Woody Woodpecker/YMMV


 * Creator's Pet: Ms. Meany, an annoying old lady who would always get the better of Woody in the later cartoons. She is despised by fans, but appeared frequently in the later cartoons as a major character. It was especially bad in Woody's last theatrical cartoon, "Bye Bye Blackboard".
 * Take That Scrappy: Fortunately, Woody managed to get back at her far more often in the newer series.
 * Dork Age: Pretty much all of the cartoons from 1955 onward--some might even argue it began right after 1949, when the last Woody cartoon directed by Dick Lundy was made before the Lantz studio was briefly shut down until the next year.
 * Executive Meddling: The newer show had a lot of ridiculous censorship on par with the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon.
 * Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Woody is very popular in South America, to the point where his cartoons are still aired in some parts of it to this day!
 * Growing the Beard: The early shorts were fun, yet very sloppy, misguided attempts at imitating Looney Tunes. Things started improving when Shamus Culhane came and ramped up the direction of the cartoons, but the series truly reached its peak when Dick Lundy began directing.
 * Nightmare Fuel: Woody's first appearance in "Knock Knock" is Deranged Animation, does not help that when he first speaks, it is in a very normal tone compared to the later wacky tone he is known for.
 * Another example is the ending of "Pantry Panic": after Woody and the cat spent a good part of the short fighting over who would be dined by who, a moose happens upon Woody's door. They both rejoice at the sight ("Meat!" "Meat!") and the moose, terrified, runs away. Next shot is the moose's bones all piled up, with Woody and the cat next to them, having just finished to eat it... and the moose's dead head can be seen behind them. Then the cat says "This was delicious, but you know... I'm still hungry." Woody replies with "Oh yeah? Well, me too!" They then produce their knives and stare psychotically at each other before the fight restarts.
 * The Problem with Licensed Games: Ferias Frustradas Do Pica-Pau for the Sega Genesis is terrible in many ways.
 * Scapegoat Creator: Paul J. Smith picks up a lot of flak for the cruddier efforts produced during the 1960s and 1970s. It's debatable how much (if any) of it's deserved; while it's true that Lantz's budgets were pitiful even compared to what the likes of DePatie-Freleng and Sib Tower 12 were working with at the time, the general consensus tends to be that the cartoons by Lantz's other director in this period, Sid Marcus, were far better than Smith's output. Either Smith was overwhelmed by the combination of budgetary problems and his (allegedly) failing eyesight, or he just plain gave up trying to make anything decent.
 * They Just Didn't Care: Part of why the newer show was a failure.
 * Villain Decay: Buzz Buzzard was a genuine menace in his earliest appearances, intending to be the perfect foil for Woody's antics--but in the fifties, he quickly degenerated into a hapless foe for Woody (they're even co-workers in "Operation Sawdust" and "Belle Boys").