Cubtron Z

Cubtron Z is an irregular episode of Happy Tree Friends. It is a special episode directed by Rob Shaw. It is also the first episode to be made in another animation format rather than in Adobe Flash Professional.

HTF Episode Description
Guest Director, Rob Shaw takes the helm on this special Pop & Cub episode. Get your bandages ready for all the paper cuts 'cause you'll never look at stationary the same way again! Wanna know how this episode was crafted? Walk your mouse over to the Paper Craft blog and peel the pages on all the awesome behind-the-scene work that went into this beautiful short!

Plot
The episode begins at Pop and Cub's house, where Pop is seen giving a milk bottle to Cub. However, the bottle slips from his hands and lands in the middle of the street. As Cub retrieves his bottle, he is unaware that an approaching vehicle is coming. Pop reacts to this quickly, and pushes Cub out of the way, only to have Cub get shredded apart by a street cleaner driven by Lumpy. Because of this, Pop yells out "NOOOOOO!" into the skies.

Later, inside a garage, Pop is seen building something. When he's done, it turns out to be Cub, now a robot who is as tall as their house (now called Cubtron). Pop and Cubtron decide to go into town. While walking around, Pop spots an arts and crafts store, so Pop tells Cubtron to stay, while he gets something. While waiting, Cubtron decides to entertain himself. First, he rips open a school bus and pulls out Cuddles, who is laughing. Cubtron then proceeds to press Cuddles' body against a building, killing him and spreading his blood. Cubtron then picks up Petunia and Giggles from the school bus, and they suffer the same fate as Cuddles. As Pop comes out of the arts and crafts store with a box of crayons, he notices what Cubtron just did. It turns out that Cubtron used the bodies of the victims to make a drawing of himself holding his father in his palm. However, Pop does not approve of this, so Cubtron picks up Lumpy's street cleaner to erase the drawing. But this also causes Lumpy to fall out, and break his legs in half when he hits the ground. With his legs broken, Lumpy proceeds to crawl away.

As Pop watches TV on a flying Cubtron, the TV is displaying a monster attacking the city. The monster and Cubtron stare at each other menacingly, and charge at each other, indicating they're about to attack. However, Cubtron instead jumps onto the monster's arms so it could take care of him. The monster is happy to oblige, and tears off a container on a water tower to feed him (like a milk bottle). Suddenly, Cubtron begins crying. His loud crying causes nearby windows to shatter, cutting a crutch-toting Lumpy's head in half. Pop is unsure on what to do, so the monster decides to repeatedly pat Cubtron's back. This causes Cubtron's tummy to rumble and beep rapidly, indicating something big is about to happen. As Pop embraces for impact, Cubtron lets out nothing but a short burp. Just when everything seems fine, Cubtron begins vomiting. His vomit splashes on Mime, Toothy, and Disco Bear, and the vomit is so acidic, it causes the three's bodies to be reduced to skeletons, and making their heads burst. The vomit is also strong enough to burn down and destroy all the buildings.

Sometime later, the entire city is destroyed, and amidst all the damage, the only thing not destroyed is Pop and Cub's house. The monster has resorted to becoming Cubtron's adoptive mother, as it has just finished making a batch of cookies. As Pop asks Cubton to let him sit on his lap, Cubtron proceeds to do so, unknowingly crushing his father.

Deaths

 * 1) Cub gets decapitated and ran over by Lumpy's street sweeper. (But later is revived as a robot by Pop)
 * 2) Cuddles, Petunia, and Giggles get their bodies splattered on the building when Cubtron uses their bodies as crayons.
 * 3) Some Generic Tree Friends likely died when the monster tore the buildings in half. (Debatable)
 * 4) Lumpy's head gets sliced in half by a shard of glass from the windows of the towers due to Cubtron's loud crying.
 * 5) Mime, Toothy, and Disco Bear got burned to bone by Cubtron's vomit, causing their heads to explode.
 * 6) Many Generic Tree Friends get burned to death by Cubtron's vomit.
 * 7) Pop gets crushed when Cubtron sits on him. (Death not seen)

Injuries

 * 1) (Before death) Lumpy's legs break after falling out of his street cleaner when Cubtron picks it up.

Goofs

 * 1) When Disco Bear, Mime and Toothy are killed, the street sweeper can be seen for a second with Lumpy in it, even though it's supposed to be empty. It could probably for entertainment purposes
 * 2) It is strange that Cuddles was happy even when Cubtron was about to splatter his body onto the building.
 * 3) When Lumpy's head is sliced by glass, his brain doesn't appear, unless the sliced part of the head has the brain inside.

Trivia

 * This is the first (and only) episode to be made in stop-motion, rather than 2D flash.
 * This episode marks Cub as the second character (after Mime) to have his full name in an episode's title. Flippy and Nutty only had this done with segments of their names.
 * This is the first irregular episode to have a teaser.
 * This episode might be inspired by the film Astro Boy, as both involve a father rebuilding his dead son (from a car/vehicle-related accident) into a robot.
 * The title of the episode may be a reference to "Dragon Ball Z" and "Tron".
 * This is the first episode where Cub killed someone since Rink Hijinks. This is also the very first (and so far only) episode where Cub kills Pop, rather than the other way around.
 * This is the first time Cub survives while Pop dies.
 * Lumpy's death is similar to Handy's death in From Hero to Eternity and a Good Flippy's death in Autopsy Turvy (Double Whammy Part II).
 * Cub is responsible for every death in this episode, besides his own at the beginning of the episode and the Generic Tree Friends the monster kills when it attacks the city.
 * Lumpy and Pop are responsible for Cub's death at the beginning of the episode. They are also indirectly responsible for every death in the episode, Pop more so since he built Cubtron in the first place.
 * This is the first time Mime made an appearance since Random Acts of Silence.
 * Voice samples from Dana Belben were used in this episode.
 * This is the first irregular episode that Pop, Disco Bear, and Mime die in.
 * Mime, Toothy, and Disco Bear's deaths are similar to Flaky's deaths in Boo Do You Think You Are and Breaking Wind.
 * This is the first time Pop has died since See You Later, Elevator.
 * This is the third time that Cub is in contact with a baby bottle, the others being Bottled Up Inside and You're Kraken Me Up.
 * The way Pop yells out "NOOOOOO!" is exactly the same as in And the Kitchen Sink.