The Amazing World of Gumball

[Neomysterion X. Prime]

Since the sneak peek of Gumball will be on tonight after The Looney Tunes Show, I thought that it'd be just about time to have a thread about this new series over here.



I saw the trailer for the series, and I thought that this may be either something fun for all of us to enjoy... or just another sugar-coated kiddie-humoured cartoon that would only make the younger kids giggle. Any opinions on Gumball, post or discuss them here.

[Avaitor]

I'll check it out. I've only seen a commercial or two for the show so far, and it looks harmless enough. If I like the preview enough, I might give it a watch next week.

[Neomysterion X. Prime]

So the preview did make me laugh somehow, yet this feels more like another Chowder with all the mischievous escapes that Gumball and his fish friend/brother Darwin had gone through with the tattered DVD in the first episode.

End Result: 3.25 out of 5
I had a feeling that this would of ended up as another Chowder/Flapjack clone when it came to the writing and the kid-like escapades. I may give the series another go or two when the official premiere starts this Monday. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

It was Chowder with a more obnoxious sense of humor and worse (tremendously worse) art style.

Flapjack this ain't.

[Daxdiv]

Well, I decided to give the episodes that Europe aired this past week... and they were pretty funny IMO. I laughed more at these episodes than the DVD.

The Responsible was pretty funny with Darwin and Gumball trying to be responsible by taking care of his sister. While they did make the sister smarter than Gumball, there were some funny moments, like Gumball nearly drowning before Darwin gave him mouth-to-mouth while under water. I can't wait to see the reaction that scene will get. I can imagine that it will be something like "Hur-Hur-Hur-Hur! They done kissed on a kids show! HOMOS!"

The Mystery was also great. This was more the episode that showed off the school. I still love all the different animations techniques used in this episode. I also thought the plot was interesting as well. Most of the classmates were pretty entertaining in this.

All in all, I am keeping my eye on this series and will watch the new episodes.

[ToonFaithful]

This show doesn't disappoint me with the laughs. Probably the 2nd best comedy on Cartoon Network currently. Adorable characters, surreal designs, and laugh-out-loud humor. What's not to love about Gumball?

[Commode]

Just watched a bit of this show, and I found it pretty damned annoying.  Ten minutes of random characters yelling and screaming is not funny.

[Kiddington]

Meh; it's just really hit or miss for me. And I mean REALLY hit or miss. Slowly but surely, I've been enjoying it a little more now than I was at the start, but it still has a looooong way to go before it's even close to being on par with Regular Show (or even Adventure Time, which admittedly, I'm not a fan of).

I'll give it props for the snazzy animation style, though. The combination of live-action and animation is actually done RIGHT for a change, and I love how diversely animated the cast is; you've got traditional hand-drawn characters, a few CGI models, and even one or two rendered in Dr. Katz-esque Squigglevision. On that end, it's really pretty cool, IMO.

Sadly, the humor is wildly inconsistent, and more often than not, just not very good. The writing can be clever at times, and I love psycho-mom Nicole (she's a great break from the one-note, stereotypical parent) but like you said, there's just far too much random yelling and screaming. And Richard (the dad) is incredibly grating, even more so than the kids at times. He's even dumber than Peter Griffin, which I honestly didn't think was possible at this point.

I don't hate it, but I will say it could definitely be a LOT better. The wonderfully unique animation-style (which, again, I love to death) is sadly being wasted on inconsistent, and sometimes downright mediocre, writing. 'Tis a shame, really.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I dunno, everything I've seen in this show makes it look worse than season 2 Chowder. I mean, it's got pretty much the same issues, IMO.

[Katie Holt]

Best show on Cartoon Network right now, easily.

And this from someone who loves Regular Show.

[Angus]

My little pups love this show. Then again they like Johnny Test and Phineas and Ferb.

[Goldstar]

I like The Amazing World of Gumball. It's not perfect, but few things in life are. The humor may not be as multi-leveled as on say, Rocko's Modern Life, but it can be funny at times, if not a tad trippy in parts. I don't think that the mix of different visual styles is really necessary, though. It seems to be mostly an attention getting device, and that I personally feel that the show could do without.

My biggest complaint about Gumball is the rampant stupidity that's prevalent in some of the characters, most notably the title character Gumball himself and his father Richard. The shows' writers should at least try to maintain a consistent level of how smart or dumb the characters are. In some episodes Gumball is mere childishly dumb and silly, and in others he's portrayed as a total moron who can't read or operate a computer. I'm also not crazy about the Simpsons-esque style of the Watterson family's portrayal; how both of the female Wattersons are smart and responsible, while all of the male Wattersons are untalented dum-dums. If at least 1 of the silly Wattersons were female, there would at least be more of a balance.

Without a doubt, my least favorite character is Richard. I know that some viewers (kids especially) probably love Richard because he's so over-the-top crazy and stupid, but I personally wish that the shows' writers would portray him as an adult who occasionally acts like an overgrown man baby instead of an overgrown man baby who occasionally acts like an adult. I also hate how Richard is such a worthless bum who mooches off of his wife. I don't have a problem with Richard not having a job if he at least did things like cook and clean for his family like the dad on Johnny Test, but instead he's a fat load who blobs out on the couch all day doing nothing while Nicole works her tail off and then when she comes home, he asks he when dinner will be ready. We're supposed to like this guy and yet I'm wondering why Nicole would hitch her wagon to a loser like him and it's nothing short of a miracle that she hasn't divorced his ass yet. Plus, I never, ever thought that I would ever say that anything should be more like Johnny Test!

However, I read that Gumball's writers plan to make things more consistent in season 2, so there's that.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yes, that's a trend in cartoons I'm getting bored of. Making characters so dumb that they can't even seem to open a door knob. It bores me because stupidity isn't a defining character trait, most of the time it's just lazy writing.

Also over 20 years of the "dumb dad" is enough, isn't it?

[Goldstar]

The thing is, I actually don't mind the "dumb dad" trope when it's done well. I'm a big fan of Disney's Goofy. But my feeling is that a character should be either a lovable oaf or a jerk. Both simultaneously just doesn't work for me.

[Kiddington]

Also over 20 years of the "dumb dad" is enough, isn't it?

Even the worst offenders aren't as bad as this, though. I mean, Homer Simpson is an idiot, but at least it's believable, and he can still function for the most part.

From what I've seen of this show (when I was still watching it; gave up a while ago, though) Richard can't even open a car door the right way, much less do anything else that actually requires train of thought. I mean, come on; there's a point when this sort of schtick is just too much, and you can't even buy it anymore. No one is this dumb.