Chowder/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: (As of January 2012) After over two years, Cartoon Network is rerunning Chowder again!
  • Crosses the Line Twice: Chowder's "I just wanted to be a chef so bad that I got carried away and tried to kill everyone in the process." (Beat). "Again."
    • Fifty years ago, Mung got a Queen Meach away from her Soldier Meach guards and made her into a pie. In response, the Soldiers got into his workplace and beat him up. And again the next day. And again, in the bathroom. This went on for twenty-five years.
      • It wasn't even the pie that annoyed them-they didn't bother him until after he ate it (they lampshade this with a bit of unrestrained relief when the guy who commissioned the pie they make in the current episode takes it home).
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Shnitzel - Just about every Chowder commercial is about him.
    • Chestnut. Deekaloo, deekalee...
    • Honestly, I nominate the Marzipan Police Squad.
  • Family-Unfriendly Aesop:
    • "Paint the Town", it ends with Chowder running away from the problem he caused.
    • The finale arguably contains one. Panini marrying Chowder implies that all the stalking and harrassment she did throughout the series was okay.
  • Flanderization: Panini, as her crush on Chowder goes from being simply clingy in earlier episodes to downright obsessed with him in later ones.
    • Chowder himself doesn't fare much better either. In earlier episodes, he was simply a very eager yet rather naive child who hoped to someday become a great chef. Now, he's a hyperactive and highly incompetent idiot who is a danger to everyone around him.
      • This is especially evident when in one episode, he's so incompetent he's considered a "scatterbrain" and is so dim-witted he thinks a SPOON belongs in an electrical socket. Compare this to an earlier episode, in which Chowder's main flaw is a moderate case of ADD and is simply very naive.
    • Truffles has gone from being rather stern and more down-to-earth as well as talking pleasantly and quietly to the cutomers to being ridiculously bossy and having No Indoor Voice at all.
    • Remember in the earlier episodes when Mung Daal was simply known for his professional cooking skills and for being a good role-model for Chowder? Fast forward to more recent episodes where any mention of Mung Daal's cooking skills are almost non-existent (except for when his failures are pointed out) and he's near-constantly portrayed as something of a Small Name, Big Ego-esque pervert.
    • Endive went from simply being Muung's rival to deliberately tormenting Muung over the course of the series.
    • Shnitzel has gone from being the Straight Man (in contrast with the more wacky characters such as Chowder...) to being either the Chew Toy or the Butt Monkey depending on the episode.
  • Fridge Horror: After it's revealed that Gazpacho's mother might be just him in drag, the things he says about her now range from just awkward to downright disturbing.
  • Memetic Mutation: "I AM NOT YOUR BOYFRIEND!", It even has its Stupid Statement Dance Mix right here.
  • Motive Decay: Chowder was Mung's apprentice because he wanted to be a great chef but in "Chowder Grows Up", he wanted to stay young and be Mung's apprentice forever.
  • One of Us: The animators must be big gamers. See Shout-Out.
    • C. H. Greenblatt himself, who maintains a very sizable blog about the show and other works. He has openly confessed to being a gamer in it as well.
  • Periphery Demographic
  • Rule of Scary: Foie Gras isn't exactly Nightmare Fuel but he's pretty unnerving to the characters in the show to say the least.
    • He may remind you of Chiyo-chichi, particularly his English voice.
  • Seasonal Rot: Most of the fandom believes that the first season was the best, with the following two seeing a decline in quality.
  • This Is Your Premise on Drugs: True enough to its 70s homages, Chowder is pretty much what you get when you mix popular drugs from that era with your average Food Network cooking show.
  • Too Good to Last
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: Ceviché's a boy, despite his girly pink hair and leotard. Most people don't become aware of this until Chowder states his gender more than halfway in the series, believing Cartoon Network now allowed Les Yay for whatever reason (He has a crush on Panini).