Western Animation / Bluey

For real life? ^note The Heeler family (clockwise from top, Bandit, Chilli, Bluey, Bingo)

"Flowers may bloom again, but a person never has the chance to be young again."

— A fortune cookie in the episode 'Takeaway'

Bluey is an Australian preschool animated series created by Joe Brumm. Premiering on 1 October 2018, the series chronicles the everyday lives of the eponymous anthropomorphic Blue Heeler puppy and her family. The titular Bluey is six (later seven) years old; her sister Bingo is four (later five) and her parents, archaeologist Bandit (David McCormack) and airport security agent Chilli (Melanie Zanetti) frequently join them in imaginative games.

Each episode shows how the kids see games and family outings as adventures, and how gameplay is used to cope with everyday issues. Occasionally, the rest of their family or their friends might take the spotlight.

Made and set in Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland, Bluey is produced by Ludo Studio for The ABC and BBC Worldwide, and was first broadcast in Australia in late 2018 on ABC Kids. Following a broadcast in the United Kingdom on CBeebies followed, and in 2019, Ludo announced that the show would air in the United States on Disney Junior, as well as being available to stream on Disney+. These international airings come at Ludo's condition that the series cannot be shown overseas in English unless the characters maintain their Australian accents (naturally, this does not apply to foreign-language dubs). The second season premiered in Australia in early 2020, with a third season airing as of late 2021. The first season was added to BBC iPlayer under the CBeebies section in Malaysia and Singapore in 2021, keeping the Australian accents as required. A fourth season has been confirmed.

A stage show based on the series, Bluey's Big Play, debuted in Australia at the end of 2020, and has since toured internationally. The series also received a video game, simply titled Bluey: The Video Game, which debuted on all modern consoles on 17 November 2023.

Not to be confused with the 1970s Australian cop show of the same name.

Now has a recap page in progress.

This episode of Bluey is called "Tropes"!

Tropes A to B

• Abusive Parents: The trope is downplayed but, surprisingly for a preschool show, the series does portray a Deliberate Values Dissonance with older generations.
  • In 'Baby Race', Bandit and Chilli take Bluey to her grandmother Chris for advice on helping Bluey learn to walk, her solution is to put olive oil on Bluey's knees and gravel on the floor so that she's forced not to crawl. Understandably, Bandit and Chilli are gone by the time Chris has the gravel out.
  • While corporal punishment isn't depicted onscreen, 'Fairytale' shows the implication that Bandit's parents have punished him and his brothers physically offscreen and are portrayed acting emotionally aggressive in the 80's.
    Bluey: Geez, Nana was a bit mean!
    Bandit: Yeah, it was the 80's. Mums were allowed to be mean.
• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: The dogs in Bluey typically wear only accessories, such as a hat or glasses. When characters wear clothing to denote their occupation—such as the tradies in "Tradies," Alfie the toy store assistant in "The Quiet Game," or the police officer in "The Sign"—they tend to wear only the top half. The only fully-dressed dog we see in the show proper is Rusty's dad, who wears a full set of military fatigues, though Chilli and Bandit's wedding portrait also shows Bandit in a full tuxedo with trousers and Chilli in a wedding gown. (Underwear exists in this universe but only when it's funny.)
• Accidental Bargaining Skills: In 'Granny Mobile', the Heelers' friend Doreen is having a garage sale, but isn't much of a saleswoman, repeatedly giving items away for very small amounts. Then a very grouchy pug granny arrives and is interested in the titular item, an electric riding scooter for seniors. Muffin, who has been playing "grannies" with Bluey and Bingo, is in a major "Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!" mode that matches the real granny's, and expertly drives the price from 300 all the way up to 1200, just because she's pretending to be a stubborn granny.
• Acquaintance Denial: In 'Dance Mode', the Heeler sisters make Chilli dance across the crosswalk as part of the eponymous game. To avoid embarrassment, Bandit claims he and the girls don't know her, much to Chilli's annoyance.
• Acting for Two: An In-Universe example. In 'The Adventure', Bluey and Chloe repeatedly switch roles during their game, sharing the roles of the Princess, "Honeyhorse" and the Greedy Queen.
• Aerith and Bob:
  • Most of the characters have names you'd expect Real Life pet dogs to have, but there are a few normal names, such as Bluey and Bingo's aunt Trixie, and their friend Chloe. Nana's real first name is Chris, and Bluey herself takes her own middle name, Christine, from her.
  • In 'Teasing', a flashback shows Bandit messing with Bluey and Bingo by calling them Sharralanda and Dennis.
• Aesop Amnesia: Bluey often learns that she shouldn't ignore Bingo's feelings, or disregard her input during their games, but ends up forgetting this lesson in short order. Justified, considering Bluey is only six years old.
  • Ends up being lampshaded in 'Show and Tell', when Bandit recalls that he'd already taught the girls the values of listening to instructions during the events of 'Tina', and the girls confirm that they remember nothing about that lesson.
• Agitated Item Stomping: In 'Bike', Muffin angrily stomps on her backpack after she can't figure out how to get it on.
• Agony of the Feet: In 'Sticky Gecko', Chilli accidentally steps on a pin, causing her to clutch her foot in agony.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot:
  • Played for Laughs in 'Taxi' with Bluey's pretend taxi's "Satnav" (played by Chilli). Not only does it have No Sense of Direction, but it is easily distracted by nearby shops, and ends up leading Bluey to the zoo instead of the right destination, because it "really wanted to see the penguins".
  • Also in 'Daddy Robot' where, when ordered to clean up the room of toys, Bandit decides that Daddy Robot will solve the problem of the messy room by eliminating the source of the mess, threatening to put the kids in the wheelie bin.
• A Lesson Learned Too Well: In 'Blue Mountains', Big Sister (played by Chilli's hand) learns to not worry so much and have fun. Unfortunately, this causes her to be easily manipulated by a "kindly" fox (Bandit), despite Little Sister (Bluey) warning her not to trust him.
• All Animals Are Dogs: In "Shaun", the eponymous emu (played by Bandit's hand) acts like an untrained non-anthropomorphic dog, and Bluey and Bingo learn how to train "him" to be friendly and calm.
• All There in the Manual:
  • Brandy's last name is confirmed to be "Cattle" in a parody poster.
  • Jean-Luc is only identified as being from Quebec on the show's official website.
  • Dougie from 'Turtleboy' is unnamed in the episode, but his mother is credited as "Dougie's mum", revealing his name by proxy.
• Amazing Technicolor Wildlife:
  • Blue Heeler dogs in real life are a bluey shade of gray, rather than the sky blue seen in the show.
  • Rad has the coloration of both a Blue Heeler and a Red Heeler, layered in such a way that he looks like the beach.
  • Coco and her family are all pink and purple poodles.
• Amusing Injuries: Bandit tends to end up hurt in the more physical games.
• Anachronism Stew: Played for laughs. A brief line in 'The Adventure' has Bluey's character, in a supposed medieval fantasy setting annoyed at the electricity bill.
• Anachronic Order: The episode 'Chickenrat' unfolds via alternating flashbacks and exposition.
• Animals Not to Scale: The characters are of varying dog breeds which would normally be of wildly different sizes, but all of them are roughly human size. Pom Pom provides a rather peculiar exception, at least according to her; she's infant-sized despite being about Bingo's age and attributes her small size to being a Pomeranian, despite her mum being clearly the same size as the other adults.
• Animation Bump: During the close-up shots of the walking leaf in 'The Weekend', Bingo's face is drawn with a much higher level of detail and expressiveness. This shows up again in 'Butterflies', 'Bingo', and 'Born Yesterday', the latter of which focusing on Bandit this time.
• Annoyingly Repetitive Child: At the start of 'Copycat', Bluey starts repeating everything that Bandit says and does, much to his dismay. Curious to see how far she'll take it, he does goofy things such as slapping his own rear in front of Wendy, but to his surprise, she doesn't copy him there.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Played for Laughs in 'Bad Mood', where Bandit takes on the role of Bingo's bad mood, stomping around, snarling, and making a mess. Chilli later takes on the role of a "good mood" for Bingo to get into, lovingly cuddling everything.
• Anything but That!: Bandit's standard reaction when Bluey announces the game in each episode, and Chilli as well.
  • In 'Ragdoll', it's Bluey and Bingo's turn to say it.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Levelled at Grandad Mort, who despite recovering from heartworm has spent the episode ripping up stumps and running around against doctor's orders. He says that it should be up to him, and then immediately starts to wheedle Bluey to eat her pumpkin seeds, which she doesn't like, on the grounds that it will make her big and strong.
  Bluey: But shouldn't it be up to me?
  Mort: (Doesn't reply, but frowns, clearly contemplating this.)
• The Artifact: Rusty's design is a Palette Swap of Bluey's but with a different tail. This was because Rusty was intended to be Bluey's cousin initially when he was the protagonist, but was dropped by the time the series began production.
• Art Shift:
  • 'Escape' switches between the standard art style and the simple, sketchy style of Bluey and Bingo's drawings.
  • 'Dragon' involves several styles in the family's artwork.
• Artistic License – Chess: An In-Universe example; in the episode "Chest", Bingo moves both a knight and a pawn at the same time to Bandit's side of the board. When Bandit tells her she can't do that, she says that her knight is taking the pawn on a playdate with Bandit's knight because they're all friends. Bandit then tries to explain that this isn't how the game works.
• Aside Glance: This show is full of it, especially when the main characters are into some antics.
  • This also usually happens whenever the kids or the adults say "Hooray!" or "Yeah!" or "Oh, yeah."
  • In 'Shops', Mackenzie does one when Bluey, Chloe and Honey imitate kittens.
    • Mackenzie has another in 'The Creek'; at a waterfall when Bluey is scared to jump, he encourages her to jump by telling her that "it's just like jumping from one sheep to another". Bluey then points out that they don't jump on sheep, much to Mackenzie's surprise.
  • This also happens in 'Fairytale', when Bluey and Bingo learn that the story actually happened to a preteen Bandit, they glance to the camera while saying, "Ooh!"
  • In 'Puppets', Bluey and Bingo tell Unicorse to join them to the shower. As they leave, Bandit (the puppeteer for Unicorse), says to himself (and the camera), "The thing is, I do this to myself."
• Aspect Ratio: Most of 'The Adventure' is shown in the "cinematic ratio".
• Author Appeal: Show creator Joe Brumm based Bluey on his experiences as a dad but he has spoken specifically about his disappointment seeing his daughter stop playing once she started school. That is why play - and parents' involvement - is so central to the stories in Bluey.
  • Bluey, like Brumm's own children, attends a Steiner School^note A type of expensive private school that, among other things, focuses on social development and free play where young kids are concerned. Some of the episodes border on being a commercial for it.
• Background Halo: One scene in 'Queens' has Chilli portrayed like this, just as Bluey and Bingo are deciding the next "queen".
• Beach Episode: The show's setting makes beach episodes a natural location for day trips or a holiday.
  • The aptly titled "The Beach" has the Heelers going to the seaside, with Bluey deciding to follow her mom after the latter takes a long stroll across the shore.
  • 'Stickbird' also takes place on a beach. As it follows the episode 'Relax', it can be taken to be part of that holiday.
• Bears Are Bad News: Played for Laughs in 'Trains', where Bandit is repeatedly "attacked" by a stuffed polar bear toy.
• Becoming the Costume: In 'Onesies', Bingo puts on a cheetah-styled onesie, and quickly starts acting like an actual cheetah, growling and attacking the rest of the family.
  Bluey: Um, Mum? It's happening again...
• Big Damn Kiss: When Bandit and Chilli kiss, the animation slows, the sun shines and beautiful music plays.
• Bigger on the Inside: Rooms in the family's house are usually drawn wider than natural, to show two or three walls.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Every single character has them.
• Birthday Episode: 'Duck Cake' focuses on Bandit and Bluey making Bingo's birthday cake, and the following episode, 'Handstand', is set during Bingo's birthday party itself.
• Black Comedy:
  • A Lighter and Softer variant, but the playtime shenanigans sometimes enact scenarios invoking this kind of humor. Examples include Bluey and Bingo, as the "grannies" Janet and Rita, "hitting" others while driving a toy car, Lucky's dad getting attacked by Chilli and Bingo ("hypnotized" to believe they're lions by a magic asparagus), and a classmate unknowingly exposing an "early baby" doll to Bluey and her friends' collective horror.
  • The second season continues the trend. "Janet and Rita" sabotage the titular 'Bus' and attack the driver at the story's conclusion, and 'The Show' gets very awkward when the balloon used to represent Bingo-as-Chilli pregnant with Bluey suddenly pops.
  • 'Mum School' sees Bluey corralling her brood of balloon children by hitting them with a wrapper paper roll and confining the least manageable to a laundry basket cage.
  • In "Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound", the Baker Lady (played by Muffin) says that she was sick with rabies in the past week, which is a fatal disease that's often associated with dogs. However, Bingo's nurse and Chilli, who are watching the video with Bingo at the hospital, laugh at this because of Muffin's amateur acting.
  • 'Show and Tell' has Bandit demonstrating on what happens when one disobeys when someone bosses them around. In this case, he disregards everything his GPS tells him to do. The end result is them getting lost, ending up in a cemetery no less. The kids' reaction, however, is just whimsical:
    Bingo: Ooh, Statue World!
• Bland-Name Product:
  • The 'Hammerbarn' hardware store is recognisable to Australian families as a stand-in for the Bunnings chain of big box hardware retailers.
  • In 'Baby Race', eagle-eyed viewers may notice that Chilli's laptop has a Pineapple logo on it.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: In 'Cafe', when Bandit offers Bluey's new friend, Winnie, and her dad to come with to the former's house for breakfast:
  Winnie: For real life?!
• Bottle Episode:
  • 'Sticky Gecko' features only Chilli, Bluey and Bingo and takes place entirely in the entry hall of the family's house.
  • 'Dunny' takes place entirely in Bandit and Chilli's bedroom.
  • 'Piggyback' and 'Handstand' are borderline examples. While 'Piggyback' takes place in one location, that location is a foreshore walking path, and the Heelers walk the entire length of it. 'Handstand' has all of Bingo's scenes take place in the kitchen, and all of Nana's scenes take place on the upstairs deck. Both areas are next door to each other, and the party guests playing and preparations happen in the background.
• Bowdlerise:
  • The episodes 'Teasing' and 'Flat Pack' contained the phrase "ooga booga" when they originally aired. After viewers sent complaints in 2020 about the phrase's racist connotations, all subsequent and international airings have replaced them with more acceptable phrases^note "Ooh ooh" for 'Flat Pack' and "Shooby-doowah" for 'Teasing'.Despite this, 'Teasing' wasn't uploaded onto Disney+ until 2023, even though the edited episode airs on Disney Junior.
  • 'Chickenrat' originally features Bandit sneezing due to the sauerkraut (as he's allergic to it), but later airings change it to him burping instead, also removing references to his allergy. Disney+ has the new version, but the old version still airs on Disney Junior in the US.
  • Several episodes are edited on Disney Junior and Disney+ internationally:
    • 'Markets': The scene where a horse poops and Bluey and Indy run away from it is removed.
    • 'Taxi': The scene where Bingo pretends to vomit on Bandit is removed.^note Bandit actually vomiting at the end of 'Fancy Restaurant' is kept, however.
    • 'Daddy Putdown': The scene where Bingo asks Bandit how the baby gets in the lady's belly is removed.
    • 'Trains': Bluey's line "It's a piece of poo" is replaced with "That's a slug".
    • The episode 'Family Meeting' used to be completely unavailable, likely due to the episode being about farting, though it was later reinstated.
    • The episode 'Dad Baby' has never been available on Disney+, due to the subject matter on play pregnancy.^note Although prior episodes have shown play pregnancy, this may in fact be specifically to a male character being pregnant. It is available in the US via other streaming services.
    • The conversation between Fido and Bandit in 'Perfect' which alludes to vasectomies is altered to getting their wisdom teeth removed.
    • The French and Argentine dogs at the strawberry farm in 'Explorers' have one of their lines changed to make them backpackers passing through rather than workers on the farm.
    • 'Faceytalk': A shot featuring Trixie on the toilet is edited to remove her.
    • 'Housework': The moment where Bandit injures his groin is edited out.
    • Agatha's threat to pee on the curtains in 'Driving' was changed to have her scratch the curtains up instead.
    • 'Born Yesterday': The moment when Bingo swings and accidentally hits Bandit in the groin is edited out.
    • 'Puppets': Unicorse's line while making his Pelvic Thrust toward Chilli is altered; he says "Do you want a bit?" after saying "It's sweet chili sauce" on the Disney+ print, where the original line read "Care for a lick?"
    • 'The Decider': The three instances of the line "We're gonna flog you" are changed to "We're gonna beat you".
    • 'Relax': Bandit calls the kids "super troopers" instead of "dingleberries".
  • The CBeebies UK airings edit out quite a few minor scenes:
    • In 'Fruit Bat', the scene where Bluey plays "Penguins" (by spilling some water on the bathroom floor and sliding across it on her belly) is removed. However, it was left intact on the UK DVD release.
    • 'Sleepover' removes all uses of the word "babe" by Bingo.
    • In 'The Pool', the scene where Bandit plays "torpedo" with Bluey and Bingo is removed.
    • 'Backpackers' edits the moments where Bingo hits Bandit in the stomach, reducing them by a split-second.
    • 'Horsey Ride' removes the scene where Muffin showing Chilli her thongs (sandals). However, it was left intact on the UK DVD release.
  • 'Exercise' had its entire opening scene, where both Bandit and Chilli weigh themselves and express disappointment, removed a few weeks after its premiere, due to it being perceived as fat-shaming. Unlike many of these examples, this edit was done by Ludo themselves.
• Breakfast in Bed:
  • The premise of 'Omelette' revolves around the family trying to give Bandit a breakfast omelette in bed for his birthday. However, they are delayed by Bingo accidentally messing things up, all the while Bandit gets hungrier and more cranky as time goes on, forcing the Heelers to split time between keeping him in bed and making the breakfast.
  • In 'The Show', the family treat Chilli to breakfast in bed for her birthday. Unfortunately, Bingo trips while carrying the food.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:
  • Downplayed in 'Hairdressers'; after the kids claim that Bandit has nits, changing the plot of the episode from then on, the show cuts to the episode's title card, with Bluey scribbling out the episode's name and writing 'Nits' next to it.
    Bluey: This episode of Bluey is now called 'Nits'.
  • A similar thing happens in 'Tickle Crabs', where Bandit, who really doesn't want to play the titular game, interrupts the card. The card eventually plays as intended after Bandit lets the kids play it with him.
    Bluey: This episode of Bluey is called 'Tick'-
    Bandit: Uh-uh, no way, I am NOT playing Tickle Crabs.
  • 'Postman and Ground's Lava' originally calls itself simply 'Postman', but when Bingo suggests that Bluey plays both games at once, the full episode name is revealed.
    Bluey: This episode of Bluey is called 'Postman and Ground's Lava'!
  • 'Puppets' shows the last scene being put together on a computer before playing out In-Universe.
    Bluey: Wow, that was a weird dream.
  • 'Stories' ends early with drastically-misnamed credits (including Winton knocking over all the names of the fake crew), before Indy decides she doesn't like how it finishes and the episode restarts.
  • The grouchy pug granny in 'Granny Mobile' drives her new granny mobile straight over the end credits.
• Brick Joke:
  • The mailbox gets damaged during Bingo's rampage in 'Onesies'. In the episode 'Tradies', it's fixed by Sparky during a conversation with Bingo and Bluey.
  • One that spans a few episodes. In 'Pavlova', Bandit asks "ou est la discotheque?" while pretending to be a French chef, which is French for "where is the disco?" In 'Cubby' he finds a disco room in Bluey and Bingo's cubby house.
  • The "Yes" and "No" keychain from "Dance Mode" reappears in "The Quiet Game".
• Broken Aesop:
  • Lampshaded in 'The Claw.' Bandit says he's teaching the girls a valuable lesson about money by making their pretend claw game more realistic by demanding the girls get real coins from doing housework. When he puts in a block that would grant them as much ice cream as they want, his claw machine conveniently breaks down. He attempts to explain to the girls that this is how the world works, only to be interrupted by them tickling him. As the girls chow down on their well-deserved ice cream, Chilli asks if they learned anything today, to which they both say "nope!"
  • 'Pass the Parcel' tries to teach the Aesops that sometimes life is more fun when you're not guaranteed a win, your time will come eventually, and that you have to be a good sport about not winning games (especially games of chance). Unfortunately, two things undermine it a bit. First off, a different kid is shown winning whenever they used the "proper" rules. Then when Bingo does win, it's clear the other kids feel it's "her turn", even going to invent a loophole so the parcel can land on her.
• …But He Sounds Handsome: In the episode 'Teasing', Bandit, pretending to be Chilli, says he isn't there, all the while complimenting himself. Bingo sees right through it.
  Bandit (pretending to be Chilli): Dad's not here, which is a shame, 'cause he's such a handsome fellow, with big, strong muscles!
• Butt-Monkey: Wendy is a downplayed example, in that her role seems to be the unfortunate witness to many of the embarrassing events set into motion by the Heelers' roleplaying. That's not saying she wouldn't gladly play along at times, such as in 'Sheepdog' or 'Ragdoll'.

Tropes C to D

• The Cameo:
  • Anthony Field, better known as the Blue Wiggle, appears as the post office employee in 'Dance Mode' and as Rusty's dad in 'Army'.
    • In extension, the entire Wiggles get a cameo as a small picture in 'Phones', albeit as In-Universe dogs.
  • Hamish Blake voices the store assistant in 'Hammerbarn' and as Jack's dad, also featured in 'Army'. His wife Zoë Foster (also an Australian writer) also voices the store checkout worker and Jack's mum in the same episodes.
  • Robert Irwin, son of Steve, voices Alfie, a teenage toy store assistant, in 'The Quiet Game'.
  • Natalie Portman is the narrator of the whale documentary in 'Whale Watching'.
  • Eva Mendes as a yoga instructor on the TV.
  • Lin-Manuel Miranda voices the horse Major Tom in the episode 'Stories'.
  • Political journalist Leigh Sales plays both Coco's mum and the ice cream truck lady in 'Tradies'; the same episode features Mick Molloy as Sparky.
  • Rose Byrne as Chilli's older sister Brandy.
  • For the episode 'The Decider' about the NRL State Of Origin series, the match is commentated by veteran Ray Warren, along with highly-decorated former player Johnathan Thurston. The final part of the episode (with Australia taking on New Zealand in rugby union) features veteran Australian rugby commentator Gordon Bray.
  • Adam Hills as a cricket commentator in "Cubby".
  • Professional surfer Mick Fanning is the surfboard seller (and crab claw expert) in "Show and Tell".
• Camping Episode: The aptly named episode "Camping" is about Bluey making a new friend while on a camping trip. The episode "Road Trip" is about the family's four-hour trip to their campsite.
• Canine Confusion:
  • There are a few dogs with oddly-colored fur; all the Blue Heelers have blue fur (although Rad has red and blue fur), Jean-Luc is a Labrador with indigo fur, and Coco and her family are pink poodles.
  • The dogs frequently eat human food such as ice cream, cake, and chocolate even though all of that would be unhealthy to real dogs. It's justified since this is a World of Funny Animals. In 'Bad Mood', this is lampshaded by Bingo saying that chocolate would give Bluey a "tummyache".
  • In "Fancy Restaurant", Bandit turns green after he eats some of Bingo's awful food even though dogs can't go green through their fur when they're nauseous.
• Casting Gag: In the Korean dub, this is not the first time Um Sang Hyun, as Bandit (along others), had voiced a blue critter before, as well as starring in another series featuring a female blue puppy, except this time, he is the father of the blue puppy, rather than his friend.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • "Hooray!"
  • Bandit has a tendency to say "(Oh,) Biscuits!" whenever something goes wrong.
  • Bluey also has a tendency to say "for real life(?)" in her conversations.
  • Bingo often says "THIS! IS! OUTRAGEOUS!"
  • In 'Unicorse', the eponymous hand puppet repeatedly says "Annnnd why should I care?"
  Chilli: I forgot about the catchphrase...
• Cheated Angle: Whenever the dogs are looking straight at the camera, their muzzles and existing hair tufts will be rendered at 3/4.
• Chekhov's Gun: In 'Fairytale,' Bandit mentions how in the 80's, your name was written on everything you owned. This comes into play later when Chilli reads his name off of his hat, breaking the jinx.
• Christmas Episode: 'Verandah Santa' and 'Christmas Swim' are both set at Christmas; 'Verandah Santa' takes place on Christmas Eve, and 'Christmas Swim' on Christmas Day, albeit on different Christmases.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Nana's husband, Bob, vanished after "Grannies", only being seen on a photo in Nana's house. He reappears in "Fairytale", but only in a flashback. This long absence led many fans to believe he passed away since his first appearance. He finally reappeared in "The Sign", revealing that he was in India trying to "find himself".
• Clean, Pretty Childbirth: Averted in 'Dad Baby', even if it's pretend play. Bandit's "delivery" of Bingo is painful, involves talk of going in "through the sunroof", and at one point features a shower of dim sims that are a very obvious stand-in for something else that sometimes happens during labor.
• Close on Title: On Disney Junior, starting in Season 2, episodes end with the title Bluey appearing on a blue background, right before the credits.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Bluey, Bingo and Bandit all have shades of this when playing their games.
• Cold Open: Each episode of Bluey starts with one that sets off the plot before the title card.
  • Two exceptions were "Stickbird" and "Show and Tell". However, considering that it is implied that "Stickbird" comes right after "Relax" and likewise, "Show and Tell" comes after the former, it can be thought that these three episodes are in one continuum, meaning that watching the previous episode counts as this trope.
• Comedic Work, Serious Scene: Several examples.
  • "Copycat" starts off comical when Bluey annoys Bandit by copying everything he does, but then it becomes serious when they come across a badly-injured budgie. They take it to a vet, but it doesn't survive, and Bluey is saddened by this. The episode becomes somewhat more lighthearted afterwards when Bluey tries to reenact the entire day, including the budgie's death, but Bingo (playing the budgie and she didn't get the memo that she's supposed to pretend to be dead) continues flapping about.
  • "Rug Island" is about Bluey, Bingo and Bandit's antics when they pretend to live on a desert island, but then it becomes sad when Chilli gives Bandit his bag and he says he has to leave the island. Bingo and Bluey decide to let him go back to his old "home". It may be just a game, but it's still portrayed as poignant.
  • "Daddy Robot" is a silly episode about Bandit pretending to be a robot, but at one point, he "powers down" while sad music plays. It's quickly followed by the Mood Whiplash of Bandit farting loudly.
  • "Onesies" has the family, along with Chilli's visiting sister Brandy, trying to evade Bingo, who has mentally become a cheetah due to putting on a Cheetah onesie. It's all fun, until Bluey, hiding with Chilli, asks why Brandy hasn't visited in four years. While Chilli explains that there was something Brandy wanted but couldn't have, we see Brandy playfully wrestling with Bingo, but when Bingo rolls out of her arms and runs to find the others, the perspective is of Brandy's arms reaching toward Bingo, suggesting that she either couldn't find someone to have kids with, or (as many viewers suspected) she is infertile, and can't have kids - making visits to the silly Heeler household both joyful and painful.
• The Compliance Game:
  • In "Fruit Bat", Bluey and Bingo don't want to go to bed, so Bandit persuades them to do it by having them pretend to be on a rocket as he carries them upstairs. Then, when Bluey doesn't want to take a shower, he encourages her to by having her slide on the floor and pretend to be a penguin afterwards. Finally, when the girls protest being put to bed, he lures them in by promising to play a game where he reads a bedtime story and pretends to fall asleep.
  • In "Dunny", Chilli tells her daughters to use the word "toilet" instead of "dunny" (an Australian slang word), as "dunny" is "not the word the Queen would use". When she claims she would give the girls chocolate if she said it, they try to trick her into saying it by roping her into a game of Pass It On and using "Oh man, I need the dunny!" as the phrase. Chilli, however, pretends she couldn't hear it properly.
  • In "Horsey Ride", Socks grabs hold of Bluey's toy, so Stripe, Bandit, Bluey, Bingo, and Muffin start playing "horsey wedding" in hopes that Socks will join in on the game and therefore let go of the toy.
  • Downplayed in "Asparagus", in which the Heelers are already playing a game, in which they pretend to be animals. However, Bluey tries to find an in-game way of stopping the game, which is getting Bingo (who's pretending to be a parrot and the rule is that everyone pretends to be whichever animal she says) to say, "Polly wants a doggie".
  • In "Mum School", Chilli gets Bluey to take a bath by having her add the bathtub to her game as a "pool".
• Cone of Shame: Worn by Muffin in 'Muffin Cone', to stop her sucking her thumb. Unable to get rid of it, the kids eventually turn it into part of their games.
• Conflict Ball: Bluey and Mackenzie are uncharacteristically hostile to each other for most of 'Barky Boats', with little explanation as to why.
• Cool Old Lady: Nana Heeler, who manages to learn the flossing dance with only a little direction from Bluey.
• Cool Teacher: Calypso, the teacher at Bluey's playgroup, is a kind and considerate lady, who listens to and encourages her students.
• Cordon Bleugh Chef: In 'Fancy Dinner', Bingo prepares the "Special" dish of the titular pretend restaurant, which includes jelly/jello, spaghetti, mashed potatoes, a sausage, a pickle, a sandwich, edamame beans and strawberries. Of course, the dish makes Bandit puke at the end.
• Creator's Culture Carryover: Not in the actual series itself, but the American broadcaster of Bluey, Disney Junior, is prone to doing this in their promotions for the show:
  • In one promo for the "Red, White and Bluey" Independence Day marathon, the voiceover said "Grab your sunscreen" as a clip of Bluey and Bingo getting colored zinc applied to them played.
  • The "Summer ABC Song" uses "Hot dogs in a bun" for the letter H, when the clip in question shows sausages being prepared.
  • One post on their social media discussed what the characters of the show would bring to Thanksgiving dinner, though they would be unfamiliar with the holiday as it isn't celebrated in Australia. Similarly, an event at Walt Disney World's Fort Wilderness resort revolved around the characters celebrating "their first" Thanksgiving, which they might do if they were visiting Florida.
• Credits Gag: The fake credits in the middle of 'Stories' include several names which are puns for film production and dog breeds.
• Cultural Translation: While most of the Australian terms and slangs are maintained, on occasion the international version(s) will change something such as "Capsicum" to "Peppers" or "Thongs" to "Sandals".
• Cute, but Cacophonic:
  • Bluey is initially overjoyed to find her lost Chattermax toy, until its incessant noisemaking starts wearing on her nerves.
  • Muffin is adorable, but also very easy to set off (especially in "Sleepover" when she was underslept due to being in the middle of transitioning away from daytime naps).
• A Day in the Limelight: The episode 'Bingo' is dedicated to the younger dog in question, complete with a variation on the title sequence where Bingo is the last family member called out.
  • "Army" centers on two of Bluey's schoolmates, Jack and Rusty, with Bluey only making brief, silent background appearances.
  • "Space" focuses on Rusty, Mackenzie, and Jack, with primary focus on Mackenzie.
  • "Stories" focuses on Indy and Winton.
  • "Pass the Parcel" is focused on Pat trying to get the kids to play pass the parcel his way.
  • Explorers follows the adventures of Jack's dad and little sister. Bluey and some of Jack's other classmates are present, but only as secondary characters to Jack's story.
  • "Wild Girls" focuses on Coco, Indy, and Chloe.
  • "Turtleboy" and "Slide" are the only two episodes so far to have Bluey being entirely absent. 'Turtleboy' centers on Bingo and Dougie, and 'Slide' on Bingo and Lila.
• Deadpan Snarker: It's kid-friendly and playful, but Bandit runs on pure snark. 'Teasing' is entirely devoted to this fact, and points out that Bluey and Bingo are quite capable of matching their dad in snarkiness — and that Bandit knows when to apologize after going too far.
• Death Glare: Chilli gives these to Bluey in 'Sticky Gecko' and Bandit in 'Queens' and 'Perfect'. They wisely dummy up.
• Death Is a Sad Thing: In 'Copycat', Bandit and Bluey encounter an injured budgie and take him to the vet. When the little bird doesn't make it, Bluey is incredibly distraught. She then re-enacts the event while playing with Bingo and Chilli, and she learns to let go of what happened.
• Deliberately Cute Child: Bluey and Bingo pull this to get Bandit to play "tickle crabs" with them.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: In 'Fairytale', Bandit handwaves things like not wearing helmets and corporal punishment during his story as "It was the 80s".
• Delivery Guy: Invoked in 'Dad Baby' with Pat/Lucky's Dad. When it comes time for Bandit to "give birth" during their game, the kids ask Pat in the neighboring yard for help. He's not thrilled when he realizes what he's been roped into, but plays along, while Lucky shouts the football score from the next yard.
  Bluey: Lucky's dad, could you come help us with something?
  Pat: Yeah, no worries, Bluey.
  (Jump Cut to Pat watching Bandit "giving birth")
  Pat: I didn't know this was the something!
• Denial of Animality: In 'Asparagus', Bandit explains that everyone should have table manners because "[they're] not animals", despite everyone being anthropomorphic dogs.
• Depending on the Writer:
  • In some episodes, the Heeler household is shown on top of a hill, with other houses in the neighborhood lower down. In others, the house is shown to be part of a cul-de-sac instead.
  • Bingo plays the character of "Snowdrop the toddler" in 'Zoo', 'Kids', and 'Daddy Putdown'. In the first and last examples, she portrays Snowdrop as a very sweet kid. But in 'Kids', she plays Snowdrop as a Spoiled Brat who gets her brother "Diddums" in trouble for kicks.
• Desperately Needs Orders: In 'Mums and Dads', Winton is recruited by Indy to play the eponymous game with her. He agrees to take care of the "baby" Polly, while Indy goes to "work"... only to keep pestering her by asking exactly what he's supposed to do in his role.
• Determinator: 'Bike' focuses on Bingo, Bentley, and Muffin's determination to complete challenges (drinking from a water fountain, reaching the monkey bars, and donning a backpack with a finnicky strap) they feel they can't overcome. Their success, in turn, makes Bluey determined to ride her first bike.
  • In 'Seesaw', Pom Pom the Pomeranian will not let her small size stop her from getting to the other kids on the seesaw.
• Deus ex Machina: In 'Shops'. Just as things finally seem to be getting underway, the group realises they still need someone to play the assistant. Then Rusty (who hadn't appeared at all until that point) runs in, asking if he can play too, thereby solving their last problem.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • In 'Bike', Bentley, being too small to reach the monkey bars, manages to get to them by climbing up the frame. After a moment's triumph, she realises that she can't get back down.
  • Bingo attempts a game of hide and seek in her titular episode. Chilli questions who's supposed to be seeking, when Bluey and Bandit are out and she's repairing the toilet. Bingo then audibly groans.
  • Said pretty much word-for-word by Bandit in 'Promises' after Bingo points out that his proposed solution of never making promises again means his promise to love his daughters forever would be rescinded.
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Chilli hums the show's theme song at points during 'Work', 'Neighbors' and 'Hammerbarn'.
  • A variation can be heard in 'Favourite Thing'. The episode starts with Bluey and Bingo singing "For the Golden Corn" as grace before dinner. From that, every time a "Favourite Thing" flashback is mentioned, said song will act as the background music, getting more intricate as more flashbacks are called.
• Disembodied Eyebrows: All the characters' eyebrows float over their head.
• The Dividual: The Terriers, a trio of puppy brothers who look the same, sound the same, share the same interests, and are hardly ever seen apart. On top of all that, their individual names have yet to be revealed, so even if one is by himself, he gets called "Terrier".
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • 'The Sleepover' features Muffin, Bluey's cousin who's still transitioning to kid/adult sleeping patterns. Much of the plot and its humor are taken from Muffin behaving very similarly to a stereotypical drunk due to lack of sleep, which, in turn, makes Bluey and Bingo's situation similar to people who want to keep partying with a visibly intoxicated friend.
  • 'Sleepytime' is primarily about Bingo dreaming about growing the self-confidence to have a 'big girl sleep', but when Bingo is with the sun (a representation of her mother) she tells it that 'I have to go, I'm a big girl now' and the sun replies 'Remember I'll always be here for you, even if you can't see me. Because I love you.' The exchange can also be read as a metaphor for the understanding that we can still keep going after our loved ones pass on, because their love will always be with us.
  • 'The Decider' features Chucky being made to decide which of his parents he wants to watch the titular footy game (itself a reference to the State of Origin series) with. While it's made in the context of each parent supporting opposite teams in the rivalry, it also fits well with situations where children decide which parent to live with during a divorce.
• Dramatic Drop: Played for Laughs in 'Perfect'. A Flashback shows Bluey dropping a box of cereal out of shock after seeing Chilli cover up one of her refrigerator drawings (with the entire door being covered in such drawings) with Bingo's "perfect" one.
• Dramatic Irony: In 'Verandah Santa', the titular game has Bluey pretend to be a sleepy child and Socks play the part of Santa's helper. While being in character and grabbing Socks in her sleep, Socks bites Bluey in retaliation. Bluey voices her grievance to Bandit, claiming the bite was malicious and without reason. Unknown to her or anyone, Bluey is wrong on both accounts: Socks didn't intend to hurt her, and only did it in response to Bluey grabbing her.
• Dub Pronunciation Change: Judo's name is pronounced "yoo-doh" as opposed to "joo-doh" in both Spanish dubs.

Tropes E to F

• Ear Ache:
  • In 'Kids', Bluey, while acting as "mum", drags Bandit ("Diddums") off by the ear (though she has to ask him to lean down so she can reach his ear first).
  • In 'Shops', Mackenzie pulls at his own ears out of frustration over how long it's taking for everyone to decide their jobs in the game.
  • At the start of 'Ice Cream', Muffin plays around with a toy dinosaur that has an opening/closing jaw. The toy's jaw ends up clamped around her ear, with the following scene showing a bandaid over the injury.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Before making his debut in 'Unicorse', the titular hand puppet appears as a drawing on the fridge in 'Perfect'.
  • 'Charades' has a scene where there is a full Heeler family photo in the background, including an unknown member on Bandit's side. Episodes later, in 'Double Babysitter', we meet Bandit's other brother Rad, who matches the one in that photo.
  • A younger version of Brandy makes photo appearances in 'Obstacle Course', 'Promises', and 'Curry Quest', and her voice is heard in Bluey's Big Play before she finally makes her physical debut in 'Onesies'.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In the pilot version of 'The Weekend':
  • Mackenzie's tail has a white tip, and the colors of both of his legs and feet match.
  • The markings on Bluey's face are darker, and her nose is brown.
  • Each character is drawn with sharp angles, which is uncommon for characters in the finalized show.
  • Bingo's snout is longer and the markings on her back are nearly completely different.
  • Bandit has no black markings on the left side of his face, and there is no yellow on his belly.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Has its own page.
• Ear Notch: Bob Heeler (Bandit's father, and Bluey and Bingo's grandfather) is missing most of the top of his right ear.
• Ears as Hair: Indy's ear fur is styled into braids, while her mum wears hers in a loose, waist-length style. Frisky's hair is also implied to be this.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • In 'Library', Bluey and Bingo are quick to forgive Muffin for her Spoiled Brat behavior disrupting their game.
  • In 'Circus', Hercules is accepted into the game (as the "strongman"), even after trying to force the other kids into playing the game he wanted to play.
  • Subverted in 'Faceytalk'. After her parents reconcile from a heated argument over how Muffin should be disciplined, with Trixie being adamantly opposed to timeouts, it seems they may go a bit easier on Muffin after getting the phone she stole from Stripe. Unfortunately, Muffin makes a run for it and drops the phone into the pool. Both parents immediately put her in a timeout. She concedes.
• Easter Episode: In "Easter", Bluey and Bingo wonder if the Easter Bunny forgot about them again, but they're sent on a scavenger hunt looking for where he hid their Easter eggs. Just when it seems like he gave them nothing this year, they find paw prints leading to a table, where there's a basket full of eggs, jelly beans, and chocolate bunnies.
• The '80s: Bandit's story in 'Fairy Tale' takes place during this period. Bandit takes a moment to recall things from back then, such as cassette tapes and biking without helmets.
• Elmuh Fudd Syndwome: Muffin talks like this, pronouncing 'R's as 'W's, most likely to reflect that she is younger than her cousins.
• Episode Title Card:
  • Every episode has a title card, read aloud by either Bingo or Bluey in most cases.
    • Bingo, especially, reads the title card in 'The Weekend', 'Bob Bilby', 'Bingo' (even calling the show itself 'Bingo'), 'Sleepytime', 'Handstand', 'Pass the Parcel', 'Turtleboy' and 'Slide'.
    • Rusty reads the title card in 'Mums and Dads'.
    • Jack reads the title card in 'Army', 'Explorers' and 'Space'.
    • Bluey reads the title card in 'Bus' in the voice of "Janet" the granny.
      "Janet": This episode of Bluey is called... I forget.
    • Muffin reads the title card in 'Library'.
    • Calypso reads the title card in 'Barky Boats'.
    • Uncle Rad reads the title card in 'Double Babysitter'.
    • Chloe reads the title card in 'Octopus'.
    • In 'Unicorse', Chilli reads the title card (less than enthusiastically).
      Chilli: This episode of Bluey, unfortunately, is called 'Unicorse'.
    • She also reads it in 'Driving', 'Family Meeting', 'Musical Statues' and 'The Sign'.
    • In 'Rain', the title card is completely silent.
    • Bandit reads the title card in 'Ragdoll'.
    • Indy reads the title card in 'Stories'.
    • Coco reads the title card in 'Wild Girls'.
    • Unicorse doesn't read the title card in 'Puppets'.
      Unicorse: I don't know what that says, I can't read!
    • Chilli's sister Brandy reads the title card in 'Onesies'.
  • Played with in 'Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound', where its title card is presented in-universe as the title of the video Bandit and Bluey made for Bingo while she's at the hospital.

    Bluey: This story is called 'Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound'!

• Everybody Has Standards: In 'Verandah Santa', Bluey initially refuses to forgive Bingo for snatching the pencil case they were using in a game, despite that Bingo apologized. It's Muffin who casually points out Santa would want Bluey to forgive her sister. Bear in mind, Muffin isn't always on her best behavior, and even she knows it would be bad form to hold a grudge on Christmas.
• Exhaustion-Induced Idiocy: Muffin experiences this in 'The Sleepover', due to skipping her usual nap. She runs right into a vase (laughing afterward), tries to keep running while flat on her back, and bites into an inflatable guitar, popping it.
• Eyes Out of Sight: Chippy (from 'Tradies') has his eyes hidden under his extremely curly hair.
• Familial Chiding: Played for Drama in 'Bad Mood' — when Bingo takes a cookie without permission, Chilli jokingly says that she's "being a bit of a cheeky kid". However, Bingo gets sad, since she doesn't like being seen as "cheeky".
• Fartillery: Downplayed in "Smoochy Kiss" when Bandit makes a particularly nasty smelling "fluffy."
• Faux Furby: In 'Hide and Seek', Bluey finds her old Chattermax toy, which won't stop screeching and talking. The toy itself resembles a Furby with small wings and feathers above its eyes. Additionally, it eats pellets and needs to use the bathroom accordingly.
• Fear Is Normal: In ;Movies', Bluey is revealed to be afraid of storms, to the point where up until now, she's never been to the movies because she's worried the movie will show thunder. This makes her worry that she's too "different", especially since the movie happens to be about a monkey who wishes he "wasn't different". Eventually, however, she brightens up when she faces her fear and the movie ends on a Be Yourself moral.
• Filthy Fun: As if the title doesn't suggest already, 'Dirt' has this as its focus. It gets deconstructed and discussed there as well.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: 'Mini Bluey' contrasts Bluey's foolish against Bingo's responsible: Bingo takes better care of library books than Bluey does, and does her chores far more willingly and cheerfully than Bluey. Also, other episodes show that Bluey is much less inclined to think things through than Bingo is.
• Foregone Conclusion: In 'Baby Race', Chilli tells a story of how she worried when Bluey was the last in her mothers' group to learn how to walk. In the present, Bingo asks if Bluey eventually did learn to walk, seemingly forgetting that she must have done, since Bluey can clearly walk now.
• Foreshadowing:
  • 'Bingo' has Bingo pointing at the playroom's kiwi rug to us. Later, she goes on find a missing puzzle piece with a kiwi (the animal, said confusion was discussed as well) on it.
  • Bingo finds "leafs" interesting and would like to take a picture of it in 'Born Yesterday'. Later, we see Bandit, pretending to be "Born Yesterday" amazed at a close-up view of a leaf, which we also get to see. Even after the titular game ends, he is still interested at a leaf.
  • In 'The Show', when Bluey asks Chilli how she met Bandit, she says that they met at a party in London although there's "some dispute". A season later in 'Fairytale', Bandit is revealed to have met Chilli at a holiday camp when they were children. Chilli claims to have no memory of it.^note This has yet to be confirmed, only going by Bandit's recollection of events.
  • 'Verandah Santa' has Bluey refuse to accept Bingo's apology for acting out during the titular game, as though demonstrating how Bluey has a hard time forgiving those who wronged her. As such, it sets up Bluey's character arc of learning to forgive Socks of her own volition.
  • The Reveal in 'The Sign' that Grandpa Bob has been in India, trying to "find himself", was actually hinted at throughout the third season, as the Heeler family's fridge would be seen to have both postcards from India and fridge magnets connected to the country in several episodes.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Bandit is certain that a girl he met on vacation as a child in The '80s was Chilli. While Chilli concedes that this might be true, as her family frequented the same vacation spot, she has no memory of the event and considers their first meeting to be the party in London where they were introduced properly.
• Foul Fox: In 'Blue Mountains', the villain of the game the Heeler family are playing is a fox (played by Bandit's hand) who pretends to be "kindly" and tricks Big Sister (Chilli's hand) into getting trapped in a cave (Bandit's mouth).
• Four-Fingered Hands: Everyone's humanlike forepaws have four fingers each. It's more noticeable in "Blue Mountains", where Chilli, Bluey, and Bingo act out their characters using their hands.
  • It gets murky with Socks. Because she was established before 'Baby Race', where the implication may be that young dogs act and look like real-life puppies, earlier appearances of her quadrupedal form showcases her "hands" as being really forepaws, tightly knit together like her "hind feet". This is in contrast to the later canon starting from the latter episode where even babies are already (almost) bipedal with their hands being distinct from their feet. After the episode, her now bipedal appearance now also sports four-fingered hands like the rest of the young characters. One pre-'Baby Race' exception was 'Backpackers', where she briefly has hands instead of forepaws.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • Sanguine: Bluey (curious and does things for the fun) and Stripe (thrill-seeking albeit rather clumsy)
  • Choleric: Bandit (boisterous and willing to go all the way) and Muffin (hot-headed and impulsive most of the time)
  • Melancholic: Bingo (well-informed and resourceful in a few ways) and Trixie (decides mainly on facts towards a goal)
  • Phlegmatic: Chilli (people-first and prefers comfortable resolutions) and Socks (tranquil and focused if not tending to some natural urges).
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • A long dog toy can be spotted in the background at least Once per Episode.
  • In 'Butterflies', as pointed out by this person here, when Judo tells Bluey to run away from Bingo, you can see her making a concerned face, knowing she has to act fast, and as she runs away, she has a look of regret on her face.
  • In 'Wagon Ride', the magnetic letters on the fridge, read left to right and top to bottom, spell out "True Blue".
  • In 'Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound', the Wise Old Wolfhound (played by Aunt Trixie) wears a costume made out of towels. One angle shows the initials "C.H." (Chilli Heeler) on one of the towels.
  • In 'Explorers' the Russel family car has Victorian licence plates.
  • Following its debut in "Hide and Seek", Bluey's Chattermax toy can be seen hidden throughout the house in multiple other episodes (it's implied and confirmed by the video game that Bandit and Chilli are deliberately hiding the toy because they find it so annoying).
• Freshman Fears: In 'Barky Boats', Bluey and Mackenzie's older "buddies" Mia and Captain both mention that they will be starting "big school" the following year, and confess to each other that they're a little nervous about it. Ultimately, they take solace in the fact that they will be attending the school together.
• Freudian Slip: In 'Ice Cream', Bluey is so engrossed in deciding what flavor of ice cream she wants that she accidentally calls Uncle Stripe "Uncle Strawberry". Comically enough, she's too absent-minded to care that she called him that.
• Frothy Mugs of Water:
  • In 'Sleepytime' and 'Baby Race' Bandit sleepily sings "99 bottles of 'thing' on the wall" neatly avoiding the word 'beer'.
  • Averted (sort of) in 'BBQ', which shows Bandit and Stripe drinking (and spilling) beer, and 'Stumpfest', which strongly implies Trixie and Chilli drinking spiked lemonade from how they react to the episode's events (as well as how Bandit, Stripe, and Pat wince when they rapidly down glasses of it)^note It's also possible that the kids made the lemonade, and forgot to add the sugar.
  • 'Whale Watching' sees Bandit and Chilli feeling "sleepy" after a wild New Year's party, and it's very, very heavily implied that they're nursing twin hangovers (since they seem a bit coy about their condition). However, due to being a kids' show, they never outright said to be hungover.
• Full-Name Ultimatum:
  • In 'Dad Baby', Chilli yells out "Bandit Heeler!" after Bandit puts on a none-too-flattering impersonation of how she acted while she was pregnant with Bingo.
  • As revealed in 'Family Meeting': Bluey Christine Heeler.
  • In 'Faceytime', Stripe says "Muffin Cupcake Heeler" while trying to lay down the law to his daughter.
• Funny Animals: All the cast are different breeds of dogs. Even Queen Elizabeth II, glimpsed on a five dollar note, is a corgi wearing pearls.
• Funny Animal Anatomy: Understated. Although the characters are clearly anthropomorphised dogs, the animation is consistent and clean, with only slight cheating to stretch the family's arms in episodes like 'Blue Mountains' and 'The Claw'.
• Funny Background Event:
  • In 'The Show', Bluey has Chattermax "entertain" Bandit and Chilli while she tries to convince Bingo to return to the show. While Bluey and Bingo are talking, Bandit's hands are seen reaching over and dragging Chattermax off-screen.
  • In 'Army', Chloe can be seen riding Bluey like a horse when Jack arrives at school.^note It's speculated that this takes place during 'The Adventure', but of course it could be a different instance altogether.
  • In 'Fancy Restaurant', Bandit and Bluey are talking about romance, but in the background we see Chilli pretending to use the bathroom.
  • In 'The Creek', Bluey is talking to Bandit, who's sitting on a slide. The kid at the top of the slide waits for Bandit to get up so he can slide down. It takes long enough that he starts nodding off.
  • Happens twice with Bingo in 'Cafe', both times at breakfast. While Bluey and Bandit discuss the latter's possible friendship with Winnie's dad, Bingo (established in this episode as someone who likes to sleep late) struggles to pour orange juice, then cereal the next time.
  • 'Housework' employs this trope as a plot point, as Bandit and Chilli become distracted from their chores by Bluey and Bingo's funny and changing walk cycles in the other room.
  • In 'Onesies', Brandy and Chilli having a heart to heart while Bingo is continually chasing Bluey down the slide.
    • When Bingo chases Chili, Bluey and Brandy into the car, they discuss the situation with each other, while we can see the rear door of the car open, and Bingo's Cheetah tail bobbing around for a few seconds until she rears up and "attacks" them again.
• Funny Fan Voice: At the beginning of 'The Pool', Bluey speaks into the electric fan while it's on to complain about having to brush her teeth on a hot day. Chilli copies her robotic voice to tell her that "boring things are still important", to Bluey's frustration.
• Furry Confusion:
  • Non-anthropomorphic dogs don't seem to exist in the Heelers' world, so in 'Neighbours' when Bandit imitates a loudly barking pet dog Chilli has no idea what he's pretending to be.
  • An episode specific example from 'Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound'. Barnicus (played by Bluey) wishes upon a star for a puppy, and she receives Bumpy (played by Socks) the next morning. It's not clear whether Bumpy is supposed to be a pet or a baby to Barnicus, as he's seen both being walked on a leash and held in a swaddle.
  • The "Archeology" short has a lot of fun with this: Bandit has discovered a transitional fossil (a femur, of course) and gives a presentation on the Canine's evolution from four-legged to two-legged, in which a slide is shown of a cave-dog with the corpse of a freshly-killed cat. At the end, Bandit can't resist gnawing on the fossil.
• Furry Female Mane: Zig-zagged. Downplayed with characters like Wendy, Calypso, and Judo, but averted with almost every other female character. Played straight with Nana's perm in 'Fairytale'.
• Furry Reminder:
  • For the most part, Bluey and her family behave like humans, but some noticeable dog behavior shows up from time to time; the most frequent example is how the characters' tails wag when they're especially happy or excited. Bluey and Bingo's one-year-old cousin Socks in particular acts more like a real-life puppy than an anthropomorphic dog, moving on all fours, yapping, and chewing on random objects. A conversation Bandit has with Bluey in 'Spy Game' confirms, however, that the characters do know that they're dogs, and it's not just a Furry Lens situation.
  • In the Disney+ edit of 'Perfect', Bandit talks with Fido about having "dog teeth" removed:
    Bandit: What if one day I just want to bite someone?
  • In 'Bike', Bingo finds a way to drink from the water fountain by spilling the water on the pavement and then licking it off like a real-life dog, which Bluey finds disgusting.
  • Characters are shown to bark sometimes. Usually this is when they're excited, but in 'Yoga Ball', Bingo's "big-girl bark" was used as a way of saying "no"; in 'Bingo', Bingo does this to the passing canine postman; and in 'Tradies', the Heeler girls do it to try to scare the eponymous tradesmen Chippy and Sparky away.
  • The show's official website says that Bandit became an archaeologist because he likes to "dig up bones".
  • In 'Yoga Ball', a sad Bingo curls up like a sleeping dog.
  • In 'Bob Bilby', Bingo's classmate is seen with their tongue hanging out.
  • In 'Takeaway', Bandit tells the girls not to get wet as wet dogs smell bad; later, Bingo fetches a newspaper the way a real dog would.
  • In 'The Pool', Bandit shakes dry after swimming.
  • Characters are sometimes mentioned to get canine diseases — in 'Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound', Bandit's character says he has worms while Muffin's says she'd had rabies last week, while in 'Granddad'. Mort is said to have had heartworm.
  • In 'The Adventure' and 'Christmas Swim', characters catch balls in their mouths.
  • Characters are sometimes addressed like dogs — Bandit says, "Here, girl!" to Bingo in 'The Dump' and calls Chloe's brother a "good boy" in 'Wagon Ride', and Bluey says to him, "Down! Stay!" in 'Omelette'.
  • The whole plot of 'Seesaw' is that Pom Pom has Height Angst due to being a Pomeranian. Similarly, the conflict of 'Dirt' is Judo's fur being hard to clean because she's a Chow Chow.
  • The girls are heard doing a Howl of Sorrow in 'Ice Cream' and 'Cubby'.

Tropes G to H

• The Gadfly: Bandit likes to tease and play jokes on his family.
• Gasshole: Bandit.
  • In 'Fairies' and 'Teasing', he loudly passes gas, disgusting his family. In the latter, he even tries to pin it on Bluey.
  • In 'Chickenrat', he eats some sauerkraut, which makes him burp throughout the episode (certain international airings change this to him sneezing instead).
  • As 'Daddy Robot', he falls into an unresponsive state after being deactivated by Bluey and Bingo. He then ruins any dramatic tension the scene had with an ill-timed fart.
  • In 'The Show', Bluey and Bingo's "re-enactment" of his and Chilli's first meeting involves "Bandit" intentionally passing gas in "Chilli's" direction.
  • Discussed in 'Family Meeting', where Bandit allegedly "fluffied" in Bluey's face.
    • That same episode also has a flashback on Bandit attempting a "pull my finger" gag on Bingo in an elevator.
  • Played with in 'Bus', regarding Bingo as "Rita", who fulfills the role by deflating a balloon.
• Gassy Gastronomy: In "Family Meeting", when trying to determine if Bluey is telling the truth when she says her father Bandit farted in her face, Bluey, Bingo, and Chilli point out that Bandit ate several things that give him gas, one of them being baked beans.
• Gentle Giant: Bandit's role in 'Zoo', as a baboon who befriends Bingo's character.
• Geographic Flexibility: The Heelers' backyard suffers from this. Some episodes show such things as a shed, a slide, a sandbox, and a trampoline, and in other episodes, some or all of these will be absent. The more notable examples are 'Horsey Ride' (where it includes a patio) and 'Stumpfest' (where two tree stumps are shown).
• "Getting My Own Room" Plot: The plot of 'Bedroom'. After seeing the family's old nursery room being converted into a spare room, Bluey has an idea to make it as her own room, which her parents grant. Come bedtime, she keeps waking up to ask Bingo for more stuff from the old room. They then exchange messages after being told not to leave the room, which Chilli catches up with. When she gets Bluey back to bed, she tells her mum that she's not sure if she has everything she needs. Eventually, they decided to move Bluey's bed back to her old room, but not before inviting Bingo in for the night.
• The Ghost: Janelle, Lucky's mom and Pat's wife. In both 'Shaun' and 'Asparagus', Pat calls out to her when he gets caught up in the Heelers' games, but she is never seen onscreen, at least until 'Pass the Parcel'.
• Given Name Reveal:
  • In 'Dad Baby', Lucky's dad's name is revealed to be "Pat".
  • Nana Heeler's name is revealed to be "Chris" in 'Handstand'.
  • Coco's mum is revealed to be named "Bella" in 'Baby Race'.
• Gone Horribly Right: Downplayed to a less deadly or horrifying degree. In 'Verandah Santa', the titular game leads to Socks biting Bluey, who is put off that her cousin doesn't apologize for her wrong-doing like she, Bingo and Muffin have been doing. Bandit points out Socks is too young to know better, and they have to teach her biting others is wrong. This unwittingly plants an idea in Bluey's head to "teach" Socks by playing a mean-spirited trick on her.
• Good Feels Good: The overall moral of 'Duck Cake'. Bluey isn't too keen on cleaning up her toys (and outright refuses to clean up "Bingo's half") and would much rather help Bandit make the titular, difficult "duck cake" simply because it sounds more fun. It's to the point where Bandit bribes her with stickers, money and licking icing off the beater, which only motivates her for short bursts, but also makes her conclude that the reason you should do nice things like tidying up is for the reward. It's not until Bandit drops part of the cake and becomes visibly upset that Bluey cleans up the mess of her own volition, noticing that her tail starts wagging when Bandit cheers up and sincerely thanks her for it. Putting it to the test, she then cleans up all her toys - along with Bingo's - and once again finds her tail wagging. By the end, when Bingo accidentally trips over a basket and spills some of the toys again, Bluey happily tidies it up, despite Chili telling her she didn't have to.
• Good Parents: Chilli and Bandit aren't perfect, but they do their best to make sure their girls are happy.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: When surprised or frustrated, Bandit will say, "Cheese and crackers!" or "biscuits!" After the "Duck Cake" episode, he is sometimes seen to use that too.
  • For Father's Day 2021, the official YouTube channel released Bandit's Guide to No Swearing with the following suggestions:
  Step 1. Try shouting out your favourite snack
  Step 2. Try some biscuits (Bandit's favorite replacement curse word)
  Step 3. Try making something up
  Step 4. If all else fails...make some noise!
• Graceful Loser: In 'Pass the Parcel', although the children initially take losing hard, Pat's way of playing the titular game eventually catches on. The more the kids play, the more they build a tolerance to losing, to the point it allows Bingo to accept "there's always next time".
• Granola Girl: Bluey's friend Indy and her mother. For instance, in 'Markets' Indy and Bluey are thinking of buying some poffertjes (dollar pancakes).
  Indy: Have these got any wheat, sugar, gluten or dairy in them?
  Poffertjes seller: That's all they've got in them.
• Gratuitous French: In 'Pavlova', Bandit plays as a French chef - albeit making random utterances like "I am the dog!" and "Where is the disco?"
  • In the French dub, he speaks Italian instead.
• Green Around the Gills: In 'Fancy Restaurant', just before Bandit's Vomit Discretion Shot, his muzzle turns green.
• Grocery Store Episode: 'Kids' involves Bandit, Bingo, and Bluey playing mum and kids at the store.
• Groin Attack:
  • In 'The Claw', when the kids start throwing toys at Bandit, Chilli joins in and one-shots him in the front.
  • In 'Verandah Santa', Muffin jumps off a chair and lands on her father Stripe's groin.
  • In 'Rug Island', when Bandit got hit with a football with his groin and in pain, thrown by Pat.
  • In 'Sleepytime', a dreaming Bingo jumps into the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, and Bandit sits up in bed, holding his groin and groaning.
  • In 'Born Yesterday', where Bandit pretends to not know about everything in the world, especially how a swing works. When his kids tell him how to push one, he is not prepared for when it swings back right at his groin.
• Gross-Up Close-Up: A mild example in 'Fancy Restaurant' with "Chef" Bingo's "special", a jelly mould with various other leftovers inside and topping it, including strawberries, pickles, spaghetti, gravy, and an entire triangle-cut sandwich◊.
• The Ground Is Lava: In 'Postman'^note or 'Postman and Ground's Lava', Bluey breaks her promise of playing "ground's lava" with Bingo to play "postman" instead, so she agrees to play both at the same time - deliver Bandit's letter to Chilli without touching the ground. They jump through furniture, walk on ledges and objects on the floor, make stepping stones with books when Bingo decides the stairs count as lava, and ride across the lava with a bike and a vacuum.
• Hangover Sensitivity: In 'Whale Watching', Chilli and Bandit are too 'sleepy' to play with the girls, after a New Year's Eve party at Stripe and Trixie's. And they're also sensitive to loud noises, and Chilli is craving junk food and soda... Only implied, however, as it's never specified why they're sleepy.
• Happily Married: Bandit and Chilli. They have occasional mild disagreements, but are usually very loving and considerate of one another. Highlighted in 'Smoochy Kiss', where they teach the kids that despite each other's personal flaws, "you gotta take the good with the bad."
• Heh Heh, You Said "X": Bingo giggles at the word "bottomless" in 'The Claw'.
• Here We Go Again!: At the end of 'Asparagus', the Heelers have stopped playing the game of pretending to be animals when the piece of asparagus is pointed at them, but then Bingo (who'd eaten the asparagus and is thus considered to "have" it) starts the game again by shouting, "Chicken!" at Bandit.
• The Hero's Journey: Bingo takes the role of the Hero in 'Curry Quest' with Chilli explaining a simplified version of this trope to Bluey.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood:
  • Bluey plays a horrible mother in 'Kids', doting on "Snowdrop" (played by Bingo) and belittling "Diddums" (played by Bandit). It's not until she openly declares Snowdrop her favorite and Diddums, visibly crushed, slumps off to sit dejectedly in time-out that she realizes this whole thing has gotten far more sad than funny, and apologizes.
  • Bandit's story of his childhood in the 1980s includes a moment where Nana chases him with a sandal, presumably with the intent to smack him. Bluey points out that this is mean, but Bandit just says that it was the eighties, and moms were allowed to be mean.
• Hippie Teacher: A very mild example, but given that Bluey and Bingo attend Waldorf/Steiner school, it sort of comes with the territory. The kids call Calypso by her first name, and in 'Favourite Thing', Bluey and Bingo recite a blessing they learned at school, which thanks Mother Earth for the food they're about to eat.
• Hitler Ate Sugar: Inverted in 'Dunny':
  Bingo: Would the Queen say "Dunny"?
  Chilli: Uh, no. It is not the word the Queen would use.
  Bingo: Then I'm not saying it either.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In 'The Adventure', the Greedy Queen is defeating by having her own freezing wand turned against her.
• Honor Before Reason: In 'Promises', Bluey promises to come in from the playground when Chilli calls, which Chilli does just as Bluey's about to take her turn on the zipline. Bluey does, disregarding the obvious solution of zipping, jumping off, and running to Chilli.
• House Husband: Bandit does (or tries to do) most of the housework, has a home office, and is the main adult character seen with the kids in most episodes of the first season. This eases off in the second season as Chilli is shown doing more with the kids.
• Humanlike Animal Aging: Played straight, although in a twist, the dogs on this show spend their first year acting like real-life puppies instead of real-life babies.
• Hypocritical Humor: In 'Housework', when the Heeler parents notice their kids are walking normally, Bingo tells Bluey that grown-ups are nuts, even though earlier in the episode, they were acting even more nuts!

Tropes I to M

• I Call It "Vera": 'The Sign' reveals that the Heelers call their family car "Bobo".
• If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: Bandit only gives Bluey and Bingo the healthy tomato sauce (which is distinct from ketchup) and sure enough, the girls think it tastes disgusting. When they try Bandit's tomato sauce, they scream about how good it tastes.
• Informed Species: An In-Universe example with Indy's beeswax horse sculpture, which everyone thinks is a cow. With the help of Winton, she tries to find out how to make it look like a horse, kick-starting the events of the episode.
• Innocent Awkward Question:
  • In 'Daddy Putdown', Bingo lies down on a swing and asks Bandit where babies come from. After a Beat, Bandit says, "No, thank you!" and lets go of the swing, causing Bingo to spin rapidly.^note This scene was removed in the US release.
  • In 'Double Babysitter', the Heeler sisters are playing 20 Questions with their uncle Radley and their godmother Frisky. Bluey asks Radley why he doesn't have a wife and if it's because of his job, and Frisky why she only has three friends, while Bingo asks, "Is true love not forever?" after hearing that Frisky is no longer dating a guy named Bosco. These questions make the adults stammer awkwardly, and eventually Radley ends the game.
• Innocently Insensitive: In 'Mini Bluey', Bluey paints herself to look like Bingo, and acts like her too. Bandit playfully suggests he could get used to it, which causes Bluey to think he doesn't want her around.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Happens quite frequently.
  • In 'Tickle Crabs'.
    Bluey: What's so nice about having a true love?
    Bandit: Well, they're always there when you need them.
    Bingo: (runs in) Let's play Tickle Crabs!
    Bluey: Yeah, Tickle Crabs!
    Chilli: (jumping off the couch) See you later!
  • In 'The Pool', when Bluey asks Bandit whether the shadow above the pool will get bigger or smaller:
    Bandit: Uh, bigger. For sure! (cuts to Bingo, Bluey and Bandit stuck in the tiny remaining shaded space in the pool because they forgot sunscreen.)
    • Later, Bingo gets as far as insisting that "I'm never getting out-" before discovering that the pool cleaner is right behind her and leaping out with a tea-kettle shriek.
  • In the end of 'Shadowlands', when Bluey, Snickers and Coco with their moms play "What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?"
    Chilli: Oh, maybe this time will be dinner time!
    Bluey: It won't! Coco always waits until we're right next to her before she says...
    Coco: Dinner time! (charges at the others, including an unprepared Bluey.)
  • Exaggerated with Bandit in 'Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound', in which he says that Bumpy (Socks) is a nice puppy, but he's proven wrong mid sentence.
• Inventional Wisdom: Bluey's Chattermax toy lacks an "off" switch.
• Involuntary Smile of Incapacitation: In 'The Sleepover', Muffin is out-of-it due to skipping her nap (which is portrayed similarly to being drunk) and keeps grinning deliriously.
• Irony:
  • In 'The Adventure', Chloe, despite having longer legs, is unable to stay ahead of Bluey during a chase scene, necessitating a change of roles.
  • 'Dance Mode' kicks off when Bandit takes the last of Bingo's chips without knowing she wanted it. To make up for it, they (or rather Bluey) offer they make it up to Bingo by playing the titular game. The thing is, each of Bingo's family members take her three Dance Modes in one form or another (right down to Bluey convincing Bingo to use her bribe money to buy a toy the former wants). So in trying to make up for taking something from Bingo, they end up heaping on more of the same thing as before.
• In the Future, We Still Have Roombas: In the flash-forward at the end of 'Surprise', Chili and Bandit have a roomba next to the door adult Bluey comes in through. It doesn't seem to have gotten any more advanced, still running repeatedly into the wall.
• Jaw Drop: Bluey in 'Perfect'. After Chilli covers up one of her drawings with Bingo's, her jaw hangs open in comical fashion.
• Joke of the Butt:
  • There are two jokes like this in 'Copycat'. Bluey is mimicking everything that Bandit does. Wanting to see how far she'll go, Bandit says, "I'm Bluey, and I stink like a monkey's butt" (which Bluey copies) and later slaps his rear in front of Wendy (which Bluey doesn't copy).
  • In 'Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound', Bandit says he has "bum worms", much to Bingo's amusement and to Chilli's disgust.
  • In 'Baby Race', it is revealed that Bluey learned to drag her butt on the ground before she learned to crawl. In the present day, Bluey is quite puzzled to hear that.
  • In 'BBQ', the hose goes wild and sprays Bingo's behind, causing her to laugh.
    Bingo: It's tickling my bottom!
  • In 'Magic Xylophone', Bandit says he's going to have Bingo be the "bum bongos", and he taps her rear like bongos, making her giggle.
  • In 'Born Yesterday', the parents have to deal with Bingo and Bluey wanting to pretend taking pictures of the former's bottoms.
  • Bluey in 'Mini Bluey', while describing herself.
    Bluey: And if I see a bum, I give it a little bumdidiboom. (Plays bongos on Chilli's backside, which Bingo quickly joins in.)
• Judicial Wig: Chilli, who happens to be have her hair being curled in 'Family Meeting', gives an impression of one.
• Karma Houdini: Lampshaded by Chilli in 'Unicorse', where the titular puppet (played by Bandit) keeps interrupting Bluey's bedtime story.

  Chilli: Look Bluey, good on you for trying, but you can't change Unicorse.

  • Ultimately though, it is followed by a lesson on not stressing too much about things beyond one's control.
• Karmic Jackpot: Zigzagged. In 'Fairytale', young Bandit had a chance to end the "curse" on him by getting young Stripe to say his name, while the latter was under the duress of being trapped by a lawn of prickles. Instead, he throws his hat out so his younger brother can step over the prickles to safety. Stripe is grateful. ...but not grateful enough to end the Jinx. Nonetheless, something better does come along. Because young Bandit was nice to his little brother for once during their vacation, it set off a chain reaction. A female Red Heeler (implied to be a young Chilli), who happens upon the hat with Bandit's name on it, found the hat and unwittingly broke the "curse". Not only did Bandit's kindness towards Stripe lead to him meeting the one person who could remove the jinx, but also (possibly) his future wife and the loving mother of their children.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • 'Flat Pack' features a nod to the fact that some real-life parents are taking advice from Bandit and Chilli:
  Chilli: The cartoon dog says to put some cardboard down underneath first.
  Bandit: I'm not taking advice from a cartoon dog.
  • In season 3's 'Chest', Bandit asks Bluey if she's "still" only six.
• Learning to Ride a Bike: 'Bike' sees Bluey learning to ride.
• "Lesson of the Day" Speech: Defied in 'Magic Claw', in which Bandit cheats the magic claw game and goes back on his promise of bottomless ice cream. He starts to teach the girls the moral of the story before they cut him off with Tickle Torture. Later, when Chilli asks the girls if they learned anything, Bluey enthusiastically says "Nope!" as she digs into her ice cream.
• Lethal Chef: In 'Fancy Restaurant', Bandit requests something more special for his "date" Chilli than the baked beans on the menu, so Bingo throws together a dish consisting of a pink jello mold, a floret of broccoli, a strawberry, a dill pickle, mashed potatoes and gravy, sausages, spaghetti with marinara sauce, peas, green olives, and a corner of a meat, cheese, and lettuce sandwich combined into an unholy concoction that Chilli clearly doesn't want to actually eat. Bandit takes the bullet, eating the whole thing for her, which makes him so Green Around the Gills that Chilli walks him to the back garden for a Vomit Discretion Shot.
• Letting the Air out of the Band: A variant: 'Tradies' has a scene where a majestic version of the ice cream truck tune playing as it approaches the Heeler residence. As it was getting good, it immediately reverts to simple electronic chimes when Chilli denies her daughters' request for an ice cream.
• Line-of-Sight Name: In 'Tradies', Bluey and Bingo call Sparky and Chippy "Big Belt" and "Chocolate Milk" after the items on their person.
• Lost Toy Grievance: The plot of 'Chickenrat' focuses on the Heelers (minus Bandit) trying to locate Bingo's stuffed rabbit, Floppy, before bedtime.
• Lower-Deck Episode:
  • 'Mums and Dads' is set at Bluey's school and almost entirely focuses on her classmates Indy and Rusty.
  • 'Army' is also set at and outside Bluey's school, and focuses on Rusty and Jack, with Bluey only appearing as a background character, and none of the other Heelers showing up.
  • 'Stories', yet again at school, has Indy and Winton as the main characters.
  • 'Space' is focused on Rusty, Jack, and Mackenzie, with Bluey once again demoted to cameo.
  • 'Explorers' is all about Jack's dad and his little sister getting lost on their way to picking him up from school when the phone runs out of battery using Sat-Nav.
• Malaproper: Considering the ages of the child characters (anywhere from three to seven), this shouldn't be too surprising.
  • Rusty, pretending to be a knight in 'Early Baby' looks at a doll he just rescued and finds her hurt, saying he needs to take her to "hostible".
  • Discussed in 'Dunny', in which the Heelers are trying to guess what vegetable that starts with a "b" that Bingo is thinking of. She says the answer is "botato", to which the others correct her.
  • Bluey tells Grandad to "loaddown" an app in the episode 'Phones'.
  • Bluey and Bingo both have trouble saying "edamame" in 'Pavlova', calling it "endamawie", "edmadame", "ednadame", "endabale", and "endomame".
  • A running gag in 'Ragdoll' is the characters referring to money as "moneys".
  • 'Chest' has Bluey and Bingo referring to chess as, well, "chest".
  • Lampshaded in 'Unicorse,' as it turns out the Heeler parents amuse one another with their daughters' cute malaprops after the kids are asleep.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: In 'Fairies', somebody has gone to a lot of effort to mess with the family. At the end, Bingo actually sees a fairy but Bandit doesn't. Perhaps Bingo was just seeing things?
• May It Never Happen Again:
  • In 'Onesies', Brandy gives her two young nieces onesies. However, one of Bingo's favourite games is to pretend to be the animal she's dressed up as, leading to her running rampant pretending to be a feral cheetah. At one point, Chilli decides to just ban onesies from the house.
  • In 'Butterflies', the Heeler sisters and Judo play a game that involves pretending to be caterpillars that grow into butterflies. However, Judo thinks Bingo is taking too long in the "chrysalis", so she convinces Bluey to run away from her. Later, after Bluey realises she was in the wrong, both sisters run away from Judo to teach her a lesson. When the three girls reconcile, Bluey says that from now on, nobody is allowed to run away.
• Mean Boss: Bluey plays this role in 'Work' after taking over from Bandit during the game. She makes Bandit act as her chair, clean the windows with his bottom, lick the floor clean, then fires him for dancing on the job.
  • In 'Circus', Hercules could maybe qualify, because he was bossing the characters around.
• Metaphorgotten: Bandit tries to teach Bluey that everyone has their own part to play in 'Spy Game' using a stack of pebbles.
  Bandit: Does that make sense?
  Bluey: No.
  Bandit: Okay, just do your best, kid.
• Military Brat: The end of 'Army' reveals that Rusty's dad is in the army himself. 'Cricket' explores this a little further.
• Mister Seahorse: 'Dad Baby' features a roleplay variation. Bandit finds his old strapped baby carrier and Bingo immediately climbs inside. And Bluey, reminding her father of his insistence to "do things right", goads him into reenacting their mother's pregnancy with Bingo.
• Moral Myopia: In 'Neighbours', Bluey finds Bandit being a bad neighbor to Chilli amusing, but greatly dislikes Bingo being a bad neighbor to her.
• Mundane Made Awesome: 'The Quiet Game' gives such a moment to a new toy store employee named Alfie, who helps Bandit in a game of charades with his daughters. He's able to figure out that Bluey isn't miming writing something, but rather is miming the word "pen". As for Bingo, he's able to deduce that she's miming "dragon". By the time he puts together that the Moonlight Unicorn they need is "Pendragon", an entire crowd of customers are cheering on his guessing prowess.
• My Instincts Are Showing: In the climax of 'The Adventure', the Greedy Queen (played by Chloe) can't help but chase the artifact (represented by a tennis ball) that the Princess (played by Bluey) threw at her to distract her.
• My Little Phony: In 'The Quiet Game', Bluey and Bingo go with Bandit to get Muffin a birthday present, which happens to be a Moonlight Unicorn. 'Duck Cake' and 'Mr. Monkeyjocks' also makes mention of the Star Pony and the Starlight Unicorse.

Tropes N to R

• Name McAdjective: Bandit gives himself the moniker Romeo McFlourish in the episode 'Fancy Restaurant'.
• Nature Tinkling: Known by the Heelers as a "bush wee", done in the wild while camping (in 'Camping'), on the side of the road (in 'Road Trip'), and behind some landscaping in 'Takeaway' when Bandit is unable to get Bingo to a bathroom in time.
• Never Say "Die": Averted in 'Copycat' and 'Easter', but played straight in 'Hammerbarn'.
  • When Bluey picks a fight with Bingo over the various shopping cart items they're using to play houses with, she accidentally breaks the garden gnome that the latter was pretending was her husband. Naturally, Chilli isn't happy about it.
    Chilli: This is what happens when you're unhappy with what you've got! Someone's husband eventually gets it!
  • Played for Drama: In 'Copycat', when the vet outright telling Bluey that the injured budgie she and Bandit are trying to help has died.
  • Played for Laughs: In 'Easter', when Bluey and Bingo have to enter a bathroom with Bandit using the toilet:
    Bingo: But it stinks so much we'll die!
• No-Dialogue Episode: 'Rain', save for a few words in the start and a sigh. Chilli is seen at one point speaking to Bluey, but it's silent.
• Non-Standard Character Design:
  • Frisky stands out for having a very humanlike head of hair (which may or may not be her ears) and visible dewclaws on her feet.
  • In 'Takeaway', the lady working at the eponymous takeaway has visible blue irises, as does Bingo's classmate, Sadie. Both appear to be Siberian Huskies, or at least Husky mixes, a breed that's known to have striking blue eyes.
  • The old lady pug from 'Granny Mobile' has thick eyeglass lenses, which make her eyes look very buggy. She's also the same height as three year old Muffin, and she's almost fully clothed aside from not wearing shoes (while other characters tend to be Half-Dressed Cartoon Animals at most).
• Noodle Incident:
  • 'Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound' begins with Bingo in hospital, recovering from an unspecified illness.
  • At the beginning of 'Teasing', Bluey justifies her teasing of Bingo by claiming Bingo started it. How exactly Bingo teased her is left unexplained.
  • In 'Duck Cake', when Chilli persuades Bandit to make the titular cake, she reminds her family of her own attempt at making a cake resembling a clown, causing Bluey, Bingo and Bandit to shudder.
    Bluey: He was not a funny clown.
  • In 'Tradies', it is said that Chippy is "not allowed" to drive his own car, requiring his girlfriend Cherry to drive him to work (and during their dispute, for Sparky to give him a lift instead). The implication is that he did something to get his driving license suspended.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Winton in 'Typewriter' where he keeps getting right up close to others. Bluey points this out, calling him a "space invader".
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Averted. Bingo has her birthday in 'Duck Cake' and 'Handstand' and a lot of the kids, including Bluey and Muffin have theirs in 'Pass the Parcel'. Muffin has another birthday mentioned in 'The Quiet Game'.
  • Also worth noting is that Socks visibly ages as the series progresses, acting more dog-like at the start and learning to walk and talk in the later episodes.
• Not So Above It All: In 'Muffin Cone', Trixie and Chili debate on whether it's a good idea to put the cone of shame on Muffin so she can stop sucking her thumb. Trixie is all for the cone, only expressing doubt at the fact that three years old isn't such an old age for thumb-sucking. She voices that it's all in the name of practicing self-control, all the while Chili puts out corn chips. Despite talking about self-control, Trixie can't help eating the chips out of simple habit, despite that it's not healthy for her. When she comes to terms with her own lack of self-control, the double standard is not lost on her.
  Trixie: It might be time to take Muffin's cone off.
• Oblivious Guilt Slinging: A rather heart-warming variation in 'Granddad'. While looking for her father (who is active despite that he's supposed to be recuperating from heartworms), Chilli runs into Maynard and asks about his whereabouts. Their conversation veers into Maynard pointing out that even if she found him, he'd just say "Shouldn't it be up to me?" To this, Chilli argues that he should take better care of himself, not just for his sake, but for her sake as well. ...before confessing in a quiet and vulnerable tone "[because] ...I still need him." Unaware he's hiding not too far off, Chilli unwittingly pricks her father's conscience, as he seems regretful about not taking his daughter's feelings into account. This plants in him the resolve to not overexert himself and take care of himself.
• Offscreen Teleportation: In 'Keepy Uppy', Bandit turns on the kitchen fan, sending Bluey and Bingo's balloon into the living room. As the girls race to catch it, they find Bandit waiting on the other side of the room (and he even found the time to grab a leaf blower to send the balloon flying again).
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. Bob is the name of both Bluey and Bingo's paternal grandfather and a puppet bilby in Bingo's school.
• Orange/Blue Contrast: Orange red heelers Chilli and Bingo with their (literally) blue counterparts Bandit and Bluey.
• Overly Long Gag: When Bluey asks what the word perfect means in 'Perfect', Bingo then defines it by saying it's so good, that she says the word "really" nine times beforehand.

  Bingo: It means really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really... good.

• Pale Females, Dark Males: Played with. Bandit is dark (a blue heeler), and Chilli is pale (A red heeler, different colourations of the Australian Cattle Dog); however, Bluey takes after her father, while Bingo takes after her mother.
• Parental Favoritism:
  • Played for Laughs and drama in 'Kids'; the episode begins with Bluey asking Bandit if she or Bingo is his favorite. During the titular game, Bluey (as "mum") states that she prefers Bingo ("Snowdrop") over Bandit ("Diddums"); he's heartbroken, and she's soon remorseful.
  • Also played for drama in 'Mini Bluey', when Bluey feels like Bandit would prefer another Bingo rather than her.
• Parental Sexuality Squick: Inverted in 'Fancy Restaurant', where Bluey and Bingo create the restaurant in hopes of seeing their parents kissing and being romantic with each other.
  • Bandit and Chilli kiss at the end of 'Daddy Robot', only to then cut to Bluey and Bingo looking at them and going "Ooooooh!"
• Parents as People: A downplayed case compared to most examples, but Bandit and Chilli are very loving and attentive parents who are also very tired, occasionally wistful for their lives before kids, and not immune from the odd mistake.
• Peer Pressure Makes You Evil: Not "evil" exactly, just a little insensitive; In 'Butterflies', Judo encourages Bluey to abandon Bingo during their game, and run from her when she complains. When Bluey goes to apologize to Bingo, she initially claims that Judo "made" her do it, but admits that she wasn't exactly forced into the act.
• People Puppets: In 'Magic', the family act like they can control each other's movements by moving their hands like the others are attached to puppet strings.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Chilli is said to work in airport security, but she's never actually seen working there. Justified, since the show takes place from the kids' perspectives, and it would be exceedingly difficult for her to get her kids into the secure areas of an international airport.
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • In 'Library', Stripe and Chilli chastise Bluey for not allowing Muffin to play the way she wants because Bluey can't articulate the exact problem, which is that Muffin's refusing to follow the rules and behaving like an insufferable brat; something she's doing because Stripe innocently told her she was "the most special kid in the world." It's all cleared up later on.
  • In 'Mini Bluey,' Bluey is so helpful and agreeable as Big Bingo that Bandit accidentally implies that he'd prefer having two Bingos all the time, upsetting Bluey as she interprets this to mean that her parents don't appreciate her for who she is. They later assure the girls that they appreciate them both, but in private...
  Bandit [whispering]: But seriously, how good is double Bingos?
  Chilli [whispering]: Yeah, I know.
  • In 'Postman', towards the climax, Bluey and Bingo find themselves figuratively painted into a corner when they find Chili has moved too far away to deliver the letter. What follows is both sisters airing out their respective grievances caused by their inability to communicate. Bluey voices she didn't want to play "Floor is Lava" because she needed so desperately to deliver the letter, but went along with Bingo's game because she would've gotten upset. Bingo in turn voices she gets upset because Bluey often doesn't follows through on her promises to play with her, but she would've understood if Bluey didn't want to play if only she had told her the urgent reason behind her mission.
• Potty Emergency:
  • Bingo desperately needs to go to the bathroom in 'Takeaway', which is one of the many problems Bandit has to deal with while waiting for their food.
  • One of the many gaffes featured in 'Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound' has Bumpy (Socks) abruptly halting off-camera in the middle of a running shot to defecate. The camera cuts after catching Bluey's confused reaction.
  • In 'Fruitbat', Bingo says she averts this using the restroom before bed, even if she doesn't feel that she needs to.
  Bingo: It's called a tactical wee.
• Potty Failure: Downplayed in "Smoochy Kiss," when Bandit accidentally pees on his foot.
• Premature Birth Drama: In "Early Baby", Bluey mentions that Indy's younger sister was born premature, so Indy decided to reenact it by playing hospital with Bluey and Honey. Indy "births" an "early baby" named Polly, and she dramatically acts worried for her when Honey puts the baby in a tank and Bluey tells Indy that Polly has to stay at the hospital for the night.
• Protagonist Title: Bluey is the main character of the show, and as such, it's named after her.
• Psychological Projection: A rather wise variation in "Double Babysitter". The Heeler's usual babysitter Frisky is struggling with a break-up. Meanwhile, Bluey reveals to her and Rad that the reason she's reluctant to go to bed is because she previously had a bad experience with Nana putting her to bed, when she put the television volume up due to her hearing aid and Bluey overheard the scary movie she was watching. To this, Bluey wonders how she can be sure being put to bed by a babysitter won't be as bad as the last. Empathizing this with her own dating experience, Frisky assures Bluey she can't be sure, but she won't know until she gives it a try. The way she frames it implies she may be talking more about her own experience with her ex Bosco than Bluey's experience with Nana:
  Bluey: But how can I know for sure it won't happen again?
  Frisky: You can't. But you have to give it a go anyway, or you'll be stuck in the tower with a stinky dragon forever.
• Public Domain Soundtrack: Several episodes use classical music for soundtrack, such as 'Shops' using "Orpheus in the Underworld" for most of the episode.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Naturally occurs, as Bluey and Bingo's "please face". Taken further when Bluey and Bingo try to get Bandit to play in 'Tickle Crabs'.
  • Bandit, Muffin, and Bingo pull this on Bluey in the episode 'Verandah Santa'.
  • Chilli does this to Bingo in the episode 'Dance Mode' to convince her to use one of her "dance modes" on Bandit to force him to dance in the middle of the post office. Bluey also does this to her later when she's asking her to buy a yes/no button with her newly aquired 20 dollarbucks.
  • In 'Kids', Bingo (as "Snowdrop the Toddler") pulls her "please face" on Bluey (as "Mum") to get what she wants such as acting innocent after blaming Bandit (as "Diddums") for dropping a bag of crisps at the grocery store.
• Pushover Parents: Played for Laughs. Bandit and Chilli are easily drawn into playing Bluey and Bingo's games, even if they really would prefer not to.
• Putting the Pee in Pool: In 'Swim School', to avoid being squirted by the swimming teacher "Margaret" (Bluey), Bingo and Chilli would have to dob (rat out) on Bandit for something. Chilli's accusation?
  Chilli: He peed in the pool!
  "Margaret" does a Spit Take.
  Chilli: Oh, gross! (everyone except Bandit gets out of the pool)
  Bandit: It's a victimless crime!
  • Later in the end, when the entire family hug together in the pool...
    Bingo: Why is the water warmer here?
    Beat, followed by Bluey screaming and everyone but Bandit swimming away from him as he just sheepishly smiles.
    Chilli: Oh, Bandit!
• Real Men Wear Pink: In 'Stumpfest', Bandit, Stripe and Lucky's Dad have to stop ripping up tree stumps to negotiate with Bluey, Bingo and Muffin who have turned a stump into a salon. The men continue Stumpfest with nail polish and makeup.
• Real-Place Background: The show occasionally uses real places in Brisbane, drawn in the show's style.
• Recursive Canon: In 'The Quiet Game', a bookstore window displays a book (or maybe two) whose cover appears to be 'Fruitbat' (and the other one barely looks like 'Beach')
• Recycled Animation: The short 'Lollipop Song' is basically a whole minute of Bluey and Bingo's dancing animations from earlier episodes, as well as from the intro, albeit slightly modified.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Whilst both Bluey and Bingo are equally upbeat, Bluey (the red) is very rambunctious and domineering, whereas her sister Bingo (the blue) tends to be more sensitive and emotional, which is the opposite of their colour schemes.
• Role Swap Plot: A minor version in 'Ragdoll'. Normally, it would be Bandit who dreads about the game his kids insist. This episode has their positions reversed. He even gets to read the title card this time!
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Bluey and Chloe's game of Princesses in 'Adventure' is an epic quest with many characters and trials. Chloe's dad's suggestion that they were just enjoying tea parties dooms him to the business end of Chloe's magic wand.
• Rule of Funny: Often invoked.
  • Bingo spends the entirety of 'Work' pretending to be a frog, just because. Bluey even makes her a name tag with a frog on it.
  • 'Camping': Even before Bluey and Jean-Luc identify Bandit as a "wild pig", he makes grunting sounds, and does so for the rest of the episode.
• Running Gag: "Morning, Wendy!"
  • In an episode-specific example, Bandit's drink keeps getting dropped, knocked out of his hands, or otherwise spilled during 'BBQ'.

Tropes S to Z

• Scenery Porn: The background animation is lush and detailed, with the Establishing Shots showing off suburban Brisbane and the family's hilltop Queenslander home.
• Schmuck Bait: In 'Fairy Tale', the young Bandit tells Stripe that the wheels of his bike are moving - while Stripe is pedalling. Stripe takes a look, unbalances, and falls over, to Bandit's amusement.
• Scooby-Dooby Doors: A chase through the house in 'Ghostbasket' is presented in this style. A twist is given, however, as instead of the sequence playing out as one continuous shot, slight cuts are made to give the impression that the chase has been going on for some time.
• Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Deliberately invoked by Bluey and Bingo whenever they pretend to be grannies.
  • Played straight with the old pug from 'Granny Mobile'. She insists that she not pay for a mug she broke, she lowballs when offering for a scooter that Doreen is selling, and she tells Bandit to "lay off the biscuits". Muffin, who's playing as a grouchy granny lays down the law to the old pug, and then they proceed to out-grouch each other. When the pug caves and buys the scooter for $1202, she rides away on it, blowing a raspberry on the way.
• Sequel Episode: 'Early Baby' ends with Indy asking Rusty if he wants to play "Mums and Dads". The episode of that name follows, although each is their own story within themselves.
  • Similar to the above example, 'Duck Cake' shows preparations being made for Bingo's birthday party, and the following episode, 'Handstand', shows the party itself.
• Serious Business:
  • In 'Keepy Uppy', the game's stakes increase as the family and neighbours strive to keep the balloon off the ground. Justified, since the balloon made its way outside, and will pop if it touches the grass.
  • In 'Horsey Ride', Muffin is very insistent that the "horseys" (Bandit and Stripe) don't talk during their "wedding", and only use "horsey talk".
  • Much of the series' humor is generally derived from Bluey's family and friends taking their roleplaying and games very seriously.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Played for Laughs in 'Bus'. Chilli plays a passenger on the bus who spends all episode struggling to tell the driver (Bandit) that she likes him. In the end, she finally confesses her feelings... only for the driver to tell her that he's already "married" to a plush giraffe.
• Shared Family Quirks: The Heelers are all athletic in different ways:
  • Bandit played touch football in the past and is very good at Squash.
  • Chilli plays cricket and grew up in the Outback as an Outdoorsy Gal.
  • Bluey is physically strong enough to carry her friends without showing any signs of strain and "Bin Night" shows her in a karate uniform.
  • Bingo can stay on the monkey bars the longest in her class and "Helicopter" mentions she takes gymnastics classes.
• She's a Man in Japan:
  • Muffin is male in the Arabic and Dutch dubs of the show, and Socks is male in the Dutch dub.
  • Mackenzie was at first erroneously stated to be female in the Latin American dubs, but this was later corrected.
  • Lucky is portrayed as a girl in the Icelandic dub.
• Shipper on Deck: Winton, at the beginning of 'Barky Boats', involving Bluey and Mackenzie. They don't agree.
• Shout-Out: Enough to warrant its own page!
• Show Within a Show: Bingo and Muffin are both fans of Cat Squad, a children's cartoon that seems to be a cat-themed version of PAW Patrol.
• Shown Their Work: 'Dirt' makes a point of showing that chow chows (like Wendy and Judo) have thick, luxurious fur that takes a lot of effort to clean. Anyone who's owned one in real life can attest to this.
• Silence of Sadness: In 'Butterflies', after Bluey abandons Bingo so she can play with Judo, Bingo mopes in a fabric swing. She doesn't say a word when a remorseful Bluey tries to apologize to her until Bluey starts singing the ladybug song that Bingo was singing early on in the episode.
• Silly Walk: The main plot of 'Housework'. After telling their kids to do clean up their playroom, Bandit and Chilli eventually get rather invested in their crazy walking whilst doing said chores, putting aside their end of their housework. It goes as far as trying to learn one of those walks from Bingo.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: While the show tends to be very idealistic, it is not afraid to venture to the cynical end. However, the show makes it clear that the kids in-universe are obviously not having any of it.
• Smart People Play Chess: In the episode "Chest," Chilli asks why Bandit wants to teach the girls chess, and he says this verbatim.
• Something Else Also Rises: Chilli's suggestive "Are you ready, Bob?" while leaning against a bike causes Bandit to stare, slightly slack-jawed - and the camera positioned above his crotch to go off and spit out a photo.
• Sore Loser: In 'The Claw'. Bluey's reaction is not being able to win at the game is to pout and sulk all the way home.
  Bluey: Silly claw machine...
• Soundtrack Dissonance: Played for Laughs in the credits of 'Bike', which pairs the triumphant music of the characters' determination with Muffin angrily stomping on her backpack.
• Special Edition Title: 'Bingo' changes the standard opening sequence, so that Bluey takes Bingo's place in ending up out of the dancing game, and as such, Bingo ends up winning, much to Bandit and Chilli's surprise. The theme song is modified to suit this, and when Bluey gets out, the background changes from blue to orange.
• Species Surname: While surnames don't usually come up since most characters are only known by their first names, the surnames that are known always refer to the character's breed; Bluey's family's surname is Heeler, Mackenzie's family is the Border Collies, Jack's family is the Russells, and Bingo's kindy teacher is named Mrs. Retriever. It's implied that the Terriers are collectively referred to by their surname as well.
• Spiritual Antithesis: Creator Joe Brumm was previously a staff member on fellow Funny Animal show Peppa Pig, and conceived his series as an Australian "replica" of the UK one. However, the two differ in their portrayal of family dynamics, particularly in the role of father figures. Whereas Peppa Pig depicts Daddy Pig as a Bumbling Dad, Bluey intentionally depicts Bandit in a more proactive role, particularly in parent-child play.^note British newspaper The Guardian has referred to Bluey as "Peppa Pig, but with better parenting".
• Spit Take: Bandit is very surprised to hear that the Tooth Fairy leaves Bluey five bucks.
  • Likewise, in 'Pass the Parcel', Lucky's dad is up for a surprise when he finds out that after a disastrous attempt to introduce "the right way" to do the titular game (a single prize in the end instead of many small ones in each layer), the kids in future birthday parties begin to accept it.
• Spraying Drink from Nose: Happens to Bandit during 'Favourite Thing'.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Invoked in 'Mums and Dads'; Indy and Rusty argue over who should stay home during the titular game while the other goes to "work". Rusty insists that it's the mums who stay home, while Indy says it's the dads who do so.
• Sticks to the Back: Bluey's flag while she is climbing in 'Mount Mumanddad'.
• Stylistic Suck: Bluey and Bandit make a video for Bingo in 'Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound', because Bingo is stuck in the hospital. It is adorably amateurish.
• Swear Word Plot: Deconstructed in 'Dunny', where Chilli at first bans her daughters from saying the word "dunny" (Australian slang for a toilet or outhouse) despite acknowledging that it's not really a rude word, just because she feels it's not a "nice" word. However, after a bit of back and forth, she decides to let them say it after all.
• Symbolism:
  • In 'Curry Quest', after Bingo learns her father's leaving for an archeological assignment for six weeks, she's reluctant to go home or even face the magpie. But while Mrs. Border Collie is giving her a face paint, the conversation veers into telling Bingo how she's secretly insecure about doing the face-painting stall for the coming weekend. As Bingo comes to her own conclusion that courage is about doing what must be done regardless of fear or uncertainty, Mrs. Border Collie gradually paints her face to look like a tiger. It reflects how Bingo is gathering the courage of a tiger.
  • In 'Dance Mode', Bingo has thus far endured her family taking things from her, among them her chances to use the titular Dance Mode. When Bluey convinces her to use the money Bandit gave to bribe them out of a humiliating dance mode, it's to buy a "Yes-No" toy, despite that she clearly doesn't want to. We cut to Bingo wilting on their way to the car while Bluey repeatedly presses the "no" button, signifying how poor Bingo is pent-up with all the times she wanted to say "no" to her family's requests. At the end, when her family goes through with the public Dance Mode for Bingo's sake, Bingo presses "yes" on the toy repeatedly, showing she's getting exactly what she wanted in the first place.
• Take That!: A rather sobering one in 'Bob Bilby'; Bluey and Bingo are supposed to give the titular puppet an exciting weekend with them, but they get sidetracked showing him the "wonders" of cartoons, be it on a tablet, television or phone. By the end of the first day, they look at the photos they've taken, and are humbled to see that they've tragically wasted half of the weekend on cartoons. Although watching cartoons was gratifying in the short run, it's rather "boring" when compared to other kids who took Bob Bilby to faraway places or taught him karate.
• The Talk: Sometimes used as a gag whenever one of the kids innocently asks where babies come from, with Bandit being reluctant to answer.
  • In "The Dump", Bandit claims that he knows everything, prompting Bluey to ask him where she was before she was born. Bandit quickly dodges the question and requests Bluey to ask a different one.
  • In "Daddy Putdown", Bingo asks Bandit how the baby gets inside the mother's belly. The music stops, and Bandit quickly says, "no, thank you!" and spins her swing around.^note Unlike the example from "The Dump", this scene was deleted in the Disney+ version.
• Tantrum Throwing:
  • In 'Bike', Muffin, after repeatedly failing to put on her backpack, goes into a "meltdown" (as Bandit calls it), screaming and stomping on the backpack.
  • In 'Kids', "Snowdrop the toddler" (Bingo) throws a tantrum after "mum" (Bluey) refuses to indulge in her Spoiled Brat antics any longer.
  • In 'The Quiet Game', Bluey and Bingo (via pantomime) tell Bandit that this will happen if he gets Muffin a "Moonlight Unicorn" toy that she already has.
• Take Our Word for It: In 'Duck Cake', Chili makes Bandit bake the titular, difficult "duck cake", reminding him of when she tried to make a clown cake - we don't get to see what it was like, but it makes the whole family briefly shudder in fear.
  Bluey: He was NOT a funny clown!
• Technologically Blind Elders:
  • Nana Heeler in 'Grannies'. When Bluey and Bingo call her via video chat to settle an argument, the first few moments of the conversation is taken up by Nana struggling with her camera, giving them a view of the top of her head, then her feet, and finally a close-up of her eye.
  • This subject is addressed directly in 'Phones', where the girls teach Grandpa Heeler how to order takeaway via a mobile app.
• Temporarily Exaggerated Trait:
  • Muffin tends to be a Bratty Half-Pint from time to time, but it's still obvious that she has a nicer side. However, her bratty side is taken to an extreme in the Season 2 episode 'Charades' where she throws a tantrum because she wants to be a ballerina. She even yells at her cousins and nana to give her a tutu and music, despite the whole point of charades being guessing.
    • She gets even worse in the Season 3 episode 'Faceytalk'. She hogs the phone from Socks to draw her cowboy hat despite her dad Stripe repeatedly telling her not to. Then she swipes Stripe's phone and runs away with it, only to drop it into the swimming pool.
    • Despite 'Faceytalk', Muffin has shown a great deal of Character Development, especially in 'Granny Mobile', where she admits that she doesn't want to be a "grouchy granny", although her portrayal actually helps the plot a great deal.
  • Bandit was shown to be a Gasshole in a few season 1 episodes, but the season 3 episode "Family Meeting" was entirely dedicated to him "fluffing".
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Averted, almost all of the characters have non-gender-specific features. The only real exceptions (though still subtle ones) are Coco's eyelashes and butterfly hairclips, and that Bandit and most of the adult males have stubble around their muzzles.
• Theme Tune Roll Call: The intro has Bluey's family playing a game of musical statues, with their names called out as each one gets caught dancing when the music stops. In order, Mum, Dad, Bingo, and Bluey are named.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Bandit in 'Verandah Santa', after Bluey, angered by Socks biting her, decides she wants to play Santa next.
  Bandit: Strap yourselves in, kids.
• Three Shorts: The series is presented this way in Disney Junior airings.
• Time Skip:
  • A rather sweet one near the end of 'Camping'. Bluey and Muffin's voices are heard, with the former being shown (along with Jean-Luc).
  • A brief one at the end of 'Daddy Dropoff', showing pictures of Bingo and her new friend Lila growing up.
  • In the final scene of 'Cricket', Rusty is shown interacting with his adult self, now a professional cricket player.
• Title Reading Gag:
  • In 'Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound', the title voiceover is in the context of a play the characters are putting on, so Bluey says, "This story is called" instead of "This episode of Bluey is called".
  • In 'Unicorse', Chilli says, "This episode of Bluey, unfortunately, is called 'Unicorse'."
  • In 'Hairdressers', Bingo, halfway through the episode, changes the title to "Nits" and says, "This episode of Bluey is now called 'Nits'."
  • In 'Puppets', Bandit doesn't read the title; through the Unicorse puppet, he says "I don't know what that says; I can't read!".
• Toilet Humor: This show is not afraid of going there. Examples include the pooping ponies in 'Markets', Bandit pausing play to go to the toilet in 'The Weekend' and several outdoor wees, then there was the mention of a "tactical wee" ^note going wee before you go to bed, whether you need to or not, so you don't wet the bed in "Fruit Bat".
• Tomato in the Mirror: In 'Puppets', Unicorse is finally made aware (after several attempts) that he is a puppet controlled by Bandit. He does not take it well.
  Unicorse: My life... is a lie.
• Tough Love: "Pass the Parcel" has Pat share his personal opinion to Janelle that the new way of playing the titular game (by wrapping a prize in each layer) is a rather indulgent and "raising a nation of squibs". Although playing Pass the Parcel the original way does elicit crying children and puts Pat in a tight spot, it turns out he's in the right: it eventually catches on, as the children come to learn winning isn't everything.
• Tough Room: In "The Pool", the kids start to get bored while waiting for the shade to grow bigger so they can play in the pool without sunscreen. Cue Bandit trying to cheer them up with a twist to the classic dad joke:
  Bluey: I'm bored!
  Bandit: Hi "Bored", nice to meet you!
  Bluey: [groans]
  Bingo: I'm hungry!
  Bandit: Oh hello, "Hungry", this is "Bored"!
  Bingo: [groans]
  Bandit: Ooh, tough crowd...
• Tuckerization:
  • The character of Winnie, as seen in 'Cafe', is named after the studio pet at Ludo.
  • The show's creator, Joe Brumm, stated that he used to own a Blue Heeler named Bluey and a Dalmatian named Chloe in his childhood.
• Uncommon Time: Oddly enough, there's been disagreement over what time signature the main theme song is in. It mainly depends on whether one interprets the pauses as part of the song or not. If they are part of the song ("rests" in music theory terminology) then the time signature is a repeating pattern of three measures of 4/4 and one measure of 5/4 (aka 17/4 if you want to make it sound more complicated). If the pauses aren't part of the song ("fermata" in music terminology) then the song is just in 4/4.
• Unnamed Parent: Averted. Most of the parents have their names given at some point, but the kids usually refer to them by last name or their relationship to their children, like "Mr. Heeler" or "Mr. Bluey's Dad". Bluey even asks for her parents' "non-mum/dad names" during 'The Show'.
• The Un-Favorite: Bluey feels she is this in "Mini Bluey", but Bingo reassures her by saying they are equally as annoying.
• Unicorn: The legend of the pure and good-hearted unicorn is completely thrown out the window when Unicorse makes his debut. He interrupts Chilli and Bluey's story time by demanding they read a book about unicorns, he spoils the ending of the storybook they decide to read instead, and he generally makes a ruckus.
• Unnecessary Combat Roll: Done twice by Bluey in her turn playing Santa in 'Verandah Santa'.
• Unseen No More: Pat's wife, Janelle, finally makes an appearance in 'Pass the Parcel' after only being mentioned for two seasons. She then appears again in 'The Decider'.
• Unusual Euphemism: The Heelers prefer to call an instance of flatulence a "fluffy".
• Vanity License Plate:
  • Bandit's car has the number 419HLR (#419fff is the hex color code for his exact fur color so the plate basically reads "Blue Heeler").
  • In 'Dance Mode', Wendy's car is shown to have the number W3ND73 ("Wendy").
    • Both of these examples are accurate to real life, as Queensland standard number plates followed a 111AAA format when those episodes were made (other Australian states and territories are different). Personalised plates in Queensland cost around $500 dollars for a 3-Letter-3-Number combination, and several thousand for anything that deviates from it.
  • In 'Pizza Girls', Muffin's new toy electric car has the license plate MFN ("Muffin").
  • In 'Explorers', Jack's dad's car has RUS531 ("Russel").
  • Three more examples are shown in 'TV Shop':
    • Coco's mum's car has 2MNYKD5 ("Too many kids").
    • Mrs. Terrier's car has the plate TERRIER.
    • Winton's dad's car has LVLYJBLY ("Lovely-jubbly", his first line back in 'Markets').
• Victorious Chorus: No vocals are involved, but it still shows in the melody of the background music in 'Hammerbarn' when Bingo and Bluey find a wall of free paint swatches in the titular store ("it's everything [they] want!"), right after their mum's lecture that they can't just have free stuff all the time.
• Victory Is Boring: After Bluey is unable to win a prize at the start of 'The Claw', Bandit tells her that it wouldn't be exciting if she won every time. He is proven right a little later, when Chilli pretends to be a claw machine and lets Bluey and Bingo win easily; the kids noticeably lose their enthusiasm after a single turn. Of course, the "fabulous prizes" consisting of stuffed animals they already own probably doesn't help matters.
• Vomit Discretion Shot: In 'Fancy Restaurant,' Chilli walks Bandit out into the back garden after he's eaten Bingo's "special", which made him visibly Green Around the Gills. Just as Bandit starts to heave, the screen cuts to credits.
• What the Hell, Hero?: "Obstacle Course" has Bandit pull Bluey back so she wouldn't win the titular race, much to his wife's disappointment. He tries to justify himself, but Chili low-key points out it's pretty cowardly of a father to be so scared to be beaten by his own daughter.
  • In "Verandah Santa", Bandit and Chili call out Bluey over excluding Socks from getting a present during their titular game. As much as Bluey begrudges Socks for biting her earlier and not vocally apologizing for it, her parents point out that not only is Socks too young to know better, but that such mean-spirited behavior towards her younger cousin goes against Christmas spirit.
• Wham Shot:
  • In 'Fairy Tale', a young Bandit has reconciled with his brothers, but is still under the "curse" (jinx). Cut to his name being spoken by... Chilli.
  • At the end of 'Ghostbasket',^note the episode released the week before the 28-minute special The Sign the camera pans to reveal that the Heeler's house is for sale.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Bingo is very astute for four years old. In 'Fruit Bat', she goes to the toilet before going to bed, despite not needing to, in order to prevent any accidental bed wetting during the night^note a 'tactical wee'. She also knows that bats sleep during the day, and are awake at night (though she does call them "Octurnal", rather than "Nocturnal").
• World of Funny Animals: The show is set in a world populated by anthropomorphic dogs of multiple different breeds.
• You Don't Look Like You: In 'Curry Quest', Mackenzie's mum looks different from how she first appeared in 'Spy Game'. Not only is her fur a different shade of brown, but she lacks the patch of white fur on the left side of her face that she had before.

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HOORAY!