YMMV / Kirby Buckets

• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Dawn. At the time the show began, she was reviled by much of the fandom for being utterly cruel and disgusting towards Kirby, as she was meant to be. As the show went on, opinions on her became more mixed, as she became much less successful in humiliating him and a major Jerkass Woobie. A lot of her fans are just guys who find Olivia Stuck attractive. While she still gets some hate for being a bad friend to Belinda, especially in Season 3 after the latter got locked in a dungeon for several episodes, she's gotten more than her fair share of fans for helping Kirby rescue his parents and defeating Lord Mitchell, and putting aside her ego to comfort a lonely Big Ricky after his friends were turned evil and finally getting together with him at the end of the series.
  • A lot of fans find that Kirby has become just as bad as Dawn and a Designated Hero at best, as he's shown little interest in trying to mend relations with his older sister, especially in "Tunnel Babies" after he refused to be nice to Dawn after it was revealed she saved his life when they were younger^note which all turned out to be one big lie.
  • Principal Mitchell is seen as a hilarious or a boring paranoid.
• Heartwarming Moment: Seeing Kirby's cartoon characters at end is pretty sweet. Doubly so since their return implies Dawn lifted her ban on Kirby's drawing.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In an Imagine Spot in "I, Gregory", Kirby envisions Principal Mitchell giving him wings to fly "like a hawk". Given Jacob Bertrand's next big role, it's hard not to laugh at this scene.
  • Kirby's two best friends are a kid named Eli and a kid with an animal nickname ("Fish"). In Cobra Kai, he is a kid named Eli with an animal nickname ("Hawk").
• Jerkass Woobie: Yes, Dawn is an arrogant jerk, very selfish, a bad friend to Belinda, and engaged in a vitriolic Sibling Rivalry with Kirby. At the same time, it's hard not to feel bad for her. After all, this is a girl who's been The Unfavorite in the family for years, is constantly a laughingstock at her school, has embarrassed herself in front of every crush of hers, was rejected from a commercial spot in favor of a toilet, was given no credit for saving Principal Mitchell's life because she wasn't a dog, and whose counterpart in the Star Trek parody episode was a slug.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Jacob Bertrand would later go on to play Hawk in Cobra Kai. Ironically, Hawk's real first name is... Eli.
  • Tiffany Espensen, actress of Belinda, would later play Cindy Moon in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
  • Nathan Barnatt, who played the weird shopkeeper Gil, is now better known as the bizarre YouTube personality known as "Dad". And Olivia Stuck (Dawn) is his daughter.
  • The kid whose party Dawn and Belinda was invited to is played by Nadji Jeter, best known as Miles Morales in Marvel's Spider-Man. His brother, Caleel Harris, was the first Clyde McBride.
  • The leader of The Brads, a group of polo-wearing snobs, later became known as Kimmy Gibler's younger brother on Fuller House.
  • Yes, the news reporter who Fish has a crush on later became the main villain of the last season of Lab Rats and the fourth season of Orphan Black.
  • Madison Iseman as the girl Dawn befriends in “War & Pizza”.
• Spiritual Licensee: This is considered by some to be Out of Jimmy's Head if it were at least tolerable, if not great.
• Squick:
  • Dawn gluing leg hair to Kirby's face is seen as utterly disgusting.
  • Kirby being doused in toilet water after blowing up a toilet is seen as this.
  • In "Oh Bros, Where Art Thou?" there was a dentist with a necklace of teeth.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Dawn was originally the bratty older sister who always bullied and tormented Kirby. Her role on the show changed over time, as she was more portrayed as The Unfavorite between her and Kirby and a major Butt-Monkey treated poorly by her parents and her brother.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: As the show progressed, it became not uncommon for Kirby to come off as less sympathetic than Dawn in their Sibling Rivalry. See "Buckets of Money" and "Tunnel Babies" for examples of episodes where Dawn is genuinely more likable than Kirby.
• The Woobie: Belinda gets a lot of crap from Dawn, and her loyalty as a friend is very rarely repayed. It's easy to feel sorry for her, especially when Dawn leaves her in a dungeon for several episodes.

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