History WesternAnimation / BugsBunny

* VillainProtagonist: Bugs was generally a defensive character, but there have been several episodes where he became this. Examples of this include "Elmer's Candid Camera" (where the prototype/"Happy Hare" picks on Elmer unprovoked), "Elmer's Pet Rabbit" (where he heckles Elmer for no justifiable reason), "Wabbit Twouble" (again, picking on Elmer unprovoked), "The Wacky Wabbit" (picking on an unprovoked Elmer again), "Hare Ribbin'" (where he picks on a dog who just happened to encounter him, unlike his encounter with a similar dog in "The Heckling Hare", and even ''assists the dog in suicide''[[hottip:*: It's even worse in the directors cut included on Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 5, where ''Bugs himself shoots the dog'']]),), "Buckaroo Bugs" (where he's a flat out thief and bully) and "Rebel Rabbit" (where he wreaks havoc on the US solely because the bounty for rabbits was so low, doing atrocities like tying up a railroad and sawing California off the mainland, and by the end of the short gets so out of control that the military is called in to bring him down).

-->'''Bugs:''' (Rushes into a room, screams are heard, he rushes out and closes the door) Err, um... a [[IncrediblyLamePun Hare-em]], I think.

--> '''Bugs ([[BatterUp as a]] [[IncrediblyLamePun bat]])''': WHACK!

* RabbitSeasoning (MM, Jones) - Starring Elmer and Daffy. Second of the "DuckSeasonRabbitSeason" trilogy. One of The100GreatestLooneyTunes.

* RabbitFire (LT, Jones) - Starring Elmer and Daffy. First of the "DuckSeasonRabbitSeason" trilogy. One of The100GreatestLooneyTunes.

-->--'''BobClampett''' on Bugs Bunny, written in first person.

* BugsBunnyGetsTheBoid (MM, Clampett): Debut of Beaky/Killer the Buzzard. Unlike Clampett's previous shorts, Bugs is back to being a defensive character again. Runner-up on The50GreatestCartoons list, and one of The100GreatestLooneyTunes.

* {{Bowdlerise}}: Like all the Warners' animated output -- indeed, that of all the major American studios during and just post-WWII -- some of Bugs' shorts are not very politically correct. At the height of the Pacific campaign, he starred in a blatant bit of propaganda called "Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips." He also appeared in BlackFace on more than one occasion, including a short parody of Al Jolson's ''The Jazz Singer''.

** Baby Face Finster. Not a baby, just a midget bank-robber.

* CasualDangerDialog: A trademark. In "Hair-Raising Hare", Bugs is barricading a door with a monster on the other side and shouts frantically to the audience [[IsThereADoctorInTheHouse "Is there a doctor in the house?!"]] When one stands up, Bugs coolly enquires "Ehhh, what's up, Doc?"

* The scene in “''Spooky Space Kook''” where Scooby and Shaggy lock themselves in a hut, Scooby throwing the key out the window, the ghost coming in through the other door, Shaggy and Scooby leaping out the window to retrieve the key and hop back in so they can unlock the door can be traced back to a scene from an episode of ''WesternAnimation/BugsBunny'' called “Buccaneer Bunny.[[note]]Bugs rows a boat, which is tied to shore and is propelled back but [[RuleOfFunny Bugs treads water anyway]], to Pirate Sam’s ship. Sam boards the boat but sees the oars on the ship stairs. So he swims out to the ship, retrieves the ors, swims back to the rowboat and rowboat and rows his way to the ship.[[/note]]

* AntiHero: Type IV or V, even if he is more lovable than most Antiheroes in similar categories.

* BewareTheNiceOnes

** Bugs does something similar to this in "Hare and Loathing in Las Vegas", where when playing blackjack against Yosemite Sam, Sam as dealer gets a twenty with two cards and Bugs reveals that he has 21 aces. In fact they whole short seems to be based on this trope.

* CloseCallHaircut: Played with, along with every other gun cliche known to man, in most of the Yosemite Sam shorts. Bugs once used a trick shot on Sam that not only parted Sam's hair but split his hat, as well.

* {{Flanderization}}: Bugs was initially a far wackier and egotistical protagonist, however his suave cunning demenor was exagerrated to such a point he is regarded as one of animations prime {{Invincible Hero}}es. As Chuck Jones once emphasized, [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Bugs is meant to be everything]] [[StrawLoser Daffy Duck isn't]].
** Yosemite Sam was actually created to combat this. After a few cartoons it rapidly became apparent that Bugs Bunny could think circles around Elmer Fudd so thoroughly that even when Elmer was clearly the antagonist Bugs ''still'' looked like the bully. So they created Sam to give Bugs an opponent who was smart enough (or at least belligerent enough) to give Bugs a challenge and keep him from {{Flanderiz|ation}}ing into a villain. After a while, even Sam had become ineffective, and so both Marvin The Martian and the Tazmanian Devil were introduced to bring in a fresh new threat (proving ''slightly'' more effective).

However it's generally accepted that TexAvery produced the prototype of the smart, suave, on-the-ball wabbit we know and love today, in "AWildHare" (1940). ChuckJones later made him more sympathetic by giving Bugs that iconic attitude of live-and-let-live, right up until he's [[BerserkButton pushed just that ''one step'' too far]], and then, it's war -- "at which point [he] retaliates in every way he can imagine, and he is a very imaginative rabbit."

** He finally gets his revenge against Cecil in ''TheLooneyTunesShow''.

** MeetYourEarlyInstallmentWeirdness: One later drawing of Bugs by ChuckJones (which can be found in one of his biographies) has Bugs reacting in horror at the sight a picture of "Bugs' Bunny", his alleged prototype, from "Hare-Um Scare-Um".

* RuleofThree: Generally, to keep Bugs from appearing like a bully, he only reacts after the antagonist does ''three'' knocks against him. After that, "of course you realize, ThisMeansWar!"

* TricksterArchetype (obviously)