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YMMV / My Life as a Teenage Robot

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  • Adorkable: Sheldon is quite geeky, but he is very kind, if somewhat awkward, towards Jenny. And that's what makes him quite endearing.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Literal example with the Space Bikers as they run a school in their home planet. They do everything to benefit their society. On weekends, they take their stress out on Earth.
    • Also in regards to the events of "Ball and Chain", where the Space Bikers say that men on their planet are slaves/pets to the women and if a man wants to end the marriage, she eats him, however in "Voyage to the planet of the Bikers", we see that they live in a very peaceful, friendly world and the men don't seem to serve woman as the way they describe. Is it possible that that they lied about this just for kicks and because Tammy wanted to to still bully Brad, and the whole extent of eating thing was another lie and Disproportionate Retribution on their part?.
    • Sheldon expresses a near-obsessive infatuation for Jenny, but he was quick to fall for Vexus when she swindled him (and even tried to share a romantic dance with a toaster when Jenny wasn't dancing with him at a party). Does Sheldon really love Jenny, or are his feelings solely based on both desperation and robot fetishism?
    • In "Teenage Mutant Ninja Troubles", Misty claims that the Teen Team has disbanded due to Orion wanting to join ballet, but given how selfish and callous she acts in this episode and her subsequent and final appearance in "Mist Opportunities", it's conceivable that she lied about the Teen Team disbanding and was either kicked out for refusing to help people without getting paid and not caring about avoiding civilian casualties or even killed her teammates Orion and Squish when they tried to confront her on her not-so-heroic attitude.
      • Although, as shown in their debut, Orion and Squish aren't all that better than her, given their cold attitude to "regulars" and how they ignored the giant frog attack (which Misty actually bothered to help Jenny with). It really is possible that they really did disband but for different reasons.
  • Anvilicious: Played for Laughs. In "Indes-Tuck-Tible", Tuck looks at the screen and tells viewers not to imitate the stunts he tried. Brad immediately points out most people aren't that stupid.
  • Awesome Art: The art direction is one of the most praised aspects of the show, thanks to its visually pleasing use of Art Deco and stylistic use of color shifts for its characters for certain lighting conditions.
  • Badass Decay: Jenny got hit with this hard in Season 3, losing in fights far more often than she did in seasons 1 and 2. Most notable examples include: being overpowered and knocked unconscious by robot puppets in "The Puppet Bride" and being subdued by the Legion of Evil, a team consisting of Jenny's least threatening villains, twice in the same episode.
  • Base-Breaking Character:
    • Sheldon. Beyond being the cause of the majority of the fandom's shipping arguments (Jenny/Brad vs Jenny/Sheldon), there are those who see him as a shallow (and in some cases, manipulative) creep and those who think he's an absolute sweetheart, especially with him being the only one who actually believes Jenny was innocent in the Christmas episode.
    • Tuck. Some think he's a hilarious comic relief character with genuine moments of kindness and craftiness ("Future Shock", "Victim of Fashion") while others find him an annoying pest who makes everything worse ("The Boy Who Cried Robot", "Speak No Evil"), his young age notwithstanding.
    • Some hate The Crust Cousins for being so darn cruel to Jenny but with that being said, there are people who love them and/or just their wardrobe.
    • Killgore has a lot of fans for being a legitimate threat when he wants to be, but some dislike him for his grating voice.
    • Misty is another polarizing character. Some fans like her for having cool powers and an interesting character design, while others are put off by her sudden mean-spirited attitude in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Troubles" and "Mist Opportunities".
    • Jenny herself, albeit to a lesser extent. Many people love her for her cute design and personality and her insecurities can be very relatable, while some find her endless complaining to be annoying, and the fact that a lot of the mishaps that occur in the show usually are her fault and could have been prevented if she would have just listened to the other characters.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • Broken Base: Word of God saying Sheldon is more likely to get together with Jenny than Brad has been very divisive. Some hate because of how much more Ship Tease Jenny/Brad has and even people who don't ship them find Sheldon very repulsive and creepy. However some like it (mostly people who already shipped them to begin with and people who ship Brad with other characters like Melody), stating Sheldon is always in Jenny's corner compared to Brad (who has ditched her on some occasions) and unironically think he does deserves to be happy for his deep loyalty for her.
  • Character Perception Evolution: Sheldon Lee was at first near-universally seen as a lovable, sweet-natured nerd, with a crush on Jenny Wakeman that was found endearing even by many who didn't ship the two of them. However, changing times meant that his Stalker with a Crush tendencies, once viewed as harmless pining, were seen in a more critical light. Some of his other behavior also got re-evaluated for the worse, with him having quite a few moments where he came off as manipulative and entitled to some viewers. Today, while he still has his fans, he's a far more polarizing character than he used to be, with some still finding him a(n admittedly flawed) sweetheart, whereas others now consider him a creep who needs to leave Jenny alone.
  • Crossover Ship: Jenny has been put as part of several of these pairings.
  • Cult Classic: While it's nowhere near as well-known as SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar: The Last Airbender or insanely popular as Invader Zim and Danny Phantom, this show has a good-sized amount of fans.
  • Designated Hero: It's not uncommon for Sheldon's detractors to accuse him of being one. Despite being treated as a plucky underdog who is trying his hardest to win Jenny's affection, he actually displays a lot of negative characteristics that he's never called out for. Such as how he purposefully tried to ruin two of Jenny's dates out of jealousy or how he broke into her house to steal her blueprints to figure out how to make her fall in love with him.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Vega (The Special), Misty (three episodes), and Melody (two episodes) have gotten a huge amount of fan art. The first two because of all the teasing they got with Jenny and the latter thanks to her really cute relationship with Brad.
    • Smytus, due to being voiced by Steve Blum and for being a humorous, yet menacing villain who was arguably more competent than Vexus in Escape From Cluster Prime.
    • Armageddroid is rather popular as well despite only having a role in two episodes, one of which was fairly brief compared to his debut.
  • Evil Is Cool:
    • Vexus, Smytus, and arguably the rest of the Cluster minus Krackus. (Though even He has his moments.)
    • Armagedroid, primarily due to being arguably Jenny's biggest threat and one that has a menacing design and skill set to support that.
  • Fandom Rivalry: With Robotboy due to some seeing it as a rip-off, as they both are action shows focusing on robot youth. Though several do like both shows as noted in Friendly Fandoms.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: During the time of the show's run Brad/Jenny was more popular than the one-sided Sheldon/Jenny.
  • Fashionable Evil: Brit and Tiff may be a pair of obnoxious Alpha Bitches, but there's no denying that their fashion game is on point.
  • Foe Yay Shipping: Some people ship Jenny with Vexus or the Crust Cousins.
  • Friendly Fandoms:
    • To an extent, with several Cartoon Network properties such as Samurai Jack, Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? (another cartoon about a robot who goes to school, which also came out a year prior), The Powerpuff Girls (which makes sense) and with Robotboy (when it's not a Fandom Rivalry). It even developed an immediate one with Steven Universe shortly after the release of its first official movie poster. This is due to the fact that the film's villain, Spinel, has a heavy physical resemblance to Jenny.
    • Also with Kim Possible and Danny Phantom due to all three being early 2000s action cartoons with similar high school settings and each all having teenage protagonists who all wake up, go to school, and save the world.
    • Also in Japan, with Vocaloid, because of the well-known resemblance between Jenny and Hatsune Miku. It also has some Kaiju fans from the Godzilla and Ultra Series franchises, since giant monsters were among some of Jenny's regular foes. The relationship between both fandoms quickly blossomed internationally due to a collaboration between Nickelodeon and Crypton Future Medianote  involving a Youtooz figure of Jenny cosplaying as Miku.
    • The mecha fandom has been known to like the series to some extent.
    • The fandom has a lot of overlap with Mega Man (most often the classic and occasionally X series) due to the shared emphasis on cute but powerful robots with strong Astro Boy influence and plots themed around the relationships between humans and robots. Crossover art featuring Jenny and Mega Man isn't uncommon.
  • Genius Bonus: In one episode, Jenny finally gets a date with a boy who has a fear of technology. The movie they choose to see? Modern Times.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
    • Japan loves XJ-9 by virtue of being a cute Fembot.
    • The show also has a large fanbase in Latin America and Germany, especially the former where it once beat none other than SpongeBob SquarePants in a popularity contest.
  • Heartwarming in Hindsight: Despite Brit and Tiff's treatment of Jenny, they acknowledge her as female. While it may not seem like a big deal on initial glance, it shows that the two of them are willing to respect Jenny's gender identity rather than deride her as just a machine, a sentiment that can resonate with many who are non-binary or transgender.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • "Unlicensed Flying Object" features an alien threatening to swat Jenny, Brad and Tuck with a glorified electric flyswatter. Two years later, real electric flyswatters would gain popularity.
    • The Vocaloid crossovers have now become this, now that the folks at Frederator have collaborated with a company known as 1000 Toys to design a figure of Miku.
    • The episode "Daydream Believer", which features several scenes drawn in a Dr. Seuss-esque art style, aired the same day The Cat in the Hat was released.
    • Musiques resemble Air Pods quite a bit.
  • Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Vexus is very well-liked by fans of the show, for one reason or another, and other villains like Smytus and Killgore are also very popular in the fandom. Instead, most of the fan's ire is saved for most of Jenny's bullies, mainly those she deals at high school, such as Vice-Principal Razinski, Don Prima, and Pteresa. In fact, the only bullies that the fanbase don't have a bone to pick with (and even they have their haters) are the Crust Cousins.
  • Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Jenny gets quite a bit of play in the fandom, having been shipped with Brad, Sheldon, Misty, Vega, the Crust Cousins and even Vexus. And that's just in the show itself, as she's quite popular with crossover shipping as well.
  • Les Yay: Jenny and Vega have a lot of teasy interactions during the "Escape from Cluster Prime" special. Jenny and Misty also are ridiculously close during the two episodes Misty appears.
  • LGBT Fanbase:
    • Jenny has a degree of popularity among trans people due to them viewing her characterization and treatment from others as being symbolically similar to a trans person's plight. Rob Renzitti himself stated he was okay with people interpreting Jenny however they wish, and that he was happy that Jenny's struggles resonated with the trans community.
    • Vega is incredibly popular in LGBT-leaning parts of the show's fanbase due to her scenes with Jenny, and due to them it is not at all common for her to be theorized to be lesbian. A not-insignificant portion of the fandom also believes Jenny might be bisexual or lesbian for the same reason.
  • Magnificent Bastard ("Puppet Bride"): Lil' Acorn was originally a young Nora Wakeman's defense droid she turned into a ventriloquist's dummy, but he grew prideful and blackmailed her for a chance at a solo performance. Booed by the crowed, and running out of batteries after attacking the angry mob, Lil' Acorn seeks revenge in the present after being revived, doing so by stealing Nora's bioprocessors and using them to bring an army of puppets to life. Wanting to make Jenny his bride, Lil' Acorn and his puppets manage to knock her out so he can unveil the wedding ring—one of the bioprocessors, which would give him total control over her—and he holds Nora back with "The Song That Goes On Forever" as a last resort. Despite his villainy, Lil' Acorn's yearning for a bride eventually convinces Nora to make one, for which he sincerely thanks her.
  • Memetic Badass: Jenny herself; she can fly around the world (or to the moon) in minutes, create weapons from her "organs" and cut down entire armies in the blink of an eye. You know, when she isn't whining about not being "normal", getting punted around by the Crust Cousins or dealing with serious threats like the Cluster. As stated elsewhere, this does not endear her to Tremorton.
  • Memetic Mutation: There are a few photos of Pteresa using a spray can & the spray can is edited to say something else.
  • Moe:
    • Jenny, whose insecurities and innocence are very endearing.
    • Let's make room for Melody, shall we?
    • Ditto for Vega, XJ-4, and to a lesser extent, Killgore and Tuck.
  • Most Wonderful Sound: Jenny has a voice that's every bit as adorable as her appearance and personality.
  • Nausea Fuel: Jenny's Cluster transformation in "Hostile Makeover" is an exaggeratedly disgusting parody of puberty, which goes out of its way to make Jenny as ugly as possible thanks to Vexus' hacking.
  • Never Live It Down: The main reason Pteresa's such a hated and unpopular character in the fanbase is because of the infamous scene in "Killgore" where she cruelly yells at Jenny for trying to get rid of the eponymous character when he's driving her crazy, along with other unlikable traits.
    • And who could forget the one episode where Pteresa gets paid by Sheldon to pretend to be his girlfriend just to make Jenny jealous?
  • One-Scene Wonder: Quite unusually, two of Jenny's outfits are this, as they appear far more in fanart than they do in the show itself:
    • "The Return of Raggedy Android" has spawned Exoskin!Jenny, the result of Jenny wearing the exoskin. This Jenny is an eyecatching redheaded-beauty that every single guy wants. It's not unusual to see fanart of Jenny wearing the exoskin while also wearing skimpier and more revealing clothes than the blue sundress she dons in the episode.
    • "The Great Unwashed" spawned the "Hotrod" paint scheme for Jenny, which again features a lot of red. While a slightly less common find than the exoskin fanart, it still features way more than for a few minutes it did in the show. It's also her alternate skin in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl.
  • Paranoia Fuel: In-Universe, where Jenny is afraid of Killgore popping up and yelling "SURRENDER" near her.
  • Questionable Casting: Considering the fact that Janice Kawaye is Japanese-American and is bilingual in both English and Japanese (even getting to show the latter language off in "Speak No Evil"), many fans were confused to learn that she isn't Jenny's actress in the Japanese dub of the show.
  • Rainbow Lens: Jenny's struggle with trying to be like human girls is often cited as being analogous to Trans Tribulations. For example, the series opens with Jenny reminding her "mom" to call her by her preferred name, she often shows discomfort with her body, and episodes which center around her wearing a suit which makes her look more human come across as an attempt to "pass". Notably, the show's creator acknowledged this on Twitter, saying that while it wasn't his intent, he can definitely see the subtext in hindsight, and is glad the trans community sees themselves in Jenny and can relate to her story.
  • Seasonal Rot: While few would call it bad, season 3 isn't looked upon quite as fondly as its predecessors, with many episodes being considered rather forgettable and the only noteworthy ones picking up on character threads established by the first two seasons. Escape From Cluster Prime's sense of finality also didn't do many favors.
  • Self-Fanservice:
    • Jenny herself is a popular choice for this. It's ridiculously easy to find sexy depictions of her on various art websites. Given Rob Renzetti himself said sexy pinups of Jenny are totally okay, it was to be expected that the fandom wouldn't stop that easily.
    • This also sometimes applies to the Crust Cousins, Vexus, Tammy, Vega, Misty and Melody.
    • Even Brad and Sheldon aren't immune to this.
  • Ship Mates: Those who ship Brad/Melody and didn't have grudge against Jenny for that episode, typically pair her up with Sheldon.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: During the show's run, Jenny/Brad vs. Jenny/Sheldon debates could get pretty heated. This still pops up on occasion (with an increasingly popular third faction going for Jenny/Vega instead), but nowadays tends to be in good fun.
  • Take That, Scrappy!: At the end of "The Price of Love", many of the "cool kids" are shown in a Flash Forward as total losers that haven't aged well going to bail out Sebastian (the coolest guy in school) out of jail, all while Brit and Tiff lament that Pteresa should've married Sheldon, who had since become a billionaire.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: The anti-robot government agency in Agent 00 Sheldon were surprisingly competent villains and had a lot of potential to be almost like a Final Boss for the show since the defeat of Vexus. They were defeated insanely easily and never appeared again. Due to the very condensed pace of this episode, it seems like more of an introduction than just a filler episode.
  • Trans Audience Interpretation: Jenny is often read as a trans character: she has to continually remind her mother not to use her "real" name of XJ-9, and is visibly delighted when her mom refers to her as "my daughter" in the movie. Supposedly, members of the crew have approved of this reading, unintentional though it may be.
  • Ugly Cute: Sheldon looks like your standard geek but he's a very kind admirer.
  • Unpopular Popular Character:
    • Jenny herself! She may be the so-called "school freak" within the show but in real life, she remains one of the most iconic Nicktoon characters to this day.
    • Ditto with Brad and Sheldon to an extent.
  • Values Dissonance:
    • The main reason for Sheldon's negative Character Perception Evolution is that him being a Stalker with a Crush was viewed much more as harmless (if exaggerated) pining in 2002. Nowadays however, the increased awareness of male entitlement especially in nerd culture, makes how uncomfortable he makes Jenny harder to ignore.
    • Jenny has a habit of "disciplining" bratty children by using her weapons on them, such as chasing Tuck with laser beams for Crying Wolf, or smacking kindergartners with a ball at full super-strong force, just because they kept teasing her. Harmless slapstick back in 2002, but nowadays would be seen as making light of child abuse, which isn't taboo per se, but is seen as jarring Comedic Sociopathy, better fitting an Animated Shock Comedy.
    • A running gag involves Dr. Wakeman continually referring to Jenny by her model name, XJ-9, with Jenny always correcting her ("I changed my name to JENNY! Remember?"). In 2002, it was just a funny gag, but nowadays, it could be interpreted by some people as a parent frequently deadnaming his/her transgender child.
    • A country-to-country example with the Mad Hammer Bros. in the episode Sibling Tsunami, who like to call each other "spaz." The word "spaz" (short for spastic) is considered an ableist slur in the UK, on par if not worse than calling someone the r-word. In the US however, the word is just another term to call somebody stupid or clueless (a la “space cadet”) and is usually considered offensive only in the context of people with paralysis or epilepsy.
  • Vindicated by History: It premiered during a period when older demographics were bitter with Nickelodeon's cancellation of Invader Zim and shunned the network, before Danny Phantom and Avatar: The Last Airbender's debut won them back, and was one of the largest victims of network screwery of any show in the network's history which more or less doomed it to a quick death. Nowadays, it is considered alongside the three mentioned (and SpongeBob SquarePants, of course) as one of the Nick's best animated series during the 2000s and is recognized by Nickelodeon far more often as of this writing then it was when it was actually in production, to the point where Jenny was a highly requested character, even being the most requested DLC character for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, even beating out characters like Timmy Turner and Jimmy Neutron.
  • Watch It for the Meme: Many newer viewers claimed they started watching the series thanks to the infamous porn parody.
  • What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: While not as dark as say Invader Zim or inappropriate as most 90s Nicktoons, the show frequently averts Never Say "Die", the main robot character frequently gets destroyed to the point of Body Horror, and there is a lot of adult humor in the show, such as sex jokes and references to classic sci-fi and pop-culture none of its target audience would get. Plus, some of the villains range from a blatant communist (the episode he's from includes the hammer and sickle symbol in the title) to a gang of fishwomen that resemble dominatrices to a depressed group of dumped loners who has a member with a visible noose on his neck after an implied failed suicide attempt.
  • The Woobie:
  • Woolseyism: The Japanese dub reverses the languages in "Speak No Evil", basically having the dub's version of Jenny being stuck speaking surprisingly good English in place of surprisingly good Japanese. Though that does leave Fridge Logic, regarding Jenny speaking English in a clearly Japanese setting during the episode.

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