Cartoon Sidekicks.

watching this video got me thinking about sidekicks, so i thought i'd make a thread where we can discuss them. i'm not limiting this to just western animation; animated media from anywhere on the globe from any era counts. let's start with a few icebreaker questions:

• what defines a sidekick?
• who do you think were the best?
• who do you think were the worst?
• what has the sidekick contributed to animated media as a whole?
• who do you think has the coolest outfit?

edited 18th Oct '13 8:16:13 PM by crimsonstorm15

This is how I define a sidekick. In every group that contains at least two people and has a set leader, the other people in that group are the sidekicks.

Some of my favorite sidekicks:

• Goofy and PJ on Goof Troop (and Bobby in the movies)
• Yao, Ling, and Chien Po in Mulan
• Ace and Goon on Pelswick
• Heffer and Filburt on Rocko's Modern Life
• Ed and Edd on Ed, Edd n Eddy
• Chuckie on Rugrats
• Smithers and Milhouse on The Simpsons
• Kirby, Lampy, Radio, and Blanket in The Brave Little Toaster

but who would be the sidekick in a group of two co-stars, like in Monsters Inc? i suppose it could be Boo, but she's more of a MacGuffin Girl.

edited 19th Oct '13 6:34:46 AM by crimsonstorm15

Skeeter is best comedy sidekick. Pinkie Pie is best second-in-command character.

Yes, Skeeter is so cool because he doesn't care that he's such a dork! But the thing about your My Little Pony example is, Spike always makes a great sidekick to anyone in the cast; yet when Spike gets his own episode, the writers seem to have no idea what to do with him and fall back on the tritest sitcom conventions or offensive implications about dragon culture. What the heck?

Does Rigby count as a sidekick?

i thought he was more of a co-star than a sidekick.

Just one more reason I don't consider FIM to be best show, nor ever will - they're fucking with the character I like the most, who otherwise is a sidekick, but an awesome one at that!

As for contributing a proper example: Chris from Dan Vs. Nuff' Said.

He's so down to Earth, he's funny. But his only stick was that he... loved to eat a lot. That's pretty lowbrow boring for a comedy show.

2nd best sidekick: Shoutmon from Digimon Xros wars dub, so far.