Notes

The Amazing World of Gumball, yeah, this is a thing. I caught a bit of this show when it was new on Cartoon Network, but then I stopped watching TV altogether and never saw much of it aside from the first half of season 1. But now that the show has ended, what better time to watch through it all?

-People seem to enjoy dishing out on season 1, and in some ways, it's kind of deservant. I know there are people in the fandom who absolutely adore season 1 and are probably ready to lynch me just for saying this, but it came off to a rocky start. A show as ambitious as this, especially with this wacky concept, is bound to need proper development before it actually hits off, and that's where I think season 1 failed the most.
-It's not bad by any means, just very sub-par compared to the rest of the series. There are so many generic run-of-the-mill episodes that I guess most shows have to go through before they're able to walk on their own, but these ones were usually not particularly interesting is all. What, we have the two brothers babysitting their sister, try to find a third friend, trying to impress girls, we see how dysfunctional the family is... These are fine stories to introduce us to the series, but they do nothing special to stand on their own as good episodes when you look back.

-Season 2 on the other hand saw a bigger exploration of the world and other secondary characters such as Bobert, Joe, Teri, Juke, Leslie, Clayton, and several others who got some time in the spotlight. Especially Bobert. I even noticed later down the series he started to act more human, as in express emotions, as opposed to when he was practically just a mindless robot. (Clip of Bobert talking to Anais and Jamie or on his Cooking Show)
-Which I really appreciate since he was one of my favorite characters. He might be the most used secondary character aside from maybe Penny. Speaking of Penny though, after the episode where she came out of her shell, she became pretty much irrelevant in the show, aside from a few appearances here and there. There'd be several batches of episodes where it felt like she didn't even have a speaking role, despite being the main characters girlfriend. Although I don't mind that, since I don't really care for that sappy stuff, and frankly I preferred her peanut design way more than her... Lightbulb thing she's got going on? There's nothing unique about this, which is weird for a show that's all about unique character designs.

-Penny wasn't the only character who got that treatment though, most, if not all supporting characters were pretty much abandoned in favor of Gumball and Darwin stealing all of the spotlight. I know they're the main characters, but I always feel like shows should give the supporting cast time to shine as well, at times they can even be better than the main characters. At some point while watching, it felt like Tina had been eradicated from the show completely. Which I noticed particularly when she wasn't in The Candidate, although I guess for the plot of the episode it makes sense as she could probably break down the walls and let everybody out.

-While most of Gumball and Darwin's classmates were pushed aside, this Rob fella here became a recurring character for some reason, because I guess they felt like the show needed a villain? He only appears every few episodes and he doesn't really do a lot except for The Disaster and The Rerun. Rob's initial design as a CG animated blue cyclops was honestly one of the most cursed designs I ever saw on the show and I am so glad that got changed real quick before he had time to appear this way in any future episodes. He later made one more appearance as a 2D character which looks a lot better, but still weird. His deformed design after returning from The Void is something I can actually get behind at least, it's a fun, unique design and I'm glad he stayed that way... Eeeven if he doesn't seem to like it himself.