The Buster Bunny Bunch

The Buster Bunny Bunch is the 5th episode of Tiny Toon Adventures.

Wraparounds
Buster and his friends introduce the episode segments in a parody of The Mickey Mouse Club.

Buffed Bunny
Buster buys Babs an ice cream cone with everything that she likes on it, but she rejects it and tells him that she's watching her girlish figure (also ribbing Buster by poking his stomach and telling him that he needs to watch his "boyish figure"). Buster is about to bite into the ice cream, but Babs is suddenly attracted to a billboard and grabs Buster's arm, causing him to lose his balance and the over-loaded ice cream to fall on top of him. Buster, completely covered in ice cream (with a cherry on top), peers up and notices a billboard of Arnold the Pit Bull advertising Diet Flex, and gripes that he can not believe girls go for that. Babs responds, "They eat it up," then flaps her arms and floats away. Buster believes that he is already in perfect shape and flexes his arm, but the little muscle that he does have depletes, causing him to change his mind and deciding that he could use a "little improvement."

Buster spots a sign on a building which reads, "Arnold's Pump-You-Up Gym, We Pump You Up and Spit You Out," as Plucky is suddenly tossed out the gym's door and into the street. Buster appears nervous after witnessing Plucky's extreme exit and hearing a voice in the background stating, "His workout didn't work out. Next!" Suddenly, Arnold peers out of the door and grabs Buster by his foot, pulling him inside. Buster is excited and optimistic about starting the workout, bragging about his potential new body, but in doing so, he accidentally slams a barbell onto Arnold's head. He nervously apologizes and says that maybe he will stay a "couch potato," but Arnold pulls him back by his ears as he tries to run off. He chastises Buster (calling him a "namby pamby baby fluffy nothing") and tells him that he will "pump him up" himself, starting him with his first lesson by handing him an extremely heavy barbell. Buster (still being held up by his ears in the air), thinks that he can handle it, but as he grabs a hold of it, the barbell falls straight down into the floor (stretching Buster's arms out in the process as he didn't let go).

Arnold puts Buster on a table to work out his stomach muscles, but when the buffed pit bull pulls a lever, the table folds in half, squashing the blue rabbit in-between it. He then has Buster on the pulley machine, as Buster shows off by pulling on the handle with his ears and joking, "Look, ma. No hands." Arnold pulls up on the lever (going from "5 LB EASY" to "HARD 1,000 LB"), causing the machine to forcefully pull up Buster (who's ears are still wrapped around the handle) through it and molding him into the size and shape of one of the weight bars. Arnold laughs and snidely says, "Yah, very good. You're getting in shape now," as Buster (still shaped as a bar and inside of the machine with them) replies, "This isn't exactly the shape I had in mind."

Arnold (wearing a Viking hat and belt and beating on a large drum with mallets) taunts Buster, who is below him continuously pulling back on a work-out machine. Bugs is watching the situation from his television at home and remarks that it is embarrassing and making rabbits look bad. He lifts up his sleeve (of his smoking jacket) and pulls Buster out of his television. Bugs is disappointed in Buster, telling him that he is developing the wrong muscle (poking him in the stomach) and that rabbits have to strengthen their heads. He whispers something into Buster's ear, as the now more confident bunny thanks his mentor and dashes back through the television. He also encourages Buster by remarking, "By the way, I love your show!," but then he tells the viewers that Warner Bros. paid him to say that.

Arnold (still beating the drum in the Viking uniform) suddenly notices that Buster is missing and wonders where he went. Buster yells out to him (calling him "Atlas") and Arnold sprints over to the devious bunny (losing his Viking uniform in the process). Buster (wearing a fishing hat) is sitting on a work-out machine and "fishing," claiming he has caught a salmon as big as a moose (a "salmon-moose", he jokes), and starts to "reel" it in with his fishing rod. Arnold snatches the rod and Buster gives up his seat to him (also placing the fishing hat on his head). The other end of the fishing line is attached to a weight that is hanging directly above the machine. The clueless bully continues to pull on the rod with Buster's encouragement, as the line snaps and the weight comes crashing on top of Arnold's head.

An infuriated Arnold chases Buster into the steam room, but Buster quickly bolts back out and turns up the heat (all the way passed its highest level of "DEEP FAT FRY" and causing the thermometer to "scream"). The tremendous steam bursts the doors open, revealing a humiliated and miniaturized (almost bug-sized) Arnold, who walks out of the steam room and (with a squeaky voice) says, "I would rather you not see me now."

Buster feels it is time to gain some "serious muscles...Buster-style!" He notices Babs sitting at a table across the street from the gym, who is about to eat a slice from an entire carrot cake. He kicks open the door, wearing a red shirt and black tights, and appears to be incredibly bulked up (except for the obvious plug on his chest revealing it to be only a muscular costume) as he flexes and jumps into the air. He makes a forceful landing next to Babs, surprising her, and begins to flex some more. She wants to know what happened to him, and the "muscular" Buster remarks, "Pretty impressive, huh? Turn on your droolers, girls!" Babs is even more puzzled, as Buster reminds her by pointing out the billboard of Arnold. Babs explains that she meant the one below it with a picture of a carrot cake (identical to the one she is about to eat), which reads, "Carl's Carrot Cake, Try A Delicious Hunk," and that the cheesecake was the "hunk" that girls go for.

Buster gripes that he did "all that exercise" for carrot cake, as Babs unplugs his muscular suit and responds, "All that exercise, huh?" Buster grabs her cake and runs off with it, as Babs chases after him. He takes a large bite out of it and to the viewers, he quips, "Well, you know what they say. No pain, no gain," as an upset Babs trails directly behind the thieving bunny, trying desperately to catch him.

Squish
Shirley the Loon is having a picnic with some bugs, and the food attracts Dizzy Devil. He ruins the picnic, eats the food and tries to squish the bugs. Two of the bugs manage to dodge his foot, but one is not so fortunate as he gets flattened into the ground. Shirley revives the bug, and it angrily walks up to Dizzy, kicking him with two of his right feet (but it hurts the bug instead of Dizzy). The rowdy devil stomps down on another bug, as Shirley has to revive it as well. Shirley warns him that her crystal predicts disaster for him if he doesn't change his nasty ways, as in his next life, he could end up as a bug and get squished himself.

Shirley waves the crystal in Dizzy's face, as he falls asleep against a tree and dreams that he is the size of a bug. In his dream, Buster and Plucky try to squish him and he runs away into a crowded street. After narrowly avoiding Buster and Plucky and a crowded sidewalk, he ends up in an alley, where Furrball is dumpster fishing. Dizzy gets stuck to some discarded chewing gum and tries to free himself by crawling away from the other end of it that is stuck to the ground. He believes this will stretch out the gum enough so it will release itself from him, but instead the gum that is stuck to the ground comes up and forcefully smacks into Dizzy, catapulting him into Furrball's mouth and getting stuck to his tongue, then quickly back out again (stretching out Furrball's tongue in the process), slamming against the dumpster's door (now being stuck to both the dumpster and the feline's tongue). Furrball pulls him from the dumpster and launches him (from his stretched out tongue) towards Sweetie's nest.

The tiny, gum-covered devil smacks against the branch directly above Sweetie's nest. He dangles down from the gum right in front of her and she tries to eat him, but Dizzy slings himself to the top of the branch and tries to crawl away. He hops off and falls against the ground, as Sweetie lands behind him and lets him know (with a louder maniacal voice) that it won't hurt a bit, but before she can squish the tiny "morsel," Shirley rushes over and stops her. She picks him up and warns Sweetie that what she is doing will bring her bad karma, but Sweetie replies that he is a "tasty, tender, meaty morsel Mcbugget." Shirley adamantly states that he is not, removes the gum and sets the "bug" free. Dizzy is ecstatic and spins away.

He ends up on the tongue of himself at his normal size, who remarks that he hates "stupid bugs" and tries to squish him. Dizzy wakes up from his nightmare and notices a distressed bug caught in the middle of a busy highway. He immediately rushes out to the edge of the street and yells out, "Stop!," as all the automobiles promptly come to a halt. He goes out into the street and saves the bug from getting squished. He carries the bug out of the street and yells, "Go!," as the traffic begins moving again. He sets it down and they wave goodbye to each other, but another bug (a fly) buzzes around Dizzy and gets him irritated. He tries to squish the fly, but Shirley appears and catches him in the act before he can do so, causing him to play it off instead by twirling around and patting the fly's head. He kisses the bug, blows it from his hand and waves it goodbye (with Shirley's nod of approval as she walks away), but the bug buzzes around him some more. Dizzy, with a devious grin on his face as the cartoon irises out, squishes the fly offscreen.

Born to be Riled
On their way to the Acme Loo cafeteria, Babs Bunny notices a "golden moment" when she spots Calamity Coyote walking down the hall with his nose in a book (studying "Computer Animation"), and imitates him (by using her lunchbox in place of the book) for Shirley and Fifi. They laugh hysterically at her impersonation, but Calamity is none too pleased. Babs responds, "Private joke!," to the annoyed coyote, as the three girls dash off to the cafeteria. During lunch period (at which all three girls have brought their own unique lunches - Fifi brought a croissant, slice of cheese and grape juice in a bottle, Shirley brought a mung bean tofu whip in a jar and Babs brought a carrot sandwich, carrot chips and carrot juice - in their lunchboxes), Babs entertains them by cracking jokes.

She notices Plucky walking by and yells, "Duck!," as the startled Plucky tosses aside his cafeteria lunch and takes cover under a table. When he hears the three girls laughing at him, he tells them, "Hysterical, very hysterical," and puts his scattered lunch back on the tray. Babs approaches him, wearing a green bald cap, duck feet slippers, and a beak, and he asks, "Who do you think you are?," in which she responds that she is Plucky Duck. They then argue with each other on who is really Plucky Duck, as Babs states (also imitating Plucky's voice), "I'm a silly green duck with an ego the size of Cleveland." A flustered Plucky repeats what she had said, claiming that to be him and not her, and as he realizes what he had just said about himself, Babs walks off and tells him that he is right. Plucky tosses his lunch aside again and throws a tantrum, losing all of his feathers in the process. Shirley and Fifi are impressed with the funny bunny, as Plucky walks by (carrying a huge pile of his feathers) and tells her that he is naming his first ulcer after her (causing the girls to burst into laughter).

Shirley requests an impersonation of Dizzy Devil from Babs, and she obliges. She hops up on the table and says (imitating Dizzy's voice), "Bunny yummy," sticks out her tongue and begins spinning around the cafeteria. Dizzy spins through the doors into the lunch room and Babs spins up to him. He taps her and she stops spinning, as the puzzled devil asks her why she is doing that. She answers that she is just ribbing him and nudges him in the chest. He asks, "Ribbon?," as Babs responds by tying a bunch of pink ribbons across his head and showing him how "adorable" he is through her pocket mirror. Dizzy says, "Yuck!," and sticks out his tongue, but in doing so, he reveals that he his tongue has a pink ribbon tied to it as well. Babs grabs his tongue and stretches it out of his mouth, as several more ribbons are also tied further back on it as well. She then lets go of it, sending it flying back into his mouth and knocking him over.

Babs walks back to their table and comments, "I can't help myself," to Fifi, as the French skunk laughs at the talented rabbit's witty humor and requests that she imitates someone else. Babs pulls out a carrot and caresses its green foilage, mocking Fifi's voice and her affection for boys. Fifi is not too pleased, but Shirley believes it to be "dead on". Babs then appears to be levitating behind them, but she is actually risen by a stack of books. She mocks Shirley's voice and her "past lifes" ( temporarily removing her head as well), as both Shirley and Fifi are steaming mad. Shirley upsettingly walks off, and before leaving the cafeteria, she tells Babs that if she wasn't so centered, she would be angry (then slams the door, shattering the glass in its small window). Fifi tells Babs that she "stinks" and "coming from a skunk, that's some insult," and storms off as well. Babs wonders if she unwillingly upset her friends, but quickly shrugs it off with a "Nah."

That night, Fifi is inside her derelict Cadillac talking on the phone to Shirley (who is levitating inside her home with incense burning), complaining about Bab's treatment of them earlier at school. The screen is split two ways (one side for Fifi and one side for Shirley), but Plucky calls Shirley and she takes it, causing the screen to be split threes way between them. Plucky (who is in the process of gluing his feather back on) is angered and wants to know what's with her "flea-ridden rodent" friend, but then he gets a call and takes it. Dizzy (sitting atop a telephone pole, speaking through one end of a broken line and hearing out of the other) is on the other line (causing the screen to now be split four ways) and is griping about Babs hurting his feeling. He gets a call and it's Calamity (as the screen is split in 5 ways and squeezes them together), but since the clever coyote is mute, he just holds up a sign reading, "HELLO!," as Dizzy wonders who is in the other line.

Fifi complains about the screen being too cramped, as Shirley remarks that she may have possibly been one of the Hollywood Squares in a past life. Fifi wonder what they should do about Babs, as they all simultaneously respond, "I got an idea!," except for Calamity, who instead holds up a sign with a picture of a light bulb on it and reading "IDEA" (then, with a devious grin, he flips the sign over, as "HE! HE! HE!" is written on the back of it).

The next day, Babs enters the cafeteria and yells, "I'm here!," but the entire place is empty. She remarks that they must be serving "mystery meat" today, then sits down and opens her lunchbox. Suddenly, Shirley, Fifi, Plucky and Dizzy (all wearing fake ears that look exactly like Babs' ears - complete with purple bows!) enter the lunchroom and take turns duplicating her frequently used quirky comments. Babs is not too thrilled about this, and as they crowd around her on the table, she explodes and yells, "Cut it out!," sending them all flying away from her. She peers over to the front doors (where the window that Shirley broke earlier now has boards nailed up around it), as Calamity (wearing the same set of ears) holds up a sign reading, "I'M NOT AS DUMB AS YOU LOOK!," then holds up another sign with his other arm that has an arrow pointing to him that reads, "I'M BABS."

They all taunt the infuriated rabbit by dancing around her, as Dizzy ties more bows on her ears, which is similar to what she did to him earlier. She looks up to at the bows, laughs, and removes the extra bows. She responds to them, "Okay, I really do get the point. You've had enough of me making fun of you, right?" They all shout out simultaneously with a resounding "Right!" (except Calamity, who holds up a sign that reads it), so Babs promises to never make fun of her friends again. They all cheer and are happy over this, but Babs had her fingers crossed behind her back when she promised (unknown to them, but shown to the viewers at home), and as the show ends, she turns to the viewers, blinks and signals for them to keep quiet.

Allusions

 * This episode's title is based on The Mickey Mouse Club, or possibly based on The Brady Bunch.
 * The third episode segment, Born to Be Riled, is based on the Steppenwolf song, Born to Be Wild.
 * At one point in Born to Be Riled, Shirley says"Dèjá vu, it's To Tell the Truth." A reference to the game showTo Tell the Truth.

Trivia

 * In the episode segment, Buffed Bunny, you can see Bugs' 1958 Shloskar award for the cartoon, Knighty Knight Bugs. This award would later play an important plot point in the episode, Who Bopped Bugs Bunny?
 * In the episode segment, Born To Be Riled, when Plucky is complaining to Shirley about Babs while gluing his feathers back on, the hand that is holding the phone is green, but when Dizzy calls them, Plucky's hand looks like a human hand.
 * In the episode segment, Born To Be Riled, the book that Calamity reads on his way to the cafeteria is entitledComputer Animation, which at the time was still a novelty.
 * In the episode segment, Born To Be Riled, when Fifi was taking out her lunch, a croissant appears on the table before she puts the real one down.
 * This is one of the few times Fifi is shown wearing any clothes besides her pink ribbon (both in the intro and theBorn to Be Riled short). The other episodes being The Acme Bowl, Prom-Ise Her Anything, Out of Odor(during the girls' basketball scene), Buster at the Bat and The Amazing Three.
 * Maurice LaMarche once stated that Tress MacNeille's impressions of Plucky, Dizzy, Shirley and Fifi were so spot-on that he and the other voice actors were fearful of their employment.

Videos