History YMMV / DextersLaboratory

** Mandark's backstory, as the son of peace-loving flower child parents that attempt to defy preconceived gender notions by naming him "Susan". Back then, this made Mandark the butt of the joke, with greater emphasis placed on how the evil and cruel genius had such a feminine name. Moreover, Dexter makes fun of his feminine appearance and name in "A boy named Susan", and this isn't depicted as wrong or inappropiate (even though it leads to Mandark swearing revenge against him for eternity). Nowadays, greater gender awareness would make it impossible for such a joke to be done.

** In an age of greater LGBTQ+ awareness, Mandark's parents trying their hardest to feminize him feels a lot more cruel. It's obvious that the joke is supposed to be that the evil Mandark was born to peace-loving flower child parents, but they also force him into a gender role he hates (and the fact he's biologically male) and give him a distinctly feminine name which he hates even more, both of which are common struggles for gay and transgender people. The modern progressive climate also makes it outright strange for hippie parents to aggressively gender their child and discourage an interest in science, two things which extremely left-leaning people in the 21st century are vehemently against.

* SeasonalRot: Seasons 3 and 4, the two seasons made [[ExecutiveMeddling without the]] ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack''[[ExecutiveMeddling -bound Genndy Tartakovsky after the show was]] UnCancelled, are considered this due to lackluster plots (with slow pacing), {{Flanderization}}, and a new, more bland-looking art style. Plus, they got rid of the Justice Friends and Dial M for Monkey segments. Additionally, the titular laboratory [[InNameOnly is barely even a factor in most episodes]]. Most storylines of the later episodes involve the characters engaging in everyday activities such as Dexter playing chess, Dad playing golf, [=Dee Dee=] dying Dexter's hair blonde, and so on. In fact, the final episodes of the show are about: a) Dexter and [=Dee Dee=] learning Karate; b) Dexter writing poetry; c) [=Dee Dee=] going nuts over an ostrich (Which, funnily enough, was written by Genndy). Season 4, though, does have better-looking backgrounds and some of the character designs looking more in line with the first two seasons with their rounder approach instead of looking sharp and angular.

* [[EnsembleDarkHorse/DextersLaboratory Ensemble Darkhorse]]

* FanPreferredCouple: Despite Mandark canonically having a crush on Dee Dee (and some ShipTease with her), a lot of fans prefer to ship [[FoeYayShipping Mandark and Dexter]].

** Dexter's egomaniac of a Detention Warden from "Dexter Detention", [[CatchPhrase you criminals]]!

* BestKnownForTheFanservice: One of things most fans will remember about this show are Dexter's Mom's generous set of HartmanHips.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: It's strange to think that many of the pop culture references in this show are to movies, comics and games that had only [[AppealToObscurity niche geek appeal in 1995]], such as ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'', ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', and even some of the less famous scenes from ''Franchise/StarWars'', now that they've all become accepted parts of greater popular culture. Alternatively, many of these references are actually funnier now that more people recognize them (it helps that they were all genuine AuthorAppeal rather than [[ShallowParody cheap references]], meaning they hold up better).

* SelfFanservice:
** Dexter and Mandark get a lot of this in fanart.
** Dee Dee gets her fair share of this, especially when most artists think she'll take after [[HartmanHips her mom.]] It doesn't help that Dexter once described Dee Dee as "[[InformedDeformity her hips a bit meaty]]".

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: The ending theme is a rather blatant sound-alike of the theme from ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian'', which Genndy Tartakovsky has frequently cited as his favorite movie. They even got [[Creator/{{Mako}} The Wizard]] (and future star of [[WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack Genndy Tartakovsky's other show]]) to narrate over it!

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: ''Dad Is Disturbed'' has the rest of the family changing the channel from Dad's golf game while he's in the bathroom, much to his aggravation, causing him to resort to watching the rest of the at Barney Rubble's house. Had the episode taken place in the 2010s-20s, Dad could've easily have just watched the rest of the golf game on demand.
* ValuesDissonance:

** The Neighbor Lady from the episode "Nuclear Confusion", more for the gag about the words "Dad's Trophy" [[RearEndWriting branded across her massive butt cheeks.]]

** The Neighbor Lady from the episode "Nuclear Confusion", more for the gag about the words "Dad's Trophy" branded across her massive butt cheeks.

** An inoffensive example. In one episode, Dexter meets a bunch of doll collectors who freak out when a collector's box is opened. This viewpoint is not quite as common as it was in the 1990s, as many doll collectors now open their boxes.

* NeverLiveItDown: Despite Dexter's Dad normally being a loving, if not [[BumblingDad bumbling father]] towards Dexter and Dee-Dee, a lot of fans have not forgiven him for punishing Dexter by making him sleep in the doghouse in ''The Old Switcharooms''.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
** Thanks to ''VideoGame/FusionFall'' (and mildly ''Ego Trip''), Dexter has been seen as BadassBookworm and a charismatic leader of men.
** Quite a few fans believe Dexter has Asperger's syndrome, or something similar.
** Likewise, one could argue that Dexter's Mom has a form of OCD, especially if the Mother's Day episode and the episode where she was dating his dad when they were teens is anything to go by.
** Even Dee Dee is often seen as having a form of ADHD.
** How much of this show is just happening in Dexter's head? The constant ResetButton could be an indication of this.
** Is Dexter actually the smarter sibling, or just the more motivated one? There are plenty of episodes that indicate Dee Dee actually understands all of Dexter's technology (sometimes better than Dexter does), she just doesn't have the inclination to put her knowledge to use.
** Considering the somewhat unethical nature of some of Dexter's experiments opens up another can of worms entirely. Does Dexter have a darker side, is this the normal scientific train of thought, or is Dexter just a young and somewhat naive kid whose moral compass is still being formed?
** Is Dee Dee an intentionally annoying sibling, oblivious to how annoying she can be, or is she just a sister who wants to bond with her nerdy, introverted little brother? A little of them all? Even the show itself varies on her.
** Is Dexter truly tormented by his sister? Or is it really his own inflated ego causing him problems? Dexter fancies himself as some kind of genius but for some reason he makes some of the most ridiculously flawed and impractical inventions that are easily destroyed by Dee Dee. In the same note, is Dee Dee tormenting Dexter for lulz, or is she really trying to teach him to improve as an inventor/designer and see the flaws of his own designs that he ignores (or outright refuses) to see due to his own ego? Consider "Dexter's Assistant," in which Dexter makes Dee Dee intelligent and articulate so she can be his lab assistant, only for him to ignore all of her (correct) predictions that his experiments will fail and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard suffer as a result]]. He even takes his anger out on the CymbalBangingMonkey that she gives him before leaving!
** In "Dimwit Dexter," are the neighborhood kids pointing and laughing at Dexter's mental breakdown-induced stupidity or are they entertained by how off-the-wall his antics are? Consider how they both chant his name and cheer when he [[spoiler:[[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext kisses a duck's butt]]]] at the end.
** The nameless Voiceless creepy eyed girl from "Aye Aye Eyes" has a crush on Dexter and Dexter assumes that if he doesn't become her boyfriend she would tell everyone about his secret laboratory despite the fact the girl never speaks in the entire episode. Question is that is she really mute or is Dexter not taking any chances in case she really does talk.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:
** The shorts "Dial M for Monkey" and "The Justice Friends" are just as popular if not more so than the main ''Dexter'' shorts, in a better case, the latter.
** Huntor, the villain of the "Dial M for Monkey" short of the same name. Surprisingly, his design was well-liked enough to earn him a cameo in ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', to the point of him becoming the "bounty hunter" template for ''[[VideoGame/SamuraiJackBattleThroughTime Battle Through Time]]''.
** Lisa the babysitter. She only appears in a very early episode of the series and never shows up again after that. But look up any fanart of her and you'd be surprised at how much of it there is. [[HartmanHips Guess]] [[{{Fanservice}} why.]]
*** For similar reasons, The Touchy-Feely Neighbor Lady, Midge the waitress and Candi, the Dee Dee replacement, are widely remembered despite only appearing in one episode each.
** Mandark's abrasive younger sister and Dee Dee's rival-turned-friend Lalavava only appeared in [[OneSceneWonder one episode,]] yet has a substantial amount of fanart, enough to have gained her own category in some fandom groups for the show.
** Lee Lee, one of Dee Dee's friends, is one of these as of late.
** Douglas Mordecai III, Dexter's best friend, despite being a borderline SatelliteCharacter. He is popular because he's the only character Dexter could talk to like a human being.
** Valhallen has a ''ton'' of fangirls.
** The Puppet Pals. Some people wished they had their own SpinOff (the closest we got were some live-action segments featuring the duo to fill time in some eps).
** The robot parrot from "The Parrot Trap", thanks to its statements making the episode one of the funniest in the show's history.
** Creepy Eyed Girl is a major fan-favorite thanks to how CreepyCute she is, as well as her downright endearing crush on Dexter.

For YMMV tropes from ''Ego Trip'', go [[YMMV/EgoTrip here]].
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!!YMMV tropes with their own pages:

** Dexter's ''[[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs dog-brained dinosaur]]'', anyone?

* FanonDiscontinuity: For many fans, everything after ''Ego Trip'' isn't canon, since the creator left the series and the show included contentious changes, such as ignoring Mandark's sister while giving him two hippie parents.

For YMMV tropes in ''Ego Trip'', go [[YMMV/EgoTrip here]].

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Dee Dee lacks a lot of social intuition, can't take a hint, seems to be very temperamental, and even her own ''friends'' get frustrated by her odd behavior at times.