VR the World is the second segment of 3rd episode in season 4 of Harvey Street Kids
Synopsis[]
Dot is looking for a hacker who is giving away items in Richie's achievement based virtual reality game.
Plot[]
The episode begins with Dot narrating what she refers to as Neo Harvey Street, which acts as a virtual version of Harvey Street. In the kids' houses there are several posters that refer respectively to Patty Pupé (Dot), a cereal box (Lotta), Crush 4 You (Gerald) and an image of Pinkeye doing a ballet pirouette. Dot arrives on the scene with a yellow visor, Audrey wearing a shark avatar also manifests near a poster encouraging her to look for Richie coins to redeem unlockable cosmetic items. Dot specifies that the only way to earn coins is by defeating giant Dap-O-Trons, where Lotta and Audrey decide to join the fight. The Dap that Dot was facing runs around and faces her again. Audrey asks for a break to go to the bathroom and all the girls take off their visors, alluding to the fact that it is a virtual reality prototype in the living room of Richie's sky mansion.
In the place they are also Gerald and Tiny playing. Lotta breaks the fourth wall commenting that she finds virtual reality quite real, but enough for a cartoon. As part of the joke, Audrey is drawn as a 1920s cartoon saying to put on the VR headset. The girls do it and beat the robot by turning off its switch on the head. For their part, several kids from Harvey Street have problems defeating robots, among them Todd, Lucretia, Penny, The besties (Boy) and Tiny. Dot wants to help but at the same time she wants to complain about the difficulty level, in passing, she mentions that it took her 16 hours of play to get 5 Richie coins, however, she only wants to pay for a boba tea and redeems it while Audrey complains that there isn't one bait flavored.
On the scene some glasses arrive, where Lucretia and Penny fight for it, while the Harvey girls ask where it came from. Audrey loves them too but is stopped by Lotta. Dot believes it was Richie, where he manifests himself by saying that the unlockable decorative objects have been manifesting themselves randomly, causing chaos. Shown below is Lucretia running away with the glasses as she is chased by Melvin, Pinkeye and other tertiary characters. After a monologue by Lotta questioning her existence, Richie tells the girls that someone took advantage of the beta test by taking control of the game. All while Lucretia is attacked by the kids as she lies crouched, frowning, showing her teeth and spitting a bit, while her former attackers are distracted by a keyboard.
Richie tells them that if people don't get their own items, there will be chaos in the game along with that it would be unfair to people that already have various achievements like Dot. They search for the hacker while Richie scans the code for malicious intrusions. After accepting the mission, Richie tells them that the hacker sent a video made as a manifesto, where the girls listen to it. He also tells them not to die in the game or else they will have to rebuild their avatar again, while leaving. Dot wonders why hackers like to put graffiti on it while Audrey is toying around thinking about food, making Dot find a floating house out of place. This house turns out to be the HQ of the Data Dudes and the girls make a quick trip there.
In the place, one of The Besties and a girl asks them for some help trying to get some rocket boots, but Dot and Lotta tell him to keep trying, so they leave sad. After a comment from Audrey, Dot thinks that this game is not for everyone due to its high difficulty. After knocking on the door, Lotta moves the floating house to the ground after receiving no response where they believe Fredo is the hacker. However, he was playing a Tetris-like game as he found Richie's game very difficult. Fredo says that the hacker annoys him, saying that it does not adapt to a specific dystopian archetype and ends up revealing where it went, whose place is denoted by a bright yellow dot in the distance. The girls go to the virtual version of the Harvey E. Harvison statue, where they notice a portal they refer to as a "Techno nexus".
After getting in, an alert voice says there is an intruder, and virtual versions of the Harvey girls appear. The bizarre Audrey transforms into a shark and tries to bite Audrey, but Lotta manages to rescue her. Bizarre Lotta attacks, where she is repelled by Lotta when she floats and takes her friends with her and Dot ends up winning by capturing the bizarre versions in a net. Lotta notices a peculiar hole, where Dot takes advantage of opening it revealing a kind of portal. Upon entering it, the girls shapeshifts becoming old versions of themselves. The girls recovering their normal form, arrive at the hacker who turned out to be The Bow. The latter interrupts their attempts to call Richie, and incidentally alters Dot's appearance by putting on various costumes. Among them, a costume with her appearance, a butterfly costume, pirate, an elegant dress, with a Cheevanka costume, dressed as Pinkeye, as Marco and as a baby.
The Bow was about to leave until Dot interrupts her, where they are both sent to space. The girls keep struggling as they keep changing backgrounds, where Dot asks why she is ruining the game. She explains that she is making virtual reality better and the two fight in a cartoonish way in a dust cloud. The Bow explains that the game system is a joke, being almost impossible to get the collectibles and Dot replies that that Richie must have some reason for it.
The Bow continues to state her point saying that Lucretia and Pinkeye cannot have the objects they want since they are too expensive to obtain, but hacking can turn it into a paradise. Dot therefore makes The Bow and Richie make amends and lower the difficulty of the game. So Fredo and Audrey get what they want, except the last one who complains about how the bait tastes. The episode ends with a closure card that references the movie "Jaws".
Characters[]
- Dot / Agent D
- Lotta / L-TREX
- Audrey / Sharkdrey
- Richie Rich
- Bizarre Audrey / Bizarre Lotta / Bizarre Dot
- Lucretia
- Penny
- Gerald
- Tiny
- Todd
- Melvin
- Pinkeye
- Fredo / Phredox
- Dap-O-Tron
- The besties (Boy)
- The Bow / Bowmega Prime
- Patty Pupé (Cameo)
- Marco (Cameo)
- Frufru (Cameo)
- Calm Bot (Cameo)
Broadcast[]
"VR the World" was released to Netflix on January 10, 2020.
Trivia[]
- Several backgrounds shown when Dot and The Bow were struggling with the tablet, reference past episodes among them: The frozen island, Richie's Disco Room, a yurt, toy treasure, The Bow's secret hideout, an Italian ice cream shop, the gas museum, hell itself with a demon resembling Tiny, a cheese scene, a rainbow Castle in Lotta's imagination, stands from the Glendale convention, the red panda park, and the arcade video game.
- At the same time, several outfits reference past episodes: Richie's mayor's outfit, Lucretia's gothic outfit, the Melvin's Hebee Jeebie costume, Botcretia, Fredo and Tiny's apocalyptic costumes, Tiny's Red Lion costume, Frufru's apocalyptic suit, and the spacesuit of Fredo.
- Lotta breaks the fourth wall by saying she is in a cartoon (Minute 12:56), and she does it again wondering if her world is fictional (Minute 14:44)
- When faced with Dap-O-Tron, Dot references the movie Matrix when bending backwards.
- The series makes a meta-comment regarding Tiny and Lucretia, where Fredo classifies them as heroic underdogs.