- Alternative Joke Interpretation:
- In The Barbie Cooking Show Episode 2, Barbie mentions to Mrs. Potato Head about pre-heating the oven which reawakens a tragic memory of losing her parents to an "oven-related incident." Some viewers mistook this as a Holocaust reference due to the connection of her being Jewish and the ovens used in Nazi concentration camps. Needless to say, many were quick to point out that it's supposed to be a baked potato joke.
- In "Barbie's Birthday", Ken pulling out a cake for Barbie's 75th birthday provokes her to beat him with her new pimp stick, then run away crying. Either Ken correctly guessed her agenote , or Barbie just can't stand anyone calling her an old lady.
- Better on DVD: Watching "Dating Show" and "Virginity" in a row, without a month-long gap or any episodes of Makeup By Yasmin or Crafting With Stacie in between, helps Skipper's lust for Anslem in "Virginity" feel less abrupt.
- Catharsis Factor:
- Considering how much crap Stacie is put through and what a manipulative brat Chelsea has evolved into, it was quite satisfying to see the former attack the latter in "Panic Room" after Chelsea refused to free her and Barbie. This makes how slowly Barbie reacted in breaking the fight up even better, even though it's heavily implied that Chelsea is her favorite "little sister" (and Stacie is not).
- Although it may've been due to the situation, Yasmin screeching at everyone in "Delivery" for neglecting her/dismissing her feelings, especially towards Barbie, who'd never been nice to her from the day they'd met and tried to murder her in "The Wedding". Barbie had Yasmin's rant coming forever.
- In "Tinka and Todd", Barbie choking Margaret and throwing her out of her house upon learning that she knew where Tutti/Tinka was her whole life is also this. Seeing what a detestable Karma Houdini her mother is and how she even tried to call Barbie's bluff on giving her an "empty" threat, her finally getting some comeuppance was immensely gratifying to watch.
- Character Perception Evolution: The early videos received quite a few comments expressing a hatred of Yasmin, and a desire for Barbie and Ken to officially get back together. Viewers warmed up to Yasmin after Sam & Mickey began downplaying her snobbish qualities, making it clearer that the Ethical Slut wants to befriend Barbie rather than antagonize her. It also helped that by "Stranded", Yasmin and Ken agree to break up so that he could resume dating Barbie.
- Continuity Lockout:
- Barbie's beef with Anna that causes her to revoke Elsa's invitation in "Home Alone" seems to come off as a Noodle Incident, until you remember that one of the Advent Calendar videos has Barbie shoo away Anna because she slept with Ken during sophomore year.
- The shock value of Tinka's birth name depends on whether or not the viewers can still remember its significance from at least "Tutti and Todd", released two years earlier.
- The Wham Line in "Becky" can only deliver its intended emotional punch on viewers who clearly remember "Back to the Future", released two years earlier.
- Crosses the Line Twice: Oh so much. While virtually everyone has crossed it at least once throughout the series, some specific moments stand out, such as Aunt Millicent casually mentioning the time that she accidentally shot President Kennedy and once spiked Lance Armstrong's tea. Also, several episodes has Barbie telling the girls how she wished she had aborted them for a minor infraction and in "Back to the Future" upon "time-traveling" to an alternative reality, she questions how much Propofolnote she put into her drink that allowed her to do so.
- Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Skipper's boyfriend Anslem is well-liked by the fandom due to often being the Only Sane Man and a Nice Guy boyfriend to her and her eventual future husband.
- Barbie's assistant Tinka Reynolds is pretty popular herself, due to being well-rounded and competent and Barbie's long-lost sister Tutti.
- Fan Nickname: Skipper's boyfriend, Anslem, is jokingly nicknamed Gerard Way by fans after Barbie calls him that as a snide remark.
- Genius Bonus: As Sam is a nurse, medical knowledge is bound to pop up in an episode. "Quarantine" has Stacie mention that she'll alphabetize Barbie's benzos; "benzos" are short for Benzodiazepines, a drug used to slow down your central nervous system.
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- In "Stranded", when Barbie plays truth or dare with Ken, when asked what was the most traumatic memory of her life, she replies "My whole childhood". When Ken tells her to be more specific, she narrows it down to the disappearance of Tutti and Todd. While episodes up until that point gave a glimpse into how awful her parents were to her (especially her mother), later episodes "The Attic", "Tutti and Todd" and the Barbie's Childhood miniseries showcase how terrible it was for her; "Tutti and Todd" in particular reveals why exactly Barbie chose losing the twins as a more specific answer to Ken's question.
- In the first Thanksgiving Episode, Skipper lists Facebook as the first thing she's thankful for. After advertisers breached Facebook users' personal information, modern viewers could find it very surprising of Skipper to praise them.
- Barbie's rage over running out of Dijon mustard once seemed like Comical Overreacting, but now it seems justified, since her family running out of Dijon mustard led to the disappearance of Tutti and Todd.
- In the "Furniture Shopping" episode, Yasmin retroactively puts all of her and Ken's past interactions into a Squickier light. It even gets lampshaded In-Universe with Ken's reaction to her revelation.
- "Award Show" has the Doll Actor's Guild disappoint Barbie by giving the Best Actress award to Elsa instead of her. Similarly, Barbie (2023) failed to earn Margot Robbie a Best Actress Academy Award nomination.
- Heartwarming in Hindsight: In "Award Show", two of Barbie's movies earn award recognition from the Doll Actor's Guild, even though at the time of the video's release, it seemed unlikely that a real Barbie movie would ever receive an Oscar nomination. However, Barbie (2023) now has eight, including Best Picture and a Best Original Song win for Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?". The latter adds some irony to Barbie's laments that she didn't get nominated for singing "Touch My Boat" in Grinding Nemo.
- He's Just Hiding: When the fate of Tutti and Todd remained unknown, some fans hoped they didn't die yet. "The Assistant" confirms that Tutti survived, while "Tinka and Todd" confirms that Todd lived as well.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- In "Valentine's Day", Barbie's Gothic telling of her first meeting with Ken makes him look like Anslem, who hadn't debuted yet.
- "Awards Show":
- The DAG Awards ceremony has no host, apparently bucking traditionnote , and a LEGO movie wins Best Screenplay. One year later, the Oscars had no host, bucking tradition, and The LEGO Movie screenwriter/directors Phil Lord & Chris Miller won their first Oscar (for writing and producing Best Animated Feature winner Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse).
- Barbie expresses frustration that due to Grinding Nemo's ineligibility for any DAG Awards, she won't get to perform "Touch My Boat" live. When "I'm Just Ken" later received an Oscar nomination, Ryan Gosling and his living Ken chorus fulfilled the concept of Mattel dolls singing live at the ceremony.
- "Homeless" ends with Barbie and Yasmin both dreading the thought of becoming neighbors. A few months later, "Quarantine" reveals that social distancing restrictions won't allow them into each other's houses, much to Barbie's joy.
- The Running Gag of cutting off conversations about Tutti and Todd with, "You must not speak their names!" gained some irony when the first Tutti and Todd commercial
resurfaced online in March 2021. First, the announcers say Tutti's name about a billion timesnote , and use its uniqueness as a selling point. Secondly, Todd only appears for seven seconds, as if Mattel didn't think much of him, either. - In "Halloween," Barbie incorrectly guesses that Yasmin dressed up as "Whora the Explorer." Years later, Yasmin dresses as Dora in The Barbie Cooking Show (Halloween Edition).
- In The Real Housewives of Toys 'R' Us episode #2, President Business openly doubts Barbie's value as a positive role model. His visual inspiration and original voice actor would go on to portray the CEO of Mattel in Barbie (2023), encouraging the usage of Barbie dolls to empower girls.
- Jerkass Woobie: Barbie may be an alcoholic, sex-addicted terrible "big sister" but it's hard not to feel sorry for her sometimes. Especially in "The Attic" where Ken and the girls find a video cassette that has a recording of a very young Barbie being verbally abused by her mother.
- Nausea Fuel:
- Sequel Displacement: "Baby Shower" is exponentially more popular than "The Wedding", to the extent that the former remains Sam & Mickey's most-viewed video by a long shot. The copyright claim on "The Wedding" helped widen the margin, since Sam & Mickey's Clumsy Copyright Censorship reset the view count.
- Shocking Moments:
- "The Assistant" shocked probably all of Sam & Mickey's fans after Barbie's new assistant, Tinka Reynolds, revealed herself as an older, adopted Tutti, disproving any impressions that she died on her errand for dijon mustard (although she forgot about her past as Barbie's sister).
- In "Delivery", Tinka reveals herself as Tutti to Barbie, Ken, and the "little sisters". Barbie actually reacts, "Holy sh*t!" before fainting.
- Special Effect Failure:
- Sometimes the strings holding up the dolls remain visible, such as when Barbie pushes a turkey into the oven in "Call Me... Maybe?"
- In "Surgery", Barbie's "I.V." is clearly a iPod earphones jack.
- Barbie in universe points out that her Dream House is in disrepair.
- Spoiled by the Format: The credits of "Glamping" list the voice actress of the members of One Direction, spoiling their appearance in The Stinger.
- Strawman Has a Point: "16 and Pregnant" has Yasmin call Barbie "a vindictive bitch" for sabotaging her gender reveal party, but some of the commenters ended up agreeing with Barbie calling it "archaic" to celebrate discovering a baby's genitals.
- Unexpected Character: Any time Sam & Mickey bring in someone from the Barbie franchise whom Mattel currently doesn't sell as a doll can surprise viewers. Lampshaded in "Barbie's Mother", the first appearance of Margaret (previously mentioned in the Forrest Gump crossover):Chelsea: She actually has a mother?
Stacie: I thought she was just a figment of her imagination. - Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Barbie usually fits this role. As terrible as her childhood was and the sheer amount of pressure Mattel puts on her must be hard to deal with, between her hedonistic, manipulative and borderline sociopathic ways, the severe mistreatment of her family and friends (especially Stacie, who's desperate for her love and approval and Ken, who worships the ground she walks on) and gratuitously and randomly throwing around her White privilege doesn't give a lot about her to root for.
- What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Sam & Mickey have often received complaints about the profane and mature content of their videos, to the extent that the vids now begin with a Parental Advisory Content Warning.
