Tall Titan Tales

"Tall Titan Tales" is the twenty-second episode in the fifth season of Teen Titans Go!, making it the two-hundredth-thirty-first overall episode of the series.

Synopsis

Robin tries to tell some tall tales, but the other Titans give their own fractured versions instead.

Plot

While relaxing in the Tower, the Titans notice Robin enter the room, clothed in animal skins. He explains to them that he's dressed like Daniel Boone, an American frontiersman famous for crazy stuff, like his contagious yawn immunity. Cyborg and Starfire think Robin's lying, but he's telling neither fact nor fib—it's a tall tale, meaning it's somewhere in the middle. Raven and Beast Boy mock how a shorty like Robin is telling "tall" tales, but he ignores them and starts reading (from a massive book) the tale of [[wikipedia:Paul Bunyan|Paul Bunyan]. Before he can get into it, though, Beast Boy and Raven hijack his spotlight with the story of "Paul Bunyan" instead...

Beast Boy tells of a gigantic lumberjack named Paul Bunyan (played by Raven), a master of chopping trees. The only problem was that his boots were too small, which gave him a painful bunion. The pain was so great that Paul couldn't chop trees anymore. Luckily, though, the lumberjack's magical green socks (aka Beast Boy) had an idea: head west to the Good Foot Dr. So instead of buying some boots, Paul traveled across the dangerous wilderness, where he eventually ran into the doc, played by Cyborg. Everything turned out well... the doc sawed off the bunion—no anesthesia needed—and Paul bought a new pair of boots from a boot dealer (Starfire). Even the bunion got lucky, going on to own a used-care dealership.

Robin is pretty upset that these two have messed up the legend pretty badly, but he moves on to the tale of John Henry. Too bad for him though, as Cyborg takes control of this one...Way back when, there was a strong dude named John Henry, played by Cyborg, who was a respected railway steel-driver. One day, a rich capitalist (Robin) offered to sell him a steam-powered railway maker, but John figured his mere muscles were sufficient. A contest ensued between man and machine, but it turns out that John was no match. Accepting his defeat, he bought the machine from the capitalist, and now nailing spikes was too easy. Realizing that technology was the way to go, he built a train exoskeleton, "Ultrain", and defeated an alien invasion with it. Unfortunately, he was never seen again, but Cyborg claims you can sometimes hear him yelling "bladow!"...

Don't mess with this forest kitty or you'll get a face full of apples.

With the second of his tall tales fudged up, Robin's really enraged. He demands silence from the Titans for his final story, but Starfire shoves him away when she learns it's about Johnny Appleseed. Assuming the role herself, she tells them of a pioneer named Johnny who enjoyed living outdoors with the animals. The only problem was that some of the critters were making fun of "the forest kitty" (a skunk) for being stinky. When they wouldn't stop being mean, Johnny began planting a bunch of apple trees... The reason? To stock up on apple ammunition. He returned to the cruel animals and unleashed an unforgiving barrage of apple machine gun fire. The animals became a military force and fought back, but were eventually outgunned. In the end, Johnny Appleseed marked the forest kitty with two white stripes to show that he was under Johnny's protection. Then he dashed to the defeated animals, and said "Eat the apples!". In the end, Johnny Appleseed gunned down all the animals.

At this point, Robin isn't even mad, he's just sad that the tall tales have been a waste of time. The Titans start cheering him up, saying that these myths can never compare to his inspirational leadership... but it turns out that they're just telling him another tall tale. Robin can only look on in sadness as the others laugh it up...

Characters

Houses are not chairs, Paul! Nor are people!

Main Characters

Raven/Paul Bunyan
Cyborg/John Henry
Robin/Daniel Boone
Starfire/Johnny Appleseed
Beast Boy/Big Green Socks

Minor Characters

Forest Kitty (skunk)
Animal Friends
Villagers
Ultrain
Moose
Aliens

Cameos

Darkseid (plushie)

Trivia

The hat that Robin is wearing is similar to the one that he wore in "Oregon Trail".
The picture of Paul Bunyan says "howdy!" exactly like Sticky Joe.
It seems that judging by how Starfire (as Johnny Appleseed) referred the skunk as a “forest kitty”, she has no knowledge of the species skunk after all.
This is the fourth episode to feature each Titan telling a different inaccurate story or fable. The first three were "Grube's Fairytales", "History Lesson" and "Orangins".

Continuity

This episode shares a plotline similar to "Grube's Fairytales", "History Lesson", and "Orangins" in which the Titans make up their own versions of certain folk tales and myths, all of them deeply annoying Robin.
Raven is seen unhooded for the 88th time.
Cyborg appears as Fleshy Guy for the third time.
Robin once again uses the dialogue "I'm a man of average height" from "Costume Contest".

References

Starfire's story references John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, who was famous for walking 100,000 square miles across the Midwestern forests and prairies and planting apple seeds along the way. He was a dedicated traveler.^[1]
Cyborg referenced John Henry, an African-American folklore hero who is said to have worked as someone that hammers a steel drill to make holes in rocks for explosives before blasting them in order to create a tunnel. He won against a steam-powered drill in a race, only to cost his life as his heart couldn’t endure any more stress.
- Ultrain from Cyborg's John Henry Story is a parody of the combining-mecha "Voltron" from the Voltron series and the SuperTrain MegaZord from Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.
Raven and Beast Boy referenced Paul Bunyan, who is indeed a gargantuan lumberjack that is often accompanied by his blue ox Babe and is known for his exploits of superhuman labors.
In the retold Paul Bunyan story, Cyborg the good foot doctor appears to be based on Dr. King Schultz from Django Unchained.

Errors

The machine guns that Starfire/Johnny Appleseed and the animals use never seem to run out of organic ammunition during the forest fight.
Since a Dolphin appeared on Starfire's story, it's impossible for a dolphin to survive on land in real life.

Running Gags

Raven/Paul Bunyan crushing animals and people by sitting on them.
Raven/Paul Bunyan making strange grunts and facial expressions.
Paul Bunyan portrait saying "howdy!"
The Titans cutting off Robin's stories and telling their own twisted versions of them.