Brian

"Brian" is the sixth episode of the second season of Teen Titans Go!, and the fifty-eighth overall episode of the series.

Synopsis

When The Brain captures the Titans to fuel Project B.R.I.A.N., the Titans' Little Buddies are the only heroes who can save them.

Plot

The episode starts when Beat Box and Birdarang arrive in the living room with all the lights off, but they suddenly turn on to reveal it's a surprise birthday party, made specially for the Little Buddies by Pain Bot, Super Robin, Dave and the Titans. As they celebrate in joy, music and dance, the Titans receive a crime alarm and goes out to their mission, Cyborg tells the Little Buddies to keep the party going while they're gone.

Eight months later...

As the Little Buddies are enjoying the party, the Titans were locked up in a cell with electric bars and the The Brain arrives to check on them. Robin was so confident that they will escape anyhow since Brain took away their powers for his secret project in development.

When Beast Boy yells at him as "Brian," the Brain corrects him and leaves. He continues to reference The Brain as Brian.

Robin decides to do another escape plan which involves Beast Boy in it but eventually it fails as Starfire mentions that every time they are trying to escape, they get tortured by painful electricity.

Back at the Tower, during the party, when Super Robin sees the distress signal, he figures out that the Titans were captured and orders the other little buddies to go in action. The Little Buddies arrive at The Brain's Headquarters on the roof where Super Robin tries to fight against Monsieur Mallah but he fails and the rest of the buddies get captured as well. On the other hand the Titans are used to life in their cell except for Robin who tries to reach for the cell's command panel and without any knowledge of what's inside of it, his arm gets crushed resulting for him to scream in pain, getting the Brain's attention and tortures the Titans again with electricity. The Little Buddies finally team up and defeat Mallah, as they reached to the main laboratory after fighting off with the Brain Soldiers. The Titans are still waiting for a miracle to escape while Robin is digging for a tunnel with a spoon.

Eventually, the Little Buddies arrive to rescue them, but their moment is being interrupted by The Brain whom his project B.R.I.A.N. is complete by placing his head in a giant robot armor filled with the Titans' powers. Beast Boy now corrects his misspelling for being called "Brian" and not B.R.A.I.N.

The Little Buddies are fighting against him but they all get defeated except for Birdarang who transforms himself into a enhanced fighter after Beat Box tried to defend him but got hit. While fighting, he finally throws his head as a boomerang, breaks through the Brain's power cells and kicks his head out of the robot which causes the robot to fall. All the powers are free and each one returns back to its own Titan, who eventually escape at last. As they reach for their fellow friend Beat Box laid down on the floor, Cyborg places in some new batteries, which it turns on again with music this time. The Titans and the Little Buddies are celebrating their victory, except for Robin, who was left behind in the cell, still digging with his spoon, either unaware he may leave whenever he pleases or refusing to deviate from his plan.

Characters

Trivia

This episode aired 10 years after the original series episode "Betrayal".
This is the third episode to have a scene not revolving around any of the Titans (unless one doesn't count Silkie as a Titan, then this would be the second time). ("La Larva de Amor", "Opposites")
Silkie, the Universe Staff, and the Demon do not appear in this episode with the other little buddies.
The Brain is the first villain in Teen Titans Go! to successfully capture all the Titans. Brother Blood came close in "Waffles", but was short by two Titans.
Scott Menville replaces Glenn Shadix as the voice of The Brain.
This is the first episode of the second season to feature the Titans' Little Buddies.
The Brain and Monsieur Mallah are the first two members of the Brotherhood of Evil to debut in an episode of "Teen Titans Go!", though they both-- along with Madame Rouge and Phobia-- appeared in the comics first. General Immortus only made a brief cameo in the comic, but not with the rest of the team.
Robin breaks the 4th wall by scooping out dirt onto the camera.
- The Brain also breaks the 4th wall by pointing at the letters that appear on the screen when he introduces B.R.I.A.N.
It's revealed that Starfire loves grilled cheese, which is one of the meals they are fed as one day a week as prisoners.
The Robin plushie from Starfire's bed is seen.
Ironically, Beast Boy is the one to correct The Brain about the acronym of his Indestructible Armor Nexus, even though he's generally the dumb one, and probably would've spelled it that way.

Continuity

The Little Buddies were previously featured in "Little Buddies."
- Beat Box and Birdarang were created in "Power Moves." This episode takes place one year after that episode and shows their birthday.
- The Super Robin debuted and gained his acrobatic abilities in "Super Robin."
- Pain Bot was first introduced in "Waffles" and became the Titans' ally and a little buddy after the events of "Little Buddies".
- Dave was first seen in "Little Buddies". He even attacks Robin in the same manner that he did in that episode. It's unknown how Beast Boy obtained him.
While celebrating his victory, Beast Boy dances the same way he did in the previous episode, "I See You."
This is the first time that a character dies in the second season, with Beat Box being the first to die.
- However, he is revived by a new set of batteries from Cyborg at the end of the episode.
This is the second time that Robin gets attacked by Dave. ("Little Buddies")

References

Two pieces of music can be heard that sound very similar to real-life pieces of music. The first song, playing when the Little Buddies and the Titans were partying before the crime alert, sounds similar to the 1974 song "Hollywood Swinging", by Kool & the Gang. The song that played when Cyborg switched the batteries in Beat Box (albeit Beat Box stayed "dead" due to one battery being upside down) sounds similar to the 2006 song "Dead Reckoning" by Clint Mansell.
Robin using a spoon to dig a hole in the ground so that he and the other Titans can escape is a reference to the 2000 Aardman film, Chicken Run, in which Ginger digs a hole under the fence so that she and the other chickens can escape.

Errors

When Super Robin puts down his drink after hearing the crime alert, none of the drink spills on the couch. However, the cup could've been empty when he puts it down.
- The cup Super Robin puts on the couch also disappears after he talks through sign language to Birdarang.
The closed captions read "[OPENING THEME SONG PLAYS]" when Cyborg is replacing Beat Box's batteries, even though the theme song isn't playing.
Cyborg's powers come from his robot parts, and if the power was drawn from it, he would not be able to survive.

Running Gags

Beast Boy mistakenly calls the Brain "Brian." When the Brain reveals the name of his Titan-powered body, it comes out as Brain's Robotic Indestructible Armor Nexus, with the Brain himself mistakenly pronouncing it as "B.R.A.I.N." and Beast Boy ironically correcting him in that it spells "B.R.I.A.N."
Robin continuously digging a hole in the floor and telling the Titans to focus the whole time.
Robin coming up with plans to escape, only to have The Brain catch the Titans and torture them.
The little buddy team partying.
Robin refusing to give up on digging his way out of the cell.