|
[[File:Couragedog.gif|frame|[[Catch Phrase|The things he does for love...]] ]]
{{quote|'''Narrator:''' ''We interrupt this program to bring you... Courage the Cowardly Dog Show, starring Courage, the cowardly dog! Abandoned as a pup, he was found by Muriel, who lives in the middle of Nowhere with her husband, Eustace Bagge! But creepy stuff happens in Nowhere. It's up to Courage to save his new home!''
'''Eustace:''' ''Stupid dog! You made me look bad! (pulls out mask) OOGA BOOGA BOOGA!'' }}
From the mind of animator John R. Dilworth came this'''Courage the Cowardly Dog''', a [[Cartoon Network]] original series, spun off from Dilworth's animated short "The Chicken From Outer Space".
The title character, the high-strung and inexplicably pink canine Courage, is the beloved pet of Eustace and Muriel Bagge, an elderly couple who live on a dusty old farm in the middle of Nowhere (literally; they live in Nowhere, Kansas). Well, he's the beloved pet of the sweet-hearted Muriel, anyway; the mean and crotchety Eustace thinks he's just a "stupid dog", and torments Courage whenever he thinks he can get away with it (and even when he knows he can't).
{{tropelist}}
* [[Acme Products]]: "[[Creator Cameo|Dil]]" Products, actually.ranging Itfrom appliesblowtorches to certain things like blowtorches,and vacuum cleaners, to alkaline batteries, and power cables (and in one case,even an entire grocery store).
* [[Adored by the Network]]: Quite possibly. Cartoon Network decided the pilot should become its own series, and the show has spanned four entire seasons without a single threat of having it yanked off the air, despite its scary nature. This show is also one of the few cancelled originals to still air on a regular basis.
** Also, after the show completed its four-season, 52-episode run (typical for most cartoon series on cable networks such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon), many fans petitioned for a continuation, which both the network and John R. Dilworth considered, but ultimately, Dilworth decided not to continue with any further episodes or seasons.
*** On the same token, a (possibly theatrical) movie was confirmed to be in the works,{{when}}; however, it never came to fruition.
* [[Adult Fear]]: Courage's parents get sent to Pluto, and he's all alone until Muriel finds him.
* [[Aesop Amnesia]]: Seriously, '''good luck''' trying to get Eustace and Di Lung to actually learn from theirhis mistakes.
* [[Affably Evil]]: Freaky Fred. A psychopathic man with a [[Slasher Smile]], but his amusing rhyming makes him one of the more entertaining villains. Besides, {{spoiler|all he really does is [[Poke the Poodle|shave people and animals bald]].}}
* [[Affectionate Parody]]: ''The Hunchback of Nowhere'' is one of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'', while ''Squatting Tiger, Hidden Dog'' is another one of ''[[Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon]]''.
* [[All Just a Dream]]: "Cowboy Courage". {{spoiler|...[[Or Was It a Dream?|...presumably.]]}}: "Cowboy Courage".
* [[Exclusively Evil]]: Birds, it would seem.
* [[Always Someone Better]]: Eustace's brother Horst, who was better at pretty much everything.
* [[Amazing Technicolor Wildlife]]: The titular dogCourage is pink with black spots. Katz is a fire engine red cat with purple stripes, Shirley the Medium is a green chihuahua, and the Duck Brothers are bright blue with green, purple, and red eyes and neck markings (though they ''are'' aliens).
* [[Anachronism Stew]]: "Modern" China looks ''considerably'' more like Ancient China in ''Squatting Tiger, Hidden Dog''.
** Also, Katz is a fire engine red cat with purple stripes, Shirley the Medium is a green chihuahua, the Duck Brothers are bright blue with green, purple, and red eyes and neck markings, and there has been a chicken with an electric blue wattle (Although, to be fair, the chicken and ducks were from outer space. Maybe they're the fowl versions of [[Human Aliens]]?)
* [[Asian and Nerdy]]: Di Lung fits the stereotype to a T.
* [[Anachronism Stew]]: "Modern" China looking '''considerably''' more like Ancient China in ''Squatting Tiger, Hidden Dog''.
* [[Asian and Nerdy]]: Di Lung is about as [[Ethnic Scrappy|stereotypically]] Asian as cartoon characters get, and also [[Genius Ditz|about as talented]].
* [[Asian Drivers]]: Di Lung, whose '''first appearance''' has him parking his [[Cool Car|red vintage hot rod]] all the way across an open road before then yelling "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE ''GOING'', YA '''''FOOL'''''" at Eustace [[Hypocritical Humor|in response to causing Eustace to nearly crash his truck into said car]]. Needless to say, [[Understatement|Eustace is]] '''[[Understatement|not]]''' [[Understatement|amused]].
* [[Asian Rudeness]]: The main personality trait of Di Lung and the Evil Empress.
* [[Asshole Victim]]: Eustace and Di Lung are the show's most notable examples of this.
* [[Ask a Stupid Question]]: Courage always does this with the computer, though he isn't really asking a stupid question, it's how the computer interprets it. Here's an example:
* [[Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other]]: Eustace & Muriel courtesy of marriage counseling in "Mcphearson Phantom".
{{quote|'''Courage:''' Computer. How do you get rid of bad eggplants?
* [[The Bad Guy Wins]]: The Evil Carrot in "Muriel Blows Up" wants nothing more than to [[Madness Mantra|"grow, expand, explode!"]] by using whoever ate him (which does [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|exactly what]] [[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|you'd think]] [[Stuff Blowing Up|it does]]). Initially thwarted after Muriel coughs him up, Eustace finds and eats him instead, causing him to grow to enormous size and explode soon after.
'''Computer:''' Throw them in the garbage. You twit. }}
* [[As Long as It Sounds Foreign]]: Dr. Vindaloo.
* [[Asshole Victim]]: Eustace and Di Lung are perhaps the show's most notable examples of this.
* [[Audio Erotica]]: Katz, captivating his victims with his smooth sexy voice before he, you know, kills them.
** The Spirit of the Harvest Moon with his hot and deep voice can be frightening and cool at the same time.
* [[Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other]] Eustace & Muriel due to marriage counseling in the episode "Mcphearson Phantom".
* [[Bag of Holding]]: Muriel has one, seen in "Curse Of Shirley".
* [[Bald of Evil]]: Eustace {{spoiler|and [[Bald Women|his mother]]}}, although it's really more bald of [[Jerkass]].
* [[Beam Me Up, Scotty]]: A non-quote example: the instrument in the last episode is a ''bugle'', not a trumpet, as it's commonly assumed.
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Courage almost every episode. Even Eustace gets in on this rarely.
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Eustace, of all people, actually gets a few. [[Makes Sense in Context|He flies past the sun Courage and Muriel are on riding a comet which lets them all get back to Earth]], and in another episode pretty much saves the day against [[Complete Monster|Katz]].
* [[Big, Thin, Short Trio]]: Muriel, Eustace, and Courage respectively.
* [[Big "What?"]]: [[Ragin' Cajun|Cajun Fox]] deliversupon arealizing ''[[Chewinghe thelacks Scenery|truly]]'' epic one after reading "one cute little olda granny" off offor his cookbook's list of ingredients for the titular stew recipe in ''Cajun Granny Stew''.
* [[Black Comedy]]: The entire animated series itself.
* [[Black Eyes of Evil]]: Subverted with The Harvest Moon's spiritSpirit, haswho these and so does his lips. However it would be more correct call this Black Scary Eyes since heisn'st nottruly evil, at least not completely.
* [[Blind Without'Em]]: Eustace, to the point he once got dragged halfway across the world without him knowing it.
** In one episode, Eustace was cursed by Shirley to have a constantly raining storm cloud over him until he showed generosity; at some point, Eustace loses his glasses, which comes in handy when he looks at Courage and sees his younger self (though he doesn't recognize as much) crying because he doesn't have a hat. Eustace gives him his own, which ends the curse.
** Eustace; he once got dragged halfway across the world without him knowing it.
** Muriel is apparently deaf without 'em. Granted, this only occurs once with Courage, [[Fridge Brilliance|who usually has to rely on]] [[Narrative Shapeshifting]] to communicate with her.
** Important plot point: Eustace was cursed to be rained on until he showed generosity, and the rain got so bad that it was flooding the Bagge house and threatening to destroy it. So later in the episode, when Eustace loses his glasses, he looks at Courage and sees a young child (presumably himself as a young 'un, given the appearance) being rained on; he feels sorry for "the child" and gives him his hat, a selfless act that ends up stopping the rain curse.
** Muriel is apparently deaf as well, {{quote|"You know I can't hear without my glasses, Courage." Although that makes more sense when you remember that Courage has to rely on gestures to communicate.|}}
* [[Body Horror]]: ThereOccurs arein quite a lot ofmost episodes, that have this. Especially most ofwith Courage's screams[[Wild whichTake]]s wouldproviding resultmany inunique this.(and However,morbidly theamusing) episode that provokes this the most is the episode "Cabaret Courage"examples.
** "Cabaret Courage" takes place inside a [[Womb Level|nauseating and organic environment]], complete with literal stomach acid.
* [[Brawn Hilda]]: Muriel gets mistaken for a [[Valkyries]] by an entire race of Brïnnhilde-esque [[Valkyries]]. Not to mention that the Valkyrie the sisters thought Muriel was, was actually named Brïnnhilde.
* [[Brawn Hilda]]: A trio of Brïnnhilde-esque [[Valkyries]] mistake Muriel for one of their missing sisters, who is actually named Brïnnhilde.
* [[Broken Record]]: Bushwick's [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]] and [[My Name Is Not Durwood]] routine.
* [[Broken Record]]: Bushwick's constant [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]s and his [[My Name Is Not Durwood]] routine.
* [[Brown Note]]: King Ramses' second curse. Out of universe it's actually considered hilarious, but in universe it's horrifying enough to be considered worse than the water plague.
* [[Brown Note]]: King Ramses' second curse is horrifying enough to be considered worse than the flooding plague. [[Ear Worm|It's honestly pretty catchy to a lot of viewers, though.]]
** Theres also this:
* [[Butt Monkey]]: Courage.
{{quote|''It's Doc Gerbil's World, It's Doc Gerbil's World, It's Doc Gerbil's World, It's Doc Gerbil's World...''}}
* [[Butt Monkey]]: Courage.* [[Asshole Victim|Eustace totally deserves almost everything that happens to him]]. [[Jerkass Woobie|''Almost.'']]
* [[Card-Carrying Villain]]: Katz is '''easily''' the biggest sadist in the entire series, The Evil Empress from ''Squatting Tiger, Hidden Dog'' might actually be even '''more''' of a CCV than Katz and Di Lung, however.
** Eustace may be a jerk, and his actions later in life are pretty much inexcusable, but to say he's entirely responsible is a bit harsh. His father was basically nonexistent, off chasing whales, his mother verbally and physically abused him, and his older brother left home as soon as he could to go be rich, and never share any of that with the family, only laugh at Eustace's fate. He had a pretty bad upbringing.
* [[Cargo Ship]]: In "The Gods Must Be Goosey", {{spoiler|the Goose and Eustae's Truck get married at the end of the episode.}}
*** Ah, so he has a [[Freudian Excuse]].
* [[The Cassandra]]: Courage is almost always the one to recognize when evil is afoot, but generally has trouble convincing Muriel and Eustace of it. [[Fortune Teller|Shirley's]] warning are also unheeded initially in most of her appearances.
* [[Card-Carrying Villain]]: Katz (who is '''easily''' the biggest sadist in the entire series) and Di Lung (who somehow manages to be enough of an irredeemable douchebag to actually make Eustace look like a '''saint''' when compared to him). The Evil Empress from ''Squatting Tiger, Hidden Dog'' might actually be even '''more''' of a CCV than Katz and Di Lung, however.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: "The things I do for love!" and "What do I do? What do I do!?!" for Courage. He also tends to comment on strange events to the tune of: "Something weird's going on here, or my name's <strange, random or non-sequitur name>! [[Don't Explain the Joke|...And it's not.]]"
* [[The Cassandra]]: Courage, he always notices that something is evil, while Muriel and Eustace usually are ignorant of it.
** Di Lung's "Watch where you're going, ya ''foo'!''"
** The same thing can also be said about [[Fortune Teller|Shirley]].
** "There is nothing to worry about. Nothing at all." "[[Bearer of Bad News|...But there's nothing I can do]]." [[Sarcasm Mode|Thanks, Dr. Vindaloo.]]
* [[Catch Phrase]]: Usually using the same sound clip. Some like "The things I do for love!" and "What do I do? What do I do!?!" for Courage and "Stupid Dog!" for Eustace.
** Eustace has quite a few as well, some of which are used as stock clips in later seasons:
** He has another one that tends to go something like "Something weird's going on here, or my name's <strange, non-sequitir, or just plain incorrect name>! [[Don't Explain the Joke|...And it's not.]]"
*** "Stupid dog!" and its many variants.
** Also, how could we '''possibly''' forget to mention Di Lung's "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE ''GOING'', YA '''''FOOL'''''" catchphrase?
*** [[Never My Fault|"What did I do?"]]
* [[Cats Are Mean]]: Recurring nemesis Katz.
*** "Blah, blah, blah!"
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Believe it or not, this particular example took several ''seasons'' to develop. {{spoiler|It's his uncanny ability to scream, which he uses to defeat the villains, [[Hoist by His Own Petard|who themselves forced Courage into developing his "talent"]] for years.}}
* [[Cats Are Mean]]: Recurring nemesis Katz. {{spoiler|Kitty also behaves this way towards Courage initially, though this is a result of trauma from her previous relationship, and she learns that not all dogs are bad towards the end of her episode.}}
** The Happy Plums from "Tower of Dr. Zalost" also count.
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Believe it or not, one particular example took several ''seasons'' to develop. {{spoiler|In "Ball of Revenge", Courage's uncanny ability to scream allows him to turn the table and defeat a group of revenge-seeking villains, [[Hoist By Their Own Petard|whose actions caused Courage to develop his "talent" for years]].}}
** Also the Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich (with just a 'wee' dash of vinegar) from "Tulip's Worm".
** The Happy Plums from "Tower of Dr. Zalost".
** The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich (with just a 'wee' dash of vinegar) from "Tulip's Worm".
** Muriel's tears in "Queen Of The Black Puddle".
** Eustace's chair in "Klub Katz".
** Basil is a burglar who flips back and forth between robbing Courage, Muriel, and Eustace and thinking they're his family. After they convince Basil to give [[Shamu Fu|FISH]].
** Fred and Dr. Vindaloo.
* [[Collapsing Lair]]: Near the end of "The Tower of Dr. Zalost".
* [[Come Back, My Pet]]: Courage routinely does this for Eustace, who routinely scares and abuses him. However, it's less out of the goodness of his heart and more because of his devotion to Eustace's wife Muriel.
* [[Companion Cube]]: Computer. While he, if his speaking isn't just Courage's delusion, may be treated as a living character, it's still a '''computer'''.
** The episode "Mega Muriel the Magnificent" contradicts this, it isn't Courage's imagination after all.
* [[Completely Missing the Point]]:
{{quote|'''Eustace:''' Did you break that door?!
'''Courage:''' Ooooh, ''forget the DOOR!!'' }}
* [[Conspicuous CG]]: To be expected of a '00s cartoon. Examples include the carriage from "The Demon in the Mattress", the anvil from "The Precious, Wonderful, Adorable, Loveable Duckling", and Kin
* [[Conspicuous CG]]: The carriage from the mattress episode, the anvil from the precious duckling episode, and the rug in the living room. Most notable in "The Queen of the Black Puddle" where the Black Puddle Queen bumps her head onto the rug when trying to catch Courage and Eustace. Also King Ramses. "Hard Drive Courage" takes it to an extreme by having Courage animated in CGI when he first enters cyberspace- though here, it's justified: he's rendered in computerized graphics [[Shaped Like Itself|inside said computer]].
** In "The Queen of the Black Puddle", Courage manages to rescue Eustace from the Black Puddle Queen and uses a hair dryer to close the watery portal, which results in a visible bump from her running into the resulting 'wall'.
** Also, do '''not''' even get us started on the Blue Thing from ''Perfect''...
** "Hard Drive Courage" renders the [[cyberspace]] in Courage's computer using CGI.
** [[Nightmare Fuel|The... blue thing from Courage's nightmare]] ''Perfect'', apparently based on Eustace's bugle.
* [[Context Sensitive Button]]: Goes on all the time.
* [[Continuity Cavalcade]]: "Ball of Revenge".
* [[Continuity Nod]]: The events that happened in "The Snowman Cometh", "Freaky Fred", and "The Queen of the Black Puddle" were mentioned in the episode "Mega Muriel the Magnificent".
* [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]]: In a number of episodes. For example, in "Ball of Revenge", Katz puts colourcolors and white clothing together in the washing machine. Muriel's screaming ensues.
* [[Cool Car]]: Di Lung has a rather impressive car that appears to be a red vintage Corvette.
* [[Cool Shades]]: Most notably [[Ragin' Cajun|Cajun Fox]]'s and [[Asian Rudeness|Di]] [[Insufferable Genius|Lung]]'s pairs of them.
* [[Cowardly Lion]]/[[The So-Called Coward]]: Courage, of course.
* [[Crapsack World]]: It's hard to expect any good definition to come out of "The Middle of Nowhere", but any backwater in a ''horror'' plot is screwed; guaranteed.
* [[Creator Cameo]]: Dilworth's himselfcaricature makes appearancesappears in many of the still photographs that pop up here and there, inand his name (often shortened to "Dil") is seen on quite a few products. His name also appears on [[Death by Cameo|the showlist of people who checked into the Katz Motel.
* '''[[Curb Stomp Battle]]''': The titular duel in "Courage VS Mecha-Courage", inwhere whichthe Mecha-Couragerobot uses literally every weapon-related thing thatmeans it is capable of producingcan to beat Courage ''incredibly''-nearly to deatha literal pulp, whileand the only thing thathe Courage is able tocan do in order to defend himself, let alone fight back, is mindlessly [[Made of Iron|tank Mecha-Courage's hits...]] until said machine'sits battery power runs out from[[Self-Disposing howVillain|and manyit ofbreaks itsdown attackscompletely]], Courageleaving has survived[[Determinator|Courage]] victorious.
* [[Cute Machines]]: Mecha-Courage looks like something straight out of ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'',. butRobot don'tRandy beis also one of these due to the [[Pun|fooledGentle Giant]] that he ultimately turns out to be.
* [[Cyberspace]]: "Hard Drive Courage", where cyberspace is depicted as the actual inside of a computer, with chips, motherboards, and RAM (of sorts), plus ''a lot'' of green binary code.
** Robot Randy is also one of these due to the [[Gentle Giant]] that he ultimately turns out to be.
* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: Not all the monsters Courage meets are [[Exclusively Evil]] or hostile - some of them are just [[Chaotic Neutral]] or even friendly. In fact in some cases they even need Courage's help.
* [[Cyberspace]]: Played straight in "Hard Drive Courage". On an interesting note, Cyberspace is depicted as the actual inside of a computer. You know, chips, motherboards, the usual. Plus ''a lot'' of green binary code.
* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Compared to most other animated series, very much so. Later seasons are also significantly more dramatic in nature compared to previous ones. In fact, the show's the two half-hour episodes ("The Tower of Dr. Zalost" and "The Mask") deviate dramatically from the show's usual [[Monster of the Week]] formula, dealing with much more realistic horrors such as depression and abusive relationships, respectively.
* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: Not all the monsters Courage meets are [[Exclusively Evil]] or hostile - some of them are just [[Chaotic Neutral]] or even friendly. In fact in some cases they even need Courege's help.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Courage's Computer, as well as Shirley the Medium. Katz can also be rather snarky as well.
* [[Darker and Edgier]]: This could be disputed, as the entire series was darker than most other animated series; however, most episodes from the final season are significantly more dramatic in nature compared to other seasons, especially the first. In fact, the show's two half-hour episodes ("The Tower of Dr. Zalost" and "The Mask") deviate dramatically from the show's usual [[Monster of the Week]] formula, dealing with much more realistic horrors such as depression (in "The Tower") and abusive relationships (in "The Mask").
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Courage's Computer, as well as Shirley the Medium.
** Katz can be rather snarky as well. "Pity..."
* [[Death by Cameo]]: Among his many cameos in the show, John Dilworth's name appears on the list of people who checked into the Katz Motel.
* [[Demon Head]]: That girl who played the violin in "Courage in the Big Stinkin' City".
* [[Deranged Animation]]
* [[Designated Victim]]: If the [[Monster of the Week]] can terrorize Muriel in any way, it ''will''.
** Eustace is also a likely target. Unlike Muriel, [[Asshole Victim|he's also less likely to be saved from said monster or disaster.]]
* [[Determinator]]: Courage himself. OnAgainst thean longunending run,onslaught heof facedsupernatural uncountable nemesisweirdness and supernaturalmultiple weirdnessnemeses, and yet he stands by Muriel out of feelings of love and gratitude. This[[Justified]] isconsidering even more obvious on the Mega-Courage episode, wherehow he squares-off against a robotic version of himself saidcame to be betterabandoned in everything.the Despitefirst getting brutally beaten over and over againplace by the{{spoiler|losing robot,his Courageparents justto staysa there,mad taking it all, and indeedscientist that's exactlysent whatthem enables him tointo winspace}}.
** "Courage VS Mecha-Courage" has him defeat the titular machine just by being too damn stubborn to go down, causing it to eventually run out of power.
** [[Justified]], as the one time he did run away from those he cared for, he lost them. Forever.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: In "Freaky Fred", it's quite easily to interpret Fred's poems as the ramblings of an insane serial-killer.
* [[Downer Ending]]: In "The Great Fusili", {{spoiler|Courage fails to stop Muriel and Eustace from being turned into puppets}}. Also, "Muriel Blows Up" to a lesser extent.
** In "Revenge of the Chicken From Outer Space", the way Muriel is heard screaming after the Chicken captures her makes it sound like she's being raped.
* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: A number of the first season episodes have a lot of traditional cartoon antics (chases scenes, slapstick violence, etc), and can actually become quite goofy at times, with John Dilworth himself admitting a number of the earlier episodes were "cartoon filler".
** In "Freaky Fred", it's quite easily to interpretate Fred's poem as ramblings of an insane serial-rapist. Not to mention the whole "locked in a bathroom" thing...
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: A giant starfish appears, summoned by Shirley in response to Muriel refusing to speak to anyone ever again. It eats its way through cities on its path to the farmhouse, and won't stop until it hears Muriel speak.
* [[Downer Ending]]: In "The Great Fusili", {{spoiler|Courage fails to stop Muriel and Eustace from being turned into puppets}}. Also, "Muriel Blows Up".
* [[Epic Fail]]: In ''Muriel Blows Up'', the General attempts to disarm the Evil Carrot by cutting the wires in its brain... and it turns out he got every color ''but'' the right one.
* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: A number of the first season episodes have a lot of tradition cartoon antics (chases scenes, slapstick violence, etc), and can actually become quite goofy at times, with John Dilworth himself admitting a number of the earlier episodes were "cartoon filler".
* [[Everyone Has Standards]]: Freaky Fred's refusal to shave an animal's tail on the grounds that "it would be weird".
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: That giant starfish that eats cities and won't stop until hearing Muriel speak.
* [[Evil Albino]]: Downplayed with the Harvest Moon spirit, who's more scary than outright evil.
* [[Epic Fail]]: In ''Muriel Blows Up'', the General attempts to disarm the Evil Carrot by cutting the green, red and blue wires in its wire brain...but obviously not the yellow ones, because [[Sarcasm Mode|that would just be pointless and silly]].
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Though he's not exactly evil, Freaky Fred's refusal to shave an animal's tail on the grounds that "it would be weird" definitely counts.
* [[Evil Albino]]: The Harvest Moon, althought he's not really evil. He's more like Scary Albino.
* [[Evil Brit]]: Katz, the Perfectionist, Freaky Fred, and the Evil Weevil. Also, {{spoiler|Courage's Computer in ''Mega Muriel the Magnificent''}}.
* [[Evil Laugh]]: Done by many of the villains, including The King of Flan, Dr. Zalost, Katz, and Le Quack.
* [[Evil Laugh]]:
* [[Evil Matriarch]]: Eustace's mother. Her first appearance did portray her as sympathetic after Eustace comforts her when she {{spoiler|loses her hair}}, though subsequent appearances made her far less sympathetic. {{spoiler|Her favoritism of Eustace's brother Horst certainly didn't help matters for him growing up.}}
** The King of Flan had an epic one.
** Dr. Zalost got a good one, too.
** Katz had a great sadistic one.
** Le Quack had a french version of one.
* [[Evil Matriarch]]: Eustace's mother.
** Her first appearance did portray her as sympathetic after Eustace comforts her when she {{spoiler|loses her hair.}}
** Eustace's brother was a jerk thanks to her "love". {{spoiler|Guess who she liked better?}}
* [[Evil Old Folks]]: Eustace Bagge, all the way.
* [[Exclusively Evil]]: Birds, it would seem. At the least, they definitely don't like Courage.
* [[Executive Meddling]]: The reason behind Courage's limited speech and constant babbling and screaming after the first season.
* [[Executive Meddling]]: The stated reason behind Courage's limited speech and constant babbling and screaming after the first season.
* [[Expositron 9000]]: The computer.
* [[Fantasy Kitchen Sink]]: Courage has encountered creatures and people thatfrom seemmany togenres, come from manyincluding horror, sci-fi, mythological, and even fantasy based origins.
* [[Fat and Skinny]]: Muriel and Eustace.
* [[Film Felons]]: Benton Tarantella and Errol Von Volkheim, [[Serial Killer]]s who became amateur filmmakers to lure in victims. Benton later returned from the dead as a zombie in order to revive his partner.
* [[Fat Idiot]]: Muriel, although she becomes significantly smarter/dumber in certain episodes of the series when compared to others.
* [[Flanderization]]: Eustace Bagge has always been a greedy, selfish jerk, but he was mostly just annoyed and passive in the earlier episodes. In "Demon in the Mattress", he even follows along with Courage's plan to get rid of the demon inside Muriel (see [[Crowning Moment of Funny]]). By the time of one of the last episodes, "Ball of Revenge", he literally [[Villain Team-Up|collaborates with several major and minor villains to do Courage in.]]
* [[The Fighting Narcissist]]: Bayou loves himself so much, he makes his slave slugs stuff shed skins of himself. His most used word is "me" and variations of it. He's so vain, that even when his stuffed shed skins attack him, he cannot bring himself to attack them.
* [[For the Evulz]]: Katz is usually trying to kill people for his own amusement.
* [[Film Felons]]: A zombie "director" who was already a [[Serial Killer]], who became an amateur filmmaker to lure in victims before he had died.
* [[Flanderization]]: Arguably, Eustace Bagge. He has always been a greedy, selfish jerk, but he was mostly just annoyed and passive in the earlier episodes. In "Demon in the Mattress", he even follows Courage's plan to get rid of the demon inside Muriel (see [[Crowning Moment of Funny]]). He failed at first (of course), but he did attempt to try again. Cut to one of the last episodes, "Ball of Revenge", where he literally tries to kill Courage by inviting all the major, and some not even that major villains.
* [[For the Evulz]]: Most of the villains have some reason for what they do. Usually Eustace disturbs something that should not be disturbed. LeQuack has [[Greed]], The Chicken from outer space is [[Alien Invasion|invading]] (at least the first time). Katz on the other hand is just trying to kill people for his own amusement (usually).
* [[Fortune Teller]]: Shirley the Medium.
* [[Fountain of Youth|Tornado Of Youth]]: "Little Muriel".
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: Sure, Eustace is mean, but he might be less so ifhad his mother or older brother treated him better.
* [[Funny Animal]]: Oddly enough, Courage doesexhibits some verymany human-like thingsqualities and can apparentlyeven talk ([[BreakingAddress the Fourth WallAudience|atalbeit leastmostly to the audience]], with some exceptions at first; see [[Early Installment Weirdness]]), but he usually gets treated as a normal dog. By comparison, there are several equally anthropomorphic characters, like Shirley, [[Furry Confusion|who get treated as humans [[Furry Confusion|without comment]]).
** This is lampshaded in small, throwaway moments - for example, in "The Last of the Starmakers", Courage picks up the newspaper on the porch with his hand before putting it in his mouth and giving it to Eustace.
** And Courage usually talked to other characters in the first season.
* [[General Failure]]: [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|The General]], who proves comically inept in most of his appearances, including [[Too Dumb to Live|failing to disarm one of his own bombs]] in ''Muriel Blows Up''.
** This is lampshaded in some small, throwaway moments. For example, at the beginning of The Last of the Starmakers, Courage is on the porch and picks up the newspaper with his hand before putting it in his mouth and giving it to Eustace.
* [[Genius Ditz]]: [[Asian Rudeness|Di]] [[Nouveau Riche|Lung]] may generally act dim and is usually quite self-absorbed, but is quite talented with science and engineering.
* [[General Failure]]: Mr. Frith's "General" form, to the point where [[Irony|he even fails to disarm one of his own bombs]] in ''Muriel Blows Up''.
* [[Gentle Giant]]: Randy The Robot, which causes him some angst when [[All Of The Other Reindeer|his peer ostracize him for it]], though he embraces his nature by the episode's end.
* [[Genius Ditz]]: [[Asian Rudeness|Di]] [[Nouveau Riche|Lung]] may generally act like a '''complete''' idiot (especially when he is delivering his infamous [[Running Gag|catchphrase]]), but when it comes to science and engineering, he is '''absurdly''' talented to say the '''least'''.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Arguably the show's entire premise: mature themes of horror played ''straight'' in a show appealing to people of all ages and levels of maturity. Several specific (and traditional) examples include:
* [[Gentle Giant]]: Randy The Robot becomes one of these after he finally gets over his [[All Of The Other Reindeer]] angst.
** Kitty and Bunny's relationship gives off strong lesbian overtones.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: The show's entire premise: mature themes of horror played ''straight'' in a show appealing to people of all ages and levels of maturity. Several more specific (and traditional) examples as well.
** From the Cajun Fox in "Cajun Granny Stew" while sinking into water: "That dog is starting to become a real pain in my [[Sound Effect Bleep|(gurgles)]]."
** Kitty and Bunny. How S&P didn't catch that is a mystery.
** Courage's panicked [[Imagine Spot]]s where he wonders what could happen to his endangered owners often invoke [[Bloodless Carnage]]; Muriel gets decapitated at least three times, and Eustace gets bitten in half in one instance.
*** Though in all fairness, the way it was shown they probably WERE just good friends.
** Some of Courage's [[Wild Takes]] as well, ranging from various detailed [[Eye Pop]]s to instances of him yelling out organs or else [[Half the Man He Used To Be|tearing himself in half]], complete with a view of his insides!
*** And they did just get reunited after a murderious gangleader attempted to keep them from being friends at all, even if he had to kill one or both of them. All you have to do is substitute the word 'dog' with 'men' and suddenly it makes sense. Kitty claims that "all dogs are evil" and hates Courage just for being a dog because of her experience with Bunny and her boyfriend Maddog. When eating dinner Eustace comments on the mask and asks Kitty what she's trying to hide to which she responds by pointing out his various shortcomings as a husband (get it yet?) Maddog is the paradigm of abusive boyfriends and makes it obvious that he is representing the negative aspects of dogs (men). Yet after Courage saves Bunny and she is reunited with Kitty, Kitty admits that not all 'dogs' are bad. Besides this, there's the obvious use of lesbian slang. If you don't see this episode as a positive representation of lesbianism, may your god have mercy on your brain.
** In the episode "Ball of Revenge", Eustace assembles a number of villains in his basement. When Muriel asks what they're doing here, Eustace responds:
** From "Cajun Granny Stew": "That dog is starting to become a real pain in my aaaaa".
** Though they only happen in Courage's head, we see Muriel get decapitated not once, not twice, but three times over the course of the series, complete with detailed insides. Eustace gets bitten in half at one point as well. To say nothing of Courage's frequent freak-outs that often end with his insides on his outside, so to speak.
** The Duck Brothers with their thick [[British Accents]]—although it's justified since they're voiced by Ringo Starr—fighting throughout the episode trying to save their other brother. They used Muriel to try an accomplish this, as they were fitting the mind control device on her head as she slept:
{{quote|'''Duck Brother 1:''' Stop it, you'll [[Parenthetical Swearing|wake her!]]
'''Duck Brother 2:''' No! [[Foreign Cuss Word|You'll wake her!]] }}
** In the episode "Ball of Revenge", Eustace assembles a number of villains in his basement. Muriel upon seeing them asks what they're doing here Eustace responds:
{{quote|'''Eustace:''' Err...it's a men's club.
'''Muriel:''' Oh, all right then. [''sees the Lady From the Puddle''] OH! This is one of those naughty men's clubs! }}
** [[Pun-Based Title|"That Dam Beaver".]]
** There were hints that Courage was viewing an adult website in "Hard Drive Courage".
* [[Gonk]]: It would be considerably easier to list the characters that '''don't''' fit this bill. Mondo's true form and the Ulcer are particularly extreme villainous examples from the show.
** "Freaky Fred". [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvmV5ThD61I&feature=related Just watch for yourself.]{{spoiler|Hard to believe that they got away with [[Rape Tropes|that]].}}
* [[Good Is Dumb]]: Almost every other good guy is a complete idiot in the series, to the point where they even ignore neon signs pointing at the villain.
* [[Gonk]]: It would be considerably easier to list the characters that are '''not''' one of these in this show.
** Mondo's true form and the Ulcer are particularly extreme villainous examples from the show.
* [[Good Is Dumb]]: Every single other good guy is a complete idiot in the series, to the point where they even ignore neon signs pointing at the villain.
* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: Shirley and the Computer.
* [[G-Rated Drug]]: Water, used in "Journey to the Center of Nowhere".
* [[Grumpy Old Man]]: Eustace Bagge.
* [[Gypsy Curse]]: Shirley puts them on people who are rude to her. Though since she's actually not a mean person, she normally leaves a loophole to escape or undoes the curse if she feels they learned their lesson.
* [[Hammerspace]]: Courage's 'pockets', which contain anchors and full-grown whales among other miscellaneous items. Eustace also tends to pull his gigantic fright mask from here
* [[Hammerspace]]:
* [[Headless Horseman]]: The titular "Windmill Vandals", a quartet of bandits with some resemblance to Vikings.
** How, exactly, Courage managed to fit anchors and full-grown whales into pockets that he didn't even have is inexplicable and simultaneously hilarious.
** Where does Eustace pull the gigantic fright mask from when he scares Courage?
* [[Headless Horseman]]: Headless Horsemen appear in "Windmill Vandals".
* [[Hell Hotel]]: The Katz Motel.
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: When Courage is having his flashback in '"Remembrance of Courage Past'" he just... sits there. [[OOC Is Serious Business|He doesn't even twitch when Eustace brings out the 'Ooga Booga Booga' mask]].
** Courage has other moments too, including an occasion where his eyes turn to snow and static is heard.
* [[Heroic Dog]]: Courage, of course.
* [[Herr Doktor]]: Dr. Zalost ishas '''very'''-heavilymore impliedthan toa be onefew of these traits.
* [[Hey, It's That Voice!]]: Ringo Starr is the Duck Brothers. No, ''really''. (He didn't sing the Halftime Show, though.)
** Eustace's mother is the original dub voice of [[Astro Boy (anime)|Astro Boy]].
** [[Tim Curry|Dr. Frank-N-Furter]] is the Goose God. Honk honk, indeed.
** Kitty and Bunny are also two [[Sailor Moon|Sailor Senshi]].
** Let't not forget Fusilli, who is done by [[Jim Cummings]].
* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: This is Courage's preferred method of dealing with villains, whether directly or indirectly.
** Fusilli the magician is turned into a marionette by his own cursed strings after mistaking Courage for a phantom and fallsfalling onto the stage.
** The Flan King gets this twice in a row at the end of the episode.
** This is Courage's preferred method of dealing with villains, rather directly or indirectly, but Big Bayou is one of the greatest, as not only was he beaten by his a spell from his own spell book, heused wasto defeated byanimate his own stuffed shed skins he'd had stuffed animated(done in part with his own venom). And to top it all off, he was so vain that he couldn't bring himself to attack his likeness. He was hoisted by at least three or four of his own petards.
** The evil vet from "Remembrance Of Courage Past". also{{He iswas hoistedresponsible byfor severalsending ofCourage's hisparents owninto petards.space Notyears onlyago; doesCourage themanages dogto hetrap emotionallyhim tramatizedin forhis lifeown ultimately defeat himrocket, hewhich doessends sohim usingto hisa ownfaraway rocketplanet. HeThere, ishe thenmeets furtherCourage's hoistedparents whenand the other dogs he's been launchinglaunched into space, see[[The himDog andBites decideBack|who proceed to takeenact theirsome well-deserved revenge on him.]]}}
** The Evil Weevil accidentally attacheshas his blood suckersucking appendage attached to himself, and then [[Double Entendre|sucks himself dry]].
* [[Horny Devils]]/[[Our Mermaids Are Different]]: The Queen of the Black Puddle is cross between a succubus, a siren, and a Deep One.
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: Eustace always refers to Courage as a "stupid dog" even though he himself isn't aware of the dangers that goes around in Nowhere, and Courage is the one who usually has to save him and Muriel.<--More being ungrateful than hypocritical perhaps...-->
** Di Lung berating people for being inattentive, usually after bumping into them or otherwise getting in their way..
** The aftermath of saying "no" to Flantasy Flan:
{{quote|'''Eustace:''' What happened to you, woman?! You look like a house!
** Follow up: Courage fixes everyone's Flantasy Flan addiction, except ''his''.
{{quote|'''Courage:''' Well, it's showbiz!}}
* [[Impossible Shadow Puppets]]: Courage sometimes does this as part of his [[Narrative Shapeshifting]]. One episode also features a [[Living Shadow]] that creates these to prank and scare people.
** Oh, and then there's Di Lung's [[Running Gag|habit]] of getting in other people's ways and then yelling "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING, YA FOOL" at said people...
* [[Impossible Shadow Puppets]]: Courage sometimes does this; one episode even has a [[Living Shadow]] that "projects" itself to scare him.
* [[Inherently Funny Words]]: "Fool", or as [[Asian Speekee Engrish|Di Lung]] prefers to say, "foo".
* [[Insufferable Genius]]: [[Asian Rudeness|Di Lung]] and [[British Stuffiness|Courage's Computer]].
* [[Invisible Main Character]]: "Invisible Muriel".
* [[It Makes Sense in Context]]: A majority of the plot devices fall under this. Most memorably, an episode which took place in an old west setting had Courage, who took the role as sheriff, bribe the military to send in a stealth bomber to drop a piano on a zombified outlaw.
* [[Jerkass]]: Eustace and his family are prime examples.
* [[Jerkass]]: Eustace (to a lesser extent) Courage's computer, Eustace's mom and brother, and Di Lung (the Chinese Punk Kid), whose catchphrase was "Watch where you're going, you fool!"
** Courage's computer in his snarkier appearances such as "Mega Muriel the Magnificent"
* [[Jerkass Has a Point]]: While Di Lung's "watch where you're going, ya FOOL" [[Catch Phrase|catchphrase]] is usually '''extremely''' [[Hypocritical Humor|hypocritical]], his reason for yelling it in ''Food Of The Dragon'' is because said episode's titular dragon stepped on his car while he was buying groceries. Still, [[Fridge Brilliance|he still shouldn't have moved to Nowhere in the first place.]]
** Di Lung acted this way on a regular basis.
** Eustace actually [[Borrowed Catchphrase|uses Di Lung's catchphrase against him]] in order to point out how much of a hypocrite Di Lung is being after Di Lung bumps into him and knocks his hot dog out of his hands before then angrily yelling said [[Catch Phrase|catchphrase]] at him in ''Courage In The Big Stinkin' City''; however, [[Aesop Amnesia|Di Lung doesn't care]].
* [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]: EustaceIn sometimesrare fitscases, thisEustace tropemanages butto justovercome inhis raremore casesdickish -impulses, seee.g. "The Curse of Shirley" where athe thedisplays endsympathy hefor givesa hischild hat(actually toCourage theappearing "kidas a younger version" of himhimself in orderdue to protect[[Blind himWithout'Em|losing from thehis rainglasses]]).
* [[Kangaroo Pouch Ride]]: In the kangaroo monster episode.
* [[KarmicKarma DeathHoudini Warranty]]: The evil vet from "Remembrance Of Courage Past". is{{The sentevil intovet spaceresponsible withfor hissending ownCourage's rocketparents likeinto hespace didyears toago ais huge[[Hoist numberby ofHis dogsOwn (includingPetard|trapped Courage'shim parents).in Forhis furtherown karma,rocket]] heby findsCourage himselfin surroundedthe bypresent the dogsday; he launchedcrash intolands spaceon whoa proceedfaraway toplanet, takewhere theirhe revengemeets onCourage's him.parents Additional karma isand the factother thedogs veryhe doglaunched heinto orphanedspace, was[[The theDog oneBites Back|who did thisproceed to himenact some well-deserved revenge.]]}}
* [[Keep Circulating the Tapes]]: Despite reruns popping up on Cartoon Network and Boomerang every now and again, the show was largely relegated to the modern-day equivalent of tape-trading - [[YouTube]] - until 2010, when [http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Courage-Cowardly-Dog-Season-1/13573 the first season of the show was confirmed for a DVD release.] You can also buy the entire series on iTunes.
** The pilot, ''The Chicken From Outer Space'', partly plays this straight and partly averts it. It's not on the Season 1 DVD, but Jon R. Dilworth sells it through his online store.
** You can buy the entire series on iTunes.
* [[Kick the Dog]]: In multiple senses, usually by Eustace and whatever villain Courage is facing.
*** The pilot, The Chicken From Outer Space, partly plays this straight and partly averts it. It's not on the Season 1 DVD, but Jon R Dilworth sells it through his online store.
* [[Kindhearted Simpleton]]: Muriel is a sweet old lady who understandably doesn't always catch on to happenings immediately; her awareness tends to fluctuate from episode to episode.
* [[Kick the Dog]]
* [[Lame Comeback]]: "The Hunchback Of Nowhere" has the title character countering Eustace's insults to him with nothing more than "you are bald" at one point; it still works, however, since Eustace is rather insecure about it.
* [[Kindhearted Simpleton]]: Muriel especially stands out as one of these.
* [[Lantern Jaw of Justice]]: A common trait of Eustace's family.
* [[Lame Comeback]]: The Hunchback Of Nowhere countering Eustace's insults about him with "you are bald" in ''The Hunchback Of Nowhere''; needless to say, however, that still doesn't stop Eustace from getting angry about it.
* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]: Eustace is the victim of this in nearly every episode, as are a large number of villains.
** Also, Eustace countering Di Lung's "watch where you're going, ya FOOL" [[Catch Phrase|catchphrase]] with a rather-laughably weak imitation of said catchphrase after Di Lung bumps into him and then blames said collision on him in ''Courage In The Big Stinkin' City''. At least he was [[Jerkass Has a Point|pointing out]] Di Lung's [[Hypocritical Humor|hypocrisy]], we suppose...
* [[Leitmotif]]: Almost every character in the show has one. Katz's is the [[Hell Is That Noise]] that follows Katz's arrival. Muriel has soft piano music. Eustace has banjo and fiddle music. Le Quack's is french. Dr. Vindaloo's is Indian. Shirley's sounds gypsy. Cajun Fox has cajun music.
* [[Lantern Jaw of Justice]]: It is basically a [[Running Gag|running gag]] for [[Exact Words|every single member]] of Eustace's family (not counting Muriel and Courage) to have one of these, including Eustace himself.
* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]: Eustace is the victim of this in nearly every episode.
** A large number of villains suffer this as well.
* [[Leitmotif]]: The [[Hell Is That Noise]] that follows Katz's arrival.
** Almost every character in the show has one. Muriel has soft piano music. Eustace has banjo and fiddle music. Le Quack's is french. Dr. Vindaloo's is Indian. Shirley's sounds gypsy. Cajun Fox has cajun music.
** On occasion rather loud accordion music can be heard from Muriel's radio.
* [[Lions and Tigers and Humans, Oh My!]]
* [[Lottery Ticket]]: "Lequack TV".
* [[Loud of War]]: In "King Ramses' Curse", one of the plagues Ramses unleashes on Courage and his owners is obnoxious disco music ("King Raaamses! The man in gauze, the man in gauze!").
* [[Lovable Coward]]: Subverted by Courage, [[Meaningful Name|who is really ''astonishingly'' brave for a coward.]]
** Hence the name. 'Cowardly' because he's always scared, 'Courage' because he always pushes through it.
* [[Magical Database]]: The Computer.
* [[Magic Librarian]]: And [[Scary Librarian|scary]], too, in "The Pixie and the Prickle Pirate".
* [[Mama Bear]]: If Eustace is harassing Courage (or if it at least looks that way), Muriel is quick to bash him over the head with a rolling pin. With a [[One-Woman Wail]].
** In a few episodes, she has also expanded this to the [[Monster of the Week]]. For example, when she came upon [[Complete Monster|Katz]] strangling Courage in "Katz Motel", she smashed a tennis racket over his head and saved Courage without a second thought.
* [[Manchild]]: Many of the show's villains, as well as Eustace Bagge, who is ridiculously bitter, petty and spoiled as a result of [[Abusive Parents|bad mothering]].
* [[Mass Hypnosis]]: ...Buy Flantasy Flan... Buy Flantasy Flan...
* [[The Mean Brit]]: The Computer. [[Catch Phrase|You]] ''[[Catch Phrase|twit]]''.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: [[Cowardly Lion|Courage is]] [[Ironic Name|the most]] [[The So-Called Coward|obvious instance.]] Eustace Bagge could be interpreted as 'Useless"[[The Baggage'Load|useless baggage]]", which is what he is during most adventures, while Muriel Bagge could be interpreted as "merry old bag", since she's a perpetually optimistic old lady.
** Dr. Zalost's name means "mourning" or "sadness" in Slavic. He's on par with [[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei|Itoshiki "Despair" Nozomu]].
** While we're at it, Muriel Bagge could be interpreted as "merry old bag", since she's a perpetually optimistic old lady. And as for Courage's name, the fact that despite his cowardice he routinely risks his life for those he loves is extremely courageous (should go without saying). In fact, Muriel named him Courage ''because'' he showed courage (as seen in "A Remembrance of Courage Past").
** Zalost means "mourning" or "sadness" in Slavic. He's on par with [[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei|Itoshiki "Despair" Nozomu]].
* [[Monster of the Week]]: Quite literally.
* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Masterfully. Depending on the episode, it switches from [[Tear Jerker]] or [[Nightmare Fuel]] to [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Funny]] in the blink of an eye. For example, there's theThe "Last of the Starmakers" for the former,episode wherehas Courage savessave [[It Makes Sense in Context|the last batch of space squid babies]], interspersed with moments of useless henchmanhenchmen and rollerskating millitarymilitary generals. ForThere theis latter, there isalso "King Ramses' Curse", generally regarded as one of the [[Nightmare Fuel|scariest]] episodes around, with a priceless jingle in the middle<ref>[[Ear - Worm|"The man in gauze, the man in gauze, King Ramses~!",]]</ref> and theRameses manlosing himself saying "Come onnnnnn"patience in the samemost tonedeadpan asmanner everpossible.
* [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate]]: Vindaloo's often displays an inability (or unwillingness) to cure anything plot-relevant toconditions, the plot (though to his credit he does give some advice aboutat it)times. His academic title is pretty suggestive too: "Dr. Vindaloo, quack". And speaking of this...
** The evil vet who orphaned Courage and sent a huge number of dogs into space [[For Science!]].
* [[Morally-Ambiguous Ducktorate]]: LeQuack, the duck brothers, Goose God, and of course "The Precious, Wonderful, Adorable, Loveable Duckling".
* [[My Instincts Are Showing]]:
{{quote|'''Courage:''' *long howl* Man, I gotta stop that.}}
* [[Narcissist]]: Big Bayou loves himself so much that he can'tmakes evenhis bringenslaved himselfslugs tocreated fightstuffed cloneseffigies '''of'''from himselfhis (evenshed asskins. anHis actmost ofused '''self-defense''',word nois less),"me" and Divariations Lungof once made an absolutelyit. He'''huge'''s pileso ofvain photographsthat ofeven himselfwhen justhis tostuffed stareshed atskins themattack andhim, kisshe themcannot (inbring additionhimself to [[It'sattack Allthem Aboutin Me|making an entire television show about himself and his wealth]])self-defense.
** Di Lung is shown in one episode to have several photographs of himself to ogle, and is even featured on [[It's All About Me|a television show about himself and his wealth]].
* [[Narrative Shapeshifting]]: Courage invokes this trope several times to warn his owners of the [[Monster of the Week]].
* [[Narrative Shapeshifting]]: Courage uses this as a form of [[Rebus]], often to warn his owners of the [[Monster of the Week]].
* [[National Stereotypes]]: A rather-obscenely large portion of the show's character cast consists of these, most offensively Mad Dog (a [[Ambiguously Brown|"black"]] criminal) and Di Lung (who represents basically all of the worst things about China).
* [[National Stereotypes]]: Di Lung in spades.
* [[Negative Continuity]]: A number of episodes end with Courage losing or the characters dying, yet they're back to Square One the next week. Even the original short film featured Eustace turning into a monstrous alien chicken and then getting vaporized. None the less, there's still a few reoccurring villains in the roster providing continuity in spite of it all.
* [[Negative Continuity]]: For the most part; though there are recurring villains and allusions to previous episodes, even if Courage or any of the characters suffer a horrendous fate the next episode will show them alive and well.
* [[Nightmare Face]]: The violin girl in "Courage in the Big Stinkin' City".
* [[No Accounting for Taste]]: Muriel and Eustace's marriage.
* [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: The endingendings to the Le Quack episodes endshave withhim the titular villain[[Cardboard Prison|escaping from his confinement]] and heleaving always leaves behind evidence as he goes such as a police van crashing with no officersdestruction in sitehis and an entire prison on firewake with no signs of otheranyone convicts,else though it's never explained how he managed to escape every time. Since he usually fights Courage through the means of cartoonish anticsaround, [[FridgeParanoia HorrorFuel|thislet justalone makesany theevidence endings]]of [[Nightmare''how'' Fuel|evenhe scarierescaped...]].
* [[Nouveau Riche]]: Di Lung is ana absolutely '''definitive''' East Asian example of this.
* [[Odd Job Gods]]: The Goose God., Itthough it was never quite clear what he was god ''of'', but it presumably had something to do with waterfowl.
* [[Once Per Episode]]: Eustace getting the bad end of the deal and suffering a usually-undesirable fate.
** He was the God of Honking.
* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: The blue nightmare creature from "Perfect".
* [[Once Per Episode]]:
* [[One-Woman Wail]]: "Doc Gerbil's World", where the final boat chase between Doc Gerbil and Courage is accompanied by almost no sound other than this.
** "Watch where you goin', yo fool!"
* [[Opaque Lenses]]: Muriel & Eustace, as well as Eustace's whole family. Subverted for Eustace during his bouts of rage in "Hothead".
** "There is nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. [[Bearer of Bad News|But there's nothing I can do]]. [[Department of Redundancy Department|Nothing at all]]."
* [[Opening Monologue]]: Displayed in the page quote.
** Eustace getting the bad end of the deal and suffers a fate.
* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: Fred in "Freaky Fred". Kitty and Bunny from "The Mask". The blue nightmare creature from "Perfect".
* [[One-Woman Wail]]: "Doc Gerbil's World", where the final boat chase between Doc Gerbil and Courage is accompanied by almost no sound other than this. It simultaneously comes off as [[Soundtrack Dissonance]] and [[Crowning Music of Awesome]]. Note that the only reason it's Dissonance is because said chase scene was between a plaid-wearing gerbil and a pink dog on jet-skis.
** In the early episode "The Shadow of Courage", whenever Muriel would catch Eustace abusing Courage in any way, she would run at him with her rolling pin, accompanied by a triumphant, operatic [[One-Woman Wail]].
* [[Opaque Lenses]]: Muriel & Eustace, as well as Eustace's whole family. (Similarly, all of the recurring normal, non-villainous human characters except the General had their eyes obscured.) This seems to emphasize Courage's status as a Cassandra type, as nobody else sees what's obvious to him. Subverted in the Hothead episode (though it's fairly surreal looking).
* [[Opening Monologue]]
* [[The Other Darrin]]: Eustace was originally voiced by Lionel Wilson until his poor health forced him to retire. Arthur Anderson took over his voice for the remainder of the series.
* [[Our Monsters Are Weird]]: Hoo boy they, are they.
* [[Our Werebeasts Are Different]]: Muriel gets bitten by a weremole.
* [[Overly Long Gag]]: Katz and Courage falling down the stairs in Katz Kandy... and falling... and falling... goes on for about a full minute.
* [[Overly Long Name]]: The Precious, Wonderful, Adorable, Lovable Duckling.
* [[Paper-Thin Disguise]]: [[No Celebrities Were Harmed|Benton Tarentella]] is [[Blatant Lies|definitely]] [[Not a Zombie]].
* [[Pet the Dog]]
* [[Pass Fail]]: Kitty's mask and dress are a fairly obvious metaphor.
** [[PetSubverted the Dog]]: Horribly, ''horribly'' subverted, inwith "The Precious, Wonderful, Adorable, Lovable Duckling", where- ahe ducklingimprints thinksand Eustacedotes ison itsEustace, mommy.who Eustaceactually triesbegins to betreat ahim goodkindly momin return, but thealso bird[[Green-Eyed secretlyMonster|becomes wantsdangerously tojealous killwhenever Muriel. Eustace doesn'ts seem to care about Muriel (then againaround]], didand he ever?),plays evenon iftheir the bird blatantly triestrust to killtry her.and Itget doesn'trid helpof the bird is probably as bad as EustaceMuriel.
** This ended up with the pair being blown to the moon (in Muriel's place), and each pairing lives quite contentedly.
* [[Phrase Catcher]]: "Stupid dog!"
* [[Physical God]]: The Goose God and an unnamed, female, teenage storm deitygoddess.
* [[Plague of Locusts]]: King Ramses has an all-devouring swarm of locusts that signal his presence and hunt down thieves. The locusts wipe out the two cat thieves at the beginning of the episode, and are called in as his last plague - they destroy nearly the entire farmhouse and its surroundings, and take Eustace as well when he tries to re-claim the stolen slab.
* [[Psychopathic Manchild]]: Many of the show's villains, most notably Di Lung (who often tortures other people due to being too arrogant and petty to admit that he is '''not''', in fact, the greatest person in the entire world) and Eustace Bagge (who is a [[Bratty Half-Pint]] in the body of a [[Grumpy Old Man]] due to his [[Abusive Parents|abusive parents]] and how much his wife spoils him, in addition to the fact that he once tried to murder Courage over a '''blanket''').
* [[Rated "M" for Manly]]: The Windmill Vandals.
* [[Rhymes on a Dime]]: Fred's narration from "Freaky Fred".
* [[Rolling Pin of Doom]]: Muriel's trademark attack against Eustace whenever he abuses Courage.
{{quote|'''Eustace:''' [[Running Gag|OWWW!!]] [[Catch Phrase|What did I do?]]}}
* [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship]]: Again, Kitty and Bunny from the episode "The Mask" push it to very edge of what constitutes as subtext.
* [[Rummage Fail]]: A common gag with Courage whenever he searched for anything.
* [[Rule of Funny]]: Determines whether Courage can speak or not in each episode.
* [[Rummage Fail]]: Whenever he'd look through his impossibly large, nonexistent "pockets", he'd normally have to pull out three or more objects until he got what he needed, at which point he'd stuff it all back in.
* [[Running Gag]]:
** Among other things, Muriel's usinguses vinegar in almost everything she makes, much to Courage's chagrin.
** And almost everyone not liking vinegar.
** Eustace pulling out his mask to frighten Courage.
** Di Lung's [[Catch Phrase]], as well as his car suffering severe damage in every one of its appearances.
** Muriel playing the sitar.
** Eustace complaining about his possessions such as his chair, hat, or truck.
** Muriel asking or giving tea.
** Di Lung's car suffering severe damage in its every appearance (also, Di Lung himself yelling "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING, YA FOOL" at other characters for reasons that are usually [[Hypocritical Humor|astonishingly hypocritical]]).
** Eustace complaining about Courage sitting at the table.
* [[Sadist Teacher]]: Courage's low self esteem spawns one in "Perfect".
** Literally '''every''' member of Eustace's family (not counting Muriel and Courage) having a [[Lantern Jaw of Justice]].
* [[Sand Is Water]]: "The Sand Whale Strikes". Eustace's mother attempts to pursue it in a rowboat, [[Reality Ensues|naturally doesn't work all that well]].
* [[Sadist Show]]: In some of its episodes (cough, such as ''Ball of Revenge'' and ''Courage VS Mecha-Courage'', cough), at least.
* [[Scare Chord]]: A very common occurrence.
* [[Sadist Teacher]]: Courage's low self esteem spawns one in Perfect.
* [[Scenery Porn]]: A lot of the shots of the farm house either at night or at sundown are awfully pretty. The show uses a technique of overlaying photos with animation.
* [[Sand Is Water]]: One episode has the titular character forced by Eustace's mother to hunt a sand whale, who is trying to get his accordion back from Eustace's mother. And Courage is forced to row a boat in the sand. Another slight subversion, considering that the ground only worked like water for the sand whale, and [[Magic A Is Magic A|not the rowboat]].
* [[Scare Chord]]: HMMM. I believe that all of the Title Cards had one of these playing in the background. Especially Perfect and Wrath of the Librarian.
* [[Scenery Porn]]: A lot of the shots of the farm house either at night or at sundown are awfully pretty for a [[Nightmare Fuel]], [[Crapsack World]].
** To elaborate, the show uses a technique of overlaying photos with animation, so the skies you see are (mostly) pictures, although exaggerated or altered.
* [[Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!]]: Eustace Bagge, of course.
* [[Second-Person Attack]]: In "1000 Years of Courage". Courage picks up a banana, attempting to eat it, but it turns out to be a living baby creature. Courage makes a dash for it as its mother hits him over the head twice with her purse.
* [[Second Place Is for Losers]]: Katz's motive in "Katz Kandy".
* [[Secret Ingredient]]: The secret ingredient in all of Muriel's cooking is vinegar.
* [[Sexophone]]: Plays when the General takes off his uniform to reveal his [[It Makes Just As Much Sense in Context|stomach-entering]] outfit in ''Muriel Blows Up''; needless to say, [[Audiencewith Surrogate|the Lieutenant is every bit as confused as the audience probablysuitably is]]puzzled.
* [[Slasher Smile]]: Freaky Fred has one.
* [[Smart People Build Robots]]: In ''Courage VS Mecha-Courage'', Mecha-Courage is built by [[AsianGenius Rudeness|DiDitz]] [[InsufferableDi Genius|Lung]].
* [[Snap Back]]: Mostly concerning predicaments suffered by Eustace, but occasionally Muriel and Courage as well.
* [[Snowlems]]: A living snowman (sounding suspiciously like [[Sean Connery]]) became a villain due to [[Hollywood Global Warming]].
* [[Solar CPR]]
* [[Space Whale]]: AOne appears as a dangerous predator, in "Last of the Starmakers".
* [[Space Whale Aesop]]: "The Last of the Starmakers". '''[[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Not]]''' [[Tear Jerker|that]] [[Tropes Are Tools|it mattered]].<!--"Swindling only begets swindling, just as selfishness begets banana-heads]]." --Shirley regarding a couple subjected to a Karmic Transformation for refusing to share food with each other. Proooooooobably not an example, but it could fit elsewhere on the page, maybe...-->
* [[Space Whale Aesop]]: "Swindling only begets swindling, as selfishness [[Makes Just as Much Sense in Context|begets banana-head]]."
* [[Speech-Impaired Animal]]: Courage seems to be able to talk and make asides to the audience, but not to Eustace or Muriel, forcing him to use [[Narrative Shapeshifting]]. Some exceptions do occur, such as when Muriel is de-aged in "Little Muriel".
** "The Last of the Starmakers". '''[[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Not]]''' [[Tear Jerker|that]] [[Tropes Are Tools|it mattered]].
* [[Staring Contest]]: Katz and Courage have an epic duel to the death in the form of a staring contest.
* [[Speech-Impaired Animal]]: Courage, though he seems to be able to talk to the viewer, but not to Eustace or Muriel... one exception is when Muriel is de-aged in one episode.
* [[Staring Contest]]: Katz and Courage have an [[Cooking Duel|epic duel to the death]] in the form of a staring contest.
* [[Stock Audio Clip]]: Quite a few. See the trope page for details.
* [[Strong Family Resemblance]]: Eustace is pretty much a carbon copy of his parents. Lampshaded in "The Sand Whale Strikes", when the Sand Whale has confused Eustace for his father, Ickett. Eustace pulls out a picture of his father ([[Identical Grandfather|who looks exactly like him with a huge beard]]) and says "I don't see the resemblance."
* [[Sunglasses At Night]]: Di Lung doesnever thistakes inhis ''Cabaretsunglasses Courage'', ''Fishy Business'', and ''The Nutcracker''. Also, Cajun Fox does this {{spoiler|in ''Ball of Revenge''}}off.
** Cajun Fox, though in his debut we do see his massive googly [[Sphere Eyes]] shortly before he puts them on.
* [[Surreal Horror]]
* [[Suddenly Voiced]]: TheCourage tigerhas fromthis "Squattingas Tigera Hiddenrecurring Dog".character Also Couragetrait, as ado recurringmany characterminor traitcharacters such as the tiger from "Squatting Tiger Hidden Dog".
* [[Syncro-Vox]]: Used with The Spirit Of The Harvest Moon and The Magic Tree Of Nowhere use this technique.
* [[Talking Animal]]: And boy, are there a lot of them! Strangely, Courage talked frequently in the early episodes, but later became a [[Speech-Impaired Animal]] over time. This is actually a result of [[Executive Meddling]],; CN forced Dilworth to give Courage less talking lines as they felt he was funnier as a babbling animal. The latter is somewhatstill subverted at various points; in one point.instance, Courage Realizingrealizes he can't talk to Muriel directly, he runs to a payphone and calls her.
* [[Talking Appliance Sidekick]]: The Computer [[Deadpan Snarker|is a rather]] [[The Mean Brit|snide example]], though he only talks in Courage's presence.
* [[The Bad Guy Wins]]: The Evil Carrot in ''Muriel Blows Up'' experiences a major example of this after Eustace eats him near the end of said episode.
* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
* [[They Killed Kenny]]: Downplayed. Eustace diedis often subjected to an unkind fate at the end of a lot of episodes, though the pilot episode has him reduced to dust.
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: Eustace, naturally, and Muriel to a far lesser extent.
** He doesn't really die though, he just suffers some sort of fate that tends to happen during the episode; whether it be lethal or non-lethal. The only time he truly dies is during the pilot episode.
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: Muriel and Eustace, especially in ''Muriel Blows Up''.
* [[Troperrific]]: Not only does this show combine horror with comedy, but it also uses basically all of the tropes that said genres have to offer.
* [[Ungrateful Bastard]]: Eustace - although sometimesdespite Courage evensometimes risksrisking his life to save him, he never thanks him and always keeps on bullying him.
* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]]: From "The House Of DiscountentDiscontent":
{{quote|'''Eustace:''' Would you look at that?
'''Muriel:''' It's a floating head!
{{quote|'''Muriel:''' But my dear, we all must face reality.
'''Kitty:''' Really? Like how you ''sneak extra sweets when no one is looking!?''
'''Muriel:''' (Gaspsgasps in horror and shame). }}
* [[What the Hell Is That Accent?]]: The Alien Brain Visitor's strange, vaguely Indian accent in "Car Broke, Phone Yes".
* [[What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?]]
* [[Whole-Plot Reference]]: One episode is essentially "[[The Nutcracker (theatre)|The Nutcracker]], but [[Recycled in Space|in a city dump]]".
* [[What the Hell Is That Accent?]]: The Alien Brain Visitor's Mexican(?) accent in "Car Broke, Phone Yes".
* [[Whole-Plot Reference]]: One episode is essentially "[[The Nutcracker (theatre)|The Nutcracker]] '''[[Recycled in Space|in A CITY DUMP!!]]'''"
* [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him]]: Katz frequently plays this straight with bizarre death-traps that would kill Courage indirectly, although, when the cards are down, he often subverts this by ''attempting to strangle the dog with his bare paws''.
* [[Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?]]: The recurring red mustache guy holds many different jobs depending on the episode. Many of his jobs include working as a Nowhere police officer, an archaeologist, a captain, a pilot, a New York police officer, a ranger, a general, a pirate, and a mayor.
* [[Widget Series]]: EspeciallyA when(ever)cartoony itsstyle extremelymixed gratuitous usage ofwith [[Surreal Horror]] and unsettling [[Art Shift]]s is involved in it.
* [[Wild Take]]: Courage's tendency to scream in terror rarely produces the same result twice. {{spoiler|It actually savedsaves him in a"Ball laterof episodeRevenge" when {{spoiler|he screams so loudly for so long that he shatters the foundation of his house, sending a [[Villain Team-Up|team of series villains]] plunging into a bottomless pit.}}.
* [[Wire Dilemma]]: The General's '''[[Epic Fail|extremely]]''' terrible attempt to disarm the Evil Carrot in ''Muriel Blows Up''.
{{quote|'''The General:''' That carrot ain't worth a dime! I disarmed it! I cut the green wire!
'''The General:''' Uhh...the '''blue''' wire? '''[[General Failure|Red?]]'''
'''The Lieutenant:''' [[Understatement|Not likely...]]}}
* [[:Category:Yandere|Yandere]]: There's a reason that even Muriel thinks that "perhaps thatThe Adorable, Precious, Lovable, Wonderful Duckling isngets a little ''too''t soattached goodto Eustace after all..imprinting on him."
* [[You Fool!|Watch Where You're Going, Ya FOOL!]]: TheDi Lung's [[Catch Phrase]] of Di Lung, as seen above.
* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|You]]: GottaCourage Havehas Pinkpink Fur]]fur, and a few other characters are shown with colorful hair.
* [[Zorro Mark]]: OneIn episode"Cowboy tellsCourage", theThe storyWhip, of the castEustace's [[Identical Grandson|Identical AncestorsAncestor]] in the Old West. Eustace's ancestor was a bandit named The Whip who was quite proficient with his [[Weapon of Choice]], even leaving aleft [[Zorro]]-style "W" on the clothing of his victims with his trademark weapon.
----
{{quote|''The database in tatters, a lone figures approaches.''
|