Web Animation / SMG4 - The Rapper Bob Arc

Come on guys, all rock with me
Time to set your hatred free
Taunting Bob, his darkest hour
Help our friend and make him see

"What will one man do for fame and fortune?"

—Official description

Bob becomes famous...and crosses the line in the process!

The Rapper Bob arc was the second SMG4 Story Arc, following The Waluigi Arc, and the final story arc of Season 8 and 2018. It is succeeded by The Anime Arc.

The arc centers around Bob as he begins building up his rapping career and ends up pushing his friends aside, especially Fishy Boopkins, becoming ruthless and cruel.

On another note, Glitch further teased and eventually revealed Meta Runner during this arc.

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Main Episodes:

Note: Episodes marked with * are not counted as official episodes, but are still connected to the plot.

• "The Mario Purge"* ^note Serves as a prologue that sets up the events of the next episode
• "Mario And... The Well"
• "Mario and the Bob Mansion..."
• "The Mario Concert"
• "War On Smash Bros Ultimate"
• "The Melancholy of Fishy Boopkins"
• "Mario and The Diss Track"
• "Christmas 2018: The Most Important Thing"

The Arc provides examples of:

• Arc Villain: Bob, who masterminded the The Well and Bobsgiving incidents to become famous, and leaves Boopkins in a Heroic BSoD after the latter ruins his tour. When he reaches the height of his fame in "Mario and The Diss Track," he goes too far when his "Ultimate Diss Track" causes Boopkins to go catatonic.
• Bookends: The Arc begins and ends on a holiday.
• Cerebus Retcon:
  • The reason why the Teletubbies, who were originally portrayed as trigger-happy and violent race of freaks, seem more sane and can even hold jobs? As it's revealed in The Mario Purge", it's because every year, by letting Tubbies commit crimes for 12 hours, it actually decreases Tubby crime rate.
  • Bob's good deed back in "Mario And... The Well", which resulted in him having a mansion (which was destroyed) made from the sudden cash flow from new fans from his rap career. It's revealed that he masterminded the well incident just so he could be a hero, which was only one part of his plan to become famous.
• Cheer Up Episode: The whole point of "The Melancholy of Fishy Boopkins". Everyone tries their best, but everything fails and Saiko even turns traitor to join Bob's rapping career. The last attempt, which is Meggy and Tari takes Boopkins to an anime cafe, is only a temporary fix, and he's back to feeling depressed next episode.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Bob is different from Waluigi in just about every way. The most basic difference is that one has supernatural powers, while the other doesn't, but a better way to describe this would be that Waluigi's Power of Rejection is considered a physical attack, while Bob uses emotional and psychological attacks (harsh speeches and diss tracks) to get what he wants. Their goals differ as well. Waluigi wants everyone to know his suffering, but Bob just wants fame. More importantly is how they treat their friends and relatives. Wario is the one person who cared for Waluigi, a fact that stops Waluigi's rejection-fueled rage, while Bob manipulated and hurt his closest friends in his desire for fame. Finally, Waluigi is forgiven by everyone despite all the destruction he caused, while Bob's friends are still mad at him for how he hurt them, forcing him to make an actual effort to make up for his wrongdoings.
• Dénouement Episode: Bob as a threat was taken care of in "Mario and The Diss Track," with him stripped of his fame, wealth, house, and fans thanks to Saiko's "Darkest Hour." The Christmas episode is about him making up with the main cast, and permanently ending his rapping career.
• The Diss Track: In "Mario and The Diss Track", Bob does this to the main cast in a petty attempt to be more popular. The cast responds with their own diss track, which is so effective that it literally ruins his career.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After hitting rock bottom thanks to Saiko's diss track ruining him, it takes some self-introspection, a near-death realization and the sacrifice of his music career, but Bob finally understands his wrongdoings throughout the arc with the help of Waluigi, and makes up with everyone. Most importantly, he patches his friendship with Boopkins up.
• Engineered Heroics: The Well incident was revealed to be masterminded by Bob himself, having shoved Boopkins into the well just so he could swoop down when all seemed lost and shamelessly plug his Sound Cloud.
• Evil Is Petty: Bob, despite having everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom as a fan, decides to post a diss track against the main cast just to gain fans all over the world.
  Bob: I want the whole world to know my name. THE WHOLE WORLD!
• Filler: Both "War On Smash Bros Ultimate" and "The Melancholy of Fishy Boopkins".
  • In War On Smash Bros Ultimate, everyone wants to get their hands on Super Smash each other the ass Bros. Ultimate, and the only things that happens is Shroomy's temporary transformation into The Shroominator (Which isn't that important) and The Reveal that Bob's already managed to resurrect his career after his disastrous opener thanks to Boopkins in "The Mario Concert."
  • In The Melancholy of Fishy Boopkins, everyone's #1 priority is to make Boopkins feel better, but he's right back into his Heroic BSoD all over again in the next episode. You can cut this episode out entirely and all you would be missing is Saiko partnering up with Bob.
• Foreshadowing: There's evidence in both The Well and The Mansion that Bob was behind the events.
  • In Mario and... The Well, Bob is the very first person seen in the main video, looking down the well before running away. Later, he shamelessly plugs his Sound Cloud before taking Boopkins home. Both of these details foreshadow the fact that he masterminded the episode to get fans for his rapping career.
  • In Mario and the Bob Mansion, Bob isn't bothered at all when the gang burns down his house, and he states that his now destroyed house can be used as a sob story and become more famous. No one is amused, and he justifies himself by saying he was joking. Though as the "The Mario Concert" reveals, it was anything but.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door:
  • Bob, who goes from Jerk with a Heart of Gold by saving Boopkins from being trapped in a well because Boopkins saved him from Tellitubies last episode, into an Arc Villain with a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk when its revealed that he masterminded the well incident just to gain more fans, gives poor Boopkins a brutal "Reason You Suck" Speech before ending their friendship, and dishes out a diss track that leaves him broken, only to go back to before after lossing everything thanks to Saiko and having a near death experience thanks to Waluigi.
  • Saiko starts off on the main cast's side, having since mellowed out thanks to lessons from Luigi on being a better person. However, during "The Melancholy of Fishy Boopkins", hungry for attention and unaware of what Bob did to Boopkins, ditches him and the rest of the cast to work for Bob. Then on the next episode, upon seeing the after-effects of Bob's diss track on Boopkins, then comes back and demolishes Bob's rapping career through her song "Darkest Hour."
• Heroic BSoD: Boopkins, after he messes up Bob's tour, is left broken after Bob gives his Motive Rant, his depression being the focus of "The Melancholy of Fishy Boopkins". Gets worse after hearing Bob's "Ultimate Diss Track".
• Holiday Episodes: Three. "The Mario Purge" prequel for Halloween, "Mario and the Bob Mansion" for Thanksgiving, and "The Most Important Thing" for Christmas.
• Lighter and Softer: To some extent. While there are not as huge world stakes like in the Waluigi Arc, the way Bob lays into Boopkins and lies to everyone are legitimately harmful, to the point where he wasn't so Easily Forgiven the way Waluigi was. However, this is the only arc to not involve a life-threatening conflict.
• Motive Rant: Bob's big one to poor Boopkins at the end of "The Mario Concert"
  Bob: ...You think I needed help?
  Fishy Boopkins: Well, yeah. I just wanted-
  Bob: (Turns angrily.) I was doing amazing! No, I was doing BETTER than amazing! I clearly told you not to intervene, and now my rap career is ruined!
  Fishy Boopkins: (Terrified.) Bob, you're scaring me...
  Bob: I tried so hard to get to where I am now... But now it's all destroyed because of you! To think, the lies I told...
  Fishy Boopkins: Bob, I-
  Bob: The scams I had to pull to get here. Now it's all gone!
  Fishy Boopkins: But Bob...
  Bob: I even pushed you down a well for God's sake!
  Fishy Boopkins: W-What? You pushed me...?
  (It flashes to a moment prior to, and near the end of, "Mario and... The Well".)
  Bob: You didn't fall down there by accident. I pushed you down there, just so I could be the hero and save you. It was the perfect chance to push my rap music!
  Fishy Boopkins: (Heartbroken.) You mean... You didn't save me because we're friends...?
  Bob: Hell no!
  (Boopkins breaks down in tears while Luigi silently watches...)
  Bob: I even hatched the brilliant scheme of Bobsgiving where I... (Flashes back to "Mario and the Bob Mansion".) Replaced all the fire extinguishers in my house with flame throwers, asked you idiots to go and get some gasoline I labeled as "BOB Juice", and told Meggy to go help cook, knowing very well that klutz would burn down the house. Just so the house could blow up, and I could use the sob story to skyrocket myself to fame!
  Fishy Boopkins: (Crying...) Bob, that's not nice...!
  Bob: (Grabs Boopkins.) "Nice"?! You think this world is nice?! You're either an asshole or a pushover! A Bob or a Boopkins! And I sure as hell don't want to be a Boopkins! (He drops Boopkins harshly on the ground and leaves.) I'm done with you! I don't need anyone! I'm gonna build my rap career! Bigger this time!
• Musical Episode: Music is a central focus in this arc, "Mario and the Diss Track" in particular.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: As it usually is whenever he tastes success, Bob's undoing is 100% due to his glory chasing and his inability to be satisfied. Had Bob not released his diss track, he would have been in the clear for a very long time; Boopkins would still probably be too shell-shocked to open up about Bob's betrayal and Luigi would have had to spend a lot more time convincing the others about it because everyone was supportive of his new found fame — even when Luigi tries to warn them, SMG4 flatly states that Luigi doesn't understand what it's like to be famous, Tari outright says that they should be happy for his success and Meggy even accuses Luigi of jealousy. The shock and anger they naturally feel from Bob's diss track allows Luigi to finally get them to listen and motivates them to get back at Bob. Most importantly, this action ultimately leads to Saiko defecting, as she initially brushes off Luigi until she sees the emotional toll that Bob's actions have taken on Boopkins and she ends up being the one to take him down.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: While not as big as other ones, Bob ends his rapping career for good at the end of the Arc, turning over a new leaf.
• Prequel: "The Mario Purge" Halloween 2018 special is not strictly apart of the Rapper Bob Arc (evidenced by SMG4 not putting it in the playlist), but is still mentioned and is consider as such by fans.
• Properly Paranoid: Luigi considers Bob's newfound fame to be dangerous despite the main cast thinking Luigi's just overreacting or being jealous. He ends up being right when Bob posts a diss track about the main cast just to gain more fans, which causes Boopkins to go catatonic.
• Redemption Quest: The Christmas episode is revealed to be this, as Bob, thanks to Waluigi, realizes that his friends are what's most important to him, and he ends his rapping career for good. The main cast then forgives Bob's actions for the Arc and he becomes friends with Boopkins again.
• Spanner in the Works: Saiko serves as this for Bob, as her hit song "Darkest Hour" ruins his rapping career, which causes him to lose his home, and much of his ill-gotten wealth and fans.
• Starter Villain: The Teletubbies. They have no direct connection to the arc, but Boopkins protecting Bob from them gives him a reason to return the favor. Well, somewhat.
• Villain Has a Point: Yes, it's an incredibly dickish move to verbally slaughter poor Boopkins for ruining his tour, but he's not entirely wrong to be upset about Boopkins ruining everything, as well as the There Are Two Kinds of People in the World part of his rant.
• Wham Episode:
  • The end of The Mario Concert is massive, as not only did Bob masterminded The Well and Bobsgiving incidents to become more famous, but that he ends his friendship with Boopkins for ruining him while vowing to become an even bigger star, without anyone's help.
  • The end of "SMG4 Christmas 2018: The Most Important Thing", ends with Bob fully reforming thanks to Waluigi, retiring from rapping for good and making up with everyone.
• Wham Line:
  • In "The Mario Concert", Bob blows up on Boopkins for ruining his concert. And then he says this;
  Bob: I even pushed you down a well for God's sake!
  • In "SMG4 Christmas 2018: The Most Important Thing", Fishy Boopkins and the others see Bob rapping, leading them to believe that Bob didn't see the error of his ways. However, after finishing his rap, Bob utters a few fateful words:
  Bob: That...was my last rap. I'm retiring, folks.
  (audience gasps)
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Turns out, Bob masterminded his own mansion's destruction during Thanksgiving just to use the sob story and become more famous.