If you believe that people above twelve who watch cartoons are immature and need to grow up, this post is not for you. But If you’re into absurd misadventures with good plots and surprisingly complex characters, welcome to the dark side and we’ve got cookies. We’ve been trawling Tumblr theory sites and twitter threads and have made a compilation of the best and largest cartoon fandoms today.

Steven Universe

Steven Universe is one of the few cartoons that has found that sweet spot between massaging egos of adult audiences, yet managing to keep all the quirks that make it appropriate for younger viewers. The show’s creator, Rebecca Sugar used to write for Adventure Time and she was inspired by her brother Steven Sugar to create the show’s main character. Steven Universe pays homage to pubescent motions and early teenage angst, an important theme for everyone who wants to see the innocence of a coming of age story. If you need anymore incentive to get in on this show, you should know that Steven Universe’s voice cast includes British singer Estelle, and occasionally Nicki Minaj who voices Sugilite a special fusion gem character.

Adventure Time

Adventure Time is the story of an almost normal 13-year-old human boy named Finn, and his magical dog Jake (voiced by John Di Maggio). They live in the enchanted land of Ooo and have many strange adventures exploring dungeons, saving princesses (most commonly Princess Bubblegum of the Candy Kingdom)and meeting many strange inhabitants of the world, some friendlier than others. The plot sounds simple enough, but Adventure Time is one of the most surreal kid’s shows to come out of Cartoon Network for a long time. And we love every minute of it. On a side note, Marshall Lee is voiced by Donald Glover (Childish Gambino).

The Amazing World Of Gumball

Let’s face it, “Courage the Cowardly Dog” and “Cow and Chicken“ were probably the most terrifying and inappropriate shows on there that were supposedly made for kids. Luckily, they hit a goldmine with The Amazing world of Gumball, a surreal humour show centered on The Watterson Family. There is Richard, a Peter Griffin-esque character who is a stay-at-home dad with good intentions but little intellect. Nicole, his wife, is a workaholic mom with a short fuse who deeply loves her family. Gumball and Darwin are your average pre-teen boys who have all sorts of weird interests and misconceptions on girls, adults, and life in general. And their sister Anais who is a child prodigy at four years old. Together they get into all sorts of unbelievable situations around their house, school, or city in general.
https://youtu.be/XkEgUf-Sd00

Teen Titans GO

For clarification, Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go are different. For die-hard DC fans that grew up watching Spiderman, Teen Titans were the younger crew of Justice League. Like Batman but not quite. Teen Titans Go on the other hand compared to the original is super bright and colourful and not as serious. Teen Titans airing on Cartoon Network now wasn’t the one most people grew up with though the voice cast is the same. It’s about a group of young justice seekers, headed by Batman’s sidekick Robin. Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg are the other main characters.

Regular Show

Regular Show is centered around 23-year-old best friends, a bluebird and a raccoon who live and work in a park. They’re slackers who ignore their chores and the resulting consequences are grave.The characters, which are way more layered than the typical “trouble-makers” tropes that tend to appear in most of the animated shows from the recent years made them a whole lot more likable. Sure, the two main characters, Mordecai and Rigby, aren’t exactly role models, but they have many positive characteristics that make them more complex, instead of being one-dimensional stereotypes. That’s the greatest virtue from this series and something that makes this show pleasant, despite all the strangeness of it.