Buster's Best Behavior

Summary
Fun-loving Buster begins to think he's not really good at anything, and smart Arthur worries that he's boring. Their attempts to be more like each other confuse everyone else.

Plot
Arthur opens up with the question of what would happen if you could be someone else just for a little while. In a series of fantasies he goes into all the things that would make this ability useful, like getting out of trouble with your parents (He transforms into Grandma Thora after taking D.W.'s TV time), being grown up (He grows super tall to pick an apple from a tree), or to do something that's difficult (He transforms into a professional pianist during practicing). He notes that while this is cool, he knows someone who's happy the way he is and would never want to change. He pulls back the curtains to reveal Buster Baxter......Dressed and acting like a biker punk?

Buster's Growing Grudge

On the soccer field, Francine and Binky are choosing which people should be on their teams. It's down to Arthur and Buster, and everyone insists that Francine pick Buster, which she gladly does. Binky and his team reluctantly pick Arthur, who sees their disapproval. The two teams play and Francine's team easily beats Binky's. Arthur compliments Buster on a great game, even though Buster explains that he didn't actually do anything and that it was Francine who scored every goal.

Later, in music class, Buster plays a comedic tune on the tuba while they all practice, and Arthur finds it hilarious. Buster however thinks little of it as Sue Ellen and Binky are the best in the class. Back in Mr. Ratburn's class, Buster presents his science report about the food chain, for which he drew a picture of a shark. Brain however puts on one of the better displays, but Arthur is impressed by Buster's drawing. Sadly, Buster thinks his project just looks lame.

At dinner, Buster is barely eating as he feels that he isn't the best at anything. When he explains this to him Mom, she says he is the best; the best at being her "little boy", much to his disappointment. Arthur meanwhile tells his parents about how cool Buster is, and again praises his music and drawing. D.W. suggests that they adopt Buster and replace Arthur by forcing him to move, much to the shock of their parents who disapprove of the insult.

While in bed, Buster feels he needs a new gimmick by which more people will recognize him, and resolves to find a new talent and personality for himself. Arthur does the same, feeling Buster is cooler than him and that he is boring to his friends. So he tries to find a way to be just as cool. At school the next day, Arthur asks Brain what makes him and Buster different. Deciding to approach the problem mathematically, Brain subtracts Arthur from Buster, which equals "X", which he dubs Element X. However, he can't actually explain what it means, saying it would take years to translate and a great deal of research. Brain then suggests just reading Buster's joke books to be more like him.

Buster tries various ways to prove he's good at something. He tries to be a great soccer player like Francine and even tries to talk tough to Binky at their next game. However, he fails at both and actually costs his team the win, even scoring against them by accident. Moving on, he sees that Muffy wins a lot of recognition for her unique style of dress, and tries to mix up his fashion a bit to get people's attention. He shows off his raggedy clothes to some of the boys, but they are not impressed. Buster figures that the only way he could be like Muffy was to wear girls' clothes, which is definitely not the attention he wants to have.

Buster then tries to be the mathematical genius, dueling the Brain in a series of complex problems in class. However, he cannot make sense of the problem and panics when his turn comes. Later, he tries to be tough like Binky, who's trying to intimidate Rattles. This fails however as Binky frightens him away. After school, Francine and Muffy are wondering what was up with Buster all day, so Brain suggests they go talk to Arthur at the library. They find him there, reading from joke books and eating carrots, too busy telling weird jokes to explain what's up with Buster. Realizing that they did find "Buster", they go to Brain to find out why Arthur is now acting weird.

At the playground, Buster is on the see-saw with D.W. and is debating to himself how to be a more interesting person. He decides to be someone he admires, like Abe Lincoln or Arthur. Figuring a beard would take too long to grow, he decides to be like Arthur instead and leave D.W. on the see-saw alone. D.W. complains to her Mom that Buster is no fun to have around after all.

At the Sugar Bowl, the girls explain to Brain what is going on, but he cannot bring himself to believe any of it.......Until Buster walks in wearing a yellow shirt identical to Arthur's while Arthur himself continues telling weird jokes. Buster then starts complaining about D.W., which leaves everyone utterly baffled. When they're alone, Brain realizes that this exchange of personalities must have something to do with Element X. The girls pass it all off as boys just being weird. With Buster and Arthur alone together, they are quickly turned off by the other acting differently, and begin to drift apart.

Buster explains to the others that Arthur is no longer interesting, telling old jokes that even he is tired of. Arthur is sick of Buster complaining about D.W. all the time. Sensing how sad both boys have become, the others try to find out how to get things back to normal. The Brain however is unable to come up with an explanation for Element X.

Francine takes matters into her own hands and tries to invite the boys to play soccer. Arthur however complains that he's hungry and Buster says he's got books to return. Finally fed up with their behavior, Francine tells both of them to knock it off, saying that they should ought to go back to being themselves instead of trying to copy the other. The Brain explains that they did indeed transfer Element X, but Francine shoots this down, explaining that everyone likes Arthur and Buster as their normal selves, and that they do too.

Francine then tells Arthur to stop with the bad jokes and for Buster to ditch the sweater and not to complain about Arthur's sister anymore. The boys realize how foolish they've been acting and Francine takes everyone to play soccer, this time for fun.

Before long, Buster and Arthur are back to their old selves, and are much happier together again as they always were. Everyone is relieved that the two of them are back to normal.

Major

 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * The Brain

Minor

 * Binky Barnes
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * Rattles
 * D.W. Read
 * Jane Read
 * David Read
 * Pal
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Fern Walters

Cameo

 * Kate Read
 * Alex
 * Maria Pappas
 * George Lundgren
 * Kiefer
 * 4th Grade Male Dog
 * Jessica
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
 * 3rd Grade Male Cat
 * Thora Read

Trivia

 * Thora herself is absent from this episode herself. However, Arthur transforms into her in the episode's opening.

Errors

 * At the end, Buster is seen in his normal clothes, but when the camera zooms out to Francine, he is in Arthur's sweater again.

Production notes

 * This is the first episode written by Gerard Lewis.

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