Headscratchers / PAW Patrol

Inconsistent numbering

• In "Pups Get A Rubble", Rubble is revealed to be the newest member of the team. Why then, is his rig numbered "06", and Zuma's hovercraft numbered "07"?
  • Arguably, this may mean that Ryder had always planned to have a construction-focused member of the team, and constructed the vehicle before locating the pup for the job. If true, this means the numbering of the vehicles has no bearing on the order in which the pups joined the team.
  • This seems to be the case. In his Origins Episode, Rubble was outright asked if he'd want to be the construction pup, which does suggest that Ryder did indeed have such a role in mind. Going further, there are the vehicles introduced in Season 2. The PAW Patroller, the 18-wheeler acting as a mobile Lookout, is numbered "08". And while Everest is the eighth member of the team, her snowmobile is numbered "09". This does suggest that the numbers do not reflect the order of when the pups joined the team.
  • Or was Ryder lying about Rubble's origin the whole time, given that the equally aged Zuma gets less attention than other pups as well as noticeably being the one with a speech impediment that is common for young kids that Rubble doesn't have? One would also consider how more emotionally fully-fledged is Rubble compared to his apparent direct senior.
    • Zuma's speech impediment could have been related to baby teeth that hung around longer than they were supposed to and eventually fell out around the time said impediment stopped. Being the same age as someone doesn't mean you'll be at exactly the same stage of development.
    • That's confusing impediments with childhood underdevelopment. The former is something that affects a person throughout their life, while the latter is something that most go through until they improve their ability to navigate their mouth. Anyway, essentially Zuma's impediment is not supposed to be any indication of his age. Case in point, his first VA only lost it by the time he was 15/16.
  • Even in Rubble's Origins Episode, his vehicle showed wear and tear, so it's possible that he's not the first construction-focused member, just the current one. Which begs the question, what happened to his predecessor?
  • Maybe Ryder had lied like noted above because of Rubble & Crew with Rubble revealing to come from a family of builder pups but maybe that’s how he learned his digging skills. Then how has Rubble reunited with his family.

Pup Pup Boogie's tail-spin move

• What exactly is up with that tail spin move in Pup Pup Boogie, anyway? It doesn't have a corresponding space on the dance pad, and there's really no way to register that they pulled it off. ** It's possible they're imitating a move from some in-verse commercials for the game.
  • Technically, there should be no way for the on-screen game avatar to have changed to reflect the sleepwalking Marshall in "Pups Save a Ghost", either, but it did. The game seems to have capabilities that aren't explained on the show.

Rubble's name

• In "Pups Get A Rubble," when they find Rubble, his name is already Rubble. If they kept their original names, how do you explain Skye? After all, Skye's job is to be in the sky. So they just found her with the exact right name?
  • Not that unlikely - people with meaningful names happen in other works of fiction, as well as real life.

Francois's residence

• Why have the writers never explicitly stated that Francois lives with Cap'n Turbot? It's safe to assume that he resides on Seal Island.

Why the PAW Patrol?

• Why are the PAW Patrol the only means of authority on the whole island? It's safe to assume even the smallest islands have at least a couple fire stations, police stations, etc.
  • Well, why not? The system's worked for Adventure Bay so far, and as the old saying goes "If it ain't broke don't fix it". It is unconventional, but the PAW Patrol's handled everything fine.
    • The episode "Pups Save The Kitty Rescue Crew" actually alludes to this; Mayor Goodway essentially said that they've had the PAW Patrol for so long and just grown fond of the team.

Is Marshall even necessary?

• Why does Ryder even keep Marshall on the PAW Patrol when he's so clumsy and therefore clearly unfit for rescue duty? In fact, why would he allow him on the team in the first place given that dalmatians are known to be clumsy?
  • Marshall may be clumsy, but he's also a very capable fire-pup/EMT. Even with his clumsiness, he can be counted on to get the job done. That's reason enough for Ryder to keep him on the team.

Mayor Humdinger the criminal

• How does Mayor Humdinger, after all the illegal actions he has committed, remain in office? Is it because the people of Foggy Bottom are used to it and have come to accept that their mayor is a loon? Does Humdinger use the Kitten Catastrophe Crew as his own personal police force to stamp out any dissent against his quasi-dictatorship? Or is Humdinger not really the mayor of Foggy Bottom, having declared himself mayor because he is Mayor Goodway's scorned ex-boyfriend from high school and used his fake position to get back at his ex?
  • To be fair, a politician openly committing crimes and facing no consequences for them is probably the most realistic thing about this show.

Speech = pup privilege?

• How is it that the pups can speak, but none of the other animals can? Is it that puppies have some sort of cosmic privileges? And when they grow up into adult dogs, do they lose the ability to speak?
  • Another speaking question: How and/or where did Everest and Tracker learn English if they've been supposedly living on their own before meeting Jake and Carlos, respectively?
    • What if they had human owners/dog parents before but something bad happened to them? Tracker did mention having a grandpa in one episode.
• It seems that all animals can speak, but only pups can speak English. In "Pups and the Lost Dino Eggs" Marshall says that a brachiosaurus "learned to speak puppy", which indicates that the pups actually have their own language too, but choose to communicate in English presumably for the humans' sake.
  • If only pups can speak English, then can we safely assume that that's where the Copycat learned to speak?
  • Copy Cat had the excuse of the meteor enhancing his mind, but Wild Cat can just talk with no explanation given. What's with that?
    • The meteor allowed Copy Cat to speak, but it seems every animal has human-level intelligence in the show. As for the particular question why Wild Cat can speak, perhaps he's from some off breed whose genes allowed speech - given how varied a single species can be in Real Life, it's not that implausible.

Inconsistent fantasy stuff

• Apparently the writers think mermaid-puppy hybrids and aliens are fine to depict as 'real', but dragons, genies, giants, werewolves, and shrink rays are apparently too ridiculous so they have to make the episode All Just a Dream?
  • Speaking of shrink rays, in "Pups Save Tiny Marshall" how come Marshall, his uniform and his gadgets are shrunk, but not his pup tag?
    • I'm gonna go with dream logic since that was All Just a Dream.

Marshall's magical water cannon

• Marshall's water cannon isn't hooked up to anything. Where's all the water coming from?
  • Perhaps it has a built-in vaporator?
  • Given the Bigger on the Inside nature of all of the Pup Packs, presumably he fills up an on-board water tank between missions.

Werepuppies

• Shouldn't a werepuppy mean a guy who turns into a puppy? The word comes from wir- meaning "man" and -puppy meaning, well, puppy.
  • Aw man; now I feel cheated that they missed their opportunity to have Ryder be the werepuppy...Aw well; that's what AU fanfics are for I guess.
  • Honestly, yes, but they only cheated a little: Wir- is also the root for "virile" and "virtue", which relate to power. So this werepuppy is a "powerful puppy".

"Arr, such a confusing pirate I am!"

• Sid Swashbuckle. Just...Sid Swashbuckle. How can a pirate like this exist in the modern day? He's more like a classic buccaneer than modern-day pirates like those seen in Somalia. Even if he uses high-tech watercraft like the PAW Patrol does, that still begs the question why the government hasn't done anything about this guy. He's certifiably-insane to even think an olde-thyme pirate can make it under today's heavily-regulated maritime environment, especially when privateering was outlawed in the 19th century, and wars between major nations are few and far between these days due to the omnipresent threat of the big powers getting involved and launching nukes.
  • You said it yourself; he's insane. But it's a "relatively harmless to others" insane, so no one expects him to stop permanently.

Adventure Bay's location

• Somehow, the PAW Patrol seem to be able to drive all the way to the South Pole in the PAW Patroller. This is already weird enough as is, as Antarctica is its own continent, so a land vehicle shouldn't be able to get there on its own. And despite Adventure Bay having a temperate or tropical climate, it's also close enough to the South Pole for the PAW Patrol to be able to travel there fast enough to respond to emergencies. And it's ALSO within driving distance of a South American jungle. How can one town be a short drive away from a jungle AND the South Pole at the same time?
  • A shot from space in "Mighty Pups" shows a planet with noticeably different geography, so wherever the show takes place it's not on an Earth we would be familiar with. So either the PAW Patrol planet is way smaller or the atmosphere is different enough that reaching what we'd call supersonic speeds is much easier.

Age

• How does age work in this universe? Ten year olds like Ryder and Katie are completely capable of running their own businesses, but then you've got Carlos and Danny who are the same age and are unemployed, and somehow kids like Alex who can't run businesses despite being only four years younger. Also, all the six year olds have a parent/other relative they live with (Alex has Mr. Porter, the twins have their father, Gustavo, and the little pigtailed girl has her parents), while all the ten year olds live alone? And the Turbots' grandma is still around and riding dolphins, even though those two are at least in their 30s? What are the rules?!
  • Possibly in this universe you're considered an adult somewhere between the age of seven and ten. There's no rule saying because you're an adult you have to work, so Carlos and Danny are unemployed because they don't want / don't have to find a job - Carlos in particular lives in the jungle, so presumably he gets by living off the land. And given in Real Life North America there's a social expectation that you stop living with your parents by adult age, a similar thing might be in the PAW Patrol world (Word of God says that Ryder's parents are "still around", but they haven't appeared yet because they want to keep the focus on the protagonists). This actually leads to Fridge Brilliance - because people are considered adults so much sooner, people get married and have kids sooner, which is how the Turbots' grandma is still kicking.

Illegal boating

• Does Sid Swashbuckle have a boating license?
  • Pirates don't care about having a license

Everest the liver lover

• How is liver still a favourite food of Everest's? She was found with a collar, which suggests she previously had an owner of sorts, which is most likely where she acquired the taste. However, if she's since been living in the Arctic for God knows how long and most likely wouldn't have access to liver^note as Everest is too friendly with the penguins to eat one, she would likely have eaten fish whole instead of just specifically their liver, and bear liver is inedible due to having high concentrations of vitamin A, wouldn't her love for it have waned, even just a little bit?
  • Whose to say she didn't eat the penguins? The Arctic is pretty barren, so she would have to do all she could to survive, including eat the penguins!
  • That said, you don't lose the taste for something you enjoy just because you can't get it. It grows in your memory, becoming a prized delicacy. Any extended time without liver would just make Everest crave it more.

PAW Patrol's capabilities

• As previously mentioned, the PAW Patrol seems to be the only means of security on Adventure Bay, but what can happen if there's a serious and dangerous situation in which the PAW Patrol may not be of great help, like deactivating a bomb from a terrorist, capturing a deranged lunatic or a hostage situation? I think that at least in some of these cases, they should not call the SWAT or the army?
  • Thankfully, such cases are almost as rare in Real Life as they are in kid shows. That said, mechanisms are in place, should they ever decide to incorporate some analog of these ideas. Terrorist bombs primarily require evacuation, for which the PAW Patrol is eminently suited, before calling in an explosives expert, or even using a remote-controlled drone (not Robodog, he's too precious) to relocate and/or detonate the danger. Capturing a deranged lunatic is like capturing anyone else, really, except that they're crazy — Chase's net would do, followed by Rocky improvising restraints. A hostage crisis, however, is above their theoretical pay grade — negotiations would be handed off to Mayor Goodway. Who, being a ditz, would serve as an admirable distraction while Ryder and the pups work to find a way around the hostage-taker. (The real-life story of how hostages at a pizza parlor snuck off while the hostage-taker was eating pizza comes to mind, for some reason.)

Dropped plot thread in Rocky's ultimate rescue?

• So, was there a reason why the statue in the treasure chamber under Town Hall looked exactly like Rocky that got cut from the episode or what?

Dog rescue taboo in Canada?

• So why wasn't the show allowed to show Ryder adopting each of the pups? The Trivia page says, "Ryder was going to build the team by rescuing various pups himself instead of having them all from the start, but this was ditched due to a Canadian TV requirement for preschool shows produced there to have pro-social themes." How is adoption (human or animal) not "pro-social"? Does that just mean the subject of adoption is considered inappropriate for pre-schoolers?
  • I think that means they wanted all the pups to be there from the start to better evoke a "teamwork" message.

Ryder forgives too easily

• Why hasn't Ryder done anything about the repeat trouble-causers of the show (Humdinger Daring Danny, Mayor Goodway), or at the very least admonish them for not learning from their mistakes? Don't give me "Oh the show is for little kids, and they wouldn't like seeing him do that," as I'm sure they wouldn't mind it.

Codi Gizmody — attempted mass murderer?

I can't remember: did Paw Patrol ever casually depict characters breathing in space with no explanation like on other cartoons (i.e. Jimmy Neutron)? If not, then by teleporting everyone to the moon, the implication is Codi was going to kill them, right? As soon as she finds herself on the moon, she surrounds herself in a force field — what was the point of that unless it was so she can breathe?

---