Arthur Rides the Bandwagon

Arthur Rides the Bandwagon is the first half of the 7th episode of Season 3. It first aired on November 16th, 1998. This episode deals with fads and peer pressure.

Summary
Arthur at first ridicules the silly toys called Woogles. But when every one has one, Arthur is alone and feels pressured into getting it. Will he get one?

Plot
This episode begins with Arthur and Buster are watching a commercial for a new toy called a woogle. While Arthur thinks this toy is dumb, Buster already bought one. Shocked that Buster actually bought one, he tried to make Buster think one of those things are dumb and useless. Buster is aware of this but still thinks they are cute. Then Muffy runs in and says that Buster's woogle is the only one she didn't get.

Arthur thinks this whole thing is a joke, saying that none of those things are cool, Muffy says that Arthur just doesn't get it and walks with Buster talking about their woogles, leaving Arthur out. The next day in school, Arthur was just about to tell Francine about the stupid woogles when he sits on one of Francine's red woogle and doesn't believe that Francine bought one too, she replies with why not, they are adorable! Francine then tells Arthur he looks Woogleless and offers him one, but Arthur refuses to take it and says he does not need one of those stupid things.

When he is talking to Brain, thinking he doesn't have one, Brain shows him the Albert Einstein woogle he bought. Arthur gets annoyed by this. Later on, he goes to a unknown store and goes to buy a woogle but everywhere he goes, they're all sold out until eventually finding something called a poogle. He buys it immediately and shows his friends. When his friends say that is a rip-off and not an actual woogle, he gets sad. After that, Arthur is desperate to have a woogle so he tries to trick Buster into throwing his out so he can take it, but it fails. Then when Arthur is alone sitting on the bench, Francine comes and tells him he can have one of hers and tells him to play with them, but first, he has to say he actually really wanted them, but he refuses to say that and says that a cap is a lot more fun than that, he starts playing with it and everyone drops their woogle and goes to him.

Concluding this episode, Grandma Thora gives him an orange woogle for doing so well on his report card, but he says that juice caps are alot more cool now and that lots of people have them.

Trivia

 * The Woogles are likely based on Silly Slammers; which also made noises and said things when squeezed or hit against.
 * Woogles being popular and then later unpopular is reference to the numerous toy fads of the 90s; inlcuding Furbies, Cabbage Patch Kids, and Beanie Babies
 * A poogle is also a possible pet on Neopets.com. But it is nothing like the Poogles seen in this episode.
 * D.W.'s Stray Netkitten is a similar episode about fads.
 * Poogles are likely a reference to how many popular toy franchies such as Transformers have cheap, poorly made knock-offs.