Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Now, here is my opinion on most of the "bad" characters: They're little kids. And 2/3 of the little kids also have family issues.

First, let's address what is probably the MOST hated character in the entire fandom: Judo. People hate her because she was mean to Bingo once in the first season, and she was supposedly "mean" to Pom Pom at the end of "Seesaw".

When it comes to what she did in "Butterflies", it's important to note that in the first season, almost every character was flawed. Bluey was mean to Bingo in basically every episode of that season, and the only people that hate her haven't even watched the show and just hate her because her show is popular. Even Bandit and Chilli were less than ideal, as Bandit told Bingo to "walk it off" when he accidentally hurt her in "Yoga Ball", and Chilli was heavily absent.

As for what she did in "Seesaw", I also thought that she was being mean to Pom Pom at first, but upon rewatching the episode, I saw that her expression when she told Pom Pom that she was too small to be a spider appeared more concerned than angry. What I put together from this was that Judo might have been being mean, or she might have simply been worried that Pom Pom would fall off of the playground equipment. Notably, she drops it when she sees that Bluey is there to help make sure Pom Pom is safe.

Also, Judo is most likely a child of divorce (more on that later), so she would likely have trouble managing her emotions, considering that she went through one of the most stressful things that can happen to a child her age. Bluey also states in "Butterflies" that Judo "doesn't have anyone else to play with", implying that Bluey is Judo's only friend, at least as of season 1. Therefore, she wouldn't know how to behave around other children, since she didn't have much experience interacting with them.

Now, moving on to another strongly hated character, Muffin. I will admit that I used to hate her as well when I first started watching the show, but after a couple of years, I realized that Muffin's bratty behavior is just a result of her age. Even her apparent vendetta against Socks in "Muffin Unboxing" is simply just normal toddler behavior. Toddlers hate their little siblings. At least, I know my cousin sure did.

Our next hated character has only appeared in one episode so far, but I've still noticed some things about him that I haven't seen anybody else point out. The character is Hercules, the Saint Bernard that appeared in "Circus". Many people hate him for the way he treated Winton and the others by forcing him to play his game, but they ignore the end of the episode, where he sees Mackenzie in a pretend fight with Honey and steps in to save Honey and teach Mackenzie a lesson. Even though Mackenzie wasn't really being mean and was just playing a game, it's implied that Hercules didn't know that and just thought he was saving a girl from a bully. He also stopped bullying the others after seeing Mackenzie treating Honey the same way he had been treating Winton and the others. Hercules realized he was doing the wrong thing once he saw it from the outside and made amends for it.

The next two hated characters I feel are justified, not only due to the fact that they're adults and should know better, but also due to how abhorrent their actions are.

First up, Bucky Dunstan. While I disagree with the people who hate him solely for being mean to Bandit when they were young children, or for selling the Heeler house when he was just doing his job, there is one thing that leads me to say that he's not a good person, and that's what he says to the sheepdogs when he says they would prefer a house with a pool.

"Queensland summers aren't that hot."

The sheepdogs are covered from head to toe in long, thick fur, risking heatstroke in hot weather. And Bucky didn't care. He just wanted the sale.

Now, moving on to the final hated character, the elderly pug woman who appeared in "Granny Mobile". When Chilli goes to step in while the pug is being a jerk, she hits her with her purse and calls her "cattle dog". For anyone who doesn't know, "Australian cattle dog" is the actual name of the red/blue heeler breed. Calling a dog by their breed name in a world of anthropomorphic dogs feels racist (Breedist?). She's like that conservative old grandparent that makes you uncomfortable at the dinner table on Thanksgiving.

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Now, I warn in advance that this chapter might make you angry. If this happens, please consider going outside and getting some fresh air instead of calling me slurs or sending me death threats. (Yes, these are things that have really happened to me as a result of childish shipping discourse.)

This chapter is solely based off of what would have the best chance of being canon, not personal preference (though I'm very autistic, so those two frequently overlap with me). Also, there will be no ships between relatives, or between characters that have an age gap of greater than 2 years, excluding adults. Even if the older one waits until the younger one is an adult to romantically pursue them, it just feels wrong.

First off, Bluey herself. There is quite a bit of debate with her, so I'll try to choose my words very carefully here to avoid inciting the wrath of 100 angry children. For what it's worth, I love all of these ships equally, so I'm not really biased in any one direction.

We'll be going in order of least-to-most popular, since oftentimes the most popular ships are popular for a reason, and the chapter would be ridiculously short.

Starting off with Bluey x Winnie. Their interactions in "Café" are cute, but there are no hints of romance between them. Granted, there's also nothing that says their interactions can't be interpreted romantically, but this one isn't very likely.

Next, we have Bluey x Judo. Supporters of this ship have stated that Judo's possessiveness over Bluey in "Butterflies" could mean that she has a crush on her, and while I do agree that this could be a possibility, I don't really think that Bluey would reciprocate those feelings, seeing as there was literally no evidence of it in the episode, or in any following episodes. I'm also not too keen on proclaiming a ship as being implied to be canon based on one episode very early in the series when the writers were still figuring the characters out.

Now, we move on to one of the more popular ships - Bluey x Jean-Luc. This ship is different from the first two in that it is one of two ships to actually be acknowledged by the creators. It also has some hints in canon - Bluey breaks down in tears when Jean-Luc leaves, has a drawing of the two of them together taped onto the wall, and later reunites with him as a teenager, looking at him lovingly when he returns. I could actually see this one becoming canon. However, there is still one more ship that I think is more probable.

Bluey x Mackenzie is the other one of the two ships acknowledged by the creators, and has several hints in canon, spanning across multiple episodes. In "Fruitbat", Mackenzie appears in Bluey's dream. Notably, none of her other friends appear. In "Shops", there's a scene where Bluey mentions that she wants to be Mackenzie's kitten in the game (I.e. she wants to be close to Mackenzie) and makes one of those classic "shy and in love" cartoon poses. In "The Creek", Bluey is noticeably close to Mackenzie, and the end of the episode shows the two of them bonding.

"Barky Boats" has the most hints of all - It starts with Winton teasing Bluey and Mackenzie about marrying each other, then we meet two characters who parallel Bluey and Mackenzie, Mia and Captain. Mia and Captain are both 12 years old, around the age where children start to figure out their romantic feelings, and the two of them are clearly crushing on each other. The parallels between Mia and Captain and Bluey and Mackenzie become even more obvious when they run off, leaving Mackenzie and Bluey behind, where Calypso tries to explain to them why Mia and Captain ran away together.

She takes two pieces of bark (the titular "barky boats") and places them in the water while Bluey and Mackenzie create a dam in the stream with their arms, with Calypso telling a story of "two 6-year-old buddies" and watching as the water (representing both the passing years and their feelings) gradually builds up until they get to 12 years. Mackenzie states "I can't hold it any longer!" before the water bursts through and the boats are carried away, representing Mia and Captain, as well as Bluey and Mackenzie in the future, running off together. When the boats get to the end of the stream (possibly representing adulthood), the front ends of the boats tap against each other, representing a kiss. At the end of the episode, Bluey is about to go to the fairy garden with Mia, when she suddenly runs back and hugs Mackenzie while cheerfully telling him "See ya, Mackenzie!".

So, I think Bluey x Mackenzie is the most likely out of all existing Bluey ships, with Bluey x Jean-Luc being a close second.

(There's also the possibility that Mackenzie will end up with Coco or Honey, but it's implied that he doesn't reciprocate Coco's feelings, and there are no hints of romance between him and Honey.)

Moving onto Bingo, who also has quite a bit of debate surrounding her future partner, albeit not as much.

Bingo x Chucky is the least popular of the three most common Bingo ships. Honestly, I can see why, considering they only interact once, in the episode "Pass the Parcel". When Chucky wins the present in pass the parcel, Bingo smiles at him. Not only is this their only interaction, but it's also part of a montage where Bingo does the same thing with several other characters.

Bingo x Dougie is the second most popular. In "Turtleboy", Dougie's behaviors are a direct parallel to Bingo's, though the two don't actually meet each other. However, they're described as friends on the official Bluey website, and "Surprise!", an episode about disability and parenthood, possibly foreshadows Bingo having a disabled child. Disabilities tend to be genetic, and the only named disabled character in the show is Dougie, who is profoundly deaf.

The most popular Bingo ship is Bingo x Lila. In "Daddy Dropoff", Bingo is Lila's first friend, and there's a montage at the end showing them progressing through school until they finally graduate together, and at the end of "Slide", a butterfly, a common symbol of good luck and change, lands on Bingo and Lila's joined hands. However, in Daddy Dropoff, Lila states that she hopes she and Bingo will be friends "forever and ever and ever", so there might not be any romance taking place. Still, I'm torn between Bingo x Dougie and Bingo x Lila. I feel like both have an equal chance of being acknowledged by the creators and perhaps given more hints in future episodes.

Finally, there is some dispute on who Rusty will end up with.

Rusty x Indy is primarily shipped because of two connected episodes in season 1, "Early Baby" and "Mums and Dads". At the end of "Early Baby", when Indy sees how brave Rusty is, we're shown a shot of Rusty from Indy's point of view, accompanied by gentle piano music. She then walks up to Rusty and asks him to play mums and dads with her (i.e. pretend to be her husband). In "Mums and Dads", Indy and Rusty are shown raising their pretend child together, until they get into a fight which leads to the two of them splitting up. At the end of the episode, when Indy didn't get along with any of the other boys and Rusty got stuck with Bluey who was trolling him by making him pretend to be a baby (my favorite part of the episode lmao), the two of them make up and get back together again.

Rusty x Jack, however, is more popular, despite not really having any romantic hints, and that's due to the dynamic the two of them have. In "Army", we're first introduced to Jack, the newest student in Bluey's class. Jack is insecure of the fact that he "can't sit still, do what [he's] told, or remember anything" (the cause of which likely being ADHD), so Calypso recommends he play with Rusty. Rusty is nothing but kind to Jack, and shows him that he can still be useful. When Jack is venting about how there's "something wrong with [him]", Rusty comforts him by telling him that he's really good at playing army. In other words, Jack doesn't think he's good for anything, and Rusty tells him that he is good for something. The two of them also interact in almost every episode they appear in following this episode, whereas Rusty and Indy never interact again after "Mums and Dads". To me, it seems like the writers have decided against making Rusty and Indy a couple, so Rusty and Jack make more sense together.

As for what to do with Indy, there's a moment in "Wild Girls" when Calypso is comforting Coco where Coco realizes that all of her favorite things about the titular "wild girls" game involve Indy, and it occurs to her that she doesn't particularly like the game - she likes Indy. At the end of the episode, Indy and Coco reunite and dance together. It's also a fairly recent episode, giving the two of them the opportunity to interact more in future episodes.

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Now, nothing has been confirmed regarding these characters. But there is no harm in making some speculation based on what we've seen of them.

Jack is the most likely neurodivergent character. I am extremely confident that he was specifically written to have ADHD, even if they never explicitly state it. In the episode "Army", he and the Stock Annoying Little Sister Stereotype™ both say that he "can't sit still, do what [he's] told, or remember anything". One scene in particular catches my eye when it comes to this theory (not so much a theory and more like the fans seeing something extremely obvious), and it was the scene in the beginning of the episode where Jack is in the backseat of his dad's car, and he paddles his hands on his legs. I stimmed in the exact same way when I was that age, and I have been diagnosed with both ADHD and autism (which has been extremely helpful for me in determining if these characters are neurodivergent or not). He also appears to have a fixation on space, as shown in, well, "Space".

Bluey has also been theorized to be neurodivergent, with the most common interpretation being that she has ADHD. In the episode "Wagon Ride", the scene where she's trying to sit still goes beyond just looking like she's a kid being annoyed and impatient and starts looking like it's actually painful for her to sit still after a few seconds. In the episode "Hide and Seek", Bluey is easily distracted and displays poor memory. In "Magic", she can be seen playing with a stim toy. However, the scene in "Wagon Ride" might have either been the animators accidentally making a scene look more traumatic for Bluey than it actually was or Bluey just being dramatic, her symptoms in "Hide and Seek" only last for one episode and exist solely for the sake of the moral, and fidget toys seem to have gradually turned into normal toys that plenty of neurotypical kids use over the years. Though Bluey could have ADHD, what we see in the show isn't solid evidence.

Bingo, meanwhile, is frequently interpreted as having autism. She has a comfort item (Floppy) that she experiences anxiety without, she makes repetitive movements that could be interpreted as a stim (rocking back and forth on her heels while she speaks), and she experiences separation anxiety (she sleeps restlessly without Chilli in "Sleepytime" and even starts looking for her in her sleep). Most importantly, however, is that in "Surprise!", when Bandit is talking to Bingo's pretend disabled child about how he's got older siblings who are there for him, it appears to resonate with Bluey, and she decides to join the game as specifically the older sister of the pretend child. It could just be a heartfelt moment that doesn't really mean anything about Bingo, or it could be a hint that there's a deeper reason as to why Bandit's words resonated with Bluey, perhaps because she could relate to having a younger sibling who's "different" and is insecure about it. I could honestly get behind this theory.

I feel like the whole "autistic Muffin" theory is rooted in ableism. People have it so ingrained in their minds that autistic people "act like toddlers" that when they see normal toddler behavior their mind immediately goes to autism.

(Update: Upon rewatching the episode "Bike", Bandit does refer to one of Muffin's outbursts as a meltdown rather than a tantrum. However, many people are uneducated on the subject and use those two terms interchangeably, so this might not mean anything.)

As for Socks, people started thinking of her as autistic because of her supposed "slowed development" in season 1 and part of season 2. I think the feral puppy phase is just a stage in the dogs' lives in-between infancy and toddlerhood, not autism. Also, she was 1 year old when she acted like a puppy. Not everyone walks upright at 1 year old, it's not "slowed development". Much like Bluey, Socks could have autism, but what we see in the show isn't hard evidence.

Mackenzie is an interesting case, as I don't really see him brought up much when it comes to these kinds of theories. Not only is it heavily implied that he has anxiety, perhaps even an anxiety disorder, in episodes such as "Shops" and especially "Space", but it's possible that he has autism as well. Separation anxiety, which Mackenzie was implied to have in "Space", is very prevalent in those with autism, as well as not fully realizing the feelings of others and being accidentally hurtful as a result, which he does in "Shops" (where he doesn't realize that his anger is upsetting the girls until Bluey tells him) and "Curry Quest" (where he tells Bingo that her dad is going to go on a flight and leave her behind without thinking). I'm not 100% sure that he has autism, but it's a possibility.