Western Animation / Epic (2013)

aka: Epic

It's pretty epic.

"Many leaves. One tree."

An animated fantasy adventure, based on William Joyce's The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs. The film features a teenage girl, Mary Katherine (MK to her friends), who finds herself thrown into the world of the Leaf Men, protectors of the forest, and a battle "between the forces of good and evil". It is produced by Blue Sky Studios, directed by Chris Wedge and released in 2013.

The first trailer can be viewed here, and the second here.

Not to be confused with the identically titled 1984 Australian animated film, and has no relation to Epic Games.

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Epic provides examples of the following tropes:

• Advertised Extra: Beyoncé's role as Queen Tara. For trailers and TV spots, she is credited as a main character. The movie itself? Put simply a few minutes in, and before MK could even shrink down, the Boggans end up killing the queen.
• All Just a Dream: Averted. MK just really, really wishes it was.
• all lowercase letters: The style of the movie title.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: The Boggans essentially personify death and decay, and have a fungal motif to contrast the more verdant and lively plant motif of the Leafmen.
• Anyone Can Die: The Leafmen's queen dies, Mandrake's son dies, a Boggan is seen falling down onto a car windshield and is just wiped off like a swatted fly, and who knows how many more sacrificed their lives in this battle.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When MK learns that there's a chance she can return to her world, Nim asks why she left it in the first place.
• Artistic License – Biology: Mub and Grub are portrayed with teeth on the inside of the mouth and a human-like tongue. Mollusk jaws are nothing like that at all. Instead, a tongue-like organ called the radula (which is covered with teeth) is used to cut food. Putting their teeth on their tongue would be more realistic.
• Ascended Fanboy:
  • The flower girl, who idolizes Queen Tara and wanted to be just like her, is chosen to be her heir when the pod blooms under the full moon.
  • Grub also joins the ranks of the Leafmen by the end of the film.
• Badass Army: The Leafmen, being incredibly structured and full of competent warriors.
• Balance Between Good and Evil: Between the forces of the forest (good) and the forces of rot (evil).
• Bat Out of Hell: The Boggans' favorite mammals. Wrathwood doubles as a roost for hundreds of bats, which the Boggans ride en masse at the climax.
• Beauty Equals Goodness:
  • The Boggans are ugly, and the animals they use as mounts (bats, grackles, and a star-nosed mole) are ones that are generally disliked by humans (or are known be at least Ugly Cute). Whereas the Leafmen are all good-looking, and ride hummingbirds.
  • Averted with the mouse, who is adorable, but perceives the smaller leafmen as food. It's basically a scaled-down bear.
• Bequeathed Power: In a way: Tara doesn't know the flower girl that well, but chooses her to be her heir.
• The Big Damn Kiss: MK and Nod share a kiss just before she is changed back to her normal size.
• Bit Character: Finn. He only gets a handful of lines, but he is Ronin's friend and second in command, and steps in to manage the other Leafmen when Ronin goes off on his own with the pod.
• Bittersweet Ending: A new queen has been chosen. MK and her father reconcile. However, MK is magically changed back to her regular size, but not before sharing a kiss with Nod. And the ending shows the two still remaining in contact.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Mandrake and his son are humanoid and have at least two sets of teeth, but were apparently born as larvae.
• Black-and-White Morality: The Boggans are all evil, the Leafmen are all good.
• Black Comedy: The fruit fly scene. A sentient insect goes from an excitable child to a bitter old man full of regrets to death in the space of a single sentence.
• Black Dude Dies First: Queen Tara is shot by an arrow from a Boggan soldier, and is the first important character to die on screen.
• Body Guard Crush: Ronin's strongly implied to have feelings for Tara, and she possibly returns. Then again they were childhood friends, so...
• Book Ends: The marigold trying to do some kind of magic like Queen Tara. It works the second time.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: Some of the Leafmen are shown weilding both bows and swords in the ambush scene.
• Broken Aesop: Bomba destroyed his marriage, his family, and his career with his obsession. He repeatedly runs off in the middle of conversations with his estranged, grieving daughter to check on his sensors. His attempts to reconnect with her go no further than trying to get her involved with his work. His theories were correct, but MK telling him that he was right "about everything" makes it sound like it was her and her mother's fault for not trusting him enough. Bomba is rewarded with proof of his theory and a repaired relationship with his daughter without changing anything about his behavior, much less apologize.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Even with his zaniness, Bomba's sketches, helmet, and surveillance system are quite impressive.
• Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": The Leafmen refer to average-sized humans as "Stompers."
• Cassandra Truth: MK doesn't believe her father's theory that there are Leafmen who live in the forest, and states that his marriage and career were (understandably) ruined because of it. At least until she gets shrunken down to size to see them for herself.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The bat sounds MK's father keeps on his iPod are used to lead Mandrake's bats away from Moonhaven, preventing the Boggans from blocking out the light, and ensuring the pod blooms properly.
  • The pinned bug armor that's on display. MK notices it in passing when she first arrives at the house, and when the time comes to infiltrate Boggan territory, she knows exactly where to get their disguises.
• Close on Title: The title never appears at all in the movie until just before the credits roll.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The rich greens and golds of the forest (the use of yellow contributing to the 'warmness'), versus the cold colour palette and mud-browns of Mandrake and his allies. Also, the brightness of the forest, compared to the relatively subdued colours used in the house.
• Conveniently Interrupted Document: The bottom of the scroll about the pod has been pretty much shredded. Mandrake took it because he didn't want anyone to know what happens when the pod blooms in darkness.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment : When Mandrake kidnaps Mub and Grub he tortures them by showing off mementos of his son's childhood.
  Mub: *wailing* Your stories are boring and torturous!
• Cool Versus Awesome: Samurai (the Leafmen) vs. shark-frog-men (the Boggans).
• Costume Porn: The outfits worn by the characters are very detailed, especially the Leafmen armor.
• Cowardly Lion: Mub and Grub defend the pod when Mandrake breaks into Nim's tree to get it, but end up being taken to Wrathwood with it.
• Creepy Crows: The Boggans ride grackles, not crows.
• Curtains Match the Windows: Nod and Queen Tara, as well as MK's deceased mother, have brown hair and brown eyes.
• Dark Is Evil: The Boggans dress in skulls and skins, their color pallet is dark browns and grays in contrast to the greens and golds of the Leafmen and the forest, they represent rot and decay, and they want to destroy the forest and everything in it.
• Darker and Edgier: Than Blue Sky Studios' other films. As Blue Sky stuck mainly with comedies, this is their first film where the action is pushed to the forefront. Characters die, and a few have major daddy issues.
• Dead Star Walking: You might think that Queen Tara (voiced by Beyonce) is going to be an important figure, but she dies early in. This also goes the same with Dagda, who gets killed by Ronin earlier in the movie.
• Deadly Dodging: Ronin dodges a shot from Dagda and kills him in return, but this allows Mandrake's shot to hit the queen as a result.
• Death as Comedy: The fruit fly scene. A newly born fruitfly goes from childhood to death in the space of a single sentence. Mub's silent, staring horror at the crumpled up fly corpse really sells it.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Tara dies in Ronin's.
• Disappeared Dad:
  • Played with Professor Bomba whose single-minded focus on finding the Leafmen caused his wife to leave with his child. When she returns at age 17, he does a terrible job of bonding with her because he has been alone so long with only a dog for company that he can't shake free of his obsession. When he finally does, it's when she's realized he was right all along.
  • Nod's father is mentioned, but never shown. It's strongly implied (if not said straight) by Ronin, who was his friend, that he died in Wrathwood.
• Disney Death: Ronin appears to be taken out by a hoard of boggans, but he reappears in time to keep Mandrake away from the pod.
• Disney Villain Death: Subverted. It's set up with Mandrake, but thanks to the Square-Cube Law, a long fall just annoys him.
  • Played straight with Mandrake's son, who is shot off his bird and falls out of sight into the forest below.
• Ditzy Genius: Professor Bomba built most of his equipment himself, including an extensive camera network and surveilance system spread throughout the entire forest. He also can't focus on the right thing in a conversation for very long, trying to get his daughter interested in his work while she's talking about how she wants him to be there for her, and then trying to have a deep conversation about their relationship when the destruction of the forest is moments away.
• Dressing as the Enemy: MK, Nod, and Ronin sneak into Wrathwood to retrieve Mub, Grub, and the pod, wearing Boggan armor to disguise themselves.
• Dude, Not Funny!: In-universe. MK doesn't like how Nod and Ronin are making fun of stompers, particularly her dad, who is sitting beside them and saddened of his daughter's departure. Then, she blatantly points out that she is also a stomper. Nod had no idea, but Ronin knew all along.
• "Eureka!" Moment: One for MK.
  Ronin: (to Nod) I don't have any boggan armor handy; do you?
  MK: I know where we can get some.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite showing a little indifference to him in their first scene together, Mandrake does genuinely care for his son Dagda, and seems to have a good enough relationship with him in later scenes. He is also very angry when Bufo insults him, especially because at that point Dagda is dead.
• Everything's Better with Samurai: The Leafmen's armor seems to draw a lot of inspiration from the samurai. Referenced with Ronin's name.
  • Not to mention his Date Masamune helmet.
  • They also wield wakazashi, the companion sword for katana.
• Evil Only Has to Win Once: It's not made explicit, but it's pretty clear if Mandrake stops a new queen from being crowned, the forest wouldn't be able to come back from him rotting it.
• Extremely Short Timespan: The film takes place within one full day and one night, along with a sunrise. The ending shows that a few days have passed.
• The Fair Folk: The Leafmen, while not malicious, are heavily influenced by them. Chris Wedge's motivation to make the film came from seeing a museum painting of tiny fairy folk in a forest.
• Failed a Spot Check: See "Gave Up Too Soon" below.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Mandrake complains that no matter how much they destroy, Queen Tara can regrow it all back with a wave of her hand. Of course, if she were gone and had no successor...
• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: An interesting inversion: MK wants her dad to abandon his obsession with the Leafmen because it cost him both his marriage and career, and is currently threatening the already tenuous relationship MK is trying to restart with him.
• Fat and Skinny: The large boggan guard and his incredibly thin cohort.
• Faux Affably Evil: The more polite Mandrake's words are, the more gleefully malicious he sounds and acts. He bursts up through the floorboards at Nim's, tears up the place, and then politely asks if anyone has seen the pod.
  Mandrake: Excuse me! I'm looking for something very dear to me. It was left by someone who is... no longer with us.
• Feathered Fiend: The grackle mounts ridden by Mandrake and his warriors.
• Fertile Feet: Played with for Queen Tara. She can stimulate new growth just by waving her hand over a barren spot (even anyplace rotted out by Mandrake's poisons), and she can control all the plant life in the forest. When she dies, her body disappears and is replaced by new grass and flowers.
• Five Stages of Grief: MK mentioned going through this early in the movie, and her father seems to be firmly planted in denial. And while it's not focused on in the movie, it could possibly hinted that both her and her father will go through it. Together.
• Foreshadowing: A flower kid idolizes Queen Tara and dreams of becoming queen like her. She becomes the one to succeed Tara at the end of the film.
• For the Evulz: Why exactly are the Boggans trying to destroy the forest? They'll have to live there too afterwards.
• Friendly Tickle Torture: Mub to Grub, briefly.
• Funny Background Event: When Ronin questions Nod on his whereabouts, Finn awkwardly turns to face a different direction, with an amusing facial expression like he's thinking "I'm going to stay out of this."
• Furry Confusion: Some of the animals (like Mub and Bufo) and plants (like the dandelions) can talk and interact like humans but others (like the mouse and birds) can only interact as animals of comparable size to humans would.
• Garden Garment: All the Leafmen and Queen Tara wear clothes made of leaves or petals.
• Gave Up Too Soon: Just when Professor Bomba's recording equipment would have been useful (tiny MK needed him and his iPod), he starts disconnecting them. Fortunately, he finds the red thumbtack MK moved on his map to indicate the Leafmen lair.
• Giant Flyer: ALL birds from Leafman perspective, but in particular the hummingbirds and grackles which are actually used as mounts.
• Hand Gagging: Nod to MK, when the latter almost screams in fear at a sleeping bat.
• Hollywood New England: The film takes place in the deciduous forests of either Connecticut or New York, Blue Sky Studios' current and former base of headquarters. During the end credits, we see memorabilia from both those states, as well as a few others in New England, like Vermont.
  • The cab from the beginning has a New York license plate and the college MK's dad works at is in NY as well, so there's a strong likelihood that it's New York. Additionally, MK's dad drops a mug labeled "White Plains Science Fair," and White Plains is in New York.
  • Though there is a strong likelihood of Connecticut as well, seeing as MK's dad has a driver's license from Danbury, CT.
• Horse of a Different Color: The Leafmen ride hummingbirds as aerial steeds, while the Boggans prefer grackles. Mandrake rides a star-nosed mole when he kidnaps the snails and pod. MK and Nod go for a ride on a white-tailed deer's antler.
  • The boggans also use bats for night flying.
• Impressed by the Civilian: while fleeing a Boggin attack, Queen Tara is impressed by a young girl who is able to subdue an attacking Boggin with a branch. So much so, that by the end of the movie, she makes the girl the heir to her title and powers.
• In a Single Bound: Leafmen (and by extension all miniature people) can jump many times their own height. Once turned into one of them, MK finds she can do this, too, after a little practice. This is due to the Square-Cube Law.
• Incredible Shrinking Man: Done to MK by Tara, so she can take care of the pod holding the life of the forest. MK doesn't realize what's happened until she sees a bumblbee the size of her torso drift past.
• In-Series Nickname: "MK" for Mary Katherine.
• Instant Expert: Averted and played straight. MK learns that she can fall great distances and leap super high, but throughout the film, never gets the hang of it, and pretty much every time she uses it, she misses her target. However, she learned to fly birds without needing any instructions (which could be handwaved since the birds are shown to be smart and well-trained and might only need basic guidance).
• Insult Friendly Fire: Nod and Ronin mock Stompers for a little while in front of MK, who just happens to be a Stomper. Not made better by the fact that the Stomper they were mocking was her father.
• Interspecies Romance: MK the human and Nod the leafman, and Mub has a one-sided crush on MK as well.
• Ironic Echo: "Ozzy! No kisses." First said somewhat affectionately when MK is carrying the tiny dog up the stairs in her arms. The next time, Ozzy is comparatively the size of a bus and bearing down on MK at top speed.
• Jump Scare: MK accidentally startles a distracted Bomba with her greeting.
• Just One Second Out of Sync: The tiny inhabitants of the forest are hard for humans to see because they exist in a state where they naturally move faster than larger animals, humans included. Seen from MK's perspective, Queen Tara is vibrating so fast that she leaves after-images even when she's not actually moving. Which, according to the theory of relativity, could happen.
• Katanas Are Just Better: The leafmen use wakazashi, the shorter brother of the katana.
• Killer Rabbit: The Leafmen treat ordinary mice like we would treat bears. Other small creatures like chipmunks are also terrifying, apparently. Interestingly, the much-larger deer isn't scary at all, presumably due to being a herbivore rather than an omnivore, and/or simply too big to even notice Leafmen.
• The Leader: Ronin is the head of the Leafmen and of the queen's personal guard. Even when it's just him, Nod and MK, he's still the one calling the shots.
• Light/Darkness Juxtaposition: Used to emphasize the Life/Death Juxtaposition between the forest's forces of life and rot. Life is associated with daylight, growth, and bright colors, rot is associated with shadows, decay, and dark colors.
• Life/Death Juxtaposition: The Balance Between Good and Evil is between that of the life-bringing, nature-loving forces of the forest and the decay-and-darkness-loving forces of rot.
• Light Is Good: Played straight. Queen Tara is associated with green growth and golden sunlight, and wears a white dress. Her magic, outside of moving plants, is shown in golden sparkles.
  • The life of the forest can only continue if the pod blooms in light.
• Like a Son to Me: It's implied Ronin might be growing to see Nod this way, but their mutual stubbornness gets in the way. Only reinforced by the fact that Nod's father was good friends with Ronin.
• Lilliputians: The residents of Moonhaven. They look exactly like humans, but are small enough to ride hummingbirds, and a mouse is a serious threat.
• Lilliputian Warriors: The Leafmen and the Boggans, both so small you can barely see them, both very formidable opponents.
• Lunacy: The light of the moon at its highest point in a hundred years will cause the pod to bloom into Tara's successor. And lack of it will cause it to bloom into Mandrake's successor.
• Mouse World: The forest. Bonus points for an actual mouse showing up... and trying to eat MK.
• The Marvelous Deer: Used for a romantic scene in which MK and Nod ride it against a setting sun.
• Mauve Shirt: Finn, Ronin's second in command with the beard, is the most identifiable Leafman outside of the main cast who leads the troops and has a few lines of dialogue. Though his living status is unknown. On the Villain's side there's the fat and skinny pair of guards who chase the heroes later in the film and can usually be found fighting with one another.
• Men of Sherwood: The Leafmen have no chance against the Big Bad, but against the Boggan army they are very effective even against poor numbers.
• Missing Mom: MK moves in with her father because her mother passed away. It becomes the source of where most of MK's and her dad's dramatic moments come from.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: The Boggan Mooks look like a cross between frogs and sharks. Mandrake and his son, however, look more cat- and human-like.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • Nim starts to sing an upbeat song to the people gathered in the tree, reading from a scroll like a script, then chokes when he realizes that the queen is dead.
  • MK and Nod come back from a romantic ride on a deer — only to realize that while they were gone, Mandrake kidnapped Mub, Grub, and the pod.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Mandrake, which otherwise refers to a magical plant with human-shaped roots that emitted a deadly scream upon being picked and the leaves of which were poison.
• Nemean Skinning: Mandrake and his son both wear the skins of dead animals using their heads as a hood. Mandrake wears a bat skin as a hood and cape. Dagda's rat is more like a coat, with the arms hanging over his shoulders and the rat skull like a helmet. Dagda specifically makes his to match his father's.
  "You look good in rat. It's...slimming."
• Nice Kitty...: When MK comes across a mouse, she walks up to it and talks to it as if it were a puppy. Unluckily for her, the mouse turns out to be pretty aggressive.
• Nice Mice: Drastically subverted when MK's belief in this trope, despite Nod's warnings, nearly gets her killed. When you're the size of a small insect, an ordinary field mouse is a predator, not something to squee over. Wordof God says it was a grasshopper mouse, which happens to be a carnivore.
• No Name Given: Bomba, Dagda, and Finn. They're only in the credits. The bird racers have no known names as well.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • MK, when she realises it's not All Just a Dream:
    MK: ... Dad? I had the most messed-up dream. There were talking slugs, and tiny little soldiers and-
    Grub: Helloo!
    MK: Aw, man.
  • Bufo when he realizes the "idiot general" he insulted was Mandrake's recently-deceased son.
    Bufo: You got rid of the queen but let her pod get away? Plus your idiot general gets himself mulched. Haha!
    Mandrake: That "idiot general" WAS MY SON! (stabs his staff into the ground, and destroys a nearby tree. One of Mandrake's hench-bugs scowls at Bufo and snaps the twig he's holding in half; Bufo's now terrified)
    Bufo: Uh, of c-c-course he was. He-he had your good looks, your h-h-h-healthy gray complexion and f-f-f-forgiving nature.
    Mandrake: SHUT UP! What's it gonna be, Bufo? Are you gonna talk or are you gonna croak? (Bufo whimpers) Where are they taking the pod?
  • Mandrake when Nod came alongside his fellow Leafmen to defend Ronin, just before Mandrake can kill Ronin.
  • Mub and Grub when Mandrake reveals what happens if the pod doesn't bloom in moonlight.
  Mub: I hate to break it to you, but it doesn't say that in the scrolls.
  Mandrake: It does in the part I have. (holds up the piece of scroll he snatched from Nim's tree)
  Mub & Grub: D'oh!
• Older Than They Look: Given Queen Tara's held her position for a century, both she and Ronin (on account of being childhood friends) look very good for beings which have not only lived a century but, due to their heightened speed, must actually experience that period of time as being at least twice as long as it is for humans.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Mandrake wants to rot the entire forest for no apparent reason, other than that the forces of life are his enemies.
• One-Man Army: Ronin. All the way. Mandrake had his army prepared for hundreds of leafmen, thousands of leafmen, and Ronin still fought through them to get to him.
  Mandrake: (mockingly) Well now I'm just embarrassed. I completely overprepared.
• Orderedto Cheat: Nod makes a deal with Bufo that he will lose the bird race he's compeating in. However, Nod's competative nature and impulsiveness means that despite repeated reminders, insults, threats, and outright attempts at sabotage, he wins the race anyway. Bufo is very displeased.
• Our Orcs Are Different: The Boggans resemble (and behave like) Tolkien-style orcs.
• Out Living Ones Offspring: Mandrake and his son, Dagda.
• Passing the Torch: The life of the forest has to do this every hundred years. The film opens on the very day Queen Tara is to choose her heir.
• Pimped-Out Dress: Queen Tara's gorgeous petal dress. In fact, it actually seems to come as a package deal with being queen. When a new one is crowned, she magically gets a similar dress.
• Plant Person: The plant-based Jinn come in various shapes and sizes, from mushrooms to flowers to pinecones. Any human would look right past them, but they have faces and limbs and can talk.
• Product Placement: Bomba has a library of animal and nature sounds kept on a 4th gen iPod Touch.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": MK does this when the fact that she was shrunken down to Jinn size sinks in.
• Readings Are Off the Scale: Bomba says this in one scene.
• Redhead In Green: Finn; he has orange hair, and wears green armor.
• Retirony: Queen Tara is on her last day of being in charge. When she's picking her replacement, the villains show up, and well... somewhat justified, as this was apparently the only day she would have been vulnerable due to her powers being ready to transfer.
• Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Tara is the name of a Tibetan goddess of overcoming obstacles, and Dagda is the name of an Irish creator god.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Both Tara and Mandrake, although the latter is a villainous example.
• Rule of Three: The "Put your arms around me..." line is used three times, each one shows the development of Nod and MK's relationship. The first one as strangers, second one as growing friends/romantic tension, and the third has them do The Big Damn Kiss.
• Scenery Porn: The movie is, without a doubt, beautifully animated, with many tiny details.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Nod quits the Leafmen due to his lack of desire to work with others, to Ronin's chagrin.
• Ship Tease: Ronin and Tara have a strong friendship implied to go back to childhood. They care very deeply about each other, and Tara can be very flirtatious with Ronin. Ronin seems to return her feelings, but takes his duty and their positions in life too seriously to act on it. He takes Tara's death very hard, and carries it with him for the rest of the movie.
• Short-Lived Organism: Played for laughs with the Fruit Fly, who goes through an entire lifecycle in the course of several seconds.
• Shout-Out:
  • Professor Bomba's iPod uses Skynet.
  • The Taxi Cab at the beginning comes from a Taxi service called Copperbottom.
  • And Ronin's helmet is a replica of Date Masamune's.
• Skeletons in the Coat Closet: The Boggans wear the skulls and skins of dead animals.
• Soulful Plant Story:
  • The main plot is about keeping a pod (one that was given to the protagonist by a dying queen no less) safe because it's the only thing that can restore the Leaf Men's world.
  • The Leaf Men have an idiom "many leaves, one tree" meaning they're all separate but part of one unit.
• Square-Cube Law: A rare example of the small-scale side of the coin; this is why Leafmen and Boggans are so strong and can jump so far, and why this automatically applies to MK when she gets shrunk.
  • Of course they don't explain this to the audience at all. For those familiar with the law it's a refreshing accuracy, but one wonders how many kids, who don't even know what a cube is, were left wondering why the good guys seemed so indifferent about throwing people off of birds to their apparent death all the time. Until Mandrake fell a long distance and showed it was a slight inconvenience rather than the fatal drop it would've been at human sizes.
• Sundial Waypoint: The cast has to get the pod to the pool in the Leafmen base, where light from the moon at its highest point over a century will shine on it and it will bloom and pass on the life of the forest to Queen Tara's successor. If the pod blooms in darkness, it will bloom into Mandrake's heir.
• The Swarm: Of bats that Mandrake summons to block out the moon.
• The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Tara's final words to MK, which she couldn't hear at the time, are seen later in a mystical "flashback" created by one of Nim Galuu's barkscrolls. Tara starts off by saying (paraphrased) "If you're hearing this, it means you made it to Nim's," and anticipates what MK's reaction will be.
• The Team: Ronin is the oldest and most experienced, as well as the highest ranking soldier in the Moonhaven army. Nod is the Lancer, skilled and determined but stubborn and often butting heads with Ronin. MK is the only girl, and frequently the one to try and comfort the others. Mub and Grub are a large slug and snail who are not particularly bright.
• Touch of Death: The Boggans' weapons can deteriorate anything they touch. Mandrake's staff is much more potent, able to fell an entire tree with one swing and skeletonizing a bat in seconds.
• Too Dumb to Live: Nim. He has the MacGuffin that the bad guys are searching all over for, and what does he do? He holds it up to the crowd that's gathered at his tree, and tells each and every one of them exactly how important it is. And then, he sends out his fireflies to broadcast not just to the people he want's to get in touch with, but to the entire forest, that the MacGuffin is right here, and poorly guarded, could you please send reinforcements? Not to mention half of the team charged with guarding it not keeping a very close eye on it while they're in the tree, and leaving it to the slugs.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Nod does. He starts off self-centered and rebellious, but in the final battle, his main priority is the same as the rest of his fellow soldiers': Take the boggans down, and save Moonhaven.
• Troperrific: In the words of reviewer Matt Zoller Seitz:
  "There's a protagonist grieving over her mother's recent death, and a brilliant but scatterbrained father who loves his child but isn't the strong parental figure she desperately needs. There's a hidden world akin to Alice's Wonderland that the inquisitive heroine explores. There are beleaguered good guys that she joins in a war against bad guys that represent chaos and decay; their leader is a funny despot with a European accent. There's a mythology that will be fulfilled when good guys take a fragile pod on a journey toward a prophesied end. There's a young warrior with whom the heroine forms a flirtatious friendship. There's a tough older warrior who mentors the younger warrior. There are comic sidekicks, and a beautiful forest queen who utters platitudes about the cycles of life and then dies."
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: It first seems like this when it's revealed that Mandrake is Dadga's father, but it's averted in the next second.
  Dagda: I won't let you down...Dad.
  Mandrake: I know you won't.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Tara and Dagda, the latter even more so as he dies offscreen.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Ronin to Nod and MK, after Mandrake steals the pod.
  Ronin: *has Nod against the wall* Stay with the pod; that's all you had to do!
  Nod: Yeah, but I thought...
  Ronin: Do you ever think about anyone besides yourself?
  MK: *comes to Nod's aid* It wasn't all his fault!
  Ronin: *turns to her* And you! I expected this much from him, but I thought you'd know better.
  Nod: We're really sorry, okay? We just...
  Ronin: I don't want to hear it. That was the last part of the queen that I-... *realizes what had slipped out* that any of us will ever have.
• World-Healing Wave: After the pod blooms in full moonlight, a powerful shockwave drives Mandrake out and sets off a rainstorm that makes plants begin to grow in the blighted areas.
• You Killed My Father: Mandrake's reasoning in taking the pod; a Leafman warrior did kill his son. (Of course, it's not really justified as Mandrake struck first, and he was going to take the pod anyway.)
• You Know I'm Black, Right?: Nod's mockery of the 'Stomper' that they have been misleading for years did not go over well with MK. Of course, he probably didn't realize it was possible to shrink a human down to leaf-man size.

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