"Toys in the Hood" is the thirteenth episode of the third season of Static Shock. It depicts the appearance of Toyman and Superman in Dakota. Darci arrives in Dakota working as a teacher, Miss Moore, and things are okay until Toyman arrives and attempts to capture her once again. Soon afterwards, Superman arrives and he and Static team up to stop Toyman. However, they eventually learn that not all is how it seems and Daisy finds herself a target in this whole mess.
Plot
A school bus drives down a winding mountain road while a teacher, Ms. Moore, explains that the class is on the field trip to see the natural flora and fauna of the area. Daisy proves her intelligence by speaking up and answering every question brought up by Ms. Moore. Richie jokes about Daisy being a teacher’s pet, but Virgil suddenly sees a giant toy monkey jumping through the forest. The monkey chases after the bus then jumps in front of it catching the bus, causing mass panic. The students are allowed to evacuate but the monkey stops Ms. Moore and Daisy apparently finding its target. However, Static and Gear arrive and attack the monkey. Unfortunately, their powers are virtually useless against the monkey and it hits Gear injuring him. Static manages to distract the monkey but it forces him to the ground by hitting him with dirt, catches him with its tail, and prepares to crush him with its cymbals.
Just as Static is about to be killed, Superman flies in and forces the monkey to let him go. The monkey isn’t done, however, and smashes the bus down onto Superman. Static attracts the monkey’s attention again and while he’s almost killed by it Superman manages to destroy the monkey using the bus. Static and Superman check up on Richie and see that while he's not broken any bones, he's sprained his ankle. Superman then leaves while Static and Gear wonder about Superman and the monkey's presence in Dakota.
Virgil and Richie return to school and talk about Superman's arrival and suspect that they'll never see him again. Just then, they see another Metropolis icon: Clark Kent. He explains that he's there to get the story on Superman's fight with the giant monkey and Daisy suggests that he talks to Ms. Moore. However, when Daisy calls to Ms. Moore she quickly ducks into a room. Clark goes in after her and greets her as Darci. Darci explains that she took on the new identity as a way to evade Toyman but he's found her again. Clark offers to help her escape but Darci refuses.
Meanwhile, a giant bouncy clown leaps into the school and starts wreaking havoc. The clown reaches for Daisy but Superman and Static arrive catching its attention. Static thinks that he's going to be able to take this situation on his own but the clown opens revealing another, smaller, clown inside. This second clown opens releasing another and this continues until there are six of them. While the heroes fight the clowns, one of them grabs Daisy and traps her inside its body. Static tries to save her but the clowns capture him and the one holding Daisy gets away. Fortunately, before the clowns can finish Static off, Superman rescues him. Static tells Superman about the clown that caught Daisy and Superman becomes frightened as he thought that Toyman was after Darci. However, Darci is gone too.
Elsewhere, Daisy awakens strapped to a giant toy baker’s oven. Toyman and Darci are there and they explain that Darci wants to be human and intends to be Daisy. Toyman activates his oven.
Meanwhile, Superman and Static go to Darci's house and investigate her home. They discover a room filled with robot parts and find a serial number stamped on an arm. By tracing the number they find Toyman's hideout.
Back at Toyman's hideout, Darci and Daisy lay down on the toy oven and Toyman explains that it will create a nanite duplicate for Darci to inhabit. Darci explains that she took the job as a teacher so she could choose her new body and she chose Daisy. Toyman activates the machine and both participants are pulled into the oven. The oven scans Daisy's body and sculpts the nanites into her image while Darci's mind is transferred into the new body.
Superman and Static burst inside and try to stop the experiment but Toyman starts attacking them with an energy-charged paddleball. The distraction lasts long enough for the experiment to complete and Darci emerges as Daisy. Toyman then releases a group of life-sized toy soldiers that are capable of neutralizing both Superman and Static's powers. The heroes are captured and Toyman thinks he's won altogether. However, Darci betrays and tries to kill him. She tells Toyman she only used him to get a new body and is ready to kill him until she sees that Daisy's escaped. Not wanting the original around to spoil things, Darci goes after Daisy and prepares to kill her. When Daisy tries to claim that no one will mistake Darci for her, Darci explains she studied her while in the school and will be able to mimic her behavior perfectly.
Meanwhile, Static figures out a way to disable the soldiers and goes after Darci. Darci is ready to drop Daisy into a vat of molten plastic but when she sees static coming she flips their positions around making it look like she's the real daisy being dropped into the plastic. Static grabs them both but he's been fooled. Daisy claims to be the real Daisy but Darci makes the same claim. Superman tries to scan the two Daisies with his X-ray vision but the synthetic copy is a perfect match. Static gets an idea and makes the electrical aura that surrounds all humans visible. The fake Daisy doesn't have one and is weeded out. Darci isn't ready to give up though and wards the heroes off with an explosive ping-pong ball. She then runs off. However, Darci falls to the ground in pain. Her body starts to melt and Toyman explains that he built a failsafe into her in case she betrayed him again. He has an antidote but when Darci tries to use Toyman's love for her to manipulate him again, he tosses it into the vat of plastic and lets her die.
The police take Toyman into custody and Superman leaves. Static and Daisy head home and Static claims that there's nothing like hanging out with his favorite hero. Daisy readily agrees but she's referring to a different hero.
Continuity
- This episode follows the events of the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Obsession."
Background Information
Production Inconsistencies
- In the episode "They're Playing My Song" Static mentions, "Even Clark Kent had a day job." This would indicate that either Superman didn't exist in the continuity or Virgil knew of his identity. Neither explanation seems plausible in this episode. That line was cut off from subsequent reruns, though.
- In the end of "Obsession," Darci leaves Metropolis with what seems to be a case containing the body of Toyman. This plot point was not explained nor addressed in this episode. However, as Toyman was alive and well, here and in Justice League, it's possible the case contained spare parts or tools for repairing Darci's own artificial body should it be damaged again.
- Superman is depicted as having blue eyes (just like his comic book counterpart) with white irises. However, in all his appearances preceding and succeeding this episode he always had black eyes and transparent irises.
Trivia
- The students in the school bus must be nearly deaf. Toyman's giant monkey was loudly clapping its giant cymbals while chasing the bus but the students appear to be oblivious to its presence.
- The theme used at the end of this episode, where Static essentially defeats the villain single-handedly is used in every crossover episode of this series. This is often used when depicting young, inexperienced heroes in their own show to make them shine in the presence of better-known heroes.
Cast
Quotes
Gear: Whoa! I just had my ankle X-rayed by Superman! I'm never going to wash it again! |
Superman: Come on Static, let's put away the toys! |
Toyman: Superman! |
Static: Are all supervillains like this or do you just attract the really weird ones? |
Toyman: My soldiers aren't green for nothing Superman. They have kryptonite mixed with their plastic. |
Template:Epbrowser