Sandwich Thief

"Sandwich Thief" is the fourteenth episode in the second season of Teen Titans Go!, and the sixty-sixth overall episode of the series.

Synopsis[]

After his magnificent sandwich goes missing, Robin becomes completely obsessed with finding it. After interrogating the Titans, traveling to the future, and scouring a distant alien world, he finally his perfect sandwich. However, the snack has grown a little sinister during his time away...

Plot[]

The opening sequence takes place at a top-secret hatch in the base of the Titans Tower. After typing in the password, burning his corneas on a laser eyes scanner, and a sweet dance move code, Robin gains access to the high-security room. In the dark hallway, Robin opens up an isolated mini-fridge and screams in horror when he sees nothing but a plate with crumbs.

In the living room, the Titans are gaming when suddenly, a smoke bomb fills the place with gas. Robin, leaping at the four, demands the Titans where it is. Cyborg irritatingly says he doesn't know what "it" even is, so Robin blabbers on about his missing sandwich. Starfire and Raven report that they don't know where it is, nor do they care (even if it is legendary). But Robin stresses it is not just legendary, but absolutely perfect. He spent years traveling to ancient civilizations to learn the ways of sandwich making from karate/chef masters. By preparing the dough, chopping tomatoes with duel katanas, mixing spices, and folding meat into origami. Despite this, he still hadn't got the touch. But the recipe for the universe's greatest sandwich came to him one night in a dream, and with his training, he finally crafted a perfect sandwich. All that was left is to chill it in the refrigerator. But when he went to retrieve it, the sandwich was gone. Cyborg complains at the length of the story, but Robin says no one's gonna leave until he gets to the bottom of this. But they don't care about his order and just leave. Starfire reassures Robin he'll find it, but Robin knows that for certain already.

Cyborg's peacefully working at a bench when another one of Robin's smoke bombs clouds the area. Waking up from the surprise attack, he finds his head is dislocated, with wires strapped on and connected to a computer. Robin is nearby, processing Cyborg's recent data, hoping to find out about his sandwich. Cyborg is angry at him for hacking, but Robin continues to search his brain. A file opens up, revealing a video (caught on Cyborg's built-in camera) of him sneaking into Robin's room, raiding his dresser, and trying on his pants. After Cyborg starts to admire how tight his butt looks, Robin sorrowfully closes the video and discontinues searching his mind. He's seen enough, too Cyborg's embarrassment.

Next up in Robin's interrogation is Starfire. Sedating her with a poison dart in the back of the head (she woefully knocks down her stack of cards), Robin brings her to a dark room. Hoping to avoid another episode like the one with Cyborg, he hooks her up to a lie detector machine instead. When asked about Robin's snack, she admits nothing of it, along with other unneeded info. All of them show up green on the scanner. Going out of focus with the mission, Robin asks Starfire if she likes him. She responds yes, and the machine blurts out a red "X." Robin is flabbergasted. Starfire states she lied because she didn't want to hurt his feelings. The machine checks her statement. Robin presses her with more love questions, But all of the answers where no and a confirmation check. Robin accepts this, then shrouds himself with a smoke bomb to stealthily exit. But it turns out he's still there, and disappointingly asks her one more time, still receiving a no.

Another smoke bomb is thrown in the kitchen, and Robin pounces on top of the table to quickly slap a taco from Beast Boy's hand. His belly, Robin explains, might be a possible crime scene, and wraps the area in protective yellow tape. Beast Boy protests that he's a vegetarian, but Robin isn't convinced. He asks Raven to teleport him into his stomach. She agrees without hesitation, and he's transported inside. But Robin was too large to fit inside, as Raven probably should have shrunk him beforehand. Spat out and covered in saliva, Robin comes out without a sandwich.

The Titans start scolding Robin on the couch for going inside Beast Boy, injecting Starfire, and hacking Cyborg's sensitive files, such as asking Raven if she knew where his sandwich was. Raven and Beast Boy insist that he let the matter go, but Robin does not give in. Going over to the computer, he types in a few calculations, eliminating all who would be too weak to snatch his sandwich. In the end, he narrows the choices down to one person capable of stealing it, pointing towards himself. Starfire is confused, so Robin explains that the FUTURE Robin must have had something to do with this debacle. Apparently, the sandwich was so tasty, that future Robin went back in time to eat it again, making it nonexistent in current Robin's world. The other 4 Titans are a little worried about Robin- his theory is a bit crazed. Nonetheless, he orders them all into their time machine.

To Beast Boy's surprise, they actually do have one such machine, and it takes them into a place simply called "THE FUTURE." Inside the white, spherical time-traveling device, Robin looks through an optic to see many alien/futuristic peoples wandering through the bizarre, industrial city. One catches his eye- a tall, masked man with a mullet carrying groceries into a home. He realizes it's his future self, Nightwing. Robin runs after him while tripping, and Starfire and Raven decide to come with him. But Beast Boy and Cyborg choose to chill in the machine.

Inside the super-modernized abode with floating furniture, Nightwing greets his wife, but he was just joking. He doesn't have a wife, and is all alone. Suddenly, he is tackled by Robin, whom he greets. Robin has no time for games though, demanding of him the sandwich's location. Nightwing is caught off guard, but Robin figures he's just playing dumb. To get him to talk, he starts punching himself, figuring that since they are the same person, it should hurt him too. However, it's just damaging the present-time Robin, who stabs himself in the knee with a Birdarang to make Nightwing crack. Nightwing recalls how that hurt bitterly, and nothing more. Starfire demands that he stop because this pain is all just about a sandwich. Then it comes back to him-Nightwing remembered the sandwich and was bummed when he learned that it'd gone missing. In the end, though, he just let it go. That little phrase proves to Robin that he's lying, so he goes in to ransack his fridge. Nightwing is a little wary about the search, covering up the door. But Robin bursts in any way. However, the only items in there are half-eaten food. The three decide to leave the house through a vanishing door after that, but not before Raven calls Nightwing a weirdo. Nightwing was grateful for the visit.

Back at the time machine, Beast Boy in the form of a frog and Cyborg are both laid back and bored out of their minds. Then, Cyborg has the brilliant idea of prank calling their future selves. Excitedly, Cyborg dials old Cyborg's number and asks him if his refrigerator is running. The future Cyborg confirms it, so Cyborg says he'd better catch it. After a lot of laughing, Beast Boy contacts his future self's house but is caught off guard. The occupant tells Beast Boy that his future self is not around. Beast Boy replies with "He did" and "How"? And that he is "Sorry to hear that", Tearing up, he learns that his future self has likely passed away and indicating that he won't live as long as Cyborg will. Robin and the others enter, and Cyborg wonders if he's still wrapped up in his snack. So, as Robin hatches an updated version of the Nightwing line- after he stole it, it flew away- not like Cyborg's hysterical antics that it ran away. Thinking he's lost it, Starfire sarcastically agrees with him but whispers to the others that they should get a doctor stat. But Robin continues, ordering them to the teleporter.

Beast Boy argues the existence of them owning such a gadget, but he's proven wrong again when they arrive on a distant planet, with misty olive forests and purple earth. So, the most likely fate of the sandwich, as Robin sees it, is that it was just too perfect and evolved into a super-life form, now here to ponder the universe and all of its laws. Starfire begs him to drop the matter, but Robin lets out a deranged laugh and still refused to give up. Robin calls out to his sandwich, but Raven stops him. She regrets the loss of his snack, but it's not meditating here on some forsaken alien pla- the ground begins to rumble. A short distance away, a mighty temple, with bread sculptures and ketchup/mustard pillars arise from the earthquake. Finally, the Perfect Sandwich has been located. He greets the Titans and tells of his origins, which coincide with exactly what Robin said. Robin brags to the others that he was right all along. The Perfect Sandwich goes on, saying that he's learned a valuable secret with thinking over the nature of the universe. Starfire wonders what it is, but she is told every single life form that isn't a sandwich is flawed, and therefore must be annihilated, meaning that the titans must be destroyed as they are not sandwiches. The sandwich starts to gain power and levitate pickle-shaped rocks, and lets out an evil laugh.

Cyborg opens the attack with a few ray blasts, but Perfect Sandwich simply dodges them and blasts him with Ketchup and Mustard from the temple which defeats him. Beast Boy, in the shape of a colossal T-Rex, snaps at the sandwich. But he is shocked back, slams into a slice of bread statue, and gets pounded by it. A few starbolts are shot at the Perfect Sandwich by Starfire, Which results in the sandwich turning the assault on her, Manifesting the blasts into a slice of bread, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and another slice of bread into a laser green sandwich. He fires it back at her. Raven's black magic raven swoop is pinned by a barrage of olives on toothpicks. With most of the Titans defeated, the Perfect Sandwich glorifies in his nearness to winning. But only Robin remains. Robin states nothing can destroy the sandwich except the mouth of its creator, which his by him. Raven entices him to attack, but Robin demands an apology about her proposal before going in. Raven starts to say sometimes it can be good to not give up, but that isn't enough to make him fight. Starfire submits, saying you should never let things go whatsoever, and collapses. Robin is now satisfied. He leaps at the Perfect Sandwich, who tries to hinder him with a couple of pickle slices. The attack fails as Robin eats the pickle slices, and moments later, Robin devours his Perfect Sandwich in one gulp, while admitting that it really is perfect.

Characters[]

Trivia[]

It is revealed that Robin's pass-code is "7-2-2-5-*-4-*-1-5-6-3-5-10-6-0".
- Part of the pass code spells out "Teen Titans." In fact, Robin punches in the code in sync with the show's opening theme.
In this episode, Cyborg's optical-sensor vision is colored, while it usually has a red hue.
This episode aired a year after "The Left Leg".
This episode reveals that Starfire does not love Robin after all, regardless of not wanting to hurt his feelings.
- This conflicts with "Be Mine", as Starfire states she loves him as a "brother." It could be possible she was referring to loving him romantically.
- In "Mouth Hole", Starfire's statement is again conflicted, as it was revealed Starfire does have romantic feelings for Robin, hinting she may have been lying in this episode out of shyness. Another possibility is her feelings have simply changed since then, or that she found Robin's whistling to be attractive.
Pictures of The Joker and Bane's faces can be seen on a map during Robin's flashback.
This is Nightwing's second appearance overall, with his first being in "Staring at the Future". This is also his first appearance in Season 2.
The map displaying Robin's quest to learn the art of the sandwich has a small Brother Blood inscription on it.
In this episode, the recurring puppet show seems to have been modified to realistically depict its characters in space when Nightwing is watching the show.
One good reason as to why Nightwing did not feel the injuries Robin sustained was probably because the injuries were minor and healed over time.
As of this episode, Teen Titans Go! has exceeded the original series in terms of episode count.

Continuity[]

Beast Boy died for the seventh time in the series.
This is the second episode to center around a sandwich, the first was "Legendary Sandwich."
This is the second episode to involve time travel, the first one being "Staring at the Future". Coincidentally, both feature Nightwing.
Robin's skill as a sandwich maker is confirmed a second time by his creation of the Perfect Sandwich. His ability to make delicious sandwiches was first mention in "Legendary Sandwich".
When Robin is zapped into Beast Boy's stomach, it is another body adventure, like the one from "Body Adventure". Raven forgot to shrink him this time, however.
This is the second episode where Robin's eyes are seen. ("Driver's Ed")
- Unlike last time where his eyes were two dots, his eyes were depicted as normal this time.
The room where Robin securely located his perfect sandwich is the Titan Robot's storage room.
This is the third time Starfire lies, which she previously did in "Ghostboy" and "Starliar".
- This is the first time where she does not do it on Beast Boy's request.
The way Beast Boy's mouth opens when he spits Robin out is similar to how Raven spat out the Titans in "Meatball Party".
Raven once again attacks using her soul self in giant raven form, which she also did in the previous episode "Caramel Apples".
At the end of the episode "Yearbook Madness", little "whereabouts" are given for each of the titans. Beast Boy's states that he eventually dies. This could explain his weird tearful reaction after trying to prank call his future self.
This episode is similar to the Teen Titans Go! comic, "Food Fright".
- Both involve a Titans' sandwich being stolen, and the Titan trying to find out who took it.
Robin's fragile mental state is shown for the sixth time. ("The Date", "Staff Meeting", "Sidekick", "Uncle Jokes", "Puppets, Whaaaaat?")
Much like when Robin annoyed all of the Titans in "Dude Relax", once again Raven is the only one who he does not do anything to.
The puppet show reappears for a third time from both "Staff Meeting" and "Money Grandma."
The running animation of Robin from "The Date" and "Meatball Party" is reused again when Robin is fighting his Sandwich.
This is the second time the black eagle has appeared. The first was in "Brian".
This marks the second time Robin has been right about something completely illogical, and no one else believed him.
- It also occurs in "Parasite", "Smile Bones", and "Hose Water".

References[]

Robin training with the various sandwich makers is a reference to how in the comics, Robin also traveled the world and trained, only it was in martial arts.
The second person Robin trains with in his dream is similar to Afro from the anime/manga series, Afro Samurai.
Cyborg wearing Robin's pants may be a reference to original Teen Titans episode, "The Quest", where all of the Titans dressed up in Robin's clothes.
When Beast Boy, along with Cyborg, prank-calls his future self, it is hinted something tragic has happened to Beast Boy's future self, which caused Beast Boy to be sad. This could be a reference to the original series, where in an alternative future timeline, Beast Boy ended up in a circus show. It could also reference the Titans' Yearbook saying that Beast Boy would die from eating chocolate in "Yearbook Madness".
- However, it is mostly hinted that Beast Boy has died.
The doorbell sound from The Jetsons is heard when Nightwing arrives home.
Superman is seen on a poster in the future.
Terry McGinnis/Batman Beyond is seen in a poster in the future in Nightwing's apartment.
The roar Beast Boy makes in his dinosaur form was reused audio from Jurassic Park.
The way the speaker on Cyborg's phone during the prank call scene is heard, is similar to the way adults in the Peanuts cartoons speaks.

Errors[]

Beast Boy indicates that he would not eat Robin's sandwiches since he is a vegetarian, even though he ate one in "Legendary Sandwich".
During the scene of Robin mastering his sandwich making, he adds hot sauce to his concoction/secret sauce, despite him being intolerant to capsaicin (spice).
Nightwing should not be confused at all when Robin is demanding the whereabouts of his sandwich... he should remember the incident from long ago.
- However, it could be possible that Nightwing does not know what Robin would do because, in Nightwing's past, he was able to eat the original sandwich. He came back from the future to steal Robin's, creating a new timeline in which present Robin has not yet eaten the sandwich, and so Robin's future self would not be the same Nightwing.
Batgirl and Robin's Son are both notably missing in Nightwing's future life in this episode. This may be due to the fact that in this episode's canon, Cyborg and Beast Boy were not absent from the Teen Titans for 30 years staring at a slice of pizza, unlike in "Staring at the Future".
- It also could be possible that Nightwing has not met Batgirl yet at this time
In the scene where Nightwing is talking, Robin's eyes at one point glitch from white to black, then to white again.

Running Gags[]

Characters telling Robin to "let it go", and Robin refusing every time.
Beast Boy being surprised or denying that the Titans have a piece of technology (like a time machine and teleporter), but being proven wrong each time.
Robin being insane and questioning the Titans about his missing sandwich.
Beast Boy and Cyborg prank calling their future selves.
Robin hurting himself thinking that Nightwing will get hurt by this.