History YMMV / Regularshow

* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Do not ever, ''ever'' put an iota of faith in Rigby (though now that he's with Eileen and trying to prove that he's a good boyfriend to her, this has changed).

** [=RGB2=] from "That's My Television." A sweet, friendly guy who was [[spoiler:held hostage in his own TV suit for ''years'' so his fame could be exploited by an evil TV executive, and forced to subside on canned air. All he wants is to be free of stardom so he could see the Pines Mountains, which we later learn ''was just a billboard at a gas station.'' And he isn't upset at all, which says a lot of how isolating his life has been.]]

* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:The Night Owl is defeated fairly quickly in his owl mech.]]

** Hilary, Mordecai's mother. While the episode is meant to center around how being embarrassed by one's parents is normal and you look like a bigger idiot if you lash out at your mom for trying to help, a lot of Hilary's behavior crosses the line. She seems to be in complete denial about Mordecai's boundaries, oversteps despite Mordecai making it clear how uncomfortable he is, and has even compiled a video of the worst things that has ever happened to him that she shows at family events. Tellingly, The Tape doesn't feature any happy memories of Mordecai's childhood, only humiliating ones, and she insists on showing every member of the family so they can laugh at him in pain. While its normal to have embarrassing parents that go a bit too far to impress their son's love interest, having made a cake out of CJ's face (despite having never met, meaning she likely stalked her online for a reference) Is more than just embarrassing.

* BrokenBase: Who should Mordecai be with? CJ or Margaret? Does he even deserve to be with either as of "Merry Christmas Mordecai"?
** As of "Sad Sax," the answer is that he's deeply sorry for breaking C.J.'s heart, doesn't love Margaret enough to be with her anymore [but still likes her], and wants to be with C.J.
*** Speaking of "Sad Sax," was Mordecai's quest to make up with C.J. over the events of "Merry Christmas, Mordecai" sincere or was this a cheap way to piss off fans who want Margaret and Mordecai to be a couple?
** There’s also debate on who is more in the wrong, many mostly blame Mordecai for his communication issues, kissing his ex in front of CJ, and hijacking his own friend's wedding reception to make a speech about solemates and was presumably [[note]] Later Rigby asks if by "going with your gut" meant go crazy and try to dump your girlfriend at a wedding, which Mordecai replies that he’s not good at this kind of stuff, implying that he was going to dump CJ and not profess his love [[/note]] going to dump his girlfriend in front of everyone (WordofGod even said Mordecai was "too wishy-washy" with both of them), Margaret for kissing Mordecai and admitting she still has feelings for Mordecai while not even keeping in touch with him after she broke up with him to leave for college, or CJ for her trust and anger issues towards Margaret and her actions in "1000th Chopper Flight Party" where her assuming the worst once again nearly killed people.
** Though, in the end, none of this mattered, as after Mordecai and CJ's agree to "take a break" "Dumped at the Altar" Mordecai and CJ "taking a break" from each other after, "Dumptown USA" had Rigby tell Mordecai to forget about girls and find out what he wants out of life, "Just Friends" as the title would imply ends with Mordecai and Margaret agreeing to just stay friends at least for the moment, and the series finale showed that Mordecai finally gets his art career off the ground and becomes famous for his work, and ended up marrying a fellow artist- a bat girl named Stef (according to WordOfGod). While Margaret, who continued her news career to the point she gets to travel around the world, is still Mordecai's platonic friend and keeps in touch with him, CJ basically washed her hands of Mordecai and is now a pro dodgeball player.

** The development of Mordecai and Margaret's relationship was considered ''agonizingly'' slow. After four seasons of Mordecai making minimal effort to take their relationship beyond friendship, Margaret finally gives him a kiss when he sees her off at the airport. So they're finally together, right? Nope, next episode involving them says that Mordecai is still considered to be in the "friend zone". At the end, they share a mutual kiss, and the next episode has Margaret introducing him to the rest of her family. But "Steak Me Amadeus"'s plot revolves around Mordecai asking Margaret to be his girlfriend and getting heartbroken when Margaret shoots him down due to getting accepted into her dream college out of town. Given everything that had happened prior, it was pretty easy to think that ''she already was''.
** And things got worse with the Mordecai-Margaret-CJ love triangle that started with CJ becoming upset over Mordecai kissing Margaret on "Merry Christmas, Mordecai". The following episode "Sad Sax" has Mordecai try to reconcile with CJ but she either ignores his attempts or the two times she started comes around to him Margaret ends up calling him or she sees the two of them talking and both times she assumes the worst and storms off. They do reconcile after Mordecai assures her that while he still cares a lot about Margaret she’s the only person he wants to be with, but CJ's trust issues continue when she freaks out seeing Mordecai and Margaret together in the Chopper 5 in "1000th Chopper Flight Party" and again assumes the worst, this time neatly getting the two of them and Margaret’s parents killed, although she is remorseful when she finds out Margaret has a boyfriend, but then in "Not Great Double Date" Margaret ends up revealing she lied because she was sick of things being awkward around her own friends, and that she still has feelings for Mordecai. It ends in "Dumped At The Altar" with Mordecai hijacking Muscle Man's wedding reception to make a speech on how he doesn’t know if he has a solemate, and before he seemingly is about to presumably dump CJ she cuts him off again once again thinking Mordecai loves Margaret and the two deciding to break up. This is continued on "Dumptown, USA" with Mordecai running away to be alone with his grief, Rigby rescuing him, and telling Mordecai that he should forget about dating and enjoy the single life and with "Just Friends" with Mordecai and Margaret admitting that, while they do like each other, the two of them are content to just be friends and not rush into a relationship. It finally ended with the series finale with Mordecai getting together with neither Margaret nor CJ and marrying a bat girl he met during his time as a famous artist, though, according to WordOfGod, Mordecai still has a platonic friendship with Margaret, while his friendship and romantic relationship with CJ is pretty much done).

** Rigby, by contrast, went from being a BaseBreakingCharacter to a fan favorite, thanks to him not just getting serious CharacterDevelopment that [[TookALevelInKindness did away with his nastier traits]], but also being in a stable and loving relationship with Eileen, as it lacked the melodrama and constant back-and-forth of Mordecai's love life.

* CommonKnowledge: Mordecai killed Rigby by pushing him off a microwave, solely because [[DisproportionateRetribution Rigby tried to make him jealous of his relationship with Margaret.]] In actuality, Rigby attempts to push Mordecai off the microwave first in the scene in question, making his reaction [[KillingInSelfDefense a little more understandable]] than LoveMakesYouCrazy.

*** In contrast, Rigby went from being a BaseBreakingCharacter to a fan favorite, thanks to him not just getting serious character development that [[TookALevelInKindness did away with his nastier traits]], but also being in a stable and loving relationship with Eileen, as it lacked the melodrama and constant back-and-forth of Mordecai's love life.

* SeasonalRot: Seasons 4 and 6 are considered this, with the former using Muscle Man too much and generally repeating things, and the latter devoting itself to more dramatic episodes about Mordecai's love life that succumbed to ArcFatigue.

** Is Benson just a MeanBoss with a HairTriggerTemper (albeit [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold with a heart of gold underneath]]), or is he a friendly enough ReasonableAuthorityFigure who has just been pushed to his wits end by Mordecai and Rigby's antics. While he can be harsh and he does have a few legitimate KickTheDog moments throughout the series, often his frustration with the two is understandable given what they put him through and their general laziness, and it's shown that he is willing to treat his employees when they actually do their work. Not to mention, despite threatening to fire the main duo enough for "Or you're fired!" to be considered his CatchPhrase, he rarely attempts to act on it, even when they give him more than enough reason to.

** Benson's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech he gives Mordecai and Rigby in the episode "Busted Cart" is often sighted as either the best moment of the show or when it truly gets good.

** Thomas, the new employee is either an okay addition to the cast or he's TheGenericGuy with no mention whatsoever how he got the job or why the park needs an intern (though in "Exit 9B," it is implied that he is there for college credit). However, "The Real Thomas" reveals that he's not who he claims to be, and reveals quite the past about him, saving him for some from this category.

** Since his introduction, Thomas has rarely been used and even then he's more a ButtMonkey. Some episodes show signs of him being the StraightMan or OnlySaneMan, but never go further with it. [[spoiler:The writers finally put him to good use in [[TookALevelInBadass "Thomas Fights Back"]] and ''The Real Thomas'', where he's revealed to be a Russian spy.]]

* RomanticPlotTumor: The general consensus of the Mordecai/CJ/Margaret romance arc in Season 6 is that it should've been much shorter. It didn't help that there were quite a few episodes (I See Turtles, 1000th Chopper Flight Party, etc.) where the arc could've ended, only for the next episode to add more drama to stretch it out.

** Mordecai shoving Rigby off the microwave [[AccidentalMurder to his death]] in "It's Time", making the first rather dark turn in the series.

** Benson was originally disliked by many viewers during the show’s heyday due to his frequent MeanBoss attitude towards the main protagonists, with his DisproportionateRetribution towards their frequent screwups making him particularly irritating. As time passed and said viewers got older though, they began to notice that Benson was actually more of a ReasonableAuthorityFigure whose irate behavior towards Mordecai and Rigby was actually quite justified due to their lazy, self-indulgent behavior, in contrast to how he and the other park employees work their asses off to get their jobs done. Furthermore, Benson's more positive traits such as his love of music and his treatment of the other park workers made people realize that Benson wasn't as bad as they thought.

** Benson was originally disliked by many viewers during the show’s heyday due to his frequent MeanBoss attitude towards the main protagonists, with his DisproportionateRetribution towards their frequent screwups making him particularly irritating. As time passed and said viewers got older though, they began to notice that Benson was actually more of a ReasonableAuthorityFigure whose irate behavior towards Mordecai and Rigby was actually quite justified due to their lazy, self-indulgent behavior, in contrast to how he and the other park employees work their asses off to get their jobs done. Furthermore, Benson's more positive traits such as his love of music and his treatment of the other park workers made people realize that Benson wasn’t as bad as they thought.
** Muscle Man was also detested by many fans, due to his tendency to make ToiletHumor jokes and for being a very gross and overweight person that tended to antagonize other characters for mean-spirited fun. Later on though, many people began to notice how incredibly loyal and competent Muscle Man actually is to his friends and co-workers, and how most of his pranks were relatively harmless and pretty creative overall. His FunPersonified behavior also got some legitimate laughs out of people, making Muscle Man a more rounded-out character that people tend to enjoy now.

* DelusionConclusion: Since J.G. Quintel created and voiced the main character in both ''Regular Show'' (as Mordecai) and ''WesternAnimation/CloseEnough'' (as Josh), a common joke is that ''Regular Show'' was just a long drug trip Josh had in which he imagined himself as a blue jay.
** Back in the show's early days, it was a common joke that entire show was just Mordecai and Benson's drug trip, and that they were the two clerks in WebAnimation/TwoInTheAMPM.
* DiagnosedByTheAudience: During the episode "The Button", Benson seems to have explicit signs of PTSD from the previous dome experiment beforehand where he developed trust issues towards everyone at the Park and including Skips, who is his most trustworthy friend/employee and subjected himself into isolation. Especially after finding out Maellard lied to him and threatened Benson to press the button, but being reminded of his trauma from his trust issues beforehand with his employees which triggered his emotional break down when he was close to pushing the button.

** Margaret herself was this for Mordecai/Rigby in the early seasons, now currently is this for Mordecai/CJ, as of "Merry Christmas Mordecai" and "Sad Sax."
* DracoInLeatherPants: Some fans paint Benson as a [[TheWoobie Woobie]] who constantly has to deal with Mordecai and Rigby's ineptitude, but there are times when Benson can be [[MeanBoss unreasonable]] (like making them re-mow the lawn because it was a centimetre too long in ''Temp Check''), [[UngratefulBastard ungrateful]] (the many times where he explodes on them even after they save his life), [[NeverMyFault blame them for things that he's at equal fault for]], or even be a straight-up bully towards them (''Muscle Mentor'', ''Best Burger in the World'', ''Lunch Break'').
* EnsembleDarkhorse:

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Weird stuff does go down on the show, but, unlike most Big Lipped Alligator Moments, the weirdness is part of the plot and gets [[{{CallBack}} referred to in later episodes]].

** By far the most egregious case has to be Mordecai killing Rigby in "It's Time". Fans tend to hold Mordecai to this action even to present day, usually glossing over the fact that not only did Mordecai immediately regret his actions, but he actively prevented such an occurrence from happening again in "Diary", on top of Skips killing Rigby in "Over the Top" to similar regret as Mordecai.

* SeasonalRot: Seasons 4 and 6 are considered this, with the former using Muscle Man too much and generally repeating things, and the latter devoting itself to more dramatic episodes about Mordecai's love life that succumbed to ArcFatigue.
** Some fans would even extend this to season 8, which was where many accused the show of running out of steam. Said fans felt bringing the cast into space ultimately added little to the show, instead simply turning it into a cleaner ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' or ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty.'' That said, the show's GrandFinale was met with widespread acclaim as a suitably epic and emotional send-off.

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* HarsherInHindsight:

** In "Meteor Moves" The Guardian of the Friend Zone warned Mordecai that he took too long to start a relationship with Margaret and that they are most likely going to just be friends now, while he does give Mordecai another chance, his words do ultimately come true that they are only just friends when "Steak Me Amadeus" Comes because Margaret just got accepted into her college Milten University. If only Mordecai asked Margaret to be his girlfriend sooner, maybe they could have been Boyfriend and Girlfriend for real, or maybe until Margaret got into her college.
** The "Go Viral" episode which has a Warden trying to police the web. After that episode, there were quite a few bills that ''did'' try to do that such as SOPA, CISPA, and PIPA. Thankfully, none of them passed after massive protests.
** The fact that death somewhat resembles Lemmy Kilmister of Music/{{Motorhead}} is this since Lemmy's death in late 2015.
** Watching [[spoiler:the parts of the montage where Pops' birth and childhood are depicted can come off as pretty chilling]] once you see the finale, since it gives off the vibe that [[spoiler:we've seen his entire life all the way to his death]].
** Speaking of the finale, Muscle Man [[spoiler:thinking he almost killed Pops]] in "Prankless" is even more heartbreaking.
** The ending to [[Recap/RegularShowS06E28DumpedAtTheAlter Dumped At The Alter]] takes an even more bitter turn when you realize [[spoiler:that's literally CJ's last major appearance in the show. While she still makes a couple of cameos afterwards, she seemingly never actually makes up with Mordecai.]] And of course ''not'' helped that WordOfGod states that [[spoiler:CJ cut ties with Margaret, Eileen, Mordecai, and Rigby, arguably due to how her relationship with Mordecai was screwed up beyond repair]].
** In an incredibly creepy example of foreshadowing, or just one heck of a coincidence, Pops, in the fourth Halloween special, is [[spoiler:sacrificed to a giant hole in his own scary story]]. In addition to this, in his segment, he's dressed as [[spoiler:the sun. In the finale, he dies via incineration by a star]].
** Possibly intentional example from "Cheer Up Pops." The joke of Pops being horrified when his friends cut into a cake (which oozes red filling) that resembles his head? Darkly humorous upon watching initially. After watching the finale, though? Quite possibly the most morbid joke in the series.
** Pops' continuous association/fascination with butterflies could be seen as this, seeing as how [[spoiler:he's the only character to permanently die by the end of the series]], and there's an [[ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth entire trope]] about this.
** In the episode "Rap It Up," Pops recites a rather sweet, charming poem about hugs. It's cute upon watching initially, but rather sad after watching the show's final episode. In the finale, [[spoiler:Pops dies hugging Anti-Pops, and in their last moments, Anti-Pops gives him a hug back]].
** ''Death Punchies'' shows a PlayedForLaughs montage of Rigby losing in a game called punchies, capped off with [[TheBigGuy Skips]] sending him to the hospital. In ''Over The Top'', [[spoiler:Skips ''kills'' Rigby in a game of arm wrestling.]]
*** Also in the same episode, when Rigby goes completely nuts with the Death Punch, one moment is shown where he punches Pops into the sun. [[spoiler:Now, how does Pops die in the finale?]]
** ''The End of Muscle Man'', Muscle Man makes everyone in the park think he's going to die because of his declining health, but this ends up being a fake out. (he wanted to kill off his Muscle Man ''persona'' for Starla, because he thought it would be better to put his wildness behind him and just be Mitch for when the finally get married)In the finale [[spoiler:Anti-Pops really ''does'' end up killing Muscle Man, along with High-Five Ghost. Thankfully, they come back in the end thanks to Pops' HeroicSacrifice.]]
** "Don" bears some similarities to the series finale. [[spoiler:Just like Pops, Rigby has to hug his brother to prevent everything from being erased.]]
** The short mini-episode "Fun Run" ends with Pops getting carried off to the sky towards the sun by a flock of seagulls. In the show's final episode, Pops [[spoiler:dies by incineration when he's flung into a star]]. What was at first just a very surreal joke ending is now a lot creepier in hindsight.
** In the [[BigDamnMovie Regular Show movie]], Rigby tells Mordecai that if he dies saving the world, that he wants Benson to build a bronze statue of him in his memory at the park, because "that would be really cool." [[spoiler:Pops died in the final episode, and Benson erected a statue in his memory at the park]].

*** Why does Benson occasionally entrust Mordecai and Rigby with important tasks, despite knowing very well what screwups they are, to the point where other times he's reluctant to give them a chance? Is it just him occasionally grabbing the IdiotBall, or is there a part of him that sincerely thinks they can do better and wants to give them the opportunity to show it.

** Is Benson just a MeanBoss with a HairTriggerTemper (albeit [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold with a heart of gold underneath]]), or is he a friendly enough ReasonableAuthorityFigure who has just been pushed to his wits end by Mordecai and Rigby's antics. While he can be harsh and he does have a few legitimate KickTheDog moments throughout the series, often his frustration with the two is understandable given what they put him through and their general laziness, and it's shown that he is willing to treat his employees when they actually do their work. Not to mention, despite threatening to fire the main duo enough for "Or your fired!" to be considered his CatchPhrase, he rarely attempts to act on it, even when they give him more than enough reason to.

** Same for Eileen in season 8. She goes into space and joins the main cast, yet she retains her SatelliteCharacter status and practically has no purpose in the plot, which gets lampshaded in "Meet the Seer". WordOfGod revealed that she originally wasn't going to go to space at first, but they adore her so much that they added her and wanted to see where her relationship with Rigby would go.

** One of Boston's "More Than a Feeling" in "Benson Be Gone".

** One of MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" in "See You There".

** One of Scorpions' "Winds of Change" in "Death Metal Crash Pit" during [[spoiler:Muscle Man's suicide and the burning of the audience]].
** One of Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" in "Camping Can Be Cool".

** One of Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" plays over a montage in "Skips' Story".