The Replacements (animation)/Headscratchers

• The business that is in charge of replacing. Are the adults that work as replacements paid, or are they volunteers? If they are paid, how on Earth can the company afford to pay them when kids only have to send in $1.98 for unlimited replacement services? They've got to be losing money. How often are replacements permanently used (like Todd & Riley's parents) and how often are they sent back? Is the government aware of what this business is doing (there are ads everywhere...) and doesn't a replacement adult have to be qualified if they are filling in for a job (I can't recall the episode exactly, but Riley replaced her cheerleading coach, and the school just accepted this new person who may or may not have teaching credentials?) The whole company is confusing.
  • In the librarian episode, Fleemco hired the old librarian to write a book. Persumably some of the people the replace are used to make profit. Plus, considering Conrad's entire motivation was to help his niece and nephew he's probably not all that concerned about losing money. The Replacements are likely paid by whoever Conrad sticks them with (if they replace a teacher, the school, etc.) or not paid at all (it's not like K and Dick would need to be paid to be parents). A late episode confirmed that the Replacement program is, indeed, a secret, Conrad gets mad at Todd for not being more careful at keeping it secret. That same episode showed that, unless a replacement is explicitly sent back, they remain (the head of the school newspaper, eg). As for the qualifications, chalk it up to Screw the Rules, I Have Money.
• If Tasumi is in fact a brunette wearing a Sentai costume, what's up with the blue hair that's supposedly part of the costume? I had assumed that the photos she had of her family in season 1 were just high-quality screencaps, taken from the anime whose character she was dressed as, printed onto glossy paper. But in "The Means Justify the Trend", she manages to restyle the costume's hair in different ways, which she shouldn't have been able to do if it's just part of the costume! Also, "Todd Strikes Out" has her activating rockets on her boots when she goes up to bat, which she technically shouldn't have if it's just a costume! If the creators really planned for Tasumi to just be a girl in a costume making up her own backstory, why did they had this slip by?
  • Maybe it's a wig?
• Tasumi puts her costume in the trash can and it's taken by the guy running the anime/manga fan store at the end of "Tasumi Unmasked". So how does she have the costume again in "Irreplaceable"?
  • Maybe the guy running the anime/manga fan store sold it to the highest bidder (Before you ask, I haven't seen the episode in question, but the answer to your question will most likely be Money, Dear Boy), and the highest bidder was either Tatsuki or someone who later gave the costume to he? Or heck, could it have been a different, identical costume, since she's apparently not an actual Sentai member in the second (or third, or whicheverth) season?
• Does anyone else think it's a bit odd that they didn't fully resolve the "Riley and Johnny break up" subplot? Disney Channel shows usually have the possible couple(s) hooking up in the end (or getting back together if they were ever broken up, in some cases), but the last time we see Johnny on the show, he's actually saying he's willing to get back together with Riley. The problem is that he's talking to the robot Riley, not the real Riley, who just dismisses the scene with "It figures." Are we left to assume that Riley and Johnny do eventually get back together, or that Riley moves on?
  • Wasn't he just a little too into that Riley-bot at the end of "A Tale of Two Rileys" to suit anyone else? Also, he has a cousin who looks an awful lot like Riley...even she notes it's creepy. Perhaps she's better off without him!...
• When Conrad Fleem reveals that he's Todd & Riley's uncle in the last episode, he also reveals that he's actually a redhead. So why is it his flashback in "The Frog Prince" depicts him with his black hair disguise as a kid?
  • Maybe he's just insecure?
• Why is it the last two US reruns of "Irreplaceable" have mistakenly put act 3 in place of act 2?! It's rather inconvenient for people who are trying to record the series now!
• Tasumi's unmasked design. It's..Creepy. Why doesn't she look more like her masked design or at least like everyone else in the cartoon? Her style is a bit different.
  • She's the token minority. She's drawn in a somewhat anime-ish style, befitting her Asian heritage. Also, I think she might be a caricature of Lauren Tom in her youth.
    • Couldn't they at least not make her apart of the Uncanny Valley?
• I haven't seen many episodes, but the Expository Theme Tune disturbs and confuses me. So, Todd and Riley are in orphanage, for some reason living in the same room, but that not what disturbs me. They summoned a new mom and dad for themselves (By the way, who was replaced by them?). Aparently, they made them marry and live with each other. So disturbing...feeling urge to strangle someone with the Force.
  • They might have been already married to begin with.
  • The orphanage (or possibly their dead parents) were replaced by them.
  • Excuse Plot. The show makes it very clear that they do love eachother, and the episodes where they're concerned about their marriage make it clear they're not being forced to stay together.
• Okay...the fundamental concept of the series bothers me. Todd and Riley regularly replace adults who "mildly inconvenience" them in any way, and it never works out, yet they keep doing it. It bothered me so much I actually addressed it in my own series. Even odder, their uncle Conrad hires them to help make the Replacement service available to other children. A company that specializes in be-careful-what-you wish-for lessons, or a lawsuit waiting to happen?