Lucius O'Thunderpunch

"Lucius O'Thunderpunch"
	Season 1, Episode 45
Prod. Code:	123a
Premiered:	January 18, 2014
	Credits
	Written by:
	Jed Elinoff & Scott Thomas; Tom Martin & Hugh Webber; David Shayne & Jim Martin & Ryan Harris
	Storyboard by:
	Alex Almaguer & Dan O'Connor; Mike Milo
	Directed by:
	Mike Milo
	Episodes
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"Lucius O'Thunderpunch" is the forty-fifth episode of the first season of Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja. It premiered on January 18, 2014.

Synopsis[]

During "Ninja Day", McFist schemes to steal the spotlight by introducing a new hero... himself.

Plot[]

In the beginning, Randy is on stage as the Ninja with Howard and Heidi Weinerman. Heidi is annoyed by the fact their mom forced her to let Howard appear with the Ninja. Howard bellows "Double Dip!" provoking Heidi to snap, that nobody even remembers that nickname, anymore. At McFist Industries, McFist and Williem Viceroy are annoyed because the Ninja is swanking outrageously in the public acclaim of Norrisville's "Ninja Day." The Sorcerer is angry at them for contacting him, but Viceroy has a plan which McFist makes his minion explain and to which The Sorcerer agrees. Randy wows his fans and Principal Slimovitz is about to give him a badge for "Ninja of the Year," when suddenly a giant robot attacks.

Before Randy can deal with it, he is interrupted by a new hero: Lucius O'Thunderpunch (actually McFist in a robot suit). Afterwards, Randy attempts to use the Ninja Air Fist on a meteor about to crash into the school, but "O'Thunderpunch" launches a missile against it, while also high-fiving and flinging gifts to everyone. Randy throws a tantrum about O'Thunderpunch's 'stealing his thunder,' alienating the crowd and causing Slimovitz to give the "Ninja of the Year" plaque to their "new hero" even as Randy protests that, O'thunderpunch not even a ninja. Later, O'Thunderpunch "saves" students from a robot attack in the gym, again distributing treats and stealing the crowd's affections.

Disheartened, Randy asks the NinjaNomicon for advice; the Nomicon replies:

“

When the Ninja is no longer needed, the Ninja shall lay down his sword.

”

Randy, convinced that the Ninja is no longer wanted, throws his mask into the garbage bin.

At Greg's Game Hole while playing "Tug... Tug... Press!" Randy tells Howard he has done, leaving the latter shocked. Meanwhile, having been ordered by the Sorcerer to crush the spirits of a vulnerable student, O'Thunderpunch straightens Bucky Hensletter's triangle, stanking the hapless band geek. As students are being stanked on all sides, Slimovitz remonstrates with O'Thunderpunch to do something, to which he coldly replies that it was Bucky who turned into a monster; Slimovitz's despair immediately stanks him.

From the Game Hole, Howard sees the chaos whirlwind above the school and urges Randy to ninja out, but Randy that O'Thunderpunch must already be on the case. Howard reminds him of what being a ninja means, and, remembering the Nomicon's words, Randy realizes the truth: he wasn't wanted, but he was still needed.

Racing to the school, he retrieves his mask from the bin and puts it on, though disgusted by its now "shnasty" state. While battling the monsters, Randy notices O'Thunderpunch sitting idly by, demanding to know why he is not dealing with the situation. "I don't feel like it," is his reply, to which Randy retorts, "Heroes don't get to 'not feel like it!'" — whereupon Lucius reveals he is not a hero, and tries to destroy the Ninja with a missile launcher. Using his scarf, the Ninja deftly snags the missile, and boomerangs it back to Lucius, sending him toppling and the Ninja of the Year plaque skittering to Randy's feet; realizing that this is the key to the situation, the Ninja tosses it into the air, remarking that no one will be Ninja of the Year and slashes through the plaque, de-stanking everyone.

Having been exposed as a jerktastic shoob, the humiliated O'Thunderpunch rocket-packs away in a shower of tacos, which the Ninja graciously grants the crowd permission to eat... though Howard, of course, hasn't waited. Randy disappears in the usual smoke bomb cloud.

Characters[]

Main characters[]

Randy Cunningham
Howard Weinerman
The Sorcerer
McFist (also as Lucius O'Thunderpunch)
Viceroy

Secondary characters[]

Background characters[]

Series Continuity[]

Howard references his nickname "Double Dip" from "Gossip Boy," while Heidi comments that no one even remembers it.

Trivia[]

Another Norrisville celebration, Ninja Day, is shown in this episode, just as "McFear Factor" shows Cluck-Fest and mentions Meow Madness.
The scene where Randy throws away his mask is a reference to the iconic scene of Peter Parker's throwing away his costume in the 1967 "Spider-Man No More!" plotline in Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 comics.

Peter Parker walks away from the Spider-suit in "Spider-Man No More!"
- This is the first episode to have rain, in close imitation of the same scene in "Spider-Man No More!"
- This particular scene also adapted for the Andrew Garfield film, The Amazing Spiderman [sic] 2, which came out the same year (2014) as this episode, but in May, at least four months after its use in the cartoon.
- The same scene (without the rain) was adapted the same year (in December this time) for Disney's Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon; in this It's a Wonderful Life-inspired episode, "Nightmare on Christmas," Peter re-enacts the scene in a dream and sees what the world would be like without him.
This is the first episode where Principal Slimovitz is stanked.
- Also, it's the first time an adult has ever been stanked in the show.
- This is also the first episode Flute Girl is solo-stanked, as opposed to being stanked with Stevens in "Randy Cunningham and the Sorcerer's Key."
The Lucius O'Thunderpunch Suit appears similar to Iron Man's suit from Marvel Comics.
- There was even a scene in which McFist, while in the suit strikes an iconic Iron Man pose.
Clips from "Last Stall on the Left," "Gossip Boy," and "Attack of the Killer Potatoes" are used in Heidi's video of the Ninja for Ninja Day.
It's revealed that the smokebombs do not teleport the Ninja, but hide him as he escapes or makes an entrance.
Many storyboards of this episodes were changed before the final cut:
- In the storyboards, it can be seen that Theresa was originally to appear stanked in the episode; Randy would have used Bucky's fist to knock her out.
- Randy behaved very aggressively and angrily in the first segment, as opposed to being merely jealous and agitated in the final version.
- There is also a cut scene in which Randy shows off by doing many strange moves before doing the Air Fist, which Howard tells him to "stop showing off and save us already!"
- It's very likely that these storyboards which are related to Randy's actions were changed due to such actions being out of character for him.
- The scene in the storyboards where the stank flooded the Sorcerer was cut, possibly for saving episode run-time.
  - The storyboards can be found on Alex Almaguer's site, but are being put together as a video.
The name "Thunderpunch" may have been influenced by the Pokémon move with the same name.
McFist is revealed to dislike bolo ties in this episode.