Il potente B!

Mighty B! is an OK cartoon. High production value, but not totally unique. After all, kids love the same formula.

But what I think is really intriguing is the fact that this character is based off one of Amy Poehler's UPRIGHT CITIZENS BRIGADE characters, "Cassie." Cassie, played by Poehler can be seen in Episode 101: Bucket of Truth, and is called back a few other times throughout the three season run. Cassie, like Bessie, is a girl scout, she has a hilarious lisp, and her troupe name is "The Honeybees".

UCB is in my opinion the funniest most creative show ever on television... ever. But Mighty B! just seems like an average cartoon. Even if Amy Poehler and Matt Bessie, I mean Besser, have a hand in creating it.

When shows starring little boys or animal boy... things. Like Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, heck, even Crayon Shin-chan. They're treated as classic pieces of subversive animation. And if you don't like it, you're a prim and proper, an anime nerd, or awful girly thing. And the shows always seem to star little boys of some sort, targeted at little boys.

And honestly, it's kinda sexist. "Snips and snails and puppy dog tails" and "sugar, spice, and everything nice". Every girl is a cloud of perfume that never has to use the bathroom. And boys are a collection of hardcore toxic waste. How banal has the gross out comedy become, not because it's a gross out comedy, but because it focuses on males being gross.

Bessie Higgenbottom of the Mighty B! is here to set things right. With an absolute hoot of a comedy of the veins of Ren & Stimpy. But even more refreshing. And it's easy to see how, as many reviewers are targeting this show for being "gross and vapid" in a way they'd never target the boys shows.

Clearly our culture has some work to do when so many people are freaked out by a little girl picking her nose. Bless Bessie Higgenbottom, we need more of her kind.

Part of me wanted to hate this show, but in a way it grew on me. Only issue I have is the occasional art/animation inconsistency (noticeable if you pay enough attention.) Once you understand its humor and intent, it's really a slow-burner, nothing particularly hatable.

I have been looking through the comments and I am really confused why people seem to passionately hate this show. And all the reasons why people seem to hate it are not really explained well. Especially who ever TommypezMaster is. That was not even English. Only 3 comments had any inkling of reasons that were backed up. And I understand not liking a show and saying it's not for me but to go as far as saying I almost puked from watching is a bit irrational.

And for anyone who says this is one of the dumbest shows...I'm confused I thought that was the point of cartoons, to be dumb. What was 2 Stupid Dogs, Space Ghost, Ren and Stimpy, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sponge Bob, Cow and Chicken? Did anyone learn anything from any of those shows? No but they all have a fan following. So for being stupid is not really saying much since stupid/toilet humor is generally excepted in these other venues.

I wonder what it is then these people are looking for in cartoons? I'm partial to many types of cartoons, ranging from Beast Wars, the ones I mentioned above, anime, King of the Hill, and older cartoons like boomerang stuff.

I regard cartoons in 3 categories There are cartoons that have really good writing, there are cartoons that have really good and controlled art, then there are cartoons that can do both. Of course then there are those that have none at all. Like Perfect Hair Forever, the writing and cartooning is atrocious but it will still make me laugh 3 in the morning...so there is that too.

Anyways this show has something a lot of cartoons don't have a character driven cartoon. It doesn't need plot when she's there. I tend to like characters that are not by any means cool yet they believe they are and never seem to stop loving themselves. Strangers with Candy is like that and so is Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion. Those are character's I can respect, so is Sponge Bob for that matter. It is also a show where the art, especially being flash is done by someone who knows what they are doing unlike Fairly Odd Parents which is good writing but awful cartooning.

Also someone mentioned something about it missing fluid animation. This person obviously knows nothing about cartoons or media. When it seems they are skipping frames it is on purpose it is to embellish the character's reaction to an event. Old cartoons from the golden age did this, now maybe it seemed better because they did have access to money. Cartoons today are stuck in limited Animation so it's noticed more. Only Avatar is somewhere in between limited and full. Limited animation takes better advantage of this trick in my opinion, look up Beany and Cecile cartoons and you can see it used masterfully.

Now what this cartoon maybe lacking, people seemed turned off by stereotypes and I'm not really partial to them either but they have their place. I mean Dexter's Lab was a extremely nerdy boy and extremely girly girl. The stereotypes were pretty strong. One episode they switch interests and Dexter likes the pony and she likes the tough guy stuff, this wouldn't be funny without stereotypes. Messing with stereotypes I think is much funnier. Another show full of stereotypes is Jimmy Neutron with a lot of the same ones from Dexter except he has 2 dumb friends where Mighty B has one. Not saying I support it I'm just trying to get people to think about what they are saying critically.

So my suggestion is for people who don't like this show instead of stating they don't like whatever plot that's going on. They state what the expect from cartoons personally and state why this cartoon isn't adding up to that standard, but also take a step back and think about what a cartoon is in the first place. If you are someone partial to Totally Spies or My Life as a Teenage Robot then I have real doubts you'll like this show.

I was rather surprised at the fairly low average user rating that The Mighty B! has received. Some of the negative reviews I read are generally wrapped around the show's resemblance to Nick's older cartoons, perceived clichés, Bessie's speech impediment, her high amount of energy, and the occasional gross-out humor that is used. To me these sound like opinions of someone who has seen just one or two episodes, because even I wasn't quite sure what to think after seeing it for the first time. I had to give it an honest effort (just like a few other shows such as Invader Zim, Foster's Home or Billy & Mandy), which really led me to like it a lot as I continued to watch it.

So one point of contention seems to be the crude humor. To me, this show is a bit rough around the edges, but is not hard to handle compared to Family Guy, later episodes of Billy & Mandy and some earlier Nick toons I've seen. Only a little scene in one episode (not saying which one) made me grimace when I saw it, while many parts of Family Guy and Billy & Mandy made me change the channel. So the crudeness is unnecessary, but not by any means overbearing.

And why do some viewers seem to think this show is unoriginal, unless that is their attempt to support their negative opinions? In the case of Gwen and Portia, respectively a stereotypical hipster and valley girl, I believe they fill a role that places Bessie in her proper place, as they continually try to degrade her without a glimpse of success, adding a lot to the humor put forth by Bessie's antics. As far as Penny's stereotype is concerned, the only other character she could even relate to is Patrick Star, but their personalities are still much different and Penny is hilarious. The air-headed blonde girl Millie also cracks me up.

Even in spite of characters like Portia & Gwen, this is Bessie's show. Unlike any other female cartoon character I've seen, she is so full of energy, completely oblivious to her own popularity & appearance, and quite sharp-minded. Every other cartoon I've seen on Nick that's worth watching involves male comical characters, and any females that hold a primary role are usually not at all funny or antagonistic, since they are restrained to cynicism or being "miss perfect." I love how Bessie steps far outside this area; she's hilarious and adorable in every respect, including her silly lisp, which only adds to her personality.