History YMMV / TheRockafireExplosion

** The song [[ParentalLoveSong "Oh Dawn"]] from the Fall 1984 showtape, features Billy Bob singing about parental love to a newborn baby. The song was dedicated to Alyssa Dawn, Aaron Fetcher's daughter who was just born during the tapes production. Actual audio of Alyssa's cooing and crying are used throughout the song. She later became the off-stage announcer for the Cyberstar tape "Kids Show" in 1988.

* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: The Christmas 1986 showtape, done without permission from [=ShowBiz=], has the band sit around talking about what the spirit of Christmas means to them. At the end, they thank the managers of the locations, and remind the audience that they intend to stay together forever. Can also become HarsherInHindsight knowing what happened in the years since.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: The general consensus with the Mijjin Billy Bob, Mitzi, and Dook, as their outfits are generally considered to be overly tacky and "hip".

* HilariousInHindsight: Mitzi's [[TakeThat quip]] in the 1982 New Year's Eve showtape about getting a bad joke from Creator/ChuckECheese became this after [=ShowBiz=] Pizza bought out Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre just two years later (but also HarsherInHindsight given the whole Concept Unification process).

* AudienceAlienatingEra: The showtapes produced by [=ShowBiz=] themselves in the mid-1980s without any input from Creative Engineering. They are riddled with off-sounding voices, an overly-positive feel compared to the sometimes adult and cynical feel of the CEI tapes, and lame puns, with "Time Machine / Hits 1" (the first of those showtapes) considered the nadir. The final Rock-afire Explosion showtape for [=ShowBiz=], “The Rolfe & Earle (sic) Show” (which was played during Concept Unification), is widely considered one of the worst Rock-afire showtapes for the aforementioned problems plus mixing up Rolfe and Earl’s characterizations[[note]]Rolfe, who is normally a clueless, greedy jerk, is somehow more of a DeadpanSnarker who drops several clues as to who [[Creator/ChuckECheese their replacement]] is, while Earl, normally the witty puppet who manipulates Rolfe, is depicted as pathetic and clueless.[[/note]], as well as [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking misspelling Earl’s name with an “E” at the end]].

* Last Note Hilarity : At the end of their White Album tribute, Dook yells out “I GOT BLISTERS ON MY FINGERS!” Proceeded is a bunch of clips from Revolution 9.

* Last Note Hilarity: At the end of their White Album tribute, Dook yells out “I GOT BLISTERS ON MY FINGERS!” Proceeded is a bunch of clips from Revolution 9.

* FunnyMoments: At the end of their White Album tribute, Dook yells out “I GOT BLISTERS ON MY FINGERS!” Proceeded is a bunch of clips from Revolution 9.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Since the 2010s, Fechter has been caught up in various controversies. Among other things, he (as Earl) used the n-word in a parody of the song "Eve of Destruction" uncensored, made styrofoam bowl masks during the early stages of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, stirred up drama with fans and took down the ''Rock-afire Replay'' fan project due to fans using it to program adult songs (despite having done the same himself several years prior), etc. Also, he alienated many former co-workers who've refused to work with him ever since, as well as prominent Rock-afire fans such as Damon Breland and David Ferguson (both of whom own private Rock-afire shows themselves), and even [=ShowBizPizza.com=] webmaster Travis Schaefer. He also got pissed off when an [[StylisticSuck intentionally jerky]] Deadpool animatronic joined the Rock-afire for a ''Film/Deadpool2'' promotion, even going so far as to call out the Creator/JimHensonsCreatureShop (the ones responsible for the animatronic in question) as amateurs.

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: The entire CEI version of "The Liberty Show" in July 1986 due to being full of SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic, but special mention goes to the Statue of Liberty animatronic reading "The New Colossus".

** Many fans also express sadness when they watch the Concept Unification tape, as it goes through the process of converting the stage to have Chuck E. Cheese and his cohorts. It doesn’t help the narrator seems serenely calm as he instructs the franchisee to destroy all of the props and remove the cosmetics from all the animatronics so as to replace them with the Chuck E. Cheese characters, and a somber-sounding track called "Port of Mystery" by Yanni plays in the background of the first few minutes.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: The showtapes produced by [=ShowBiz=] themselves in the mid-1980s without any input from Creative Engineering. They are riddled with off-sounding voices, an overly-positive feel compared to the sometimes adult and cynical feel of the CEI tapes, and lame puns. The final Rock-afire Explosion showtape for [=ShowBiz=], “The Rolfe & Earle (sic) Show” (which was played during Concept Unification), is widely considered the worst Rock-afire showtape, for the aforementioned problems plus mixing up Rolfe and Earl’s characterizations[[note]]Rolfe, who is normally a clueless, greedy jerk, is somehow more of a DeadpanSnarker who drops several clues as to who [[Creator/ChuckECheese their replacement]] is, while Earl, normally the witty puppet who manipulates Rolfe, is depicted as pathetic and clueless.[[/note]], as well as [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking misspelling Earl’s name with an “E” at the end]].
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Almost all of their song covers, as well as originals. In particular, one song that played during birthday parties, "Sal's Birthday", is a touching song that perfectly shows Billy Bob's kindhearted nature.

* HarsherInHindsight: The "Save the Colander" showtape from 1983 becomes more bittersweet knowing that Creative Engineering has been decimated to just Fechter in the years since, and several people [[note]]such as Burt Wilson, the voice of Fatz and a songwriter, and Jeff Howell, a backup singer and the voice of Klunk[[/note]] have cut ties with him for different reasons.

* HilariousInHindsight: Mitzi's quip in the 1982 New Year's Eve showtape about getting a bad joke from Creator/ChuckECheese became this after [=ShowBiz=] Pizza bought out Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre (but also HarsherInHindsight given the whole Concept Unification process).

* SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome: The entire CEI version of the "Liberty Show" in July 1986, but especially the Statue of Liberty animatronic reading "The New Colossus".

* {{Self Fanservice}}: Either by making the animatronics look more like standard anthros or having humanized designs be good-looking people

* UnintentionalUncannyValley: Fatz can come across as this due to his realistic look. One customer who purchased a Rock-afire show for a planned restaurant in Jordan (said customer never got their show and their restaurant never came to be) even requested that Fatz be redesigned into a monkey to look friendlier.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Since the 2010s, Fechter has been caught up in various controversies. Among other things, he (as Earl) used the n-word in a parody of the song "Eve of Destruction" uncensored, made styrofoam bowl masks during the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, stirred up drama with fans and took down the ''Rock-afire Replay'' fan project due to fans using it to program adult songs [[{{Hypocrite}} despite having done the same himself several years prior]], etc. Also, he alienated many former co-workers who've refused to work with him ever since, as well as prominent Rock-afire fans such as Damon Breland and David Ferguson (both of whom own private Rock-afire shows themselves), and even [=ShowBizPizza.com=] webmaster Travis Schaefer. He also got pissed off when an [[StylisticSuck intentionally jerky]] Deadpool animatronic joined the Rock-afire for a ''Film/Deadpool2'' promotion, even going so far as to call out the Creator/JimHensonsCreatureShop (the ones responsible for the animatronic in question) as amateurs.

* UncannyValley:
** Fatz can come across as this due to his realistic look. One customer who purchased a Rock-afire show for a planned restaurant in Jordan (said customer never got their show and their restaurant never came to be) even requested that Fatz be redesigned into a monkey to look friendlier.
** Ditto for guest character Uncle Klunk due to his more exaggerated appearance.
** The animatronics in general can become this when not maintained properly. Billy Bob's Wonderland in Barboursville, West Virginia was the worst offender due to poor maintenance (at least until its show was fully restored in 2022)
* UnfortunateImplications: Fatz is based on real-life Black musicians Fats Domino and Ray Charles. This, combined with how gorillas are typically used as an insult to African-Americans in general, has led some people to call Fatz a racist stereotype. It doesn't help that Fechter himself was once caught saying the n-word in-character as Earl, and has made other racist remarks.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Since the 2010s, Fechter has been caught up in various controversies. Among other things, he (as Earl) used the n-word in a parody of the song "Eve of Destruction" uncensored, made styrofoam bowl masks during the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, stirred up drama with fans and took down the ''Rock-afire Replay'' fan project due to fans using it to program adult songs [[{{Hypocrite}} despite having done the same himself several years prior]], etc. Also, he alienated many former co-workers who've refused to work with him ever since, as well as prominent Rock-afire fans such as Damon Breland and David Ferguson (both of whom own private Rock-afire shows themselves), and even [=ShowBizPizza.com=] webmaster Travis Schaefer. He also got pissed off when an [[StylisticSuck intentionally jerky]] Deadpool animatronic joined the Rock-Afire for a ''Film/Deadpool2'' promotion, even going so far as to call out the Creator/JimHensonsCreatureShop (the ones responsible for the animatronic in question) as amateurs.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Since the 2010s, Fechter has been caught up in various controversies. Among other things, he (as Earl) used the n-word in a parody of the song "Eve of Destruction" uncensored, made styrofoam bowl masks during the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, stirred up drama with fans and took down the ''Rock-afire Replay'' fan project due to fans using it to program adult songs [[{{Hypocrite}} despite having done the same himself several years prior]], etc. Also, he alienated many former co-workers who've refused to work with him ever since, as well as prominent Rock-afire fans such as Damon Breland and David Ferguson (both of whom own private Rock-afire shows themselves), and even [=ShowBizPizza.com=] webmaster Travis Schaefer. He also got pissed off when an intentionally jerky Deadpool animatronic joined the Rock-Afire for a ''Film/Deadpool2'' promotion, even going so far as to call out the Creator/JimHensonsCreatureShop (the ones responsible for the animatronic in question) as amateurs.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Since the 2010s, Fechter has been caught up in various controversies. Among other things, he (as Earl) used the n-word in a parody of the song "Eve of Destruction" uncensored, made styrofoam bowl masks during the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, stirred up drama with fans and took down the ''Rock-afire Replay'' fan project due to fans using it to program adult songs [[{{Hypocrite}} despite having done the same himself several years prior]], etc. Also, he alienated many former co-workers who've refused to work with him ever since, as well as prominent Rock-afire fans such as Damon Breland and David Ferguson (both of whom own private Rock-afire shows themselves), and even [=ShowBizPizza.com=] webmaster Travis Schaefer.

* {{SelfFanservice}}: Either by making the animatronics look more like standard anthros or having humanized designs be good-looking people

* {{Self-Fanservice}}: Either by making the animatronics look more like standard anthros or having humanized designs be good-looking people

* Self-Fanservice: Either by making the animatronics look more like standard anthros or having humanized designs be good-looking people

* {{Self-Fanservice}}: Either by making the animatronics look more like standard anthros or having humanized designs be good-looking people

* {{Self-Fanserve}}: Either by making the animatronics look more like standard anthros or having humanized designs be good-looking people

* Self-Fanserve: Either by making the animatronics look more like standard anthros or having humanized designs be good-looking people