Arthur Rides the Bandwagon
Arthur rolls his eyes when a new toy called a Woogle appears. He says it looks "dweeby" even as Buster, Francine and Muffy buy theirs. When the fad goes viral, however, Arthur worries he's being left behind, as Woogles sell out.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Eat the Camera: Done when Arthur tosses his "Poogle" (he thought it was a genuine Woogle) to the three triplets in a stroller. The third triplet the toy gets passed to starts crying due to the toy's appearance, and the camera zooms into his bawling mouth that overtakes the screen.
- Everybody Has Standards: As desperate as he is for a Woogle, Arthur ultimately finds he's not willing to throw away his dignity and declare everlasting love for Woogles just to fit in with everybody else. He lampshades that he doesn't even want one to begin with.
- It Will Never Catch On: Arthur refuses to declare his love for Woogles, and says that his juice cap is more fun. Francine scoffs at this, but then Buster and some other kids hear Arthur playing with the juice cap and say it's cool.
- Nightmare Sequence: Arthur dreams that if he doesn't have a Woogle, it will come to a point where the class photo won't be taken unless he has one. As such, he is given a broccoli stalk as a substitute, which makes him the butt of jokes throughout his life. It even becomes so bad to the point where his own children are ashamed to be related to him.
- Shoddy Knockoff Product: At one point, Arthur passes by a street vendor and sees what he thinks are Woogles for sale and buys one right away, unaware he actually got a cheap knock-off called a "Poogle". When showing it to Muffy and Francine, Muffy goes over the differences between an actual Woogle and Arthur's Poogle, and indeed they are both very different from each other.
- Shout-Out:
- The Woogles are more or less a combination of Beanie Babies (a still relevant major fad at the time this episode was made) and Silly Slammers (another toy that was popular during that time).
- Grandma Thora lets Arthur have his father's old Pet Rock, complete with cardboard cage. Pet Rocks were an actual fad in The '70s.
- Sweet and Sour Grapes: Once Arthur accepts he doesn't need a Woogle to have fun or fit in, the kids start to see he has an even more fun toy, bottle caps. Not only does this ease Arthur's worry about fitting in, but by the time Grandma Thora gives him a Woogle, the fad has already died down. With that said, he does keep the Woogle, and it appears in later episodes.
Dad's Dessert Dilemma
Arthur gets embarrassed when his dad makes an elaborate but overly fancy tower cake for a classroom party. The embarrassment turns into joy when Mr. Ratburn tastes the cake, declares it a success, and shares it with everyone. Soon Arthur is asking his dad to make more free desserts. He realizes his mistake when David gets behind on food for paying clients, and decides there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Character Development: "Grandma Thora Appreciation Day" showed Arthur and D.W. making a mess in the kitchen when attempting to do a pound cake. Here, they're more competent in the kitchen when following their dad's instructions. Arthur also admits that baking is hard and he admires his dad for doing this every day.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Arthur apologizes to his dad for getting carried away with asking for free desserts. His dad forgives him and asks if he wants to help out in the kitchen so David can catch up on client work.
- Hidden Depths: Mr. Ratburn is shown to be a foodie, especially if sweets are involved. He is willing to try new desserts and praise the maker.
- Imagine Spot: Arthur imagines a worrying scenario where his dad's cake is so disgusting that not even Buster will eat it, and Ratburn fails him.
- Running Gag: Mr. Ratburn often showing up when cake is being served, preparing to drop off the spring reading list to someone and then noticing..."Oh! Are you having cake?"
- Sweet Tooth: This is the first episode where we learn Mr. Ratburn loves cake, and will make as many excuses as possible to eat some.
