From left to right: Teacher Terry, Champsa, Commander Beefy, Mertha, Pascal, Seth, Sir Tree, Nancy, The Twins, Claudette, Granny Gracie, Nevin, Lil Lemon, Cool James, Anna Nanna, Pam, Mr. Mayor
The Fungies! is a 2020 cartoon from Stephen P. Neary, a storyboarder from Clarence. Originally debuting on HBO Max on August 20th, 2020, before airing on Cartoon Network on June 4th, 2021, the show stars a race of sentient fungi living in Fungietown. With a few notable exceptions, Fungies have spherical bodies and a blob with a single eye on top, as well as detachable limbs and a hollow space under their blobs that they hold stuff in. The main character is Seth, a 10-year-old with a big heart and an appetite for science. Together with his family and friends, they tackle whatever problems come their way. It aired for 80 11-minute episodes before being cancelled on November 29th, 2021.
The Fungies! provides examples of:
- Alpha Bitch: Downplayed with Mertha, who is a prankster and can be a jerk to the other kids sometimes (especially because her father, the Mayor, spoils her), but just as often she can be friends with everyone.
- Artifact of Attraction: In "Long Legs", the titular legs are found at the bottom of a pond by Seth, Claudette, and Mertha (Fungies can detach their limbs effortlessly). It turns out they're cursed, and soon eeveryone in town goes mad trying to get them.
- The Barnum: Beefy is an extraterrestrial who spends of his screentime scheming to make a profit from Seth's latest discovery.
- Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Inverted. Seth encounters many things new to Fungie-kind on his adventures, but he most often gives them the names that we know them as.
- Disappeared Dad: We don't know what happened to Seth's, Pascal's and the Twins' dad.
- The Dividual: Seth and Pascal's baby twin siblings tend to meld into an extra-wide fungie.
- Eat Dirt, Cheap: Fungies eat rocks, with precious gemstones being treated like candy.
- Eye Spy: Fungies can move their eyes to wherever they want.
- Illness Blanket: In the episode "Sick Day", Seth and Pascal lie on the sofa under a blanket after getting sick.
- Intrepid Reporter: What Claudette aspires to be, just like her mom.
- Missing Mom: We don't know what happened to Mertha's mom.
- Nonstandard Character Design:
- Most Fungies have spheres for bodies and one eye, but a minority like Mertha and Nevin have differently-shaped bodies, and a few characters have two eyes.
- Pascal has weirdly muscular and human-like arms, while everyone else has bendy arms. Also he's the only Fungie with hair.
- Odd Name Out: Most adult Fungies are known by their name and their career (Teacher Terry, Mr. Mayor, etc.). Anna Nanna (a reporter) and the radio DJ Fungie don't fit the pattern.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Sir Tree has a fear of abandonment in Sir Treehouse, such he trap the whole town in his branches because he doesn't want to be alone. He even repeats this phrase multiple times while Seth is asleep.
- Science Hero: Seth loves spending his days investigating science concepts, and often tries to use them to help the town, like when he tried to warn everyone about a fungus-eating animal he found in the dump.
- Sick Episode: "Sick Day" for Seth and "Sir Tree's Sick" for Sir Tree.
- Stomach of Holding: Fungies have a hole under their eye-blob that they store stuff in.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Most child Fungies are the same shape and/or color their parents are. Subverted by the main trio of Seth, Pascal and the Twins, who are all differently colored compared to Nancy.
- Uncatty Resemblance: For whatever reason, Nevin looks a lot like his cat.
