History Recap / TheSimpsonsS1E5BartTheGeneral

* BigBrotherInstinct: Bart has been insulting Lisa all morning. Upon getting to school, one of Nelson's cronies takes a batch of muffins Lisa had baked earlier. That's all it takes for Bart to attack the crony and he winds up punching Nelson in the face and is challenged to fight. It's the first sign in the series that [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther Bart isn't a total jerk towards his sister]].

* TheBully: Nelson. Natch.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Nelson was a truly feared bully in this early episode. With this, his first defeat, he began to be less and less threatening. Over time, other bully characters like Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney were more likely to play the role of a bully strong enough to threaten someone like Bart, while Nelson became more of a parody of bully clichés as well as more of a BullyTurnedBuddy.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: Nelson agrees to recognize "Bart's right to exist."

* TheDogBitesBack: The whole episode is a set-up for Bart doing this to Nelson... alongside ''every kid that Nelson has bullied''.

** A smaller one: the Kwik-E-Mart being spelled "Quick-E-Mart" (though that could be a mistake made by the animators).

* LoopholeAbuse: After Bart's army celebrates Nelson's defeat, Bart assumes Nelson learned his lesson and goes to untie him. However, Nelson tells him that the second Bart unties him he's gonna beat Bart to a pulp. Bart then threatens to not untie him, to which Nelson points out Bart has to do it eventually, as doing otherwise would be illegally detaining him against his will. Ultimately, Herman solves the dilemma by drawing up a treaty that states Bart won't get beaten up anymore, but Nelson retains his position as school bully, which both of them agree to and sign.

* SkewedPriorities: Discussed for laughs by Grandpa after Bart slaps a soldier of his army (in a ShoutOut to ''Film/{{Patton}}'', also pretty much the beginning of the end of Patton's career, at least in the movie). As he mentions, a DrillSergeantNasty can do many things to make a soldier's life hell, but for some reason hitting them is a gigantic no-no.

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Nelson was a truly feared bully in this early episode. With this, his first defeat, he began to be less and less threatening. Other bully characters like Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney were more likely to play the role of a bully strong enough to threaten someone like Bart while Nelson became more of a parody of bully clichés.

* CurbStompBattle: Bart's two onscreen "fights" with Nelson go like this; the first time, it's a straight-up NoHoldsBarredBeatdown as Bart doesn't do anything to defend himself. The second time, after Homer gives him fighting tips for a better advantage, Nelson is [[NoSell unaffected]] and easily holds Bart off before attacking him again.

* YouAndWhatArmy:

'''Bart:''' This one. ''[his water-balloon-armed troops emerge from their hiding place]'' '''COMMENCE SATURATION BOMBING!'''

* CombatPragmatist: Homer says that Simpsons have to fight dirty to overcome their physical shortcomings. Even that didn't work for Bart.

* AtArmsLength: Bart tries to employ the GroinAttack strategy Homer recommended for fighting Nelson, only for Nelson to hold him back with one hand. At this point Homer's FloatingAdviceReminder just shrugs.

* FloatingAdviceReminder: PlayedForLaughs when Homer's CombatPragmatist advice fails and "Homer" as imagined by Bart hangs around to cringe as he watches Bart get beat to a pulp offscreen.

* FloatingAdviceReminder: PlayedForLaughs when Homer's CombatPragmatist advice fails and "Homer" as imagined by Bart hangs around to cringe in sympathetic pain as he watches Bart get beat to a pulp offscreen.

* CurbStompBattle: Bart's two onscreen "fights" with Nelson go like this; the first time, it's a straight-up NoHoldsBarredBeatdown as Bart doesn't do anything to defend himself. The second time, after Homer gives him fighting tips for a better advantage, Nelson is[[NoSell unaffected]] and easily holds Bart off before attacking him again.

* CurbStompBattle: Bart's two onscreen "fights" with Nelson go like this; the first time, it's a straight-up NoHoldsBarredBeatdown as Bart doesn't do anything to defend himself. The second time, after Homer gives him fighting tips for a better advantage, Nelson either just {{NoSell|s}} them or easily holds Bart off before attacking him again.

** Janey Powell was introduced here with a completely different design, and isn't even black. Unless this is a different Janey...

Episode - 7G05\\
First Aired - 2/4/1990

* HandicappedBadass: Herman has been missing an arm ever since [[YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb a stupid accident he had when riding the school bus as a kid]]. He's still grown up to be a tough guy with his own weapons store.

** A random kid kisses Lisa at the end of the "war," referencing the famous photo of a sailor newly returned from World War II kissing a nurse in the middle of Times Square.

** This is one of three episodes from Season 1 to have no CouchGag. The opening sequence ends at the establishing shot of Springfield Elementary, fading right to the Simpsons' house.

* RealityEnsues:
** After Bart's army celebrates Nelson's defeat, Bart assumes Nelson learned his lesson and goes to untie him. However, Nelson tells him that the second Bart unties him he's gonna beat Bart to a pulp. Bart then threatens to not untie him, to which Nelson points out Bart has to do it eventually, as doing otherwise would be illegally detaining him against his will. Ultimately, Herman solves the dilemma by drawing up a treaty that states Bart won't get beaten up anymore, but Nelson retains his position as school bully, which both of them agree to and sign.
** During the celebration of Nelson's defeat, a random boy grabs Lisa and kisses her, ala the famous photo of a sailor kissing a nurse at the end of World War II. Lisa promptly slaps him. ''Hard.''

After [[TheBully Nelson]] steals cupcakes Lisa made for her teacher, Bart decides to stand up for her and ends up getting bullied by Nelson. After taking advice from Marge and Homer, Bart visits Grampa Simpson and a one-armed, mentally unstable miltary antique store owner named Herman and the three plan an all-out war against Nelson and his cronies.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Bart has been insulting Lisa all morning. Upon getting to school, one of Nelson's cronies takes a batch of muffins Lisa had baked earlier. That's all it takes for Bart to attack the cronie and he winds up punching Nelson in the face and is challenged to fight. It's the first sign in the series that [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther Bart isn't a total jerk towards his sister]].

* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: The episode ends with Bart [[BreakingTheFourthWall telling the audience]] that war isn't cool or glamorous, unless it's The American Revolutionary War, UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, or the ''StarWars'' trilogy[[note]]meaning the three films that had been released when the episode first aired: ''Film/ANewHope'', ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', and ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''[[/note]].

-->'''Franklin:''' Nelson, y-you're bleeding.

* CrazyAwesome: Invoked by Grampa in regards to Herman.

** Lisa claims to like Ms. Hoover, enough that she'll make cupcakes for her. This is hard to reconcile with the inattentive Ms. Hoover we know today, whom Lisa thinks little of.