Western Animation / Ruby Rocket Private Detective

It had been a long night and Private Detective Ruby Rocket needed a stiff one... Then he walked in.

Ruby Rocket, Private Detective is a series of Film Noir-style shorts created by and starring Stacey Hallal and animated by Sam Neimann.

Rocket is woken in her office by a man knocking on the door, wanting to hire her.

Following an initial short, viewable here, five more short were made, viewable here and here. In 2020, following a successful Kickstarter, "Ruby University," the first issue of a Ruby Rocket Private Detective comic series was launched.

Tropes:

• Blackmail: Mrs. Van Door is being blackmailed, so she hires Ruby to find out who is behind it and why.
• Blatant Lies: In his victory speech, Mayor Wheekly credits his success to his upbringing, in a poor family with seven siblings. A flashback shows he was an only child in a wealthy family.
• Chandler American Time: Set in 1939 in a No Communities Were Harmed version of Chicago, with all the usual trappings.
• Crash-Into Hello: Ruby stalks the blackmailer she's been hired to uncover, but he stops and turns around, causing her to crash into him.
• Cuteness Proximity: In episode two, a client, Mrs. Van Door, wears a fox stole, which Ruby spends most of the time trying to nuzzle.
• Eating the Eye Candy: In the pilot, Ruby focuses on the client so much she doesn't hear a word he says. In episode three, she forgets why she was visiting Rick once she sees him naked and tries to get him to remove his bedsheet.
• Friend on the Force: Rick Bellows. Ruby visits him in the middle of the night in episode three.
• Hardboiled Detective: Ruby.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Ruby.
  It'd been a long night. Night that stretched into day then back into night then back into day. Least I thought it was day. All I knew for sure is that I was hungover. I was so hung over, I was still drunk.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode of the webseries starts with "The Big..." as a nod to The Big Sleep.
• Landslide Election: Mayor Wheekly is reelected in a landslide to a sixth consecutive term, which likely indicates his huge popularity with the city, much like real life Chicago mayor Richard Daley, although it could also be Vote Early, Vote Often, also like the real Mayor Daley.
• Man on Fire: Ruby accidentally sets her hair on fire while lighting her cigarette.
  My assistant, Pixie Stick was taking a well-deserved vacation, leaving me to take care of myself. And I wasn't doing a very good job of it.
• Metaphorgotten:
  I watched him put the cigarette in his full, round lips. I could have lit it with my soul. Because it was on fire. My soul was on fire not his cigarette. Well his cigarette was on fire too but after I lit it. Not on fire but lit, it was lit.
  • And
    Looking at him was like stealing candy from a baby. I like candy. I like chocolate turtles with pecans. I don't like babies as much, they're too small and you can't eat them. Well, I guess some people might eat them, but that's just plain sick.
• Newspaper-Thin Disguise: Ruby uses one when stalking a blackmailer. She not-so inconspicuously rips a hole in the front to look through.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Mayor Wheekly, reelected for a sixth term, is based on Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, Sr., who served six consecutive terms as mayor from 1955 to 1976.
• No Communities Were Harmed: Ruby lives in Cashigo, a stand-in for Chicago.
• Pretty in Mink: Grande Dame Mrs. Van Door wears a fox stole when meeting with Ruby. Ruby becomes so distracted by the fox she constantly tries to nuzzle its face.
• Private Eye Monologue: Just about every cliché you can name. Ruby's office is grimy, with half-open Venetian blinds, a door with a frosted window, and a bottle of booze on the desk. She eventually spends so much time monologuing that she hadn't heard a word the client said.
• Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic: Ruby stumbles over words and metaphors. Possibly because she's hung over and still a bit drunk.
• Role Called
• Slipping a Mickey: While following a blackmail suspect, Ruby follows him into a bar and loses him, so she orders a dirty martini. The blackmailer is hiding under the counter and slips something in her drink, knocking her out.
• Smoking Is Cool
• Talks Like a Simile
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: Where Ruby keeps her cigarettes. A Grande Dame client is less than enthusiastic about reaching for one when offered.
• Weapon Stomp: Subversion. In the opening, one of the men on the floor reaches for a gun. Ruby jabs him in the head with her Combat Stilettos.
• With Catlike Tread: In episode three, Ruby visits a friend for information in the middle of the night, and loudly smashes through a window to get in. After he sees her out, she remembers why she visited him and loudly smashes through another window.

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