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Norbert: Norb's biggest strength is that he's very dynamic. While I think they're all three dimensional, I believe Norb was simply made to be multipurpose. I love how in one episode, he can be so giddy to the point where he would be down for doing stupid and immature things with his brother or his friends. And in others, he will be so tired of everything and everyone that he's making sarcastic remarks the whole time LOL. It's a gimmick that works (for me) because Norb is such a perfect character to test his ability to keep sane with.

One of his main traits is that Norb is a pretty chill guy who tries(emphasis on TRIES) to not worry about anything. To let any and everything roll off his back, as if he doesn't notice or care. And in some instances, he succeeds, while in others, he doesn't practice what he preaches. In fact, Norbert is pretty insecure. For someone who constantly tells Dag to calm down and live a little every once in a while, he sure as Hell worries about what other people think of him, has a poor view of his own self image, and doesn't try things he knows he will suck at because he fears he will fail at them.

One of my favorite consistent traits of his has to be his empathy. Whether it's him installing confidence in Treeflower because she was anxious to perform in "Bummer of Love", him feeling bad for the bunny guard despite all the shanngions he went through in "My Bunny Guard", or trying to make Bing feel better in "The Bing that Won't Leave", I'd say he's such a swell guy, by default. He even tries to make people he don't even know feel better like the cyclops in "Friends, Roman, Beavers!" Man, I love him.

He's such a loving and affectionate brother too, despite his teasing. He does care about Dag, and some of my favorite episodes with them is when they share a braincell that neither of them realistically has lol. He's not "perfect", but no sibling is. Not even Daggett.

Daggett: Daggett's biggest strength is his neutrality. Most of his main\secondary traits or actions can be boiled down to it, if you really think about it. For example: he can cause a problem or make an already existing one worse, yet you can tell that his actions were complete accidents and he genuinely wants to fix whatever he messes up. In others episodes, though, Daggett would be fully aware that what he's doing is wrong, but decides to go through with his ideas or plans anyway. Sometimes, he has a sympathetic reason for doing so while other times he says or does spiteful things simply because he feels like it or to get a rise out of Norb lol. One thing I noticed about Daggett is that he's FILLED with emotion. No matter what situation he finds himself in, he will react accordingly and immediately. He's not someone who hides how he feels about someone or something. He almost always says the first thing on his mind- and you get to guess whether it's hurtful or encouraging.

For a guy who tries his best to deflect when things gets too "mushy", he wears his heart on his sleeve a lot, and not just when it comes to negative emotions. With a character who's known to shift on a dime because of his conflicting emotions, you're now thinking: "what are some easy ways to set him off\make him happy?" instead of wondering one or the other. He gets excited as easy as he gets exasperated.

Yes, Daggett is explosive and temperamental, but he also has such a big heart that he has shown to be capable of letting the other characters' see, especially his family. While Dag does find Norb being able be seemingly unbothered all the time frustrating, it's clear as day that he genuinely cares about him, helping him numerous times throughout the show. Of course, like I said, he isn't the perfect sibling, either. He's very petty and that's a trait that will remain consistent whether Norb is the cause of him reacting that way or not. Norb can be chilling or telling Dag that maybe he should not go through with something, and he will take that personally (Three Dag Nite is my favorite example of this LOL).

One of my favorite traits of his is his determination, oddly enough. Even though he overthinks, he's a hard worker, wanting to hold authority rather than be a follower. He also doesn't let any of the anxiety stop him from being eccentric or being into things others may deem as "childish". In fact, a lot of characters seem to vibe with his more fun loving side! (The ending of Bummer of Love where everyone was just cheering Dag on will always make me smile).

Treeflower: Treeflower's biggest strength is her versatility. She's a character that can work in so many different ways. At her core, she is a sweetheart without a single ounce of malice in her body. Hell, I'd go as far as to say she is the kindest and most considerate character in the show. She's a very tolerable person, which is pretty impressive considering the bullshit she has to deal with. She's also crazy reliable, which makes sense, given all of the jobs and careers she has throughout the show. However, Treeflower is not devoid of edge, which I want to say is a decision I love right off the bat because she easily could've been boring or a Mary Sue.

While it's true that Treeflower is willing to stop whatever she's doing to help Norb and Dag(like in Muscular Beaver 3), she will always make it obvious whenever she's annoyed. Despite what her soft voice and kindness would have you believe, she is the last person I would call timid. She stands up for herself pretty often and is willing to call out Norb and Dag whenever she feels like she has to. Not only is she assertive, but she can be smug and snarky, too. (the most iconic example of this is Treeflower trolling Dag in Pass it On! lol). While her sass usually comes in small doses, it's not to the point where it's a trait that's barley there. She's also not devoid of flaws, either, a decision I love even more.

Her biggest flaw, (to me), is her indecisiveness, which can cause her to not think things through or to be oblivious. Take Tree of Hearts, for example. For one, I don't believe for a second that her being a businesswoman was a career path she was 100% happy with. She probably just wanted a change of pace and decided to be one randomly, just like her crushing on Truckee. She was unaware of Norb's upset the entire time, but it was clear that she wasn't doing it out of malicious intent. In fact, she was kind to Truckee *and* Norb, all things considered. It's not like she was insulting Norb throughout the episode, as that would be out of character (and isn't who Treeflower is).

One of my favorite traits of her's is her optimism. Even when she's mostly down to Earth, Treeflower is willing to play along with others' antics to the point where she becomes dramatic herself. I love when she gets in on the fun, with some of my examples of that being in "Muscular Beaver 3" "Muscular Beaver 4", and "Pass it On!" She's always happy and excitable, which is the most adorable thing in the world to me.

I'm sorry for this very excessive essay about beavers LMAO but these three actually help me writing and analyzing media because they are such great and fully realized characters. I adore them, and I wish they had more scenes together in the show because every time they do, it was comedy gold. Anyway, that's all I gotta say. I hope this post made any sense to anyone lol

And I can think of way more times when he was uncaring or straight up cruel to Daggett. There were numerous times where he would leave Daggett to do backbreaking work while he sat around, but then he would also get angry at Daggett for being incompetent. There were plenty of times where he would see Daggett struggling or hurting and just not do anything, or just make him feel worse by being passive-aggressive. At times he would trick Daggett into hurting himself, going so far as to document instances of him getting hurt for his own enjoyment as seen in the episode “Damnesia.” Or he would just straight up attack him like when he savagely beat him with a stick for no reason in “Go Beavers!”

It’s well established that he enjoys his perceived superiority over Daggett. He made Daggett do measuring days every week all their lives just to rub in his face that he was slightly taller. He took a photo of his dumbfounded expression at seeing his completed dam after hopelessly struggling with his own dam. He condescendingly talked Daggett into waiting to open his own Arbor Day present because he was four minutes older and had to go first. In “Driving Misses Daggett,” he spends the whole episode taunting Daggett over his losses to him and just doubling down when Daggett gets pissed off. In “Beach Beavers a Go-Go,” he spikes a ball in Daggett’s face, idly watches him get trampled and knocked around by the other players, and gloats to him about his trophy while Daggett is tangled in the net, then sends him face planting on the sand and walks away. He does all of this either with no concern for Daggett’s feelings, or in order to deliberately make him feel bad.

He is well aware of his privileges over Daggett, but will get so indignant on the rare occasion that Daggett gets the upper hand. He had a mental breakdown when Barry said Daggett was cooler than him, again when he found out Daggett was slightly taller than him, and again when Daggett became an underwear model after he tried to humiliate him by hanging up embarrassing photos of him everywhere. If he’s that indignant despite constantly beating Daggett at everything, overshadowing him in every setting, being more well liked by almost everyone, and going out of his way to make him feel small at every chance he gets, he must be extremely self absorbed, and we already know that based on his self branded hair products. Let’s also not forget how angry he was at Daggett for getting back at him for faking sick, or how vengeful he was over Daggett accidentally farting on his head while they were wrestling.

And even outside of his relationship with Daggett, he doesn’t seem like a good person otherwise. In the episode “Dag’s List,” after his failed attempt to get Daggett beat up by their friends, he makes them give him all their stuff in exchange for protecting them from a fake threat.

I also disagree that Daggett was petty. Anyone would be furious in Daggett’s place. Daggett has been overshadowed, belittled, and taken advantage of by Norbert all their lives and has overall just been less fortunate than him in almost every situation. Daggett can work his butt off and get nothing in return while Norbert often gets what he wants for doing much less.

Even some individual instances of this would be enough to make anyone lash out. Norbert got a giant train set from their parents while he got an air freshener, and may I add that he had no reason to believe there was a misunderstand before the monster truck was revealed at the end. To his credit even, he initially tried to enjoy what looked like a big middle finger from their parents, but ended up lashing out, and his reaction was made to look petty when it was really a response to what he reasonably assumed was an indication that he was unloved. Then consider his historically lopsided dynamic with Norbert, and realize just how much more painful that event must have been for him.

In “It’s a Spootiful Life,” Norbert played an embarrassing slideshow of him in front of everyone without his permission and nobody stood up for him. Later he dreams of a life where Norbert was an only child and sees all their friends are rich and famous, which is just the worst thing the writers could have done.

As mentioned before, in “Beach Beavers a Go-Go” he gets treated terribly by both Norbert and the other beachgoers, who leave him on the sidelines after physically hurting him and barely acknowledge his existence. Similar to “Gift Hoarse,” he tries to remain spirited during the volleyball game even after he has been hurt, and even was calm with Norbert after everything. Watching him go from happy to sad to angry throughout the day did nothing but make me feel awful for him.

I also want to add that I can only remember a single moment in the show when Norbert genuinely apologized to Daggett, and that was the episode “Bug-a-boo,” when he scared him. Other times he was avoiding apologizing or shifting the blame, which you however mentioned Daggett doing. Norbert never said sorry for faking sick and making Daggett his servant. He tricked Daggett into apologizing to him for his own wrongdoings in the episode “Un-Barry-ble.” And he obviously doesn’t apologize for any of the other stuff he does to Daggett. But Daggett does apologize to Norbert even when Norbert doesn’t deserve an apology, like in “Specs Appeal,” and helps him when he doesn’t deserve help, like in “Pond Scum,” and excuses him when he doesn’t deserve to be excused, like in “Damnesia.”

I think the idea that Norbert is more easygoing than Daggett doesn’t take into account how easy Norbert’s life is compared to Daggett’s. I think Norbert’s abundance of bad moments outweighs his good moments, especially in the context that he’s normally under a lot less pressure than Daggett, leaving not much explanation for Norbert’s bad moments. I don’t see much of a reason to think Norbert is easygoing or empathetic. If anything, I see more of that in Daggett, who I think is actually pretty patient all things considered.

First off: Norb has actually apologized to Daggett genuinely like in Yak in the Sack. He doesn't back track, doesn't shift blame, and even tells Daggett that he would let him make a new game instead. Secondly, despite what certain episodes may say at times, Norbert is not seen as the "favorite" in every situation. Unfortunately, there aren't more episodes about how things were for them when they were younger, but from what we do know: Leonard belittles Norb and favors Daggett even if it's clear that he loves them both. Hell, in Slap Happy, when Daggett uses "the beaver tail of distress" Norb thought something bad had happened to Dag and frantically asks him if he's okay. In the same episode, there's a scene where Leonard believes Daggett over Norb. While Norb is deflated, Dag is literally chuckling in the background instead of clearing anything up. In A Little Dad'll Do You, Leonard tells his own son that he wouldn't be surprised if Treeflower never talks to him again, even though Norb freaking out was mostly his fault lol. Not to mention that in the same episode, Dag had no problem pulling pranks on Norb alongside Leonard. Despite the fact that Norb's agitation was more than obvious. When it comes to their mom, while she doesn't belittle Norb, she does brush off his concerns in her spotlight episode. Daggett, meanwhile, seems to have a great relationship with Rose, so I don't think I can say in full confidence that Daggett has never been treated with respect by anyone and Norb is always "the favorite". The misunderstanding in Gift Hoarse makes all of this context about their parents even funnier because a big truck is cooler than a train set lmao

The notion that Norb never caring about Dag or never saving him is straight up untrue. There's Fantastic Voyage, where Norb spends the entire episode trying to save his brother. Or in Lumberjacks Delight where he gets upset when he sees what the lumberjacks were doing to Dag. Or in Strange Allure where he TRIES to assist Daggett by removing the fishing lure from his tail, but Dag was being too stubborn.

That's the funny thing, actually. There have been times where Norb does want to help his brother out, but Daggett shuts it down because he's so dead focus on a goal. Deranged Ranger is the perfect example of this. Norb DOES try to tell Daggett that he is taking this whole ranger thing a bit too far, but Dag deliberately ignores him and instead decides to make this pretty insane film where one of his rules was that they couldn't blink, apparently. When the animals didn't want to follow his unfair rules, Daggett then kicked them out of their own home and said that no one could live there, "except for beavers". Then, he gets upset when Norb doesn't want to follow through with it. Now yes, because of Daggett's actions, Norb was willing to help pull stunts on him with the animals because of it, but even he tried to stop them after a point and defend Dag. when it was getting a bit too far. Which just made the animals turn on both of them instead.

Not only is this isn't the first and only time Daggett has caused a problem for himself and others for an episode, Daggett is nowhere near perfect. In Endangered Species, Daggett was more than willing to let Norb get electrocuted by Pete and Scientist #1. Not only was he willing, he was outright baiting Norb. He didn't even have a sympathetic reasoning for doing that. He kinda just felt like it because he liked the attention, I guess? In My BunnyGuard, Daggett admits that he knows that everyone he's getting the bunnyguard to beat up couldn't be the person who put up that threat, but uses him to beat up these random people anyway. Then, at the end of the episode, had the nerve to blame Norb for "starting it". Even though all Norb did was suggesting that a bodyguard can protect them from said threat.

Norb being unaware of Dag's suffering like in Beach Beavers A Go-Go, doesn't feel like it's malicious. It depends on the way it's written and showcased, I think. The way Norb being oblivious to Dag in that episode gives me the same energy as Muscular Beaver 2, basically. Where Daggett is having a good time playing into his Muscular Beaver persona, while Norbert is constantly getting hurt. Which, by the why, ends with Norb standing by his brother, even when the scientist guys tried to get Norb to come with them instead.

You used Go Beavers! as an example, and yet that's another episode where Norb spends the episode trying to get Daggett to calm down and even tries to stand up for him until they both got attacked by the human football players. Now, I do understand why you used said episode as an example, but I personally disagree that Daggett getting hurt by quick gags is all that bad. It's a slapstick heavy cartoon where the characters use a lot of toon force. If Daggett can reach into Norb's nose and pull the hairs from it while laughing about it in Practical Jerks, I think Norb hitting Dag with a stick isn't the worst thing in the world. Daggett is also not exempt from this. He literally let his clones kick Norb out of their dam in Three Dag Nite. And even despite all of that, Norb laments that even if he could skip town, "he couldn't find another Dag!" despite their being millions of them.

Faking It! does indeed start with Norb faking being sick first, but when Dag realizes it, instead of being upset about it, he tricks Norb into thinking that not only is he sick as well, but his condition is a lot worse than his. (This is not a dig towards Dag, btw. Norb did start it lol). I'm bringing this up because not only does Norb believe it, he showcased that he is willing to wait on Dag hand and foot, just like Dag has done to him earlier in the episode. He was even freaking out when he thought Daggett was going to die.

Daggett gets a lot of wins. A lot more than what his archetype would have you to believe. My all time favorite example is Sans-A-Pelt. He spent all episode irritated and annoyed, not wanting to sing or hear Norb sing, yet at the end where he actually does end up doing it, not only did nothing bad happened to him, Norb congratulates him. Other examples include the aforementioned Muscular Beaver 2, Bummer of Love (where he actually gets respect from the security guard who was antagonizing him all episode), Big Fun(no one made fun of him for him being unapologetically himself), and Alley Oops where Daggett becomes more confident in bowling after getting hyped up for it the whole time. An insecurity that Norb and Dag both share is that they seek validation, which this episode does prove. When Daggett got his first strike and people cheered him on for it, his face lit up so brightly I wanted to cry. Norb, meanwhile, was afraid to bowl because he knows it's something that he's not good at. And he would rather make a small win, even if it doesn't matter, like at the end of the episode, than fail at it completely. Hell, Norb even realizes that he was being a bit of an insecure jerk which made Daggett take a dig at him in return lol

In Bite This! Norb's insecurity is also on full display, however he doesn't really do anything hurtful. The way this episode played out is interesting to me because his friends and the other animals at the forest made fun of him for being a bed biter, which causes Norb to spiral. Daggett does try to get Norb to feel better about it, and yet he also makes fun of him a little bit before he showed his concern. Then, at the end of the episode, Norb learns the correct lesson that everyone does something embarrassing and they shouldn't be made fun of for it. Something he also says in Roman, Friends, Beavers! with the cyclops. Who Dag constantly made fun of. The same episode that only started because he was being a menace to the bus driver, which got them both kicked out despite Norb not even doing anything?

Norbert is empathetic. Even if you don't believe he is with Dag, just look how he treats Treeflower in Tree of Hearts. Treeflower spent the entire episode oblivious to Norb's heartbreak, and yet he still comforts her when Truckee leaves. It would be one thing if Treeflower never showed any interest in him before this episode, but they're literally the definition of the love at first sight trope. So you can imagine how hurt Norb was to see the girl he thought he had a connection with leave him for someone else, and didn't even tell him why she was there beforehand in her letter or in the elevator. Like I said in my og blog, there's how he felt bad for the bunnyguard and that he assists on him being his friend, which Daggett is against.

I will admit that the writing can be a little forced, at times. Which is why I can't fault Norb *himself*, but with how the episodes themselves are written. Not only because I like Norb's character, but there's obvious holes in them. Take Dag in the Mirror, for example. Norb and Dag are having this conversation where no one likes Dag except for Norb himself, that "everyone hates him", name drops only two people(Barry and Stump), then when it comes down to actually showing said characters that were following Dag's example, only Barry was shown while the other animals were random ass background characters. Doesn't seem like "everyone" to me. This is important to me because if Dag named dropped anyone else, it wouldn't make sense for their fundamental character, let alone the episode as a whole. Bing didn't get namedropped because he clearly likes Dag(and Norb) and wants to get their attention; Treeflower didn't get named dropped because she's nice and has never shown to have a problem with Dag. She's a little snarky with him, but it's all lighthearted. (Also the fandom would explode and hate her if they even alluded to her as an example as someone who doesn't like Daggett lmfao), and Truckee didn't get name dropped because it would be redundant- that's like the whole point of his character. This episode is a lot different than in Pack your Dags because them "hating" on Daggett was used as a gag there. Whether one finds it funny or not is up to them, but it wasn't used for story purposes like Dag in the Mirror is trying to do. This episode really falls apart when you realize that Dag was listing all the good times him and Stump had in Stump Looks for His Roots and there being an entire episode where Barry found Dag cooler than Norb (UnBarryable) and even thought he was skillful in soccer(Soccer... I Hardly Knew Him!)

The Posei-Dam Adventure, while I do like it, is simultaneously the most forced bullshit I've ever seen. It's so forced that TRUCKEE, of all ALL characters, is the one that's spouting the plot to us. I think what confuses me is the structure of it, more than anything. Like Daggett admits that it's probably untrue that Truckee did what he accused him of, and decides to still be passive aggressive after saying that. The episode didn't become this whole thing about his relationship with Norb until a few minutes in, when the synopsis of the episode didn't even allude to that being the plot in the slightest. I understand the POINT they were trying to make by using Truckee instead of any other character: "Well, if a guy that hates Daggett's guts is telling him that his brother despises him, then it must be true". But I can't even believe that when I see Truckee trying to be nice to Daggett, like him saying that they make a good team, and Dag not saying a single nice things towards Truckee all episode. Even when Dag does lash out at Norb for Truckee "caring about him more than Norb ever has" how and when did he come up with that conclusion when he spent the entire episode badmouthing Truckee, even after he saved him? Saying that he didn't want a dead shrew to be tied to his wrist. Which happened like a minute or two before the scene where he chastises Norb? I can't even focus on Dag getting rightfully upset with Norb either when not even a minute later, Truckee says he's stealing half of Norb's room, and the scene just drops completely lmao. Even if we forget everything with Dag and Truckee, you'd think that Norb would come to his senses and realize that this whole party thing doesn't matter and he should save his brother. That he doesn't even know these people he's trying to impress so badly. They literally showed a scene with everyone taking his food and him being sad about it, but it doesn't go anywhere. I'm sorry, but I cannot take a plot like this seriously when it's structured like this.

It's doubly confusing when the episode make out Dag "being a menace" is something he ALWAYS does on accident. True, there are tons of episodes where he annoys Norb and other characters accidentally. The first Muscular Beaver comes to mind. And yet, there are episodes where he KNEW what he was doing. Even if we ignore the ones I already brought up in my previous paragraphs, the literal plot of Same Time, Last Week is that Daggett wants to annoy Norb for no reason while Norb is just trying to do his own thing. And even at the end at the episode, Dag admits that he was more than willing to wait until Norb evolves so he can annoy him even more. (Again, not a dig, they are siblings. Annoying each other for no reason is what they do)

In Zooing Time, while Dag does everything in his power to fix his mistake that he did on purpose, Norb stated that he believed that Daggett set him up to get taken to the zoo for said mistake. Which is a justifiable conclusion to come to when Daggett ran home after causing some ruckus and not explaining anything to Norb. In Mobey Dopes, he was in the know that the killer whale was indeed a killer whale(he literally described it as such), not a puppy, and yet didn't have a reaction when his friends got eaten by it. He only seemed to care about getting rid of the killer whale when the problem effected him(when the whale took his teddy bear). Dag is a menace and the show doesn't hide that fact. They only do so when they want to put Norb down and say how he could care less about Dag.

I think the reason why Norb is more prone to stress in season 4 could be because he wasn't expecting to deal with a lot of chaos. He was more chill in the first season, even telling Dag that he shouldn't get worked up by everything in the pilot. However, their mom literally said that Norb always worried too much- which makes me believe that Norb was more of a worrywart growing up and only chilled out when they moved out. Living with Dag by himself probably caused him to get more irritated, even if he doesn't always handle his stress in the best way- just like how Daggett always doesn't.

It's A Spootiful Life, to me, feels like Norb is less saying he wouldn't care about Dag never existing and more about him not believing that he would run away. That's literally what he says at the end, too. He could've done something worse, but instead says that he knew that Dag wasn't going to stay true to his word. Treeflower also states that they were laughing with Daggett, not at him. Which I do believe that everyone was being more playful than anything, except Truckee. Now if it were me, I would've definitely written this entire episode in a different way, but as it stands, the tone is lighthearted enough.

In The Big Frog, Norb getting angry with Dag playing with kiddy toys seems rich coming from the guy who constantly tells Dag that he should live a little. This doesn't outright upset Dag though because he just responds by trolling Norb the entire time until he played with him. I get the point of this conflict, as well: It plays into Norb's insecurity of wanting to be seen as more adult than he actually is. Sucks that they waited until the last few seconds of the episode to touch on that lol. Again, it isn't structurally sound, so I can't treat it as seriously as the episode wants me to.

Personally, I can stomach Norb being a bit selfish if the episode isn't trying to tie it back into their relationship. Especially since Daggett is not a perfect person who could do no wrong, either. It would be different if he was, in my opinion. Like I don't mind his actions in Soccer I Hardly Knew Him because the episode is not only putting Norb in an unflattering light, they give him a motivation (which is that he wants to be seen as cool by his friends.) I can't say the same for The Posei-Dam Adventure because they're TRYING to get me to believe that Norb is the worst brother in the world. If the episode isn't trying to take Norb's more cruel actions seriously, then I'm not going to. Kind of like how the show almost never wants us to take Dag's antics seriously. And when they do, they always treat it with the tact that it deserves. Like him feeling awful for how he treated Norb in Endangered Species. The writing feels a bit unfair, in that regard. That's another reason why I can't hate Norb, also.

I don't like it when the show tries to make their relationship a lot worse than what it is, personally, because there are lots of episodes where they work together, have a good time, or just doing very simple sibling banter: All in the Colony, Shell or High Water, BeaveMaster, Partying is Such a Sweet Sorrow, The Day the World Got Really Screwed Up! Practical Jerks, House Broken, just to name a few. I wouldn't mind it so much if the whole point to all of this was giving the show a bit of balance: showing episodes where Dag is in the wrong, Norb in the wrong, them both in the wrong, and episodes where the worst they do to each other is small banter. However, doing this while also trying to force a narrative that Daggett is perfect while Norb is not makes the writing feel a little confused. Like they didn't know how they want to portray their relationship in a deeper aspect.

You make a good point about inconsistent writing. I’ve noticed different writers on the show had very different interpretations of the characters, including on magazine interviews where they say sometimes archetypal things that only really line up with a certain set of episodes, but don’t make sense in the context of plenty of other episodes.

You also make a good point about Norbert’s relationship with their parents, which could explain some of his problematic tendencies like rubbing his successes in Daggett’s face and brushing him off at times. I think the episode “If You In-Sisters” is the best evidence of them having a bad relationship. To me the episodes you mentioned don’t support it as well, because Leonard doesn’t exactly talk positively of Daggett when he’s not listening, so it could be said that he’s extra affectionate with Daggett only in a pitiful, condescending way, though I can also see how it supports the revelation in “If You In-Sisters.” But like you mentioned, it wasn’t thoroughly explored, so all I can say is that what we saw of how their parents treat Norbert, while undeniably bad, seems mild to me compared to how we see Daggett get treated by everyone else, so I still arrive at the conclusion that Norbert has had an easier time than Daggett and his outbursts are less meaningful.

You mentioned how the writers don’t treat Norbert’s wrongdoings with the seriousness they deserve, which I agree with, but I always interpreted that as operating more in Norbert’s favor than Daggett’s for a couple of reasons. For one, the magazine interviews I’ve seen show favoritism towards Norbert, like the 1998 Nickelodeon Animation Employee Yearbook that pits Daggett and Norbert against each other in questions clearly meant to let Norbert win, and also Let It Beavers from Ooze News in 1997 where they describe Norbert in more flattering ways than Daggett, similar to how they do in the 1995 pitch bible. Also, until like two years ago, I saw way more fans of the show favoring Norbert over Daggett, and often it was for reasons like thinking he was kinder and more laidback than Daggett, seemingly ignoring many of Norbert’s bad actions, Daggett’s good actions, and the very different circumstances surrounding both characters, especially in season 1. I think Daggett’s wrongdoings getting more attention actually worked against Daggett even if it maybe wasn’t meant to. I even once added an “abilities” chart to Daggett’s fandom.com page because Norbert had one but he didn’t, and an admin removed it without explanation, which convinced me at the time that there really was a negative rhetoric surrounding Daggett in the fandom.

I think the fact that the show mostly started off with the writers constantly portraying Daggett and Norbert’s relationship as extremely lopsided is important to consider when watching the rest of the show, because the characters were shaped by how they were treated. The biggest theme in season 1 was that Norbert always gets the upper hand, and while that theme certainly died down a lot over the course of the show, it still greatly affected the overall narrative of the show, especially since it happened in the beginning. When I’m watching Daggett act out in response to an individual misfortune, I’m also considering his past and how it must have created a narrative in his head that he was born to lose and look ridiculous next to his brother, which would influence how he reacts to the world going forward. He has even acknowledged the common disparity between them in Mistaken Identity, where he comments on having avoided injury like Norbert. The way the show took Daggett’s wrongdoings more seriously than Norbert’s, I imagined that either making Daggett feel even worse about himself or making him feel even more discriminated against. This also gives me more appreciation for Daggett’s good qualities, like being more willing to work than Norbert and generally more willing to apologize.

I agree that Daggett has a lot more wins post season 1, which I appreciate. I also like that Norbert became less of a Gary Stu. But I never felt like there was proper resolution for everything he went through in season 1.

I can see how Daggett’s cluelessness in episodes like “Muscular Beaver 2” could make you question the significance of Norbert’s attitude in “Beach Beavers a Go-Go”, but considering that Norbert had already been established as the ‘smart one’ and this stuff was happening to Daggett right in front of him in a casual setting with no other distractions, particularly during the volleyball game, I have a hard time believing that Norbert couldn’t pick up on what was happening, especially when he’s just talking to him while he’s tangled in the net and clearly not happy.

I don’t really buy that Treeflower and the others were being genuine when they said they were laughing with Daggett, since he was clearly upset and did not give Norbert permission to show those photos. The dream where everyone is better off without him also didn’t seem lighthearted to me, and I wouldn’t consider that kind of message lighthearted in any context.

I actually forgot about “Yak in the Sack” so you’re right that “Bug-a-Boo” was not the only instance of Norbert seeming to genuinely apologize, although it did occur right after he laughed at Daggett hurting himself and it didn’t seem as unprompted as the apology in “Bug-a-Boo” which I still see as one of his best moments.

I am aware that Norbert has saved Daggett multiple times, but I always felt like it was to not feel bad about himself, partially due to the amount of times I observed him not supporting Daggett in other contexts, and partially because of the episode Das Spoot where he considers leaving Daggett to die and admits that he could live with himself but there would be too many questions, but your point about inconsistent writing does make me reconsider the weight of that moment within the show as a whole, even if it does somewhat align with him admitting he wishes Daggett wasn’t his brother in “Oh, Brother?”

Norbert: Norb's biggest strength is that he's very dynamic. While I think they're all three dimensional, I believe Norb was simply made to be multipurpose. I love how in one episode, he can be so giddy to the point where he would be down for doing stupid and immature things with his brother or his friends. And in others, he will be so tired of everything and everyone that he's making sarcastic remarks the whole time LOL. It's a gimmick that works (for me) because Norb is such a perfect character to test his ability to keep sane with.

One of his main traits is that Norb is a pretty chill guy who tries(emphasis on TRIES) to not worry about anything. To let any and everything roll off his back, as if he doesn't notice or care. And in some instances, he succeeds, while in others, he doesn't practice what he preaches. In fact, Norbert is pretty insecure. For someone who constantly tells Dag to calm down and live a little every once in a while, he sure as Hell worries about what other people think of him, has a poor view of his own self image, and doesn't try things he knows he will suck at because he fears he will fail at them.

One of my favorite consistent traits of his has to be his empathy. Whether it's him installing confidence in Treeflower because she was anxious to perform in "Bummer of Love", him feeling bad for the bunny guard despite all the shanngions he went through in "My Bunny Guard", or trying to make Bing feel better in "The Bing that Won't Leave", I'd say he's such a swell guy, by default. He even tries to make people he don't even know feel better like the cyclops in "Friends, Roman, Beavers!" Man, I love him.

He's such a loving and affectionate brother too, despite his teasing. He does care about Dag, and some of my favorite episodes with them is when they share a braincell that neither of them realistically has lol. He's not "perfect", but no sibling is. Not even Daggett.

Daggett: Daggett's biggest strength is his neutrality. Most of his main\secondary traits or actions can be boiled down to it, if you really think about it. For example: he can cause a problem or make an already existing one worse, yet you can tell that his actions were complete accidents and he genuinely wants to fix whatever he messes up. In others episodes, though, Daggett would be fully aware that what he's doing is wrong, but decides to go through with his ideas or plans anyway. Sometimes, he has a sympathetic reason for doing so while other times he says or does spiteful things simply because he feels like it or to get a rise out of Norb lol. One thing I noticed about Daggett is that he's FILLED with emotion. No matter what situation he finds himself in, he will react accordingly and immediately. He's not someone who hides how he feels about someone or something. He almost always says the first thing on his mind- and you get to guess whether it's hurtful or encouraging.

For a guy who tries his best to deflect when things gets too "mushy", he wears his heart on his sleeve a lot, and not just when it comes to negative emotions. With a character who's known to shift on a dime because of his conflicting emotions, you're now thinking: "what are some easy ways to set him off\make him happy?" instead of wondering one or the other. He gets excited as easy as he gets exasperated.

Yes, Daggett is explosive and temperamental, but he also has such a big heart that he has shown to be capable of letting the other characters' see, especially his family. While Dag does find Norb being able be seemingly unbothered all the time frustrating, it's clear as day that he genuinely cares about him, helping him numerous times throughout the show. Of course, like I said, he isn't the perfect sibling, either. He's very petty and that's a trait that will remain consistent whether Norb is the cause of him reacting that way or not. Norb can be chilling or telling Dag that maybe he should not go through with something, and he will take that personally (Three Dag Nite is my favorite example of this LOL).

One of my favorite traits of his is his determination, oddly enough. Even though he overthinks, he's a hard worker, wanting to hold authority rather than be a follower. He also doesn't let any of the anxiety stop him from being eccentric or being into things others may deem as "childish". In fact, a lot of characters seem to vibe with his more fun loving side! (The ending of Bummer of Love where everyone was just cheering Dag on will always make me smile).

Treeflower: Treeflower's biggest strength is her versatility. She's a character that can work in so many different ways. At her core, she is a sweetheart without a single ounce of malice in her body. Hell, I'd go as far as to say she is the kindest and most considerate character in the show. She's a very tolerable person, which is pretty impressive considering the bullshit she has to deal with. She's also crazy reliable, which makes sense, given all of the jobs and careers she has throughout the show. However, Treeflower is not devoid of edge, which I want to say is a decision I love right off the bat because she easily could've been boring or a Mary Sue.

While it's true that Treeflower is willing to stop whatever she's doing to help Norb and Dag(like in Muscular Beaver 3), she will always make it obvious whenever she's annoyed. Despite what her soft voice and kindness would have you believe, she is the last person I would call timid. She stands up for herself pretty often and is willing to call out Norb and Dag whenever she feels like she has to. Not only is she assertive, but she can be smug and snarky, too. (the most iconic example of this is Treeflower trolling Dag in Pass it On! lol). While her sass usually comes in small doses, it's not to the point where it's a trait that's barley there. She's also not devoid of flaws, either, a decision I love even more.

Her biggest flaw, (to me), is her indecisiveness, which can cause her to not think things through or to be oblivious. Take Tree of Hearts, for example. For one, I don't believe for a second that her being a businesswoman was a career path she was 100% happy with. She probably just wanted a change of pace and decided to be one randomly, just like her crushing on Truckee. She was unaware of Norb's upset the entire time, but it was clear that she wasn't doing it out of malicious intent. In fact, she was kind to Truckee *and* Norb, all things considered. It's not like she was insulting Norb throughout the episode, as that would be out of character (and isn't who Treeflower is).

One of my favorite traits of her's is her optimism. Even when she's mostly down to Earth, Treeflower is willing to play along with others' antics to the point where she becomes dramatic herself. I love when she gets in on the fun, with some of my examples of that being in "Muscular Beaver 3" "Muscular Beaver 4", and "Pass it On!" She's always happy and excitable, which is the most adorable thing in the world to me.

I'm sorry for this very excessive essay about beavers LMAO but these three actually help me writing and analyzing media because they are such great and fully realized characters. I adore them, and I wish they had more scenes together in the show because every time they do, it was comedy gold. Anyway, that's all I gotta say. I hope this post made any sense to anyone lol

And I can think of way more times when he was uncaring or straight up cruel to Daggett. There were numerous times where he would leave Daggett to do backbreaking work while he sat around, but then he would also get angry at Daggett for being incompetent. There were plenty of times where he would see Daggett struggling or hurting and just not do anything, or just make him feel worse by being passive-aggressive. At times he would trick Daggett into hurting himself, going so far as to document instances of him getting hurt for his own enjoyment as seen in the episode “Damnesia.” Or he would just straight up attack him like when he savagely beat him with a stick for no reason in “Go Beavers!”

It’s well established that he enjoys his perceived superiority over Daggett. He made Daggett do measuring days every week all their lives just to rub in his face that he was slightly taller. He took a photo of his dumbfounded expression at seeing his completed dam after hopelessly struggling with his own dam. He condescendingly talked Daggett into waiting to open his own Arbor Day present because he was four minutes older and had to go first. In “Driving Misses Daggett,” he spends the whole episode taunting Daggett over his losses to him and just doubling down when Daggett gets pissed off. In “Beach Beavers a Go-Go,” he spikes a ball in Daggett’s face, idly watches him get trampled and knocked around by the other players, and gloats to him about his trophy while Daggett is tangled in the net, then sends him face planting on the sand and walks away. He does all of this either with no concern for Daggett’s feelings, or in order to deliberately make him feel bad.

He is well aware of his privileges over Daggett, but will get so indignant on the rare occasion that Daggett gets the upper hand. He had a mental breakdown when Barry said Daggett was cooler than him, again when he found out Daggett was slightly taller than him, and again when Daggett became an underwear model after he tried to humiliate him by hanging up embarrassing photos of him everywhere. If he’s that indignant despite constantly beating Daggett at everything, overshadowing him in every setting, being more well liked by almost everyone, and going out of his way to make him feel small at every chance he gets, he must be extremely self absorbed, and we already know that based on his self branded hair products. Let’s also not forget how angry he was at Daggett for getting back at him for faking sick, or how vengeful he was over Daggett accidentally farting on his head while they were wrestling.

And even outside of his relationship with Daggett, he doesn’t seem like a good person otherwise. In the episode “Dag’s List,” after his failed attempt to get Daggett beat up by their friends, he makes them give him all their stuff in exchange for protecting them from a fake threat.

I also disagree that Daggett was petty. Anyone would be furious in Daggett’s place. Daggett has been overshadowed, belittled, and taken advantage of by Norbert all their lives and has overall just been less fortunate than him in almost every situation. Daggett can work his butt off and get nothing in return while Norbert often gets what he wants for doing much less.

Even some individual instances of this would be enough to make anyone lash out. Norbert got a giant train set from their parents while he got an air freshener, and may I add that he had no reason to believe there was a misunderstand before the monster truck was revealed at the end. To his credit even, he initially tried to enjoy what looked like a big middle finger from their parents, but ended up lashing out, and his reaction was made to look petty when it was really a response to what he reasonably assumed was an indication that he was unloved. Then consider his historically lopsided dynamic with Norbert, and realize just how much more painful that event must have been for him.

In “It’s a Spootiful Life,” Norbert played an embarrassing slideshow of him in front of everyone without his permission and nobody stood up for him. Later he dreams of a life where Norbert was an only child and sees all their friends are rich and famous, which is just the worst thing the writers could have done.

As mentioned before, in “Beach Beavers a Go-Go” he gets treated terribly by both Norbert and the other beachgoers, who leave him on the sidelines after physically hurting him and barely acknowledge his existence. Similar to “Gift Hoarse,” he tries to remain spirited during the volleyball game even after he has been hurt, and even was calm with Norbert after everything. Watching him go from happy to sad to angry throughout the day did nothing but make me feel awful for him.

I also want to add that I can only remember a single moment in the show when Norbert genuinely apologized to Daggett, and that was the episode “Bug-a-boo,” when he scared him. Other times he was avoiding apologizing or shifting the blame, which you however mentioned Daggett doing. Norbert never said sorry for faking sick and making Daggett his servant. He tricked Daggett into apologizing to him for his own wrongdoings in the episode “Un-Barry-ble.” And he obviously doesn’t apologize for any of the other stuff he does to Daggett. But Daggett does apologize to Norbert even when Norbert doesn’t deserve an apology, like in “Specs Appeal,” and helps him when he doesn’t deserve help, like in “Pond Scum,” and excuses him when he doesn’t deserve to be excused, like in “Damnesia.”

I think the idea that Norbert is more easygoing than Daggett doesn’t take into account how easy Norbert’s life is compared to Daggett’s. I think Norbert’s abundance of bad moments outweighs his good moments, especially in the context that he’s normally under a lot less pressure than Daggett, leaving not much explanation for Norbert’s bad moments. I don’t see much of a reason to think Norbert is easygoing or empathetic. If anything, I see more of that in Daggett, who I think is actually pretty patient all things considered.