When you think of Nickelodeon, you may think of goofy jokes, fun animation and bright green
slime.
Most, however, probably wouldn’t think ‘romance’.
That being said, the channel does have its share of cute love stories, even if they aren’t
always the main focus.
There are also plenty of romantic subplots that probably could have used an extra draft
or two…
Of all the romantic relationships shown and spotlighted on the channel, which are the
healthiest and which are totally toxic?
I’m Brad from WickedBinge, and this is Nicktoons Romances: Healthy to Toxic.
Before we start, we’d just like to set a couple of ground rules.
Firstly, we’re only going to pick up to two pairings per show, if only to make sure
that no one show dominates the entire list.
We’re also going to only look at animated nicktoons, so no live-action pairings.
With all that said, let’s start our list!
As always, we’re going to be starting with our healthier relationships before working
our way down - and while there aren’t very many, they certainly come off as the best
of the best.
These relationships are the Healthy.
For our Gold Medal of Healthiness, we’re giving it to Lori and Bobby from “The Loud
House”.
Teen romances can often be filled with turmoil and drama - or at least, that’s how they’re
often portrayed in media.
Thankfully, Lori and Bobby are able to, for the most part, have a healthy and happy relationship
with each other.
Occasionally something will come between them, like Lincoln’s treatment of Bobby’s sister,
Ronnie Anne, or some brief jealousy on Lori’s part.
But outside of those instances, these two are always seen as loving and incredibly supportive
of each other.
Bobby does this especially well, as we see him comfort and help Lori throughout the series,
even if it’s sometimes inconvenient for him - and Lori always appreciates this.
When the two of them briefly worry that they’re losing their ‘spark’ due to their long
distance relationship, we see just how much these two genuinely love each other and how
much they want to stay together, as well as just how well they get along.
It really no wonder why they’ve been together for the entirety of the series, hence why
we’re giving them a spot near the top.
Getting our Silver Medal of Healthiness, we have Sokka and Suki from “Avatar: The Last
Airbender”.
We’ve spoken about this pairing before, so we’ll try not to repeat ourselves too
much - but if you’ve seen our Avatar Relationships video, then we’re sure that you expected
these two to be pretty high up on our list.
While their relationship only had a few episodes dedicated to it, watching these two grow together
and form a genuinely romantic relationship was just incredibly sweet and satisfying.
With a relationship that’s built on mutual respect, Sokka and Suki are always there for
one another and seem to just understand each other perfectly.
They rarely fight, and when they do have any sort of issues or conflict, they’re able
to talk it out and come back together stronger than ever.
You also have to love a couple that can fight side-by-side when things get tough.
It could be said that maybe they got together a bit too quickly, especially after Sokka
was originally fairly sexist towards Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors.
But with how apologetic Sokka was afterwards and with how much chemistry there was between
these two from the very start, could you really blame them?
Finishing up this tier is our Bronze Medal pairing, Danny and Sam from “Danny Phantom”.
Probably the most turbulent pairing in this tier, we’ll admit that it just barely manages
to squeak its way in mostly due to the strong friendship that serves as the basis for this
relationship.
Being his friend since the second grade, Sam was one of the first two people Danny trusted
with his ghost secret.
Although they sometimes argue or struggle to understand each other, they’ll always
fight for each other - often literally, given some of their ghostly enemies - and will still
come together despite any disagreements.
In addition to being protective, there’s also a decent amount of trust and genuine
love, even before things become romantic.
Prior to their relationship becoming a thing, both Danny and Sam show small bouts of jealousy,
which isn’t great, but thankfully these moments are never too concerning.
In addition, Sam is almost always there to support Danny in his hero efforts, save for
one or two moments where she’s a bit more judgmental or disagrees with his methods.
Danny, meanwhile, at least tries to support Sam’s more alternative lifestyle and, unlike
other characters, tries to not judge her too much for being goth or a vegetarian.
While some of their disagreements or conflicts can be pretty noteworthy, they’re ultimately
overshadowed by all the positive aspects of their relationship.
Next up, we have the relationships that could probably use some improvement.
Welcome to the Grey Area!
Starting off this tier is the classic Arnold and Helga pairing from “Hey Arnold”.
Although this relationship is portrayed as one-sided throughout most of the series, there’s
enough there to qualify for this list.
Simply put, Helga was… more than a little obsessed with Arnold when it came to her crush
on him.
Whether it’s bullying him at school or writing poems about him at home, it’s nearly impossible
for Helga to stop thinking about him.
This led to quite a bit of friction between her and Arnold, but while Arnold sometimes
got frustrated with her, he almost always gave her a chance, believing that there could
potentially be a good person in Helga.
While her true feelings may have proved to be a bit much for him, judging by his reactions
in both movies to her love confessions, Arnold does genuinely care about Helga and even finds
himself falling for her on a couple of occasions, such as the Valentine’s Day episode and
the very end of “The Jungle Movie”.
Ultimately, because of Helga’s more stalkerish moments and all the bullying and other not-so-great
moments that came from her wanting to hide her true feelings, we really couldn’t put
this relationship in the Good tier, meaning that it manages to land a spot on the high
end of Grey.
Sticking with the more Slice-of-Life Nicktoons, we’re ranking Darren and Ginger from “As
Told By Ginger” next.
In comparison to Lori and Bobby, this pairing is more what we were expecting in terms of
teen romance - drama included.
But that’s not to say that Darren and Ginger didn’t have a good relationship starting
out.
Being friends and neighbors for years, Darren was one of Ginger’s closest friends, always
trying to be there for her and at times being a better friend to her than Dodie was.
Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse when they entered High School.
With Darren being busy with sports and Ginger being busy with her writing and schoolwork,
the two became distant.
Another obstacle was a cheerleader named Simone, who Darren quickly became attracted to.
While there was no physical cheating, there was some emotional cheating, leading to Darren
breaking up with Ginger.
The two of them are pretty awkward after that, struggling to be normal around each other
but still obviously caring about one another.
It was obvious that there was never any maliciousness between them, just bad timing and maybe a
bit of immaturity.
While we don’t get to see their full reconciliation, it’s revealed at the end of the last episode
that the two get married, are happy together and even have a daughter together.
It may have taken some extra time and a bit of heartbreak, but it’s nice that these
two were eventually able to work things out.
Heading over to “Jimmy Neutron”, we have Jimmy and Cindy.
For a lot of fans, one of the best ship dynamics ever is ‘rivals to romance’, and these
two definitely fit that dynamic in a sense.
Throughout the first half of the series, these two mostly just argued and insulted each other,
not even having much of a friendship.
Things began to slowly change, however, after the Valentine’s Day special.
Even after the love potion from that episode wore off, Jimmy and Cindy’s feelings for
each other didn’t really go away.
Things got even messier when other various love interests were introduced, such as Timmy
Turner during the crossover episodes and Betty Quinlan and April the Gorlock in the series
proper.
Naturally, both characters ended up showing a ton of jealousy in these instances, with
Cindy’s jealousy being especially destructive at times - specifically in the episode “Vanishing
Act”.
It also still took a while for Jimmy and Cindy to not only open up to each other, but also
accept their true feelings.
Even then, though, there’s still an element of secrecy to their relationship, as it’s
revealed in the third season that they actually get along when they are alone and pretend
to argue only when others are around.
We’re cutting these two a bit of slack as, well, they are just kids.
Still, for their sake, we hope that they eventually get better at being honest with both their
feelings and their affections.
Next up, we have Mr. Krabs and Mrs. Puff from “Spongebob Squarepants”.
What was once a one-episode concept has actually become a stable element in the show’s later
seasons, and while it’s not quite a fairy tale romance, it has been interesting to watch
develop.
Outside of this pairing’s debut episode, they were seen dating in the episodes "Whirly
Brains," "Feral Friends," "My Two Krabses," and "Kooky Cooks."
While Mrs. Puff is quickly charmed by him when he first asks her out, thinking that
he’s sweet and even accepting the fact that he also considers money one of his ‘two
great loves’, she does get fed up with his cheapness in “Kooky Cooks”.
Mr. Krabs also let his rivalry with Plankton get the better of him in the episode “Teacher’s
Pests”, resulting in the two of them throwing Mrs. Puff’s boating school into chaos.
Mr. Krabs also banned Mrs. Puff from the Krusty Krab in “Plankton Paranoia”, thinking
that she was working for Plankton when in actuality she was just planning a surprise
party for him.
Thankfully, Mr. Krabs did end up making amends for this.
We also have to admit that when these two are being more romantic and flirty, it is
kind of cute to watch.
Because their relationship is still fairly new and hasn’t been the main focus of a
ton of episodes yet, it’s hard to say how deep or genuine their relationship is - which
is why we can’t place it any higher.
But hey, we’re rooting for them.
Nearing the end of this tier, we have Jenny and Sheldon from “My Life as a Teenage Robot”.
Although not an official couple, these two got pretty close to dating at times, so we’re
counting it.
As friends, these two are pretty sweet.
Sheldon is one of only a few who don’t judge Jenny for being a robot, and as such is always
willing to help her out - something that Jenny is appreciative of and is never seen taking
advantage of.
Sheldon is the only one who believes that Jenny is innocent when she seemingly destroys
an entire year’s worth of holidays - and in return for his trust, Jenny is willing
to give him a quick kiss on the cheek under the mistletoe.
She also gives him a quick kiss in the episode “Agent 00' Sheldon” after he saved her
and all of the robots in Tremorton from a top-secret organization that wanted to destroy
them.
For the most part, however, Jenny sees Sheldon as just a friend.
Sheldon, on the other hand, can sometimes push things too far when it comes to his crush.
In one episode, he stole the XJ-9' Master Plans from Dr. Wakeman’s lab in order to
find a way into Jenny’s heart.
He also disguised himself as the Silver Shell in order to get Jenny to fall for him, figuring
that if he made robot boys look bad, she would start to prefer humans over robots.
It should also be noted that Sheldon can be just a bit possessive over Jenny at times,
even having a shrine dedicated to her at one point.
But unlike with a character like Helga who does similar things, Sheldon really should
know better given that he’s a teenager and not an elementary schooler.
While their strong friendship saves them from a lower ranking, we had to take quite a few
points away for all the dishonesty and slight creepiness on Sheldon’s part.
Just barely making it out of the Toxic tier, we have Timmy and Trixie from “Fairly Odd
Parents”.
It’s a shame that this relationship didn’t turn out better, because it really did have
a ton of potential.
There’s a reason why the episode “The Boy Who Would Be Queen” is considered a
classic, after all.
At the start, Timmy was a normal kid who was slowly but surely getting to know his crush
while Trixie was a popular girl that ended up having a bit more depth to her than you
might have thought.
Unfortunately, as the series went on, Trixie began to lose her relatability.
The biggest showing of this was in the episode “Just the Two of Us” when, after Timmy
wishes that he and Trixie were the only people on Earth, Trixie goes crazy from a lack of
attention.
Without a ton of other boys fawning over her, Trixie becomes demanding and incredibly possessive,
only seeing Timmy as a means for validation instead of an actual partner.
This pairing does get a slight redemption in the Wishology trilogy, however, where they
not only briefly work together but also share their first kiss.
For the most part, outside of “Just the Two of Us”, when Timmy and Trixie are able
to spend some one on one time together, Trixie tends to show a bit more interest in him,
allowing her to at least reach the level of ‘friend’ even if the romantic aspects
of their relationship still need quite a bit of work.
Finally, we have relationships that would probably be better off broken up.
These are the Toxic Relationships.
Thankfully, only three canon Nickelodeon couples fall under what we would call ‘toxic’.
Starting off with our Bronze Medal of Toxicity, we have Plankton and Karen from “Spongebob”.
These two honestly could have landed in either grey or toxic, but ultimately we had to go
with the latter.
In several instances, we’ve seen that they have a fairly loveless marriage at times,
with Karen often sounding bored or apathetic - even when her husband is genuinely struggling
- while Plankton struggles to care about her in return.
There are even times where he’s stolen her ideas and even once used her as a test subject
when he was trying out his goo-goo gas.
Plankton has also essentially cheated on Karen in two separate instances - first with Mr.
Krabs’ mother and then with Karen 2.0.
Ouch…
We also can’t forget all the times that Plankton has put getting the secret formula
over spending time with his wife, as we see when they go on a honeymoon in “Walking
the Plankton” or have a date night in “Lockdown for Love”.
Similar to Mr. Krabs and Mrs. Puff, however, these two have had some fairly sweet moments,
which ultimately keeps them from the very bottom.
Occasionally we’ll see them be genuinely affectionate or romantic, especially in the
later seasons.
He writes a song just for her during their anniversary, although he was partially doing
this in order to get HIS gift which was (of course) the krabby patty secret formula.
In a more genuine example, in the second Spongebob movie we see Plankton apologize for all the
times he took her for granted, telling her that he’s glad she’s on his team before
shutting her down for their time machine.
But while these moments are nice, it can be hard to forgive or forget all the not-so-great
moments that came before.
Getting the Silver Medal of Toxicity, it’s Cosmo and Wanda from “Fairly Odd Parents”.
Yeahhh, being more of a comedic show, “The Fairly Oddparents” isn’t great with its
romantic elements - namely, sometimes it can rely on some, shall we say, outdated comedy…
This is even more of a shame when it comes to Cosmo and Wanda, as these two started out
as an incredibly loving and adorkable married couple that hated being apart from one another
because they loved each other so much.
After the first few seasons, however, the two devolved into Wanda just being a nag and
Cosmo being the typical idiot husband that’s found in a lot of animated comedies.
While Cosmo would often either ignore Wanda’s advice or, at worst, insult her by calling
her a nag or bringing up her weight, Wanda would usually retaliate with plenty of cartoony
violence.
Even when they had an actually sweet moment, like in “School’s Out: The Musical”
where they both get arrested by Jorgon and need to find a way to escape, any sweetness
or genuine love is often undercut with a lame joke that hints more at secret resentment
than any sort of love.
In some of the later seasons’ worst instances, it almost seems like they wish that they’d
never gotten married.
It’s incredibly frustrating, and while we can mostly blame the writers for this change,
the pairing itself still manages to land near the bottom.
Finally, our Gold Medal of Toxicity is going to Mako and Korra from “The Legend of Korra”.
Yep, of all the not-so-great relationships found in the World of Avatar, Mako and Korra
is the one that has managed to live on in infamy for just how much the relationship
ultimately crashed and burned despite being pushed so far in the series’ first season.
It’s pretty bad when you start getting drama long before these two even get together - with
Korra and Mako both focusing on each other and making subtle moves, all while Mako was
still technically dating Asami.
Once they DID finally get together, their so-called honeymoon phase was non-existent.
Pretty much from the word “go!”, all we saw with Mako and Korra was the two of them
arguing and having friction between each other.
While Mako would try to make things work, Korra often felt like he was taking everyone
else’s side instead of standing by her.
This would usually result in her ignoring him whenever he would try to give her advice.
When the two finally broke up, Korra wrecked Mako’s desk in a fit of rage before storming
off - only to get amnesia and forget that they were no longer together.
This wouldn’t be too big of a deal if not for Mako being too chicken to correct her
- and this comes AFTER he briefly got back together with Asami, by the way.
Thankfully, by the end of the second season, both the characters and the writers came to
their senses, and Mako and Korra were broken up for good, remaining decent friends for
the rest of the series.
What was once seen as the show’s main ship quickly became an aggravation for the audience.
You could count the times they were actually romantic or cute together on one hand and,
in all honesty, these two never should’ve gotten together in the first place.
For all these reasons, we’re giving the Makorra ship the title of Most Toxic Nicktoons
Romantic Couple.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our ranking, and tell us what
we should cover next!
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But most importantly, stay wicked!