u/teddyroo12

This is NOT a theory about Dudley not being a real agent as some early missions for sure happened. This is a theory about Dudley getting some fake missions mixed in with real ones. A good old old fashioned psyop.

TUFF is confirmed in universe to be a government entity similar to the CIA or the FBI who mainly solve crimes and beat up crooks, you know, Saturday morning stuff. The main for members of TUFF the audience knows are Field Agents Dudley Puppy and Kitty Katswell; the main protagonists with Dudley being a childish himbo who's good at hitting people physically, and Kitty being the problemsolving gunsman, as well as Lab Scientist Keswick who supplies the weaponry and gadgets, and The Chief... who is The Chief (NO WAY!!!). But what gives the idea that some missions may be staged?

Well both Snaptrap and the Chameleon both got tamer with the crimes committed as Dudley is a TUFF agent longer and longer. Snaptrap went from stealing a mind controlling rat statue to robbing the change out of a gumball machine a couple episodes later. While the Chameleon got a whole lot friendlier by treating hostages like houseguests vs. the initial "I WILL TAKE MY REVENGE ON THE MOST SKILLED AGENT AND D.O.O.M.". Snaptrap shows in a variety of episodes that he'd much rather become a dancer than a crook (Queer coding in the 2010's what can you say?), misplacing a 4 year scholarship that he didn't know he had and said something like "Wow, if I knew I had this, I wouldn't have become evil!" [The Rat Pack] He even opens a dance studio in Season 2! [Dancin' Machine] With Snaptrap's interest in the arts, maybe he took a plea deal that he gets to walk parole and they fund his scholarship if he used his acting skills to keep Dudley at bay, while the Chameleon tags with, but what about the rest of the line up?

Birdbrain always has a legitimate motive behind all of his crimes, just with the wrong direction, like bombing a diner because they served Omelettes [Agent of the Year] (Tackling the food questions that even Zootopia didn't touch), he's also much older than the rest of the group so he's been at this for a long while. Snaptrap wasn't even recognized by the public in the first episode. F.L.O.P.P. is just a try hard team that could go in either direction of "They were SO PAID TO STAGE SOMETHING ELABORATE" or "they really are that bad at being evil". Jack was a former agent so his crimes are also legitimate. (or if you want to play Double Jeopardy, if Snaptrap got the data that Jack attempted to steal, he'd rat it out to TUFF). But Dudley's former lunch lady and Quacky the Duck being a famed TV host Dudley likes being evil? That is really, really, easy to stage. But why would there be fake missions to distract Dudley specifically?

Dudley's mother and roommate, Peg, is a mafia boss who deliberately makes her son stupider to make him reliant on her. This sounds ridiculous... until you look at three things: her dating history, the way she raises her ADULT SON, and Dudley's mental state. Peg has dated Snaptrap and Chameleon while knowing Dudley works at T.U.F.F. and that these two were criminals, with Snaptrap even attempting to Join TUFF after Dudley confronts her about it! [Snap Dad! S1E9b] (it is not known how old Snaptrap is other than older than Dudley) 5 Episodes Later, Peg leaves Dudley home alone and he wrecks the place, not even knowing how a light switch works. Her response? She's happy her ADULT SON is still reliant on her to do things for him. This is not a normal or a healthy response. She's been clingy to him in a variety of episodes as well, such as when he moved to neighbors house, an episode where Dudley has to figure out why Snaptrap is kidnapping a ton of moms, and not wanting her son to have any jobs that involve danger, nearly making him quit TUFF. Dudley in multiple episodes has stated that he can't learn anything unless it's fun, and that's why he doesn't know anything, but that has a layer of truth in it. In The Good, The Bad, and the Quacky, Dudley explains that he's really good at spinning wheels because he's been spinning one every Saturday since he was a kid by his mother to determine what they do, and he seems to gradually get dumber as time went on, as well as age regress into a hyper childlike state more frequently, so she's very much a mental toll on him. (Side Mystery: Where is Dudley's dad? It's never stated he even has one!) One last piece: Who at T.U.F.F. is making up the cases for Dudley to go on?

Out of everyone we see in the building, there are other employees at TUFF who are mainly seen filing nondescript paperwork, but there are multiple floors and layouts so who knows? TUFF has provided Witness Protection as it had to be provided during The Weasel targeting Dudley and Snaptrap (...that could have possibly also been staged, but he was a one off so I didn't really count him into this.) But out of everyone Dudley knows in the building, it's very likely someone close to Dudley makes up the cases, and makes sure he's ALWAYS assigned with Kitty. It could very well be Kitty making up these missions based off of mental notes she's taking of Dudley's mental state on the day determining how bad the threat is, or Keswick putting together convincing looking decoy weaponry that is effectively harmless but adds to the realness of the mission or even The Chief... who normally administers these cases, except when the villains call in to announce it themselves. It is very likely that all 3 have parts to play in the psyop, especially since after Dog Daze (S1E6A), Dudley seems to be immune to being fired no matter how badly he screwed something up, closest he gets is nearly sent to an insane asylum for repeated crying (Sob Story, that episode sucked).

Or, the most likely awnser: the show was just Flanderized while early episodes were trying to find it's groove, but this theory was more fun to put together.

TL;DR: The Chief/Keswick/Kitty sets up fake cases against Snaptrap, Chameleon, and Quacky the Duck, and has Kitty watch over Dudley to take clues of his mental healthand keep distracted from an investigation on his mother done by the rest of T.U.F.F.

This is NOT a theory about Dudley not being a real agent as some early missions for sure happened. This is a theory about Dudley getting some fake missions mixed in with real ones. A good old old fashioned psyop.

TUFF is confirmed in universe to be a government entity similar to the CIA or the FBI who mainly solve crimes and beat up crooks, you know, Saturday morning stuff. The main for members of TUFF the audience knows are Field Agents Dudley Puppy and Kitty Katswell; the main protagonists with Dudley being a childish himbo who's good at hitting people physically, and Kitty being the problemsolving gunsman, as well as Lab Scientist Keswick who supplies the weaponry and gadgets, and The Chief... who is The Chief (NO WAY!!!). But what gives the idea that some missions may be staged?

Well both Snaptrap and the Chameleon both got tamer with the crimes committed as Dudley is a TUFF agent longer and longer. Snaptrap went from stealing a mind controlling rat statue to robbing the change out of a gumball machine a couple episodes later. While the Chameleon got a whole lot friendlier by treating hostages like houseguests vs. the initial "I WILL TAKE MY REVENGE ON THE MOST SKILLED AGENT AND D.O.O.M.". Snaptrap shows in a variety of episodes that he'd much rather become a dancer than a crook (Queer coding in the 2010's what can you say?), misplacing a 4 year scholarship that he didn't know he had and said something like "Wow, if I knew I had this, I wouldn't have become evil!" [The Rat Pack] He even opens a dance studio in Season 2! [Dancin' Machine] With Snaptrap's interest in the arts, maybe he took a plea deal that he gets to walk parole and they fund his scholarship if he used his acting skills to keep Dudley at bay, while the Chameleon tags with, but what about the rest of the line up?

Birdbrain always has a legitimate motive behind all of his crimes, just with the wrong direction, like bombing a diner because they served Omelettes [Agent of the Year] (Tackling the food questions that even Zootopia didn't touch), he's also much older than the rest of the group so he's been at this for a long while. Snaptrap wasn't even recognized by the public in the first episode. F.L.O.P.P. is just a try hard team that could go in either direction of "They were SO PAID TO STAGE SOMETHING ELABORATE" or "they really are that bad at being evil". Jack was a former agent so his crimes are also legitimate. (or if you want to play Double Jeopardy, if Snaptrap got the data that Jack attempted to steal, he'd rat it out to TUFF). But Dudley's former lunch lady and Quacky the Duck being a famed TV host Dudley likes being evil? That is really, really, easy to stage. But why would there be fake missions to distract Dudley specifically?

Dudley's mother and roommate, Peg, is a mafia boss who deliberately makes her son stupider to make him reliant on her. This sounds ridiculous... until you look at three things: her dating history, the way she raises her ADULT SON, and Dudley's mental state. Peg has dated Snaptrap and Chameleon while knowing Dudley works at T.U.F.F. and that these two were criminals, with Snaptrap even attempting to Join TUFF after Dudley confronts her about it! [Snap Dad! S1E9b] (it is not known how old Snaptrap is other than older than Dudley) 5 Episodes Later, Peg leaves Dudley home alone and he wrecks the place, not even knowing how a light switch works. Her response? She's happy her ADULT SON is still reliant on her to do things for him. This is not a normal or a healthy response. She's been clingy to him in a variety of episodes as well, such as when he moved to neighbors house, an episode where Dudley has to figure out why Snaptrap is kidnapping a ton of moms, and not wanting her son to have any jobs that involve danger, nearly making him quit TUFF. Dudley in multiple episodes has stated that he can't learn anything unless it's fun, and that's why he doesn't know anything, but that has a layer of truth in it. In The Good, The Bad, and the Quacky, Dudley explains that he's really good at spinning wheels because he's been spinning one every Saturday since he was a kid by his mother to determine what they do, and he seems to gradually get dumber as time went on, as well as age regress into a hyper childlike state more frequently, so she's very much a mental toll on him. (Side Mystery: Where is Dudley's dad? It's never stated he even has one!) One last piece: Who at T.U.F.F. is making up the cases for Dudley to go on?

Out of everyone we see in the building, there are other employees at TUFF who are mainly seen filing nondescript paperwork, but there are multiple floors and layouts so who knows? TUFF has provided Witness Protection as it had to be provided during The Weasel targeting Dudley and Snaptrap (...that could have possibly also been staged, but he was a one off so I didn't really count him into this.) But out of everyone Dudley knows in the building, it's very likely someone close to Dudley makes up the cases, and makes sure he's ALWAYS assigned with Kitty. It could very well be Kitty making up these missions based off of mental notes she's taking of Dudley's mental state on the day determining how bad the threat is, or Keswick putting together convincing looking decoy weaponry that is effectively harmless but adds to the realness of the mission or even The Chief... who normally administers these cases, except when the villains call in to announce it themselves. It is very likely that all 3 have parts to play in the psyop, especially since after Dog Daze (S1E6A), Dudley seems to be immune to being fired no matter how badly he screwed something up, closest he gets is nearly sent to an insane asylum for repeated crying (Sob Story, that episode sucked).

Or, the most likely awnser: the show was just Flanderized while early episodes were trying to find it's groove, but this theory was more fun to put together.

TL;DR: The Chief/Keswick/Kitty sets up fake cases against Snaptrap, Chameleon, and Quacky the Duck, and has Kitty watch over Dudley to take clues of his mental healthand keep distracted from an investigation on his mother done by the rest of T.U.F.F.