Western Animation / Rock, Paper, Scissors (Nickelodeon)

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Rock, Paper, Scissors is an animated series for Nickelodeon, created by TV writers Kyle Stegina and Josh Lehrman, who had previously created together the 2016 Disney Channel sitcom Bizaardvark.

The show follows the misadventures of three roommates who are anthropomorphic versions of the three titular objects used in the game Rock, Paper, Scissors (voiced by Ron Funches, Thomas Lennon, and Carlos Alazraqui, respectively). Although they are longtime friends, each member of this Comic Trio has a strong and distinct personality that naturally results in a lot of head-butting between them — Rock is a sensitive and emotional aspiring male model with a big heart; Paper is a Bungling Inventor who is nowhere near as smart as he believes himself to be; and Scissors is a self-styled bad boy whose "tough guy" persona is a thin facade for his massive insecurities. Together, the three constantly compete and mess with each other while getting into all kinds of wacky nonsense, but no matter what kinds of shenanigans they get into, these three Vitriolic Best Buds will always be there for each other in the end. Also often getting involved in their ridiculous escapades are Paper's genius crush and Girl Next Door Pencil, a slovenly and obnoxious trash can named Lou who is the trio's landlord, and Paper's action star sister and Scissors' personal hero Sandpaper.

The series' pilot was originally released on August 19, 2023 on the official Nicktoons YouTube channel, later receiving a TV preview on December 25, 2023 during the halftime for Nickelodeon's airing of the NFL Christmas game. The series then made its official premiere on February 11, 2024, immediately following the Nickelodeon broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII. A few episodes and clips can be found on the Nicktoons YouTube channel. A second and third season have been ordered; the second season having aired in the United States on November 7, 2025, though an early preview of that season's first episode was released on Nick.com in November 4, and is slated to air internationally in 2026. The show is also available on Paramount+ as of May 28, 2025.

Provides examples of:

• Actor Allusion: In one episode, Scissors does an impression of the title character from Rocko's Modern Life, who was also voiced by Carlos Alazraqui. Scissors claims it's not a very good impression.
• Animate Inanimate Object: Besides the titular trio, other examples include Pencil, Lou the trash can, Putty, Potato and Sandpaper.
• Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Scissors made a vow as a kid to never help anyone with anything after doing so caused him to lose his chance for ice cream. Most of his Mental World is in agreement, save for the few nicer parts.
  Nice Scissors: (In regards to whether real-world Scissors should help Rock and Paper bring in groceries) I think maybe this time... we could help!
  Scissors #1: Are you out of your mind!?
  Scissors #2: But how does it benefit us!?
  Scissors #3: They bought the groceries; they should bring them in!
  Nice Scissors: I don't see what the big deal is! It's just putting away some groceries!
  Scissors #1: Oh, sure! First, you're putting away groceries. Next, you're donating a kidney!
• Berserk Button: Do not cover Rock in glitter, or he will hunt you down and make you pay for it.
• Blatant Lies: Scissors claiming that his body runs so hot he doesn't need to wear a jacket in cold weather, despite him clearly shivering in nothing but pants and a muscle shirt.
• Bungling Inventor: Paper, whose inventions tend to either explode or not work the way they're supposed to.
• Captain Ersatz: The Pre-Teen Modified Martial Arts Tortoises. Cowabingo!
• Cloudcuckoolander: Out of the three, Rock tends to be the most out of touch with reality.
• Complexity Addiction: The episode that provided Paper's sister, Sandpaper, demonstrated that Sandpaper makes the simplest of tasks difficult by making it into an action movie cliche. Examples include: getting limes, driving to the grocery store, and stopping a measuring cup from hitting the floor.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Rock thinks that the dinosaurs were wiped out from swordfighting with each other instead of an asteroid. One time-travelling trip to prehistoric times later and it turns out he was right, much to Paper's bafflement.
  Dinosaur: (Notices an oncoming asteroid) Not today, asteroid! (swats the asteroid away with its sword) If anything's gonna make us extinct, it's all this swordfighting!
  Rock: (Gestures to Paper) See?
• Deleted Sceneinvoked: The "Fun Jokes You Never Saw" videos, released in the intervening months between the first and second seasons, parody this by playing out the designated episode before including an additional joke that was made specifically for the shorts.
• Everyone Has Standards: While he's not the nicest guy, even Scissors is appalled at the idea of sending people glitter bombs in the mail.
• Felony Misdemeanor: Lying about when your birthday is for free cake will get you thrown in Birthday Jail, where unlike regular jail, it isn't celebrated.
• Franken-vehicle: One episode has the trio building a car to enter in a car show, which ends up being a poorly-constructed hybrid of a hot rod, a bicycle, and a hot air balloon. When it gets them laughed out of the registration, they work to try and make it better.
• Flipping the Table: In "The Holiday Picture." Scissors flips the table in the living room when he expresses frustration when Paper asks how he is mean again after waltzing with Agnes, saying that he has layers.
• Freudian Trio: Rock is the Ego, Paper is the Superego, and Scissors is the Id.
• Frivolous Lawsuit: One of Scissors' main sources of income is through fraudulent lawsuits that he manages to win every time. He even makes and wins ones against his own lawyer and the judge.
  Scissors: (falls down clutching his arm after sticking it out to get lightly tapped by a bus) Ow! My arm or something!
• I Call It "Vera": The trio call their shared Franken-vehicle The Susan.
• I'm Okay!: In "Trash" Rock explodes with excitement, only to immediately pop back up from offscreen to reassure the kids at home that he's okay.
• In Medias Res: "The Astonishing Catalina" starts with Catalina already in a feud with Scissors, with the reason why later shown in a flashback.
• It Will Never Catch On: Scissors once turned down an offer to join Coldplay out of the belief that they had a terrible name and would never make it big. Unsurprisingly, this ended up becoming one of his more painful memories.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Scissors can often be a jerk with an ego problem, but he's shown to be caring towards Rock and Paper.
• Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: The world is populated by humans, funny animals and living objects who coexist side by side.
• Medium Blending: The backgrounds often use stock photo images of things such as realistic trees and buildings.
• Mental World: One episode shows us the one in Scissors' mind, it being a city full of tiny Scissors who are complete jerkasses to each other. A nicer one however decides to go on a mission to sway a courtroom of his peers into making the real-world Scissors help Rock and Paper take in the groceries, which is easier said than done due to Scissors' vow to never help anyone again after doing so as a kid caused him to lose his chance for ice cream.
• Only Sane Man: Paper usually tries to keep the more eccentric Rock and Scissors in check, especially the latter, although even he has his moments of irrationality.
• Perception Filter: The trio's landlord Lou has a fancy penguin statue in his apartment that completely distracts from the Big Creepy-Crawlies that infest it. They're completely invisible as long as it's uncovered. Scissors employs a similar technique with his leather jacket, which makes his tail completely invisible.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: One episode has Paper and Scissors meeting a group of pirates known as "No-Conflict Pirates" who sail the seas avoiding drama and rival gangs who want to steal their treasure, and instead of plundering they have board games they don't play (because they can cause conflict). They don't even object when Scissors decides to take over as captain, who then causes conflict amongst them by wanting to spice things up a bit and asking if there's anything that actually upsets them.
• Rage Breaking Point: The ending of "Trash" has Dian finally reach the limits of her patience with the constant noise from the Garbage Kingdom fiasco. She goes downstairs and throws out the sentient trash while chastising Paper for not doing it himself.
  Dian: This is absurd. You should have just taken out the trash.
  Paper: (smiles smugly at Scissors) Thank you.
  Dian: I'm talking to you, Paper.
  [Paper and Scissors turn to Dian in disbelief]
  Paper: What?
  Dian: You should know by now that Scissors is a lazy jerk who was never going to do his chore. Everyone told you to do it, but you chose to be stubborn, and your life got so much worse. I mean, you almost died all because you didn't deal with the problem.
  Paper: But I shouldn't have to.
  Dian: Of course you shouldn't have to! But sometimes you have to do things that aren't your responsibility, or they never get done. (...) Like me! Here I am, cleaning up your mess, which I shouldn't have to! (...) But look! It's getting done! (...) So do us all a favor: suck it up, take out the trash, and stop making so much noise!
• Satellite Love Interest: Pencil, the trio's neighbor who is Paper's crush.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Rock and Scissors, respectively. The former is kind-hearted, emotional, and friendly to everyone, while the latter is a Boisterous Weakling with heart of gold who tries to look as tough than he really is.
• Take That!:
  • The series takes a few potshots at reality TV shows, such as the Big Brother-esque Garbage People Vote-Off House where the worst people on Earth are placed in a house and are allowed to talk forever.
    Scissors: The whole point of TV is to escape from reality!
    Rock: Yeah, that's like eating food that you find out isn't actually food!
  • Lou (last name Zer) is the trio's landlord who constantly threatens to raise the rent and dismisses his tenants' concerns. When he goes to Landlord Con, he's informed by the speaker at the convention that a landlord's job isn't to help their tenants, but to squeeze them out of everything of value at their most vulnerable. They're all anthropomorphic trash bins by the way, almost overflowing with garbage.
  • The group meets another trio of roommates who are identical to them, except they're designed to look more like Steven Universe (chunkier limbs, pastel color palates, etc.) and they find them to be bland and annoying due to how cheerfully polite and edge free they are.
  • "Scissors Gets a Job" has the works of Charles Dickens, especially Great Expectations, considered to be very boring to read and/or listen to because of how unnecessarily wordy they are, as Dickens was being paid by the word.
• Threatening Shark: One episode has Scissors getting a "Power Shark" in order to gain control of the TV remote, until said shark turns out to be a massive Jerkass who hogs the remote to itself and forces the trio to watch shows only it wants to watch.
• Too Dumb to Live: Scissors tinting a car's windows on both the outside and the inside, causing him to crash into a building at high speed from being unable to see where he's driving. However, he survives.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Scissors has been this to Rock and to a lesser extent Paper on more than one occasion, talking them into bad and/or dangerous ideas that pan out horribly for them.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Paper insists that he, Rock, and Scissors must always make group decisions together and that none of them should "go rogue" (one of them makes a group decision without consulting the other two first) or else it will end badly, not that it stops any of them from doing so anyway.
• True Companions: Despite their differences and more-than-occasional bickering, the main trio are always there for each other in the end.
• Two Shorts: Most episodes are made up of 2 11 minute segments.
• Vocal Dissonance: Raspberry Cake from "National Paper Day" looks cutesy and feminine, but turns out to be a male with a very deep voice.
• Wasteful Wishing: According to the Birthday Police, anyone whose birthday it is has the right to one free wish for anything they want. When the trio are finally caught, Rock chooses to wish for cake instead of for getting them all out of being sent to Birthday Jail, much to Paper and Scissors' dismay.
  Paper: (shoots Rock a disapproving look) I can't believe you wished for cake.
  Rock: (crying while eating his cake) I went rogue! I went rogue!