Bandit tells Bluey and Bingo a story about his childhood.
This episode provides examples of:
- The '80s: The decade where this flashback story takes place. Specifically 1989-ish, according to
Word of God. - '80s Hair: Nana is shown to have had a perm during Bandit's flashback to his childhood during the 80s. Bandit's mullet may also count.
- Abusive Parents: Downplayed. While the audience isn't shown corporal punishment, Bandit's parents are implied to have punished him and his brothers physically (namely by hitting them with shoes) off-screen and act emotionally aggressive.Bluey: Gee, Nana was a bit mean!Bandit: Yeah, it was the 80's. Mums were allowed to be mean.
- Ambiguous Situation: Bandit claims that he and Chilli first met when they were kids. Chilli refutes this, stating that while she and her family did holiday at the same caravan park as Bandit's, she has no recollection of their meeting. Whether Bandit was simply embellishing for the sake of the story (since he does call it a fairy tale), he was telling the truth and Chilli simply forgot this encounter, or he thinks he was telling the truth but mistook another girl for Chilli, is left up in the air.
- Bait-and-Switch: Throughout the episode, young Stripe milks the jinx for all its worth on young Bandit by utilizing this trope to make it look like he'll say his name, before revealing he's just using a nickname. Towards the ending, young Stripe is about to say Bandit's name in gratitude for saving him from the prickles. ...before he uses a nickname instead.
- Big Brother Bully:
- As a kid, Bandit was rather mean to his younger brother Stripe. He would demean him, trick him, and overall disrespect him.
- Subverted with Rad. While he was mean to start the jinx in the first place, it’s clear that he was protecting Stripe and teaching Bandit a lesson, as he tells Bandit off for picking on Stripe and only jinxes Bandit when the latter refuses to stop his bullying behavior.
- Big Brother Instinct: Rad, who was established as very protective of Stripe when they were kids, jinxes Bandit to punish him for teasing their youngest sibling.
- Chekhov's Gun: While explaining the strange nature of the 80s to his daughters, one of the things Bandit mentions is how moms used to write their kids' names on their clothes and belongings. This later comes in handy when a young Chili reads his name on his discarded hat, breaking the "curse" on him.
- Corporal Punishment: Nana is shown preparing to hit the boys with shoes.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Bandit doesn’t shy away from bringing up parts of the 80’s that haven’t aged well, such as riding bikes without helmets and trampolines without nets. It's also shown that Nana Heeler used corporal punishment on the kids. And every time his kids question how these things were possible, Bandit merely handwaves it with "It was The '80s!"
- Entitled Bastard: Averted. Bandit is glad Stripe didn't forgive him just because Bandit did one good deed- probably because he knows it couldn't make up for multiple instances of bullying, and might have been seen as an attempt to manipulate Stripe.
- Forgotten First Meeting: In this story, we learn what Chilli meant back in "The Show" when she said there is some dispute about when she and Bandit met — Bandit is certain that the girl who found his hat was Chilli, and while she concedes this is possible, as she may have been at the same vacation spot at the time, she has no memory of it, and considers their proper introduction in London to be their real first meeting.
- Generation Xerox: One could imagine Christine’s going along with her kids’ curse game - instead of dismissing the whole thing as childish nonsense - as sweet, in a way, and helped to pave the way for the way for Bandit’s own parenting techniques. For all of her “old school” ways, she knows that her children can learn valuable life lessons by just being kids. That is, being allowed to use play and imagination to process the world around them.
- How Dad Met Mom: At the end of the episode, Chilli reads Bandit's name off of his hat, thus breaking the jinx placed on him by Radley. While Chilli does not remember this happening, Bandit is certain that was the first time they met.
- Imagine Spotting: Bluey and Bingo are somehow able to see details of Bandit's childhood flashbacks that he doesn't mention, such as wondering why he and his brothers aren't wearing helmets while riding their bikes.
- Karmic Jackpot: Zigzagged. Young Bandit had a chance to end the "curse" on him by getting young Stripe to say his name, while the latter was under the duress of being trapped by a lawn of prickles. Instead, he threw his hat out so his younger brother could step over the prickles to safety. The young Stripe is grateful. ...but not grateful enough to end the jinx. Nonetheless, something better does come along. Because young Bandit was nice to his little brother for once during their vacation, it set off a chain reaction. A young Chilli (at least it's implied to be), who happened upon the hat with Bandit's name on it, found the hat and unwittingly broke the "curse". Not only did Bandit's kindness towards Stripe lead to him meeting the one person who could remove the jinx, but also his future wife and the loving mother of their children.
- Messianic Archetype: Chilli, of all characters (or at least, the Red Heeler girl who Bandit is certain is Chilli), acts as one. She's a kindly "princess" who is a total stranger to Bandit, but intervenes unexpectedly to save him from a curse he deserved.
- No Sympathy: Upon learning that Bandit was jinxed, Grandpa Bob was not only unsympathetic to him but also expressed his desire to have the same happen to Rad and Stripe so he could get some peace and quiet.
- Riddle for the Ages: Was the girl who broke Bandit's jinx a younger Chilli, or just a different girl who happened to resemble her?
- Shout-Out: There's a couple of things from the 80s that were referenced in this episode.
- During a montage, a cassette tape with "Bad Medicine" written on it references the song by Bon Jovi.
- In one scene, Bandit and Stripe are seen playing a dog version of the video game Double Dragon.
- The kid whom Bandit speculates to be Chilli is wearing a She-Ra costume.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Double Subverted, After Young Bandit helps Young Stripe out from a lawn of prickles, Young Stripe thanks his older brother, and then doesn’t unjinx him.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Inverted with Bandit. Although he's a kind in the present, Bandit used to be a horrible big brother to his younger brother Stripe, which is understandably shocking to his daughters. Whenever young Bandit wasn’t teasing Stripe, he was shown to be soft-spoken and thoughtful. His experience with the jinx made him become an even better person.
- Villain Respect: Of the Big Brother Bully variety. When Bandit narrates how young Stripe did not break the "curse" on him, Bluey and Bingo are disappointed that young Stripe didn't repay his older brother's kindness. But according to Bandit, he was actually proud his brother did this, likely because it showed that Stripe was finally willing to stand up to him.
