Fanboy & Chum Chum

They dress as superheroes, wearing their underwear on the outside for that Superman look. (They have no out-of-costume alter egos.) Their collective mental landscape is littered with the detritus of sci-fi and fantasy, with the stuff of comics and movies, toys and TV shows. But we don't see the world as they imagine it, Walter Mitty-style; we just see them in their world, imagining...and that world is strange enough.
—A Los Angles Times reviewer

Fanboy & Chum Chum all started with a simple idea: two kids wearing superhero costumes and hanging out at a convenience store. A few years later, out of the ashes of Frederator and Nickelodeon's Random Cartoons comes the squash-and-stretchy CGI world of Fanboy and Chum Chum. The show is about two best friends who live in a water-tower atop of an apartment building with no parental supervision and the strange adventures they have in the town of Galaxy Hills. From turning into vampires, swapping brains with a robot, and taking advantage of slush-machine monster to get through a heat wave, these guys do it all.

Along for the ride are Yo (a Japanese girl with an obsession for digital pets), Kyle (an actual wizard expelled from his old school, though no one believes him), The Oz (a comic book nerd who lives with his mother), Boog (a bully who works at the local convenience store, but is more interested in playing its arcade game), and Lenny (a sarcastic convenience store employee who hates his job).

The show premiered October 12, 2009, and ran until November 2, 2012. The show's production blog can be found here.

Has a Character Sheet in need of some work.

Tropes used in Fanboy & Chum Chum include:
  • Abduction Is Love: Seems to be Yo's belief.
  • Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Chum Chum when he came down with the "Frosty Freezy Freeze Fever" in "Berry Sick".
  • Accent Adaptation: Not an accent per se, but in the Polish dub, Kyle speaks with a lisp and relies even more on Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness to compensate for the lack of distinguishable accents in the Polish language, and therefore one that could serve as an equivalent to British.
  • Alliteration: Episode titles "Dollar Day", "Precious Pig", "Chimp Chomp Chumps", "Secret Shopper", and "The Tell-Tale Toy".
  • All CGI Cartoon
  • All Cheering, All the Time: "2-4-6-8! I think I might regurgitate!"
  • Almighty Janitor: Poopatine.
  • Alpha Bitch: Francine is clearly meant to be this, but she hasn't really done anything outside of looking stuck-up.
  • Always Someone Better: In "The Big Bopper", a new employee at the Frosty Mart proves to be even more of a bully than Boog.
  • And Then John Was a Zombie: Parodied in "Monster in the Mist".
  • Applied Phlebotinum
  • April Fools' Day: Prank Day seems to be the show's equivalent of this.
  • Amusing Injuries
  • Animate Inanimate Object: Professor Flan is a giant walking flan who used to be a normal teacher until Kyle cast a spell on him.
  • Anvil on Head: When Scampers returns from the Digital Pet Cemetery, Fanboy and Chum Chum happily drop a safe on him. Similarly, at the end of "The Frosty Bus", Boog is Squashed Flat when the Frosty Bus sign falls on him.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: One of the recalled toys in "Total Recall" was a complete recreation of a battleship with functioning weaponry. It was recalled because the plastic flag was a choking hazard.
  • Art Evolution: The Pilot Episode "Fanboy" from Random! Cartoons looks much different than the series now. The CGI animation was more like of Jimmy Neutron, in that it was darker, stiffer, and less refined. Fanboy's costume was white and purple, Chum Chum was bigger and taller, Barry the Ice Monster was large and fierce, and Lenny was a white guy with an orange afro. Now the animation is much more lucid, colorful, character designs and voices have changed, and it's more along the lines of what The Ren and Stimpy Show would look like in CGI.
  • Aside Glance: Kyle does this in "Prank Master" after Fanboy asks him to pull his finger.
  • Ate the Spoon: The Lunch Lady's glop corrodes a fork in "Little Glop of Horrors."
  • A Worldwide Punomenon: This show loves bad puns almost as much as it loves insulting itself for these bad puns.
  • Ax Crazy: Marsha. She spends her entire episode trying to kill Fanboy.
  • Bad Humor Truck: It's nearly impossible for Fanboy and Chum Chum to get a Frosty Freezy Freeze from the Frosty Bus when Boog is behind the wheel.
  • Bad Job, Worse Uniform: Boog and Lenny's work shirts aren't that bad, but they have to wear Frosty Freezy Freeze cup hats.
  • Bag of Holding: Fanboy has a desk of holding at school, and he and Chum Chum go excavating inside it in order to find his missing textbook in "Schoolhouse Lock".
  • Baleful Polymorph: Subverted with Fanboy and Boog becoming puppets in "Strings Attached" and loving it so much that they fight with each other about who gets to do a good deed to permanently stay that way. Later in the episode, Boog is turned into a frog.
  • Be the Ball: In "Chimp Chomp Chumps", Boog squishes Chum Chum into a ball and whacks him with a mallet like a golf ball.
  • Big Ball of Violence: Fanboy and Chum Chum get into one with Yo and Lupe in "Battle of the Stands".
  • Big No: Fanboy says it as Chum Chum spends their only dollar on the Chimp Chomp machine in "Dollar Day", Boog does this in "Fanboy in the Plastic Bubble" after his stack of money explodes, and Lenny has a Slow Motion one in "The Great Bicycle Mystery" when he sees that Bikey has been destroyed.
  • Brain Freeze: The Title Sequence includes this.
  • Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: In "Chicken Pox", Kyle tells the titular duo that all he has to do to get better is bed rest, plenty of fluids, and lay an egg.
  • Brick Joke: At the beginning of "Dollar Day", Fanboy abuptly stops while walking which causes his brain to fall out. Later in the episode when he and Chum Chum are trying to come up with a way to get a dollar, he shouts "We've got to THINK!". Chum Chum then leaves the screen for a second and comes back with Fanboy's brain and puts it back in his head.
    • Oz's plan to make a candy ark in "There Will Be Shrieks", which is described the beginning of the episode but doesn't reappear until the very end.
  • Bring My Brown Pants: When Scampers is emerging from the television at the end of "Digital Pet Cemetery", Fanboy, Chum Chum, and Yo yell for Oz to do something. He replies with, "Can't talk... soiling self!"
    • In "Monster in the Mist", Fanboy, Chum Chum, and Boog spray Lenny with cheese when they think he's the monster.

Lenny: What's wrong with you people?!
Boog: There's a monster on the loose!
Fanboy: Just like in Monster in the Mist!
Chum Chum: The miiiiiiissst...
Lenny: That's ridiculous.
Chum Chum: (points to Boog) He saw it! It's huge!
Boog: Yeah, huge! I've never been so scared! Uh... speaking of, I... I gotta hit the bathroom and rinse out a few things, alright?

    • In "A Bopwork Orange", Fanboy and Chum Chum decide to try another method to cure Boog's bopping besides Electric Torture. Boog responds to this with, "If it doesn't shock me, I'm all for it! I'm down to my last clean underwear anyway."
  • Bowel-Breaking Bricks: When everyone fails the test in "I, Fanbot" and corners the robotic Fanboy, Chum Chum points out, "Uh, Fanbot, I think you oiled yourself."
  • Bubble Boy: Boog in his childhood. Fanboy and Chum Chum later buy his bubble and wreak all kinds of havoc with it.
  • The Bully: Boog to everyone, Mr. Mufflin to both titled characters and Oz's Mom to Oz.
  • Burping Contest: "The Frosty Bus" episode begins with the title characters doing this.
  • Butt Monkey: Nearly all the characters have been this at some point or another.
  • Calvin Ball: Kyle comes over to the Fanlair in "Cold War", he tries to play board games and action figures with Fanboy and Chum Chum, but they have such random rules that Kyle quits out of frustration.
  • Camera Abuse: In "Fanboy in the Plastic Bubble", the bubble bounces on the camera lens.
  • Camp Gay: "It's time to get fabulous with Crabulus!"
  • Captain Morgan Pose: Fanboy has one in the episode title card for "Fanboy A'hoy!".
  • Cash Cow Franchise: Man-Arctica seems to be an in-universe example. So far comic books, action figures, music CDs, cereal and rides dedicated to him have been shown.
  • Chainsaw Good: In "Crib Notes", Fanboy and Chum Chum juggle chainsaws as an attempt to help baby Kyle go to sleep. It doesn't go well.
  • Chair Reveal: Oz has a comedic one in "Freeze Tag" when Fanboy and Chum Chum try to hide from Man-arctica in his store. As he talks about his anticipation for Man-arctica's appearance, Oz swivels the chair to reveal himself holding a bucket of chicken with a face smeared with barbecue sauce.
  • Clark Kenting: Man-Arctica does this in "Stan Arctica" by wearing glasses and taking a job at Oz's comic shop. No one recognizes him, despite having super strength and icicles tearing out of his clothes.
    • Fanboy, in "Fanboyfriend" pulls out a pair of coke-bottle-glasses, creating a "secret identity" to hide from Lupe. It doesn't work.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Both the main characters are this, but considering how crazy their world is...
  • Companion Cube: Fanboy went to the school dance with a sentient mop for a date.
    • Boog talks to the Chimp Chomp machine as if it was his girlfriend. He acts the same way with his car named Sandy.
    • Lenny acts similarly with his bike, Bikey, but to a lesser extent.
    • Yo's best friend is a pine cone named Ingrid.
    • Janitor Poopatine seems to have a personal relationship with his mechanized chair, Brenda.
  • Continuity Nod: While waiting in line for the roller coaster in "Man-Arctica the Ride", Fanboy taunts Kyle by saying he's getting chicken pox, which is a reference to a past episode.
    • In "The Incredible Chulk", Fanboy's Glass Eye from "Fan vs. Wild" falls out after he's thrown on the camera by Boog.
    • "HypnotOzed" makes several references to "The Hard Sell" when Oz's mom says that if Oz doesn't make any sales, she'll turn his store into a yogurt shop, then Fanboy and Chum Chum show Oz the first dollar he made, and Fedora Man returns to take the dollar back.
    • In "Wizboy", Kyle casually references how he got expelled from his Wizarding School by turning his teacher into a flan. This teacher appears in the season two episode "Crib Notes" to administer Kyle's test to be readmitted to his school. In "Kids in the Hall", Professor Flan returns when Kyle tries to get accepted into Milkweed Academy again.
  • Contrived Coincidence: In "Monster in the Mist" Boog and Lenny both see Fanboy and Chum Chum as the same monster despite having their vision impaired in different ways, and the exact same monster turns out to be Real After All.
  • Cool Toy: Mechatech. Fanboy wanted one so badly that he traded Chum Chum to Yo in return for hers.
  • Costume Copycat: In "Lord of the Rings", Kyle disguises himself as Chum Chum in order to learn Fanboy's ring trick. He looks exactly like Chum Chum, except with protruding braces and British accent, which manages to fool Fanboy and the real Chum Chum anyway.
  • Covered in Gunge: Oh, man, where to start with this show? Fanboy has been sneezed on, doused with Frosty Freezy Freeze slush, and assaulted with eggs, just to name a few times.
    • In one episode, his superhero costume got so incredibly dirty that it actually came to life.
  • Cue the Flying Pigs: When Yo asks the duo to take care of Scampers in "Digital Pet Cemetery", Chum Chum is seen releasing a pig with wings.

"And they said you'd never fly!"

  • Cup Holders: Boog's car has a pretty fancy one with a mechanized claw that grabs the cup and locks it in the dash.
  • Cute and Psycho: Marsha. She was the class's star pupil until Fanboy sneezed on her test. Then things got ugly...
  • Cuteness Proximity: In "Battle of the Stands", Yo and Lupe's entire method of gaining customers at their lemonade stand is to use their girlish charm. When Fanboy retaliates by disguising himself as a baby, the customers immediately abandon the stand in favor of adoring him instead.
  • Dead Pet Sketch: The episode "Digital Pet Cemetery", where Fanboy and Chum Chum take care of Yo's digital pet, Scampers, only to have it "power down" and return as a zombie.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: Frosty Freezy Freeze.
  • Description Cut: In "Saving Private Chum Chum", Fanboy worries about Chum Chum suffering while trapped in Mr. Mufflin's desk. The camera then cuts to Chum Chum laughing and playing with toys.
  • Deranged Animation
  • Diagonal Cut: Happens twice - in "Digital Pet Cemetery", when Scampers comes back and cuts Fanboy's head to pieces with his claws; and in "Norse-ing Around", when Thorvald commands Lenny to bring him drinks. An irritated Lenny then says "I'm not your servant!", to which Thorvald responds by cutting his cup hat into half.
  • Disembodied Eyebrows
  • Disgusting Public Toilet: The school's oldest bathroom has these.
  • Disney Acid Sequence: Fanboy and Chum Chum have a rather surreal musical number about living at the Frosty Mart in "Jingle Fever".
    • The candy song in "There Will Be Shrieks".
    • Also the Training Montage in "Eyes on the Prize".
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: In "A Bopwork Orange", Boog's impulsive bopping is played out like a drug addiction, and at the end of the episode, Agent Johnson even says, "Just say no to bops." In the episode's storyboard, Boog refuses to be separated from the Chimp Chomp machine because "She's even got my initials tatooed above her coin slot!". It's even funnier when you realize his initials are "B.S."
    • In "Fan-bidextrous", Chum Chum introduces Fanboy to his own arm.

Fanboy: Firm handshake, I like this guy.
Chum Chum: I've been trying to get you two together for a while.

Chum Chum: Hey, Kyle, we brought you your homework, but a dog ate it.
Fanboy: All the times we said it happened to us... and it happens to you! I mean, what are the odds?

    • In "Kids in the Hall", Kyle frantically tries to turn in an essay to Professor Flan, but along the way, a three-headed dog from another dimension eats the paper.
  • Downer Ending: In "Chimp Chomp Chumps", Fanboy, Chum Chum, and Boog don't get to see the Chimp Chomp movie on time and have to wait another year to see the sequel while in line.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Marsha.
  • Egopolis: In "Norse-ing Around", Thorvald claims that the capital of Sweden is Thorvaldia, and throws a fit when Mr. Mufflin claims it isn't, saying he conquered and renamed it himself.
  • Enfant Terrible: The toddlers in "The Great Bicycle Mystery".
  • Enemy Mine: In "Prank Master", Fanboy and Chum Chum work together with Boog, who antagonizes them in every other episode.
  • Episode Title Card: See them all here.
  • "Everybody Laughs" Ending: "Digital Pet Cemetery" has this, with Chum Chum delivering the last line of, "Real funny, guys, now get me out of here!"
  • Everyone Is a Suspect: In "The Great Bicycle Mystery".
  • Everything's Better with Monkeys: The Chimp Chomp video game. In "Gameboy", Fanboy and Chum Chum literally release a monkey from the arcade game, which then goes on a rampage throughout town. He even gets his own Leitmotif.
  • Everything's Deader with Zombies: Scampers in "Digital Pet Cemetery" and Mr. Mufflin in "The Book Report of the Dead".
  • Evil Cousin: Brizwald, who tries to steal Oz's rare comic book in "Risky Brizness" by using his shadow.
  • Expy: Fanboy resembles Sheen from Jimmy Neutron in appearance and behavior. His head also resembles Ed's from Tonic Trouble.
  • Eyedscreen: Happens in "Fanboy in the Plastic Bubble" when Boog tries the "H-Bop". In "Pick A Nose" both Fanboy and Chum Chum have one.
  • Eye Pop
  • Face Palm: Janitor Poopatine has one in "The Janitor's Apprentice", after he sees Fanboy and Chum Chum cleaning out ketchup with peanut butter.
  • The Face of the Sun: Used in the montage in "Totall Recall", accompanied by a pink glade of flowers and a rainbow.
  • Fat Idiot: Mr. Mufflin
  • Fawlty Towers Plot: In "Sigmund the Sorcerer", Kyle lies to Sigmund about being a skilled, high-achieving wizard and tells him that Fanboy and Chum Chum are his elf servants. The facade continues until Sigmund proposes to buy his "servants" and send him back to Milkweed Academy, forcing Kyle to reveal the truth.
  • Fictional Video Game / Defictionalization: Chimp Chomp. Now a flash game.
  • Flat Earth Atheist: No one will believe Kyle is a real wizard no matter what he does to try to prove them wrong.
  • Floating in A Bubble: Janitor Poopatine does this in "The Janitor's Apprentice" when Fanboy and Chum Chum fill hand dryers with soap.
  • Fluffy the Terrible: Sprinkles.
  • Flying Broomstick: Kyle conjures one to escape from Man-Arctica's rampage in "Freeze Tag".
  • Four-Fingered Hands
  • Freeze Sneeze: Fanboy has one when outside in the rain in "Cold War".
  • French Maid: Boog wears a French maid outfit, complete with the choker, in one scene of "Chimp Chomp Chumps".
  • Fridge Logic: In "Dollar Day", Fanboy and Chum Chum are able to buy two Frosty Freezy Freezes for one dollar, even though posters throughout the Frosty Mart show that one drink each costs 99 cents.
    • Despite having their vision impaired in different ways, Boog and Lenny both imagine the same monster in "Monster in the Mist".
  • Fridge Horror: In the episode when Lenny time travels to destroy the Frosty Machine so he can never see Fanboy and Chum Chum, the kids put on a 5-second Just for Fun funeral. How the heck to kids know about death at the age of five?
  • G-Rated Drug: Frosty Freezy Freeze can be easily considered such.
  • Gag Nose: The whole plot of "Pick a Nose", with removable noses and all.
  • George Lucas Throwback: This show feels a lot like a 90s cartoon, but is done with GLORIOUS 3D animation instead of 2D.
  • Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: When Fanboy and Chum Chum hear that Agent 08 has been recalled:

Chum Chum: What do we do, what do we do, what do we do?
Fanboy: (slaps Chum Chum) Calm down, get a hold of yourself.

    • Also used in "Digital Pet Cemetery", but with reversed roles.
  • Gigantic Gulp: Cupzilla. "45 gallons of bladder-bustin' refreshment!"
  • Girls Have Cooties: It's the reason why Fanboy turns down Yo's offer to have a sip of the Frosty Freezy Freeze despite being stranded on the Frosty Mart roof in "Fan VS Wild".
  • Glass Eye: Fanboy has one in "Fan VS Wild" that serves as a Deus Ex Machina.
  • Gross-Out Show
  • Hard Work Montage: "Fan VS Wild" has one when Fanboy, Chum Chum, and Kyle build Oz's blueprint to rescue them, but it turns out to be a display case for Oz's shop.
  • Harmless Freezing: The Secret Shopper and Lenny are both frozen in "Secret Shopper", but they are perfectly fine after they defrost.
    • Averted in '"Refill Madness":

Lenny: I'm getting Frosty Bitey Bite!

    • Also averted in "Freeze Tag", where everyone in town runs away from Man-Arctica in terror as he tries to turn them all into icicles.
  • Harmless Voltage: Boog was forced to wear a collar that shocked him every time he thought about bopping, but its painful effects didn't seem to last longer than a few seconds.
    • Also, Agent 08 was recalled due to its tendency to explode and shock people, but no matter how many times it electrocuted Fanboy and Chum Chum, the two were always back to normal in the next scene.
  • Helium Speech: Happens to Fanboy, Chum Chum, and Boog at the end of "Fanboy in the Plastic Bubble."
  • High-Class Glass: Professor Flan, Kyle's old teacher from Milkweed Academy, wears a monocle.
  • Halloween Episode: "There Will Be Shrieks".
  • Horrible Camping Trip: In "Fan VS Wild", Fanboy, Chum Chum, and Kyle go camping on the roof of the Frosty Mart and become stranded as if they're stuck on a mountain.
  • Horny Vikings: Thorvald the Red, brother of Olaf, son of Smellanor, third-high scorer on Whack-A-Dragon.

Oz: I've never been a big studier and I'm a huge success.
Oz's mom: (offscreen) Ozwald, did you scoop out Mitzi's litter box?

Janitor Poopatine: Alright, alright! You can have your gum! And chew it, too.
Fanboy & Chum Chum: YAY!!!
Janitor Poopatine: But no taffy!
Fanboy: Ah, we can live with that.

Fanboy: I'm about to say two words I never thought I'd say... let's study!

  • I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: The boys are quite addicts to the Frosty Freezy Freeze, especially in "Berry Sick".
  • An Ice Person: Man-Arctica.
    • The Secret Shopper at the end of "Secret Shopper".
    • Barry the Ice Monster.
  • Idiosyncratic Wipes
  • Idiot Ball
  • I Love Nuclear Power: Fanboy tries to get real superpowers by getting bitten by a radioactive spider in "Fanboyfriend." Later in the episode, Lupe and Chum Chum acquire powers after a picnic by the power plant.
  • Imagine Spot: In "Refill Madness", Lenny imagines what would happen if Fanboy and Chum Chum realized they had a cup for unlimited free refills. It's portrayed as a Shout-Out to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.
  • I'm Taking Him Home With Me!: Yo's attitude toward Chum Chum.
  • Incredible Shrinking Man: Parodied in "The Incredible Shrinking Fanboy", except Fanboy only thinks he's shrinking.
  • Incredibly Lame Fun: In "Night Morning", Fanboy invites the entire class to watch Chum Chum do his morning routine... at night!
  • Inexplicably Identical Individuals:
    • All three of the school's lunch ladies look identical except their dresses are different colors.
    • The school's French teacher, Madame La Vache, and Miss Olive, a kindergarten teacher, look exactly the same except the French teacher wears glasses and a beret.
    • All three cheerleaders look identical.
  • Iris Out
  • I Taste Delicious: When Barry freezes the titular duo in "Berry Sick" the two don't mind because they taste like Frosty Freezy Freeze.
  • Jaw Drop: When the titular duo is forced to clean the school's oldest bathroom:

Fanboy: Uh, Chum Chum... tell me my jaw did not just touch this floor.

    • In "Strings Attached", wooden toy Fanboy's jaw literally breaks off when he sees Sprinkles and Precious rob a bank.
    • Chum Chum does this when he sees Moppy for the first time.
  • Jerkass: Boog.
    • Fanboy can sometimes come off as this, though his jerkass tendencies can be forgiven as many of them are what actual children his age do.
    • Sigmund is one to Kyle.
  • Journey to the Center of the Mind: To undo the Oz's mind control in "HypnotOzed", the Dollarnator sends Fanboy and Chum Chum into Oz's brain to erase the idea of selling his toys.
  • Jumping the Shark: Spoofed, as Agent 008 actually jumped a shark. Inverted in-universe, as according to Chum-Chum, that's when his show started to get really good.
  • Keet: Fanboy, and how!
  • Kidanova: Fanboy. Lupe, Moppy and Muk-Muk. But YMMV on how many of those were in in his head.
  • Kids Prefer Boxes: Chum Chum at the end of "The Tell-Tale Toy".
  • Kill It with Water: How Fanboy gets rid of Stinks and cleans himself in "Fanboy Stinks".
  • Knife Outline: In "Monster in the Mist", Fanboy hurls plastic forks at Boog and the last one thrown nearly hits him in the crotch.
  • Lava Pit: Fanboy and Chum Chum inexplicably have one outside the Fanlair in "Lord of the Rings".
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: See Sting for an example.
  • Local Hangout: The Frosty Mart.
  • Like an Old Married Couple: When Fanboy is mad at Chum Chum in "The Incredible Chulk", Boog derides, "You two are like an old married couple!" Lenny, holding a rolling pin, then walks over to Boog and they too begin to argue like an old married couple.
  • Limited Wardrobe
  • Literal-Minded: Fanboy and Chum Chum act like this pretty frequently, but in "Crib Notes", when baby Kyle says he wants to be rocked to sleep, the duo break out electric guitars and perform some rock and roll.
  • Living Shadow: Brizwald has one in "Risky Brizness", and he uses it to steal Oz's comic book. Fanboy and Chum Chum fight him by using shadow puppets.
  • Look Behind You!: Subverted at the end of "Monster in the Mist" with Lenny telling Boog to turn around, Boog refusing to do so, and then getting eaten by the real monster.
  • Maintain the Lie: "Sigmund the Sorcerer"
  • May Contain Evil: The Agent 8 box says things like "quick action oil spill" and "octo-shock grip". Of course, Fanboy and Chum Chum think it's awesome.
  • Medium Blending: When Thorvald the Red has a flashback, the style of the show switches to 2D flash animation. The same thing occurs when the characters watch television.
  • Messy Pig
  • Mr. Imagination
  • Milholland Relationship Moment: In "The Tell-Tale Toy", Fanboy breaks Chum Chum's new toy and frantically tries to fix it until Chum Chum tells him he only wanted the box and was going to give him the toy.
  • Mind Control Eyes / Mind Control Device: Oz gets swirling spiral eyes in "HypnotOzed" when a toy hypnotizes him into selling his beloved merchandise.
  • The More You Know: Parodied at the end of "The Big Bopper", where Fanboy and Chum Chum conclude that no one learned anything from the episode. The screen then says, "The Less You Know."
  • Morality Pet: Recent episodes feature Lenny being one for Boog, although their friendship remains vitriolic at best.
  • Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Dr. Acula.
    • At the end of "Saving Private Chum Chum", Mr. Mufflin tells the boys, "Y'know, that medical van will do anything if you slip 'em an extra twenty."
  • Mister Big: Boog & Mr. Mufflin
  • My Little Panzer: In "Total Recall", Agent 08 spits corrosive ink, electrocutes people, and explodes. In Oz's "hall of recall", he has a flame-throwing fire truck, acid-spitting dolls, "baby's first nail gun", and a warship with real weaponry.
  • Mystery Meat: The eponymous glop from "Little Glop of Horrors".
  • Nails on a Blackboard: This is how Fanboy gets everyone's attention in "The Great Bicycle Mystery".
  • The Napoleon: Mr. Mufflin
  • Name and Name
  • Negative Continuity: The Frosty Mart has been destroyed several times and characters have been maimed in various ways, but none of it carries over to the next episode.
  • Never My Fault: In "Monster in the Mist" Boog and Lenny blame Fanboy and Chum Chum for making them believe they were the monster when it was actually their own impaired eye sight that was to blame.
  • Never Say "Die": Averted. "PREPARE FOR DEATH BY BOP!"
  • Night Vision Goggles: Used by Boog in "Fanboy in the Plastic Bubble."
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: In Lights Out, the boys want to watch a film that is literally entitled Pirate Ninja Robot President.
  • Nobody Here but Us Statues: Fanboy, Chum Chum, and Yum Yum hide in the school's trophy case to avoid Janitor Poopatine in "The Janitor Strikes Back".
  • Non-Nude Bathing: The two main characters bathe with their superhero costumes on.
  • The Noseless: Fanboy and Chum Chum are capable of detaching their noses from their faces and swapping them with each other in "Pick a Nose", leaving brief moments where neither of them has a nose. In "Fanboy Stinks", Chum Chum removes his nose because he can't stand Fanboy's odor, but he is still able to smell him through his ears.
  • No One Should Survive That: At the end of "Lord of the Rings", Kyle falls into a Lava Pit and is immediately rescued by a gryphon without a singe.
  • Ocular Gushers: Every time a character cries, the tears stream from their eyes like a sprinkler.
  • Off-Model: In the John Kricfalusi-esque way. If you've ever seen any of the storyboards, you probably know that they look completely different than the actual show. As evidenced by a storyboard artist, this is what is considered to be too far off the mark.
  • Offscreen Crash: At the beginning of "Strings Attached", Fanboy throws a huge water balloon out into the street. Car crashes and alarms are heard.

Fanboy: Well, it looks like they're all good swimmers, so it's a happy ending after all.

  • Ominous Fog: "Monster in the Mist" is all about this trope.
  • Organ Autonomy: After Fanboy refuses to take a bath, his hand grows mushrooms for eyes and gains the personality of a mobster named Stinks. A particularly squicky scene results when Stinks "has to use the little hand's room."
  • Our Gryphons Are Different
  • Our Vampires Are Different: The "Fangboy" episode.
  • Overly Long Gag: Fanboy screams "Aaaah! What have I done?!" no less than seven times in "The Tell-Tale Toy".
    • Kyle's screaming in "There Will Be Shrieks". Technically, he screams one thousand times in a row, but only the first ten or so are heard.
  • Pac-Man Fever: Justified by the fact that the only video games seen in the series so far are arcade games and a virtual pet.
  • Panty Shot: Seen briefly with pretty much every character who wears a skirt, but considering Oz's mom and Lunch Lady Cram are among them, it's more like Fan Disservice.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: In "Battle of the Stands", Fanboy disguises himself as a baby so he and Chum Chum can gather more customers at their lemonade stand than Yo and Lupe. Only Yo and Lupe can see through his disguise, which is nothing more than a bonnet and a pacifier.
    • Chum Chum as the Toxic Teapot in "Fanboyfriend". Lupe doesn't notice.
  • Peek-a-Bangs: Ms. Olive the kindergarten teacher.
  • Picture Day: In "Pick a Nose".
  • Pie in the Face: Happens several times in "Prank Master".
  • The Pig Pen: Fanboy becomes this when he tries to set a world record for the longest time without taking a bath.
  • Pinocchio Nose: Literally happens to Fanboy in "Strings Attached" when he says he'll do a good deed.
  • Pirate: The episode "Fanboy A'hoy" has all the kids as pirates.
  • Please, I Will Do Anything!: The entire point of the "Chimp Chomp Chumps" episode, in which Boog begs Fanboy and Chum Chum for their ticket to the Chimp Chomp movie. Hilarity Ensues.
  • Plot Induced Stupidity: There are times where Chum Chum and/or Fanboy just has to be completely stupid to jump start the plot of an episode...but mostly Chum Chum.
  • Pokémon-Speak: Chum Chum's cousin does this.
  • Potty Emergency: Fanboy and Chum Chum experience this when they are trapped inside of a plastic bubble and Boog teases them by pouring a pitcher of water into a cup.
  • Potty Failure: Used as a joke at the end of "The Incredible Shrinking Fanboy" when Yo's dollhouse is stuck on Fanboy's body. He tells Chum Chum to hurry with removing it because "the basement's flooding".
  • The Precious Precious Car: Sandy. Also Precious Precious Arcade Game.
  • Psycho Electro: Boog at the end of "A Bopwork Orange".
  • Puppet Permutation: Fanboy and Boog in "Strings Attached".
  • Puppy Dog Eyes: Mr. Mufflin gets these when he reads Fanboy's, Chum Chum's, and Kyle's sappy excuse notes because they were "saving kittens in an avalanche" or something similar.
  • Rashomon Style: "The Great Bicycle Mystery" has several characters retelling their version of what happened to Lenny's destroyed bicycle, but details in each story conflict with one another.
  • Reaching Between the Lines: In "Cold War", Fanboy eats Lenny's nachos while talking with him on the phone.
  • Real After All: The monster in "Monster in the Mist".
  • Record Needle Scratch: Has happened on more than one occasion.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: The new lunch lady at the end of "Norse Code".
  • Rubber Hose Limbs
  • Running on the Spot
  • Sand in My Eyes: At the end of "Norse Code", Fanboy says, "I'm not crying, the vortex just threw something in my eye!" He has a similar line in "Moppy Dearest".
  • Self-Deprecation: The show loves doing this to itself. For an example, they take a jab at the frequent use of Toilet Humor in "Little Glop of Horrors".

Fanboy: Hey Kyle! It's pizza day! Come play pizza monkeys with us!
Kyle: You two are... pizza monkeys? What do you do, throw your poopparoni?
Fanboy and Chum Chum burst out with laughter
Kyle (sighing): I'm witty day after day - and this is what they laugh at.

  • Self-Induced Allergic Reaction / Save the Villain: Boog fakes an allergic reaction to breathing air so Fanboy and Chum Chum will let him inside their plastic bubble. The two fall for it, and immediately afterwards, Boog's allergy clears up and he proceeds to beating up Fanboy and Chum Chum.
  • Shaggy Dog Story: In "Crib Notes", Kyle casts a spell that will give him the answers to a test to be readmitted into Milkweed Academy, except it turns him into a baby and he must go to sleep to know the answers. Fanboy and Chum Chum try various methods to make him sleep, and when they finally succeed and Kyle takes the test, his answers are voided because he didn't use a No. 2 wand.
    • In "Kids in the Hall", Kyle desperately tries to give Professor Flan his essay to be readmitted to his Milkweed Academy, but hall monitors Fanboy and Chum Chum keep getting in his way. In the process, Kyle's essay gets eaten by a three-headed dog from another dimension, forcing him to hand in a drawing on a sticky note. To Kyle's surprise, Flan likes the drawing so much that he accepts Kyle back to Milkweed... until he gets eaten by the three-headed dog.
  • Single Tear: Moppy sheds one.
  • Skyward Scream: Fanboy has one in "Stan Arctica" when he reads a comic about Man-Arctica being defeated by the Global Warmer and falling into a black hole.
  • Slapstick: Right after Toilet Humor and puns, the show's most common type of humor.
  • Sleazy Politician: Mr. Mufflin
  • Slippery Skid: Guaranteed whenever Boog chases the titular duo around the Frosty Mart.
  • Sick Episode: "Cold War" has the two main characters sick at home and of each other.
    • "Chicken Pox", to some extent.
  • Snap Back: A lot of weird stuff happens at the end of many episodes.
  • Spit Take: Dr. Acula does this when Fanboy tells him he's a vampire in "Fangboy".
  • Split-Screen Phone Call: In "Cold War", Fanboy calls in sick to the Frosty Mart and is able to reach across the split screens.
  • Stab the Salad: The lunchladies have a habit of acting mean and threatening when they're actually trying to do something nice.
  • Stage Magician: Fanboy is The Great Fantini in "Lord of the Rings".
  • Sting: Lampshaded in "The Great Bicycle Mystery" the first few times it occurs. Fanboy notices it and tries to make it happen again by saying "One of you is a culprit in the great bicycle mystery!" although it does not play.

Fanboy: Nothin'? Huh, I guess we should get to it then.

  • Sudden Videogame Moment: When the boys are trying to catch the monkey in "Gameboy", the animation style changes to 8-bit graphics.
  • Superheroes Wear Capes
  • Take Our Word for It: The show uses it sometimes, for example in "Little Glop Of Horrors", when the Necronomicon "vomits" the glop. The camera cuts away to the kids sitting at the table. After a while, Kyle walks into the shot, covered in the glop head to toe.
  • Talking to Himself: Jeff Bennett does the voices of many recurring characters, including Boog and Agent Johnson, who argue with each other in "A Bopwork Orange". He also voices Man-Arctica and his Arch Enemy, the Global Warmer.
  • Talk Like a Pirate: The kids in "Fanboy A'hoy" all do this, although they go in and out of it.
  • Teacher's Pet: Kyle is one in "The Book Report of the Dead," and after Mr. Mufflin becomes a zombie, Fanboy replaces Kyle as "suck-up."
  • That Poor Cat:
  • This Ain't Rocket Surgery: In "I, Fanbot" where Fanboy swaps brains with a robot.
  • Time Passes Montage: In "The Great Bicycle Mystery", Lenny's eight hours at the Frosty Mart are shown during a quick montage with many recurring characters passing across the screen.
  • Toilet Humor: An entire episode is centered around this.
    • Quite a few episodes like to throw in a poop or fart joke somewhere.
    • When Kyle has to lay an egg to cure his chicken pox, he says "coffee and a bran muffin ought to help things move along."
    • OOH!! OOH!! I got one! KYLE is gonna' squeeze an egg out of his BUTT!!
    • From "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha":

Fanboy: You're the best number two I've ever taken on a mission.

    • In "Sigmund the Sorcerer", Sigmund refers to Kyle as "Kyle the Constipater" (as opposed to Kyle the Conjurer) several times throughout the episode, and jeers, "You push and push, and all for nothing!"
  • Total Eclipse of the Plot: In "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha", Fanboy tries to avoid taking a nap in kindergarten by opening the window shades to let sunlight into the room, but a solar eclipse occurs immediately afterwards.
  • Training Montage: In "Eyes on the Prize", Oz trains Fanboy and Chum Chum in the art of finding prizes in cereal boxes. Lampshaded at the beginning of the sequence when they punch through a cereal box called "Montage Munch".
  • Traveling Pipe Bulge: The Frosty Freezy Freeze makes a bulge in the straw.
  • Treasure Map: Fanboy and Chum Chum have two in "Fanboy A'hoy"; one is a "decoy" and the other leads to the real treasure.

Fanboy: Cat marks the spot!

  • Twinkle Smile: Boog gets one in "The Frosty Bus".
  • Twitchy Eye: Lenny gets a "stress twitch" whenever he's especially annoyed by Fanboy and Chum Chum, in which his enitre face contorts. Francine has one in another episode.
  • Two-Teacher School: Mr. Mufflin and the French teacher are the only real teachers seen at the school. Other faculty members are Janitor Poopatine and Lunch Lady Cram, though they don't instruct a subject.
  • Uncanny Family Resemblance: Chum Chum has a female cousin named Muk-Muk. Looks like him with pigtails.
    • Oz has a cousin named Brizwald who looks exactly like him with yellow glasses and clothes. He's also a comic collector and even has a similar Verbal Tic, "sincerely".
  • Underwear of Power: "We Don't Care If You Stare. I Mean Look At Our Underwear"
  • The Unintelligible: Chris Chuggy, one of Fanboy and Chum Chum's classmates, only says "wah."
  • Black Holes Suck: Man-Arctica falls into one with a warning sign and winds up in Fanboy and Chum Chum's universe in "Stan Arctica".
  • Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Fanboy, Chum Chum, and Boog all dance around while chanting "How you like us now?!" at the end of "Prank Master".
  • Vampire Vords: Dr. Acula talks like this, and later Fanboy and Chum Chum when they become vampires.
  • Vanity License Plate: Boog's license plate reads "BORN 2 BOP". Lenny's bike has a plate with his name.
  • Villain Team-Up: Mr. Mufflin & Oz's Mom in the lemonade episode.
  • Vomit Discretion Shot: Played straight in several episodes, but subverted in "Moppy Dearest". Chum Chum's cousin vomits off-screen, but in the next shot, you can clearly see the mess on the floor.
  • Walk the Plank: Fanboy and Chum Chum do this at the end of "Fanboy A'hoy" and fall into raw sewage.
  • Watch the Paint Job: In "Refill Madness", Boog's car gets destroyed from the inside out, with Fanboy, Chum Chum, and all of their friends getting gum and ice cream on the seats until they crash into the Frosty Mart.
  • Weird Moon: At the end of "Fanboy in the Plastic Bubble", Boog's bubble is popped by the crescent moon.

Boog: Stupid pointy moooooooon!

  • Well Done, Son Guy: Kyle spends the entire episode in which Sigmund stars trying to impress him. He eventually receives praise from Sigmund, but due to the whole premise being a Fawlty Towers Plot, the lie collapses shortly after. They both go back to their former relation to each other.
  • What Does This Button Do?: "'Release Monkey'? I wonder what that does."
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: In "Man-Arctica the Ride," Oz appears alongside the other characters in the beginning of the episode, but after they board the roller coaster, he disappears without any explanation.
    • At the beginning of "There Will Be Shrieks", Lenny and Boog are grappling with a ghost that was released from the Frosty Screamy Scream cup, but we never see what happens to them after Fanboy and Chum Chum leave the Frosty Mart.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Man-Arctica in the episode "Freeze Tag"
    • Fanboy and Chum Chum in "Berry Sick".
  • Who Even Needs a Brain?: Type I happens to Fanboy in "Brain Drain".
    • Type III occurs in "Dollar Day", as a part of a Brick Joke. Early in the episode, Fanboy's brain falls out upon him tripping on something. Later Fanboy's brain is put back into his head by Chum Chum, when the two have to think of a way to earn a dollar. Throughout the entire episode there is no difference in Fanboy's behaviour when he is brainless from his usual self.
  • Who's Watching the Store?: Lenny and Boog frequently leave the Frosty Mart unattended. In "Secret Shopper", the two leave the store to avoid being fired by the Secret Shopper, and Fanboy and Chum Chum take their places.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Fanboy. He has dressed as a nurse at least twice, complete with a skirt, mascara and high heels.
  • Wingding Eyes: In "Back from the Future", Fanboy and Chum Chum get Frosty Freezy Freezes in their eyes when they try the drink.
  • Wizard Beard: Fanboy wears one in "Wizboy" when he tries to play wizard with Kyle.
  • Wizarding School: Kyle was expelled from this when he turned one of his teachers into a raspberry flan.
    • "Delicious old fool."
  • Written Sound Effect
  • Yellow Sash of Power: Fanboy and Chum Chum become hall monitors in "Kids in the Hall". They go back and forth between holding square dances in the hall to acting like police officers, but either way, they prevent Kyle from delivering his admissions essay to Professor Flan.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: In "Back from the Future", Lenny time travels to prevent Fanboy and Chum Chum from ever having a Frosty Freezy Freeze, but all of his efforts result in them having it anyway.
  • Your Television Hates You: In "Jingle Fever", Lenny desperately tries to prevent Fanboy and Chum Chum from finding out about the jingle contest, but every radio station and poster around the Frosty Mart advertises it.
  • You Taste Delicious: The whole reason Fanboy and Chum Chum keep Barry over for tests at the Fanlair in "Berry Sick" is because he tastes like Frosty Freezy Freeze.
  • Zany Scheme: In "Little Glop of Horrors", the kids came up with various ideas for distracting/fooling Lunch Lady Cram so they could avoid eating the glop. One of them involved sculpting the glop into a cat costume for Chum Chum, a tree they could put him on and a fire engine. Makes Just as Much Sense in Context.
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