A Plot: When Lainey says it's a turn-off that Barry teases Adam mercilessly, Barry vows to stop. But after an April Fools' joke by Adam causes Barry to destroy one of Adam's favorite toys, Adam retaliates by ruining Barry's baseball card collection, and it escalates into an all-out war between the two.
B Plot: Erica finds out that famous singer Tiffany (Darwish) will be appearing at the local mall and she asks Murray for $200 to make a demo tape that she can give to her. Murray refuses, saying a singing career is a million-to-one shot. Beverly initially agrees with her husband, until she learns that many teen singing sensations are managed by their mothers.
- April Fools' Plot: Adam's prank on Barry leads to an Escalating War between the Goldberg brothers that gets out of hand.
- A Degree in Useless: Before finding out about the possibility of being a Stage Mom, Beverly tries to get teacher Ms. Cinoman to dissuade Erica from a musical career with this logic, stating that most hopeful professional musicians end up as waiters or...music teachers. It gives Ms. Cinoman an emotional crisis, and she ends up trying to audition for Tiffany just like Erica, Lainey, and a hundred other teenage girls.
- Embarrassing Old Photo: Barry plasters one of these all over Adam's room, as a preview of the "Adam Bomb", which is him plastering the same photo all over his school. The real one is shown in the credits of the episode.
- Escalating War: Adam's shoe prank on Barry leads to Barry destroying his toys, which leads to Adam destroying his baseball card collection (which isn't worth any money at that point in time), which leads to Barry destroying his movie camera, which leads to Adam destroying his relationship with Lainey, which leads to Barry almost destroying Adam's reputation via the Adam Bomb but stopping when real-life history inspires him to make amends.
- Hourglass Plot: At the start of the B Plot, Erica believes she can have a career in music, while Beverly doesn't want her daughter to fail. After the former fails to audition for Tiffany and the latter learns about how many teen idols are managed by their parents, they take on the other's point of view, though Murray ends up re-encouraging Erica.
- Piss-Take Rap: After Barry decides to call off the war and sells his shoe to repay for Adam's camera (which he had dismantled), Adam helps him make up to Lainey (who Adam convinced to reconsider the relationship by telling her about their war) by filming him perform an apology rap.
- Plot Parallel: The escalating war between Barry and Adam is compared to the cold war, with the titular "Adam Bomb" a nuclear metaphor, and Barry ends up having a change of heart and deescalating it after seeing the televised fall of the Berlin Wall.
- Prank Gone Too Far: The A Plot's inciting incident was Adam faking that he'd melted one of Barry's rubber athletics shoes; when Adam reveals the truth (and the perfectly-fine actual shoe), Barry's already smashed his model Castle Greyskull and refuses to refund Adam, stating that Adam should've remembered how easily he's flown off the handle in the past.
- Stage Mom: Bev is adamant about Erica becoming a singer, until she learns that many teen idols are managed by their mothers, so she decides to become Erica's "momager".
- Stage Names: Erica tries to give herself the moniker "Ricky Gold" for her demo tape.
- That Makes Me Feel Angry: Barry after getting pranked, and again after Adam sabotages his relationship with Lainey.Barry: I feel anger!
