History Fridge / Rugrats

** All Grown Up (thankfully) fixed this, but imagine somebody as borderline sociopathic as [[EnfanteTerrible Angelica]] as a teenager or even an adult. Calling Angelica sociopathic, even borderline, goes a bit too far, as she is only three. But yes, it would be terrifying to imagine how a child like Angelica, who receives little to no discipline whatsoever, would be as a teen or adult. Hell, this episode exemplifies Angelica at her very worst, acting as a BadSamaritan and convincing Chuckie the world is worse off from his existing, seemingly just for a cruel laugh. This is a ''three year old'' posing as a sadistic and horrifically competent psychological bully that has broken one of her victims' will to live. An older, cleverer, and even nastier Angelica would potentially be responsible for multiple suicides. Had Angelica not mellowed out of messing with the babies' heads by the time of ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'', it's very possible she would've become a [[DistaffCounterpart female version]] of [[Literature/{{Durarara}} Izaya]] [[{{Troll}} Orihara]]. There is an [[Series/MySuperSweetSixteen entire reality show]] that's basically dedicated to that.

** In the same episode, Phil and Lil demonstrate how they can switch identities simply depending on who wears Lil's pink bow, and part of this is the fact that Phil can perfectly imitate Lil's voice. (Of course he can; they have the same voice actress.) InUniverse it's explained that they are related and the same age as HalfIdenticalTwins. It's difficult to tell a baby's gender most of the time so them switching outfits and looking just like the other is understandable.

** In the same episode, Phil and Lil demonstrate how they can switch identities simply depending on who wears Lil's pink bow, and part of this is the fact that Phil can perfectly imitate Lil's voice. Of course he can; they have the same voice actress!
*** Out-of-universe. InUniverse it could be explained that they are related and the same age. It's difficult to tell a baby's gender most of the time so them switching outfits and looking just like the other is understandable.

** It's revealed at the end her accent is fake. Her surname Umlaut means those two dots over letters in Northern European languages, such as German. The fridge brilliance meaning that she could've been lying unless she legitimately traveled around.
*** The other possibility is that she was trying to get potential customers by playing into the stereotype of the masterful, experienced Scandinavian stylist--notice that both cities given above, Helsinki (Finland) and Stockholm (Sweden), are in the broad Scandinavian region--and was deliberately putting on the facade of being from there for business purposes, which would explain why she flubs the city as well as the revelation of her accent being faked. No fraud required, for once.
* The size of the characters' houses and yards change in some episodes. This is because it's seen from a baby's point of view, and they see things differently on their adventures.
** In addition, the intro, which seems to be set in Tommy's living room, appears HUGE compared to how it's portrayed during the actual episodes. This is because the intro is from the babies' perspective, and everything is bigger to them than it is to us.

* In "Reptar's Revenge" we see Didi freak out when a clown approaches her. This happens right in front of Chuckie, whose legendary fear of clowns develops a few episodes down the line. Studies have suggested that phobias are caused by seeing someone else react with fear to the same thing. Without meaning to, Didi gave Chuckie his fear of clowns.
** Maybe. Later episodes feature flashbacks of Chuckie being scared by clown-related things (a Jack in the Box and a clown head on an ice cream truck) when he was around Tommy's age or slightly younger.

* A RunningGag is that Chuckie is scared of the guy on the Quaker Oats box. Quakers wear funny clothes so Chuckie must think he's a clown, which is one of his biggest fears.
** He might be scared of the clowns ''because'' of the clothes, because he does call him "The Guy On The Oatmeal Box ''With the Scary Hat''".

** Related to "Chuckie vs. the Potty". In "Potty Training Spike", it's revealed that Chuckie has a ShyBladder and can't go if other people are watching. Now, remember in "Chuckie vs. the Potty", the first time he had to go, Stu and Didi watched him nearly the whole time, and he didn't go until his body finally gave up on him, which is also when they were asleep. When he had to go after having his nightmare, he was alone and didn't seem to have any trouble going. To summarise, he might have even had a ShyBladder back then.

* I found it weird how Reptar is portrayed as a hero, [[DestructiveSaviour yet he constantly wrecks buildings for no reason other than they were in his way.]] Then it hit me, he's aimed at babies and toddlers. Kids that young aren't going to question that nearly as much as adults would.
** Not to mention a character that has the size and power to smash down anything at whim is obviously gonna be a hero from the perspective of a destructive toddler.

* The episode "Chuckie's Wonderful Life" shows that without Chuckie, [[BrokenBird Chas is a mess,]] living alone in his house surrounded by empty pizza boxes and talking to a sock puppet. It gets worse when you realize that his wife (Chuckie's mother) died of an unmentioned disease (according to the Mother's Day special episode). And since Chas doesn't have a kid, he wouldn't be as close to the other parents and therefore would have no friends to help him through his wife's illness and his own mental breakdown.
** The episode implies that Chuckie was the only thing standing between Chas and [[SanitySlippage sanity slippage]]. What better motivator to keep it together than the completely helpless human being you brought into the world with [[TheLostLenore the love you just lost?]]
** While it's comically blown into fantastic levels, some of the depictions, abiding by the show's CharacterDevelopment, aren't grossly inaccurate. Chas is a NervousWreck who frequently displays emotional dependency on Chuckie, Tommy, as the guardian angel emphasizes, uses Chuckie as a LivingEmotionalCrutch. In contrast, Phil and Lil are often rambunctious and selfish when the others aren't around to keep them in line. Angelica is already a SpoiledBrat, but her moments of humility from the babies formed most of her CharacterDevelopment into having any real redeeming aspects. Chuckie genuinely ''is'' pivotal to the lives of several people.

*** All Grown Up (thankfully) fixed this, but imagine somebody as borderline sociopathic as [[EnfanteTerrible Angelica]] as a teenager or even an adult.
*** Calling Angelica sociopathic, even borderline, goes a bit too far, as she is only three. But yes, it would be terrifying to imagine how a child like Angelica, who receives little to no discipline whatsoever, would be as a teen or adult.
*** Hell this episode exemplifies Angelica at her very worst, acting as a BadSamaritan and convincing Chuckie the world is worse off from his existing, seemingly just for a cruel laugh. This is a ''three year old'' posing as a sadistic and horrifically competent psychological bully that has broken one of her victims' will to live. An older, cleverer, and even nastier Angelica would potentially be responsible for multiple suicides.
*** There is an [[Series/MySuperSweetSixteen entire reality show]] that's basically dedicated to that.
*** Had Angelica not mellowed out of messing with the babies' heads by the time of ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'', it's very possible she would've become a [[DistaffCounterpart female version]] of [[Literature/{{Durarara}} Izaya]] [[{{Troll}} Orihara]].
* In the episode "Toy Palace" there is a ''real, working time machine,'' set up as a ChekhovsGun for the episode. In the Rugrats universe, not only is time travel possible, ''it's meant as a toy for children.'' Even worse, it's seen sending a toy robot to the Revolutionary War, meaning that A.) Tommy and Chuckie (who are only one and two years old) were nearly sent into the middle of a bloody battle with possibly no way back, and B.) The toy robot might have caused an alien paranoia. That same toy store also sells a toy with a nuclear reactor in it.
** FridgeBrilliance leading off of this: the existence of time travel explains all the gross negligence on the parent's part, as well as explaining away the ComicbookTime nature of the show.

* It has already been established that Phil and Lil eat bugs. With their parents' neglect in each episode, how would anyone know if they were to eat a poisonous insect? This is especially apparent in the crossover with WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys, where there are numerous unfamiliar insects that could very well be poisonous. If Lil hadn't insisted on the two of them being vegetarians during that movie, it might have meant death for the twins.
** On the note of the babies eating bugs, that is rather normal as babies do put things in their mouth to see what it is and, if they like the taste or commonly the feel, they'll be more inclined to eat it, nothing to worry about. On the note of the poisonous insects, well, that would be normal, too, if you take into account no one really expects babies to eat the bugs, be they poisonous or not.
*** It is something to worry about when it's dangerous. A lot of babies swallow and taste things they shouldn't, such as poisons or small objects.
* In "Special Delivery" [[FreezeFrameBonus pausing at the right moment]] right before Tommy almost takes a tumble into the Dead Letter Office [[http://rugratsrecaps.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/special-delivery-34.jpg reveals the skeletonized remains of someone in uniform.]] Either A: This guy fell in accidentally and starved to death or B: The poor bastard was murdered and someone tossed his body in the Dead Letter Office to hide it.
** What makes this even scarier to think about is that, if it weren't for his dumb luck, Tommy would've suffered the same fate. And even worse than that? Stu and Didi didn't know he was even at the post office. They never would have found out what happened to him.
** To be fair, though, the horror may be mitigated by the fact that that skeleton [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking may just be a discarded Halloween decoration]].
* The end of "Garage Sale" shows that pretty much everything in the Pickles house was sold, including the furniture. We can only hope that Didi and Stu made enough money from the sale to be able to replace everything...
** Considering StatusQuoIsGod, everything is back to normal in the next episode. Either they made enough or managed to explain it to people who came to the sale.

* Rugrats was one of the most popular kids' shows in America back when it was still running, mostly in the late '90's. Angelica, a young bully, was not only a major character, but also one of the most popular characters in the series. Bullying became a ''huge'' problem amongst children in the late 90's going onward. You do the math.
** In all fairness, she's three, and, through some means or another, she doesn't know any better. That aside, however, the ones she's picking on are babies, who, thankfully, won't remember.

* "The Last Babysitter". A subtler one happens early on: Buster goes into the basement, then runs out, saying that something was down there. We briefly get a POV from something coming after him, just before the door is closed. While it's later revealed that the so-called monster was actually Buster's friend, it's pointed out that a monster couldn't get out of the basement without being noticed. If that's so, then what was in the basement chasing Buster in the first place?
** Maybe a raccoon or possum, if not a stray dog or cat that got into the basement through some entrance into the basement (as does occasionally happen). Alternatively, it was really nothing and he was either imagining things or was just playing along with a prank his friend was playing.
* In "Angelica Breaks a Leg", one scene shows Angelica watching television while resting her "broken" leg. We never actually see what she's watching, but we do hear it: it's the sound of gunshots, and for some reason, it makes Angelica burst out in laughter...
** Maybe she thinks it was a cartoon?

* The subplot of "Cooking with Susie" has Stu trying to get his Doorstopper 3000 invention to work, and Didi lying about what she really thinks about it. This prompts him to continue working on it, with increasingly disastrous results. The horror sets in when his third attempt sends a door ''flying through the roof and onto the sidewalk''. Imagine if someone had been walking their dog past the Pickles' house at that exact moment. Didi's "little white lie" could have very well ended up ''killing someone''.

* The subplot of "Cooking with Susie" has Stu trying to get his Doorstopper 3000 invention to work, and Didi lying about what she really thinks about it. This prompts him to continue working on it, with increasingly disastrous results. The horror sets in when his third attempt sends a door ''flying through the roof and onto the sidewalk''. Imagine if someone had been walking their dog past the Pickles' house at that exact moment. Didi's "white lie" could have very well ended up ''killing someone''.

* Stu's failed attempts at getting his Pickles Doorstopper 3000 invention to work in "Cooking with Susie" are PlayedForLaughs, but the final attempt could have easily injured someone. Didi was right to call him out on it.

* Angelica's parents spoil her and while Drew has a backbone at times, he still gives in. He finally punishes her in "Angelica Runs Away" and Angelica is seen being punished more often after this. It serves as a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome and CharacterDevelopment for Drew.

* The end of "Rhinceritis!"'s B plot reveals that Stu is ''over 32 thousand dollars in debt''. No wonder he's so desperate to put Pickles Toys on the map throughout the series!

* Stu getting amnesia in "Regarding Stuie" is already kind of scary, but it becomes even scarier at the realisation that Didi was never aware about her husband's amnesia.

* Chas is allergic to cats, while Chuckie is allergic to dandelions. The tendency to have allergies can be genetic, so Chuckie probably inherited it from his father.

* The episode "Chuckie's Wonderful Life" shows that without Chuckie, [[BrokenBird Chaz is a mess,]] living alone in his house surrounded by empty pizza boxes and talking to a sock puppet. It gets worse when you realize that his wife (Chuckie's mother) died of an unmentioned disease (according to the Mother's Day special episode). And since Chaz doesn't have a kid, he wouldn't be as close to the other parents and therefore would have no friends to help him through his wife's illness (or injury) and his own mental breakdown.
** The episode implies that Chuckie was the only thing standing between Chaz and [[SanitySlippage sanity slippage]]. What better motivator to keep it together than the completely helpless human being you brought into the world with [[TheLostLenore the love you just lost?]]
** While it's comically blown into fantastic levels, some of the depictions, abiding by the show's CharacterDevelopment, aren't grossly inaccurate. Chaz is a NervousWreck who frequently displays emotional dependency on Chuckie, Tommy, as the guardian angel emphasizes, uses Chuckie as a LivingEmotionalCrutch. In contrast, Phil and Lil are often rambunctious and selfish when the others aren't around to keep them in line. Angelica is already a SpoiledBrat, but her moments of humility from the babies formed most of her CharacterDevelopment into having any real redeeming aspects. Chuckie genuinely ''is'' pivotal to the lives of several people.

* A Fridge Tearjerker occurs in "Let Them Eat Cake." Throughout the wedding, Chaz is shown crying his eyes out. At first glance, this just seems to show how sensitive he is. But in hindsight, it seems likely that he was remembering his own wedding and missing his late wife.

** Chuckie acts out the evening news, something Chaz, a well-known worrywart, likely prefers to keep up to date with.

** The logical part? Chuckie's dad being a puppet-obsessed slob. The angel is spot on that Chaz is the way he is because, as a single father, he has to set an example for Chuckie and keep house. And as for his loneliness, bear in mind [[TearJerker he's a widower at this point]], so of course he'd have a puppet to make up for the solitude.

* In "Vacation" if Didi had been one second too late saving Tommy from opening the white tigers' cage, he would have been either mauled to death or eaten.

* In the episode "Toy Palace" there is a ''real, working time machine,'' set up as a ChekhovsGun for the episode. In the Rugrats universe, not only is time travel possible, ''it's meant as a toy for children.''

* From the "New Kid in Town" episode, Josh's game "Pillow" involves him attempting to jump on the babies from the swings. If Angelica hadn't stepped in when she did, the little bastard could've killed them.

* One episode had Angelica trying to rip Chuckie's teeth out to get money from the tooth fairy. Just imagine Angelica succeeding, and the parents finding Chuckie toothless and covered in blood...

* In "Chuckie vs. the Potty", Lou says that Stu was potty trained so late that he almost wasn't allowed into the Boy Scouts. Bear in mind, the real life Boy Scouts of America has a minimum age of ''ten''. It may be possible that Lou was exaggerating, though.

* The TV shows the babies act out in “Kids TV” very likely reflect the shows their parents watch.

** Angelica acts out a lot of things, including an infomercial, a spy show, and a parody of “COPS”—as the oldest of the bunch, Angelica’s the only one who’s allowed to watch TV unsupervised, so her viewing experience is likely more varied than that of the babies.

* In some early {{Imagine Spot}}s from Chuckie's perspective, he tends to see himself a CosmicPlaything and his so-called friends being unsympathetic or outright worsening things for him. "Chuckie vs The Potty" is possibly the darkest, where he sees Angelica as his executioner, Phil and Lil as ChaoticNeutral guards dragging him to face his punishment, and Tommy as a pious priest apathetically telling him [[CatchPhrase not to be such a baby]]. This actually doesn't seem too far off how he is treated in real-life episodes such as "The Alien" (where Phil and Lil are very easily swayed into helping Angelica terrorize him) or "Farewell My Friend" (which was the last straw for him, leading him to call out Tommy on his selfish treatment). Noticeably Tommy genuinely mellowed out afterwards and other perspective moments from Chuckie tend to view him more favourably, if not extremely idealistically (eg. TheMovie).

* Near the end of “The Trial”, Tommy suddenly realizes something’s up, asking Angelica “Didn’t you already take a nap this morning before you came over?” His question ''seems'' to come out of nowhere (there’s no mention or foreshadowing of Angelica having already taken a nap in the episode), but when you stop and think about it, it ''does'' make sense: either she’s over often enough that he’s learned when she typically naps, or he overheard her parents quickly telling Didi that she’d already taken a nap as they dropped her off at the house that morning (since no sane parent would want their kid potentially staying up all night). Either way, this means Tommy asking Angelica if she’d already taken a nap isn’t an AssPull - ''he's SpottingTheThread!''
* In "The Shot" Chuckie gives Tommy a horror story from his trauma about getting the aforementioned booster shot. At first, it seems like Chuckie's among the kids who "can't take it." However, on rewatch, the shot itself is the most fleeting part of his story (Chuckie even seems to briefly stop screaming when it's given), {{Foreshadowing}} that Chuckie was scared more of the overall atmosphere rather than the actual injection.

* If the NostalgiaFilter hasn't fully fogged up your vision of past cable cartoons, try watching ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' now in a time where everyone is ''much'' more careful when it comes to the safety of children. [[SocialServicesDoesNotExist Shudder at the many instances of neglect. Gasp at the fact that the only thing saving the babies from being crushed, burned, exposed to the elements, abducted, starved, eaten, cut to ribbons, drowned, or permanently traumatized was dumb luck or their dim-bulb parents eventually realizing they were missing.]] What would've happened if the parents were too late to realize where the babies were whenever they went off somewhere? One must also consider the many instances in which Angelica plays on the babies' naiveté and paranoia in order to torment/scare them, for fun or for profit. And considering this all happens to them while they're still quite young, what negative effects will this have on their mental health when they get older?

* In one of the promotional Christmas songs, parodying "The 12 Days of Christmas" and about what the babies saw on TV, Lil's line is "Some guy-- what a Scrooge!". While the joke is likely that she was watching ''Film/AChristmasCarol'' and that she doesn’t know who Scrooge is despite knowing the ''expression'' “Scrooge”, she could have also been watching [[YetAnotherChristmasCarol a parody of the original story]]. If that were the case, Lil could know who Scrooge was, and the guy being put in his role would still be just "some guy" to Lil.

* In "Grandpa's Bad Bug" the babies, thinking Lou has a "bad bug" inside him, tried to lure it out with rotten food from a picnic that was im Phil's diaper. Lou is lucky he didn't get food poisoning from this, or worse, he could have died. The babies could have killed Tommy's grandfather thinking they were saving him!