YMMV / Buckaroo Bugs

• Broken Base: Bugs' characterization as a flat out villain in this cartoon. While fans are willing to overlook his theft of goods, Red Hot Ryder is such a hapless and stupid foe, even by the standards of Bugs' rogues gallery, that fans are divided on how Bugs treated him. Some feel that Bugs messing with him amounts to little more than his usual harmless wiseacre pranks (it's pretty clear he doesn't actually hate the guy) and is just another one of Bugs many roles and that the way its executed is so ridiculous that his tormenting of Ryder comes off as funny instead of mean, while others don't feel the same way. When asked about the subject in an interview, Bob Clampett gave a tongue-in-cheek reply that audiences saw Bugs as such an American icon at the time that even when he was a bad guy, the audience was rooting for Bugs off the bat.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Bugs' barely provoked pestering of Ryder, which is completely Played for Laughs and arguably works because of the over-the-top nature of it. It helps that Ryder is never actually harmed by Bugs' pranks.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Marvel Comics would also create a comic book character called "Masked Marauder" in 1966.
• Values Dissonance: A mild example for a 1940s Warner Bros. cartoon, but while Bugs’ theft of victory garden carrots and war rations are treated as Serious Business due to when this cartoon was released, in the opening sequence, a woman’s voice is heard saying Bugs “pinched [her]”, implying he did so on her backside given the severity of his other crimes. The cartoon treats this as Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking, but modern viewers won’t take as kindly to harrassment like that being framed so lightly, especially given Bugs is already a Villain Protagonist in a cartoon prone to Broken Base.

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