YMMV / Squirrel Boy

• Adorkable:
  • Andy is an innocent little boy whose social awkwardness, quirks, crush on Martha, and fun-loving innocence make him adorable. However, it becomes downplayed in episodes where he gets a grasp on the jerkass ball.
  • Oscar is an innocent, accident-prone boy who just wants to have fun and have friends
• Base-Breaking Character: Rodney. Like most Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonists, you'll either find him funny due to his Jerkass tendencies, or detest him for the same reason.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • Andy using an excess amount of soap to wash his hands in "The Big Haggle Hassle".
    • And then him commenting on each episode of The Clash of the Planetoids as he looks at the subsequent tapes of the show. This trope is merely Played With in these two examples as they aren't really bizarre, but they are pointless, they don't contribute to the plot, and they're never mentioned again.
  • The Overly Long Gag of Martha's presence being her present for Andy in "Birthday Boy", only to reveal a video game as her real present a few moments later.
• Designated Monkey:
  • Mr. J's a pretty decent person (when not being irresponsible to Andy), yet for some reason, he's still put through hell and bad luck almost 24/7. There are times when he brings it upon himself though (e.g. "Born to Be Mild", "Screw-Up On Isle Six", "Bully for You").
  • Whenever Andy's the Butt-Monkey of the week (e.g. "Yer Out!", "Screw-Up On Isle Six", "He Got Blame"), he's also far from deserving what happens to him.
  • Oscar also doesn't deserve the sad, crappy life he has, as well as all the jokes and misfortunes he's the butt of.
• Forced Meme: The hat from "A Line in the Sandwich" and Rodney's line "The hat sells the sandwich" seem to be one, given how often it's referenced in subsequent episodes.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Three from Richard Horvitz: Invader Zim Zim referred to Dib as "squirrel boy" once. He later played a kid who could telekinetically set squirrels on fire. Also, he played a goblin mistaken for a squirrel.
  • CatDog had a squirrel character named Eddie before this show did.
  • In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Missing Identity", SpongeBob calls Old Man Jenkins "Mr. J". The Latin American Spanish dub goes the extra mile by having both shows dubbed at Etcetera Group.
  • In 2009, YouTube user "wafflepwn" uploaded a Greatest Freakout Ever episode where uses the term "squirrel boy" to insult protagonist Stephen Quire as he hung out around a tree.
• Ho Yay: Rodney kisses Mr. J on the lips at the end of "Andy Had a Little Squirrel".
  • Rodney sings a duet with Leon that mentions "chasing you all day." Squirrels chase each other for territorial and play reasons, but also as a prelude to mating. That Leon replies with the line "Sugarplum, I wouldn't have it any other way" suggests the latter.
• I Am Not Shazam: Some people misremember Rodney's name as "Squirrel Boy".
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Rodney may be a rude, self-centered smartass, but you could still feel sorry for him when Kyle and Salty Mike bully and torment for no good reason. Likewise, the occasional moments when his pet owners neglect him (e.g. "Born to Be Mild", "The Trojan Rabbit", "Gumfight at the S'Okay Corral").
  • Kyle and Salty Mike are no doubt Jerkasses, but they get placed under some sympathetic spotlight in "Islands in the Streets", where they are separated from each other due to Salty being flung in an island in the middle of a highway. It's especially sad considering how much they actually care for each other, despite their jerkish ways.
• Love to Hate: Rodney is a jerk, but if you take him out of the show, it becomes less funny and no plot conflicts would be made.
• Memetic Mutation: Downplayed as it's not that popular or well-known, but Rodney's line "The hat sells the sandwich!" is often quoted by people who like the show.
• Moe:
  • Andy, due to his good nature and being a typical little boy.
  • Andy's mother, due to her gleefulness and being somewhat of an Extreme Doormat.
• Nightmare Fuel: Has its own page.
• So Bad, It's Good: For the hatedom that the show does have, they do like to mock its Deranged Animation and Rule of Funny.
• So Okay, It's Average: While there are some who don't see anything wrong with the show, it's generally agreed that it was weaker than many previous CN Originals. It doesn't help that it was airing when Cartoon Network was going into a Network-Decayed Audience-Alienating Era either.
• Squick:
  • Kyle's toenail infection in "Islands in the Streets".
  • Rodney chugging down a syrup container in "Birthday Boy".
  • In "Born to Be Mild", Rodney is forced to let the Angry Guard Dog attack him and drool all over him throughout the night. The following day, he wakes up in a pool of the dog's saliva.
  • Kyle is revealed to have a habit of drooling on his mattress in "Anti-Ice Cream Social".
  • There is an entire short centered around this trope called "See Food Breakfast", in which Rodney and Andy compete in a contest to see who can provoke a disgusted reaction from Mr. J the quickest to win the last doughnut.
  • Although played for laughs, Rodney uses Mr. J's coffee mug and toothbrush in "A Line in the Sandwich", both of which Mr. J uses after Rodney does.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: In "Birthday Boy", Kyle and Salty Mike arrive at the Johnsons' house to inform Rodney of their plans to sabotage Andy's birthday, which isn't explored any further after their exit; doing so could have potentially gave the bullies a kick-ass moment of Laser-Guided Karma to make Andy's birthday even better.
• Toy Ship: Andy and Martha.
• Ugly Cute: Leon has a bizarre design, yet his optimism and Nice Guy nature make him kind of adorable.
• The Woobie:
  • Mr. J. He has to suffer the living hell that his Jerkass pet, Rodney, makes his life, as well as his own bad luck. At least he occasionally gets to retaliate though.
  • If you thought Mr. J was the biggest woobie, wait until you see Oscar. His parents are so overprotective of him that they won't let him do anything short of breathing because they're too worried about his well-being. It often interferes with his desire to have a social life and a pet. It's also implied in "Screw Up in Aisle Six" that Oscar hates his parents due to their overprotective ways and wants Mr. J to be his father, as he is seen desperately persuading the latter.
  • Andy has his moments, as well. For example, the episode "Yer Out!" has him getting kicked off of both baseball teams (he also gets his uniform taken, leaving him in his underwear) with him walking home sadly. Then, he gets put back on Mr. J's team, but only to be given the role of a bench warmer, which quite clearly stresses him out. Not only that, but in several episodes, he's bullied and harassed by Kyle and Salty Mike with them not getting in trouble or getting what's coming to them; to make things even worse, at times, Andy gets in trouble instead!