Tropedia
Farm-Fresh balanceYMMVTransmit blueRadarWikEd fancyquotesQuotes • (Emoticon happyFunnyHeartHeartwarmingSilk award star gold 3Awesome) • RefridgeratorFridgeGroupCharactersScript editFanfic RecsSkull0Nightmare FuelRsz 1rsz 2rsz 1shout-out iconShout OutMagnifierPlotGota iconoTear JerkerBug-silkHeadscratchersHelpTriviaWMGFilmRoll-smallRecapRainbowHo YayPhoto linkImage LinksNyan-Cat-OriginalMemesHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconicLibrary science symbol SourceSetting
  • Base Breaker- Fred Fredburger became this after being extremely overused.
    • As was Mandy, after she became a Jerk Sue in later seasons.
    • Billy, between fans who find him hilarious and fans who find him annoying and one-note.
    • Irwin was this... For a while. He earned more fans after Underfist.
  • Crack Pairing: Dean Toadblatt and a giant squid, canonically.
  • Crosses the Line Twice: The Christmas special. Features such things as a mall being burned to the ground as the Mall Santa is mercilessly beaten, evil vampire Santa, Santa's evil vampire wife, and the school bully being eaten by a pack of flying vampire elves. Really standard by this show's standards and not much until you consider that the average Christmas Special consists of a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and are overall very sweet. Combine that with the fact that this is a children's show and you get a truly dark (and hilarious) episode.
    • Happens quite a few times throughout the show. It's kinda like a less nihilist version of Invader Zim, really...
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: If there's anything that Mandy hates more than anything, it's Irwin and vampires. Later in the series, we find out that Irwin's part vampire. Fantastic Racism, much?
  • Ear Worm: BRAINS, BRAINS, I WON'T LIE. I'LL EAT THEIR BRAINS UNTIL THEY ZOMBIFY!
  • Ensemble Darkhorse - Fred Fredburger, yes!
    • He was this. Now he's the Base Breaker.
      • Now that the show's been long over, he's since returned to Darkhorse status.
    • Jack O'Lantern has also gained himself a sizeable fanbase, despite only having appeared in a Halloween Special.
    • Dracula.
    • Skarr, the only mainstay from "Evil Con Carne".
    • Admiral Wolverine Lightningbolt.
    • Sir Raven.
    • The evil brain-eating meteor.
    • While he does count as a main protagonist sometimes, Irwin is surprisingly popular; how else do you explain him being the main character of Underfist and appearing in a lot of Cartoon Network promos?
    • The whole point of Underfist was to be a spin-off starring the biggest Ensemble Darkhorses of the show. Too bad the series never came to be...
  • Family-Unfriendly Aesop/Spoof Aesop - Billy learns from his inner frat boy that, just because someone is different from you, you shouldn't be afraid of them. You should be angry at them!
  • Genius Bonus: The episode where Billy meets mushroom-growing dwarfs has a scene where he escapes from Yogi and Boo Boo by hiding in a cave. Brown bears really are afraid of caves. Ironic as Yogi and Boo Boo live in a cave in their source material.
    • The show is filled to the brim with horror movie references, most of which are fairly obscure even to adult fans.
    • Mandy quotes Aleister Crowley in one of her typical (very) cold openings: "To do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law".
    • Irwin is described as 1/2 vampire, 1/2 mummy, and 22/7 nerd. 22/7 is the fractional approximation of pi.
    • This show's version of Dracula looks more accurate compared to his description to the novel; in fact, it's probably the most accurate depiction of him, at least in a cartoon. (Kinda ironic, since he's supposed to be based on Blacula.)
    • Fred Fredburger, while described as an elephant-like creature, bears some resemblance to a baku. The fact that he lives in a world inhabited by other strange monsters doesn't hurt.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: It's one of Cartoon Network's more popular shows in Japan. Probably because it's dark, weird, and can be surprisingly adorable at the same time.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: In one episode, Grim is seen watching a My Little Pony parody called "My Troubled Pony" and enjoying it very much. Fast forward to 2010...
    • Also, that pumpkin monster near the end of Underfist kinda looked like a Titan...
    • Let's not forget that Billy using Junior as a magic pair of pants kinda looks like a concept out of Kill la Kill. Complete with Pants!Junior still having his glasses!
    • In the video game, Irwin and Dracula's quotes when defeating each other are this (or Harsher in Hindsight) after the revelation that Dracula is Irwin grandfather.
  • Jerk Sue: Mandy, Depending on the Writer.
  • Memetic Mutation - See Overly Long Gag, on the main page.
    • Judge? Where are the nachos?
      • Yes!
      • I can spell my name real good! F-R-E-D! F-R-E-D! B-U-R... G! E-R! Fred Fredburger, yes!
    • YOU DON'T TELL DRACULA WHAT TO DO! DRACULA WAS BORN KNOWIN' WHAT TO DO!
      • Vampires don't suck! They scrape! And lick! Scrape! And lick!
    • Do not cry for him. DO NOT CRY!
      • YOU FOOLS! YOU'VE MESSED WITH THE NATURAL ORDERRRRRRRRRR!
      • IMPORTANT! COMMERCIAL! MESSAAAAAAAGE!
  • Moral Event Horizon - Grim and Mandy have done it too many times to count. Billy, though a good kid, has tried to kill his own "son" just because he's afraid of spiders. Irwin has allowed a Pyramid to be built in his honor, regardless of whether or not everybody remains brainwashed. Nergal turns people into his "Friends", civilians, unwillingly in his second appearance, including the viewer. Yeah, a lot of characters have crossed the Moral Event Horizon. The only reason the characters still put up with each other is because of Negative Continuity.
    • To be fair, most of them could have done worse...
  • Moe: Billy can be this, so long as he's not doing anything gross.
    • Junior is this when he's not a Yandere.
    • Given his general dorkiness and being a Cute Monster Boy, Irwin. (Possibly more than the former two, since he's not quite as insane and a tad nicer.)
    • Mandy (mostly) subverts this, since she's such a Jerk Sue.
    • Some people seem to believe the whole show is Moe, to an extent.
  • Most Annoying Sound: DESTROY US ALLLLLLL!!! DESTROY US ALLLLLL!!!
    • To a lesser extent, any time Billy laughs.
  • Periphery Demographic: Aside from the obvious and broad "teenagers and adults" demographic, the show's also pretty popular with goths, for obvious reasons.
  • The Scrappy: Billy is this to more than a few viewers, due to how arguably flat he is as a character.
    • He's even this in universe.
      • Fred Fredburger is also this in universe, even managing to annoy Billy with his stupidity. Among viewers, though, he's a Base Breaker, with many who love him and many who feel he ended up over-used. (Although he wasn't half as over-used as characters like Cheese and Goo.)
    • Mindy is one of the most annoying Alpha Bitches ever created.
  • The Problem with Licensed Games: Averted. The video game based on the series is a surprisingly fun beat-em-up style fighter with plenty of characters from the show, all voiced by their actual voice actors, with Weird Al as the announcer!
  • Toy Ship: Admit it- you've all considered this for Billy and Mandy at least once.
    • Or Irwin and Mandy.
    • Or Irwin and Billy.
    • Or Irwin and Junior (especially since it got teased a bit in "The Best Love Story Ever Told Ever").
  • The Woobie - Grim. Sometimes a Jerkass Woobie.
    • Pud'n.
    • Jeff.
    • Skarr. He is just trying to move into the neighborhood, trying to avoid his previous life as The Dragon/The Starscream under Hector Con Carne... He fails.
    • Nergal Jr. Than again, he seems kinda like a slightly less comedic take on...
    • Irwin. He's the only main character who still fears the supernatural activity that occurs, he's the series' Chew Toy, and his crush is pretty much The Antichrist. In fact, this may be one of the reasons why he's surprisingly popular (see Ensemble Darkhorse).
  • Tear Jerker: In "Son of Nergal", Junior attempts to fix his teddy bear, Mr. Bonkers, after Mandy rips its head off.
Cquote1

 Junior: It's *sniff* going to be okay. I'll put you back together and *sniff* you'll be my friend and I'll be your best friend...

Cquote2