Come For The X Stay For The Y / Western Animation

• 12 oz. Mouse: Come for the terribly crude art, stay for the complex story, well-defined characters, and awesome soundtrack.
• 6teen: Come for the attractive girls, stay for the humor and friendship.
• Adventure Time: Come for the overall weirdness, stay for the surprisingly deep Character Development.
• The Amazing World of Gumball: Come for the Medium Blending, stay for the well thought-out humor and strong worldbuilding.
• American Dad!: Come because it's by the same creator as Family Guy, stay because it's better at character and story.
• Amphibia: Come for the Frog Men and the silly hijinks, stay for the teenage girls and the riveting Myth Arc.
• Animaniacs: Come for the puns and slapstick, stay for the surprisingly highbrow (and the surprisingly lowbrow) subject matter.
  • Or come for the Warners, stay for Pinky and the Brain. (Revival included!)
• Arcane: Come for the League of Legends references, stay for the surprisingly Darker and Edgier take on it.
  • Come for the animation, stay for the origin of the one of the franchise's most iconic villains.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender: Come for the bending hijinks, stay for the sincere and unexpectedly wise writing.
  • Or "come for the bending hijinks, stay for the all-around awesomeness."
• Babar: Come for the Sweet Dreams Fuel, stay for the Darker and Edgier moments.
• The Backyardigans: Come for the cute characters, stay for the creative plots, awesome music, and memes galore.
• Batman: The Animated Series: Come to watch Batman be awesome, stay to see just how very very wrong the Animation Age Ghetto is.
• The Batman: Come for Batman. Stay for the new spin on the villains.
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Come for Batman, stay for the hilarious stories and Mythology Gags.
• Bob's Burgers: Come for the character-driven comedy, stay for the surprisingly wholesome family dynamics that put The Simpsons and Griffins to shame.
• Bojack Horseman: Come for the Horse, stay for the three dimensional characters, complex themes and the Horse being a deconstruction of dickish characters like Peter Griffin, Modern Homer Simpson and Eric Cartman.
• Blinky Bill: Come for the anthro animals and Aussie charm, stay for the cynical, witty humour and surprisingly heavy themes.
• Bluey: Come because it always trends on Disney+, stay for the heartwarming family moments and emotional scenes.
• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers:
  • Come for the 'munks, get stuck due to your crush on Gadget.
  • Come for the nostalgia, stay for Tom Clancy-level fanfics.
• Clone High: Come for the JFK memes, stay for the brilliantly ruthless lampooning of teen soaps.
• Code Lyoko: Come for the Magical Girlfriend in a Box, stay for either the Unresolved Sexual Tension or the abandoned government conspiracy plot. (Or for Odd.)
• Craig of the Creek: Come for the creative childhood adventures, stay for the underlying story arc and character development.
• Cupcake & Dino: General Services: Come for the Bile Fascination of others comparing it to widely-hated shows like Pickle and Peanut or Breadwinners, stay for the superb animation and Medium Blending, numerous likeable characters, positive themes with well-executed lessons, and contagiously cheerful tone.
• Detentionaire: Come for the intricate, ambitious, and engaging plot, stay for the diverse cast of awesome characters, the I Knew It! moments, the Cerebus Syndrome, and the badass theme tune.
• DuckTales (1987): Come because you're tracking Launchpad McQuack's history backwards from Darkwing Duck, stay for the more Action Hero things he gets up to, the more serious plots and surprisingly endearing grouch Scrooge McDuck.
• DuckTales (2017): Come for the reboot of the beloved Disney Afternoon series, stay for the humor, character interactions, clever mythology gags and building of a Disney Afternoon Ultimate Universe, Flintheart Glomgold, and a long-awaited answer for what happened to Della Duck.
• Family Guy: Come for the pop-culture references, stay for the line-crossing Black Comedy.
• Fangbone!: Come for the similarities to Star vs. the Forces of Evil, stay for the worldbuidling, character dynamics, and the original Fangbone books.
• Filly Funtasia: Come because of its similarity to My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, stay because its own brand of unique settings, lore, and its cool soundtrack.
  • Alternatively, come for the Ponies, stay for Wranglum (and to a lesser extent, Battiwigs).
• Futurama: Come for Bender and the Nerdgasm of science fiction combined with The Simpsons' humor. Stay for the heartwarming but bittersweet romance, the devastatingly tragic time-displacement story; the complex, carefully constructed characters; and the scattering of episodes that reach the level of truly sublime television.
• Gargoyles: Come for Demona's sexiness, stay for the story.
  • Come for all the hype, stay because you've started Shipping Elisa/Goliath.
  • Come for David Xanatos, stay for the strong and interesting characters... especially David Xanatos.
• The Ghost and Molly McGee: Come for the titular Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing, stay for the strong characterization.
• Gravity Falls: Come for the cuddly twins, stay for the surprisingly deep and layered mystery plot.
  • Alternatively: Come for the mystery, stay for the incredibly witty writing, character development, and the Heartwarming Moments (and the mystery).
• Green Eggs and Ham (2019): Come for the bizarre premise, stay for the great comedy, characterization, and faithfulness to its source material.
• Grojband: Come for the Awesome Music (or because its from the creators of Total Drama), stay for the offbeat comedy, the Corey/Laney Ship Tease, and the ride-or-die fandom.
• Hilda: Come for the cute characters and magical creatures, stay for the consistently breathtaking animation, the epic soundtrack, the cozy yet adventurous atmosphere, the finely-crafted personalities, and those episodes that truly achieve reach the level of masterpiece television.
• Infinity Train: Come because you keep seeing it trend on Twitter for some reason, stay for the thoughtful character writing, deep emotional themes, and Amelia.
• Invader Zim: Come for GIR, stay for the social satire.
  • Or come because it's Jhonen Vasquez, stay because it's the best "kid's" show ever.
• Jellystone!: Come for the Hanna-Barbera nostalgia, stay for the surreal humor.
• Jem: Come for the LGBT Fanbase and totally radical 80s imagery, stay for the storylines.
• Justice League Unlimited: Come for the Batman, stay for the Question.
  • Come for the new adventures of the founding team members, stay for all the lesser-known DC characters you've been introduced to.
  • For both Justice League and Justice League Unlimited:
    • Come for Batman and Superman, stay for everyone else.
• Kidd Video: Come for either the bizarre imagery or the 80s music videos & imagery, stay for the catchy, memorable original songs.
• Let's Go Luna!: Come because it's made by Joe Murray, stay for the wacky, well-timed humor and beautiful art.
• The Looney Tunes Show: Come out of either hopeful nostalgia or Bile Fascination, stay for its unique take on Lola and the surprisingly hilarious second season.
• The Loud House: To paraphrase Common Sense Media, "come for the laughs, stay for the ensemble cast and the heartwarming themes."
• Metalocalypse: Come for the outright LOLs and brutal soundtrack, stay for the surprisingly deep plot and fantastic characters. And the buckets of Ho Yay.
• Middlemost Post: Come because it's the first original Nicktoon amidst a sea of reboots, stay for the beautiful Medium Blending and deep characters.
• Molly of Denali: Come to learn more about Alaska, stay for the lovable characters.
• Moral Orel: Come for the parody of Moral Guardians and Fundamentalist Christianity, stay for the dark characterization.
• My Adventures with Superman: Most, if not all (admittedly), come for the cute shorthaired tomboy version of Lois Lane and stay for either: A.) to see how her deepening relationship with Clark develops. Or, B.) to see how Clark develops into the iconic hero he'll eventually become.
• My Life as a Teenage Robot: Come for the Badass Adorable Robot Girl, stay for the lovely Art Deco artstyle and fun writing.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Come for the stylish art style, stay for the clever writing, memorable characters, and humor. Or as it was put so eloquently "somewhere on the internets", "come for the trolling, stay for the ponies."^note This is literally how the fanbase got its kickstart, believe it or not. 4Chan's /co/ board came to see what all the fuss was about after reading a scathing article titled "The End of the Creator-Driven Era in TV Animation", fully intending to mock it, and stayed when they found the show was surprisingly appealing for not just young girls, but for adults as well.
  • For a lot of folks, it was also "Come to see what this 'brony' thing is about, stay for the writing, characters, etc."
  • Come for the Memes, stay for the incredible animation, characters, and writing.
  • Come for the music and the adorable. Stay for the entire show.
    • Inverted for a certain segment of fans: come for the quality show, stay for the crazy and creative fandom.
  • Come for Rainbow Dash, stay for whoever is your pony waifu^note or horsebando du jour now.
  • For some people: Come for the memes, stay for the clop.
  • For yet others: Come for the memes, stay for the fan works, still don't binge the show itself.
• The Mysteries of Alfred Hedgehog: Come for the animesque animation style, stay for the fun characters and clever nature lessons.
• The Owl House: Come for the Isekai adventure and the Lumity, stay for the Myth Arc and serialized story itself.
• Phineas and Ferb: Come because you're bored, stay for the writing, the music, the entertaining cast, the subtext and the humor.
  • So... come because you're bored, stay for the entire show? ^note "I for one am starting to get bored, and boredom is something up with which I will not put!"
  • Or, come for Phineas and Ferb, stay for everyone else, but especially Doof.
• Pinky and the Brain: Come because you watched it as a child, stayed because of the complex character relationships.
• The Raccoons: Come for the Canadian nostalgia (or for the hype Canadians always give it if you're not Canadian), stay for the Character Development, the amazing New Wave soundtrack, the sincere and mature yet charming and family-accessible writing, and the beautiful backgrounds.
• Rainbow Brite: Come for the whole idea of a 80s girl toy line themed around beings who literally spread colors throughout the world, stay for the storylines.
• Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja: Come for the crazy premise and Jhonen Vasquez character designs, stay for the jokes, Character Development, and incredible plot.
• Ready Jet Go!: Come for the science facts, stay for the clever writing, Awesome Music, and Dr. Amy Mainzer.
• Regular Show: Come for the weirdness, stay for the huge amount of character development and heart.
• Rick and Morty: Come for the Back to the Future parody, stay for the clever twists on science fiction and imaginative art style.
• Robot Chicken: Come for the pop culture references, stay for the amazing stop-motion animation and witty humor.
• Rocko's Modern Life: Come for the nostalgia and slapstick, stay for the still-relevant satire on the struggles of adulthood and adult humour.
• Ruby Gloom: Come for the cute characters, stay for the comedy.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil: Come for the adorable, asskicking main duo, stay for the promising Cerebus Syndrome, funny jokes, and good writing.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Come for all the Star Wars references, stay for the story of the Republic slowly losing itself in the Clone Wars to eventually become The Empire.
• Steven Universe:
  • Come for the laughs and nice animation, stay for the tearjerking, heartwarming character moments and songs.
  • Or come for the life and times of "the ultimate little brother" and three action girls, stay for the epic plot and deep characterization.
• Stickin' Around: Come for the stick-figure style (or for Bradley), stay for the kids' wacky imaginations.
• The Strange Chores: Come because it's from the creators of Bluey, stay because of the supernatural shenanigans and Heartwarming Moments.
• Teen Titans: Come because your little brother has it on the television, stay because... oh my god, they can't really be doing the Terra storyline in a kids show?!
  • Come for the superhero action and the wacky hijinks, stay for the character interactions and the surprisingly mature storylines.
• Total Drama: Come for the funny Reality TV parodies, stay for the awesome characters.
• The Venture Brothers: Come for the adventure parody, stay for surprisingly deep characters and strong continuity.
• Wander over Yonder: Come for the Funny Moments, stay for the touching ones.
• Wishfart: Come for the "WTF" title, stay for the creative plots, clever humor, and rounded characters.
• W.I.T.C.H.: Come for the girls in spandex, stay for the awesome plot. The same goes for Winx Club.
• Work It Out Wombats!: Come for the cuteness, stay for the deep cast of characters and surprisingly good advice.
• Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: Come for the historical figures, stay for the wholesome friendship moments and lessons.
• Young Justice: Come for the Ship-to-Ship Combat, stay for the Reconstruction of the whole DC Universe, and refreshing new spins on beloved characters.

---