Yo Gabba Gabba!

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Yo Gabba Gabba! is a kids' show on Nick Jr. with a whole lot of content that doesn't exactly seem oriented towards kids. It was co-created and is written by Christian Jacobs, also known as MC Bat Commander of The Aquabats, and directed by Matt Chapman, co-creator of Homestar Runner.

Each episode focuses on DJ Lance Rock's magical toys; Muno, Foofa, Brobee, Toodee and Plex; playing together and learning new things. Their adventures are loosely connected by a single theme, and are separated by trippy filler segments, including:

• Jingle: Once an Episode music video related to the episode's theme, usually done in Adobe Flash.
• Story Time: A Flash-animated segment where a girl reads off a short story, usually leading up to An Aesop. Occasionally done as a comic book featuring a character named Super Martian Robot Girl.
• Biz's Beat Of The Day: Biz Markie beatboxes to a different rhythm each time.
• The DJ Lance Dance: DJ Lance makes up a simple dance and tells how to do it.
• Cool Tricks: Featured kids (and sometimes adults!) show off their talents.
• Mark's Magic Pictures: Mark Mothersbaugh shows how to draw a simple picture, which comes to life.
• Other segments have the main cast asking you to join in an activity: Color With Brobee, Listen With Toodee, Learn With Plex, et cetera.

The series is largely music based, with frequent musical numbers and rhythm-driven activities. Once an Episode the characters watch a music video, with guest appearances by popular indie rock acts like The Shins and Of Montreal. This has helped it build up a Periphery Demographic of college kids.

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Tropes used in Yo Gabba Gabba! include:

• Acid Trip Dimension / World of Chaos: Almost everything in Gabbaland has a face and can talk, including a piece of toast with bat wings. Yes, really.
• Broken Aesop: In "Differences", Muno gets glasses (or rather, a glass, because he has only one eye) and learns that it's okay to look different. At the end of the episode, he decides to use a contact lens instead because the glasses keep falling off his face, so he looks no different than he did before.
• Call Back / Continuity Nod: Several songs are reused or at least referenced in later episodes, and minor characters such as the Spooky Toast continue to get cameos throughout the series.
• Captain Ersatz: Plex bears a strong resemblance to the original Getter 3, particularly the design of his head and arms.
• The Chick: Foofa.
• The Conscience: DJ Lance and Plex both play this role.
• Cute Little Fangs: Muno and Toodee.
• Do-Anything Robot: Plex.
• The Eeyore: Gooble, who is always crying.
• Everythings Funkier With Disco: Jack Black's "Disco Roll" dance.
• Excited Kids' Show Host: DJ Lance Rock is Type 1.
• Expy: Brobee, Muno, and Gooble are all based on Aquabats villains.
• Fish Out of Water: Jack Black in "New Friends".
• Forgot I Could Fly: A Running Gag with DJ Lance. Characters will periodically have to remind him that he can fly, which he'll then demonstrate. This has no bearing on the plot.
• Gentle Giant: Muno, a huge fanged cyclops with a friendly and overly enthusiastic personality. Also, DJ Lance, who is quite literally a giant next to the main cast.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: In an extremely literal sense. One animated short involving an animated character's newly cleaned car and said character dodging eggs from birds that lay egg in mid-flight or perching.
• Green Aesop: "Green".
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Episode titles sum up what the episode is going to be about, almost always in one word.
• Idiosyncratic Wipes: They're Shout Outs to 80's video games, with featured kids as the players.
• Keet: Muno
• Let's Meet the Meat: Recurring musical number Party in My Tummy. Would you like to go to the party?
  • In one episode Brobee's birthday cake looks just like him, can walk and talk, and offer guests pieces of itself.
• Limited Social Circle: Gabbaland does only have 5 citizens.
• Limited Wardrobe: DJ Lance Rock.
• Magitek: Plex is described as a "magic robot" in the opening. His powers are occasionally attributed to his "magic ray".
• Meaningful Name: Muno has only one eye.
• Mood Swinger: Brobee, at least compared to the other main characters, who are almost always in a good mood. Brobee is the one who most often gets upset, and is also the only main character who changes his facial expression.
• Mouse World: Averted; Not only are the cast displayed in public, Plex can easily shrink celebrities and DJ Lance down to their size.
  • Mundane Made Awesome:

DJ Lance: Listening and dancing to music iiiiisssssss AAAAAAAAWESOOOOOOMMMME!

• The Musical: The entire series.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Toodee is an arctic cat dragon.
• Parental Bonus: The kids probably won't recognize the references to 8-bit video games or the many, many cameos.
  • In "Car", there was a creature on the moon that had a head shaped like that of a xenomorph.
• People in Rubber Suits
• Perpetual Frowner: Gooble.
• The Power Of Indie Rock
• Retraux: If the 8-bit sounding chiptunes incidental music isn't enough, try playing "guess the games this filler section is homaging" with some of the Idiosyncratic Wipes in the show.
• Robot Buddy: Plex.
• Rummage Sale Reject: Andy Samberg made a cameo once, in a pretty ridiculous outfit.
• Sesame Street Cred: Among the indie/alternative rock artists that have appeared on the show are Low, Mates Of State, The Shins, Jimmy Eat World, Im From Barcelona, Shiny Toy Guns, Ladytron, MGMT, Chromeo, Chad Van Gaalen, Of Montreal, Hot Hot Heat and The Bird And The Bee.
  • And from outside of the indie rock world, they've had Amy Sedaris, Sean Kingston, Sugarland, Elijah Wood, Jack Black, Tony Hawk and Jack Mc Brayer and many more
    • The circus episode deserves a special mention, featuring "Weird Al" Yankovic as the ringleader and Sarah Silverman leading the Dancey Dance.
    • Now, My Chemical Romance is going to appear in a Christmas episode.
      • And it was awesome.
• Shaped Like Itself: In "Imagine", Plex dressed up as a wizard, making him a magical magic robot, and Toodee dressed up as a dragon, making her a cat dragon dragon.
• Shout-Out: Lots of references to 80's video games.
  • In "Adventure", Muno pushes a stone out of the way to unveil a stairway. The Zelda "stairs revealed" music plays, and as they enter the dungeon, a few bars of the original Zelda dungeon theme plays.
  • The title is one, a variation of The Ramones chant "Gabba gabba hey" (which itself was adapted from the 1930s horror movie Freaks).
  • The episode "Space" has a Shout-Out to Dr. Seuss: the Story Time is told in rhyme, and there is a photo of an alien with a Cat in The Hat-esque hat.
• Show Within a Show: The Super Music Friend Show.
• Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Toodeeland.
• Stupid Statement Dance Mix: Every episode ends with a techno remix of lines and songs from that episode.
• Sugar Bowl
• Team Dads: Plex and DJ Lance.
• Theme Tune Roll Call:

Muno! He's tall and friendly! Foofa! She's pink and happy! Brobee! The little green one! Toodee! She likes to have fun! Plex! A magic robot! Let's all come and play With DJ Lance Rock today!

• Title Scream: What immediately follows the above.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Toodee (tomboy) and Foofa (girly girl).
• Totally Radical
• Viewers Are Goldfish: Well, it is a kids' show.