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Atomic Puppet

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  • Awesome Art:
    • Unsurprisingly, given that the show was created by Mercury Filmworks, Atomic Puppet's art and animation is nothing short of amazing, with its gorgeous backgrounds, appealing character designs, fluid movement, expressive posing, dynamic action sequences, and vibrant color palette. It's telling that when the show was nominated for Annie Awards, it was in the categories of Storyboarding and Character Animation.
    • Some of the promo posters for the show are amazingly designed, such as the one on the main page.
  • Cargo Ship: Two In-Universe examples from AP — falling in love with a pickle he was trapped in a jar with and displaying attraction towards Abbie's Barbie-like doll.
  • Crazy Is Cool: Mintenberg. How many other rich jerks can constantly put the protagonists in danger and act obnoxious but still be totally hilarious and fun to watch because of how batshit insane they are? Seriously, this guy has a helicopter that wears bunny slippers.
  • Critical Dissonance: Atomic Puppet received rave reviews from professional critics and animators, who praised its splendid animation, superb action, excellent voice acting, unique premise, and entertaining execution. The show earned several high-profile award nominations, including two Annie Awards and the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Awards (competing with the enormously popular Loud House and the freakin' Simpsons for the title of "Best Animated TV Series"), while the Dallas Morning News (one of the 20 largest newspapers in the US) called it "a hoot of a superhero show". On the other hand, the online animation community mostly dismissed the show as So Okay, It's Average, with user reviews on websites like IMDb and Common Sense Media being typically middling (although that's not to say the show doesn't have its fans).
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Pauline caught on with many viewers big time due to her cute design and sassy personality. "Sword Sisters" definitely helped boost it.
    • The redheaded rookie cop seen briefly in "Atomic Hairball" has received her share of fans thanks to her cute design. As did the cat-obsessed brunette with the glasses and the oversized sweater seen in "AP vs. Disastro".
    • Commander Atomic and Puppet Boy get a lot of fanart for characters who only appeared in a single episode.
  • Fan Nickname: Mookie's appearance in "The Big Shift" when he battles Atomic Puppet alongside Professor Tite-Gripp has been nicknamed "Edgelord Subatomic" by some fans for the grim-looking Powered Armour he wears and transformation from wannabe hero to outright villain.
  • Friendly Fandoms: With Fangbone! and Counterfeit Cat, due to both shows being originally from Canada, having similar tone and direction, and sharing the same unfortunate fate and timeslot when shown on Disney XD.
  • Growing the Beard: The show remained a fast-paced action comedy from start to finish, but it was a little clumsy in this early on, even despite having its share of strong episodes. But as it progressed and found its groove, it really began to shine. On top of finding more of a balance to its action and comedy, the show also began to solidify the main duo's characterization and Character Development more, while also building more continuity and fleshing out the setting — all while maintaining its tongue-in-cheek sensibilities and beautiful animation. These efforts ultimately paid off in "The Big Shift", which introduced massive status quo changes to the show and showed off Joey and AP's growth. And while the show ultimately ended on a cliffhanger, Word of God confirms a potential Season 2 would have continued the trend of character growth and worldbuilding
  • Ho Yay:
    • AP towards the Ken-like doll Travis in "Lacer takes Over". When Atomic Puppet finds out that Lacer is in their house, the duo rush off with Joey intent on saving his family while AP prioritizes the doll, whom Lacer has done a Grand Theft Me on, because "we've all got loved ones". Not to mention, he's nearly inconsolable when the "surgery" on Travis seemingly fails to revives him.
    • Commander Cavalier is often seen with his arm around Crimson Beacon's shoulder for no apparent reason, and in one episode, they're even holding hands. Take a looksie.
  • Jerkass Woobie:
    • AP. Sure, he's extremely egotistical, but he's shown to be deeply unhappy about his state. He knows that he's powerless without Joey, he's often afraid that his old friends won't take him back for being a sock puppet, and the city he loves thinks he's abandoned them. The guy's in a pretty rough state as a sock puppet.
    • Mookie definitely isn't the nicest guy to have taken the mantle of sidekick and has done some pretty evil things to try overthrow Atomic Puppet as Mega City's protector, but when one considers Captain Atomic's mistreatment towards him and the constant ridicule he faced, it becomes pretty understandable why he betrayed Captain Atomic.
  • Moe: Abby is a cute and lovable little girl.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Mookie goes through this in "The Big Shift" as he turns from a wannabe superhero into a villain. While masterminding the prison breakout was bad enough, he definitely crosses it when he breaks into the Felts' home, ties up Phil to blackmail Joey into giving him AP, and then electrocutes Phil in front of Joey's eyes when Joey manages to get AP back.
  • My Real Daddy: Although credited as the series creators, Mark Drop and Jerry Leibowitz had no involvement in the series beyond simply coming up with an extremely basic outline that they pitched to Mercury Filmworks. It would then be the Mercury crew that transformed it into the show we got, most significantly coming up with the idea of the sock puppet being a transformed superhero with a humongous ego and running with said concept to develop the dynamic between Joey and AP and flesh out the main duo, including the idea of having both characters grow as people over the course of the show.
    Andy Coyle: “We looked at it and said, ‘Well, we could probably take this and turn it into something that’s really cool.’ We could take the kernel of the idea and reimagine it in a way we feel would be a really great show for kids.”
  • Nausea Fuel:
    • "Tick'd Off" opens with Joey scratching his neck due to the titular tick latching er... boring a hole behind his neck! Along with close-up to the tick's behind wiggling outside!! Things escalate farther into horror once Joey and AP power-up, causing the tick to grow in size, and spends the majority of the episode protruding from Joey's neck as it swells red, and Joey begins getting weaker and drained up (with his mouth frothing) due to Marty the tick draining his blood and mooching off AP and Joey's kindness.
    • In "Hero's Holiday", Commander Cavalier realizes he hasn't made AP his favorite eggnog, but since there's no time to do it, he gets Robo-Ron to get the bowl from last year. AP then drinks the chunky, expired eggnog without noticing anything.
    • In "Big Blowout", Joey gets raw egg yolk in his hair, so he squeezes it out of his hair to make an omelette. The result is a green, mushy mess with bits of hair and eggshell that Joey eats up (though he clearly doesn't enjoy it).
  • Self-Fanservice: Despite being a 12-year-old girl, Pauline gets a lot of fanart on some parts of the Internet depicting her as an extremely sexy, busty teenager or adult.
  • Shocking Moments: The second half of "The Big Shift" has so many big wham moments that it's still pretty hard to believe it's the same show when comparing to the early episodes.
  • Squick: Sometimes. "Tick'd Off" is a good example, though "Sick Day" can get a bit nasty.
  • Too Good to Last: The show was positively received by critics and the professional animation community for its Awesome Art, phenomenal action sequences, and strong character dynamicss and Character Development. Despite the enormous amount of promise it showed, it only lasted a single season and ended on a cliffhanger.
  • Toy Ship: Yes, there is a fandom for Joey/Pauline.
  • Ugly Cute: AP is this to some fans, since despite his tempestuous personality and shabby appearance (not to mention that several episode indicate he's quite smelly due to the rough situations he often gets into), he is still a little sock puppet with button eyes, a tiny cape, and a flapping mouth.

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