Thromnambular grants his wish. Thromnambular himself can get pretty hammy, though it more-or-less comes with being voiced by Dwight Schultz.
- Love Hurts: The Yandere bunny reminds Pud'n that love hurts, and he loves Pud'n a lot.Bunny: I forgive you, Pud'n. I forgive you because I love you! And I love you... to death.
- Negative Continuity: Thromnambular switches places with Grim, but by next episode, the latter is back to his old body. It’s very likely Thromnambular wished himself and Grim to regain their original placing considering what kind of people Billy and Mandy are.
- Nostalgia Filter: Harold remembers his high school days being the best years of his life and that he ruled the school. But after he makes his wish, he gets reminded that he was constantly beat up and shoved in a trash can by literally everyone instead. How much of it actually happened and how much of it was Thromnambular’s doing is unknown.
- Out of Focus:
- While Billy and Harold have a semi-big role in the episode as victims, Gladys doesn’t have a speaking role and is only seen in Billy’s wish.
- The trio themselves take a backseat in the episode, not appearing in the character’s wish unless it somehow involves one of them.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: "Sometimes love hurts, Pud'n, and I love you a lot."
- Reset Button Ending: Grim uses his wish to prevent the events of the episode.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Thromnambular.
- Stating the Simple Solution: After Grim explains how Thromnambular can grant wishes, Mandy asks Grim if he has Thromnambular why hasn't he used one of the wishes to free himself from them. Grim explains it is because Thromnambular is a Jackass Genie whose wishes always backfire on whoever makes them. Though, Grim tries to do this in The Tag, but it backfires on him.
- Shout-Out:
- The truck carrying the world's largest pillow has the Autobot symbol on its door.
- The title itself may be an allusion to the show of the same name.
- Thromnambular quotes a portion of Light My Fire when he talks with Skarr.
- Billy’s wish contains portions of Indiana Jones and Jonny Quest.
- One of the students in teen Harold’s high school is wearing the Devo hat.
- The Killer Rabbit chasing Pud'n is a dead ringer to Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Aside from Billy (as well as Harold, Irwin, and Pud'n to an extent), none of Thromnambular’s victims really play a big role, but their wishes jot down the number on his forehead, cause the next person to find him, and show how dangerous the wishing skull is.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: As Skarr reaches space, he dies from the lack of oxygen.
- Swapped Roles: How Thromnambular interprets Grim’s wish in The Tag. Though considering Billy and Mandy, he very likely regretted the choice.
- Tempting Fate: After getting knocked into the cactus patch, a battered Pud'n says he's at least safe the bunny. Cue the bunny crashing into the scene with a truck.
- Title Card: The names of the people who grant the wishes have their names appear on title cards throughout the episode.
- Uncertain Doom: The ending of Pud'n wish has him see the bunny with wide eyes. We never see what happened next, but evidently, it ended poorly for him.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Billy, as per usual. He nabs Thromnambular away from Grim and Mandy's sight and it causes the skull to be tossed around and cause all sorts of trouble.
- Vignette Episode: The wishes the people make on Thromnambular are done in vignettes.
- Yandere: The bunny Pud’n wishes for.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Nergal Jr. over wishing what to know for and then Thromnambular disappearing.
- That said, it’s also Throw the Dog a Bone considering how he got out without any real damage done to him.
- You Are Grounded!: Harold tells Billy that he’s stripped of watching TV for a week after Billy states that he didn’t like the adventure.
- Your Head Asplode: One of the wish ideas Nergal Jr. contemplates is being the smartest in the world, only to realize he might not stop getting smarter and cause his head to explode.
- Skarr died this way earlier in the episode.
