Not OP, but binding data to elements is pretty nice (how $("#thingy").select2() always works on the same instance of the plugin without me having to store a ref

Not OP, but binding data to elements is pretty nice (how $("#thingy").select2() always works on the same instance of the plugin without me having to store a reference somewhere). Also things like fade and animate for when CSS transitions aren't enough and the ability to perform operations on multiple elements without a look are very convenient.