Line #20 Awesome/HeyArnold


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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/heyarnold.png]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:"Remember, Arnold, always wash your berries before you eat them. And fly towards the sun."]]
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12	* The Jungle Movie has [[Awesome/HeyArnoldTheJungleMovie its own page of Awesome.]] Well deserved for a movie that was in production for 15 years.
13	* Helga G. Pataki is possibly the deepest, most well-rounded female child character ever to set foot in Western Animation. From negligent [[WordofGod alcoholic]] parents, to putting all of her faith in Arnold in private while bullying him in public, to say nothing of her relationship with other characters like her best friend Phoebe or older sister Olga...the list goes on and on. Her voice actress, Creator/FrancescaMarieSmith, actually won a Young Artist Award for her portrayal of Helga.
14	* Helga nonchalantly starts a conversation about painter Creator/EdwardHopper when she first goes into therapy with Dr. Bliss. Her deadpan expression and tone of voice imply that she doesn't even consider it a big deal that she's only nine and knows so much about fine art-- she's not bragging or anything of the sort. Just making small talk.
15	* "Veterans Day"
16	** Grandpa Phil narrates how he beat up Hitler; although he admits it wasn't Hitler and states he actually beat up [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels Joseph Goebbels]], someone who was probably worse than Hitler. The rest of his story was even much more awesome, with Phil tricking several Nazi soldiers into eating spoiled meat, and opening a clear path for the Allies to invade Berlin. Arnold doubts all of this, but Phil later proves the latter part by showing him a bust made in honor of his "single-handedly [winning] the Battle of the Bulge".
17	** Gerald's father, Martin, saved a soldier's life in the Vietnam War by bandaging him up, stopping him from bleeding out. The soldier later meets the Johanssens at a Vietnam War memorial, where he tells Martin that he had been waiting 20 years to thank him for his act of bravery.
18	* Helga memorizing ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' in one night and pulling off the performance with no rehearsal whatsoever. Even ThePowerOfLove can't fully account for that one.
19	** [[FridgeBrilliance Certainly not]]; Helga has been shown to be ''very'' intelligent in many episodes. She could have achieved that even without being motivated by her love for Arnold, although [[BrilliantButLazy the motivation certainly helped]].
20	* The freakishly huge amount of character development! For one thing, Chocolate Boy starts out as just a chocolate junkie, but then he gets his own episode, where he goes from being comic relief to being a chocolate [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything addict]] with a back story (in an episode that perfectly parallels many real-life drug stories). There were characters like Tucker, who were one episode wonders, but still managed to get character development into just eleven minutes of airtime. Helga started the show out as a total, unsympathetic bully who stalked Arnold, but her dysfunctional family made her into an epic tragic love story! Everyone living in the boardinghouse got their own episode at some point! Brainy is the only character who really never got character development, but his lack of character development totally worked because he is the GREATEST creeper! Ironically, the show's main character, Arnold, is the only character to really undergo any Flanderization (turning into the city's savior in later episodes), but even he had an epic backstory and to top it off, saving his entire neighborhood in the movie.
21	** Brainy did manage to get some expansion via WordOfGod and AllThereInTheManual, though.
22	* Arnold's explanation to Grandpa and the other adults in "The Vacant Lot" for why he and his friends just overturned a dumpster full of garbage into the aforementioned vacant lot:
23	-->'''Arnold:''' You see, this is how the lot looked before we cleaned it up. Before we turned it into Gerald Field - and before you guys kicked us out.
24	-->'''Gerald:''' So if ''you'' want your vacant lot so badly, you can have it just the way ''we'' found it: a dump.
25	* In "Das Subway", Grandma is found meditating in her karate gi when she hears news of a subway breaking down, the very same one Arnold and many others are trapped in. She decides to take matters into her own hands and suits up commando style and searches for the subway.
26	** Similarly in "Field Trip" once Arnold tells Grandma about Lockjay's squalid living conditions and how other kids mistreat him she immediately takes charge and her and Arnold break into the Aquarium to free Lockjaw and release him into the wild.
27	* Arnold '''finally''' getting back at Helga in "Girl Trouble". Sure, it gets him in trouble thanks to DoubleStandard, but this clearly shows that there '''is''' a difference between NiceGuy and ExtremeDoormat.
28	* Stoop Kid finally leaving his stoop, jumping off the stoop when Harold makes fun of him for being afraid to leave his stoop and chasing him while saying "[[PayEvilUntoEvil COME HERE, FAT BOY!]] [[PreAssKickingOneLiner I'M GONNA ROLL YOU DOWNTOWN]]!" Also a funny moment. Harold's OhCrap expression just sells the awesomeness.
29	** That was the ''second'' time. He actually managed to leave (with Arnold's help) before Harold's scene. Speaking of, Harold apparently was on vacation and missed said scene, making the chase [[LaserGuidedKarma all the more awesome]].
30	** Leaving the stoop for the first time was such a big deal that, the moment word got out that he was going to do it, it became a huge event where almost everyone in town is gathered to see it. Also a Heartwarming Moment because many of them, even those who made fun of him for being afraid to leave his stoop before, are cheering and holding signs in support of Stoop Kid finally getting off his stoop.
31	* After Harold gets hit in the head by Arnold's baseball, Harold threatens to beat Arnold up [[NeverMyFault despite it being an accident]] until an older kid named Frankie G shows up and threatens to beat the crap out of Harold if he dosen't put Arnold down, needless to say Harold quickly does and runs off in terror. Granted it's later revealed that Frankie was only befriending Arnold to take advantage of him for his own needs, but nevertheless it was still cool to see Harold get intimidated by someone for a change.
32	* Gerald learning to ride a bike and winning the Bike-a-Thon in "Gerald's Secret".
33	* Rhonda taking advantage of a bad situation and becoming the Queen of the Geeks in "Rhonda's Glasses".
34	* In "Olga Gets Engaged", Helga putting aside her feelings of resentment towards Olga and acting like a sister by getting rid of her lying, manipulative fiance. How does she do it? She catches him right after he finished talking to another girlfriend over the phone, reveals that she knows what he's really like, and when he counters that no one would believe her because of how jealous she is of Olga, Helga offers to redial his other girlfriend and tell her ''all'' about Olga. What really sells it is the guy's OhCrap look and Helga's smug smile as she holds her finger above the redial button.s
35	* "Hey Harold!" has Harold telling Sid and Stinky off for making fun of his crush on Big Patty, which overlaps with SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment\|s}}.
36	-->'''Harold''' (''to Sid and Stinky''): Stop it! You guys don't know what you're talking about. Her name's not Big Patty, it's Patty. And she's not clumsy and she's not dumb. Not only that, she's smart and she's nice and she's funny. I must be crazy to listen to you guys. Why do I care what you think? The only thing that matters is what I think. And what I think is I like Patty! And if anybody has a problem with that, ''I'll beat you up so bad it won't even be '''FUNNY'''!''
37	** Big Patty had a habit of bringing these out in others. Rhonda got hers by doing the same thing to a couple of upperclassmen in another episode. She even threatens to ''beat them up'' if they don't leave Patty alone.
38	** In "Harold vs. Patty", Harold loses to Patty in the Hillwood City Arm Wrestling Tournament. Sid and Stinky ''once again'' proceed to make fun of Harold losing to her. Harold decides he's had enough of their rudeness and starts shouting at them. (Doubles as a [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Funny Moment]].)
39	-->'''Harold:''' ''(yelling)'' SO WHAT IF I LOST TO A GIRL?! Patty's the best arm wrestler-
40	-->''(he grabs Sid and Stinky by their shirts)''
41	-->'''Harold:''' -in the whole city and ''she's my friend!'' I'm proud to lose to her, and if anyone has a problem with that, ''I'll pound them!''
42	-->''(Harold smacks Sid's and Stinky's heads together and they fall to the floor)''
43	* Hell, the series opens by giving Arnold one.
44	-->''[[ObfuscatingInsanity I'm crazy, and you should never hit a crazy person]].''
45	** For context's sake: Harold wanted to fight Arnold and the entire episode has Arnold stressing out over this impending problem. That quote is one part of the method of how he fixes it; he claims he's crazy. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBtlIuTnlh0 The]] [[Music/JamesBrown other part?]]
46	*** Best of all? ''[[DefeatMeansFriendship This endears Arnold to Harold.]]''
47	---->'''Harold''': Wow. You really ''are'' crazy. [[FreakyIsCool Wanna join our club]]?
48	* Lila of all people gets one in "Big Sis," after Helga's attempt to ruin her and Olga's day by sabotaging their horse-drawn carriage turns nasty. One of the wheels flies off, throwing the driver, and the horse goes crazy - dragging the carriage along the ground and running uncontrollably at breakneck speed. Olga starts panicking, but it turns out the ex-farm girl Lila is used to this sort of thing. So what does she do? Leap from the careening carriage onto the horses back in a single bound, grab the reins and pull the horse to a stop. Even Helga can't do anything but gape.
49	* In one episode, Phoebe is turned into a laughingstock when she accidentally farted during a school assembly and became a shut-in because [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten no one would let her live it down]]. After her classmates and Mr. Simmons fail to cheer her up, Arnold manages to convince her to come back to school. That isn't the awesome part. The awesome part came when Phoebe marched on stage during another assembly and called out the entire student body for turning her into a one-dimensional joke, admitting that even she would've laughed if it had been someone else, but that it's not fair for all her hard work and accomplishments to be treated like nothing all with one simple, human response.
50	-->'''Phoebe''': (to the school) I'm not that one who has anything to be ashamed of. ''[[ShamingTheMob You]]'' [[ShamingTheMob are]].
51	* Bob calls Arnold an orphan during a Parents' Day competition where Arnold bring his grandparents, which visibly hits home for him. In retaliation (and on behalf of her beloved Arnold), Helga tells Phil how to take him down during the final part of the competition.
52	** She has another such moment in an earlier episode with a Spelling Bee, when she [[LaserGuidedKarma loses on purpose]] as retaliation for not only trying to bribe Arnold to lose, but also the principle of having no faith in his daughter winning.
53	* Speaking of the Spelling Bee episode, Arnold arguably has the bigger moment: as mentioned above, Bob tries to [[BribingYourWayToVictory bribe]] Arnold to lose with a paycheck. "If you lose, [[MakesSenseInContext you win]]. If you try to win, ''[[BreakThemByTalking you'll probably lose]]''." How does Arnold respond when he returns to that stage? He [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules disgustedly]] crumples up the paycheck and correctly spells the word. And [[WhatYouAreInTheDark nobody is the wiser that Arnold turned down the bribe]]... barring ''Helga'', who promptly decides to throw the competition [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard once discovering the paycheck on the floor]].
54	** The fact that the word she deliberately misspells is "qualm", the word her older sister Olga had spelled correctly to win in Bob's oft repeated story, makes it sting for Bob even more, to say nothing of the way she threw it.
55	-->'''Helga''': "Qualm". Q-U-A-L... X?\
56	''*buzzer sounds''\
57	'''Bob''': '''''[[BigWhat WHAT!?]]'''''
58	*** Even better, "qualm" means an uneasy feeling or misgivings about doing something. Ironically, Bob had no qualms about [[BribingYourWayToVictory bribing Arnold]], and in turn, Helga has no qualms about throwing the spelling bee.
59	* In the episode wherein Miriam proceeds to screw up her and Helga's road trip, Miriam pulls one of these with a mechanical bull riding competition. Helga can't watch because she thinks Miriam will fall right off... yet she manages to hold on twice as long as anyone else, wins, and impresses all of the manly man cowboys in there. The episode ends with a Heartwarming moment wherein Helga is so impressed with Miriam it's implied they bond.
60	* "What's Opera, Arnold?" is 11 minutes of pure SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic.
61	* "Mr. Green Runs" is a great episode where, sick of Councilman Gladhand's inaction (concerning potholes) and only being in it for the publicity, Mr. Green ends up running against Gladhand. Initially, Green starts to lose confidence when he finds he can't compete with Gladhand's charisma and big speeches. But with Arnold's help and his encouragement to [[BeYourself use meat allegories]], Mr. Green gets into his stride and gains the crowd's favor, reversing the popularity scale in just a couple of minutes. Eventually, Mr. Green actually wins the election! There's something awe-inspiring about the episode as a whole, as though saying anyone can make a difference in the world, be they an idealist or a butcher.
62	** Special mention to the ArmorPiercingResponse Arnold gives Mr. Green when he tries and fails to beat Gladhand at his own game:
63	-->'''Mr. Green:''' I'm not fooling anyone.
64	-->'''Arnold:''' No one out there wants to be fooled.
65	** In between, Gladhand (who can somehow sense Mr. Green is winning because he has Arnold in his corner) [[ManipulativeBastard tries to convince the boy]] to give up on helping Mr. Green be the city's new mayor. If he does, then he [[BlatantLies promises]] to fill the potholes like he was supposed to, and throw Arnold and his fellow kids a party. But Arnold sees through him, knowing he can't be trusted to be honest. If this indicates anything, Arnold is Mr. Green's ally [[UndyingLoyalty for a reason]].
66	* In "Stinky Goes Hollywood", Stinky passes an audition over every other kid to be the mascot for Yahoo. He is excited about having supposedly found a talent at first, until overhearing a conversation that they only hired him because he's SoBadItsGood ("A yahoo advertising for Yahoo"). Hurt, Stinky decides to value his integrity and coldly refuses a contract, leaving the pompous director devastated and without a promotion. In spite of the [[NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished scorn]] it earns from both family and peers (besides [[PetTheDog Arnold]]), Stinky is quite content that he valued his dignity over money and fame.
67	* Towards the end of "Monkeyman!" Sid is mugged and has his beloved Beatle boots taken from him. He blames the titular Monkeyman for this due to the latter not coming to his rescue after he screamed for help. Monkeyman is left feeling ashamed for not being there to save Sid and decides it's best to quit being a superhero. Arnold urges him to reconsider, saying that the kids still need him to be there to protect them. The episode ends with Arnold coming home to find a package from Monkeyman, saying that he will be returning to his heroic duties. In the package are Sid's boots, showing he'd done what he'd failed to do before and helped the latter.
68	* "Oskar Gets a Job": Arnold having enough of Oskar's lies after being manipulated into doing his paper route for him twice. What helps is that after [[BewareTheNiceOnes he calls Oskar out on it]], Ernie and Mr. Hyunh [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech immediately join in]].
69	-->'''Arnold''': Look, I only helped you because you said you were desperate. You said you wanted to change. I guess I was wrong. Mr. Kokoshka? I'm sorry, but you are a ''huge'' loser!
70	-->'''Ernie''': I told ya. That Kokoshka is a Class-A bum. A Class-A bum!
71	-->'''Mr. Hyunh''': He just no good!
72	-->'''Ernie''': I'm telling you, Hyunh! That bum will ''never'' work a single day in his life!
73	** And then, spurred to prove everyone wrong, Oskar finally does the route himself the following morning. No snooze button, no excuses, no waiting for Arnold to knock on his door, he's up at the sound of his alarm and does his job like clockwork. And the best part? As of his next focus episode, "Oskar Can't Read?", he's [[CharacterDevelopment still]] employed. Guess you might say it really was [[MeaningfulEcho a miracle]].
74	** Speaking of which, "Oskar Can't Read" has a smaller moment where, after having a change of heart, starts putting in more effort learning to read. For round two of his reading course, Arnold gives him a final test in the form of reading the directions to get home from a random location. He ''is'' met with a hitch where a simple mistake lands him in the bad part of town and [[HeroicBSOD discourages him]]. But at [[EurekaMoment realizing]] he's progressed enough to know what a sign says, he tries again and against all odds, finds his way home.
75	* "Career Day" has gives Helga and Gerald each an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome. Gerald helps put out a fire and rescue innocents, while Helga stops four bank robbers using taijutsu. Please note that they’re about 9.
76	* Arnold’s grandparents deserve their own page. They may just be his grandparents, but they have made it BLATANTLY clear on more than one occasion (both separate and together) that, as far as they’re concerned, Arnold is their SON, and they love him as if he were their son! It’s telling that Phil is as nice as they come, but if you mess with Arnold, it’s a HUGE berserk button.
77	* In "Pigeon Man", Arnold saving his carrier pigeon Chester after realizing he's too sick to fly. He catches Chester in his baseball mitt before he hits the street below.
78	-->'''Sid''': Nice grab, Arnold!
79	* "Friday the 13th", Arnold getting back at Wolfgang for his pranks(I.E. tricking Arnold and Gerald into thinking they were suffering from bad luck)by throwing a bucket of fish heads him resulting in him being chased by a bunch of black cats causing Wolfgang to run off in terror due to his own superstitions.

Context Awesome / HeyArnold