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Author Topic: The Tough Customers  (Read 526 times)

MCCJ

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The Tough Customers
« on: November 15, 2012, 09:07:55 pm »
What is everyone's opinion on the infamous group of bullies? They are an interesting bunch with different personalities among each member. They are a lot more then just bullies in my opinion.

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Muppetfan

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Re: The Tough Customers
« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2012, 03:52:37 pm »
I am a huge TC fan. HUGE. I love each one of them so much for their distinct personalities.

To begin with, there's Molly, who is just awesome in the sense that she has so many different sides: she can be very mean and rough, yet at the same time, she can be nice, giving advice to other kids, working with them on things (The Agent of Change), being kind to her brother...there's just a million different facets to her personality.

And then we have Rattles, who doesn't show as much diversity as Molly, but still a lot. Sure, Rattles never shows off his nice side that much, but its still evidently there. There's just something really likable about him. Same with Slink.

raidpirate52

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Re: The Tough Customers
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2012, 04:52:11 am »
They were pretty interesting, but then they softened up as the seasons got more recent. They really made their own piece in the show and I liked them for that, they were tough for third graders but looked rather foolish to anyone older.

MCCJ

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Re: The Tough Customers
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2012, 04:13:06 pm »
They were pretty interesting, but then they softened up as the seasons got more recent. They really made their own piece in the show and I liked them for that, they were tough for third graders but looked rather foolish to anyone older.

I've never understood why they softened them up. Bullies don't soften up that easy.

Crossover Dreamer

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Re: The Tough Customers
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2012, 07:51:20 pm »
I never understood the bullies softening up either, except for, perhaps, Binky.

One of the things that confused me about the Tough Customers was their grades and ages. I know that Rattles is in the 5th grade, and Molly is in the 4th grade, but they sound like teenagers to me. I wonder if any of the other Tough Customers were held back.
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Snowth Woogle

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Re: The Tough Customers
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2012, 08:29:10 pm »
They kind of look like teenagers as well, but I wonder if they used that for a little creative licensing, so little kids watching will get the idea that they're older than Arthur and his friends, without having to actually explaining it to them ('cause, y'know, to little kids, older kids look "tough" and "mean" at first glance).

I agree, both Rattles and Molly each have interesting personalities, and different layers to their characters... I wonder if their softening up has something to do with Binky "de-founding" the club in "Arthur's Big Hit", I think they saw that Binky was upset about being forced to punch Arthur when he didn't really want, and at the same time, realize they were in the wrong too for pressuring him into doing so. I think that was the turning point for them, and they went from being straight forward bullies to somewhat rebellious older kids. I don't remember either, but wasn't "Arthur Makes Waves" or whatever it's called another similar turning point, specifically for Molly?

I know I'm not going to be popular for this, specifically with Sarge, but I still don't consider Slink one of the Tough Customers... why they brought him back at random is beyond me, but I still think of him as the other half of Toby and Slink from "Buster and the Daredevils". I forget the name of the brown dog Tough Customer, but I haven't seen him in more recent times, so I guess they made Slink his replacement or something?

You know, I'm actually starting to wonder if that's actually another reason why earlier episodes, particularly those from Season One, are rarely shown in reruns, because maybe it might confuse kids why Binky would be mean and a bully that kids run away from in one episode, then nice and one of the gang in another.
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MCCJ

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Re: The Tough Customers
« Reply #6 on: November 22, 2012, 11:02:55 pm »
They kind of look like teenagers as well, but I wonder if they used that for a little creative licensing, so little kids watching will get the idea that they're older than Arthur and his friends, without having to actually explaining it to them ('cause, y'know, to little kids, older kids look "tough" and "mean" at first glance).

I agree, both Rattles and Molly each have interesting personalities, and different layers to their characters... I wonder if their softening up has something to do with Binky "de-founding" the club in "Arthur's Big Hit", I think they saw that Binky was upset about being forced to punch Arthur when he didn't really want, and at the same time, realize they were in the wrong too for pressuring him into doing so. I think that was the turning point for them, and they went from being straight forward bullies to somewhat rebellious older kids. I don't remember either, but wasn't "Arthur Makes Waves" or whatever it's called another similar turning point, specifically for Molly?

I know I'm not going to be popular for this, specifically with Sarge, but I still don't consider Slink one of the Tough Customers... why they brought him back at random is beyond me, but I still think of him as the other half of Toby and Slink from "Buster and the Daredevils". I forget the name of the brown dog Tough Customer, but I haven't seen him in more recent times, so I guess they made Slink his replacement or something?

You know, I'm actually starting to wonder if that's actually another reason why earlier episodes, particularly those from Season One, are rarely shown in reruns, because maybe it might confuse kids why Binky would be mean and a bully that kids run away from in one episode, then nice and one of the gang in another.

Slink sort of replaced him. That dog character never had a known name from what we know of. Many of the episodes of Arthur have aired at least once in the entire year. Some have even aired more then once.