Arthur Stands Up To Bullying is a great collection of Arthur episodes that really utilize the message of the theme. Usually with kids releases you can expect to find the main title episode with it’s own individual theme, but when you watch the next few episodes following, they tend to become run off without much relation to the overall theme. Not here. You get, well, at least three great episodes about bullying in its many different forms that will please kids and parents alike.

The Last Tough Customer was is probably my favorite episode from this collection. In it we find an origins story about tough customer member Molly (the tough customers is a gang of bully’s at Arthur’s school). We see Molly as a small child at the beginning of the episode and an event which leads her to  become the bully she is in the present.

Due to the school being bully-proofed (if only, right) the Tough Customers just aren’t finding the fun they used to have picking on kids. It’s gotten so bad the kids they used to tease have began using reverse psychology on the bullies and making them bully themselves (you have to see it to understand it). Binky, the groups leader, has decided that the Tough Customers have to change their image in an effort to keep up with the times. Molly thinks the idea is a bad one and refuses to stop bullying, but she doesn’t foresee how her behavior will effect the people she loves. A great episode.

Brain’s Chess Mess is a prime example of subconscious bullying which is implanted by society. Remember that FB post that one friend decided to post on everyone page, the one about judging people and not knowing that they have suffered some tragedy, aren’t what they appear, etc. Well in this episode Brain discovers that he may have found his Chess soul mate when he discovers an unlikely student who has more to teach him about the game then he even knew was possible. Dropping those judgmental walls and giving people you’ve already made up your mind about might reveal some hidden gems out there.

So Funny I Forgot To Laugh is one of those episodes that will make you stop and think about the way we treat our friends. As an adult I know that I often poke fun at some of my friends and figure their adults and can take a joke. Kids are a bit more sensitive when it comes to joking around, and when you end up going to far things can get out of hand, especially when your joke becomes everyone’s joke. In this episode, say it isn’t true, Arthur becomes a bully. Yikes.

The final episode is a kind of a best of compilation of stories where we find the kids all relaxing outside on a ice day reminiscing about their best and worst days. Not exactly a bully theme but kids will probably still enjoy seeing past episodes all jumbled into one.

All in all a great release that I think would work well being played in schools all over the country.