Series / Austin & Ally

There's no way I can make it without you.

Austin: You're a songwriter with stage fright, and I'm a singer who loves being on stage! We're a perfect match!
Ally: Okay...we're partners!

Austin & Ally is a Disney Channel sitcom that premiered on December 2, 2011 and ended on January 10, 2016 after four seasons.

Ally Dawson (Laura Marano) is an aspiring singer-songwriter with extreme stage fright who works at her father's music store at the Mall of Miami. Austin Moon (Ross Lynch) is an aspiring singer who visits the store one day and ends up finding Ally in the upstairs practice room at the same time that she is working on her newest song. After unceremoniously kicking him out, she is shocked when her good friend Trish de la Rosa (Raini Rodriguez) brings news a day later that Austin has become an Instant Web Hit overnight ("actually, it was more like two nights", Austin admits in an interview), but what really shocks her is the fact it happened with him singing her song.

After an episode's worth of misadventures trying to get Ally the credit she deserves, the two decide to combine forces. Ally writes the songs, Austin sings them, Trish works as Austin's manager and personal stylist, and Austin's friend Dez Wade (Calum Worthy) is enlisted as their music video director. The show then focuses on whether or not they'll crash and burn as they finally make it, whether or not Ally will be big on her own, whether Austin and Ally will get together, and an assortment of standard Kid Com Wacky Hijinks.

The show aired a crossover with Jessie in December 2012. It is the fifth Disney Channel live-action series to run past three seasons (after That's So Raven, Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place and Good Luck Charlie^note with Jessie later becoming the sixth), with its fourth-season renewal occurring due to popular fan demand. It is also the first Disney Channel show that does not revolve around a family cast to get a fourth season, having less than 5 cast members and having a male co-lead.

Now has a Character Sheet. Please put all character-relevant tropes there.

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Tropes found in this show:

• Absurd Phobia: Austin is terrified of umbrellas since he had his pants ripped off by an umbrella in 4th grade. This becomes a problem in the episode "Filmmaking & Fear Breaking" when he is starring in Dez's movie which is on a beach full of umbrellas.
• Actor Allusion: Austin always wanted to play a surfer in a beach musical. Appropriately, Lynch's fellow Teen Beach Movie cast member Grace Phipps plays Austin's co-star in that episode.
• Adults Are Useless: Ally's father regularly leaves her alone with her friends to run the store.
• All Just a Dream:
  • The events of the episode "Eggs & Extraterrestrials" was all Dez's dream.
  • The Bad Future seen in "Future Sounds & Festival Songs" was only Austin's dream.
  • The episode "Freaky Friends & Fan Fiction" that had the magic typewriter was entirely a story by Dez.
• Almost Kiss:
  • Austin and Ally near the end of "Campers & Complications". They're working on the future song "You Can Come To Me" when they stop and lean in for a kiss, but Ally interrupts the moment stating how the chorus should go.
  • Occurs between Austin and Ally twice in "Mix-Ups and Mistletoes".
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Austin's parents, who reenact their mattress commercial every chance they get.
• Amicable Exes: Ally's parents are divorced as revealed in "Chapters & Choices", but are still close to each other and keep in good touch.
• Anchored Ship: Austin and Ally dropped the anchor in the 3rd episode via I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship.
  • And again one episode after they finally got together during the Kira arc.
• And You Were There: Austin recites this at the end of "Future Sounds & Festival Songs" after waking up from a dream.
• Anti-Love Song: "Not a Love Song", which we assume is about Austin's relationship with Ally.
• Arc Words: "I feel like I can do anything.", said by both Austin and Ally during significant moments. However, the most important are the words below the picture above, as it summarizes not only Austin & Ally's partnership, but eventually their relationship.

• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
  • At the end of "Everglades & Allygators" Austin lists their exploits in the episode saying they sunk a boat, fought an alligator, and Dez made toast.
  • In another episode Dez states that for his music video he needs a helicopter, a giraffe, and a red pen.
  • In another Austin's nightmare was he was playing at Time's Square without his friends, and he was out of peanuts.
• Artistic License – Law: "Tunes and Trials" is very blatant with this. Trish represents Austin's defense, despite having no legal experience of any sort, the trial is sidetracked with complete irrelevancy, which would be seen as lunacy by any real court, and the day is saved by the judge basing the situation on emotional connotations that wouldn't be held as real proof in a competent court and circumstantial evidence. Only Ally notices what's wrong with all this.

• Aside Comment: Señora Gomez in "Seniors & Señors" is prone to these. Dez even lampshades it:
  Dez: Who's she looking at?
• Babies Ever After: All four mains in the series-ending flashforward have kids.

• Bad Liar: All of them. They all tend to give a drawn-out "What?" when accused of lying.
• Bait-and-Switch: "Musicals & Moving On" ends with Austin proposing to Ally (which is actually edited footage of a movie made by Dez), and Ally says, "Austin, I can't." In the next episode, "Duets & Destiny", she resumes where she left off: "...Believe you're really asking me to marry you!!"
• Beach Episode: Also "Beach Clubs & BFF's", where the group hang out at a beach club, which soon becomes the main hangout for the 3rd season.
• Believing Their Own Lies: In "MyTAB & My Pet", as one of the gang's attempts to get rid of the line at the MyTAB store, Dez pretends to be an employee at the store and claims that there is a golden horseshoe hidden in the mall which would guarantee a free MyTAB to whoever finds it. This backfires when Dez himself starts to actually believe that he works in the store so he literally hides a golden horseshoe and sends the crowd on a real scavenger hunt. Needless to say, his stupidity made them lose the only remaining MyTAB.
• The B Grade: Ally is upset when Dez gets a 94 on a test, while she only gets a 92.
• Big Damn Heroes: Austin in "Bloggers & Butterflies" when Ally is too nervous to sing her butterfly song before the crowd and he steps in to save the day.
• Big "NO!": Twice by Austin in "Ferris Wheels & Funky Breath", when he learns he and Kira will be stuck on the Ferris wheel for an hour until Trish gets back, and again learning he cannot fire her because she's Jimmy Starr's daughter. Both are followed by Dez doing the inversion.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Of the four main characters, Austin is the Blonde, Ally and Trish are the Brunettes, and Dez is the Redhead.
• Book Ends: The series finale brings the duo back to the Helen show where they began their professional careers in the pilot, with Ally destroying the set again.
• Bottle Episode: "Last Dances & Last Chances" takes place entirely during the prom.
• Bland-Name Product: Twitter—>Tweeter, Tweets—>Twits; iPad—>MyTab
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Austin's the blond, Ally and Trish split brunette duties, and Dez is the redhead.
• Blunt "Yes": Trish tends to give Dez a blunt "yes" whenever she's annoyed by him.
• Brainy Brunette: Played straight with Ally and averted with Trish.
• Brick Joke: Dez's twenty-pound hamburger, and how he likes to autograph for those who remember that.

• Call-Back: Ally having her audition in the season 1 finale being judged by the same man who judged her when she failed the first time.
• Catchphrase:
  • In the first season Ally's was "Don't touch my book". In the following seasons, the line is occasionally referenced.
  • Trish's "Guess who got a job at.....", when she announces a new job.
  • Nelson's "Aw, nartz!"
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Dez can't keep secrets as he revealed Austin's Embarrassing Middle Name and told Trish's boyfriend that she went to the prom with Chuck.
  • A kid from the music factory also panicked and tried to avoid Ally so as not to ruin Austin's surprise.
• Can't You Read the Sign??: In The Pilot with Austin disobeying the sign to not play the drums in the store.
• Caught on the Jumbotron: Ally unknowingly admits her crush on the cellphone accessory guy on the mall Jumbotron.

• Chekhov's Gun: The spelling error in the comments in "Beauties & Bullies".
• Childhood Memory Demolition Team: Ally's favorite pond being torn down.
  • In the penultimate episode of Season 3, Sonic Boom was about to be torn down, but fortunately was kept.
• Christmas Episode: There were three of them in the series. The first being the crossover with Jessie (see below), and the second being "Mix-Ups & Mistletoes" where Team Austin tries to deliver toys to some unfortunate kids, only to wind up with the wrong toys in the process. The third is "Santas & Surprises" when Team Austin tries to bring Lily's dad home for Christmas.
• Clark Kenting: In "Austin & Alias", Ally takes up the identity of a Swedish rockstar named "Roxy Rocket" wearing a blonde and checkered wig and multi-colored punk clothes after her boss, Ronnie Ramone, threatened to fire her from his label if she continues writing songs with Austin.

• Connected All Along: "Fanatics & Favors" reveals Dez is a descendant of Dwayne Wade.
• Continuity Nod: Ally mentions in The Pilot that she hates sand, or rather, the beach in general, which comes into play during the Beach Episode.
• Cool Big Sis: Ally Dawson shows signs of being this to Nelson, despite being her student. She also acts like this to Lily.
• Crossover: The two-episode Austin & Jessie & Ally special - the Austin & Ally half being called "Big Dreams & Big Apples" (also a Christmas Episode and New Year's Eve episode).
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: In "Mix-Ups and Mistletoes", there is a Running Gag where Dez claims a man dressed as an elf is from the North Pole, but he denies it. In the last scene though, it turns out he was actually right.
• Dark Reprise: When Ally decides to leave the group behind to attend a prestigious music school in New York in "Albums & Auditions"; Austin sings a slow acoustic version of the upbeat title song, emphasizing that he can't do what he does without Ally.
• Deadpan Snarker: Ally, because she is usually the Only Sane Woman, can easily be sarcastic about their situations.

• Deathbringer the Adorable: Mad Dog, Face-Puncher's ballerina daughter.
• Deep-Fried Whatever: In "Bloggers & Butterflies", to the point where an entire restaurant gets 99.9% deep fried.
• Department of Redundancy Department: In "World Records & Work Wreckers":
  Austin: These official record officials will be officially recording our official time...*Beat*...Officially!
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: During "Glee Clubs & Glory" the theme song is used in their final mashup.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Tilly Thompson in "Bloggers & Butterflies" has hated Ally since kindergarten because Ally's good song was picked over her terrible one for an insect-themed play. She even takes this grudge out on Austin.
• Distant Finale: The last episode is an epilogue set four years after the gang separates. The final scene jumps ten years where Austin and Ally are Happily Married and with all four of them having kids.

• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: "Can't Do It Without You" performed by Ross Lynch (and Laura Marano in the final season).

• Drunk with Power: This happened to Trish in the What If? episode "What Ifs & Where's Austin". After accidentally getting a record deal to Starr Records, the fame goes to her head and she starts abusing Ally and Dez around and only writing selfish songs to brag about her superiority and power. Needless to say, this led to her downfall.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Dez mistakes Billl for a girl in "Burglaries & Boobytraps".
• Duet Bonding: Austin intentionally tries to defy this in "Secrets & Songbooks" by avoiding practicing with Ally with the door closed.
  • The entire sequence of "Break Down the Walls" in the Pilot.
• Embarrassing Middle Name: Austin Monica Moon.
• Empty Promise: In Santas & Surprises, Dez tries to cheer up Lily by telling her Santa will definitely bring her dad home, yet it was established how unrealistic it was given the circumstances. It's later subverted because Dez actually followed through and made the effort to make that happen.

• Everything Is an Instrument: Austin is first shown playing the drums with corndogs.
• Family Theme Naming: The names of Dez's relatives all start with D.

• Four-Temperament Ensemble: Austin is phlegmatic, Trish is choleric, Ally is melancholic, and Dez is sanguine.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: In "Freaky Friends & Fan Fiction", Dez discovers a magic typewriter that makes everything he types on it come true. However, Chuck finds out about the typewriter and steals it to mess with the gang. One of the many things he does is switching their bodies: Austin and Dez, Ally and Trish, and Ally and Dez.
• Freudian Excuse:
  • Mocked. Tilly's excuse for hating Ally is seen as a pretty lousy reason.
  • Played straight with the reason behind Ally's stage fright: She was afraid of blowing her chance of getting into a music school that she hallucinated the piano turning into a monster and the students laugh at her, causing her to freak out and lose her chance anyway. Since that day, she refuses to perform for anyone because she believes not performing won't ruin her chances.
  • In "Rejection & Rocketships", the reason why Austin and Dez were so obsessed over a kiddie ride in the mall that was about to get shut down forever was because it was a manifestation of how emotionally unprepared they both were for the future.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: Austin ends up going through one in the Season 3 finale "Relationships & Red Carpets"; Jimmy forces him to choose between his music career or his relationship with Ally. Ultimately, he chooses the latter.

• Gave Up Too Soon: In "Beach Clubs & BFFs", Austin and Dez think there is a treasure underneath the beach club and start digging for it until they are told that the "map" is actually a children's menu and drop the search. In the episode's epilogue, the beach club's manager finds the treasure herself as Austin and Dez look on disappointed.
• George Jetson Job Security: Trish's continuous hiring and subsequent firing about Once per Episode.
• Gilligan Cut: A staple of the show's comedy. They happen repeatedly and often back to back in the same scene. Sometimes they don't even do a cut, they just have the person wander into the shot doing the Gilligan action. An example from "MyTAB & My Pet" where the group have to wait in line for a new computer tablet:
  Ally: I wish I didn't have to work today, I need to be in that line.
  Trish: Relax, it's not like Dez is there by himself, Austin is with him and Austin would never leave the line.
  Austin: *enters Sonic Boom* Hey guys. I left the line.
  Ally: Why?
  Austin: I needed a break.
  Ally: You left Dez there by himself?
  Austin: It's only been 5 minutes, do you think Dez is just gonna let people go in front of him?
  Gilligan Cut to Dez letting people in front of him.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: In the episode "Secrets & Songbooks", Austin is conflicted as to whether or not to read Ally's book. So a good Austin and a Bad Austin appear on the real Austin's shoulders. Then a Trish dressed in red pushes the Good Angel away and tells him to read the book.
• Guilt by Association: After Austin, Trish and Dez play a mean prank to break up the relationship between Dez's sister and Chuck in "Families & Feuds", Chuck retaliates by setting explosive jam attacks on both the trio and Ally, even though Ally had nothing to do with the prank.
• Halloween Episode: "Costumes & Courage" which is also the second season premiere, and features a duet between the main protagonists of the show which can only be described as a Musical Moment of Awesome.
  • "Horror Stories & Halloween Scares" in the third season.
  • "Scary Spirits & Spooky Stories" in the fourth season with appearances from both Ernie and Judy Cooper.

• Holding Hands: Austin and Ally have held hands many times even before they became a couple.
• Homage: "Mysteries & Meddling Kids" is one to the original Scooby-Doo series.
• Ho Yay: Dez and Austins friendship especially with Dez making constant remarks about how attractive he thinks Austin is coupled with how jealous he occasionally gets of ally or any of Austin's other love interests.
• Hope Spot: "Karaoke & Kalamity" gives one for Austin's music career. Jimmy Starr appears as a judge for the karaoke contest in which Austin is performing in disguise, and informs Trish that he's considering letting Austin perform again. Austin manages to pull off his performance in disguise without Jimmy realizing, but then his disguise is ruined and Jimmy reaffirms his ban. Thankfully, that's all settled the next episode.
• Humiliation Conga:
  • Tilly Thompson gets one in "Bloggers & Butterflies", first accidentally admitting she faked her negative video footage of Austin, then having a meltdown in front of the audience she'd lined up to see Ally embarrass herself. She ends up so humiliated that she had to shut down her blog.
  • Trish organizes one for Dallas in "World Records & Work Wreckers". She hires a Marching band, a group of cheerleaders with a large banner, and a gospel choir to tell him that he's fired. There are even balloons! Problem: he already quit.
  • A mix of this and Trauma Conga Line when Dallas turns down Ally's Dance of Romance and Dez crashes both into the DJ station and Trish's table of birthday presents.
• Hypocrite: Trent tries to egg Austin into a dance-off by saying he was afraid his dancing wasn't up to snuff...this from a guy who pretended to date Trish while he had a girlfriend because he was scared his dancing wasn't up to snuff to become Austin's backup by his own merit.
  • In the episode "Real Life & Reel Life", Austin was mad at Ally for keeping a big secret from him, that she wanted to end their partnership, but as pointed out by Dez, Austin kept an even bigger secret from her, he met with another songwriter behind Ally's back. Ally immediately calls him out on it.
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • Trish lists several jobs she's been fired from in one period of time (for slacking off and generally not showing up at all) and proceeds to call Austin and Ally lazy.
  • After finding out about Austin's secret above, Trish tells Austin that not everybody could be that self-centered, then she immediately asks Dez if he's getting all of this on camera because she wants to look great for Dez's movie.
  • In "Rejection & Rocketships", Austin says he's glad to be teaching kids instead of acting like one before making bubbles through a curly straw.
• "I Am Becoming" Song: Ally's song "Finally Me" is about how she got over her stage fright and is becoming a whole new her.
• "I Am Great!" Song: Trish's version of "Finally Me" in "What-Ifs & Where's Austin" is more bragging and self-centered, and is mostly about herself and how her listeners would wish they were famous like her. Nobody enjoyed it, to say the least.
• I Can't Dance: Ally and Dallas.
• I Resemble That Remark!: This is when Austin is telling the gang how they were fighting over the only ticket to his gig in "Tickets & Trashbags".
  Austin: And Ally...talked for a really long time.
  Ally: I don't talk for a really long time! If anything, I talk for a normal amount of time! What is normal anyway?! Is my normal different from your normal which is different from Trish's normal?! Anyway, you were saying...?
• Identical Stranger: Ralphie Hayes for Austin.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: An alliterative "X & Y".
  • Subverted for "Zaliens & Cloud Watchers" and "Everglades & Allygators".
• Idiosyncratic Wipes: The "Full Moon Tour" arc beginning Season 3 has a series of scene changes which feature a 2D version of Austin's tour bus passing the screen.
• Hypno Fool: In "Deejays & Demos", Dez tries to hypnotize Ally with a Hypno-disc but ends up hypnotizing himself instead. Justified, since Ally was unaffected because she was blinking and looking away repeatedly the whole time.
• I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: Austin's logic in trying to become a turn-off to Ally.
• Imagine Spot: Austin imagining what he'd sound like as a chipmunk and a dolphin in "Successes & Setbacks". The entirety of "What ifs and Where's Austin" in which Ally, Dez, and Trish imagine what their lives would be like if they never met Austin.
• Incessant Music Madness: Many of Austin and Dez's skits in the music store.
• Incest Subtext: In an episode where Dove Cameron and Ryan McCartan guest star, but they play brother and sister, and there are bits of blink-and-miss moments of subtext. Given that they were dating in real life at the time, that was to be expected.
• Instant Web Hit: Austin seems to have some kind of web presence before the pilot, but he becomes an Internet sensation over (two) night(s) with the song he stole from Ally. His music video is bumped to second by the end of the episode. The newest hit? Ally accidentally destroying the TV show studio!
  • Happens again with Ally's "The Ally Way" music video.
• The Internet Is for Cats: On one episode a video of Ally's performance becomes the top video on a website, beating a video of a sneezing panda. The characters are about to watch Ally's video when a video of said panda's baby sneezing becomes the top video.
• Ironic Echo: The episode with T-Fame's rising star. Several lines of dialog are identical to lines from the first episode. To add to it, T-Fame reminds Austin he still did the same thing to Ally.
• Irrevocable Message: In the Halloween Episode "Costumes & Courage", Austin accidentally insults his boss Jimmy Starr with a heated text message calling him an "evil gutless rat" and the gang realizes Austin will get fired if Jimmy finds out. Fortunately, Ally manages to intercept and delete the text at the Halloween party before Jimmy reads it.
• It Makes Sense in Context: In-Universe, Ally talking to her father in Episode 1.
  Ally: The one I have upstairs is older than the lady I'm dating Sunday.
  • Basically the whole plot of "Songwriting & Starfish".
  • In the episode "Diners and Daters":
  Ally: See Austin, I told you she wasn't a mermaid!
  Trish: (Gives Ally a weird look).

  • Lampshaded when Ally replies, "You had to be there."
• It's Always Sunny in Miami: Nonetheless, they (the guys especially) do seem to wear a lot of skinny jeans, cardigans, and jackets.
• Just Friends: The title characters. ...until Season 2. Then it gets crazy.
• Kangaroos Represent Australia: Played with in "Kangaroos & Chaos". The kangaroo causes most of the damage and conflict in the episode, but hundreds of people pay just to see it in the music store.
• Kawaiiko: Nelson.
• "Kick Me" Prank: Ally proposes doing this to Trent in "Crybabies & Cologne", but Austin, Trish, and Dez don't agree, thinking it's childish. In the final scene of the episode, Ally attaches "Kick me" signs on her friends to get back at them for mocking her idea and the three are heard being kicked offscreen.
• Kids Are Cruel: In the flashback scene in "Filmmaking & Fear Breaking".
• Kissing Discretion Shot: Austin and Ally's first kiss in "Chapters & Choices". Done again when they recreate it for Dez's movie in "Real Life & Reel Life", but Dez moves away before they break apart.
• Lampshade Hanging: Trish's employment record is the reason why Ally specifically refuses to hire her for the Sonic Boom store.
  • And from the same episode:
    Ally: Wow, you're good at a job?
  • There were several in "Real Life & Reel Life", but at one point in the episode, it was lampshaded how often Austin and Ally only have one day to write a song.
  • Austin wonders out loud if everybody knows his Embarrassing Middle Name.
  • In the Christmas Episode, "Mix-Ups & Mistletoe", Ally questions Chuck on how he always manages to show up whenever it looks like Dez is about to win at something.
• Last Episode Theme Reprise: The series finale ends as the now married Austin and Ally perform a piano version of the theme song.
• Last-Minute Hookup: Austin and Ally rekindle their romantic relationship in "Last Dances & Last Chances", and remain a couple permanently for the rest of the series.
• The Last Title: The episode "Last Dances & Last Chances".
• Latex Perfection: Brooke did this twice in "Mysteries & Meddling Kids".
• Local Hangout: Each season features a specific hangout place for the four main characters.
  • Season 1: Mall Atrium
  • Season 2: Cafe complex
  • Season 3: Shredder's Beach Club
  • Season 4: Food court
• "London, England" Syndrome: Played for Laughs in "Road Trips & Reunions". While trying to reunite with each other, Austin stops in Portland, Oregon, while Ally ends up in Portland, Maine. Then, Austin goes to Washington DC, while Ally winds up going to Washington State. This is even lampshaded.
• Longing Look: Ally to Dallas in "Secrets & Songbooks".
  • Also in "Club Owners & Quinceñearas".
  • Austin to Ally in "Proms & Promises" and "Last Dances & Last Chances".
• Loony Friends Improve Your Personality: Austin, Trish, and Dez throw a private dance party in the store to help Ally loosen up.
• Love Triangle: Austin between Kira and Ally. Unfortunately, it does not end well—Austin gets neither…until "Partners & Parachutes" where he and Ally get together, only to break up in "Couples & Careers" However, Austin and Ally do eventually get together again in "Last Dances & Last Chances" and stay that way all the way to the end.
• Mad Libs Catchphrase:
  • "Guess who got a job as/at X?"
    • Generally, Trish does it with anything big, "Guess who..."
  • Ally's "There's no eating in X!" - once in "Rockers & Writers", four times in "Bloggers & Butterflies".
  • Also, Ally's "Don't touch my X!" Usually, it's her book.
• The Mall: Almost all scenes take place here.
  • In Season 3, the main setting moves to a beach club.
  • In Season 4, it moves back to the mall, but with the A&A Music Factory in place of Sonic Boom as the new setting where Austin and Ally become mentors to their students attending the said school.
• Malaproper: This appears to be a tendency of Nelson. Less often Austin And Dez can fall into this at times, as seen in "Mysteries & Meddling Kids".
• Meaningful Name: The store where Ally works is called 'Sonic Boom'.
  • Also, Austin Moon = Moon, Ally Dawson = Daw - Sun. This was lampshaded in one episode.
  • The vile, unscrupulous music manager, Demonica Dixon.
  • And, as mentioned by the creators, Lester Dawson, a cheapskate, married a woman named Penny. Cue rimshot.
  • Jimmy Starr's name is rather appropriate, considering that he runs a big name record label and thus, produces a lot of stars.
  • Dallas and Austin are both cities in Texas and serve as the main love-interests for Ally.
  • Ally's name is spelled the same as the word ally (i.e. someone who works with another person for a mutual benefit), which is a rather fitting description of her initial partnership with Austin (before they became closer).
• Meta Casting:
  • Carrie mentioned in "Dancers and Ditzes" that she's been taking up DJ lessons. In real life, Hannah Kat Jones, who plays Carrie, also does DJ work outside of being a model and acting.
  • Trish says that Benny (an Austin Moon impersonator) looks more like her than Austin. Those who don't know, Benny is played by Rico Rodriguez, Raini's brother in real life.
  • Maddie Ziegler plays Shelby, who's the younger sister of someone who is an amazing violinist, and has a slight inferiority complex due to not having musical talent. While in real life she's an amazing dancer and the older sister to Mackenzie Ziegler who's often looked over in favor of Maddie in Dance Moms.
• Missing Mom: It turns out Ally's mom is conducting primate research in Africa, communicating with Ally through a Skype-like service.
• Moment Killer: Inverted in the third episode. Ally loses her songbook and promptly freaks out; Dez plays a jaunty tune on the piano in response.
• Mundane Made Awesome: "A Million Hits". Such a number isn't very high for views. It'd be like saying "I want to reach #40."
• My Little Phony: Dez mentions a "My Tiny Tiger" series and says Rainbow Roar is the best. Austin disagrees and states Bengal Beauty is the best tiger.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: In "Families & Feuds", Dez strongly disapproves of Chuck dating his sister showing that he is very protective of her.
• Name and Name: Applying to both the series' title and its Idiosyncratic Episode Naming.
• New Job as the Plot Demands: Each episode has Trish getting a new job.
  Trish: Guess who got a job at [insert job here]?
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: "The Helen Show".
  • And Wanda Watson for either Wendy Williams or Rachael Ray. Wendy if it's a Race Lift but true to the Alliterative Name with W's, or Rachael Ray, if they wanted to use an Alliterative Name but didn't care what letter was used.
  • The president (played by a professional Obama impersonator) is only ever referred to as the President.
• No OSHA Compliance: Trish and Dez worked at a pirate-themed seafood restaurant that made employees serve food and operate the fryer wearing a fake hook hand.
• Nominated as a Prank: One episode features a singing competition where it is revealed that the producers always have a joke contestant, who this time is a young girl with little singing ability. After the girl gets trained by Austin, Ally, Dez, and Trish, she winds up becoming an insanely talented singer who manages to win the contest.
• The Not-Love Interest: Austin and Ally are this for each other, for the time being and they even thought the whole idea was silly, until after "Campers & Complications" they realize they like each other.

• Oddball in the Series: Season 3 is the only season to not have some place in the Mall of Miami as the gang's Local Hangout, instead Shredder's Beach Club takes its place.
• Odd Couple: Calm Austin and neurotic Ally. Their lack of common interest becomes a problem in one episode when Austin dislikes a song Ally writes because it fits her personality more than his, so they spend the whole episode learning more about what the other is interested in.
• Official Couple: Austin and Ally, the title made it inevitable. They became this briefly from "Partners & Parachutes" to "Couples & Careers", but as of "Last Dances & Last Chances", they become a couple permanently for the rest of the series. By the time of the epilogue, they're married and have children of their own.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Austin and Ally are at odds in "Real Life & Reel Life" while Trish and Dez are in harmony.
• Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Happens twice.
  • First time in "Campers & Complications" when Dez walks in on Ally practicing what she plans on telling Elliot, her childhood crush from summer camp: "Elliot, you were my first crush. I always wanted to be your girlfriend..." and is then interrupted Dez, who rushes to tell Austin who has just developed romantic feelings for Ally. However, neither Dez nor Austin realized that Ally actually meant to say that although she did love Elliot and wanted to be his girlfriend, she has now changed her mind after being bored with him and was going to end their relationship.
  • Second time in "Costumes & Courage" when Austin overhears Ally and Jimmy discussing selling Austin's latest song to Taylor Swift, unaware that they are actually planning on surprising him by setting up a duet for him and Taylor at the Halloween party.
• Overly Long Gag:
  Dez: Hold on, hold on, hold on...
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Austin disguises himself as a lumberjack so he can secretly perform at a karaoke parlor without being caught by Jimmy, who has banned Austin from ever performing again. After getting a good look at him, Ally recognized him immediately and an accident with his fake beard blew any chance of him being able to perform again anytime soon.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Trish gets one of zebra print for her Quinceñeara.
• Plot Hole: In "Relationships & Red Carpets", Jimmy Starr says that Austin can't have a girlfriend, or his career will go down the toilet. This is a fair time after Austin was in a relationship with Kira, Jimmy's daughter, whom Jimmy forbid from dating singers, but let the two date after Austin reveals their relationship (albeit in a failed Batman Gambit to get Jimmy to break the two up).
  • In "Videos & Villains", the video of Timeless shouldn't have appeared during the Top Ten, because it was only a dream Austin had in "Future Sounds & Festival Songs".
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": After the gang sabotages his relationship with Dez's sister, Chuck spends the entire episode setting off explosive strawberry jam attacks on them as revenge. He even manages to rig Dez's zombie survival kit with the jam easily figuring out the combination as "0-0-0-0".
• Poor Communication Kills: When Austin reads Ally's songbook before she has the chance to tell him about her crush... on Dallas.
  • At the start of season 4, it's revealed that Dez and Carrie broke up. Turns out, they broke up because Dez said "We're done" at a restaurant, but Carrie assumed that Dez was talking to her instead of the waiter.
• P.O.V. Boy, Poster Girl: Played as a Gender-Inverted Trope. Ally is the shy, nerdy everywoman who writes songs for musical star Austin, and his rise to stardom drives the overarching plot of the show and shakes up Ally's life.

• Previously on…: The beginning of both "Partners & Parachutes" and "Last Dances & Last Chances" has it. Trish said the "previously on" line for the former and Austin said the line on the latter.
• Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Brooke becomes this as of "Videos & Villains".
• Punny Name: Austin Moon and Ally Dawson "Sun".
• Rearrange the Song: In addition to an updated title sequence, Season 4 has the theme song, originally performed by Ross Lynch solo, re-recorded as a duet with Laura Marano.
• Relationship Sabotage: Austin, Trish, and Dez break off the relationship between Chuck and Dez's sister in "Families & Feuds".
• Running Gag/Catchphrase: "Don't touch my book!"
  • "Guess who got a job at [X]!"
  • In "Duos & Deception," the question of which sibling is Billie and which one is Bobbie (due to the way their names are spelt and both can be unisex names). Capped by The Stinger:
  Bobbie (played by Dove Cameron): Which one of you is Austin and which one is Ally?
  Austin/Ally: SERIOUSLY?!?
• Sarcastic Clapping: Ally in "Deejays & Demos" after Dez hypnotizes himself while attempting to hypnotize her.
• Satellite Love Interest: "Dallas, the cellphone accessory guy" for Ally- she likes him because he has "kind eyes", "hair that flops just the right way" and "a great smile".
• Series Continuity Error: Ally has stage fright and is shown numerous times to be horribly afraid of singing in public, but in "Diners & Daters", she has a singing argument with Austin in front of the staff and customers at the Melody Diner without any trouble at all. Granted, it wasn't an official performance and it wasn't a huge crowd, but still...
• Ship Tease:
  Austin: I'll always be an Ally Dawson fan.
  • Along with ten million other examples.
• Shirtless Scene: Austin, per Beach Episode protocol in "Songwriting & Starfish".
• Shockingly Expensive Bill: The bill to repair the store window.
• Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?: If it weren't for an off-hand comment in a Season 1 episode the average viewer would probably think the whole series took place during Summer Break ala Phineas and Ferb. Somewhat Averted in Season 2 as a good chunk of episodes actually have the school setting or schoolwork become major plot points.
• Shout-Out: In "Kangaroos & Chaos", Austin offers his guitar for the kangaroo to play, only for the guitar to be tossed out of the room. Austin then states that it's better for the kangaroo to play the drums.
  • In another episode the kids are detained by a police officer named Dunphy. Bonus points because Trish is played by Raini Rodriguez, whose brother plays Manny.
  • In "Filmmaking & Fear Breaking" Austin grabs an umbrella to fight a monster on the beach, kind of reminds you of a certain SOLDIER doing something similar.
  • From the Austin & JESSIE & Ally New Year's Eve Cross Over:
  Austin (to Jessie): Hey, Jessie!.
  • The 'This Or What?' routine was shown on The Abbott And Costello Show.
  • Ally's Swedish "Roxie Rocket" alias wears a long blonde wig (albeit with some pink markings) and pink clothing, hangs out at the beach, has a superstar boyfriend, and is treated far differently in her disguised persona than her regular "ordinary girl" self, as least until her secret is revealed. Remind you of anyone?
    • The goofy, barely-there pidgin Swedish accent ("Jaaaa!") has shades of the accent Lilly used as a Swedish truffle saleswoman in "Hannah On The Streets With Diamonds".
    • Their high school Glee club is named The "B Sharps", not to mention an entire episode being set around their club wanting to make it to Regionals.
  • Dez is afraid he can't crush the Austin-bot because the Austin-bot could be stronger, faster, and smarter than him.
  • The episode "Glee Clubs & Glory" could be a shout-out to the movie Pitch Perfect:
    • Austin represents Beca Mitchell, the newcomer who wants to shake things up.
    • Austin could also bring to mind Bumper Allen, the leader of the rival group the Treblemakers, once he breaks away from the group to start his own Glee club. Hell, he even calls his group the Trebles!
    • Ally represents Aubrey Posen, the controlling leader who wants to stick to tradition.
    • Dez's line about "He who holds the pitch pipe holds the power" also shouts out Aubrey.
    • Miles is a shy member who speaks very quietly so that the other members can't hear what he's saying, which appears to reference Lily Onakurama.
    • During the finale performance, Austin's "Can you can you feel, can you can you feel," right before they go into "Can You Feel It" even has a similar cadence to Lily’s “It ain’t about the money” when the Bellas perform "Price Tag" during their finale.
• Shutting Up Now: From "Bloggers & Butterflies":
  Ally: Wow, Hater Girl is good. I mean she's bad, but she's good at being bad because she's a bad person but she's just so good at being - I'll stop talking now.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Austin's is T-Fame (aka Trent) and Dez's is Chuck.

• Status Quo Is God: The Zalien movies set up a sort of Odd Friendship for Dez and Trish... which promptly crashes at the end of the episode.
  • It's averted with the 'Starr Records' plot-line in the final two episodes of Season 1. You'd expect something to go disastrously wrong so that Austin can remain an independent singer trying to reach for the stars but nothing does. He signs a record deal. He has a record made. They release the CD and have a launch party, and remark at the end of "Albums & Auditions" that with Austin moving up in the music world that things will be changing.
  • Played straight with Ally's plot in "Albums & Auditions". The Power of Friendship makes her decide to stay in Miami instead of leaving to go to New York for music school.
  • Several episodes into season 4, and Jimmy Starr was considering letting Austin perform again. After he catches Austin secretly performing in a karaoke place, he reaffirms his ban on future performances. In the episode directly after, however, Jimmy does lift his ban, and Austin and Trish are planning a big comeback.
• Surfer Dude: Billl. Yes, with three L's.
• Theme Naming: Related to Punny Name. Three of the central figures in Austin's music career have names relating to the solar system: Austin Moon, Ally Dawson (Sun), and Jimmy Starr.
• Title Drop: Having a show named after the two main characters makes this happen reasonably often:
  Austin: Whenever you need me I'm there. No more Austin time. From now on, it's Austin and Ally time.
• This Is a Song:
  "This is not a love song..."
• To Be Continued: The end of "Chapters & Choices", which is the 1st episode in the show to have one. Luckily it doesn't end with a "On the Next Austin and Ally", instead showing a funny credits scene about Ally's parents, to soften the blow.
  • Also at the end of "Proms & Promises", and the penultimate episode, "Musicals & Moving On", with the latter ending it with this trope after the end credits have played and before the Vanity Plate.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: More apparent in Season 2. Ally is the Girly Girl to Trish's tomboy.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Austin's love of pancakes is occasionally mentioned. Also, Ally's love of pickles.
• Trauma Conga Line: In the second episode, Trish gets a job at the dry cleaners, from which she "borrows" a leather jacket for the video shoot. Over the course of a few minutes, it gets stretched by a kangaroo and thrown in a bucket of caramel. What makes it even worse is the name of the guy who owns the jacket - "Face Puncher". Even worse? He has a daughter named "Mad Dog"! The cleaning process both shrinks the jacket and discolors it from black to pink. Mad Dog is delighted with her new jacket.
• True Companions: Austin, Ally, Trish, and Dez. Aka "Team Austin".
• Two Scenes, One Dialogue: "Secrets & Songbooks" has Austin mistakenly believing Ally has fallen for him when he reads her Secret Diary; meanwhile Ally elaborates on her crush on the cellphone accessory guy.
• Tyop on the Cover: In "Beauties & Bullies", the mysterious bully misspells "Beauty" as "B-E-A-U-T-E-Y". Margo's poster contains the same error as the comments, which is how Dez is able to discern her as the bully. Carrie also misspells it as "B-E-A-U-T-E-E" at one point.
• Uncool Undies: In the episode "Filmmaking and Fear Breaking," it is revealed that Austin has a phobia of umbrellas due to two separate incidents in which his pants were somehow torn off by umbrella. One incident in seen in a flashback from when Austin was in 4th grade and the other subsequently occurs in the present day. Despite the fact that these incidents occur years apart, Austin is seen both times wearing identical pairs of green boxer shorts with race cars on them. Dez subsequently reveals that he knows that Austin always wears boxers like this.
• Unknown Rival: Tilly, a blogger who has been posting unflattering (and often faked) stories making Austin look bad. It turns out she actually hates Ally for "showing her up" at a school recital when they were in kindergarten. It's justified as Tilly remembers everyone loving her song and hating Ally's when it was the complete opposite and Ally is amazed Tilly has spent ten years obsessing over this.
• Unreliable Narrator: Tilly in "Bloggers & Butterflies".
• Uptight Loves Wild: Doubly played with. Austin is only a rocker while on stage; also, Austin tries to convince Ally that she doesn't have a crush on him, because he doesn't want to ruin their friendship.
• Very Special Episode: Beauties & Bullies, complete with a knockout at the end where the cast members doing a PSA about bullying, while mentioning insulting comments they've received online.
• Wham Line:
  • At the very end of "Mix-Ups and Mistletoes": Let's get the sleigh and get out of here Santa, we almost blew our cover.
  • In "Chapters & Choices", Austin asks Kira to be his girlfriend, who says she needs time to think. Later Austin kisses Ally and smiles, only for Kira to come back.
  Kira: Austin, I thought about it. Yes, I'll be your girlfriend.
• What If?: The episode "What-Ifs & Where's Austin" features the gang imagining what would've happened had they never met Austin.

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