Discussion YMMV / Arthur

I moved out some tropes that didn't seem to fit from the PBS show, either the show itself or fandom reactions. Dumping it here, because hey, I could be wrong.

• Designated Villain:
  • In Arthur and his friends' imaginations, Mr. Ratburn is often made into one, when he's just trying to be a teacher (albeit a very strict one) who makes sure his students are learning well enough.
  • Arthur, at least in D.W.'s imagination and fantasies. His friends would also often be categorized. Even her own parents and her best friend Emily have been shown as villains in D.W.'s imagination occasionally.
  • Binky occasionally gets this in imagination spots as well, though it was most frequent in the first few seasons. Somewhat justified in that Binky was more of a bully in the early years, but it still happened in episodes in which he hadn't done anything.

Designated Villain refers to a character we're informed is the villain, who doesn't do anything particularly villainous. These are just how the characters view each other.

• Dude, Not Funny!: Deconstructed (in-universe) right down to the bone in the S16 episode "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh." But then again, how many times have you teased/been teased/saw someone getting teased over what someone wore when you were growing up? It would have worked better had it not been Arthur doing the teasing, which is very out of character for him.

This was the reaction in-universe, it isn't YMMV.

• The episode "That's a Baby Show!" features Arthur accidentally tuning into a Teletubbies expy called "Love Ducks" and becoming a closeted fan of the show, going to great lengths to avoid anyone finding out he enjoys it. Fast forward to early 2011, and young men across the nation are beginning to relate quite a bit. This might not have been accidental: Arthur itself has a prominent Periphery Demographic, which was already rather large, and the episode was meant as a message to them.

Cartoon fans have been getting hooked on kids' shows for generations. One example doesn't make this more or less relevant (or Hilarious) than it already was.

• Ho Yay:
  • A number of older fans see Arthur and Buster as being more than just Hetero Sexual Life Partners; the recent episode, "The Substitute Arthur," doesn't help that Buster actually goes into a depressive funk with Arthur gone for a weekend. Of course, we also have:
  • Les Yay: All throughout the series, there's a few inklings (some subtle, some more obvious) of this with Francine and Muffy.
  • Prunella and Marina seem to be drifting into this territory as well as far as a number of fans are concerned.

There's already a subpage for this.

• Love It or Hate It: The Imagine Spots! Some find them to be absolutely hilarious, especially considering how wild the imaginations of some of the kids can get, while others find them to be an annoying and unnecessary Once per Episode thing that disrupts the rest of the story.

Love It or Hate It refers to the work as a whole. It says on the Love It or Hate It page that "When this happens within a fandom, it's known as Broken Base".

• Memetic Bystander: Well, memetic on the outofcontextarthur blog. There is a recurring crocodile/alligator in the background of many episodes that wears a target shirt and headphones. They have dubbed him Samson.

The trope page doesn't really define "memetic" other than "incredibly popular". I love outofcontextarthur, but I'm pretty sure they're just one person.

• Moe:
  • Fern to some.
  • Marina as well.
  • Maria too. See Ensemble Dark Horse above.

Zero Context Example.

• The Scrappy:
  • D.W. for often getting whatever she wants, acting like she's smarter than Arthur, tattling on Arthur for things that weren't his fault, complains about Arthur being mean to her when she's the one making condescending comments at his expense and never giving him a moment of peace. There's a reason why the wallbangers page have a section where she alone caused the stupidity.
  • Muffy for being a spoiled brat and gets punished far less often than D.W.
  • Binky when he's being a bully and especially when he whines and acts like his viewpoint is the only one that matters.
  • Francine when she's a jerk.
  • Brain when he's an insufferable genius.
  • The Tibble Twins are basically gender bender versions of D.W. but with less redeeming qualities and never get punished and their personalities often involve arguing with each other over whatever subject they're discussing and rough housing with each other.
  • Kate and Pal were seen as just fine for most of the series but recently they're gained this reputation thanks to the segments when they talk.
  • Ladonna is seen as an annoying, unneeded character. It doesn't help she was introduced right when the series got a cheaper art style that made fans mad enough.
    • On top of that, although she's only the latest in a long line of new characters introduced to the show over the past few seasons, she's the only one whose literally be thrusted into the limelight and has gotten a number of episodes centered on her since her introduction, in addition to being part of the regular cast, whereas most other newer characters have pretty much been kept as supporting/secondary characters and even background extras.

Trimmed because most of these characters are [[Base Breaker]]s at worst.

• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • The Tough Customers breaking up and no longer being bullies. While it's unacceptable for children to bully each other in real life, realistic fiction is supposed to have different conventions. Often, if there is no antagonist, there is no story (although this show does seem to buck that convention a lot). The particularly Anvilicious "So Funny" episode drives this point home. The problem is not that Arthur was being mean or that Sue Ellen told the teacher about it; the problem is that the kids weren't allowed to work things out on their own and come to the conclusion that bullying is wrong.

Trimmed because it seems to drift from its point.

• Toy Ship: As always, mileage varies, but older fans tend to do this to some characters. Arthur and Francine have been shipped frequently, even during Imagine Spot segments on their own show. Fern and George may be a Toy Ship as well, and recent seasons have this tropette seeing a cute one between D.W. and Bud Compson.

Removing This Troper stuff.

• Unfortunate Implications:
  • In Universe, Pema, the Tibetan World Girl and Little Tibet as a whole were discontinued since Tibet's mostly Buddhist, it didn't generate enough accessories.

I'm having trouble figuring out how this fits? It doesn't describe any controversy or complaints over the doll.

• Jerkass Woobie: D.W., the Tibbles, Francine, etc.

I've never seen the fandom react to these characters this way? Aside from occasional circumstances, they're not very woobie-ish. Also, Zero Context Example.

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Anyone else feel that the entries here (that have seen a sudden increase) taking the side of the Tibbles in "Attack of the Turbo Tibbles" don't work and should be removed?

I think said entries are missing the point of the episode in favor of vilifying D.W. in one of her (relatively rare) more sympathetic roles. The Tibbles are going out of control with their like of the TV show and wind up accidentally hurting D.W. (to the point of giving her stitches) while engrossed in one of their fantasies, and they are horrified when they do so. And honestly, I don't see many other people taking a "serves-you-right" mentality to what happens to her here beyond the person or people who added these entries.

Should these entries be zapped?

"I shall not be foolish again, my dear Gwendolyn!" Hide / Show Replies

About the entry about D.W. under Ron the Death Eater; I'd like to know which fanfics out there make D.W. an Enfante Terrible. I know Proper Discipline is one, but the entry states there are more than a few of them.

Edited by SereneSpecter13 On a semi-hiatus from this site due to being busy with other things (may contribute here and there, but nothing major).

Putting tropes for The Arthur movie on a different page