Being one of Cartoon Network's biggest hits of The New '10s, it's inevitable that The Amazing World of Gumball would gain a divide among fans large enough to warrant a page dedicated to it.
- Although you probably won't see very many people debate on it anymore, the new art-style that the show started using after Season 1 was predictably divisive. People either embraced the redesigns and more cartoonish look, were turned off at first but got used to it overtime, didn't notice it at all or were just straight-up dismissive of it and preferred the look of season 1 instead.
- Fans were also divided on whether or not Jacob Hopkins and Terrell Ransom Jr. made for good replacements of Logan Grove and Kwesi Boakye in voicing Gumball and Darwin, with some fans claiming that the vocal change has ruined the show while others were put off by the change at first, but now don't notice or care, so long as the rest of the show is still good. The same arguments were used when Nicolas Cantu and Donielle Hansley, Jr. (and later, Christian J. Simon) were hired as replacements for Jacob Hopkins and Terrell Ransom Jr.
- Similarly, some people (mostly fan artists who were used to drawing her as a doe-nut or people who thought she'd be a deer under her shell) thought Penny breaking from her shell hurt the show while others either embraced the new her or were put off with it at first, but now hardly notice or care, since she and Gumball are now a bit more open with their love.
- Opinions are divided on the show's use of internet memes. Either it was funny and brilliantly done or cringy and a sign that the writers were trying too hard to connect to modern audiences.
- The Gumball and Carmen social justice warrior battle in "The Best" has caused a minor controversy among people on whether it was hilarious and an accurate Take That! moment or cringe-worthy and too much of a strawman.
- Is "The Candidate" a fun, sharp, intelligent and unique spoof of elections and election episodes starring the kids of Elmore? Or is it a preachy, condescending, naive and overly-partisan view of American politics (as told by people who aren't even American, as most of the Gumball staff are from the UK and continental Europe) that relies too much on shallow strawmen?
- "The Shippening" immediately became controversial not too long after its premiere. Many fans found the episode hilarious for poking fun at fanfic writers and fanartists who create weird ships, uninspired OCs, and animesque fanart. Others, however, especially the very type of people that the episode was mocking (weird or not), disliked the episode for being a very blatant and somewhat mean-spirited jab towards the fan works, with some having interpreted the episode as making fun of the fandom and fan works in general.
- Is "The Parents" a heartwarming tale about a woman and her estranged family swallowing their pride and letting go of the past so they can finally reconcile after years of separation? Or is it a lackluster sequel to "The Choices" (in which one of the biggest tear jerkers, the fact Nicole's parents didn’t show up to her wedding, was revealed to be due to them mistaking RSVP for a town in Moldova) that sends out a rather bad message about how you should always want to keep your Abusive Parents in your life, no matter how badly they treated you for years, simply because they're family?
- The exaggerated faces made in the later seasons, (especially Seasons 5 and 6), especially the so-called "The Face
◊". Are they funny and creative, or just unnecessary and stupid? - "The Inquisition", the original Grand Finale, quickly became one of the series' most divisive episodes:
- Is the episode a good finale to the series using its length wisely, having the entirety of Elmore Jr. High sent off with a fascinatingly menacing villain to boot, on top of still finding a way to be funny despite the darker tone of the episode, and does a wonderful job with its climax hyping up the (maybe) Big Damn Movie or was it so much of a failure that only the (as yet unmade) finale movie can fix it?
- Additionally, did the episode really end on a disappointing cliffhangernote or (considering how much the Gumball crew likes to play around with the tropes and conventions of visual media) was this Ben and company trying to give a cynical show a cynical ending and the audience that's used to big finales with conclusive and satisfying endings not understanding it or taking it as a sign that the staff didn't care about the show anymore and just threw an ending together at the behest of the executives (given that Ben Bocquelet tweeted that the finale episode wasn't what he envisioned and that the as-yet unmade movie would fix everything, this may be a possibility)?
- The more cynical and satirical tone of the later seasons. One half of the fanbase feel it improves the show by taking advantage of its trippy setting to add a fair dosage of dark humor while giving the feel of reality with its clever jabs towards modern day issues. The other half feel that the tone adds an unnecessarily mean edge to what they feel should have been a light-hearted and fun show.
- Fans are also divided over the incredibly surreal nature of the series post-Season 1. Most fans were happy with the show actually doing something with its bizarre world and developing a practically limitless possibility of over-the-top humor. However, there are more than a few fans who wish the series stook with the (relatively) more down-to-earth nature of the first season, feeling that the show became too over reliant on surrealism in its later seasons.
- As the series went on, there were debates over which of the post-Season 2 seasons was the best overall. Was it Season 3 for the Denser and Wackier nature and surprising amounts of heart? Season 4 for Revisiting the Roots of the first two seasons, increased character building and refining the series itself? Season 5 for the Sequel Escalation that involved more satirical screwed-up jabs that's closer to South Park than the other seasons? Or Season 6 for the major increase in 4th wall breaking?
- For that matter, there were also debates over which season was the weakest overall. Season 1 due to its Early-Installment Weirdness? Season 2 due to the Art Shift and the more mean-spirited tone? Season 3 because of the aforementioned Denser and Wackier nature? Season 4 for featuring too much depth in what is supposed to be a surreal comedy show (albeit without removing much of said surrealism and comedy), as well as its usage of internet memes? Season 5 for focusing too much on political satire and Black Comedy? Or Season 6 for becoming too self-aware of itself?
