History Recap / SpongeBobSquarePantsS2E3BigPinkLoserBubbleBuddy

* [[PragmaticVillainy Pragmatic Anti-Villainy]]: Squidward keeps the angry mob from attacking a lifeguard, not out of the goodness of his heart, but because it's not worth it and it would only make an already bad situation even worse. As he points out, Bubble Buddy is the one causing trouble, so they should deal with him instead.

** While the rest of the mob has somewhat understandable reasons for wanting to pop Bubble Bubby. Larry's reason is for thinking he (Bubble Buddy) called him and friends fat because [[MakesAsMuchSenseInContext SpongeBob told Bubble Buddy to "shake his bubble butt"]].

->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' Wow! It's amazing how a simple change of clothes can make a guy look... just like... me.\\

* AnimationBump: While the episode is animated in the season 2 onwards style, the character designs are much closer to the ones they had in season 1. Particularly Patrick’s, who has the sideways M shaped eyebrows rather than the sideways N ones he has nowadays.

* BookEnds: The episode starts with Patrick napping before being disturbed awake by an award which was meant for [=SpongeBob=], and ends with him winning an award for real and going back to sleep to protect his title.

* BigNo: Spongebob gives a long, [[SlowNo slow-motion]] one when Squidward attempts to pop Bubble Buddy. It goes on for so long that Spongebob eventually starts throwing in random vowel noises for added ridiculousness.

* OvercomplicatedMenuOrder: Not only does Squidward have to make one of everything on the menu for Bubble Buddy, but Spongebob repeated makes him take the order back and fix it in increasingly specific (and eventually inane) ways.

* MurderByInaction: Bubble Buddy refused to dig Scooter out of the ground, causing him to [[SandNecktie drown from high tide]] and reemerge as an [[WingedSoulFliesOffAtDeath ascending angel]]. It's at first believed to be because Bubble Buddy is an inanimate object, but the ending reveals that Bubble Buddy is alive, meaning he intentionally let Scooter die.

* OverComplicatedMenuOrder: Not only does Squidward have to make one of everything on the menu for Bubble Buddy, but Spongebob repeated makes him take the order back and fix it in increasingly specific (and eventually inane) ways.

* HopeSpot: [=SpongeBob=] manages to convince the mob to spare Bubble Buddy since most of them have their own {{Companion Cube}}s to speak of...but they still want to pop him once he's finished.

** While the rest of the mob has somewhat understandable reasons for wanting to pop Bubble Bubby. Larry's reason is for thinking he (Bubble Buddy) called him and friends fat because [[ItMakesAsMuchSenseInContext Spongebob told Bubble Buddy to "shake his bubble butt"]].

* AnAesop:
** Everyone has something they're good at, maybe they just haven't realized it yet.
** Don't pretend to be someone you're not.
** BeYourself. Patrick goes back to being his lazy self after he realized that it was the reason why he got an award in the first place.
** Everyone is special and has their own unique merits.
** Read packages before assuming they're yours.

* AnAesop:
** Be sensitive of how your actions affect other people, even if you're just trying to help.
** Imaginary friends can be important to someone’s identity (especially a child), and people should be sensitive of that. However, acting like they are real out in public can have dangerous consequences.

** Patrick's choice of who to show off "his" trophy to: his rock home, the island atop Bikini Bottom and a bunch of jellyfish who don't care about his award, they just sting him ''en masse''.

** Patrick follows [=SpongeBob=]‘s advice to "Do exactly as I do" too literally.

* RealAfterAll: Bubble Buddy.

* TheReasonYouISpeech: Near the end, [=SpongeBob=] tries doing what Patrick does, but Patrick only complains how [=SpongeBob=] is wasting his time copying someone as pathetic as him.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Or in this case, [[TheReasonISuckSpeech "The Reason]] ''[[TheReasonISuckSpeech I]]'' [[TheReasonISuckSpeech Suck" Speech]]. Near the end, [=SpongeBob=] tries doing what Patrick does, but Patrick only complains how [=SpongeBob=] is wasting his time copying someone as pathetic as him.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Or in this case, "The Reason ''I'' Suck" Speech. Near the end, [=SpongeBob=] tries doing what Patrick does, but Patrick only complains how [=SpongeBob=] is wasting his time copying someone as pathetic as him.