Buster's Sweet Success

Summary
Buster signs up to sell candy to raise money for the band, but then eats all of the profits.

Plot
The episode starts with Buster waving goodbye to his mom. He then sees Arthur holding a box and asks what is in it. Arthur says they are chocolates and Buster mistakes it for an art project they had to create using chocolate that he forgot to take note of in class. Arthur corrects Buster and says that they are selling them to raise money for the band for new instruments. Buster then plans to sign up to contribute to the cause. Muffy says to Ms. Krasny she could unload twenty, meaning her dad will buy them. Buster agrees to do the same and Ms. Krasny asks whether Buster could sell that many, to which Buster tells her that he understands chocolate than anyone else does. Buster tries to sell chocolates to various people including the Tibble Twins and Jenna, but he has not sold one box, largely due to his poor presentation skills in offering them to each person.

Francine then comes and tells Buster she only sold four boxes, Brain has sold six, and Prunella is doing better as she has raised $20 so far. Buster says to her that he hadn't had much luck, but guarantees that he would have sold all the boxes of chocolates by the end of the day. Needless to say, when Buster went home, he had gone up and down the main street and didn't sell one box. His mother suggested that he needs a gimmick to get people interested, but Buster doesn't have any ideas. Buster then sees a commercial from Jack's Joke Shop and the next day he chooses to give out free samples. Soon, Buster gets hungry and eats one box. Binky asks him if he sold any and Buster said no and Binky goes on to tell Buster he sold chocolates to George. Binky then asks if the chocolates are really free and end up taking one entire box, which Buster tells him the chocolates, not the box itself, but Binky does not listen and takes off with the chocolate samples.

At school, Arthur asks Buster how many boxes he had left and Buster tells him ten. At first, Arthur assumes Buster sold them, but Buster tells him he ate them much to the shock of Arthur. Buster asks Arthur how much he owes Ms. Krasny and Arthur replies $30. Arthur reassures Buster that they will think of something. Arthur raises the price of the chocolates from three dollars to six and tells Buster he can't eat anymore. Buster manages to control himself and makes $18 from his raised prices, and stashes the remaining chocolate in his closet so he will not be tempted. However, he has a nightmare that night where the chocolates demand that he let them out of the closet, and he desperately tries to fight their urges. The nightmare ends just as he seems to approach the closet door.

The next morning, however, Buster discovers that he ate the chocolates and goes to Arthur's house, tells him about what happened, and starts crying. He then imagines what will happen when the band doesn't get new instruments.

In Buster's mind, the band is wearing uniforms that are ripped, dirty, and patched up and everyone in the band is playing hand made instruments that were made out of various objects. They play Chopin's Funeral March, but soon the parents of the kids are laughing at them. Soon, Buster gets the idea to make new chocolates from scratch. He and Arthur attempt to make the chocolate all by themselves by following the ingredients labelled on the back of the box, but grossly misread the ingredients and end up putting in various nonsensical elements like soy sauce, eggshells, and even tomatoes. When they are done cooking, Buster eagerly tries to taste one, but Arthur tells him not to for he will eat them all, and so they do not test the chocolate before preparing to sell it.

Buster is soon selling "Buster Clusters" and when everyone hears they are homemade, they all eagerly buy a box. Soon, Buster has made $36 and then Mr. Haney shows up and agrees to partake in Buster's sale. However, he tries one of the chocolates and finds that they taste terrible, and soon all of the customers who bought Buster's chocolates return and demand their money back.

At school, Buster and his mom are in the principal's office and Mr. Haney comes in and tells him that the supporter of the band will pay off Buster's debt under one condition. He has to work at a store for a couple of hours that weekend and Buster is nervous about it. Mr. Haney, however, reassures him that the will do alright working at the store. Buster is seen working at Jack's Joke shop and Arthur comes in to see how he is doing.

Soon, two customers walk in and Buster shows them the Buster Clusters, which he claims looks good but tastes crummy. Buster appears to be doing very well at Jack's Joke Shop.

Major

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

Minor

 * Jack
 * Ms. Krasny
 * Binky Barnes
 * Bitzi Baxter
 * Prunella Deegan
 * Francis Haney
 * Ms. Tingley
 * David Read
 * D.W. Read
 * Ed Billings
 * Ethel

Cameo

 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * Fern Walters
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Jack Weasel
 * Norman Hedgehog
 * Timmy and Tommy Tibble
 * Patrick
 * Luke
 * Maria Pappas
 * Alex
 * George Lundgren
 * Jessica
 * 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)
 * Beulah McInnerny
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
 * Mrs. Johnson

Trivia

 * A man who Buster tries to sell chocolate to says he is allergic to chocolate, however, when Buster is selling "Buster Clusters", the man buys a box.
 * This is the first episode to use the Car Getting Towed as a title card.
 * In the very beginning, George is shown to be wearing a red orange shirt.
 * In the introduction, Ed is selling an old car to a man. The same man is seen in the car being towed in the title card.
 * Ed Billings makes a cameo in this episode, as the husband of one of Buster's angry customers demanding her money back on her behalf; here he's treated as a background character as he otherwise probably would still be living out in the countryside as seen in "Grandpa Dave's Old Country Farm".
 * If Buster sold his chocolates for $6 a box, and made $18, he sold three boxes of chocolate.
 * Irony: Mr. Haney is among Buster's customers when he buys some of the Buster Clusters; when Buster explains it's to raise new instruments for the school band, Mr. Haney seems surprised at the news of this fundraiser as if he were previously unaware of it, which doesn't make sense as he is the principal of the school, and thus would be fully aware of this fundraiser. It is possible he was confused because what Buster was selling was not the original product.

Episode connections

 * Arthur and Buster used tomatoes as a fruit substitute for the Buster Clusters. Interestingly, Grandma Thora is revealed to do the same thing with her cookies in "The Half-Baked Sale", except in that episode Arthur knew they were not an appropriate ingredient.

Errors

 * Buster tries to sell chocolate to Alfonz, who says he is allergic to chocolate; however, when Buster is selling "Buster Clusters", Alfonz buys a box. This attitude change could be explained by the public's general hesitancy to buy from door-to-door solicitors.

Cultural references

 * The plot of this episode is very similar to the Hey Arnold! episode "Chocolate Turtles." Like Buster, Arnold and Gerald have to sell several boxes of chocolates for a charitable cause. After Gerald's little sister eats all of them, Arnold and Gerald decide to try replacing them with homemade chocolates. Like with Arthur and Buster's attempt, the result is unsatisfactory due to unorthodox ingredients. In both series, the characters confess what happened, though Arnold and Gerald ended up raising the money anyway out of sympathy.
 * In Buster's fantasy, the underfinanced school band plays 's.

Home Video
DVD: VHS:
 * Arthur's Music Jamboree
 * Arthur's Tasty Treats
 * Arthur's Tasty Treats