Victorious

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
(Clockwise from bottom-center) Tori, Trina, André, Robbie, Rex, Cat, Beck and Jade

Victorious is the latest[when?] creation of Dan Schneider, airing on Nickelodeon. The star of the show is Tori Vega (Victoria Dawn Justice), who gets into Hollywood Arts (a school for the arts in Hollywood) after filling in for her less talented sister Trina (Daniella Monet) during a big showcase. Backing her up throughout the experience is André Harris (Leon Thomas III), a musically gifted boy who almost immediately warms up to her. On the flip-side, there's Jade West (Elizabeth Gillies), a dark-natured girl acting as Tori's rival. Completing the cast are Caterina "Cat" Valentine (Ariana Grande), a hypersensitive girl on her own level of reality; Robbie Shapiro (Matt Bennett), an awkward and shy guy who is rarely seen without his puppet Rex Powers; and Beck Oliver (Avan Jogia), Jade's much more mellow significant other.

As should be no surprise, Hollywood Arts is... untraditional. Students are required to customize their lockers, live music in the hallways is more rule than exception, and nobody bats an eyelash at the eccentricities of their fellow schoolmates. Some of the show's plots are derived from the school, usually dealing with performances or assignments. Other plots come from character interaction outside school walls, providing plenty of fuel for the already emerging shippers. It must be noted that, for a Nickelodeon show, the show can venture quite far into innuendo – though considering Schneider's other current show, this is to be expected.

Now with its own Getting Crap Past The Radar section, Character Sheet, a Headscratchers page and appropriately for a show about a performing arts high school, an Awesome Music and a HoYay/LesYay page

Due to several crossovers, especially a major crossover with iCarly, it is now part of the Nick Verse.


Tropes used in Victorious include:
  • Abusive Parents: Of the psychological kind. Trina's parents leave town so they don't have to deal with her after surgery, tell her to her face that they are ignoring her, and clearly favor Tori. Mrs. Vega, at least, is not too much better to Tori; flaunting that she made breakfast and telling Tori she has to make it herself, then bragging about how she used up all the ingredients herself so Tori cannot make breakfast after all. She also tells Tori she'll be there for her when Tori is having a crisis, then tells her to close her eyes and leaves.
    • Robbie's mom moved out at some point, but moved back in for a time during "Locked Up!". When asked about her return home, Robbie says that she's "giving him another chance", implying that his mother left to get away from him.
  • Action Girl: This seems to be what Trina actually does best, as she appears to make up in physical strength, agility and fighting skill, even when drugged up to the gills ("Freak The Freak Out") what she lacks in singing ability. Also, in Locked Up!, while Jade and Tori discussed turning Trina's mike off for the first performance, they didn't seem to mind having her dance with them.
    • Also, in "Freak The Freak Out", Tori had to tie Trina up to control her, and later, Beck, Andre and Robbie could barely keep her under control.
    • In '"Helen Back Again", Trina is seen practicing martial arts. Which becomes a Chekhov's Skill later in the episode.
  • Action Survivors: EVERYONE in "Locked Up!"
  • Actor Allusion:
    • Jade got cranky when she learned that Beck is part Canadian. Avan Jogia is a Canadian-born actor of Southern Asian descent.
    • In the episode 'Stuck in an RV', one of the decorations in Beck's RV is a whiteboard with the quote "Buy the ticket, take the ride" written on it. This quote is also tattooed across the right side of Avan Jogia's chest. (Un)Fortunately, it's always covered with makeup for the show.
    • In "The Breakfast Bunch", Jade gives Cat and Robbie grief for being vegans. Liz Gillies is a vegan in real life.
    • In "Tori & Jade's Play Date", Tori signs one of her posts on TheSlap with the emoticon ":{(", using a curly bracket to represent a moustache. Victoria Justice frequently uses this emoticon (and its happier variants) on Twitter.
    • In "April Fools Blank", Andre playing the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard Of Oz skit was likely a reference to Leon Thomas III playing Young Simba in the Broadway musical version of The Lion King.
  • Audio Erotica:
    • Jade made Andre fall for her with just her singing in "Jade Gets Crushed"
    • Jade again in Tori and Jade's playdate, while she's counting during Take a Hint
  • Affectionate Parody:
  • The Alleged Car: That car Robbie got from his uncle in "A Film by Dale Squires." One also has to wonder how that piece of crap Festus owns gets him to work every day.
  • All Guys Want Cheerleaders: Played for laughs in "Wi-Fi in the Sky" where Beck is taking care of a puppy for his neighbor. When Jade discovers that his neighbor is a cheerleader, she storms over to his house and stays there until the neighbor returns from cheer practice to pick up the dog. An hour later the neighbor arrives-- she is about 9 or 10. Cue mortified scowling by Jade.
  • Alpha Bitch:
    • Subverted with Jade. The first episodes definitely portrays her as one, but later episodes show too many sides that an Alpha Bitch would not possess, the most telling of which being her circle of friends: she hangs out with Tori and company most of the time. That said, if the plot requires a Alpha Bitch-like antagonist, Jade is more than capable of stepping up to the challenge.
    • Tara and Hayley from "Freak The Freak Out" play it straight.
  • Anime Hair: Cat's unnatural hair color can be seen as fitting this trope. She later justifies it on the Slap (the in-show social networking site), saying she dyed it that color because it reminds her of red velvet cupcakes and isn't real in the slightest.
    • Interestingly, in a different video she posted she said the reason for the color was that she came home late one day and her brother thought she was an intruder and broke a vase over her head. She apparently liked the color and so she cut off a lock of bloody hair and brought it with her the next time she went to the hair salon.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
    • "Prom Wrecker"

Sherry: People are mad! There's no band, there was a freaky video...
Andre: And uh, Doug's diaper doesn't fit him so well.

    • And in "Locked Up":

Beck: Our friend is hallucinating!
Tori: An escaped prisoner crashed through our window and was dragged out by Yerbanian soldiers!
Cat: And our bed is lumpy.

    • "Driving Tori Crazy"

Cat: Tori! You missed first and second periods!
Tori: I know!
Cat: And you look all messy!
Tori: I know.
Cat: And that shirt is NOT a good color on you.
Tori: (stares at Cat shocked)

  • As Himself:
    • Perez Hilton in "WiFi in the Sky".
    • Kenan Thompson in "iParty with Victorious"
    • Ke$ha in "Ice Cream For Ke$ha"
    • Gary Busey in "A Christmas Tori"
  • Asian Airhead: In "Driving Tori Crazy", while most of the girls in the car with Beck were of less than normal intellect, the Asian one in the front seat kind of took the prize with the constant gum twirling and vacant way of speaking.
  • Ask a Stupid Question Get a Stupid Answer: In "Robarazzi":

Robbie: You guys know my blog on The Slap?
Cat: Dot com?
Robbie:No, dot gov. YES, DOT COM!

Sikowitz: "Cat, your line had to start with an S!"
Cat: "Salami!"
Sikowitz: "It's too late, Cat."
Cat: "Awwww, my life's the worst!"
Sikowitz: "Here's a piece of candy."
Cat: "Yay, I love candy!" (happily walks off the stage)

  • Attention Whore: Trina.
  • Auto Erotica: Beck tried for this, but Jade wasn't in the mood. Probably for the best, seeing how there was a guy with a camera in the backseat.
  • Badass: Tori in "The Gorilla Club".

Beck: You did it!
Tori: Shoosh yeah, I did!
Beck: WHO'S A ROCKSTAR?!?!
Tori: MEEEEEEEEE!
Beck: Whoo! (they hi-five) You are definitely a real risk taker!
Tori: I know! And to prove it even more you know what i'm gonna do RIGHT NOW?!
Beck: WHAT?
Tori: I'm gonna use the bathroom HERE! (jumps)
Beck: ...Sitting?
Tori: (in a menacing voice) Sitting.

  • Base on Wheels: Beck's trailer. It's surprising that it hasn't been used more often.
    • Probably because they're traumatized from getting trapped in it
  • Batman Gambit: Cat and Jade make Tori look hideous in "Freak the Freak Out" as they knew Haley and Tara would pick the least attractive person to sing. Tori then shows that she is not only a good singer but also not even unattractive.
  • Beach Episode: "Trapped in an RV" is a Subversion, since the main cast (except for Cat) spent very little screen time actually at the beach, having been trapped in Beck's RV for most of the episode.
  • BFG: Ke$ha's glitter guns in "Ice Cream For Ke$ha".
  • Bigger Is Better: Tori's fan.
  • Biting the Hand Humor: The Diddlybops and their song are stylistically similar to Yo Gabba Gabba!, a major program for Nick Jr.
  • Black Best Friend: André for Tori.
  • Black Comedy:

Jade: (crying) "I got a little make-up on your pillow..."
Tori: "That's OK... I'll just ask my grandmother to make me another one... If she ever comes back to life."

    • The entire episode of Tori Gets Stuck: A toy car lodged in Robbie's intestinal tract since childhood. Tori loses THREE pints of blood in the "donating blood to Robbie" plot-line, one of which splashes on both of them. On the side, Trina deliberately contracts herself tuberculosis in order to play her role in the play well. Trina insists it's "just pneumonia".
    • "Ice Cream For Ke$ha": Tori's bathing Trina (It Makes Sense in Context, sorta), Trina's being her normal rude self. Tori pushes her head under the water, cut to commercial.[1]
    • In Car, Rain and Fire, Tori reveals that she didn't pass her driving test because she didn't see the old lady in the wheelchair. In Tori's defense, she did signal before she hit her.
    • When Andre's friends ask him to stay at Tori's house and help them write a song, he eventually caves, saying "Fine, I'll just celebrate my 98 year old grandfather's birthday with him next year...maybe!"
    • In The Worst Couple, as Jade and Beck are arguing, Cat stands between them with her hands pressed against her ears, chanting to herself: "I'm under my bed, I'm under my bed..."
    • In Driving Tori Crazy, Jade drives Tori out to the desert with a shovel in the backseat.
  • Non Sequitur Episode:
    • "April Fools Blank."
    • "The Breakfast Bunch"
  • Blatant Lies: The fun facts on TheSlap.

Traditionally, Italian princesses bathe in blueberry juice.

  • Bloody Hilarious: Robbie dropping a blood bag which explodes all over him and Tori in "Tori Gets Stuck."
  • Bollywood Nerd: Averted, an Avan Jogia specialty.
  • Bottle Episode:
    • "Who Did it to Trina" only uses three previously existing sets and only has main and recurring cast members.
    • The only new set in "The Breakfast Bunch" is the library and the only character outside of the main cast to appear is Vice Principal Dickers (and a cameo from the iParty With Victorious panda). Also counts as Locked in a Room.
  • Bratty Teenage Daughter: Trina.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Rex posts a worried question about the episode "Rex Dies" on TheSlap.
  • Breathless Non-Sequitur: Cat, occasionally.
  • Brick Joke: In the Pilot, Sikowitz asks Tori if she'd thought of entering the class room through the window, before encouraging her to do think about it. Several episodes later, Sikowitz does that very thing. (Note: In the unedited version of the Pilot, he also enters through the window before ever suggesting it to Tori.)
  • Brief Accent Imitation:
    • Shows up in the acting class, for obvious reasons.
    • Jade does this whenever she mockingly imitates Tori.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer:

Jade: (about Sikowitz) "He's not completely right in the head, but the man's a great acting teacher."

  • Butt Monkey: Robbie. Sinjin, sometimes Cat, and Tori to a certain extent. Lampshaded in "Tori Gets Stuck" where Jade complains about being cheated and humiliated. Sinjin tells her that it was something to get used to and Robbie nods in agreement.
  • Call Back:
    • Most of the music played at the party in iParty With Victorious. Included in the mix: "Number One" by Ginger FOX, which was also featured in Freak The Freak Out, "Give It Up" by Jade and Cat, "The Joke Is On You" from Wok Star and the iCarly episode iGet Pranky, and "The Queen of White Lies" by The Orion Experience, which appeared at the end of Stage Fighting.
    • Also in iParty With Victorious:

Sikowitz: Do you see the little children?
Spencer: Yeah.
Sikowitz: Fantastic.

  • The Cameo:
    • In the first minute or so of the first episode, look at the fridge behind Tori. There's an iCarly magnet visible.
    • Another iCarly reference - Jerry Trainor (Spencer) and Nathan Kress (Freddie) both appear in the audience in separate episodes where Trina is playing a lead role.
    • In Stage Fighting, the girl who played Tammy (the girl from Tennessee) from The Girls Room in The Amanda Show appears as the girl in the hall who Rex puts his hand on creepily.
    • In Wok Star, Josh Peck of Drake and Josh fame, shows up at the end of Jade's play to congratulate her, only to be brushed off.
    • Drake Bell from Drake and Josh, and Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell both show up in the April Fools episode.
  • Call Back: "Tori Goes Platinum" has a bunch of them.
  • Can't Get Away with Nuthin': While usually averted (especially with Tori), Jade gets this in "Tori Gets Stuck" at the very end by not being allowed in the play.
  • Casanova Wannabe: Rex. Yeah, the puppet.
  • Cassandra Truth: Cat tells Robbie she can't go to Prom with him because she has a date, who happens to be from another school. Robbie doesn't believe her, but it turns out he does indeed exist.
  • The Cast Showoff: It's a show about a performing arts school so even extras will show off, but Leon and Victoria seem to do the most on-screen performing of the main cast.
  • Catch Phrase:
    • Cat's "What's that supposed to mean!?" (though that seems to have died out since the second half of season one)
    • Sikowitz's "Dear Gandhi!"
    • Tori's "I don't talk like that!" in response to Jade imitating Tori's supposed accent, but that gag seems to have gone dead.
    • Cat's "One time, my brother..." followed by a Noodle Incident.
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Parody: "Ice Cream for Ke$ha"

Sinjin: Run for it Tori! Run straight home and don't stop until you get there!

  • Chekhov's Skill:
    • Cat's costume class helps save the day in "Beck Falls For Tori".
    • Trina's Martial Arts skills in "Helen Back Again"
  • Chewing the Scenery:
    • From the song All I Want is Everything: "As long as it's alright, at least we know that we're alive!"
    • And in the same episode, the chancellor and his judge sure enjoyed this trope too.
  • Christmas Episode: A Christmas Tori
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Jade towards Beck. Justified as Beck has shown receptiveness to the advances of other girls.
  • Common Crossover:
    • In "Freak The Freak Out", Haley and Tara and later, Sikowitz sing the song "Number One" by Ginger FOX.
    • Tori's new principal is Helen from Drake and Josh.
    • In "April Fools Blank," Tori briefly passes through the set of iCarly before finding herself on a game show.
  • Companion Cube: Rex.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • In Stage Fighting, Tori takes up the French horn, but clearly sucks at it, as shown by Andre taking it off her and playing it expertly. Several episodes later (in Beck's Big Break, though the first episode filmed after that one) she takes up the piccolo, leading to this conversation:

Tori: "Hey hey! Look what I got!"
Andre: "A piccolo?"
Tori: "It's my new instrument!"
Cat: "I thought you were learning how to play the fr-"
Tori: "It didn't work out!"

    • In "Cat's New Boyfriend", Tori gets lectured for kissing Cats boyfriend and Jade tells her "Those things upset some girls." She's probably referring to Tori kissing Beck in the Pilot.
    • In "The Wood," they ask Tori what the worst thing she's ever done was:

Tori: "Hmm, so I threw hot cheese on my friend and then made out with her boyfriend, who happened to be my ex-boyfriend. But it was okay, because she punched me in the face afterwards."

    • In "Ice Cream for Ke$ha", Lendell, the loser who was set up on a date with Trina in "Rex Dies", is seen to still be calling her, much to her dissatisfaction.
    • In "Stage Fighting", Jade notes how Tori doesn't know many of the technical terms in theater. This comes back to annoy Jade even more in "Tori Gets Stuck", when she is chosen as Tori's understudy in a play... and Tori doesn't know what an understudy is.
    • Episodes aired after "Wok Star" have Jade mocking Tori on the way she talks, as seen in "Beck Falls For Tori", "Ice Cream for Ke$ha", "Prom Wrecker" and "Locked Up!". Here's a compilation.
    • In iParty With Victorious, Tori suggests that they expose her and Carly's cheating boyfriend to the entire party to punish him, just like she did to Ryder in "Begging On Your Knees".
      • Kenan also says that to Tori "I know you're not from Northridge"
    • In Who Did It To Trina?, Jade (in her flashback) says that Tori mentions that she's pretty. Tori says that she said nothing of the kind, and Jade asks 'So you don't think I'm pretty?' Later, in Tori and Jade's Playdate, Jade says that others might think Tori's pretty; when she then says that Tori could say that she (Jane) is also pretty, Tori agrees - which leads to an uncomfortable silence from both.
  • Continuity Snarl:
    • Let us simply say that Cat's Drake and Josh flashback in "Who Did To Trina", the episode following the introduction of Helen as the new principal of Hollywood Arts, raised some interesting questions about continuity and leave it at that.
    • There's also the problem of Nozu and Mrs. Lee. Tori and the gang met her at Wok Star in Wok Star, and we saw her once again in Andre's Horrible Girl - however, a full season earlier, in Tori Gets Stuck, Tori asks the gang if they want to go to Nozu after school for sushi! Now, that wouldn't be a problem, except that Tori and Andre act as if it's their first visit to Nozu (when they visit in Andre's Horrible Girl), and Mrs. Lee specifically says she used the insurance money from Wok Star burning down to build Nozu!
  • Converting for Love: Robbie asks Trina if she would be willing to convert to Judaism while he is infatuated with her. It's not a dealbreaker, though.
  • Cool Big Sis: Seemingly, Trina.
    • And apparently according to Tori's Slap profile video, Trina is a capable singer.
      • And yet, when she tried to masquerade as Tori to record a song she wrote, the guy got so frustrated that he eventually shut it off.
  • Cover Version: I Want You Back is a song from The Jackson Five.
    • Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds, a theme song of The Breakfast Club is covered by Tori in the parody episode The Breakfast Bunch.
  • Cloudcuckoolander : Robbie and his puppet Rex. Cat also fits perfectly, as well as showing some of The Ditz symptoms.

Cat: "I make it [her hair] this color because I love red velvet cupcakes, and this is the exact same color of a red velvet cupcake!" (puts hair in mouth) "...But it tastes like hair."
Cat: "They [her family] accidentally left me on the side of the road. It was funny...! Until it got dark outside. And... then it got less funny."

    • Cat even recounted Tori and Jade to be within the D&J episode iLove Sushi to tell a story behind Trina's accident, which had no connection to the event whatsoever.

Cat: Oh. Then I don't know what happened with Tori and Trina. Can I have some oatmeal?

Tori: Beck said you haven't done one nice thing for him in two years.
Jade: That is so not true. We've only been dating for a year and eleven months.

  • Crossover:
    • iParty With Victorious.
    • One of Tori's friends in her messenger list is Mindy Crenshaw. Helen Dubois became a Hollywood Principal. Josh Nichols watched Jade's play. All while Drake and Josh is a TV show within the Victorious universe.
  • Cute Bruiser: Cat is undeniably cute, yet she managed to almost break Tori's nose in one punch.
  • Cut Himself Shaving: At the hospital after said punch...

Nurse: How'd this happen?
Tori: I, uhh, fell.

Cat: One time my brother went to a home for troubled girls.
Tori: Why?
Cat: To meet troubled girls.

  • Disproportionate Retribution:
    • In "Jade Dumps Beck", Trina physically threatens Robbie because he refuses to write a good review of her play.
    • Jade went out of her way to keep Tori from playing the lead in "Tori Gets Stuck." The biggest part of this was leafing through Tori's medical records and exploiting them to make her donate two pints of blood in one night (Jade purposely misplaced the first pint). Rule of Funny, since you'd be advised to wait eight weeks to recover after donating one pint (never mind the third Tori ended up donating, which was Robbie's fault and might have been life-threatening had the show treated it more realistically).
    • In "Locked Up", while it's subverted when the chancellor not only sentences Tori to four years in prison all because of her shoe malfunction that blinded him, it's then taken Up to Eleven when he then sentences the entire rest of the gang after Robbie accidentally kills his electric clock and octopus!
    • "Who Did It To Trina:" Rex sabotaged the harness which lead to Trina being injured. All because she punched him in the face.
    • Robbie is viciously beaten up by a group of mothers because he offered their kids ice cream. Which he brought in a bucket and announced loudly, clearly not trying to be sneaky and steal their kids. And he was on his bike. They apparently chased him into an alley and beat him with sticks, stepped on his throat, and he has a black eye for the rest of the episode.
  • Does Not Like Shoes: Sikowitz.
  • Does Not Understand Sarcasm:

Cat: Ew Jade, your outfit's dirty.
Jade: Oh no, now I'll never win the prison beauty pageant.

Trina: Wait, they have that?

  • Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: Victoria Dawn Justice performs the opening theme, "Make It Shine".
  • Downer Ending: "The Gorilla Club" ends with Tori being about to obtain her role in the movie, but unable to do so due to her injuries from being attacked by the gorilla.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: Sikowitz dresses as a prison guard in "Locked Up".
  • Dyeing for Your Art: Ariana Grande, who plays Cat, dyed her hair just for the role. Dan Schneider had noticed the entire main cast had dark brown hair, and asked if Ariana would dye it a different color. She showed up next time with her red hair.
  • Early Installment Weirdness: Most characters are fairly different from how they were in the pilot. For example, Trina went from "untalented" to "talented, but not enough to justify her ego." Jade was significantly deepened, saving her from being the Alpha Bitch. Robbie, while still not suave, became capable of normal conversation with the opposite sex. Rex's design is very different from the pilot, including paler skin, a thinner body and neck, paler complexion, and smaller eyes/mouth. Cat's hair is no longer curly as well. Tori's hair, instead of being perfectly straight, is now wavy. Probably the biggest change is that Beck and Tori no longer seem romantically interested in each other.

Adding to the weirdness, Trina in the pilot was at least somewhat aware that she couldn't sing, to the point where she took the Chinese Herb Gargle in the hopes of improving her voice. Rule of Funny, naturally, causes that to be thrown out the window in future episodes, resulting in Trina being completely and utterly oblivious to how bad her singing is.

  • Episode on a Plane: Wi-Fi in the Sky.
  • Epunymous Title
  • Everythings Better With Bunnies: In "Tori Tortures Teacher."
  • Expy: Cat is very similar to the Misty character from The Amanda Show. André is much like Gary, from What I Like About You (another Dan Schneider show) in the "mellow Black Best Friend" role.
  • Extroverted Nerd: Robbie. Sikowitz compares him to Steve Urkel of Family Matters in the episode "Locked Up".
  • Fascinating Eyebrow: Jade and Tori can do it. Tori in particular is quite fond of it.
  • Five-Token Band: The main character is half-Latina (as is her sister), André is black, Robbie is Jewish, and Beck is Indian. The only two main white characters are Jade and Cat. It's a rare example of the trope being pulled off very tastefully, and it doesn't seem forced or unnatural – it probably wasn't even intentional.
    • Beck's race has never been stated. While the actor that portrays him is half-Indian, the character has the more ambiguous last name 'Oliver' and no reference to race was ever made.
  • Flanderization: Jade and Cat being the worst victims. The former's meanness is extremely amplified whenever Beck is not around, while the latter's cloudcuckoolander tendencies are played into downright ridiculous idiocy.
    • Beck seems to have become a bit of a jerk since he and Jade broke up.
    • Jade's flanderization seems to be becoming averted in Season 3 (notably in "Tori Goes Platinum") whereas Cat's verging into Ralph Wiggum territory.
  • Flash Back: A fairly long and very hilarious one happens in The Great Ping-Pong Scam as André, Beck, Robbie, Cat and Jade narrate in way too much detail how they formed their ping-pong team.

Tori: So, you guys formed a fake ping pong team so you could get some money, buy a trophy for the school, save the principal's job, and take Sikowitz out for a big fancy dinner?
Andre: (pause) Yeah, I guess we could've just told it that way.

    • Most of "Who Did It to Trina?" is full of these.
  • Foot Focus:
    • In the first episode, Tori has her bare feet up on the coffee table while she's sitting on the couch.
    • A video on the slap has André pouring ketchup on Tori's feet. It grosses her out, too.
    • Essentially the point of the B-plot in "Cat's New Boyfriend."
    • We get a heavy dose of this when Tori shoots a bow-and-arrow with her feet in "The Breakfast Bunch".
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Trina (Choleric), Cat (Sanguine), Jade (Melancholic), and Tori (Phlegmatic).
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: What's on the classroom dry-erase board. Also, some of the various lockers.
  • Foreshadowing: Cat and Jade's rivals were introduced as Tara Ferguson and Haley Ganz. Later, the bar's owner (who decides the winner) is revealed as Joey Ferguson: pretty much a giveaway how he would decide the contest to advance the plot.
  • Gag Boobs: Liz Gillies and Daniella Monet are quite well-endowed. The writers noticed.

Cat: "You better come help Jade!"
Tori: "With what?"
Cat: "She can't get her boobs in the hamburger."

Jade: "And now Tori says: "What's stage fighting?""
Tori: "I was not going to say that!" (turns to André) "What is it?"

After André asks Tori why she picked the French Horn, Tori says, "I dunno. I like French fries, French toast..." In the original script, Tori also said "French kissing" – but I decided that was a bit much for a Nickelodeon show, so I cut "French kissing" from the script. :)

  • Genki Girl: Cat. Even though she's a Mood Swinger, she spends most of her time in happy mode.
    • Tori, to a lesser degree.
  • George Jetson Job Security: One of Jade's "What I Hate" videos implies that her father has been fired many times.
  • Gilligan Cut: "Driving Tori Crazy". Tori makes Cat promise not to tell anyone about the party bus that will take her to school, which she does. She then explicitly tells Cat again not to let anyone know about it. Cat says she gets it...next scene, we see the party bus and the entire gang is in it. We then get this exchange:

Tori: I told you not to tell anyone!
Cat: You did not make that clear.

    • In "Robarazzi", when Rex suggests Robbie use the video of Tori's pimple for his blog, Robbie says that would be mean. After Rex tells Robbie that he'll be a loser if he doesn't, which Robbie protests against. After a few seconds, cut to some students watching the video on The Slap.
    • From "The Wood":

Beck: The producers took two separate phone conversations and cut them together!
Jade: I want to hear that from them!
(Tori holds her hands out in questioning. Cut to the Black Box theater)
Producer: Yeah, we took two separate phone calls and cut them together.

  • Good Bad Girl: Cat's boyfriends tend not to last very long (81 hours is her record), and it's subtly implied that they get further than what could be shown on Nickelodeon. She's also described as "the sweetest thing ever" and, though her actions may have negative consequences, she always has good intentions.
  • Goth: Jade dresses like a goth and does fit some of the goth stereotypes, like being a pessimist, enjoying pain, and being very sarcastic, but is is not a straight example of one.
  • The Grinch: Jade has some traces of this, but still manages to get a pretty nice gift for Tori, all things considered.
    • Also the insulting term grunch is clearly derived from Grinch.
  • G-Rated Drug: Tacos depict a metaphor of sex and drugs. Having not tried one brands you as a "vegan".
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Cat gets upset rather than angry, but otherwise fits fairly well.

Cat: "What's that supposed to mean!?"

  • Hands-On Approach: A hot guy uses this on Cat when she's spinning a pot. Obviously, she doesn't mind.
  • Harpo Does Something Funny: The scene where Tori, Jade and Derek dance to "Queen of White Lies", among others.
  • Has Two Thumbs And: Trina and Andre in The Birthweek Song.
  • Heel Face Turn: In Stage Fighting, Jade and Tori stop being enemies. In Jade Dumps Beck, they become friends – not good friends, but still.
    • Sheema in Locked Up! (the prisoner that Jade called "big and stupid") has this when Tori offers her to join them in their plot to escape.
  • Helpless Good Side: Robbie and Rex.
  • Heroic Dimples: Cat Valentine, who is naïve and The Ditz of the cast.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Robbie and Rex, though the latter is a puppet.
  • He Who Must Not Be Seen: Two examples, Cat's extremely ditzy brother being The Ghost variant is regularly referred to either through Cat's random Black Comedy Burst or Noodle Incident anecdotes with no relevance to the plot or through text messages. Cats is an example of sanity compared to her brother who once painted a 'part' of his body purple for a job interview (he didn't get it) and got Jade 12 gallons of real blood for her play.
    • Robbie's grandfather Maury who is the The Voice variant who is rude to his wife.
  • Hilarious Outtakes: The episode "Blooptorious".
  • Hippie Teacher: Mr. Sikowitz.
  • Hollywood Tone Deaf: Trina, on most days.
    • Averted with Tara and Haley in Freak The Freak Out. Their singing isn't exaggeratedly bad, but it's instead rather mediocre, especially compared to Jade and Cat.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Even though he eventually gave the kids credit of their work on the film, the fact remains that if Dale Squires hadn't stolen it in the first place, he wouldn't have been humiliated on national TV by a Sassy Black Woman.
    • This is an example of the Moral Dissonance in the Schneiderverse, as even Jade feels sorry for the guy getting it in the neck - despite the fact that Dale screwed them all out of a serious career boost (because the most he could honestly take credit for was being executive producer).
      • In "Sleepover At Sikowitz's", Tori chooses 'a sweet, innocent farm girl who never gets angry, no matter what happens' as the persona for Jade during the sleepover. Ever since (notably in "Beck Falls For Tori" and "Tori Gets Stuck"), Jade gleefully falls into that persona whenever she feels like running Tori over the coals...
    • Ryder Daniels used girls who were in love with him to get good grades before dumping them the moment they weren't of use to him anymore. This comes back to bite him hard when Tori discovers what he's up to and uses the very event he was using her to get a good grade in to reveal him to the entire school and give him a Humiliation Conga via a "The Villain Sucks" Song.
    • Jade in "Prom Wrecker", subverting her normal Karma Houdini status. Her attempts to ruin the prom Tori set up end up making it better and in the end, she's forced to be prom queen with Doug the Diaper Guy as her prom king, who she hired to wreck the prom in the first place.
    • In the pilot episode, Tori most likely wouldn't have kissed Beck on-stage (thus intentionally ticking off Jade) if Jade hadn't been mean to her. Granted, she saw Tori with Beck, but Jade also knew (as EVERYONE at Hollywood Arts knew) that Tori was new there, and thus wouldn't know to steer clear of Beck at all costs.
  • Humiliation Conga: Manipulative Bastard Ryder Daniels is given one by Tori and all the girls he's gone out with just so he could use them to get himself a good grade and then breaking their hearts directly afterwards. Tori sings "Begging On Your Knees" in front of the whole school, her friends and Ryder's ex-girlfriends keeping him onstage and revealing his manipulative ways to the entire school and giving him a well-deserved humiliation. To top it off, another group sing "You just got served" at him directly afterwards.
    • Steven, the boyfriend who cheated on both Tori and Carly got his live on the internet.

"Random Humiliation!"

  • Hustling the Mark: Jade, Tori, and Cat pull off a rather awesome example of this trope on Haley and Tara in Freak The Freak Out. (Complete with Oh Crap looks on Haley and Tara's faces when they realized Tori wasn't the pushover they thought she would be.)
  • Hypocritical Humour:

Trina: (to Tori) "You have to be more careful with people's feelings." (Before turning and yelling at the annoying kid behind her for kicking her seat.)

  • Inherently Funny Words: In Who Did It To Trina, the word 'ranch-house' is apparently one of these, as the laugh track plays every single time it's said, and it's said half a dozen times.
  • I Call Him Mr. Happy: Trina refers to her boobs as "the girls".
  • Idiot Ball: Tori thinking it was a good idea to trust Trina and Cat to get her solvent by the time the play started.
    • This is hinted in one of her status updates on TheSlap: "Never send Trina and Cat to do ANYTHING!!!"
    • Tori really should have been able to predict what would happen when she told Cat to punch her in the face.
  • If I Had a Nickel: From the song "Take A Hint":

If I had a dime for every name that you just dropped, you'd be here and I'd be on a yacht.

Robbie: Tori, the puns HAVE to stop.
Tori: You'll have to mustard up the courage to stop me! Hahahaha.

  • Informed Flaw: Trina's bad singing is Hollywood Tone Deaf at worst. Other than too much scooping and being flat at times. Trina could sing well if she would just accept that she's not perfect and maybe some lessons would do her some good. And Trina's audition with the submarine scene was pretty good, but it was implied she didn't get the role because of her bad acting, while all she did was say one word wrong.
    • She stage kissed well enough to make Robbie believe that she actually liked him.
      • That's probably more Robbie's cluelessness than Trina's talent...
    • Supposedly, we're supposed to believe Trina has no talent whatsoever. Yet, she's not too bad at acting, as pointed out here, and also seems to be a good dancer (note how in Locked Up, even Jade doesn't seem to mind Trina dancing with them, as long as her mic is off).
  • Intoxication Ensues: Sikowitz reputedly gets visions from coconut milk.
    • In The Breakfast Bunch, the gang begins acting as if they were high after eating tacos.
    • In How Trina Got In, Sikowitz reveals that his drinking milk from a badly-spoiled coconut, and his visions during Trina's audition, was the reason Trina got into Hollywood Arts.
  • Inner Monologue Conversation: In iParty with Victorious, Carly, Sam and Freddie use this to figure out how to get revenge on a cheating boyfriend. Tori lampshades this by asking to be included.
  • Ironic Echo: In The Great Ping-Pong Scam:

Tori: Read the phone Jade. Reeeead the phoooone.
(Later, after Jade points out how she doesn't have to let Tori on the team, no matter how good her tryout was)
Jade: Read the phone Tori. Reeeead the phoooone.

    • In iParty With Victorious, Tori and Carly, on what Steven said when he gave both girls their charm bracelets:

  Tori and Carly (in unison}: "It's one of a kind - just like you!"

  • It's All About Me: Trina does have a vain and narcissistic ego, and is easily the most selfish character on the show.

 Trina: "If I'd shared it, there would be less for me!"

    • While not to the same extent as her sister, Tori can be pretty selfish as well.
      • Also this exchange from "Jade Dumps Beck," which occurs while the dog is attacking Beck's dad.

 Jade: This is horrible.

Tori: I know

Jade: Now he's never gonna take me back.

 Jade: Our pristine little friend Cat here has never had a taco.

Cat: I'm not that pristine. Wait, what's pristine mean?

  • Jerkass: Jade and Rex. Trina can turn into this if she doesn't get what she wants.
  • Jewish Mother: Robbie's "Mamaw" fits this.
  • Karma Houdini: A common theme in Dan Schneider shows: this show has Jade. In the episode about stage fighting, she gets away with framing Tori, whose stuck with a bad grade, detention, and virtually being publicly humiliated, despite it still looking like Tori did anything by accident. While Tori intentionally does not report Jade when she learns she was set up, André knew and should have at least told someone.
      • It does follow the Rule of Funny, though, which is probably why Jade never gets in trouble.
    • Averted in "Prom Wrecker". Tori gets her revenge on Jade for trying to ruin the prom she set up by making Jade prom queen, with Doug the Diaper Guy as her Prom King. To add further karma, everything Jade did to try to ruin the prom only served to make it even better.
    • Also averted in "Tori Gets Stuck" where Jade spends the episode trying to get Tori out of the play so that she can take her place. She succeeds, but Sikowitz basically tells her "Screw you" and takes Tori's place instead.
    • Tori in Locked Up. Accident or not, she did blind the man...you'd at least expect them to be fined, or something.
      • Also in Beck's Big Break, though possibly justified because of the callousness of the lead star.
  • Kawaiiko: Surprisingly, Jade in iParty With Victorious, as the blue swimsuit she wears seems cute, modest, and quite out of character for her. Perhaps she's not as hard-boiled as she lets on...?
  • Large Ham: Trina. The character, not Daniella Monet. Sikowitz has his moments, too.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Ryder is force fed a nice helpping of Humble Pie in front of the entire school by Tori and all the girls he's manipulated.
  • Laugh Track
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Jade mentions in Prom Wrecker that Beck is in Canada. It was mentioned before the episode aired that Avan Jogia was in Vancouver at the time of filming and would be absent because of it.
    • In Tori Tortures Teacher during lunch Andre asks why none of them "ever sits on that side of the table", which would basically feature them facing away from the camera.
    • Similarly in Terror in Cupcake Street the main cast and Sikowitz discuss why they are the only ones chosen. They later realize the fact their classmates "never talk and just react" as a nod to the extras.
    • Or in Who Did it to Trina when Andrè hints at the plot's Rashomon Style. "Aw, no! Now we have to hear another story about what happened from a unique point of view?!"
  • Let Us Never Speak of This Again: Jade's sweating at the end of Trapped in an RV.
    • Tori's armpit cream in "Robarazzi."
  • Line-of-Sight Name: Tori adopts the name "Crystal Waters" from a visible water dispenser to infiltrate Melinda Murray's filming location.
  • Literal-Minded: Somewhat inverted in Drving Tori Crazy. Andre's grandmother asks Tori to hold her oatmeal which Tori accepts, turns out she literally hold her oatmeal (she dumped the oatmeal on Tori's hands instead of giving her the mug)
  • Malaproper: In the "Stuck in an RV" episode, Tori berates Jade with a vicious "Thank you, Catherine Obvious." Cue confusion from the other characters. After they correct her, she weakly tries to defend herself by pointing out that Catherine could be a captain.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Ryder Daniels, who uses love to manipulate girls into helping him get a good grade only to break their hearts when he's through using them. Tori makes sure he gets what he deserves though.
  • Manipulative Editing: The producers of The Wood do this to fake a relationship between Beck and Tori.
  • Meaningful Name: Mr. Sikowitz, pronounced Psycho-Wits.
    • Jade West, Wicked Witch of the West with a jaded personality. Lampshaded when Tori's version in What Happened to Trina depicts Jade like a hag. Lampshaded even more in "April Fools Blank" in which she really is a Wicked Witch.
    • Vice Principal Dickers.
  • Menstrual Menace: Sorta. Jade gets through "that time of the month" by talking about stuff she hates.
  • Mirror Routine: Cat and Sikowitz in "Beck Falls For Tori"
  • Mistaken Identity: Tori being "kicked out" of Hollywood Arts turned out to be because Helen's assistant mixed up Trina's name with Tori's.
  • Mister Seahorse: Andre's character in "Sleepover at Sikowitz's" parodies this.
  • Moment Killer: Robbie does this to Tori's parents on their anniversary after getting kicked out of Sikowitz's house. If that wasn't bad enough, he then invites Cat and a guy she has just been on a date with over as well.
    • Everybody but Beck and Tori ends up at the Vega household by the end of the night, where they laugh uproariously at Terms of Endearment.
  • Mood Swinger: Cat at one point cycles through friendly, upset and cheerful in four sentences.
  • Morality Pet: Beck for Jade, when he's in Canada Jade can be a real gank.
  • Ms. Fanservice: All the girls take turns at this but Cat seems to embrace it most often and hardest.
  • N-Word Privileges: At the end of "Who Did It To Trina," Rex says that it's only okay if he calls himself a puppet.
  • Name's the Same: No, Jade and Beck aren't a narcoleptic Genki Girl and her omnipotent dog.
  • Nerd Glasses: Robbie.
  • Never My Fault: In one episode where most of the main cast (except for Cat) gets trapped in an RV, Trina complains that she didn't even know why the others invited her. In the first few minutes of the episode it's clearly shown that she invites herself along. The others call her out on this, Jade getting a minor Crowning Moment of Awesome when she says "Noone likes you!" after everyone's done talking.
  • Never Trust a Title: Just going from the title, it sounds as if it's about sports.
    • There's also a future episode called "Beck Falls for Tori." It's about stunts, i.e. literal falling.
    • As mentioned below, "Jade Gets Crushed" is about a romantic crush, not being crushed by a falling object.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer to "Jade Gets Crushed" suggests that Jade goes on a rampage and Tori dresses up as Jade to give her a taste of her own medicine. Turns out to be a plot where Andre develops a crush on Jade.
  • New Transfer Student: Tori.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Often, with Tori and Robbie being the worst offenders.
  • Nightmare Fetishist: Jade.

 Tori: What happens if all that sweat builds up inside you and you just explode?

Jade: (Completely dead pan.) I would love that.

    • Don't forget her asking for the fatty lump in Rex Dies, or thinking that 'mouth blood is cool' in Freak The Freak Out.
    • Jade on why she loves hot tubs: "Sometime I pretend I've been captured by witches and they're making me into human soup."
  • Noble Demon: Jade may act mean, but she pets enough dogs (or Cats) to not fool anyone. A good example of this occurs in Rex Dies, where her suggestion to fake Rex's "death" seems to be motivated by genuine concern for Robbie. (Even though she normally treats him with, at best, callous indifference.)
  • No Ending: The Birthweek Song, which ends with the producers leaving the studio and turning off the lights, and has Tori still in the recording booth and Andre and Trina still out.
    • "Wi-Fi In The Sky": After Jade signs Beck off in rage, Tori is left by herself to finish the project. Just when she's about to attempt to do it herself, Perez Hilton shows up and confronts Trina, demanding his camera back. Because of this, the episode ends unknown to the viewers whether or not Tori finished her project.
  • No Export for You: TheSlap after a period where unlike it's sister show iCarly it let anyone in the entire world view the site, it suddenly started redirecting readers from other countries such as those in Europe, Australia to their country's (badly and poorly updated) Nickelodeon websites.
  • No Fourth Wall: Schneider essentially took a wrecking ball to the fourth wall in "April Fools Blank": In one scene, a member of the production crew actually interrupts the scene to tell Leon that he's late for a scene with Victoria. Leon rushes to the Asphalt Cafe set and explains that he was late because he "was doing a Wizard of Oz bit." He then says that 3 1/2 minutes is "the same amount of time as a commercial break". And in the game show parody, Trina's card reads, "Cut to the next scene!"
  • No Indoor Voice: Tori in Sleepover at Sikowitz's. "I AM A POLICE OFFICER!"
    • André's grandmother.
    • Vice Principal Dickers from "The Breakfast Bunch".
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Beck's character in Sleepover at Sikowitz's that Robbie assigns him plays this role.
    • Sinjin falls into this area commonly as well.
    • The two weird guys in "Tori and Jade's Playdate" who the song Take a Hint are directed at.
  • Noodle Incident: All we ever find out about why Sikowitz had his driver license suspended is that it was in Vegas and it involved circus performers, including one with six fingers on one hand.
    • We only ever get snippets from Cat about her brother who apparently once painted a part of his body purple (don't worry, it was for a job interview), once jumped out of a fourth story window and landed on a truck, and was once shot by a clown.
    • What did that dolphin do to Jade to make her hate the ocean so much?
  • The Not Love Interest: Definitely Andre to Tori - which makes the character choice he made for her in Sleepover at Sikowitz's interesting (especially after he recounts where the idea came from}, and raises interesting questions about how both Tori and Andre act during Prom Wrecker.
  • Odd Friendship: Cat and Jade.
    • Jade and Tori. That these two can even stand to be in each other's company is nothing short of a miracle, and yet, recent episodes have them hanging out and doing stuff together. (Albeit with a certain amount of vitriol between then.)
  • Oh Crap: In "A Film by Dale Squires", the main cast has this reaction when Dale apologizes and gives them credit for the movie after they've already put a plan for revenge in motion. (He originally stole credit for their work.) Even Jade is mortified.

 Cat: Oh, he's giving us credit.

Jade: (in a worried tone) On national TV.

    • Also Robbie's face clearly says this in "The Great Ping-Pong Scam", when Sikowitz said that they were "mistakenly" charged an extra $600 worth of caviar.
  • Oh, Wait!: Though she never uses those words, this is implicilty Jade's intent during the following exchange in "Car, Rain, and Fire":

 Tori: We'd have to get the top up on this car in case it rains again.

Jade: Yeah, I'd hate to get all wet and disgusting.

 Trina: (takes three shots, then her father comes in, followed by three more shots) Hey, Dad... (another shot)

Mr. Vega: Hey, baby.

Trina: How come... (another shot) you're home early? I thought you were... (another shot) working late...tonight. (another shot)

Mr. Vega: Well, I have a lot of paperwork... (poses) and I really need to... (poses) concentrate, so I thought i'd work... (poses) here.

(Tori's phone rings.)

Trina: Hey, can you... (another shot) grab that phone?

Mr. Vega: No, but... (poses) you can.

    • Defied in Locked Up when Festus is giving Tori his brother's long phone number, and eventually Tori interrupts by saying, "Come on buddy!" in a foreign tone.
    • "The Gorilla Club" has Trina reading the incredibly long tracking number needed to get the Fazzini shoes to their house. She goes into another room while reading it, comes back into the kitchen (where the rest of the gang is playing cards) still reading it and goes upstairs, then finishes reading it when she returns to the kitchen. She then goes outside to have the package with the shoes hurled at her.
  • Paper Tiger: Jade can come across as hardcore (smashing Andre's apple in Tori Gets Stuck, kicking in Beck's door in Wi-Fi In The Sky, slicing up the garbage can in Wok Star), but when real danger seems afoot (most prominently in Locked Up!), Jade either bluffs or bolts. A talker, but not much of a fighter.
  • Parody: "The Slap" appears to be a Myspace parody.
  • Parental Abandonment: Robbie's mom.
  • Parody Retcon: Trina's one-woman show is an In-Universe example.
  • Perfectly Cromulent Word: From Wok Star:

  Robbie: Jackie Bonay is having heart confarctions!

  • The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: The Hollywood Arts Ping-Pong team - They don't actually practice, or enter any tournaments; they just say they do to get $1,500 to go to a fancy resteraunt, with part of the money being used to buy a trophy so that they can claim that they won.
  • Poke the Poodle: When Tori gets annoyed with Jade in The Breakfast Bunch, she threatens to unfriend her on The Slap, a relatively minor form of retaliation. For maximum laughs, Jade takes it as seriously as if Tori had threatened to injure her.
  • Potty Emergency:

 Rex: Take me to the bathroom. I gotta pee NOW.

    • Cat in Stuck in an RV, "gotta-pee gotta-pee gotta-pee!!!"
    • Trina apparently had a really bad one when she was six, due to a bladder infection. Poor shopping mall Santa...
  • Pretty Fly for a White Guy: Averted with Robbie and played dead straight with Rex in iParty With Victorious, as Rex yes, the puppet freestyles with the mike and beats down all comers in a rap battle ... and then, Sam Puckett shows up...
  • Product Placement: In the first five episodes of the series, Jade sported a messenger bag with Gears of War scrawled on the strap. The messenger bag disappeared for a few episodes, then returned with a plain black strap in its place. Tori also has both a picture of Katy Perry and the singer's name in her locker as decorations.
  • Public Medium Ignorance: In "Locked Up", Tori plays a game of Go Fish with two of her fellow inmates. The cards they are holding are clearly Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.

 Tori: "That's not how we play Go Fish in America!"

 Andre: "Aw, no, NO! Now we have to hear another story about what happened from a unique point-of-view ?!"

    • In How Trina Got In, there are also sequences fabricated by the characters on how Trina could have possibly been admitted to Hollywood Arts. Sikowitz gives the real version.
  • Reality Is Unrealistic: The TV producers in The Wood claim this.
  • Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: Parodied in "April Fools Blank":

 Jade: The witch sneers at Dorothy, then leaves. (walks out the door)

Cat: Oh dear. She spoke her stage directions. What do I do?

  • Recut: An extended version of the pilot was put on iTunes. With lines that didn't deserve to be cut, like Ariana Grande doing incredibly hilarious little kid voices in an improv scene.
  • Recycled in Space: iParty with Victorious is technically a 1.5 hour version of Begging on Your Knees, but with the iCarly cast taking the "lead".
  • Refuge in Audacity: Cat's addiction to Sky Store in "Robarazzi". Example being Beck's reaction to Cat turning his pizza into juice ("You juiced my pizza."), and she replies by simply saying "Why chew what you can drink?"
    • In-universe, the fact that the group escaped from a prison in Yerba in the presence of the chancellor in "Locked Up" surely counts.
  • Ridiculous Procrastinator: Tori's group in Wi-Fi in the Sky. They are doing a scriptwriting project on the night before submission, something that can't be normally done in one sitting. All four of them also have to struggle with the constant distractions coming their way, either self-made or by others joining in their chat. Hilarity and chaos ensues, concluding to a rather bleak open-ended ending that depends on the viewer.
  • The Rival: Jade to Tori
  • Rivals Team Up: Jade and Tori do this rarely. (Jade Dumps Beck, The Wood, and Robarazzi.)
  • Rooftop Concert: Andre sings a song on the roof of his school with Tori to get a deal with a record company.
    • Tori, Cat and Andre do this at the end of Prom Wrecker. Even when it starts raining.
    • Happens fairly often, as the school has an open mic night out there almost every Friday night.
  • Rule of Three: In Tori Tortures Teacher:

 Tori: I did not break Sikowitz. (Sikowitz can be heard moaning outside) I did not break Sikowitz. (Sikowitz can be heard moaning again) ...I broke Sikowitz.

  • Running Gag: Ever since "Rex Dies", people really can't stop mentioning Tori's cheekbones.
    • Season 2 has Jade speaking like "character in a movie from the '40s" whenever she's imitating Tori, prompting Tori to respond that she doesn't talk like that.
    • Since the beginning of the show, characters have been known to confuse Robbie for a girl.

 Tori: What about your bat mitzvah money?

Robbie: First, it was a bar mitzvah. I'm a boy.

    • The oft mentioned Northridge Girls.
    • As with iCarly, most episodes have their own unique gag or dialogue that is repeated at least twice within the episode.
    • Cat mentioning her brother. While not as much in Season 1, it has gotten almost up to Once Per Episode level in Season 2.
    • Whenever someone comes to the Vega household Trina always yells at someone else to "Get the Door!" Except in "April Fool's Blank" where she says it softly.
  • Ruritania: The country of Yerba in Locked Up sounded like Yugoslavia and Serbia combined; the military outfits and the occurring conflicts seem to reference war-era Germany and Russia (or the more current Libyan civil war); and the Yerbanian flag's basis IS the Albanian flag.
  • Sanity Slippage: Andre's grandmother, without a doubt. Everything about her screams this, and even Andre has said that she's crazy. Things get taken to another level when you consider that she's on the ball just enough to track Andre down, and considering how unstable she was in Wi-Fi In The Sky (when she looked in the mirror, saw 'another person' and freaked out)... what happens if she slips just a little bit more...?
  • Sassy Black Woman: Cat does a fairly good impression of one when she flirts with her hairdryer (no, you didn't misread that).
    • Andre's cousin Kendra qualifies.
    • Principal Helen Dubois
    • Presumably the spoken female parts of "Five Fingaz To The Face".
  • Sauna of Death: Beck's trailer in Trapped in an RV, though it's a dry heat and the RV didn't intentionally trap them.
  • Secret Test of Character: The point of the Bird Scene was to believe in your own acting talent instead of questioning it.
  • Series Continuity Error: In Robarazzi, Jade mentions having had tuna fish for lunch. Later, in The Wood, she says she hates tuna fish. Tuna fish did prevent her from getting laid, though, so it's possible she changed her mind.
    • In The Breakfast Bunch, Tori says she's never had detention before, but she was assigned 2 weeks in Stage Fighting.
  • Sexy Santa Dress: Both Cat and Jade wear one while singing Andre's Christmas song with Tori.
  • She's Got Legs: The girls in this show really have a thing for short shorts. Of course, the temperatures in California and the popularity of said shorts do somewhat justify this, but it still draws the eye. Cat and Trina in particular can often be seen in them.
  • Shipper on Deck: Sikowitz may or may not ship Jade and Tori. In one episode he has them as a married couple and in "Tori And Jade's Play Date", he does it again (seemingly deliberately), even sending them on a 'date' so they can be more comfortable with each other.
  • Ship Tease: Big time between Beck and Tori in "Tori Goes Platinum", leading up to an Almost Kiss, but Tori turns it down out of concern for Jade's feelings.
  • Shout-Out: A pretty strange one; in Tori Goes Platinum, after tasting the fake British snack bibble, Jade describes it as having a good mouthfeel.
  • "Shut Up" Kiss: Cat on Robbie. It backfires.
    • Beck on Jade when she's saying sorry.
    • Pretty much every time Andre's girlfriend kisses him in Prom Wrecker.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Tori and Trina.
  • Six-Student Clique:
    • The Head - Tori
    • The Muscle - André
    • The Quirk - Robbie
    • The Pretty one - Trina and Beck (Gender Flip)
    • The Smart one - Jade
    • The Wild one - Cat
  • Slasher Smile: Jade in her portion of "Driving Tori Crazy".
  • Small Name, Big Ego: Trina
  • Snarky Non-Human Sidekick: Rex
  • Spiritual Successor: Compared to an earlier Nickelodeon show from the early 2000's, "Taina", another show about a latina who attended a performing arts high school to become a famous singer/actress. Also, just like iCarly has its origins in Drake and Josh, this show comes from Zoey 101
  • Spicy Latina: Trina; her sister Tori is a bit more passive.
  • Spoiled Brat: Again, Trina. Her parents give her an entire week to celebrate her birthday, and she doesn't believe a non-tangible gift counts as a present because "it costs nothing".
    • She gives herself the week.
    • Also, she seems to be unable to take care of herself when she gets her wisdom teeth pulled.
    • It's possible her mere attendance at Hollywood Arts also counts towards this, as it's repeatedly stated that all the kids who go to the school are "really talented" but one of Trina's main characteristics is that she's not really that talented, so it's possible the only reason she goes to school there is because her parents are paying for her to go there.
      • Although it is hinted that she can act and dance.
      • She did get a part in 'Steamboat Suzie' , so she does have some acting ability; also, you could say that with Daniella Monet's Lucille Ball-like physical comedy chops (for example, Freak The Freak Out is a showcase for her talents that borders on Crowning Moment of Awesome), that her seeming lack of visible talent could be simply playing to the Rule of Funny.
  • Stalker with a Crush:
    • Robbie for Trina, after she kisses him whilst acting a scene.
    • Sinjin for Jade
    • Trina in an open letter to Kevin Richards. If Trina doesn't get what she wants, hide.
    • It's hinted at that Robbie is for Tori. "He'll see you hiding in the bush!" "You never have."
      • A post on The Slap hints that so is Sinjin, in a similar way in fact.
    • Lendall, anyone?
  • Stunned Silence: The look on Andre and Beck’s faces in “Freak The Freak Out” when they hear Tara and Hayley sing. In a twist of this trope, they are actually shocked on how subpar and mediocre their talent is
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial

 Andre: What's up?

Tori: Nothing.

Jade: Not a thing.

Cat: We were not watching you kiss that girl.

  • Take That: In Robarrazi, Robbie enters the scene to find it covered in fake snow. After commenting about it snowing in L.A., Rex says "I told you global warming was bogus" Robbie replies "Stop watching Fox News". Rex defends it by saying it's "fair and balanced".
  • Tantrum Throwing
  • This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: In "Freak the Freak Out"

 Jade: If the audience could pick the winners, any person in this place could beat you morons.

Cat: Anyone. Morons.

  • That Came Out Wrong: A pantsless Sikowitz reports to the police that he is with children wearing pajamas in a cupcake-shaped parade float. Said officers mistake him to be a pedophile and arrest him on the spot.
    • It actually seems more like the police mistook him for insane and delusional. I mean, they insisted that "there are no children in a parade float".
  • Throw It In: There is a clear blooper left into the start of Wok Star where Tori drops her notebook.
    • A similar blooper occured in Stage Fighting, where Jade tripped over something while she was going to turn on the music.
    • Another blooper when Tori slips on ice-cream (probably) in Ice Cream for Ke$ha.
    • Yet another blooper occurs in The Great Ping-Pong Scam when Robbie takes a Groin Attack; the next shot is a wide shot with Beck's hand over Rex's eyes - and in the next shot, we go to a two-shot of Beck covering Rex's eyes.
    • There's even a blooper in the Title Sequence. Tori almost doesn't catch the gold microphone and her reaction there is very real.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: Robbie had this in the Christmas episode where he successfully got a kiss from Cat because she was overjoyed by the gift he got her.
  • The Teaser
  • Title Drop: At the very end of Sleepover at Sikowitz's, Tori says, "I am a police officer, and I am Victorious!"
    • There was a title drop at the end of The Bird Scene as well: Tori's status update was "Finally I am Victorious."
  • Took a Level in Badass: Both Vega sisters, along with Cat, had taken several levels (Trina first, in "Helen Back Again", Tori and Cat in "The Gorilla Club").
  • Trailers Always Spoil: Beggin' on Your Knees took this to extreme levels. The trailer alone gave away ALL the key points of the episode. The over-promotion of Victoria's song of the same title ran several weeks before the episode aired made it worse because the Take That plot is on the lyrics much like a Taylor Swift song.
    • "Cat's New Boyfriend" did this as well. It included the cheese-squirting, Tori kissing Daniel, Cat walking in on Tori kissing Daniel, and Cat punching Tori in the face.
  • Transplant: Josh's Boss, Helen, shows up as the new principal of Hollywood Arts.
  • Truth in Television: The yoga in an extremely hot environment that Tori mentions Trina doing in "Driving Tori Crazy" is more or less Bikram Yoga.
    • Mrs Lee, a Chinese woman, owning a Japanese restaurant is a case of this -many, if not most, of the Japanese restaurants in the United States are Chinese owned.
  • Un Entendre: A large number of them on the Getting Crap Past the Radar page.
  • Ungrateful Bitch: In Locked Up, Tori protects Jade from a prisoner who was threatening her. Jade's response: "I didn't need your help!" Which is an interesting perspective considering that said prisoner just knocked Jade to the ground with one blow.
    • According to Tori, she would have eaten Jade if she hadn't stopped her.
  • Unreliable Narrator: Everyone in "Who Did It To Trina?" All of their stories are tainted by their own personal opinions of each other and of themselves.
    • Same with "How Trina Got In".
  • Unusual Euphemism: "Wazz"/"Wazzed" is obviously "Piss"/"Pissed".

  Trina: Move over, I gotta take a wazz.

 Cat: Jade's dad is only coming to the play on the first night, right?

Tori: Yeah.

Cat: So then why don't we just do it the way Jade wrote it for that one night?

Tori: 'Cause, Mrs. Li is gonna be there and she wants it done her way.

Cat: But what if she's not there?

    • Also in Beggin' on Your Knees:

 Robbie: You...dated him?

Christine: Well, I thought I was dating him...then I found out his little game.

  • What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: Just about every offense that the students get punished for in "The Breakfast Bunch", with the exception of being late for class and Tori leaving the library during detention, which are things any reasonable administrator would have punished them for. (And she only gets lectured for the latter, not really punished, except for Dickers trying to force Tori to pop a zit on his arm). Jade even gets an extra detention for apologizing.
  • What Happened To The Cat?: In the episode "Rex Dies", Cat is accidentally mistaken for a mental patient, being placed into a rubber room for the rest of the episode. By the next episode, she's back with the group, with no explanation of how she got out.
  • Wild Teen Party: Andre acts as if one is being thrown at Kenan Thompson's party, but it's fairly tame with the shenanigans being limited to silly string, wrestling, a guy in a panda suit, and a....kitten.
    • CHEESE PUFFS ON THE FLOOR!
    • Also, a couple of things got broken or almost broken.
    • Subverted from Kenan's perspective: He didn't think the party was wild enough and wondered why Andre hadn't invited more people.
    • In "The Wood", Andre and Beck pretend to be fighting about Beck throwing one at Andre's beach house.

 Beck: You said I could use your beach house!

Andre: I didn't say people could vomit on my carpet, and make soup in my toilet!

Beck: It was a beach house party, what did you expect?!

  • The Windy City: Chicagoooooooooooooooooooo/ Chicagoooooooooooooooo/ It's a city that's exciting/ it's a city that's inviting...
  • Woman Scorned: All of Ryder's victims (Tori included) take their revenge on him by humiliating him in front of the entire school. He had it coming.
    • Tori and Carly don't take finding out Steven has been cheating on them well...
  • Work Off the Debt: The boot of the episode "The Squid and the Coconut".
  • World of Snark: Big time, with Andre and Jade being at the top.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain: "The Gorilla Club" ends with Tori thinking she's beat the monstrous gorilla, but then gets attacked by it. She then auditions for her role in a movie, and is told she did very well...only to be unable to take the part due to her injuries.
  1. Trina's fine when they come back. They never mention it again though, so it's unclear if Tori really did it or just imagined doing it.