Invisible Network of Kids

Invisible Network of Kids is a French animated series that has, so far, flown under the radar in America, but has been dubbed into English for other countries.

Welcome to Pinkerton Academy, a experimental boarding school built in the middle of a park. It has only two teachers, 32 students, a computer-operated kitchen that prepares all your favorite foods and makes them nutritionally balanced, and a main classroom with glass-domed walls and a tree growing through it. Surely this would be a paradise, except for one minor problem.

Meet your teacher, Miss Sadie McBeth, a psychotic 20-something witch who has made it her mission in life to control, enslave and basically torture kids any way she can. If Miss McBeth had her way, Pinkerton would have been transformed into a totalitarian hell-hole long ago.

Fortunately, there's one thing that keeps getting in her way: the Invisible Network of Kids. These four Pinkerton students joined forces and formed a spy organization dedicated to blocking, subverting and basically just driving Miss McBeth even crazier than she already is. These for kids are the only thing standing in the way of McBeth and total domination of the school. And these intrepid heroes are...

  • Vin: The school pretty boy, with the ego to match. This orphan views himself as an action hero and will not hesitate to jump in to a mission. The only thing he values more than his friends is his unending quest to find out who his parents are and what happened to them.
  • Trixie: The unofficial leader of the team. She remains behind in the secret headquarters and guides the others through missions against McBeth. But she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty when she needs to. Trixie, by far, is the most practical and level-headed member of the group, which occasionally leads to her coming off as cold to the people around her, but she's just trying to find the best way to get the job done.
  • Newton: Pinkerton's resident Child Prodigy. This 7-year-old has an I.Q. of 165, attends school with kids who are 12 or 13 and keeps near-perfect grades. He has recently decided to pull back to 98% to give himself a break. But Newton is still a kid at heart, which is best shown by his affinity for practical jokes and anything gross. If it makes rude noise or blows up in people's face, he's all over it. Newton is the resident tech-head and is responsible for building all of I.N.K.'s gadgets.
  • Zero: The team bruiser. A goth girl loner with a mysterious past, she views herself as a kind-hearted rebel and joined I.N.K. to lend her muscle to the side of good. She is a trained fighter and is fully capable of flattening anyone else at Pinkerton. Zero seems fascinated by Asian culture. She is extensively trained in Kung-Fu, among other fighring styles and routinely enjoys sushi at meals. Zero places great value in strength, especially her own. She is terrified of being seen as a coward and the one time she lost a fight, to a cybernetically enhanced bully, she almost broke down in tears.
Tropes used in Invisible Network of Kids include:
  • Actually Pretty Funny: In "Saving Agent Newton" when Mr. Soper lists a few pranks Newton pulled in the past, he says this about the last one.
  • Adults Are Useless: Subverted with Mr. Soper, who's a very good teacher and cares about his students. Played straight with Miss McBeth. She's lousy at math, has trouble pronouncing big words, can't even spell her own goldfish's name right and, oh yeah, is utterly crazy.
  • Ambiguously Brown: Trixie
  • Amnesiacs Are Innocent: In "Macbeth Feels the Sting" when Macbeth's invention backfires on her and turns her into a nitwit, she completely forgets how evil and strict she used to be. The kids waste no time in taking advantage of this.
  • And Knowing Is Half the Battle: The "Science Club" shorts
  • Badass Adorable: Zero
  • Bamboo Technology: There is literally nothing Newton can not make bubblegum do.
    • In "Ego Ergo" Zero playfully makes fun of how nearly all his inventions involve gum.
  • Bare Your Midriff: Zero in "Pinkertomb" after she switches clothes with Vin.
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Subverted in "Mission Forgotten?" when Macbeth stops Zero and Vin from showering until they break and confess. They're both filthy, though Zero doesn't have flies buzzing around her like Vin does.
  • Berserk Button: Go ahead, pick on someone smaller than you while Zero's around, I dare you.
  • Big Eater: Ben
  • Bottle Episode: Most of them. We rarely see any places outside of the school.
  • Braces of Orthodontic Overkill: In "Armed to the Teeth" Miss McBeth puts these on Vin and uses them to control him.
    • Esentially Vin has Dock Ock arms coming out of his mouth.
  • Break the Cutie: Trixie in "The Queen's Game".
    • Zero in "Burt the Brute" when a suped-up Burt beats her up and locks her in a safe. When the gang get her out she's close to tears.
      • It's a bit hard to see with her pale skin, but she did shed one tear.
  • Cheaters Never Prosper: Double subverted in "The Queen's Game".
  • Child-Hater: Miss McBeth
  • Child Prodigy: Newton, of course. Also, Trixie is shown to be a natural at chess.
  • Clip Show: "Round Up the Usual Suspects"
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: Let's see, a group of kids band together and use homemade gadgets to fight adult tyranny. Now where have I heard that before?
    • A French animated series about a group of kids at a boarding school who lead a secret double life fighting the forces of evil? With a kid genius and a girl associated with Asian culture as two members of said group? Nope, can't say that sounds very familiar.
  • Distinguishing Mark: Zero's biggest embarrassment? The pink pony-shaped birthmark on her left shoulder.
  • Dumb Is Good: In "Macbeth Feels the Sting" Macbeth gets stung by her own invention; flies that turn people into idiots. In addition to making her dumb(er) it also makes her nice. Later, she invents another type of fly to act as the opposite to the other one, turning people evil while keeping their intelligence the same.
  • Edited for Syndication: In Australia, the Science Club segments are left in and the credits are cut short. In the UK, the full credits are shown and the Science Club segments are cut.
  • Elaborate University High
  • Embarrassing Old Video: In the final episode, INK find one of Miss Macbeth and blackmail her with it.
  • Eureka Moment: Often a lesson or speech Mr. Soper gives will inspire Macbeth's scheme of the day.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: In "Lovestruck Stinkbomb" when it looked like Zero and Vin were going to fall to their deaths, Miss McBeth looked genuinely concerned.
    • In "Burt the Brute" Burt started having second thoughts about his alliance with Macbeth when she revealed her plan to go from stuffing kids in garbage cans they can easily fit in to garbage cans the size of thimbles. Though he still goes along with it after some convincing.
  • Evil Brit: Miss McBeth
  • Evil Teacher: Miss MacBeth
  • Five-Man Band
  • Fan Disservice: Occasionally Miss McBeth will get into a sexy outfit for her musical number.
  • F Minus Minus: In "Burt the Brute" when Macbeth is grading the kids' tests she just gives zero to everyone.
  • Fractured Fairy Tale: The episode "Donkeyboy", which mashes together the Pied Piper with Pinocchio and throws in a giant robot big bad wolf for good measure.
  • Freudian Excuse: Miss McBeth, oh dear lord, Miss McBeth. Certain serial killers have had more pleasant upbringings than she.
  • Funny Afro: Trixie's bedhead.
    • Trixie's parents have huge afros.
  • Gag Nose: Macbeth
  • Genius Ditz: Miss McBeth even fails at basic mathematics, but creating mind control devices and other complex things? Not a problem.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: This show was made in France and it shows. It's not shy about letting kids use swear words like "hell". The kids spend most of one episode in their underwear. One episode even featured a shot of three boys showering naked; conveniently placed steam was the only thing covering their crotches. In another episode, most of the kids at school are invited to what can only be described as a midnight rave. The rave even has a bar, though we never actually see anyone drink any alcohol.
  • Heroic Albino: Zero
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: The English language version features several voice actors from Code Lyoko:
    • Trixie is Sissi
    • Zero is Yumi
    • Vin is Ulrich
    • Newton is Jeremie
    • Daryl is Odd
  • Humiliation Conga: In "Saving Agent Newton" Newton tricks Macbeth into doing a series of humiliating tasks.
  • Hypnotic Eyes: One of Miss McBeth's favorite weapons.
  • Inspector Javert: Ernest DeLoop from the final episode.
  • Kick Chick: A flying kick is Zero's primary attack.
  • Let's Duet: Miss Macbeth and Miss Frank in "Macbeth Feels the Sting".
  • Let's Get Dangerous: Whenever Mr. Soper is let in on what's going on, he's proven himself to be a valuable ally.
  • Lovable Alpha Bitch: Van, short for Vanessa, is not really mean, just a self-absorbed airhead. The only time she said anything mean was when she was under the effects of a truth ray.
  • Magic Skirt
  • Money Fetish: The burglar in "Santa Claws", to the point where Soper manages to distract him for several hours by reading a book about money.
  • Morality Pet: McBeth's goldfish Vagner.
  • More Teeth Than the Osmond Family: Vagner is supposed to be a goldfish, but has teeth like a pirahna.
  • Naughty Nurse Outfit: Macbeth in "Patient Zero". She attempts to look like a Hospital Hottie, but she has no medical knowledge and she's not a hottie.
  • Only Known by Their Nickname: Zero
  • The Password Is Always Swordfish: In "The Butterfly Effect" the password to Macbeth's safe was Vagner, the name of her goldfish.
    • In another episode the password to Macbeth's computer is password, because the computer told her to enter password.
  • The Pollyanna: Miss Frank, Macbeth's substitute in "Macbeth Feels the Sting", when not under the effects of Macbeth's meanness potion.
  • Professional Butt-Kisser: Daryl to Miss McBeth. Even when under the influence of a truth ray he has nothing but nice things to say about her.
  • The Psycho Rangers: The Shadow Avengers
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Mr. Soper
  • The Runaway: Zero apparently ran away from her parents. The principal, Mr. Soper, allowed her to enroll herself at Pinkerton.
  • Running Gag: In every episode Miss McBeth discovers the identities of I.N.K., but something makes her forget. Zero's favorite fighting technique involves hanging kids from the coat rack by their undies.
  • Sadist Teacher: Miss McBeth
  • Secret Secret Keeper: In "The Truth, the Whole Truth" it's revealed Soper knows what happened to Vin's parents.
  • Series Continuity Error: According to "A Strict Diet" Miss Macbeth hates food and can only eat tasteless nutrition paste, but in "Santa Claws" she's trying to cook a turkey for her Christmas dinner.
  • Serious Business: Anytime Miss McBeth gets the upper hand, the kids see it as the end of the world.
  • Shout-Out: At one point Vin and Zero have a face-off that sees them battling across the treetops, until it devolves into a tickle fight, anyway.
  • The Stoic: Zero. Though she gets quite a lot of Not So Stoic moments.
  • Teen Superspy
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Zero and Trixie fit this trope nicely.
  • Tsundere: Zero is Type B for Vin.
  • Two-Teacher School: A literal case.
  • Tyop on the Cover: In "Voodoo Shampoo" the title is misspelled as "Vodoo Shampoo".
  • Unfortunate Names: In "The New Student" the new girl is named Pervy.
  • Villain Song: Miss McBeth Gets one Once an Episode
  • We Want Our Jerk Back: "The Ghost of Pinkerton"
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Zero is scared of chickens.
  • Will They or Won't They?: Vin and Zero. As the first season progresses, it becomes more and more obvious that they're an item; they just never say it out loud.
  • Would Hit a Girl: Burt, at least in the case of Zero since she can stand up for herself.
  • Younger Than They Look: Miss McBeth
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