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Generally speaking, bumpers are these standalone independent clips that are just a once-and-done sort of deal, but by tying everything together in this one setting, proper cohesion is achieved, and immersion can begin to thrive. A cohesive world is full of stories just waiting to be told, after all!

— Shadow Streak, A CN City Retrospective

The "CN City" era of Cartoon Network began in June of 2004 and lasted until June of 2007, though the era would continue abroad until 2010. The era is named after, and associated with, its animated bumpers made by Animal Logic and regular CN contributor Primal Screen. It succeeded the "Powerhouse" era and thus marked the closure of the Cartoon Cartoons branding.

These bumpers are shorts that show various Cartoon Network characters interacting together. They predominantly take place in a city (hence the name) comprised of various locales from CN series, with a few original establishments. The bumpers, along with a new logo and announcer, were introduced with this montage.

What came afterwards varied depending on where you live. In the United States, the "Yes!" era gradually replaced it before being replaced in turn by the "Summer 2007" era, the "Fall" era, and finally, the "Noods" era. In Latin America, which saw the longest run of "CN City", The "Noods" bumpers would be imported to create the "Toonix" era. In Europe, the "Arrow" era would be adopted. In Asia and Oceania, a "New Wave" of bumpers would begin. All of these would eventually converge into the "CHECK It^note "It's a Fun Thing" in areas that precedes CHECK It with New Wave era of bumpers which continued until 2015-2017 when it was replaced by "Dimensional" depending on where you live, "CHECK It" ended between 2015 and 2018, and then Redraw Your World came in 2021, and Split Screen came just recently.

About eleven years after the bumpers stopped airing, the city was featured as the setting of the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode "Crossover Nexus", in which K.O., Garnet, Ben, and Raven join forces to save the city from a supervillain bent on eradicating heroes, with several other CN characters new and old (even a few from CN Latin America productions) making cameos. The show's Grand Finale "Thank You for Watching the Show" would see a brief return to the setting to squeeze in a few more cameos.

As that brief comeback indicates, this particular era of bumpers proved quite popular with fans due to the crossover premise and unique setting and style, leading to many re-circulation efforts. YouTube compilations are plentiful, This fan-site serves as an in-progress archive of various bumpers, and the Lost Media Wiki is working to recover several bumpers from this and other CN eras. Eventually, the director of these bumpers would release HD masters of most of these bumpers on Vimeo.

Compare to FusionFall, Cartoon Network Super Secret Crisis War, and Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion for other Cartoon Network crossover works.

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Shows Featured

Major appearances (shows that had their own set of bumpers)

• Ben 10
• Camp Lazlo
• Codename: Kids Next Door
• Courage the Cowardly Dog
• Dexter's Laboratory
• Duck Dodgers
• Ed, Edd n Eddy
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
• Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
• Justice League
• The Life and Times of Juniper Lee
• Megas XLR
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey
• The Powerpuff Girls (1998)
• Robotboy
• Squirrel Boy
• Teen Titans (2003)
• Tom and Jerry
• What's New, Scooby-Doo? (Monsters from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! also appear)

Secondary appearances (characters appeared as a city-goer in varying degrees of prominence)

• 2 Stupid Dogs
• The Amazing Adrenalini Brothers (European bumpers only)
• Atomic Betty
• Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy
• Class of 3000 (Debuted at the very end of the era during the transitionary "Yes!" bumpers)
• Cow and Chicken
• Evil Con Carne
• The Flintstones
• Hong Kong Phooey
• The Huckleberry Hound Show
• I Am Weasel
• The Jetsons
• Johnny Bravo
• ¡Mucha Lucha!
• Powerpuff Girls Z (Japanese bumpers only)
• Quick Draw McGraw
• Samurai Jack
• Sheep in the Big City
• Sylvester And Tweety Mysteries
• Time Squad
• Top Cat
• Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?
• Yogi Bear

Minor appearances (characters cameoed on signs, posters, and the like, or else via clips)

• Baby Looney Tunes
• The Batman
• The Cramp Twins
• Jackie Chan Adventures
• Krypto the Superdog
• Looney Tunes
• The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
• Pokémon: The Series
• The Simpsons in some countries
• Space Ghost
• SWAT Kats (on at least one foreign version of CN)
• Totally Spies!
• Wacky Races
• Xiaolin Showdown
• Yu-Gi-Oh!

"Crossover Nexus" and "Thank You for Watching the Show" exclusive cameos:

• Adventure Time
• The Amazing World of Gumball
• Apple & Onion
• Ben 10 (2016)
• Chowder
• Clarence
• Craig of the Creek
• The Fungies!
• Firebreather
• Generator Rex
• Infinity Train
• Jorel's Brother
• Long Live the Royals
• Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart
• The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack
• Mighty Magiswords
• Miguzi
• Mike, Lu & Og
• The Moxy Show
• OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
• Out of Jimmy's Head
• Over the Garden Wall
• Party Wagon
• The Problem Solverz
• Regular Show
• Robotomy
• Secret Mountain Fort Awesome
• The Secret Saturdays
• Summer Camp Island
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast
• Steven Universe
• Sunday Pants
• Sym-Bionic Titan
• Teen Titans Go!
• Tig 'n Seek
• Toonami
• Uncle Grandpa
• Victor and Valentino
• Villainous
• We Bare Bears

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These bumpers provide examples of:

• Ascended Extra: Despite their shows not having their own set of bumpers, Samurai Jack and Johnny Bravo got to star the "Laundry Day" short.
• Advertised Extra: A handful of Warner Bros. co-productions had their own sets of bumpers, but seldom appeared elsewhere. The Justice League in particular had very minimalistic bumpers.
• Already Met Everyone: Seems that every character already knows each other.
• Animal Jingoism: In one bumper, Adam walked past a lion, whose locker was banging and making noises from within. Adam amiably asks "Whatcha got in there?", to which the lion replies "Lunch." Adam is understandably creeped out.
• The Announcer: The atmospheric bumpers were primarily voiced over by Nikki, an at the time 16-year-old girl; sometimes characters from the shows would provide voice-overs instead.
• The Artifact: The opening sequence for the revamped Cartoon Cartoon Fridays block running at the time depicted the CN Studios setting and cast from the preceding era of bumpers, with only the set near the end (and the CN logo at the beginning) being updated.
• Banana Peel: In one bumper, Mojo Jojo tosses a banana peel on the ground, causing Mandark to slip and fall.
• Blatant Lies: Low on funds as usual, Ed, Edd and Eddy manage to get into the movies for free by telling Chip, who's working as an usher, that they're imaginary friends, so they don't have to pay for entry.
• Brick Break: Ray Ray tries to chop Plank in half, only for Johnny 2x4 to stop him in the nick of time with a Diving Save.
• Bullying a Dragon: Edward, not buying Eduardo's claim of being an Imaginary Friend, doles out an Eye Poke, nose pinch, and slug to the gut. Even if he's far more sensitive than he looks, Eduardo doesn't take the abuse and stuffs Edward into a trash can.
• The Cameo: Several Hanna-Barbera characters makes an appearance at the end of the "Hide and Seek" short.
• Cat Up a Tree: Grim attempts to rescue Milkshakes when he's in this bind, only to end up startling him and get shredded to bits.
• The Cavalry Arrives Late: In one short, Juniper Lee rushes through the city subway to battle the rampaging Extremeosaur, only to find that the Powerpuff Girls are already dealing with it.
• City of Everywhere: CN City combines Townsville, Genius Grove, Aron City, Peach Creek, Jump City, Orchid Bay, Endsville, and the unnamed towns where Codename: Kids Next Door, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, and many others take place, respectively, into one large megalopolis. The Bagge residence is located on the outskirts, and one bumper shows a highway leading to Metropolis and Gotham City, suggesting they're driving distance away, as is Camp Kidney. "Crossover Nexus" also incorporates the Noods (the mascots of another CN era), Mung Daal's Catering Company, Finn and Jake's tree fort, Gar's Bodega (though not the rest of Lakewood Plaza Turbo, strangely) and The Park into the city, with what looks like Ghost Planet floating above it.
• City with No Name: Given that the city is a fusion of many different locations, it doesn't/can't really have a single name, though later bumpers sometimes called it the "City of Downtown" or just "Downtown".
• Conforming OOC Moment: Double D joins in on Ed and Eddy's antics quite often, when in their origin series, he usually tries to stop them from doing dumb things. This includes dressing in Ami and Yumi's clothes and laughing at Frankie's failed attempts to find somewhere to park.
• Crossover: All of Cartoon Network's Turn of the Millennium-era shows (and a few beforehand) all live together in the same city; the characters interacting with each other is a focal point.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • From this point onward, the Cartoon Cartoons brand was largely relegated to a single half-hour program showing assorted bits from other shows, before being phased out entirely in 2007. The Top 5 block also lost its' Cartoon Cartoon branding (though it kept its' original theme), and was cancelled a day before the Noods became CN's look (though there was a bumper made for it)
  • The latter half of the era saw characters from older shows that had ended their runs such as Dexter, PPG, and Courage appearing far less to focus more on those of their then-current offerings.
• Deranged Animation: Referenced. The "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Tickets" short has Chip being conned by the Eds by them telling him that they're Mac's Imaginary Friends. Chip mentions imaginary friends are "crazy" and "freaky". Noticing that the Eds look just like that, he lets them into the movies.
• Disco Dan: In the "Street Cred" short, Fred is presented as an oblivious dork who finds pride in having a very outdated late '60s van, to the point of bragging to Coop and Jamie in their Humongous Mecha. To drive the point home, he's wearing his classic ascot despite other bumpers depicting him in his ascot-less What's New look.
• Dogs Love Fire Hydrants: One of the bumpers features Scooby-Doo preparing to go on a hydrant, only for Courage to signal him to get in the back of the line. The camera then pans to a line of other cartoon dogs waiting to go (including Scrappy-Doo, Dino, and Huckleberry Hound).
• Easter Bunny: While on an easter egg hunt, Billy mistakes a passing Mr. Herriman for the Easter Bunny.
• Economy Cast: Because every city-goer was a named character from a CN show, a few had to pull double duty and take certain occupations; Ed works as a busboy, Him works at a barbershop, and Buck Tudrussel runs a gym. It enters silly territory when certain characters serves as mascots for the city's goods and services, such as Plank for the local hardware store, Bubbles for laundry detergent and Robin for energy drinks.
• Fight for the Last Bite: One bumper sees Ricochet, Buena Girl, and the Flea ready to fight for the last donut.
• Free-Range Children: Several kid characters (most of which being "free range" in their own shows) were often seen city-going without adult supervision.
• Green Around the Gills: In an Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy bumper, Ed retrieves a jawbreaker from the sewer and proceeds to eat it, causing Edd and Eddy to look like they're about to puke.
• Groupie Brigade: One bumper has Ami and Yumi entering the hardware store, only to immediately run out due to loads of loony fans.
• Haunted House: Several bumpers featuring Mystery Inc. would have them investigating a haunted hotel.
• Here We Go Again!: One bumper involves Frankie Foster trying and repeatedly failing to find a parking spot for her bus after dropping the imaginary friends off at Town Hall. The end of the bumper has Fred in the Mystery Machine arriving at Town Hall after Foster and the friends have left, implying he's going to go through the same troubles she did.
• Hollywood Tone-Deaf: One bumper sees Courage, Ed, Eduardo, the Professor, and Numbah 3 as Christmas Carolers, the result being about as melodious as you'd expect.
• Let's Meet the Meat: Foghorn Leghorn appears as the mascot of a chicken restaurant, named McKimson's Chicken & Biscuits after his creator Robert McKimson.
• Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: The cast of Camp Lazlo, which has a World of Funny Animals, interacting with humans from various other series with nary a comment. Already done with the cast of My Gym Partner’s a Monkey as that element is part of the show itself.
• Massive Multiplayer Crossover: The titular city features characters from all of Cartoon Network's original programming at the time living and interacting with each other.
• Medium Blending: 2D-animated characters, each with the style of their original shows, all in near-photorealistic 3D settings.
• Mistaken for Subculture: One extended spot has the Mayor mistaking Frankie for a beatnik thanks to her '60s-style bus. He yells at her to get off his property and threatens to call the Powerpuff Girls on her. He does the same thing to the Mystery Gang at the end after they take Frankie's parking spot.
• Motif Merger: One bumper depicts the Justice League's personal logos floating on the wall of the Watchtower and converging into the CN logo.
• Mugged for Disguise: Fred walks into an alleyway, and the Creeper walks out in his clothes.
• Mundane Made Awesome: One bumper has Jack wielding a broom like a sword.
• Mundane Utility:
  • The Powerpuff Girls use their powers to play hide-and-seek, light the fireplace, and spare Professor Utonium the hassle of finding his parking spot.
  • Raven uses her telekinesis to build a house of cards and help reposition the sofa, and Starfire uses her flight to squeegee the windows.
  • Gus uses Robotboy to microwave popcorn.
• Musical Episode: One bumper has Lazlo singing to Bloo about everything CN City has to offer.
  I'm taking advantage of all of the things / This place has to offer, like robots and wings
  If your house needs a plank or your car has a dink / You can find it at... Car-toon!
• New Job as the Plot Demands: Characters can be holding whatever sort of job needed for the bumper to work. Sometimes it gets weird when the characters in question are most likely pre-teens.
• Noodle Incident: A few bumpers depict the characters in certain compromising situations with no explanation, such as Edd tied up to a lamppost and phoning for help, Billy and Mandy trapped in TV static, or Lazlo and Raj behind the wheel of the Camp Kidney bus.
• Offhand Backhand: One of the bumpers have Juniper knocking out a dragon sneaking up behind her without even looking.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. In addition to Ed, Edd n Eddy, there's also Edward, the jerk platypus from Camp Lazlo, and Eduardo, the bull-like imaginary friend from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
• Out of Character: Edd is frequently depicted as a willing participant in Ed and Eddy's shenanigans, instead of the unheeded Morality Chain he is in his home show.
• Punk in the Trunk: The "Under the Stars" bumper opens with Grim driving into the local Drive-In Theater, with Billy emerging from the trunk.
• Red Sock Ruins the Laundry: In one bumper, Samurai Jack and Johnny Bravo are washing their clothes at a laundromat. Jack's white clothes come out pink because Blossom forgot her pink nightgown when she was doing her own laundry earlier, and Jack didn't notice it while putting his clothes in.
• Roger Rabbit Effect: The "Get Animated" bumpers were the only ones to feature live-action, due to their focus on encouraging kids to exercise.
• Scenery Porn: Some bumpers lack characters and instead show off or focus on the details of the buildings and the like.
• Self-Offense: One bumper depicts Dodgers in an intense firefight, only for Cadet to warn him that he's firing on his own fleet.
  Dodgers: That's... really gonna bring down my average.
• Shout-Out:
  • Many characters who aren't present in the bumpers themselves appear via other means, often combined with a Mythology Gag:
    • Looney Tunes characters are predominantly relegated to signs and billboards.
    • In a Teen Titans bumper, The Flintstones and The Jetsons characters appeared on playing cards.
    • One bumper shows a magazine with Yugi on it.
    • Dexter asks a mall Santa (played by Eustace) that he wants a particle accelerator for Christmas. Eustace replies, "you'll shoot your eye out, kid", ala A Christmas Story.
  • One bumper had a Car Chase with the Camp Kidney bus being followed by the police, likely a reference to Speed.
  • The bumper where Jimmy is all alone in the city homages 28 Days.
• Stating the Simple Solution:
  • The "Car Trouble" bumper has Professor Utonium leaving his keys inside his car. After trying multiple things to get the door open, Mandy comes along and asks if he actually tried the door handle. Turns out Utonium left it unlocked.
  Professor: Silly me! Thanks, Mandy.
  Mandy: Whatever.
  • A non-verbal example sees Dexter panicking as his lab has a meltdown of "unimaginable doom"... until Dee Dee flicks a single switch that sets everything back to normal.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Dexter uses a device to turn rain into jellybeans. Thing is, jellybeans, being more solid than raindrops, tend to hurt when falling from high in the sky en masse.
• Toilet Teleportation: One bumper sees Sector V emerging one by one from a series of toilets, with Numbah 2 naturally getting stuck.
  • During the Yes! era, one bumper sees Ed going from one toilet to another nearby toilet.
• Torment by Annoyance: One bumper sees Dee Dee subjecting Dexter to the classic "I'm not touching you" bit, much to their parents' chagrin. Another sees her prancing around on the front lawn, blocking Dexter from entering the house.
  Dexter: Dee Dee, the sidewalk is no place for dancing!
• Uncomfortable Elevator Moment:
  • Dexter and Mandark aren't exactly happy to be sharing an elevator... until it briefly breaks down and they fearfully huddle together.
  • Juniper Lee boards the elevator, and a monster tries not to get noticed.
• Washy Watchy: Munroe watches Lazlo riding in the washing machine in one bumper.
• Wet Cement Gag: In one bumper, Ed has left his face-and-hand-prints (and the CN logo) on a sidewalk.
• World of Badass: Every single show at the time had representation, which included all the really actiony shows.

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