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  • Awesome Art: Unsurprisingly, given that the show was created by Mercury Filmworks, Atomic Puppet's art and animation is nothing short of amazing, with its splendid backgrounds, excellent character designs, fluid movement, dynamic action, and vibrant color palette.
    • Some of the promo posters for the show are amazingly designed, such as the one on the main page.
  • Base-Breaking Character:
    • Mookie. Some fans are extremely sympathetic towards him (See Jerkass Woobie below), but others find him obnoxious (though his Chew Toy status softens it in a Take That, Scrappy! manner).
    • Phil is a lesser example, as some people see him as a Jerkass due to how frequently he badmouths AP and seems to care more for his dopey cat than his family at times. Others find him to be quite likable since he's also shown to be a very good dad who actually does care a lot about his family, especially his son.
  • Cargo Ship: Two In-Universe examples from AP — falling in love with a pickle he was trapped in a jar with and displaying attraction towards Abbie's Barbie-like doll.
  • Crazy is Cool: Mintenberg. How many other rich jerks can constantly put the protagonists in danger and act obnoxious but still be totally hilarious and fun to watch because of how batshit insane they are? Seriously, this guy has a helicopter that wears bunny slippers.
  • Critical Dissonance: Atomic Puppet received a lot of rave reviews from professional critics and animators, who praised its splendid animation and action, and entertaining premise and execution, earning the show a number of high-profile award nominations, including the Annie Awards and the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Awards (competing with the enormously popular Loud House and the freakin' Simpsons for the title of "Best Animated TV Series"), and the Dallas Morning News (one of the 20 largest newspapers in the US) calling it "a hoot of a superhero show". On the other hand, cartoon fans mostly dismissed the show as So Okay, It's Average, with audience reviews on websites like IMDb and Common Sense Media being typically middling (although the show does have its fans).
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Pauline caught on with many viewers big time due to her cute design and sassy personality. "Sword Sisters" definitely helped boost it.
    • Rudolph Mintenberg and Princess War Tickle have a lot of fans as well, although they only appear semi-regularly.
    • Among the Rogues Gallery, Professor Tite-Gripp and Naughty Kitty are probably the most popular, with the latter often due to being a Cat Girl based on Eartha Kitt and Sofia Vergara.
    • The redheaded rookie cop seen briefly in "Atomic Hairball" has received her share of fans thanks to her cute design. As did the cat-obsessed brunette with the glasses and the oversized sweater from "AP vs. Disastro".
    • Commander Atomic and Puppet Boy get a lot of fanart for characters who only appeared in a single episode.
  • Fan Nickname: Mookie's appearance in "The Big Shift" when he battles Atomic Puppet alongside Professor Tite-Gripp has been nicknamed "Edgelord Subatomic" by some fans for the grim-looking Powered Armour he wears and transformation from wannabe hero to outright villain.
  • Foe Yay Shipping: Joey/Warren has a bit of a fanbase, despite the fact that Joey finds Warren to be a nuisance most of the time. It might have something to do with Warren's hobby of spying on him.
  • Friendly Fandoms: With Fangbone! and Counterfeit Cat, due to both shows being originally from Canada, having similar tone and direction, and sharing the same unfortunate fate and timeslot when shown on Disney XD.
  • Growing the Beard: The show was clumsy in its blend of humor and action initially, but managed to produce a few gems like "Sword Sisters" and "Justice Alliance". However, as the series progressed and the writers got a better sense of what they wanted to do (even dumping out most of their early plot ideas about halfway through the season to start fresh), a greater emphasis was put on action, the writing got more creative and ambitious, the characters and setting were further developed, and the emotional core of the show was strengthened, while the show never forgot its lighthearted tone and maintained its gorgeous visuals. All this paid off in the series finale, "The Big Shift", which created two major changes in the show's status quo — Joey revealing his secret identity to his dad and Mookie going from bumbling former sidekick to full-blown villain. And despite the series' early cancellation, Word of God confirms this trend would have continued had the series gotten a second season.
  • Ho Yay:
    • AP towards the Ken-like doll Travis in "Lacer takes Over". When Atomic Puppet finds out that Lacer is in their house, the duo rush off with Joey intent on saving his family while AP prioritizes the doll, whom Lacer has done a Grand Theft Me on, because "we've all got loved ones". Not to mention, he's nearly inconsolable when the "surgery" on Travis seemingly fails to revives him.
    • Commander Cavalier is often seen with his arm around Crimson Beacon's shoulder for no apparent reason, and in one episode, they're even holding hands. Take a looksie.
  • Jerkass Woobie:
    • AP. Sure, he's extremely egotistical, but he's shown to be deeply unhappy about his state. He knows that he's powerless without Joey, he's often afraid that his old friends won't take him back for being a sock puppet, and the city he loves thinks he's abandoned them. The guy's in a pretty rough state as a sock puppet.
    • Mookie definitely isn't the nicest guy to have taken the mantle of sidekick and has done some pretty evil things to try overthrow Atomic Puppet as Mega City's protector, but when one considers Captain Atomic's mistreatment towards him and the constant ridicule he faced, it becomes pretty understandable why he betrayed Captain Atomic.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Mookie goes through this in "The Big Shift" as he turns from a wannabe superhero into a villain. While masterminding the prison breakout was bad enough, he definitely crosses it when he breaks into the Felts' home, ties up Phil to blackmail Joey into giving him AP, and then electrocutes Phil in front of Joey's eyes when Joey manages to get AP back.
  • Narm Charm: Used intentionally and masterfully. The show takes quite a bit of inspiration from The Silver Age of Comic Books and campy superhero shows (like Superfriends and the Adam West Batman) of the period as seen in some of the wackier plots, Atomic Puppet's gimmicks (the puns, the victory poses, the entire concept of a superhero kid with a talking puppet), and the more ridiculous things (such as an invisible toolshed). In any other superhero cartoon, any of these would be just too silly, but it all works so well in Atomic Puppet because the show's weird premise blending comedy and action.
  • Nausea Fuel:
    • In "Hero's Holiday", Commander Cavalier realizes he hasn't made AP his favorite eggnog, but since there's no time to do it, he gets Robo-Ron to get the bowl from last year. AP then drinks the chunky, expired eggnog without noticing anything.
    • In "Big Blowout", Joey gets raw egg yolk in his hair, so he squeezes it out of his hair to make an omelette. The result is a green, mushy mess with bits of hair and eggshell that Joey eats up (though he clearly doesn't enjoy it).
  • Self-Fanservice: Pauline seems to get this a lot on some parts of the Internet...
  • Shocking Moments: The second half of "The Big Shift" has so many big wham moments that it's still pretty hard to believe it's the same show when comparing to the early episodes.
  • Squick: Sometimes. "Tick'd Off" is a good example, though "Sick Day" can get a bit nasty.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Pauline's time as Sword Sister was a missed opportunity. What we saw of her in that episode was pretty awesome on its own, but it would have been even more awesome if she got to remain Sword Sister for the rest of the series (perhaps Princess War Tickle could have trained her to use the Sword of Enlightenment or given her some other weapon), allowing her to assist Joey and AP as more than just as their sassy Muggle Best Friend.
  • Too Good to Last: The show was positively received by critics and the professional animation community for having a good refining art style with a favorable amount of action in between episodes and characters, as well as great deal of Growing the Beard. However, it only lasted for one season, with no word on whether the show would be renewed despite the massive amount of promising potential it showed.
  • Toy Ship: Yes, there is a fandom for Joey/Pauline.
  • Ugly Cute: AP is this to some fans, since despite his tempestuous personality and shabby appearance, he is still a little sock puppet with button eyes, a tiny cape, and a flapping mouth.

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