Sidekick (animation)

Sidekick is a Canadian animated television series created by Todd Kauffman, who directed of the first season of Total Drama, and Joey So, it was originally 5 shorts for Funpak. (Essentially Nelvana's answer to What a Cartoon or Oh Yeah Cartoons) before it was made into a television series 5 years after Funpak premiered. A second series has already been ordered.

It tells the story of Eric Needles, the sidekick of missing superhero Maxum Man and his adventures in Splitsboro, a town divided between heroes and villains.

you can watch the Funpak shorts here.

Can be seen on YTV in Canada and Cartoon Network in the States.


 * The Ace: Vana
 * Action Girl: Vana. Kitty has her moments as well.
 * Adult Child: Professor Pampelmoose.
 * All Love Is Unrequited: Eric wants Vana while Kitty wants Eric.
 * Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Vana's hippi, dippie mother.
 * Angry Guard Dog: Maxum Mutt.
 * Arch Enemy: Mr. Troublemeyer/Master XOX for Professor Pampelmoose and Maxum Man (though due to the latter being missing, you hardly ever see this)
 * Archnemesis Dad: Trevor's grandfather is this for Mr. Troublemeyer. If the pictures on the wall are any indication, he definitely qualifies as abusive. Plus he is constantly trying to turn Trevor evil despite Mr. Troublemeyer's continued efforts to get him to be a good boy.
 * Art Evolution: The Funpak shorts differ from the TV series in this way.
 * Attention Whore: Vana
 * Ax Crazy: Master XOX. It becomes blatantly obvious in his first appearance when he says that he created clones and ate them.
 * Badass Mustache: Eric gets one of these in the episode "Moustache Squash".
 * Badass Santa: Mega Santa.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: Vana and Eric, though only from Eric's side.
 * Betty and Veronica: Kitty Ko as the Betty and Vana Glama as the Veronica. Only this Veronica doesn't want Archie.
 * Bindle Stick: In "Ye Old Sidekick Village" the villain uses his anti-technology ray to turn Kitty's bag into one of these, filled with cans of beans.
 * Bilingual Bonus: "Pampelmoose" is French for 'Grapefruit'. Lampshaded when Eric tastes some of Pampelmoose-turned-evil-plant and notes that it tastes 'Pampelmoosey, with a hint of citrus'.
 * Bollywood Nerd: Maxum Man's Super Computer, Maxum Brain, has an Indian Accent.
 * Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: "A rooster? Rutabaga? A roostabaga?"
 * Butt Monkey: Eric
 * Conveniently an Orphan: Eric is an orphan. He usually brings it up every other episode.
 * Can't Spit It Out: Or, more accurately, spits it out all the time. Kitty has a not-so-secret crush on Eric, and reveals it all the time, but whenever she gets a little too lovey-dovey, Eric asks "What?", with Kitty responding with her own "What?" If Eric is aware at all of Kitty's feelings, he doesn't show it and definitely does not return them.
 * The Chew Toy: Eric
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Trevor
 * Dating Catwoman: Eric and Mandy Struction, Member of the Splitsboro Crime Syndicate, The Mass Destructions
 * Deconstruction: The in-world universe treats sidekicks as if they were objects, punching bags, etc., which can lead to making every student masochistic.
 * Department of Redundancy Department: This one doubles as a genius bonus. In "Ain't No Party Like a Maxum Brain Party", Eric suggests pulling out some of Maxum Brain's RAM Memory to lighten him up a bit. RAM stands for Random Access Memory. So he suggested pulling out some Random Access Memory Memory.
 * Depending on the Writer: Characters can either become charming and playful and can be friendly to each other (with only slight insults) and become jerks for the sake of humor sometimes. Eric gets the worst out of this. He's either Closer to Earth or tuns just as stupid as Trevor, or an even worse example, he either is shy of Kitty's crush on him, or...treats her like an absolute Jerkass like if her crushing on him is the worst thing ever. Doesn't help that he has a crush on Vana, who's treats him like utter crap. Headdesk moment, anyone?
 * Deranged Animation
 * Disappeared Dad
 * Maxum Man is Eric's adoptive dad, and no one knows where he is.
 * A less prominent version is Vana's dad. Her mom showed up as a Granola Girl, but her father was suspiciously absent.
 * Dogs Are Dumb: Maxum Mutt.
 * Dogged Nice Guy: Eric towards Vana
 * Dumb Muscle: XOX's henchmen.
 * The Eeyore: Eric has moments with this trope
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Mr. Troublemeyer/Master XOX tries constantly to be a good father. But Trevor makes it very hard to do so.
 * Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Mr. Troublemeyer tries to keep Trevor from turning evil and even put him in the Sidekick Academy despite reacting in disgust when that school is even mentioned. Of course, Master XOX is always proud that Trevor inherited his evilness.
 * Evil Teacher: Technically Professor Pampelmoose
 * Expy: Eric is similar to the animated Karl Pilkington
 * Failure Is the Only Option
 * Maxum Man will never be found. If he ever appears on screen outside of informational videos, it's always a fake or a duplicate.
 * Even when Eric wins, he usually loses to reinforce what a loser he is.
 * Free-Range Children
 * Friend Versus Lover: According to their biographies on the YTV website, Trevor and Kitty both hate each other's guts, this could be the reason why.
 * Genre Blindness: In "Endless Summer" Eric notices how Trevor's dad and Master XOX bear a striking resemblance to each other and how their RV is full of menacing inventions. He puts two and two together... and figures that the former is building the inventions for the latter.
 * Gonk: Pampelmoose
 * Gross-Out Show
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: Oh so very much.
 * Heroes Want Redheads
 * Eric is much more interested in Vana than he is in Kitty.
 * And Mirror Universe Eric wants her too.
 * Herr Doctor: Professor Pampelmoose.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Eric and Trevor; Kitty and Vana.
 * Honor Before Reason: In the episode "The Henchman Challenge," Eric does not want to cheat even though it's ostensibly the only way their team can win. Eventually, he gives in, but Kitty is not happy.
 * Idiot Hero: Eric; Trevor
 * Jerkass: Pampelmoose
 * Love Potion: The Gaga Goggles combine this with Hypno Ray.
 * Love Triangle: Kitty loves Eric, who loves Vana, who hates him.
 * Loves My Alter Ego: Trevor idolizes XOX, but seems to hold nothing but contempt for XOX's civilian identity: his dad.
 * The Millstone: Trevor in a majority of the episodes he's in.
 * Missing Mom: Trevor's mother
 * Mondegreen: A non-lyric example: Eric tells Trevor that his old orphanage pal has "abandonment issues", and that you should never say "Goodbye" to him. Trevor, however, mishears it for "Banana Mint Shoes". This goes on to be a Running Gag and finally a Brick Joke.
 * Morality Chain: Kitty for Eric in "The Henchman Challenge".
 * Oblivious to Love
 * Eric is completely oblivious to the fact that Kitty has a crush on him. Or maybe subverted. He IS aware, he's not interested in her, but the writers do zig-zag whether he's aware or unaware of it. He's probably pretending, but it makes the "What?" Running Gag just more strange and awkward.
 * Subverted with Vana; she knows Eric has a crush on her, but doesn't return to feeling. Eric is either unaware of this, or is trying hard to change her mind.
 * Only Sane Person: Vana, Eric or Kitty, Depending on the Writer.
 * The Professor: Pampelmoose
 * Punny Name: Pick a villain, any villain. Examples include Man Maid and Drilliam Shakespeare.
 * Sadist Show
 * Sadist Teacher: Professor Pampelmoose
 * Sanity Ball: Even Trevor gets thrown to this.
 * Scooby-Dooby Doors
 * Used in "Moustachesquatch" when the gang is chasing/being chased by the moustache monster. Rather than actual doors they use caves.
 * Played straight in "House of Helmut", followed by Trevor running into a closed door, knocking down the whole wall, and having the others comes out of one of the knocked down doors.
 * Ship Tease: Sometimes between Eric and Kitty, especially in "The Henchman Challenge".
 * Sidekick: It's in the name, after all.
 * Simpleton Voice: Pamplemoose
 * The Smurfette Principle: The henchman with the pigtails at the henchman school.
 * Sociopathic Hero: Maxum Man and Trevor.
 * Split Personality: Mr. Troublemeyer, Trevor's effeminate father and Master XOX, The closest thing the show has to a Big Bad. Trevor idolizes Master XOX, unaware he's really his father.
 * Steven Ulysses Perhero: Maxum Man's secret identity is Mr. Maxummin.
 * Sitcom Arch Nemesis: XOX and Pampelmoose.
 * Stalker with a Crush: Kitty can take her crush on Eric to creepy levels.
 * Kitty in general. When a famous teen movie star appears she near-completely forgets about Eric during the duration of the star's visit and goes to much greater lengths for her stalker-dom.
 * Status Quo Is God: The town is usually destroyed once an episode. It Gets Better by the next one.
 * Super Dickery: From what we see of Maxum Man in flashbacks, his super-ing style tends to consist almost entirely of this.
 * The Other Darrin: The Funpak shorts had a few different voice actors than the TV series.
 * Token Evil Teammate: Trevor.
 * Tsundere: Vana towards Eric (only Tsun though).
 * Vague Age: Averted by Word of God: Todd Kauffman (one of the creators) confirms them to be in grade 9 -- so they're 13-14 years old. Their design makes them look younger.
 * Visual Pun
 * The aforementioned "roostabaga" gag is followed by a rooster with a rutabaga for a torso.
 * "The dust bunnies are starting to multiply". Cut to a scene of bunnies doing multiplication on a chalk board.
 * Splitsboro's good and evil sides are separated by a railroad, meaning that the people who live on the evil side are literally born on the wrong side of the tracks.
 * With Friends Like These...: Trevor for Eric and Vana for Kitty.
 * World Gone Mad: Splitsboro