"Ah Bubsy, Oh! Worse than a Truck!!"
— Arnold when Bubsy made his introduction after waking Arnold up.
Bubsy is an Animated Adaptation of what is arguably the most well known Sonic-knockoff of all time.
As expected, the series (had it ever gotten past the pilot stage) would have been managed and created by DiC, well-known for their numerous cartoon adaptations of popular video games in the 80's and 90's (the pilot itself was animated by Calico Entertainment, of Denver the Last Dinosaur).
It mostly uses the same characters as the game, with a few new ones to take the roles of the villains. The pilot revolves around Virgil Reality inventing a virtual reality helmet that allows one to imagine anything into life. The possibilities about this are never explored.
The pilot was never picked up, but it remains an... interesting cartoon nonetheless. It is available on the PC port of Super Bubsy, a deluxe version of the first Bubsy game. Interestingly, the characters would appear a few times in the games, notably in Paws on Fire.
Compare Battletoads, another cartoon pilot based on a video game that never got picked up.
Tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Oblivia keeps calling Bubsy other things. When she finally gets it right, he thanks her.
- Adaptational Jerkass: In the games, Bubsy had a habit of making wisecracks and talking a lot. Here? He's an egotistical douche.
- Aesop Amnesia: Bubsy keeps saying "What could possibly go wrong?" even after tons of things have Gone Horribly Wrong.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Oblivia seems to have feelings for Bubsy, as she uses the helmet to imagine herself being married to him. Bubsy doesn't notice.
- Art Shift: Three random black-and-white clips of Real Life are included in three scenes. Most of these tie in to scenes where Bubsy is boasting.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Sid tends to be the most distracted.
- Big Bad: Ally Cassandra, the villainous fat cat.
- Big Ball of Violence: While practically everyone attempts to snatch the helmet.
- Bizarrchitecture: Bubsy's house is shaped like a half-cylinder with a down arrow squashed into it. It's also Bigger on the Inside for reasons that aren't explained, and has a basketball court, a slide, and a bowling alley.
- Buffoonish Tomcat: Bubsy being an idiot protagonist that's prone to slapstick of course.
- Broken Record: Bubsy says "What could possibly go wrong?" ten times in the 22 minute episode.
- Butt-Monkey: Arnold, who is also easily frightened because of his paranoia against trucks or anything painful being around, especially Bubsy being understandably one of his biggest fears.
- Captain Obvious: "Yes... things that are boiling are usually hot."
- The Cartoon of the Game
- Catchphrase: Bubsy's "What could possibly go wrong?"
- Cats Are Mean: Bubsy is both an Insufferable Imbecile and a massive Jerkass, and Ally Cassandra herself is a Fat Bastard. This is averted with Oblivia, who is one of the nicest characters (if a little scatterbrained).
- The Chew Toy:
Arnold the Armadillo and Sid the Vicious Shrew. - Cloudcuckoolander: One and only Sid the Vicious Shrew being quite.. loony, screwy, and a bit hyper at the same time and can have his head-in-the-clouds for the most part.
- Speaking of which, Sid is implied to a Chaotic Stupid character when Buzzy mentioned how Sid stuck his tongue in the pot when Buzzy was cooking in order to imply how impulsively airheaded Sid can be.
- The Ditz: Bubsy's crush, Oblivia, who always gets Bubsy's name wrong.
- Dumb Is Good: Also Sid being a dumb, absentminded yet harmless minion of Ally's whose stupidity helps out the protagonists rather than understanding what villainy is.
- Expy: Buzz and Sid, in a way, to fellow DiC minion duo Scratch and Grounder.
- Fat Bastard: Ally Cassandra being the main villain.
- Feathered Fiend: Buzz the Buzzard wanting to cook and eat Bubsy's nephew's counts as this.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: Sid and Buzz.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Bubsy and his nephew Terry wear a shirt and no pants.
- I Am Not Weasel: Buzz really doesn't take to those who call him a turkey.
- Ironic Echo: "If that's a crime, then book me/us!"
- Jackass Genie: Despite being non-sapient, the helmet seems to be this. The first thing Bubsy wishes for is to fly. The helmet teleports him and everyone else in the room way up in the air, and they just fall. While they all survive, it still seems like the helmet is deliberately trying to kill them.
- Jerkass: Unsurprisingly, Bubsy.
- MacGuffin: The helmet.
- Malaproper: Virgil Reality is so named because his helmet is meant to be virtual reality, yet instead of creating a game or simulation, it allows the user to magically create and change things in ACTUAL reality, so it's more like a technological genie.
- Minion with an F in Evil: Sid being an dim-witted dingbat allows him to let Bubsy encounter Ally and her henchmen to be easily defeated and preventing Ally for her so-called villainous plans based on self importance/etc.
- Misapplied Phlebotinum: Even though the helmet can make any thought real, the characters all use it for really mundane and frivolous things. The worst example would have to be Ally. After spending the whole episode trying to get her hands on it, all she does is wish for a ring and some new furniture, instead of wishing for infinite money or to become a Physical God or something. Also, she later learns Bubsy is coming right for her to get the helmet, but doesn't think to use it to just teleport away, or turn Bubsy into a cockroach, or any number of things she could have done.
- Nails on a Chalkboard: Ally Cassandra uses this twice for her own ends.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Also, Sid the Vicious Shrew, who isn't all that dangerous.
- Overly-Long Tongue: Sid has one.
- Punny Name: Virgil Reality.
- Running Gag: See Accidental Misnaming, I Am Not Weasel, and Villainous Glutton.
- Schmuck Bait: At one point Bubsy gives Sid a corndog with a dynamite stick in it (with the fuse clearly visible.) Sid eats it anyway.
- Shy Shelled Animal: Arnold the Armadillo is depicted as a fearful character with a crippling fear of trucks who becomes terrified at the mere mention of them allows him to do this effect, possibly due to some form of post-traumatic stress as shown in his fearful rambling about his fears.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Bubsy is really full of himself and quite an unlikable idiot as well.
- Stock Footage: Many instances used for comedy.
- Tempting Fate: Bubsy's Catchphrase reeks of this, to the point Arnold calls him out on this.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Bubsy's niece Terri wears eyeshadow and a pink bow and skirt. Bubsy's nephew Terry wears a green and blue shirt and no pants.
- Thought-Aversion Failure: When the helmet ends up on Arnold's head, Bubsy warns him not to think about the truck he's afraid of. Naturally, Arnold thinks about the truck and unintentionally summons it.
- Title Theme Tune
- Totally Radical: As discussed here
. - Villain Ball: For some reason Ally decides to send her minions to steal the helmet, even though Virgil is actively soliciting volunteers to test it, meaning she could just go there pretending to be volunteer and then use the helmet to teleport away before he can do anything.
- Villainous Glutton: Sid's Fatal Flaw.
- What Could Possibly Go Wrong?: Bubsy's Tempting Fate-reeking Catchphrase.
- Wild West Armadillo: Downplayed. Arnold the armadillo has nightmares about being hit by a truck on a road somewhere in the west (it's sandy, with cacti along the road). Later, a news anchor mentions that "last year, over 10,000 armadillos were run over by trucks in the state of Texas alone."
- X-Ray Sparks: Happens twice to Arnold, and Bubsy ends up electrocuted the second time.
