How The Amazing World Of Gumball Finale Predicted The Animated Purges

How did one oddball TV-Y7 cartoon portend a fraying landscape for Western cartoons in the streaming age? What does it have to do with a CEO strategy of cleansing out a repertoire of cartoons?

“The Amazing World of Gumball” is one bizarre crossbreed on the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned Cartoon Network. When I compiled The 10 Best Children’s Animated Series Of The [Last] Decade, I had zero hesitation deciding on “The Amazing World of Gumball,” which ran from 2011 to 2019 on Cartoon Network for six seasons, for its visual eclecticism and comedic minefield. The brainchild of creator Ben Bocquelet, the cartoon revolves around the exploits of the 12-year-old anthropomorphic cat Gumball Watterson and his brother Darwin Watterson (an adopted sibling who originated as a pet goldfish who grew legs). Their environment of Elmore is a wonderland of different mediums. Living in real-life photo-based environments, the 2D Watterson family interact and clash with a medium-blended world: characters comprised of CGI, flash animation, puppetry, or stop-motion. It brandished an out-there aesthetic that made it a companion to its zany contemporaries like “Adventure Time” and “Regular Show.”

To understand “The Amazing World of Gumball,” and its WTF series finale prophetic to a CEO business decision that compromised its future, you need to appreciate its unorthodox form.