When King Bob finds that the children of the playground don't know who some past kings are, he becomes worried that he'll be forgotten about as well. Inspired by the pyramids of Ancient Egypt, he decrees that the kids build a pyramid to help him be remembered. Unfortunately in the process, King Bob becomes a tyrant.
Tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: This episode focuses heavily on King Bob.
- Adults Are Useless: Even more than usual, seeing how no adults, not even Ms. Finster, seems to notice or care that the entire student body is building a mud pyramid in the playground over what's implied to be several days.
- All for Nothing: The rain at the end of the battle showed everyone that King Bob’s pyramid was doomed right from the start, with or without the rebellion.
- An Aesop: Being remembered isn't accomplished with monuments, but by action and how you treat the people around you.
- Bookends: The episode starts with TJ complaining about King Bob's gum tax. At the end, King Bob as an apology for the pyramid fiasco decides to end said tax.
- Break the Haughty: King Bob finds out that being remembered is easier said than done.
- Captain Obvious: Ashley T. gets a rare line by saying that the pyramid is melting.
- Covered in Mud: Happens to most of the kids in the process of building the pyramid, since King Bob orders it to be made out of mud.
- Crowd Chant: Having enough, the kids shout "No more mud, Pharaoh Bob's a dud! No more work, Pharaoh Bob's a jerk!"
- The Dreaded: The hose is seen as this, as Mikey freaks out on seeing it.
- Easily Forgiven: Double Subversion. TJ asks Bob why they should forgive him after he enslaved them for weeks at a time and offered a simple apology. Bob then offers to lift the gum tax as well, which leads to TJ forgiving him.
- "Eureka!" Moment: King Bob, when the pyramids of Egypt are being talked about in class, gets the idea of having a pyramid erected on the playground to help make sure he's remembered after he leaves.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Bob calls out a wrestler at the beginning for pulling a Wounded Gazelle Gambit to gain a fighting advantage.
- Gretchen abandons her position as master builder when King Bob orders his men to use "the hose" on her friends and the kids of the playground.
- Heroic BSoD: Bob does it twice. First, when he discovers the kids don't know who some of the past kings are and realizes this means he'll most likely be forgotten too. Second, when the pyramid is destroyed and he realizes he's caused his subjects to hate him.
- Hidden Depths: This episode shows that King Bob is afraid of being forgotten about once he graduates to middle school.
- Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: Downplayed with King Bob's teacher, who seems to be a misplaced first-grade teacher, talking about ancient Egypt in simple terms. No wonder most of the sixth graders are bored out of their skulls.
- No-Sell: The hose has no effect on Mikey, who simply absorbs the water blast and keeps moving forward as the other kids use him as a shield.
- No Sympathy: Bob's guard posse shove Gus into the mud as he's carefully digging and sneers as he screams that his mother will kill him. This motivates TJ to rally everyone to fight back.
- Not Now, Kiddo: When Gretchen says they could use mud instead of stone blocks to make the pyramid, Bob doesn't listen when she tries to warn him why it may be a bad idea. When the rainstorm comes, his pyramid is wiped away.
- Not So Above It All: Menlo and the Ashleys both take part in the mud-slinging rebellion, despite normally respecting order and authority and disdaining mud, respectively. Clearly they'd had enough of Bob's tyranny as well.
- Rage Breaking Point: TJ hits it when, after days of being forced to slave away building the pyramid, he sees Gus pushed into the mud and taunted by one of Bob's guards and promptly instigates a rebellion.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Gretchen, whom King Bob had selected to be his master builder, abandons her position when she sees how out of control things get between the kids and King Bob's men. For this reason, King Bob orders his men to get her extra wet.
- Shout-Out: King Bob's Arc Words, "So shall it be written, so shall it be done," come directly from The Ten Commandments.
- Skyward Scream: King Bob screams to the heavens when rain ruins the unfinished pyramid.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The sixth grade teacher is the one who instills the idea of a pyramid for King Bob.
- What the Hell, Hero?: The gang calls out Gretchen for going with Bob's plan. She sees the light when Bob plans to use the hose on her friends.
- Would Hit a Girl: The hose-wielding guard doesn't care who he hits, with Spinelli and Ashleys A. and B. getting a faceful of water that knocks them clean off their feet.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: This spurs Bob's Everyone Has Standards moment; at the beginning two kids are wrestling. One fakes an injury so that he can punch the other.
