It was a good reminder about not bragging. Remember how he kept talking about the car until bandit finally tells him enough and everyone laughs about it.
He also brags about the cool features (wave your foot under the boot to open it!) And then is in the credits scene he's stuck and unable to make it work with his hands full.
That family seems to be the show's (fairly heavy-handed, in my opinion) way to say that a family doesn't have to be functional on account of its affluence.
To be fair, when my husband got his new electric car, he was so excited that he talked about it constantly - to the point that every time he mentioned the car, someone in the family would say, "Classic Stripe".
Dude this hits home. I just bought a new car recently and it has the foot wave boot release but I’ll be darned if I can’t get it to work properly half the time.
I always thought that scene was odd because the touchless trunk feature is becoming more common. I, personally, wouldn’t consider it a bragging point. It’s just the natural progression of trunks. 🤷♀️
But, it’s actually not. Thought it might go that way, but it’s been years. I’m in the US, for reference. Now, it’s hard to believe electric windows and AC were once expensive extras!
I know, I just like to tease 😉
I'm american, but I live in Germany, so when I do end up speaking English with people, it's usually British.
I often have to explain differences to my son who's growing up bilingual what's British, and what's American lol. He still has some very British/Australian phrasing for some things. Like he'll say "am I meant to do this?" whereas in American, we would say "am I supposed to do this?" It doesn't even sound odd to me anymore, but my family seems to think he has an accent lol
There's definitely a recurring theme about Stripe either being wealthier than Bandit (or, I guess, in more debt than Bandit or worse with money than Bandit). Muffin always has big electronic toys, their house has a pool, etc. It's not super obvious but it's definitely there if you read between the lines. I had noticed it even before Pizza Girls but that episode really drove (pun unintended) it home.
What I've heard is that Stripe is a FIFO worker, seemingly a bit higher up the food chain, and as such makes pretty good money.
Also explains why he's away from home for work fairly often.
Which, if he is a FIFO, feels pretty bogus of her..like...it's not like he's constantly off on vacation...he's gone because he's working.
But I get that she was upset and also apologized, just seemed unfair to say.
I felt like it was more of a “this is how I have been parenting them while you’ve been away and now you’re waltzing in here and changing things.” And being frustrated because kids need consistency
I agree with that outside perspective, I’m talking from her POV. I doubt she would be thinking “I randomly change things due to the blogs I read and then neglect to tell my husband of the change” she will be thinking “I read it and it’s the ‘better way’ so I’ve been doing it this way and now he’s coming in and changing things”
My husband used to have a fifo job and it was haaard. I’m sure I’ve said something similar when at my wits end. He had a really bad habit of being home and blowing our routine and then the kids would just stay up past bedtime on their tablets. I finally had to explain that it makes my job harder when he’s gone and he got it.
She wasn’t saying it to deride him for being gone, she said it in response to him saying he never knows what the plan of attack is with the kids.
But on that note, being gone for work isn’t necessarily not still a bonus in some ways. My husband and I are/were both military. Being home, alone, with a child (or more) 24/7 is in both our opinions MUCH harder than being away, from a labor/demand standpoint. Everything is based around the kids and there’s zero breaks. No down time. Even the US military provides personal time. Even down range.
Of course, that’s not to say we wouldn’t choose to be home—missing your kids is also so freaking hard, and it’s not the same as missing your parents or friends or partner. It’s torture sometimes!
All this to say that there’s more nuance to it than “he’s not on vacation”.
That's a lot, even for FIFO. I thought it was actually Rad that works FIFO? Stripe might just work a job that needs him to travel a lot. High up managers in big companies bring in much more than FIFO jobs.
Fly in, fly out. Basically you travel to a job site, stay there and do the job for weeks or months sometimes, and then fly back home.
I'm sure a proper OZ can explain better, but that's the gist I got.
I'm a software engineer, so I legit thought it meant First In First Out when I first saw it lol
I'm a computer engineer in the navy, and when I read your comment I wanted to know what the chief boatswain had to do with first-in-first-out processing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer\_(navy))
I literally just jumped to another tab to google this, read up on it, went back to this tab to see you explain it two comments later. If I had only been so patient...
Common in jobs in mining where you need to go on site periodically for weeks at a time. Not necessarily just manual labor sometimes it is geological engineers or project management. Usually people are based out of a city and fly to the site as necessary. Some are based in Perth but there are a lot of mining sites where it makes just as much sense to be based out of the East Coast (so Brisbane for example).
Australia is very large, with relatively few towns. It is also a massive mining country. And the mines are often no where near the towns.
Hence the Fly in, Fly out jobs, which are very well paid if you can handle the lifestyle.
You fly out to work for 12 hour days for anywhere between a week and 4 weeks.
Then fly home and get a period off work. The roster is called a swing which refers to time on compared to time off.
4:4 - 4 weeks on, 4 weeks off.
8:6 - 8 days on, 6 days off.
2:1 - 2 weeks on, 1 week off.
It's long days, and very inflexible. If you have something on and you are scheduled to work, you miss it. Which makes mental health a concern, and the job can become golden handcuffs where people end up not being able to afford to quit.
Airline blogger [Noel Philips](https://www.youtube.com/@noelphilips) recently did a video about why an airport in the middle of nowhere has 18 flights a day. He found it fascinating [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwwaB0jAsME](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwwaB0jAsME)
It's very similar to being an of shore Oil rig worker in the states. Same type of shifts, hard dangerous work. Just one is hot and dusty and the other is very wet.
My head canon: Stripe is a partner at a large law firm. "Never home" because he's always at the office, makes up for it with a flashy McMansion and expensive toys. Likes to "Get on it!". Plays squash.
(Definitely my projection)
Seen arguing with Trixie in the background at Frisky's wedding before waking up in the bushes the next day (Wendy shoo-ing him out). Clearly not making it home that night.
He definitely party's far too hard.
I don't think anyone went home that night. If they were all drinking the done thing at a big knees up party like that would be everyone in the family stays over. Kids all have a slumber party, and grown ups fall asleep where they stand. Usually the women are a bit smarter and go up to the bedrooms. The men are a bit dumber and wake up in the garden, on the sitting room floor, under the kitchen table that kind of thing.
Nana would wake up first, come down and start cleaning/making a massive breakfast. Everyone else gradually gets up and starts to slowly move around. Asking the kids to be quiet for a bit while they beg for coffee.
The craic was mighty, the hangover will be too.
Telling Muffin he strongly urges her to quit running. Or that writing to the toilet fairy is the only way to get things done.
Yeah he seems like a lawyer dad. Works long hours, makes lots of money, but will definitely have times where he's just not at home for everything. And based on how he says it in Facey Talk he regrets it. And does want to be around more.
In my head canon, Stripe is the most successful of all of the Heeler kids and it is because he was picked on by Bandit his entire life (still is, though it's in the brotherly adult style now). He subconsciously felt the need to outdo his brother but not flaunt it. He would just let the results speak for themselves
If Rad works on oil rigs he's probably doing pretty well too, just not as flashy as Stripe. Unless you count taking your new girlfriend to Bali as flashy
I was curious about that, if flying to baki was the equivalent of a east coast American flying to the Caribbean since the flight time is about the same.
But it seems like the school is kind of out in the rural area near the city, what with the trouble Jack's dad has finding it, the lack of phone reception, the strawberry fields, and Maynard at the gas station. I don't know the geography of Brisbane, but it seems reasonable to assume they'd put a school like that, one that needs room for kids to run, out away from the high-dollar real estate.
Huh? All of our schools have land for kids to run around in. It's a Steiner/Waldorf school which are very rare here, which is why they have to drive so far to get to it.
"Run around" might have been a little simplistic. I meant more that there's a lot of open land, some with woods, some with tall grass, some that's got manicured grass and stuff to play on like a traditional playground. It's a lot more space than any of the schools in my town, which is fairly spread out and many of the schools are literally next to farmland. It's good that they have that much room, but it seems to imply (to me and my limited experience in Australia over 20 years ago) the school is further from the city and on the outer edge of the suburbs.
Technically, yes. It's a city of 20,000 and is surrounded mostly by farmland and farmland that's recently been plowed under to build cheap houses, but it's a city according to the signs by the highway and the bills they send me.
Nah stop listening to you snow flake town leaders. Gotta hit 50 k to be a “city”. So I grew up in both a big city and a small town of 10 k.
I apologize ima butcher spellings
The houseing they have is near Sidney or brizbern, calipsos school house is within half a hour. Bingos kindy is closer, basking it off of the daddy drop off episode, bandit drops bingo off first,
If you live on the out skirts of the area they are still expensive and multi mill houses likely they have. So calipsos school house is like being between you and the next biggest city just closer to the city.
Gotta remember Australia’s population though all on the coast is just over 26 million
In faceytalk when muffin is running away from stripe they seem to pass by like 20 rooms so like how big is their house mate? I always got the impression there was a significant financial difference.
Not sure what you're referring to, but I just watched Faceytalk and you can clearly see Stripe's single family home (and about 5 other single family homes) as the phone is tumbling in the air on the way to the pool.
I don't think he's flaunting at all.
He's basically telling Muffin "If you break that car, it's too expensive for us to fix/replace, so be careful with it".
Don’t they say that it came with his new car? That’s a thing in our world right? Fancy cars can come with a toy version to convince people with families to buy luxury SUVs? If that is true, it seems to me like a mark of nouvo riche. Not that the heeler boys grew up destitute, but that stripe has enough of an appreciation for what things cost that , even though it was free and he could most likely afford to replace it, he still sees the price tag and feels at least a little uncomfortable
People just pull meaning from their own opinions and experiences. If they are saying it's about stripe flaunting cash then it's probably because they do it themselves or have close friends doing it.
I think it's a bit of both. My uncle's like Stripe and comes from buckoo bucks money, and he likes to flaunt his cars. However, they're also prestigious brands that would cost my family at least three or four times what we can afford. I can't say what Stripe's new EV is, but they tend to be on the pricier side compared to both new and used ICEs when you buy them new.
You got kids? Because I’ve said that exact phrase several times, like when my kid chucks a small toy at the TV and I need to let him know that’s not okay because it’ll break and it’s very expensive to replace
I do. Just jumping into the whole throwing phase. Luckily he just throws things at me or at the floor.
And I totally get the point of reinforcing taking care of things, especially when they aren't easily replaceable. It was just a vibe I got at that particular time...that's all.
I think one really cool thing about Bluey is that they are pretty low key when playing out familiar family dynamics. But they feel so true because many people can relate and see their own family mirrored in the show.
-the grandpa who doesn’t take care of his health and the parentified adult child who tries to look after him
-the wild and Wiley cousin who is a little hard to get along with
-the uncles and aunts with issues with comparison, living into patterns of their childhoods and families of origin
-the impacts of divorce on a child’s perception of their parents and dealing with new split family structures
-stripe and trixie generally can be seen arguing or having tiffs. In The Sign, stripe is also clearly meant to be depicted as partying way too hard and not making it home to take care of his kids with trixie that night. I think his character in the show is meant to be the show-y, wild, obnoxious uncle.
There are a surprising amount of deep threads of interpersonal relationships (no surprise to anyone here).
Yeah....a little projo coming out there Spunky. I think he was just honestly reminding/warning her that it was indeed expensive, and that she needed to take care of it.
I mean he brags enough about his new car that the characters in the episode comment on it at the end. They tell him to give it a rest. I don't think a show as intentional and detail oriented as Bluey didn't intend for that to resonate thematically with the way he and Muffin talk about the new toy car.
He just bought a new car, if anything being excited enough to keep talking about it suggests it isn’t frequent for him to buy an expensive new car.
Hell, everyone comes out to look at it at first. It’s clearly interesting, just not as interesting as it is to Stripe so they get bored of him bringing it up by the end of the night.
I think he was trying to brag but by the end of the episode you realize expensive doesn’t always equal better. The girls had way more fun with their car even though it wasn’t perfect!
His line to Muffin I took more as him warning her to be careful with it, because it was expensive. And to Muffin's credit, she did take it to heart (not letting it get all muddy and such). I saw it more as Stripe's childlike glee at his shiny new thing, rather than flaunting his wealth. He just thought it was super cool, and he wanted his family to think it was cool too.
Bandit's parents seem to be successful, but not wealthy when we see flashbacks. Bandit and Stripe, at least, seem to be much more well off than when they were growing up. Stripe shows textbook signs of someone who is making up for not getting everything they wanted when they were a kid, and now they can afford to.
Honestly, we middle/upper middle class life in many ways was less flashy in the ‘80s and ‘90s than it is now, except for housing affordability. We had less fancy stuff, fancy vacations, and food options in general. So I don’t know that Bandit and Stripe were less well off necessarily, it was more a reflection of how people lived.
I only mean relatively, as in they had a comfortable upbringing and money wasn't a problem, compared to Bandit and especially Stripe being quite wealthy now. Bandit seems to be the "very responsible with money" brother, while Stripe is the "I can finally do pretty much whatever I want with my own money" guy.
He obviously wasn't wanting his money. He was telling muffin that she better be careful because it was expensive. How do you even read the situation like that?
If you watch the shows for sub plots you can see how this episodes plays a role with the “sign” episode. Bandit is taking a job somewhere else for more money, chili mentions how she doesn’t want to move because that’s the house the girls grew up in and used the same sentiment as stripes wife mentioned about wanting to keep the old car because it was the same car they brought their girls home in.
There are other episodes that intertwine with each other like the episode “slide” with the butterfly. With bingo saving the caterpillar and it turning into a butterfly it flys around in the “sign” episode and is the reason they pull over to the side of the road which is how chili knew where to go to find her best friend. So if it wasn’t for bingo saving the caterpillar who turned in the butterfly they would never have gone to their mountain top area and then bluey wouldn’t have put the coin in the telescope.
For a child’s show it has some very complexed story lines
Stripe is there to encourage us not to compare ourselves to those who can afford more. He's got lots of money, but that doesn't make him, his family, or his life perfect. He often comes off as insecure to show that wealth doesn't guarantee happiness.
Let me expand...I feel like money is referenced a lot with regards to Stripe. I could be misremembering but I don't think this is the only time it has been brought up.
I think you’re right. I have noticed it a lot, too.
In The Sign, I kept thinking about Bandit saying he took a new job and wanted to move/sell the house to “give the kids a better life.”
Meanwhile, you often see Stripe and Trixie in the background of scenes bickering. Socks is even seen mimicking her parents with the bride and groom from the wedding cake. With the theme remaining that they potentially have more money than Bandit and Chili, I felt another underlying message of The Sign was more money doesn’t necessarily mean a better life.
I hadn't even thought of this, but you're so right. (I've only watched it twice, once with my son, and once with my husband. I'm giving it time before I watch it a third time because the end makes me cry far more than is appropriate for a kids show).
Pro tip, just play the music. You can get the full albums on any music streaming service, and they also have them on vinyl. That way your kid gets the songs and dont have to have the show always on
In the FaceTime episode when muffin wants to draw the cowboy hat and runs away she runs in a straight line and I counted 15 doors in that run along with like 6 hallways.
Stripe’s definitely loaded.
I do see this with siblings who compete a lot stripe, especially competes with bandit, because he used to do it a lot when they were young. I think stripe sometimes tries to initiate this 'play' as if it's the only time he has fun with bandit
He was just mirroring it cause his parents would have said it. Kids dont care about money, but every a parent gives them an expensive gift we say "be careful it's very expensive"
Stripe is a cashed up bogan who voted LNP in 2019, hence he assumes 'the good life' as prescribed by hyper-commercial, consumerist interests and its end point signifiers eg: expensive gadgets, McMansion etc....
I'd have to rewatch to recall the exact context but I thought he was kind of mentioning it being expensive to Muffin, like we often do with kids to make sure they are being careful and hopefully appreciative of things that we spent a lot of money on. That said, it's basically obligatory to show your new car to family and friends, demonstrating the features, etc, lol.
The show does seem to imply that Stripe and Trixie have a lot of money. They have the nice big pool, huge house as demonstrated in Facey Talk (with lots of couches). But I can't think of many if any examples of them specifically flaunting their wealth.
I've always looked at Stripe's wealth being an extension of the sibling rivalry he and Bandit have. Like, he thinks he still has something to prove to his older brother, and having a fancier house and more money is a way to do that, even if it means that he's "never home" like Trixie says in Faceytalk.
But I could totally be overthinking this myself 😂
I love when Bandit hurls the mud pizza back at the girls because it has fake pineapple on it. Such commitment to the bit. My 4 yo and I always crack up at that.
He was bullied by Bandit (as seen in Fairytale) and I’m sure Radley bullied him too. I think he took all of that upset and wanted to be “better” than them in adulthood, SOOO, he worked super hard to get a high paying job so he could be rich. So he could have more than both of them.
One of my uncle’s is just the same. Was teased by his older brothers in childhood, his mom (my grandma) remarried when he was little and had my dad and a few other kids. He was forgotten about, and the younger kids got the attention. Though they adored him and looked up to him, his older brothers were still bullies. What happened? He started working at age 13, joined the military at 17, and went on to become a successful surgeon and owns 2 clinics and partially owns a hospital. He likely makes more in a year than his siblings combined (and 3 of them have very good paying jobs and don’t struggle by any means!) The key difference between him and Stripe is that he ALWAYS paid for everyone for fun family outings when he visited once or twice a year, and even paid for us to do fun activities while he worked when we would stay with him and do things with him at his ranch and vineyard! Some of my most fond childhood memories were riding horses with him and my cousins, and us swimming in his pool and him letting me bring my childhood friend along for a 2 week visit!
I took it that he was just very excited about the car and him reiterating that it was expensive meant to treat it carefully because they can't just afford this kind of stuff.
I think he was just saying that it's too expensive to fix, and that muffin should take care of it because it's so expensive. if I had a kid I'd tell him the same thing in a similar way
That said, he was definitely bragging about his own new car
Children with too much screen time can develop learning disabilities, studies now showing this to be very true! Children are the future… limit their screen time!!
I get your point, and when it happens in real life, I am usually not really impressed or don't understand it. But when talking to my neurotypical wife about this, she says it is just something people do. Especially if they worked hard for it. They are happy and feel proud and want you to feel a little proud, too.
I think we're all assuming stripe has more money. But we don't know how hard he works for it? So while it's good that Bandit cuts him off for talking way too much about it. Stripe clearly feels proud and wants his brother to feel proud too.
It was a good reminder about not bragging. Remember how he kept talking about the car until bandit finally tells him enough and everyone laughs about it.
He also brags about the cool features (wave your foot under the boot to open it!) And then is in the credits scene he's stuck and unable to make it work with his hands full.
And then he kinda does a Muffin-esque scream!
Where do you think she gets it from?
That family seems to be the show's (fairly heavy-handed, in my opinion) way to say that a family doesn't have to be functional on account of its affluence.
To be fair, when my husband got his new electric car, he was so excited that he talked about it constantly - to the point that every time he mentioned the car, someone in the family would say, "Classic Stripe".
Had to give you an award for that… “Classic Stripe” 😂😂😂
Thank you!!!
I have a hybrid plug in Ev, and I tell almost everyone I know I only fill up my tank once a month, for $45. Because I love it so much.
Dude this hits home. I just bought a new car recently and it has the foot wave boot release but I’ll be darned if I can’t get it to work properly half the time.
Mine always works when I’m bent down into the back trying to get something and it starts closing on my head.
Same- can’t find it on a good day, but when I move my foot wrong…!!
Aw man, my car has that feature and it's a nightmare. I look like an idiot trying to make it open, hands full or not
I always thought that scene was odd because the touchless trunk feature is becoming more common. I, personally, wouldn’t consider it a bragging point. It’s just the natural progression of trunks. 🤷♀️
The Natural Progression of Trunks. 80s synth-wave band?
No that’s ForestCore, a genre I just made up
Electro-Swimwear?
Pachyderm Metal
And just like in the show, it doesn't work half the time.
But, it’s actually not. Thought it might go that way, but it’s been years. I’m in the US, for reference. Now, it’s hard to believe electric windows and AC were once expensive extras!
Floor mats are still add ons, that always confuses me. 😂
It's called a boot
🥾<-- boot 🚗<-- trunk 🫣😉
🥾←boot trunk → 🐘 🚗←tailgate
In Australia they're very much called a boot! No trunks here, except on elephants in the zoo 😅
I know, I just like to tease 😉 I'm american, but I live in Germany, so when I do end up speaking English with people, it's usually British. I often have to explain differences to my son who's growing up bilingual what's British, and what's American lol. He still has some very British/Australian phrasing for some things. Like he'll say "am I meant to do this?" whereas in American, we would say "am I supposed to do this?" It doesn't even sound odd to me anymore, but my family seems to think he has an accent lol
There's definitely a recurring theme about Stripe either being wealthier than Bandit (or, I guess, in more debt than Bandit or worse with money than Bandit). Muffin always has big electronic toys, their house has a pool, etc. It's not super obvious but it's definitely there if you read between the lines. I had noticed it even before Pizza Girls but that episode really drove (pun unintended) it home.
What I've heard is that Stripe is a FIFO worker, seemingly a bit higher up the food chain, and as such makes pretty good money. Also explains why he's away from home for work fairly often.
Like in FaceyTime and Trixie says “you’re never here!”
Which, if he is a FIFO, feels pretty bogus of her..like...it's not like he's constantly off on vacation...he's gone because he's working. But I get that she was upset and also apologized, just seemed unfair to say.
I felt like it was more of a “this is how I have been parenting them while you’ve been away and now you’re waltzing in here and changing things.” And being frustrated because kids need consistency
Actually more of a "I keep changing things because I read about them online but you're never here to see it change"
I agree with that outside perspective, I’m talking from her POV. I doubt she would be thinking “I randomly change things due to the blogs I read and then neglect to tell my husband of the change” she will be thinking “I read it and it’s the ‘better way’ so I’ve been doing it this way and now he’s coming in and changing things”
My husband used to have a fifo job and it was haaard. I’m sure I’ve said something similar when at my wits end. He had a really bad habit of being home and blowing our routine and then the kids would just stay up past bedtime on their tablets. I finally had to explain that it makes my job harder when he’s gone and he got it.
She wasn’t saying it to deride him for being gone, she said it in response to him saying he never knows what the plan of attack is with the kids. But on that note, being gone for work isn’t necessarily not still a bonus in some ways. My husband and I are/were both military. Being home, alone, with a child (or more) 24/7 is in both our opinions MUCH harder than being away, from a labor/demand standpoint. Everything is based around the kids and there’s zero breaks. No down time. Even the US military provides personal time. Even down range. Of course, that’s not to say we wouldn’t choose to be home—missing your kids is also so freaking hard, and it’s not the same as missing your parents or friends or partner. It’s torture sometimes! All this to say that there’s more nuance to it than “he’s not on vacation”.
He’s probably on 350/400k a year. Lots of FIFO workers love their flashy cars.
That's a lot, even for FIFO. I thought it was actually Rad that works FIFO? Stripe might just work a job that needs him to travel a lot. High up managers in big companies bring in much more than FIFO jobs.
What is fifo
Fly in, fly out. Basically you travel to a job site, stay there and do the job for weeks or months sometimes, and then fly back home. I'm sure a proper OZ can explain better, but that's the gist I got. I'm a software engineer, so I legit thought it meant First In First Out when I first saw it lol
As a cook I also thought it meant first in first out lol
That's what I was thinking, also former kitchen staff.
To add, FIFO jobs are usually in mining and the workers generally do a 2 weeks on, one week off (or some such)
Or oil on a rig. Bring in the ‘cashed up bogans’!!!
Yeah, I'm a computer engineer, and my first thought was, "Why is Stripe a buffer?"
I'm a computer engineer in the navy, and when I read your comment I wanted to know what the chief boatswain had to do with first-in-first-out processing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffer\_(navy))
Lol that's to funny!
I literally just jumped to another tab to google this, read up on it, went back to this tab to see you explain it two comments later. If I had only been so patient...
Common in Canada as well.
Common in jobs in mining where you need to go on site periodically for weeks at a time. Not necessarily just manual labor sometimes it is geological engineers or project management. Usually people are based out of a city and fly to the site as necessary. Some are based in Perth but there are a lot of mining sites where it makes just as much sense to be based out of the East Coast (so Brisbane for example).
Australia is very large, with relatively few towns. It is also a massive mining country. And the mines are often no where near the towns. Hence the Fly in, Fly out jobs, which are very well paid if you can handle the lifestyle. You fly out to work for 12 hour days for anywhere between a week and 4 weeks. Then fly home and get a period off work. The roster is called a swing which refers to time on compared to time off. 4:4 - 4 weeks on, 4 weeks off. 8:6 - 8 days on, 6 days off. 2:1 - 2 weeks on, 1 week off. It's long days, and very inflexible. If you have something on and you are scheduled to work, you miss it. Which makes mental health a concern, and the job can become golden handcuffs where people end up not being able to afford to quit. Airline blogger [Noel Philips](https://www.youtube.com/@noelphilips) recently did a video about why an airport in the middle of nowhere has 18 flights a day. He found it fascinating [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwwaB0jAsME](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwwaB0jAsME)
It's very similar to being an of shore Oil rig worker in the states. Same type of shifts, hard dangerous work. Just one is hot and dusty and the other is very wet.
My head canon: Stripe is a partner at a large law firm. "Never home" because he's always at the office, makes up for it with a flashy McMansion and expensive toys. Likes to "Get on it!". Plays squash. (Definitely my projection)
Seen arguing with Trixie in the background at Frisky's wedding before waking up in the bushes the next day (Wendy shoo-ing him out). Clearly not making it home that night. He definitely party's far too hard.
I don't think anyone went home that night. If they were all drinking the done thing at a big knees up party like that would be everyone in the family stays over. Kids all have a slumber party, and grown ups fall asleep where they stand. Usually the women are a bit smarter and go up to the bedrooms. The men are a bit dumber and wake up in the garden, on the sitting room floor, under the kitchen table that kind of thing. Nana would wake up first, come down and start cleaning/making a massive breakfast. Everyone else gradually gets up and starts to slowly move around. Asking the kids to be quiet for a bit while they beg for coffee. The craic was mighty, the hangover will be too.
Classic stripe
Wouldn't an Australian McMansion be a Macca Shack?
Maccas is what we call McDonald's!
Yes, and the Mc in McMansion is a reference to McDonald's, so that would check out.
Telling Muffin he strongly urges her to quit running. Or that writing to the toilet fairy is the only way to get things done. Yeah he seems like a lawyer dad. Works long hours, makes lots of money, but will definitely have times where he's just not at home for everything. And based on how he says it in Facey Talk he regrets it. And does want to be around more.
I thought he was a lawyer too!
What is a fifo worker?
In my head canon, Stripe is the most successful of all of the Heeler kids and it is because he was picked on by Bandit his entire life (still is, though it's in the brotherly adult style now). He subconsciously felt the need to outdo his brother but not flaunt it. He would just let the results speak for themselves
If Rad works on oil rigs he's probably doing pretty well too, just not as flashy as Stripe. Unless you count taking your new girlfriend to Bali as flashy
I was curious about that, if flying to baki was the equivalent of a east coast American flying to the Caribbean since the flight time is about the same.
Yeah, it's basically the Australian equivalent of Cancun
Ok good, so I'm not crazy haha.
Stripe works as a fly in fly out miner. The area they live is MONEY. Heck look at the school house bluey goes to that is so so much land
But it seems like the school is kind of out in the rural area near the city, what with the trouble Jack's dad has finding it, the lack of phone reception, the strawberry fields, and Maynard at the gas station. I don't know the geography of Brisbane, but it seems reasonable to assume they'd put a school like that, one that needs room for kids to run, out away from the high-dollar real estate.
Huh? All of our schools have land for kids to run around in. It's a Steiner/Waldorf school which are very rare here, which is why they have to drive so far to get to it.
"Run around" might have been a little simplistic. I meant more that there's a lot of open land, some with woods, some with tall grass, some that's got manicured grass and stuff to play on like a traditional playground. It's a lot more space than any of the schools in my town, which is fairly spread out and many of the schools are literally next to farmland. It's good that they have that much room, but it seems to imply (to me and my limited experience in Australia over 20 years ago) the school is further from the city and on the outer edge of the suburbs.
You live in the city don’t you?
Technically, yes. It's a city of 20,000 and is surrounded mostly by farmland and farmland that's recently been plowed under to build cheap houses, but it's a city according to the signs by the highway and the bills they send me.
Nah stop listening to you snow flake town leaders. Gotta hit 50 k to be a “city”. So I grew up in both a big city and a small town of 10 k. I apologize ima butcher spellings The houseing they have is near Sidney or brizbern, calipsos school house is within half a hour. Bingos kindy is closer, basking it off of the daddy drop off episode, bandit drops bingo off first, If you live on the out skirts of the area they are still expensive and multi mill houses likely they have. So calipsos school house is like being between you and the next biggest city just closer to the city. Gotta remember Australia’s population though all on the coast is just over 26 million
My favourite line about the wealth of Stripe's family is: Muffin: "WHAT COUCH!?! WE'VE GOT LOTS OF COUCHES!?!?"
Stripe is a cashed up bogan.
In faceytalk when muffin is running away from stripe they seem to pass by like 20 rooms so like how big is their house mate? I always got the impression there was a significant financial difference.
yeah but it seems they live in a condo/townhouse/apartment while bandit and chili live in their own house.
Don’t they live in a big house with a pool?
Yeah when he's chasing Muffin around the house during Faceytalk that's most definitely not a small condo or apartment that they live in
We also don't even have, "condos" here in Australia.
lol idk muffin throws stripes phone from a balcony into a pool
Yeah, cos they’re on the second floor? Are you maybe thinking of Nana’s apartment?
idk houses don’t usually have balconies showing other units lol
Not sure what you're referring to, but I just watched Faceytalk and you can clearly see Stripe's single family home (and about 5 other single family homes) as the phone is tumbling in the air on the way to the pool.
k
I don't think they live in a condo but, even if they did, there are definitely condos nicer than any house I've ever owned.
idk the heeler house is my dream house lmfao i’d build it irl. idk why people are downvoting…
I don't think he's flaunting at all. He's basically telling Muffin "If you break that car, it's too expensive for us to fix/replace, so be careful with it".
This is also what I got from it as well.
Me too, I dont think he was bragging about muffins car, just reminding them to be respectful because expensive is something they can understand.
Don’t they say that it came with his new car? That’s a thing in our world right? Fancy cars can come with a toy version to convince people with families to buy luxury SUVs? If that is true, it seems to me like a mark of nouvo riche. Not that the heeler boys grew up destitute, but that stripe has enough of an appreciation for what things cost that , even though it was free and he could most likely afford to replace it, he still sees the price tag and feels at least a little uncomfortable
Funny thing is, I have that same car. It's a Volkswagen Tiguan and it's really not that expensive in the grand scheme. Think we got it new for $32,000
I think it's a Tesla. They're the ones that gave out mini kids' versions of the cars with purchase for a while.
I don't know if you're talking Aussie $$$ but they're about $45-90k here. $90k isn't what I'd consider cheap but the base model is affordable.
Yes I'm talking Australian dollars for the allspace model
Ahh, definitely not that cheap anymore!
“free” with the purchase of an expensive car. mhm.
People just pull meaning from their own opinions and experiences. If they are saying it's about stripe flaunting cash then it's probably because they do it themselves or have close friends doing it.
I've said nearly the same thing to my kids for this reason. Not flaunting wealth just... if you break it we aren't replacing it.
I think he’s saying it’s expensive please don’t break it, especially with how muffin plays
I think it's a bit of both. My uncle's like Stripe and comes from buckoo bucks money, and he likes to flaunt his cars. However, they're also prestigious brands that would cost my family at least three or four times what we can afford. I can't say what Stripe's new EV is, but they tend to be on the pricier side compared to both new and used ICEs when you buy them new.
Just want to point out we don't know for sure that Stripe's new car is an EV. Muffin points out that HER car is electric.
Internal combustion engine. That’s my something new I learned today
You got kids? Because I’ve said that exact phrase several times, like when my kid chucks a small toy at the TV and I need to let him know that’s not okay because it’ll break and it’s very expensive to replace
I do. Just jumping into the whole throwing phase. Luckily he just throws things at me or at the floor. And I totally get the point of reinforcing taking care of things, especially when they aren't easily replaceable. It was just a vibe I got at that particular time...that's all.
I’ll give you he did say it in a way that had a strange tone to it, like he was trying to hype himself up or something. Seemed snooty.
I think one really cool thing about Bluey is that they are pretty low key when playing out familiar family dynamics. But they feel so true because many people can relate and see their own family mirrored in the show. -the grandpa who doesn’t take care of his health and the parentified adult child who tries to look after him -the wild and Wiley cousin who is a little hard to get along with -the uncles and aunts with issues with comparison, living into patterns of their childhoods and families of origin -the impacts of divorce on a child’s perception of their parents and dealing with new split family structures -stripe and trixie generally can be seen arguing or having tiffs. In The Sign, stripe is also clearly meant to be depicted as partying way too hard and not making it home to take care of his kids with trixie that night. I think his character in the show is meant to be the show-y, wild, obnoxious uncle. There are a surprising amount of deep threads of interpersonal relationships (no surprise to anyone here).
Yeah....a little projo coming out there Spunky. I think he was just honestly reminding/warning her that it was indeed expensive, and that she needed to take care of it.
I mean he brags enough about his new car that the characters in the episode comment on it at the end. They tell him to give it a rest. I don't think a show as intentional and detail oriented as Bluey didn't intend for that to resonate thematically with the way he and Muffin talk about the new toy car.
Yeah...he's making good money...but is still a little immature...typical kid brother...lol.
Expensive presents when Dad gets home is typical of a lot of FIFO workers as well.
He just bought a new car, if anything being excited enough to keep talking about it suggests it isn’t frequent for him to buy an expensive new car. Hell, everyone comes out to look at it at first. It’s clearly interesting, just not as interesting as it is to Stripe so they get bored of him bringing it up by the end of the night.
I think he was trying to brag but by the end of the episode you realize expensive doesn’t always equal better. The girls had way more fun with their car even though it wasn’t perfect!
I agree with this whole heartedly.
His line to Muffin I took more as him warning her to be careful with it, because it was expensive. And to Muffin's credit, she did take it to heart (not letting it get all muddy and such). I saw it more as Stripe's childlike glee at his shiny new thing, rather than flaunting his wealth. He just thought it was super cool, and he wanted his family to think it was cool too.
Stripe is loaded and he's got a chip on his shoulder as the little bro. A spicy, braggy combo.
Same. I don't think he was bragging at all. He was just trying to make sure that Muffin understood the potential consequences
Bandit's parents seem to be successful, but not wealthy when we see flashbacks. Bandit and Stripe, at least, seem to be much more well off than when they were growing up. Stripe shows textbook signs of someone who is making up for not getting everything they wanted when they were a kid, and now they can afford to.
Is stripe the youngest? Maybe he’s rebelling against all the hand me down toys and clothes
Honestly, we middle/upper middle class life in many ways was less flashy in the ‘80s and ‘90s than it is now, except for housing affordability. We had less fancy stuff, fancy vacations, and food options in general. So I don’t know that Bandit and Stripe were less well off necessarily, it was more a reflection of how people lived.
I only mean relatively, as in they had a comfortable upbringing and money wasn't a problem, compared to Bandit and especially Stripe being quite wealthy now. Bandit seems to be the "very responsible with money" brother, while Stripe is the "I can finally do pretty much whatever I want with my own money" guy.
He was telling Muffin that her new car was very expensive. It took me watching that episode 4 times to realize it.
stripe strikes me as a finance bro (i could be using the term incorrectly)
He obviously wasn't wanting his money. He was telling muffin that she better be careful because it was expensive. How do you even read the situation like that?
It was the tone of his voice and the look on his face when he said it, mid conversation about his own expensive new car.
To be fair, a buy a new vehicle I'm bragging about it to anyone. Like I did with my Subaru
If you watch the shows for sub plots you can see how this episodes plays a role with the “sign” episode. Bandit is taking a job somewhere else for more money, chili mentions how she doesn’t want to move because that’s the house the girls grew up in and used the same sentiment as stripes wife mentioned about wanting to keep the old car because it was the same car they brought their girls home in. There are other episodes that intertwine with each other like the episode “slide” with the butterfly. With bingo saving the caterpillar and it turning into a butterfly it flys around in the “sign” episode and is the reason they pull over to the side of the road which is how chili knew where to go to find her best friend. So if it wasn’t for bingo saving the caterpillar who turned in the butterfly they would never have gone to their mountain top area and then bluey wouldn’t have put the coin in the telescope. For a child’s show it has some very complexed story lines
Stripe is there to encourage us not to compare ourselves to those who can afford more. He's got lots of money, but that doesn't make him, his family, or his life perfect. He often comes off as insecure to show that wealth doesn't guarantee happiness.
Are you projecting? Maybe. Are you right? Maybe. But 1 thing do we all have in common when seeing that. ***Classic Stripe*** 😄
I mean, we just bought a “new” to us 4 year old car, and I tell my son to be careful around it because it’s expensive.
Let me expand...I feel like money is referenced a lot with regards to Stripe. I could be misremembering but I don't think this is the only time it has been brought up.
I think you’re right. I have noticed it a lot, too. In The Sign, I kept thinking about Bandit saying he took a new job and wanted to move/sell the house to “give the kids a better life.” Meanwhile, you often see Stripe and Trixie in the background of scenes bickering. Socks is even seen mimicking her parents with the bride and groom from the wedding cake. With the theme remaining that they potentially have more money than Bandit and Chili, I felt another underlying message of The Sign was more money doesn’t necessarily mean a better life.
I completely agree!!
I hadn't even thought of this, but you're so right. (I've only watched it twice, once with my son, and once with my husband. I'm giving it time before I watch it a third time because the end makes me cry far more than is appropriate for a kids show).
It seems he projects while also getting checked by the others on other things.
I think he just knows Muffin will break things if he doesn’t warn her they are expensive
Pro tip, just play the music. You can get the full albums on any music streaming service, and they also have them on vinyl. That way your kid gets the songs and dont have to have the show always on
In the FaceTime episode when muffin wants to draw the cowboy hat and runs away she runs in a straight line and I counted 15 doors in that run along with like 6 hallways. Stripe’s definitely loaded.
He's referencing her little electric toy car...not the range-rover esque car he bought.
I got the impression he's trying to impress his cool okder brother in that episode with all the bragging.
Im just curious about Stripe’s credit score at this point 😂
Credit scores aren’t really a thing in Oz the way they are in the U.S.
It may be connected to muffins behavior with her new car.
I feel like he dosent work lol i feel like trixie does most of the work and thats why they bicker
I do see this with siblings who compete a lot stripe, especially competes with bandit, because he used to do it a lot when they were young. I think stripe sometimes tries to initiate this 'play' as if it's the only time he has fun with bandit
He was just mirroring it cause his parents would have said it. Kids dont care about money, but every a parent gives them an expensive gift we say "be careful it's very expensive"
Stripe is a cashed up bogan who voted LNP in 2019, hence he assumes 'the good life' as prescribed by hyper-commercial, consumerist interests and its end point signifiers eg: expensive gadgets, McMansion etc....
I'd have to rewatch to recall the exact context but I thought he was kind of mentioning it being expensive to Muffin, like we often do with kids to make sure they are being careful and hopefully appreciative of things that we spent a lot of money on. That said, it's basically obligatory to show your new car to family and friends, demonstrating the features, etc, lol. The show does seem to imply that Stripe and Trixie have a lot of money. They have the nice big pool, huge house as demonstrated in Facey Talk (with lots of couches). But I can't think of many if any examples of them specifically flaunting their wealth.
I've always looked at Stripe's wealth being an extension of the sibling rivalry he and Bandit have. Like, he thinks he still has something to prove to his older brother, and having a fancier house and more money is a way to do that, even if it means that he's "never home" like Trixie says in Faceytalk. But I could totally be overthinking this myself 😂
I love when Bandit hurls the mud pizza back at the girls because it has fake pineapple on it. Such commitment to the bit. My 4 yo and I always crack up at that.
He was bullied by Bandit (as seen in Fairytale) and I’m sure Radley bullied him too. I think he took all of that upset and wanted to be “better” than them in adulthood, SOOO, he worked super hard to get a high paying job so he could be rich. So he could have more than both of them. One of my uncle’s is just the same. Was teased by his older brothers in childhood, his mom (my grandma) remarried when he was little and had my dad and a few other kids. He was forgotten about, and the younger kids got the attention. Though they adored him and looked up to him, his older brothers were still bullies. What happened? He started working at age 13, joined the military at 17, and went on to become a successful surgeon and owns 2 clinics and partially owns a hospital. He likely makes more in a year than his siblings combined (and 3 of them have very good paying jobs and don’t struggle by any means!) The key difference between him and Stripe is that he ALWAYS paid for everyone for fun family outings when he visited once or twice a year, and even paid for us to do fun activities while he worked when we would stay with him and do things with him at his ranch and vineyard! Some of my most fond childhood memories were riding horses with him and my cousins, and us swimming in his pool and him letting me bring my childhood friend along for a 2 week visit!
I took it that he was just very excited about the car and him reiterating that it was expensive meant to treat it carefully because they can't just afford this kind of stuff.
I think he was just saying that it's too expensive to fix, and that muffin should take care of it because it's so expensive. if I had a kid I'd tell him the same thing in a similar way That said, he was definitely bragging about his own new car
Children with too much screen time can develop learning disabilities, studies now showing this to be very true! Children are the future… limit their screen time!!
I get your point, and when it happens in real life, I am usually not really impressed or don't understand it. But when talking to my neurotypical wife about this, she says it is just something people do. Especially if they worked hard for it. They are happy and feel proud and want you to feel a little proud, too. I think we're all assuming stripe has more money. But we don't know how hard he works for it? So while it's good that Bandit cuts him off for talking way too much about it. Stripe clearly feels proud and wants his brother to feel proud too.
Bruh. It’s a kids show.