Line #15 YMMV/JohnnyTest


1	[[foldercontrol]]
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3	[[folder:Original series]]
4	%%* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
5	%%** There have been different interpretations for many characters with the majority of interpretations being for Johnny
6	%%** Johnny: Concerning Johnny's personality and interactions
7	* AmericansHateTingle: While the show wasn’t exactly huge in Canada, it has much more vocal detractors in the United States, especially since Canadian cartoons [[MadeInCountryX have a poor reputation in the USA]] (ironically, primarily due to the notoriety of this show). While the fact it’s actually an American-Canadian co-production frequently flies under the radar (or is outright ignored), the fact that it was AdoredByTheNetwork has been major fuel for the show’s near-universally-despised reputation in the US.
8	* {{Anvilicious}}: Morals are dropped hard:
9	** The worst offender is "Johnny Applesauce", with its "petitioning is better than violence" {{Ass\|Pull}}ed {{Aesop}} despite the show itself being action-packed.
10	** "Green Johnny" comes off less like an episode and more like an 11-minute [[PublicServiceAnnouncement [=PSA=]]] about [[GreenAesop recycling and going green]].
11	** "Good Ol' Johnny Test" starts off as a parody of ''WesternAnimation/ACharlieBrownChristmas'', but becomes quite anvilicious once the play turns into a big GreenAesop about waste management.
12	* {{Asspull}}: One of the more frequent complaints is about the constant out of nowhere plot developments. "Johnny's 100th Episode" is a particular standout as Mr. Mittens and Dark Vegan's reasons for wanting Johnny to come out of his coma come completely out of nowhere.
13	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Dukey's Johnny Applesauce Song is a catchy folk song.
14	* BaseBreakingCharacter: Johnny himself. Some people see him as a ButtMonkey and/or even [[JerkassWoobie somewhat of a woobie]] due to his horrid father and slightly crapsack life, while others hate him since he can be very whiny or despicable on occasion.
15	* BileFascination: Some people watch it because of how shoddy it is. It’s likely this reason is why Netflix picked it up for two more seasons.
16	* BrokenBase: Similar to ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', many people argue when the show went downhill. Exactly when did the series started going downhill? Was it early at Seasons 2-3, later at Seasons 4-6, or just at Seasons 5-6?
17	** On one hand season 2 makes sense since the animation took a massive dip, and the music changed to just the same repetitive cues, and the writing and pacing felt a bit different.
18	** Season 3 also makes sense since the animation became that of mostly rigging (but still alright) Warner Bros leaving production leaving Cookie Jar in charge, and the faster pacing than season 2, oh and the whipcracks starting.
19	** Season 4, because the animation took another dip with less expressive and cartoony stuff, and flanderization started.
20	** Season 5 & 6 also cause around this time, the series had been getting quite overaired, leading to many viewers' annoyance, not to mention this is when the aftermentioned whipcracks started to become more rampant, with it playing basically every single time someone moved a bodypart (mostly arms and hands), and it also reusing a-lot of plots from previous episodes or just having pretty ridiculous plots in general.
21	* ClicheStorm: This show is criticized for rehashing a lot of stock cartoon plots, including ''its own''.
22	* CriticalBacklash: While the show still maintains a very large hatebase, it's slowly starting to fall under this trope as well. While it isn't a ''bad'' show, people who watched it after hearing about the immense amount of hate it gets tend to have this reaction. Some episodes are enjoyable, but the show itself just had the unfortunate timing of being a flawed-but-decent cartoon that became AdoredByTheNetwork while Creator/CartoonNetwork was starting to undo its years of NetworkDecay. The fact that [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo CN's next series that would be considered overplayed by audiences]] is arguably even MORE adored by the network than ''Johnny Test'' was even at its height has added to this.
23	* CriticProof: The show's detractors will tell you that it's one of the worst cartoons ever made; the original show ran for six seasons and was the seventh most watched children's show on Netflix in 2020. The fact it got a revival at all, let alone it being able to get past its first season, is indicative that the show has a fanbase.
24	* DesignatedHero: One of the main flaws of the show, especially for the fans themselves, is that it's nearly impossible to root for any of the main characters at times given how shallow and unlikable they are.
25	** The title character can be a {{Jerkass}} from time to time, although it's mitigated by the fact that the rest of the cast isn't any better to him, either. While he does partake in his sisters' inventions for the sole reason of getting something from them, remember that not only do said sisters often experiment on him ''against his will'' but they also start a "coupon" system where Johnny has to partake in their dangerous tests if he wants any help from them, making them just as guilty of this. [[LaserGuidedKarma He's also frequently punished for his Jerkass behavior]] [[KarmaHoudini while other characters have gotten away with theirs at some points.]] Johnny's DesignatedHero status seems like less of a case of him being a Jerkass and more of a case of the show focusing on one out of many characters in a CrapsackWorld.
26	** Dukey, despite being the more level-headed one, isn't exempt from this either. While he ''does'' point out when Johnny is about to do something stupid and/or irresponsible, he's perfectly willing to join in with his friend's antics (And, if not, he's easily bribed with meat). One episode even had Dukey blatantly distracting Johnny from getting his schoolwork done causing Johnny to have to do extra credit (so he wouldn't have to go to summer school). Another infamous episode featured Dukey acting like a [=Jerkass=] dog (Including chewing up the sisters' belts and eating their food) causing said sisters' to invent an obedience collar for him to get him under control (albeit using him as a servant). In the end, it's ''Susan and Mary'' who end up being punished and Dukey and Johnny mock them for it. Again, Dukey is portrayed as a KarmaHoudini here. Not once is Dukey called out or punished for essentially putting Johnny in that situation in the first place (It's also OutOfCharacter for Dukey since he's often the more responsible one of the two).
27	** Susan and Mary are as likely as Johnny to put themselves, their family, and the world in danger with their inventions, and usually Johnny is the one who ends up fixing it.
28	* DesignatedVillain: In general, any character that's the source of conflicts with Johnny in any given episode falls into this trope, primarily because they're often portrayed as the ones in the wrong despite proving a point.
29	** Hugh ends up with this role more often than not, due to how strict he is towards his family. One such example occurs in "Johnny's Got a Brand New Dad", where Johnny and his sisters replace him with a robot because he won't let them do what they want to do or get them what they want. As shown at the beginning, however, Johnny attempted to perform a unicycle stunt on the roof, played with his dinner at the table, was about to eat a candy bar (which Hugh ''specifically said'' was bad for Johnny), and tried to climb in the alligator pit; meanwhile, and Susan and Mary asked for plutonium, both of which are potentially dangerous, yet the episode treats him like the villain for keeping his kids safe from harm. Hugh even has to ''explain'' to them that it's his job to keep them safe at the end of the episode.
30	** Lila falls in this role for similar reasons to Hugh; in that episode that have her provide a major focus portray her as strict and controlling by not letting Johnny do what he wants to do. One such case occurs in "Johnny Goes Nuts", where Johnny wants to attend the annual running with the squirrels race, and she forbids him from attending due to it being dangerous; she proves her point by showing him montage of most of the racers being attacked by the squirrels; yet, the episode treats her attempts of keeping Johnny away from the race, such as duct taping him and Dukey to lawn chairs and bolting his door with nails, as bad things, yet all she's doing is keeping her son safe. And at the end, when Lila ''does'' allows Johnny to participate, he gets trampled by the squirrels and hospitalized, proving her right all along.
31	** The hotel manager from "Johnny Test in 3-D". He's meant to be this due to him repeatedly wanting to expose Dukey to Hugh and Lila, but he's only doing his job (as well as the fact Johnny disobeyed his parents when they told him to drop Dukey off at the neighbor's house). And while Hugh and Lila eventually find out that Johnny ''did'' take Dukey behind their backs, Johnny largely goes unpunished while the hotel manager is basically forced to apologize to him, or else (in Lila's words) he will lose his job and Lila will pull her important conference out of the hotel and report to upper management that ''he's'' the reason why they lost her business.
32	** The truant officer from "Johnny Test's Day Off". He's only chasing Johnny throughout the episode because, like the hotel manager above, he's doing his job (not to mention Johnny was skipping school to begin with).
33	* DracoInLeatherPants: Bling-Bling Boy has this kind of following, mostly from having to put up with [[DesignatedHero Johnny]].
34	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
35	** Sissy is popular with the fans (especially shippers).
36	** [[ThoseTwoGuys Mr. Black and Mr. White]] are considered the best characters in the show by some fans due to their fun dynamic.
37	%%* EscapistCharacter: Johnny's clearly meant to be this for the show's target audience; "Got a head of fiery hair, and a turbo-charged backpack" indeed.
38	* FanonDiscontinuity: Most of the fandom considers it a "Season 1 only" show that Netflix happened to revive.
39	* FirstInstallmentWins: Despite the fact that its generally considered [[SoOkayItsAverage average]], the first season is still held up in ''much'' higher regard than [[SeasonalRot the rest of the series]].
40	* HilariousInHindsight:
41	** Johnny and the Mega Roboticles. If being the first cartoons to spoof ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' wasn't enough, it became a lot funnier when an [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct actual BIONICLE bootleg called "Roboticle"]] [[http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=2726&page=5 was spotted on store shelves.]]
42	** ...And in the same vain of Johnny Test spoofs, the episode Johnny'Mon featured a Pokémon parody called "Tiny'Mon", in which the weak Cuddlebuns is able to evolve into the legendary Screechereen (an {{Expy}} of Shadow Lugia from VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness). At the time, no Pokémon was able to evolve into a Legendary, (although the idea is similar to MagikarpPower)... but come VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon, we're introduced to Cosmog, which is [[LateArrivalSpoiler secretly]] capable of evolving into Solgaleo (in Sun) or Lunala (in Moon, along with Kufbu from VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield, a legendary Pokemon that evolves into Urshifu.
43	** In "Johnny Tube", High-Pitched Hal, the Fred Figglehorn {{Expy}}, becomes the most viewed video on [=SnoobTube=] and gets a movie. Shortly after the episode aired, Fred would get his own movie.
44	* HoYay: See [[HoYay/JohnnyTest here]].
45	* IronWoobie: Dukey is pretty much this, still having his cheerful, lovable sense of humor despite being a ButtMonkey.
46	* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Some fans are annoyed at the lack of character development in later seasons.
47	* JerkassWoobie:
48	** Susan may be a bit of a bitch, but she has a lot to put up with, what with Bling-Bling constantly trying to date her.
49	** If you think about it, Johnny is a huge one. His father is an [[AbusiveParents abusive]], strict JerkAss who often shows ParentalFavoritism towards his sisters and often punishes Johnny ''with'' his sisters [[GuiltByAssociation for things he had little to no part in]], he's frequently bullied and harassed at school, his mother is [[WhenYouComingHomeDad never around because of work]], his sisters rudely demand him to test things for them but get angry whenever he asks for something. Johnny's Jerkass behavior could seem like a strong case of TheDogBitesBack when you look at things from his perspective.
50	** From the Smarty Pants' point of view, Johnny is a bad boyfriend who only uses them to impress another girl.
51	* MemeticMutation:
52	** '''Whipcrack''' and ''guitar riff'', because of how the show abuses these two sound effects every chance it gets. In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wT4UbxQiTg this compilation]] of whipcracks (190 in ''one episode''), half of the comment section is people joking that the whipcracks are actually recordings of the animators being forced to work on the show.
53	** Johnny Testing my FUCKING PATIENCE!
54	** It's also one fourth of ''Fanfic/BeeShrekTestInTheHouse''.
55	** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3uVwxAoUdo I blew up Malaysia.]]"[[labelnote: Explaination]]In "Runaway Johnny", Mr. White gives this NonSequitur response to Johnny asking him why he and Mr. Black are police officers. The sheer absurdity of the answer is why many consider it to be one of the few jokes that stick the landing in the show.[[/labelnote]]
56	* {{Misblamed}}:
57	** A meta-example. People sometimes use this show to prove that [[MadeInCountryX all Canadian animation]] [[HitlerAteSugar is terrible]][[note]]Although it should be noted that Canadian TV in general is stereotyped as being entirely crap; it's not a stigma exclusive to the animated shows[[/note]]. What many people don't know or ignore is that creator Scott Fellows and Creator/JamesArnoldTaylor (Johnny's voice actor), along with most of the show's writers, are Americans. Furthermore, the series, itself a co-production with Creator/WarnerBrosAnimation (which co-owned the rights to the show for most of its original TV run), was made in association not just with Creator/{{Teletoon}}, but also the American networks it aired on, with Creator/KidsWB funding on the early seasons, Creator/CartoonNetwork funding Seasons 4-6 and Creator/{{Netflix}} for Seasons 7 and 8, meaning the show is actually part American.
58	** [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_content Canadian content laws]] are often used by people to explain why this widely-reviled show ran for as long as it did, claiming that the laws mandated a constant churn-out of animation. In reality, Canadian Content laws only require channels to air a certain amount of natively produced content every day and grant funding for Canadian-produced shows rather than requiring a constant production of TV shows; in fact the overwhelming majority of Canadian cartoons and Teletoon shows are {{Short Runner}}s (and contrary to what is frequently claimed, these laws have been around since the inception of Canadian television '''and''' also apply to ''live-action'' shows like ''Series/{{Degrassi\|The Next Generation}}'' and ''Series/TrailerParkBoys''). While ''Johnny Test'' did fulfill said content laws thanks to being partly produced by Cookie Jar Entertainment and partly funded by Teletoon, the real reason for its longevity was simply that its low budget and surprisingly good ratings allowed the networks (both the Canadian and American ones) to make profit very easily and thus motivated them to air it as much as possible and continue ordering new seasons.
59	** People frequently use the show as proof that Creator/{{Teletoon}} uses the cheapest and laziest possible production values for all its original productions, despite the fact Teletoon isn't even an animation studio (and doesn't even have an in-house one like Creator/CartoonNetwork does) and is simply just a network that just orders episodes, funds them, and gives executive notes to the production crew. The real producers of ''Johnny Test'' are Canada's Creator/CookieJarEntertainment (now part of current owners, Creator/WildBrain) and America's Creator/WarnerBrosAnimation, having been commissioned to make episodes of the show for Teletoon ''and'' Creator/CartoonNetwork (or Creator/KidsWB, in the case of the first three seasons). In fact, nowadays the [=WildBrain=]-owned Creator/FamilyChannel airs the show in Canada.
60	** Many detractors point their hatred for the show as being a copycat because it's too similar to ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory''. While that was a point of contention when it originally premiered, a good number of viewers were willing to look past it, as it was different enough not to be a carbon copy, and even welcomed it ''due'' to said similarities since Dexter had long since stopped airing. The ''true'' reason why it was hated was because Cartoon Network and Teletoon went overboard on broadcasting it, especially when it was used as a replacement for ''DC Nation'' in the U.S (which also suffered from CN's wonky programming schedule, and would ironically premiere the next overplayed series, ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo''). By this point, viewers had gotten sick of the constant airings and detractors started listing any faults they could find and exaggerating them to make it look like it was one of the worst cartoons ever.
61	%%* {{Narm}}: Rampant [[SeasonalRot after the first season]]; [[SoBadItsGood sometimes goes with the]] NarmCharm.
62	* OneSceneWonder:
63	** She-Johnny appeared for about a second in the very first episode, but that was enough to grant an awful lot of fanart; in fact, look it up on Website/DeviantArt or a related site.
64	** Vampire Susan and Mary, especially among the anti-''[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]'' fans. The gothic dresses they wear, and their creepy, yet charming dialogue helps.
65	** Joni West seems to be this, in fact she was so loved that she returned in The Lost Web Series.
66	* OlderThanTheyThink: This wasn't the first Cartoon Network show to use the whipcrack sound effect constantly. ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' used the whipcrack sound effect for its characters in almost every episode, usually whenever a character points.
67	* OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight: The first season had a completely different production team from the rest of the series, and while considered [[SoOkayItsAverage average]], it's still held in higher regard than the rest of the series.
68	* PeripheryDemographic: Due to Dukey and, well, [[UsefulNotes/FurryFandom furries]].
69	* TheScrappy: Hugh isn't liked for being such an authoritarian to his family; even the writers [[TheChewToy don't seem to like him a lot.]]
70	* SeasonalRot: Season 1 is pretty decent, and potential it showed, but things went a little bit downhill in Seasons 2 and 3, though not too bad and still had Scott mostly involved, and the comedy was mostly the same, then Season 4 saw a bigger dip in quality, with the pacing becoming way too fast and much more nosier, which was taken up to another level in seasons 5 and 6, when the infamous whip-crack sound started playing when a character moved one of their body parts..
71	* ShallowParody: One notable example is "[[Literature/TheHungerGames The Hungry Games]]", which is one of the racing episodes. The government-orchestrated fight between minors is instead made a race for the last pizza in town, and the episode ends with Johnny giving a lecture about sharing. However it could simply be that the title was chosen for the sake of a pun, and not because it was meant to indicate anything about the episode itself.
72	%%** "Johnny Re-Animated" has Dawg & Bone, a parody of ''Johnny Test'' itself.
73	%%* SoBadItsGood: More than a few fans will admit this.
74	* SoOkayItsAverage:
75	** A common opinion to those who don't vocally hate it. It's not a bad show, but there's nothing all that special about it either.
76	** The first season. While its decent and definitely shows some potential, it's still nothing to write home about.
77	* {{Squick}}:
78	** Johnny and Sissy look like siblings. Aside from that most likely unintentional instance, there's the writers' apparent fondness for ScrewYourself and everything related to it.
79	** The scene after the beginning minutes of "Johnnyitis" in which Johnny, desperate to become sick in order to have an excuse to miss a big history test, eats a sick woman's ''used tissue''. Said woman also had ''snot draining from her nose.''
80	* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmg-fnE7Das The show's second theme song]] to Music/GreenDay's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee_uujKuJMI "American]] [[Music/AmericanIdiot Idiot"]].
81	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Season 2 is this, but that's mostly due to some fans being put off by the shift in animation after Season 1.
82	* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks: The show shares more than a few similarities to ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', granted folks noticed this right from the off way back in season one and, as mention in Misblamed, did think the show was copying but cited it different enough. Still the more hardcore detractors see it as a fault for the following:
83	** Susan and Mary Test are obviously the Dexters of the show, being redheaded genius children with a laboratory in their house.
84	** Johnny is like Dee Dee, since both of them are DumbBlonde annoyances who constantly cause trouble for their genius siblings.
85	** Their parents are kind of like if one took Dexter's mom and dad and swapped their personalities, and then Flanderized them: Johnny's Dad is a major neat-freak, while Dexter's Mom had her moments of this; Johnny's Mom is the head of the house and always working, while Dexter's Dad was just the head of the household.
86	** Also, a female in the main cast is bothered by an AbhorrentAdmirer, who is another nerdy genius child with their own laboratory; Bling-Bling Boy is the Mandark of the show.
87	** Dukey can also be compared to Monkey, both being animals who have gained unusual abilities because of the genius children, Dukey's being talking while Monkey becomes a superhero.
88	** Let's not forget that there was also an episode of Dexter's Lab called "Dexter's Lab", in which Dexter finds a lost dog that he teaches to speak English.
89	** Not helping the show's case, the concept for Johnny Test was supposedly created in 1995. In other words, shortly after the first episode of Dexter's Laboratory aired in February 1995.
90	** Many of the people who worked on the third and fourth seasons of ''Dexter's Laboratory'' would move on to work on the first season of Johnny Test, sharing the same directors (Chris Savino), art directors (Paul Stec), and character designers (Andy Suriano).
91	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: One criticism is that a majority of the episode are Johnny focused and his antics that affect others. But rarely give the spotlight to any of the other characters outside him. Yeah there are subplots on occasion (Susan and Mary's attempts to woo Gil for one), but they hardly pop up in later seasons.
92	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Due to the above-explained reason, and the borderline lack of ADayInTheLimelight for supporting characters.
93	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The show is firmly a product of the mid-to-late-2000s--
94	** The parodies of popular kids' media, most notably that of [[Toys/{{Bionicle}} The Mega Roboticles]] (a parody of a toyline discontinued during the series original run and revived and discontinued again ''after'' its cancellation) [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot Smash Badger]] (a video game franchise that also went dark during its run and made a comeback ''after'' its cancellation) and [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Tinymon]] (instantly dating it to the time of the ''Pokémon'' craze of the 90s-2000s), [[WebVideo/{{Fred}} Hi-Pitch Hal]] (a parody of a [=YouTuber=] only popular in the late 2000s and early 2010s) and [[Film/{{Avatar}} Purple Space Cats from Outer Space]] (a parody of a 2009 film featured in the 2011 episode "Cat Scratch Johnny").
95	** Lila is the only member of the Test family to have a cell phone-- a 2000s-era flip phone, at that. None of her children own cell phones despite them respectively being teenagers attending junior high and an institute of technology. "[=iJohnny=]" has Johnny briefly mentioning how his sisters own cell phones; Hugh comments how Johnny is too young to have a cell phone and mentions how he'll lose it. In an age of smartphones, device tracking, and kids as young as Johnny's age having smartphones, Hugh's comments become laughable.
96	* TheWoobie: Dukey, who always seems to get frozen in a block of ice or turned to stone. Also, the episode "Bathtime for Johnny", where Johnny "forgot" his birthday and he sobbed his heart out for nearly the whole episode. Last but not least, most people go out of their way in the show to point out how ugly he is.
97	** Mary and Susan, on occasion. Most notable in “Gil-Stopping Johnny”, where the idea that Gil will move away, rendering all their scientific endeavours for naught, is enough to make them almost give up science forever.
98	[[/folder]]
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100	[[folder:2021 revival series]]
101	* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: The updated animation style is one of the more praised improvements to the revival series as the characters are a lot more expressive in terms of movement, and the color palette is very gleamed. It helps that Stephen Silver, who is best known for his character design concepts from shows like ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' and ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', provided design concepts for this series.
102	* ItsShortSoItSucks: Some fans feel this way about the new theme song, which is only about thirteen or fourteen seconds long.
103	* SignatureScene: The librarian robbing Johnny of his voice ''and'' the whipcrack sound effects in "The Silence of the Johnny" is generally seen as one of the funniest scenes in the reboot due to its [[SelfDeprecation self-deprecatory]] tone.
104	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The switch from TwoShorts to a simple QuarterHourShort format didn't seem to be taken well by some fans, since it mimics the feel of how Creator/CartoonNetwork has aired its shows since TheNewTens.
105	* WinBackTheCrowd: While the original series never had much of a strong fanbase to begin with, the revival series is considered a massive step up from the original series. The revival has received praise for its improved animation (it helps that the above-mentioned Stephen Silver designed the character models), more creative episode plots that help flesh it out more than the original's episode plots (they were given flak for lazily copying other shows such as ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory''), improved comedy (such as the episode "The Silence of the Johnny", which featured SelfDeprecation towards the show's overuse of the whip-cracking sound effect), and the characters being much better written (namely Johnny as he TookALevelInKindness, and his failed attempts at being edgy are downplayed).
106	[[/folder]]
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Context YMMV / JohnnyTest