Arthur Sells Out
Tropes:
- Apology Gift: Arthur buys James a new Cyber Toy to make up for scamming him earlier. James happily accepts it.
- Call-Back: The toys Arthur manages to sell include the Woogle Grandma Thora gave him in "Arthur Rides the Bandwagon" and the Roboton Cyber Toy seen in "Nerves of Steal."
- The Collector: Arthur was able to sell his Woogle to someone who was trying to complete his collection, surprising even Buster.
- Exact Words: Muffy teaches Arthur that the vocabulary he uses can take his toys from seeming old and used to retro and well-loved.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: After selling a broken Roboton Cyber Toy to James and refusing to refund his money, Arthur gets enough money to buy the Dark Bunny: Revenge of the Moomies game. However, feeling guilty for ripping James off through crooked business practices, he instead uses the money to buy James a brand new Roboton Cyber Toy.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: Buster and Muffy act as this as they each try to convince Arthur to give James his money back for the broken toy or to go through with the scam, respectively.
- Honest John's Dealership: Muffy reforms Arthur’s catalogue into this, encouraging him all the way to false advertising.
- Honesty Aesop: Arthur learns the lesson that it’s better to earn money in an honest way, rather than scamming others for your own gain.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- D.W. calls Arthur out on his deceiving toy ads.
- Muffy does have a point early on when she says when you have to advertise your products well.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: It looks like Muffy will get off scot-free in leading Arthur into questionable business practices, especially when Arthur decides to scam James on his own accord. However, she ends up wasting money on the game Arthur wanted anyway, and it turns out to be a crappy, underdeveloped rip-off.
- Phoney Call: Arthur makes a fake phone call at the Sugar Bowl to try to drum up business for his website, but D.W. calls him out on it and ruins the ruse.D.W.: Why are you yelling about yourself?
- The Problem with Licensed Games: In-Universe example. The new video game turns out to be a weak 2D side scroller with bad controls that isn’t worth the money spent, even for someone rich like Muffy.
- Sea Aping: A flashback in this episode has a four-year-old Arthur and Buster buy Sea Squirrels after seeing a commercial for them on television. When they play with the Sea Squirrels, they turn out to be just a pink ball floating in a fishbowl. Arthur then says, "That doesn't look like a squirrel, that looks like something my baby sister spit up!" and throws the Sea Squirrels in the garbage. At the end of the episode, when Muffy buys the Dark Bunny: Revenge of the Moomies game that Arthur was trying to buy, only to find out that the game is absolutely terrible, Buster's criticism of the game is "The Sea Squirrels were better than this!"
- Sweet and Sour Grapes: Arthur faces an ethical dilemma when he sells James an old toy that’s falling apart, knowing it would do that. He refuses to give James back his money following Muffy’s teachings, but feels guilty and decides to spend his earnings on a new, better toy for James to make it up to him. Muffy ends up buying the new video game anyway… and then it’s subverted when the game turns out to be a crappy, undercooked waste of money.
- Time-Passes Montage: One of Arthur checking his email day after day for people interested in buying his old toys with no luck.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Muffy tends to exhibit this trope a lot, such as in this episode where she encourages Arthur’s dishonest business practices.
- Very False Advertising:
- Arthur’s toy listings quickly morph into this, making his old and broken toys seem deceptively good.
- The commercial for the Dark Bunny video game also counts, seeing how the video game itself was far less exciting and well-made than the commercial implied.
Mind Your Manners
Tropes:
- All for Nothing: Well, maybe not for nothing. However, the boys end up not really being able to show off their good manners at their Grandparents’ Day dinner because their Grandma takes them to a medieval-themed restaurant in which they eat with their hands.
- Food Fight: Tommy & Timmy pelting each other with food at the last restaurant they went to is part of the reason why Mrs. Tibble is reluctant to let them take her out for Grandparents’ Day.
- Jabba Table Manners: Initially the twins have horrible table manners, to the point where they literally start throwing food at each other in a restaurant. They eventually learn how to control themselves in order to take their grandma out to a nice Grandparents’ Day dinner.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although Tommy & Timmy act like Bratty Half-Pint(s) most of the time, this episode shows that deep down they really are sweet kids who want to do something nice for their grandma.
- Lessons in Sophistication: Tommy & Timmy learn about manners and etiquette so that they can treat their grandma to a fancy dinner.
- Push Over Parents: As usual, in the episode’s Cold Open, Mrs Tibble proves to be a complete pushover to Tommy & Timmy as they cause general chaos around the house.
- Shout-Out:
