Pig was a pug, and I’m sorry to say…
Pig the Pug is a series of children’s picture books by Australian author Aaron Blabey, author of The Bad Guys. This was his first book series, as the others were one-offs before this one.The series focuses on two dogs that live together. Trevor is a sweet and kind dachshund who always does the right thing, while Pig is a fat, mean and greedy pug. Each book involves Pig doing something bad, against the advice of Trevor, and suffering the consequences of them.
The books currently released include:
- Pig the Pug (2014)
- Pig the Fibber (2015)
- Pig the Winner (2016)
- Pig the Elf (2016)
- Pig the Star (2017)
- Pig the Grubnote (2018)
- Pig the Tourist (2019)
- Pig the Blobnote (2020)
- Pig the Monster (2021)
- Pig the Rebel (2022)
The Pig the Pug series provides examples of:
- Amusing Injuries: Pig's comeuppance in each book tends to involve him being on the receiving end of some Slapstick-style physical misfortune as a result of his own actions or tantrums, with the final page often revealing him to be forced to be some sort of Bandage Mummy as a result.
- Attention Whore: Pig is desperate to be in the spotlight, shoving Trevor away to get the focus. Pig the Star in particular is all about him doing this.
- Christmas Episode: Pig the Elf takes place during Christmas, and focuses on Pig’s greed.
- Deliberately Bad Example: Everything Pig does is the wrong way to act, contrasting Trevor, who the audience is meant to be more like.
- Dog Stereotype: Zigzagged. Pig’s bad behavior is certainly played for jokes, but Trevor is kind and sweet, unlike the stereotype of dachshunds.
- Fat Bastard: Pig is a rude, lazy, and gross overweight pug, and never seems to want to learn from his issues. In contrast, Trevor is a slender dachshund that is very sweet and kind.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each book is named in a Pig the X fashion, with X being replaced with a certain word that describes Pig’s behavior in the book.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Everything bad that Pig does in every book will end up going back to bite him by the end of the story.
- Lazy Bum: Pig the Blob is about Pig’s laziness getting to ridiculous levels.
- Market-Based Title:
- Pig the Grub was released as Pig the Stinker in some locations.
- Pig the Blob was released as Pig the Slob in some locations.
- Never My Fault: As seen in Pig the Fibber, Pig is willing to never own up to his mistakes and get Trevor in trouble for them instead.
- The Pig-Pen: Pig the Grub is about Pig’s disgusting habits and the ways he avoids to get clean.
- Right Way/Wrong Way Pair: Pig is bad and a troublemaker, while Trevor is sweet and kind. Things always end up going Trevor’s way in the end, while Pig ends up in trouble thanks to his own actions.
- Sore Loser: As seen in Pig the Winner, Pig absolutely loathes losing, and will throw enough of a major temper tantrum that his opponent will concede defeat just to make him stop.
- Title Reading Gag: All of the books have Pig crossing out "Pug" and replacing it with a different noun.
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: In Pig the Winner, as soon as Pug wins (even if it was via his opponent conceding defeat because they were tired of him being a Sore Loser), he will brag and taunt his opponent mercilessly.
