History YMMV / CloneHigh

* {{Squick}}: Invoked whenever Cleo and JFK kiss. Their tongues wrap around one another like snakes and make a loud, slimy sound to be as hilariously gross as possible.

** JFK takes to the prospect of being attracted to men rather quickly when he develops a crush on [[SweetOnPollyOliver "John Dark"]] (and his foster parents ''are'' a gay couple). And then there's his "best friend forever" Ponce in episode 10, complete with break-up and incessant weeping and crawling into the coffin. Late in that same episode, Abe holds him on the Thinking Dock and kisses his forehead.

* TheScrappy: While most of the second generation clones eventually grew on the fandom, a notable exception is Harriet Tubman. This is for various reasons such as her design being seen as unnecessarily loud and colorful even compared to the other new clones, her existence retconning the more popular original Harriet Tubman from the first season, her role in the new cast being seen as less defined than the rest of the clones, and [[spoiler:her being involved in a love triangle that put the highly popular JoanFK ship in serious jeopardy.]]

** The revival's premiere, "Let's Try This Again", could have been an episode about all the first-generation clones (except Joan, who's part of the Inclusivity Committee) getting canceled by the second-generation clones for using outdated slang from 2003, leading to all of the G1 clones getting sent to the canceled corner and ultimately, an [[MobWar war between the two generations]] on the battlefields of the school grounds. Joan would have to end it all by calling out the second-generation clones for being so impatient and unforgiving against people from a different time, helping reunite the two generations for unity week. Unfortunately, the new writers hated Abe's character so much, that they turned the episode into a [[HumiliationConga humiliation conga]] for him, where he was the ''only'' G1 clone to get canceled [[note]](This also creates a plothole, as somehow, all the other G1 clones somehow automatically knew not to use this kind of verbiage, despite coming from the exact same time as he did.)[[/note]] and ended up becoming a social pariah and getting [[ButtMonkey physically abused]] by everyone else in the entire school.

** While the reception of most of the new characters introduced in the revival has been somewhat mixed, the most popular seems to be Topher Bus in spite of his relative lack of focus compared to others like Harriet and Frida, mainly due to his entertaining LoveToHate status and his simpler, more muted colored design in contrast to the more contested colorful designs of the new clones.

* CatharsisFactor: [[spoiler:After Joan's treatment of Abe throughout Season 2, as well as her treatment of all the other clones in the finale, her becoming a social pariah upon Candide showing the clones camera footage of Joan getting them elimated in the Death Maze felt very satisfying to many fans.]]

* DesignatedMonkey: Abe is turned into this in the revival, due to new staff members on the writing team hating his character. They thought the fans would like it if they turned him into a [[ButtMonkey butt monkey]] and did things like have everyone in the school pour hot sauce into his flesh wounds in "Let's Try This Again", have Frida sing an entire [[TheDissTrack song]] about his white guy confidence in "Some Talking, Mostly Singing", and having Joan unfriend him completely in "Saved by the Knoll". However, fans didn't find this amusing, citing Abe's abuse to be undeserved. [[KarmicOverkill needlessly cruel]], and also unfair, since other characters in the show have committed sins that were just as bad, if not, worse than him (i.e. Cleo, JFK, Harriet, Joan) but received little to no punishment, whatsoever.

* {{Adorkable}}: JFK comes off as this and is adored by the fanbase thanks to his goofy personality when not being an archetypal asshole jock.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Creator/WillForte once described the series as "Niche [=TV=] before niche [=TV=] existed." It arrived a decade too early for the age of binge-watching and streaming services, which are much kinder to quirky, serialized shows.

** Many people who experienced SleepDeprivation in high school have said that the half-joking SleepAesop in "Sleep of Faith" was more germane than most of the heavy topics covered in ''actual'' teen dramas!

** Co-creator and voice of JFK Chris Miller has acknowledged that the show's [[EveryoneHasLotsOfSex over-the-top depictions of teen promiscuity]] could only have existed in the early 2000s, when teen {{sex comed|y}}ies and {{jailbait}} pop stars were all the rage. The resurgence of the show's popularity in the 2020s, on the contrary, led to some discourse over whether the sexualization of the characters (albeit tongue-in-cheek) was too inappropriate, as gratuitous sex between underage characters is now more controversial among the show's target demographic. The Season 2 theme song noticeably dials down the "sexy teens" angle of the show's premise, and designs of the younger clones have less provocative designs, though the sex comedy is still present due to the GrandfatherClause.

* DesignatedMonkey: Abe turned into this in the reboot, due to new staff members on the writing team hating his character. They thought the fans would like it if they turned him into a [[ButtMonkey butt monkey]] and did things like have everyone in the school pour hot sauce into his flesh wounds in "Let's Try This Again", have Frida sing an entire [[TheDissTrack song]] about his white guy confidence in "Some Talking, Mostly Singing", and having Joan unfriend him completely in "Saved by the Knoll". However, fans didn't find this amusing, citing Abe's abuse to be undeserved. [[KarmicOverkill needlessly cruel]], and also unfair, since other characters in the show have committed sins that were just as bad, if not, worse than him (i.e. Cleo, JFK, Harriet, Joan) but received little to no punishment, whatsoever.

* DesignatedMonkey: Abe turned into this in the reboot, due to new staff members on the writing team hating his character. They thought the fans would like it if they turned him into a [[ButtMonkey butt monkey]] and did things like have everyone in the school pour hot sauce into his flesh wounds in "Let's Try This Again", have Frida sing an entire [[TheDissTrack song]] about his white guy confidence in "Some Talking, Mostly Singing", and having Joan unfriend him completely in "Saved by the Knoll". However, fans didn't find this amusing, citing Abe's abuse to be undeserved. [[KarmicOverkill needlessly cruel]], and also unfair, since other characters in the show have committed sins that were just as bad, if not, worse than him (i.e. Cleo, JFK, Harriet) but received little to no punishment, whatsoever.

** In the show, Principal Scudworth is guilty of murder, mutilation, slave-driving, and attempted world domination. However, lots of fanart depicts him in a flattering manner, albeit most likely in an ironic way. Such fanart depicts him as things like an anime chibi, an [[{{Adorkable}} adorkable]] lovestruck romantic, or someone whos in a relationship with [[HoYay Mr. Butlertron or a Shadowy Figure]].

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Abe. People either adore him as a charming and relatable, top-notch main character or see him as a bland VanillaProtagonist. Then there's a third camp made up of those who dislike him for [[InnocentlyInsensitive how he treats Joan, ignoring her feelings and innocently insulting her]]. The creators of the show are aware of how the fandom perceives Abe, with them commenting how the things that made Abe likable in the original series have now made him look like an asshole (just as the things which made Joan an outcast in 2003 make her cool in 2023) and will be portraying him with this in mind. This ended up backfiring and creating a fourth camp that thinks while Abe is a jerk at times, the second season [[KarmaticOverkill went way too far in punishing him]] especially for things that weren't even his fault.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Abe. People either adore him as a charming and relatable, top-notch main character or see him as a bland VanillaProtagonist. Then there's a third camp made up of those who dislike him for [[InnocentlyInsensitive how he treats Joan, ignoring her feelings and innocently insulting her]]. The creators of the show are aware of how the fandom perceives Abe, with them commenting how the things that made Abe likable in the original series have now made him look like an asshole (just as the things which made Joan an outcast in 2003 make her cool in 2023) and will be portraying him with this in mind.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The show was given a fast death due to this. It was a show about the clones of famous historical figures, whose personalities ranged from flanderizations of its originals to radically opposite of those, in a way that rendered them [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonists]]. Its portrayal of Clone!Mahatma Gandhi as a jerkass party animal also sparked protest in India, as Gandhi is a ''very'' revered figure there.

* EvilIsSexy: She may be the the main villain of Season 2 and a reprehensible person in general, but Candide Sampson has her fans due to her [[HartmanHips really wide hips]] and form-fitting pants.

** Topher Bus, despite the reboot featuring him as part of the new cast, could have done more to explore him trying to distance himself from his clonefather and featuring more major plotlines in the reboot. Instead the show barely features him in the reboot being more of a secondary character and only briefly appearing as an antagonist to Abe.
** Unlike the original series, the clones outside of the main cast both old and new are barely as prominent in the reboot, mostly making silent cameos and receive very little screentime and don't display any characterization or interactions with each other or with the main characters, losing any potential historical jokes like in the original. It also doesn't help that many of the names of the second - generation clones are only known through WordOfGod or The Clone High wiki.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The reboot tends to do this a lot.
** Season 1 was most likely setting up a [[BlendedFamilyDrama blended family drama]] plot, where [[spoiler:Toots and Cleo's Drunk Foster Mom got married, forcing archenemies, Joan and Cleo to [[SiblingRivalry become sisters]].]] However, this plotline was destroyed in the reboot, when [[spoiler:they had Toots [[KilledOffscreen killed offscreen]] and written out of the show, completely.]]
** The reboot premiere, "Let's Try This Again", could have been an episode about all the first-generation clones (except Joan, who's part of the Inclusivity Committee) getting canceled by the second-generation clones for using outdated slang from 2003, leading to all of the G1 clones getting sent to the canceled corner and ultimately, an [[MobWar war between the two generations]] on the battlefields of the school grounds. Joan would have to end it all by calling out the second-generation clones for being so impatient and unforgiving against people from a different time, helping reunite the two generations for unity week. Unfortunately, the new writers hated Abe's character so much, that they turned the episode into a [[HumiliationConga humiliation conga]] for him, where he was the ''only'' G1 clone to get canceled [[note]](This also creates a plothole, as somehow, all the other G1 clones somehow automatically knew not to use this kind of verbiage, despite coming from the exact same time as he did.)[[/note]] and ended up becoming a social pariah and getting [[ButtMonkey physically abused]] by everyone else in the entire school.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The show was given a fast death due to this. It was a show about the clones of famous historical figures, whose personalities ranged from flanderizations of its originals to radically opposite of those, in a way that rendered them UnsympatheticComedyProtagonists. Its portrayal of Clone!Mahatma Gandhi as a jerkass party animal also sparked protest in India, as Gandhi is a ''very'' revered figure there.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: The show's premise being that it was about a UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist cast of high school-age clones of revered historical figures was probably too avant-garde for its time.