ICarly/Tropes U-Z

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


U

  • Ugly Guy, Hot Girlfriend: Gibby/Tasha
  • Uncanny Family Resemblance: Played for Laughs.
    • Melanie's anecdote involved her identical twin sister Sam attempting to convince Melanie that the latter is an adopted child.
    • When Guppy first appears (shirtless) in the Shay's loft, Spencer mistakes him for a diminutized Gibby and is utterly alarmed. It does get funnier when an ending credit for an earlier episode involved Spencer "turning" Gibby into a 5-year old (Guppy).
  • Unfortunate Names: Mr. Buttburn, one of the Ridgeway teachers.
  • Unlucky Childhood Friend: Freddie was in a very early stage of this Trope from the start of the show and may end up as such. He had an unrequited crush on Carly, with Carly affirming the unrequited status as often as Freddie brings it up. In addition, it's quite possible one of the two girls will also end up like this once the show ends if there is a Last-Minute Hookup.
    • Freddie if he stays "in love" with Carly but Carly keeps him as really Just Friends. Sam if she and Freddie break up and she retains feelings for Freddie, but Freddie enters a relationship with Carly. Carly if she develops feelings for Freddie, but he stays with Sam. Anything involving a fourth person may leave all three of them in this position.
    • Not if Carly and Sam give into the Les Yay and Spencer and Freddie into the Ho Yay. No Unlucky Childhood Friend there! Too bad it'll never happen, with it being a kids show and what.
    • Or Spencer and Sam get together, now that she's revealed a little crush on him.
  • Unnamed Parent: Enforced with Spencer and Carly's parents, wherein their names are never disclosed throughout the series.
    • Sam's and Freddie's fathers are never named or mentioned.
    • Zigzagged with Freddie's mom, Mrs. Marissa Benson; likewise with Gibby's mom with the name Charlotte (but never mentioned).
    • iWon't Cancel the Show finally stated that their dad's name is Steven Shay.
    • Sam mentions her father in "iParty with Victorious," and "iLost My Mind" mentioning that he left the family and she does not know his location.
  • Unrequited Love Switcheroo: iChristmas. Carly gets really upset over two things in this episode that relate to Freddie. The first is that Freddie has moved on, and no longer is in love with her. The second is that Freddie also appears to have given up on their friendship as well. Not quite a full-blown example due to the Wonderful Life premise, but her lines indicate she is very upset that Freddie is not in love with her anymore.
  • The Un-Reveal: In iThink They Kissed, Carly asks Sam and Freddie if they enjoyed the kiss. Before they answer, Spencer interrupts them, and the question is never answered (although in iKiss they both say they thought it was "nice").
  • Unstoppable Rage: Sam displays this in iMake Sam Girlier after the bully Jocelyn pushes Carly down and when Freddie manacles her to Gibby in iKiss.
  • The Unseen: Socko.
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Sam, Sam, SAM!
  • Unusual Euphemism: Aside from character expressions, the random phrases printed on the Penny Tees can be either this or this.
    • Carly's "Holy flab!"
    • Sam's "Whoa, daddy!", "No chiz!", and "Holy cheese!"
    • Freddie's "Oh, butter!" and "Good gravy!"
    • Spencer's "Gas bubble!" and "Holy similar!"
    • Gibby's "Oh, mustard!" and "Sha-Boom!"
  • Up to Eleven. Gibby turns up the stink spray to this in iOMG.
  • Urine Trouble: "Who has urine trouble?"

Sam [having been babysitting Ginger Fox's baby]]]: Careful, he's a distance pee-er."

V

  • The Vamp: Valerie in iWill Date Freddie uses her feminine wiles to lure Freddie to her web show, temporarily stealing him from iCarly, and goes so far as to try it on Sam. Another example is Missy trying to "break up" Carly and Sam.
  • Very Special Episode: iGet Pranky sort of subverts this. While it may be a more general, subtle "just say no" message, the lack of dramatic seriousness suggests that it's a Take That to other older teen shows like Saved by the Bell.
    • iMeet The First Lady which will be about the importance of military families.
  • Victoria's Secret Compartment: In iMake Sam Girlier, a bully shoves french fries down Sam's shirt. After Sam beats her up, she pulls a fry out of her blouse, eats it, and remarks that it's a pretty good place to keep french fries.
    • Pam Puckett keeps her lipstick inside her blouse.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: In-show example in iWin A Date. While Spencer was looking at the emails sent to him by ladies from whynotdateme.com, he remarks that the most recent email sender is 'kinda pretty'. Carly then points out to him that she's really a dude.
  • Villain Ball: Missy in iReunite With Missy. Missy tries to regain her old "best friend" position from Sam, by treating her nicely around people, but indirectly attacking her in ways that force Sam away from Carly. Sam herself is unsure if Missy is trying to hurt her, or if she's jealous of Missy. The evil plot is ruined when Missy gives Sam a Motive Rant for no reason. This pushes Sam to ask Freddie for help. Carly has no clue until she overhears Missy gloating about the cruise Freddie gave up to get rid of her.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Sam and Freddie qualify to a Type 2, starting from season 2 onwards.
  • Vocal Evolution: Freddie's voice became significantly deeper at the start of Season 2.
    • And, like everything else in iCarly-land, it is promptly lampshaded:

Sam: Why does your voice sound deeper?
Freddie: I dunno, puberty?

    • Gibby's voice has deepened as well.
  • The Voiceless: The little girl who infiltrates the Shays' apartment in iSpace Out.

W

  • Wacky Guy: Spencer.
  • Wafer-Thin Mint: iDate A Bad Boy with Spencer's pressure trigger plate. An obese postman steps on it but still doesn't activate it. The alarm fires off when Spencer handed the postman a stamp.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Gibby is Seasons 1-3, most of the time.
  • Wall Slump: The imprisoned trio leans down against the wall in the sound booth while Nora sings obnoxiously in iPsycho.
  • Wham! Episode: iOMG viciously hits a home run with this, further lampshaded by Carly and Freddie's wide-eyed reactions. While iKiss and iSaved Your Life had reasonable plot devices for the ending scenes, the episode's entirety shoots out the ending into another familiar Nickelodeon show.
    • Wham! Line: Sam confesses that Freddie is the one "she's in love with" using a kiss.
  • What Does She See in Him?: In iEnrage Gibby, Carly, Sam and especially Freddie are dumbfounded that Gibby can get someone hot like Tasha as his girlfriend. They all agree in the end that "There's something wrong with that chick."
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: During the Gibby-Nora fight scene, Gibby gets smacked into a wall. He stands up, brings his hand to his mouth, look at the blood, and... takes his shirt off. All while epic music plays in the background.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: Happens a few times, particularly with Freddie (iMeet Fred, iEnrage Gibby, etcetera).
  • What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: Seriously, look at some of their skits... More true of the skits on iCarly.com.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Sam assaulted an ambassador in iWon't Cancel The Show. Sure, she was in juvie, but that's what always happens when kids get arrested. She still would have had to go to court for a trial and possible incarceration.
    • Both major Ship Tease moments are this. Sam/Freddie because they haven't (and look like they won't) ever tell the audience if they liked their kiss, and if Carly's feelings really were hero worship or if she still carries those feelings for Freddie.
    • iStill Psycho: Gibby, after getting stuck in Nora's chimney while trying to get to the cops, is seen at the end of the episode still stuck, with no explanation of how he was pulled out.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Spencer wears Size 10 dresses and, apparently, has his own pair of fake boobs (although he does not keep them in his apartment...). Also, Miranda and Noah crossdressed as the "facial hallucinations" of Spencer and Mrs. Gibson respectively.
  • Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: The very first question Sam's mom asks about iCarly after watching it for the first time is "Who names their kid 'Gibby'?"
    • In iNevel, the titular antagonist mocks Spencer's sculpture, prompting Spencer to mutter "Nevel's a stupid name" under his breath.
  • The Wiki Rule: Has a very large and active Wikia site located here.
  • Will They or Won't They?: Averted for now. Carly and Freddie get together, but then break up in the same episode. Sam and Freddie get together 3 days after Sam reveals her feelings for Freddie, then they break up again after.
  • With Friends Like These...: Freddie and Sam.
  • Written-In Absence: Jennette McCurdy was in the hospital when the cast was taping iWon't Cancel The Show. Thus, Sam was absent in the episode, explained as spending the day in juvie after shoving food into a Mexican ambassador's pants.
  • Writer Revolt: It's likely that iGo Nuclear is the result of being forced by Executive Meddling to create an episode with a Green Aesop. See the Broken Aesop entry at the top of the page to see how it turned out.
  • Why Don't You Marry It?:

Sam: "I love this pie. I wanna be Mrs. Sam... This Pie."

Freddie: (talking about a guy doing a dance video for iCarly): Come on, he's a total nub.
Carly: If he's a nub, someday I wanna be Mrs. Carly Nub.

  • Word Salad Philosophy: Reuben in iWin A Date. Also, in the video "iHave A Question: Weird and Random" on the website, where the cast descend into 'Reubenesque' banter.

X

Y

  • Yandere: Miss Ackerman to Spencer in "iHave A Lovesick Teacher".
    • Marta Trundel, Lewbert's ex girlfriend. Because of her, Lewbert got his wart and was compelled to change his name to escape from her. The woman seemed to be a pretty nice and cool girlfriend you could ask for until her True Colors showed as a manic Control Freak. Lastly, Lewbert was more than happy to stay in prison just to get away from her and smacked a cop to extend his imprisonment.
    • Nora, who locked the main characters in a recording studio in "iPsycho'.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: Freddie wins a competition for the giant locker. He proceeds to do a victory dance of sorts. Then insults Sam. Then they reveal Sam won the competition as well.
    • Spencer rejoices in getting Chuck grounded by his father Mr. Chambers. Spencer jumps around and whoops, realizing later he remained locked inside the basement storage.
    • Nevel has barely began to recover his good image, but a sudden spur of Hair-Trigger Temper plummets him back to being caught on camera being a jerk again.
  • Yawn and Reach: Freddie uses one of these to try and bust a move on Carly in iDon't Want to Fight. Freddie fails, not just because he's Just Friends, but because he's interrupted by a toilet flushing (Spencer saying goodbye to a goldfish he killed). He also arguably started off too far away for a really effective move.
  • You Just Had to Say It: In iStake Out, Spencer meets his old camp bully again and Freddie asks why Stu is nicknamed 'Spanky'. Spanky shows Freddie why, and Spencer sarcastically thanks Freddie for asking while being spanked in the butt with his own umbrella by Spanky.
  • You Meddling Kids: Sam, Genre Savvy as she is, mocks Ms. Briggs after she had caught them in her house and blackmails them to guest her on the webshow.

Sam: ...or you could just let us get away while screaming (raises fist with an elderly voice) You rotten kids!

  • You Monster!: Spencer to the soup-stealing... well, monster, in iDate A Bad Boy.
    • Carly occasionally pulls this on Sam when they have a big fight, most especially in their iconic divorce break-up scene in iQuit iCarly. The show even handwaves that Carly is very aware how horrible her best friend can be.
  • You Should Have Almost Died Instead: Mrs. Benson to Carly in "iSaved Your Life." Even though Freddie chose to get hit by a truck instead of Carly, who he saved, his mom interprets the incident as Carly trying to kill Freddie.

Z

  • Zettai Ryouiki: Carly rocked a Grade B level of this in iHave My Principals.
    • Sam got a class D one during their Pathetic Play skit in iSpeed Date.
  • Zany Scheme: Not relied on as much as other shows in its genre. One however, was Sam and Freddie rescheduling Carly's interview with a private school headmistress to her apartment, setting up a mini-golf course inside Spencer's apartment, inviting two dozen kids over, and getting the kids to think she had a prize hidden on her, done to sabotage Carly's chances of being admitted to the school so Carly wouldn't leave them.
    • The episode iHave My Principals. After Principal Franklin guested in iCarly which resulted him to be fired, two of the meanest teachers take his place. When the new co-principals create a reign of terror at the school, the iCarly gang connives with all the students. They hatch a plan to have an all-out schoolwide rebellion in order to prove to the school superintendent that their previous principal is much better than the new ones.
    • Subverted in iScream on Halloween where Carly explains a complicated scheme to gain access to the locked door of Apartment 13-B, but Sam just picked the lock.
    • Defied in iWant My Website Back. Mandy comes up with a plan to get iCarly.com back from Nevel. As soon as she mentions it involving three zebras, Sam shuts her up.

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