Nickelodeon: For over thirty years, they’ve been the minds behind some of the most beloved and
exciting cartoon characters! From Spongebob to Invader Zim, from Arnold to Timmy Turner,
there are plenty of Nicktoons characters that can stand toe to toe with their classic counterparts.
Unfortunately, those aren’t the characters we’ll be talking about today. Instead,
let us turn our sights to the despicable, the annoying, and the downright infamous. From
shows of yesteryear to the modern offerings, it’s time to look at the characters who,
when they came on the TV, you knew it was time to change the channel!
I’m Kifinosi with WickedBinge, and this is The Worst Nickelodeon Characters (And Why They Suck)
First on the chopping block is the brattiest of the Rugrats, Angelica! The child of two
extremely busy parents, Angelica is a spoiled and selfish kid, often being the antagonist
in the majority of Rugrats episodes. Angelica has no issue bullying the other characters in
the series, whether it be in the form of gigantic lies or by pushing them around.
She isn’t much better around the grown-up characters, either. It’s around them where
her spoiled attitude really gets to shine, as she loves nothing more than to be at the center
of attention. If she doesn’t get exactly what she wants, you can expect a big temper tantrum to come
your way. It’s rather interesting, honestly. As a kid, you see Angelica as a big bully. As an adult,
you see her as everything you’d ever dread about having a child of your own. This makes
her probably one of the few characters on this list whose infamy spans generations! Though
we’ve critiqued Angelica pretty heavily, we cannot deny that there have been times
when a softer side of her personality has come through. In several episodes,
she stood up for the rest of the Rugrats, showing that, for all the grief she gives them, she really
does see them as her friends. And it is undeniable that she is easily among the most iconic Nicktoons
characters ever created. Those are two things we can’t say for the rest of the characters today,
and because of that, Angelica gets the best position on a list of worst characters!
Next on our list is the UltraLord-obsessed kid himself, Sheen Estevez! However, we’re not talking
about the Sheen from the beloved Jimmy Neutron series. While he could be annoying at times,
he was still involved in some of the series’ best episodes. No, we are more focused on Sheen as he
is depicted in his spin-off series, Planet Sheen. Ever wondered why we haven’t gotten
a Jimmy Neutron revival at this point? It’s very likely the failure of Sheen’s spin-off washed away
any chance of that. Although Sheen was a great source of comedy in the original series, Planet
Sheen forces him to stand on his own…and that is something he just cannot do! In the original
series, Sheen had an entire crew of characters that were just as eccentric as he was, albeit
in their own ways. This led to some truly great chemistry and character moments between the cast.
While Planet Sheen has an entire cast of strange aliens, none of them have the depth of the Jimmy
Neutron characters, thus the chemistry between them and Sheen just isn’t there. Not helping
matters is that it becomes apparent quickly that this incarnation of Sheen has fallen victim to
the curse of Flanderization. Sheen might not have been the smartest character in the original show,
but he still had some degree of conscience. Planet Sheen throws that all out of the rocket ship. He’s
a loud and dopey idiot, and there’s not much to him beyond that. When you look at all these
issues, it’s rather unsurprising that Planet Sheen had such a short run. While we’re not completely
against the idea of spin-offs of existing franchises, Planet Sheen and its interpretation
of Sheen is great proof that sometimes, side characters should stay as side characters!
Speaking of inferior versions of established characters, let’s take a look at the next
character on our list, Tak of Tak and the Power of Juju! While this is indeed based on the video
game series of the same name, the similarities between cartoon Tak and video game Tak are few
and far between. The animated version of Tak takes away several of the original version’s personality
traits, in favor of a lot of overused cartoon cliches. The animated series really doubles
down on the “young and inexperienced student” aspect of Tak, for starters. He’s a lot more
naive and immature than he was in the video games, often using his juju powers for his own desires,
instead of heroism. As we said, this makes him feel a lot more like your usual super-powered
cartoon protagonists, like Danny Phantom, for instance. We also take issue with the
new voice actor that plays Tak in the series, Hal Sparks. While this version of the character
is more childish, it’s strange that they hired a more mature-sounding actor for him,
rather than the original and youthful voice of Jason Marsden. Beyond his plain personality,
Tak often feels like a background character in his own show. Everyone else is far more interesting
and full of personality than him, so much so that you kind of wish the show was about one of them
instead. And really, if you aren’t even that compelling in a show that is named after you,
is there any hope for you when up against the likes of other Nickelodeon protagonists?
In fourth place, we have one of CatDog’s major antagonists, the appropriately named Rancid
Rabbit! Not unlike Angelica, Rabbit is a gigantic bully, but whereas Angelica was merely a child,
Rancid Rabbit is a powerful businessman who loves to get Cat and Dog into trouble. Regardless of
who comes into his path, if Rabbit can find a way to get some money out of you,
he will! He is most definitely infatuated with Cat and Dog, however, and has done some
truly horrible deeds to the both of them. From torturing them to cheating them out of money,
it seems like there is nothing Rancid Rabbit won’t do if it means he gets to see these two
suffer. While Rancid is definitely one of the more detestable antagonists in Nickelodeon’s history,
also like Angelica, he has shown a few instances of having a clear conscience. Rabbit was able to
help the duo get rid of a flea infestation, and he has had a few other moments where we
get to see a lighter side to this con man’s character. That manages to wrangle Rancid
Rabbit out of a worse position, but even so, the fact remains that this rabbit is one of the
most unlikable characters in all of Nicktoons history, even for one we’re supposed to hate!
In our third place, we have a character from The Fairly OddParents, but who? In the city
of Dimmsville, there are plenty of unlikeable characters, but after careful consideration,
we have ultimately decided to go with Chloe Carmichael. Now, why is that? Well,
while characters like Vicky are intended to be unlikeable, and others like Cosmo only became
irritating years into the show, Chloe felt unnecessary right from the start. Appearing
in only the tenth and final season of the show, Chloe was, like Poof and Sparky before her,
an attempt to breathe new life into the series by changing up the formula with a new character. Poof
and Sparky may have their detractors, but they at least felt unique in terms of what they offered
the show, with Poof being a baby, and Sparky being a fairy dog. Chloe just seems like another friend
of Timmy’s, and nothing more. There is not a whole lot to separate her from characters like AJ,
Chester, or Tootie. Her main characteristics, being a polite and relatively nice girl,
also represent a major issue with her character. While it makes sense on the surface since it makes
her the complete opposite of Timmy, it doesn’t really make sense with what we know about the
fairies within the show’s universe. Fairly OddParents are supposed to be given to kids
who are dealing with hardships, but nothing about Chloe’s life seems to indicate she has anything of
the sort. Out of all the characters the show added in its later years, Chloe has got to be the most
transparent instant of one added solely to give new attention to the show. And judging by the
fact this was the last season of the series, it seems safe to say that it didn’t exactly work out!
In second place, from the relatively shortlived Breadwinners comes best friends SwaySway and
Buhdeuce! These two are a pair of ducks whose sworn duty it is to deliver bread to all the
denizens of Pondgea. So, what exactly is wrong with this duo? To put it as simply as possible,
they feel like the cartoon formula of “two best friends going on adventures” taken to its
absolute lowest point. We’ve seen so many cartoons that could primarily be summed up as two friends
simply hanging out, and nowhere is it no apparent than in Nickelodeon shows. From Ren and Stimpy to
Sanjay and Craig, so many of their cartoons have leaned on this format. But while many
of those shows made up for the generic premise with memorable characters, plots, and gags, the
duo that is SwaySway and Buhdeuce fail to deliver on any of those merits. They are two friends that
go on adventures, and that’s about all there is to their characters. One’s tall and the brains of the
group, the other’s short and a bit dimwitted. These are character archetypes we’ve seen in
hundreds of cartoons, and executed much better, too. While they are brought to life by some rather
talented voice actors, even they can’t do much with the material given to them. With this duo,
there are so many more interesting alternatives that really only serve to show the shortcomings
of these two Cayuga ducks. It’s also rather interesting that Nickelodeon has backed off from
cartoons utilizing this premise since this show’s cancelation. Given that these were the stars of
a show that ended a classic formula for the network, how could we not put them on the list?
Finally, we have approached our number one spot, and in this slot is Bunsen from Bunsen is a Beast!
A lot of you are probably confused as to who this character is, and we totally understand.
Beyond that, it’s hardly a great sign when the titular character from one of your shows, and one
that aired only a few years ago, has faded into obscurity. Say what you want about Tak or SwaySway
and Buhdeuce, but at least people remember them and their shows! Bunsen is forgettable for sure,
but what makes him the worst character is just how flat-out unlikable he is. While he’s far
from the only protagonist to be featured on this list, all those other characters at the very least
had something positive to them. Maybe they had some interesting concepts or were given life by
great actors. Bunsen doesn’t have any of that. His design is pretty generic when you consider
the fact that he’s an otherworldly beast, his voice is annoying and often hard to decipher,
and his personality doesn’t stand out when compared to the characters of other Butch
Hartman-produced Nicktoons. He’s childish and a goofball who messes things up, but so was Cosmo,
or Dudley in TUFF Puppy. Where’s the variety? While Butch Hartman brought
to life some of the greatest Nickelodeon characters of all time, it’s unfortunate
that the last show he did for the studio ended things on such a sour note. To put it bluntly,
Bunsen is most definitely a beast, but not for the reasons the showrunners intended!
But let us know in the comment section if you agree with our
ranking. And tell us what we should cover next. Remember to hit that notification
bell and binge more of our videos. But most importantly, stay wicked.