It’s always fascinating to revisit Nickelodeon shows, as you realize how big a part these fairly simple cartoons played in your childhood. Some of the cartoons mentioned on this list ended many years ago, yet those who watched them still remember them clearly, making them the subject of many memes and fan artworks.
As well as being fun to draw, envisioning characters in the opposite gender can add another layer to them and make you consider other sides of the cartoon. The word “feminism” can still spark up a debate, even though the base meaning is just that people should have equal rights and be treated the same regardless of their gender. Yet changing the gender of these characters to female can immediately change the settings or messages of these cartoons.
But while many are important and make you consider new things, a lot of them are also funny! They show a great deal of creativity from the artist and help us remember a simpler time.
Nickelodeon certainly isn’t as good now as it was when I was a kid. So, I’m very grateful to be of a generation that was given such quality television. Despite being aimed at a young audience, so many of these cartoons can still be watched as an adult, their messages still relevant. And while Nickelodeon isn’t as good as it used to be, there are still some programs that completely hold up!
24 Little Miss Sea Sponge
No matter what generation you are or what was on Nickelodeon whilst you were growing up, we all at some point watched SpongeBob. I went through two different phases of being terrified of him and absolutely loving him!
He’s been on our televisions for almost twenty years at this point and while he’s had his down moments, I’m sure we’re all glad that he existed.
I like that this gender-swap is also humanized because, by cartoon standards, SpongeBob’s appearance could be considered female. Since cartoons often contain animals or inanimate objects, animators add small details to distinguish gender. A common one is eyelashes to represent female- and if you look at SpongeBob, he has lovely long eyelashes! His voice is also ambiguous, and he is the classic non-gender conforming color; yellow.
Art by Girle101.
23 Hey, Arnette!
I didn’t watch a lot of Hey Arnold!, during its original run as my father wouldn’t let us, telling us it “looked stupid.” I did watch it a few years later and recently re-watched the series prior to The Jungle Movie. I can firmly say that to show neither looks or is “stupid,” but it actually very emotional and hits on some very hard issues for a kids’ show.
As well as female Arnold, we also get to see a male Helga, Arnold’s bully and love interest.
The show would have been very different with a female protagonist, although male Helga would have been a good image for boys. The way she hides behind a wall of violence and only expresses her emotions when alone is a textbook image of toxic masculinity.
Art by Eevee-no-sakura.
22 Lady Mutant Ninja Turtles
Although this franchise has been rebooted several times, the latest reboot aired on Nickelodeon and judging by the date this fanart was drawn, I assume it was intended for the Nick Turtles.
What I love about this genderswap is that it’s very subtle. The turtles don’t wear any more or less than they do in the show; they’ve just glammed up their bandanas with some stylish bows. Or at least Dom and Mikey have. Raph and Leo are apparently too cool for that, going with some long elegant ribbons. There is a subtle feminity to these characters, yet they still reflect the personality of each turtle. Leo’s leadership, Raph’s toughness, Dom’s awkwardness, and Mikey’s playfulness all shine through, which is what is important in a fan artwork.
Art by Sugarysymbiote.
21 Timantha
I’m assuming that Timmy’s style in this fanart was taken from the Fairly OddParents episode “The Boy Who Would Be Queen.” During the episode, Timmy wishes he were a girl so he can understand what girls like and “girly things” in order to figure out what his crush Trixie wants for her birthday. After going undercover as “Timantha,” he finds out that Trixie enjoys both “girl” things and stereotypical “boy” things such as comics.
The episode is a great look at how easy it is to shame people for not confirming to gender roles.
This artwork is really cute- I see a bit of an anime style in it, making it both beautiful and entertaining. Some fun godmother and daughter shoe shopping bonding!
Art by Bradsgurl.
20 Invaderess Zia
The interesting thing about this is that “Zim” and “Dib” could well be gender-neutral names. Jhonen Vasquez isn’t someone who likes to give his characters conventional names, most of them being only three or four letters long. If you’d never heard of his work before and were given the character names: Squee, Gaz, Prof Membrane, Gir, Devi, or The Almighty Tallest, I doubt you would immediately associate the names with male or female.
I assume that the name change of these characters is to represent their change.
They are not the original Zim and Dib, but different versions of those characters. Unless there is something unbelievable masculine about the letters “B” and “M” that no one has ever told me. I doubt it though.
Art by Courageousllama.
19 The Last Air-Gender
I must admit that I don’t have a great knowledge of Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra. I’ve watched a few episodes, most notably The Puppetmaster, after the internet claimed that it was incredibly creepy. The internet was not lying. So, I apologize if I offend any extreme fans of the show by my lack of knowledge. I wasn’t that I disliked the program, I think I just missed the demographic.
But from an objective standpoint, this fan art is a great visual interpretation of the two characters. Their style is very true to the characters’ but adapts them well as the opposite gender. I especially appreciate the small details of the characters’ hair and positioning, along with the subtle differences in the characters’ clothing.
Art by Jessypet92.
18 Fun Under The Sea
This certainly is an image I never thought I’d see. This fan art appears to be an interpretation of SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick as fun anime girls! It’s bizarre because it’s incredibly far away from the show and the original design of the characters- but I’m not questioning why a fan made this.
It’s not even that big of a leap from the show to here, this is just cute and fun.
Trouble is, with Patrick looking that sweet, I can’t imagine her doing all the horrible things the character does this. I can’t see that sweet thing “accidentally” gluing her friend into a wringer and making her life hell. My favorite part of this by far is how grumpy Squidward still looks! It’s a perfect little detail.
17 Kunoichi Mutants
Another entry with our favorite turtles! Again, what I like about this is the very subtle changes to the turtle’s physical forms, to give them a more feminine appearance. Although I’m not too sure about square shell chests. Turtles don’t really have that. Mind you, that could be a human mutation, that is sort of the point. Another thing I’d point out is that the turtles look a lot shyer and retiring than they normally do. The Turtles would kick anyone’s behind regardless of their gender!
My favorite part is Leo’s plait. I don’t like gender-swaps where the turtles have hair just because they’re female, since they have no hair as boys and hair doesn’t represent gender. But the plait shows a feminine style, without magically giving her hair!
Art by Joyjababanoid.
16 Part Of Her World
I was hardly going to make it through this list without including one of these! The memes are plentiful! But while we’ve all seen the Princess Nigel memes (if you haven’t, you’re missing out on something great), this one takes it to the next level. There is so much care here. Rather than simply face-swapping the characters, the creator has made this image, beautiful, smooth and perfect.
Whilst the face-swaps make me laugh every time, this shows a lot of appreciation for the cause.
I love that it’s Nigel who has become the most memorable character, rather than the main character Eliza. Nigel brought both comedy and wisdom to the show, leaving the biggest imprint on those that watched it. Also, Tim Curry’s voice is never forgotten.
15 An Alternative Wish
Another cute interpretation of Timantha from Fairly OddParents. I couldn’t tell you why, but I see this in a different light from the Timantha fan art we saw earlier. Whilst I saw the last one as Timmy and Cosmo involved in some sort of wish or mix up, this one looks to me more like an alternate universe character. This Timantha to me identifies as a girl and lives her life as such. Maybe it’s the happiness in her or the casual way she holds herself.
I don’t know if that is what the artist was going for, that’s just what I see personally.
I always liked that the canon Timmy’s signature color was pink also. After ten seconds at school, kids seem to think that blue is for boys and pink is for girls.
Art by Mikeinel.
14 Adorable Arnold
This one is very cute. It’s been hard to find a gender-swapped version of Arnold alone. I think it’s nice that the fans see these two together, regardless of gender. Helga’s obsession has always been questionable, but relatable, especially when you consider her backstory.
I love the way Arnold’s shirt has turned naturally into a skirt for this interpretation. In the original series, I honestly thought it was a kilt, possibly helped by the color. But after seeing The Jungle Movie, I guess it was just a long shirt running down under his jumper. Makes sense given that the shirt collar was always the same color. The blush in the characters cheeks, paired with them not making eye contact, makes me think of a typical teen romance. Very sweet.
Art by Loredanne.
13 A Whole Other Show
Even as an adult, I find it hard to sit through an episode of even the original i. I just don’t have the constitution for gross-out humor! Frankly, this fan art is far too sweet! The love between them and the daintiness shows nothing of the twisted relationship these two had. I can’t help but think that if these two had been female, it would have been an entirely different show (although sadly it probably would have been canceled sooner, given the lower tolerance sensors have for women doing gross stuff).
Mind you, Stimpy’s gender has been questioned a few times.
If you’ve seen Adult Party (which you shouldn’t), you’ll know that Stimpy has Ren’s baby. But then again, he could have been trans. Perhaps under all the grossness and shock humor was a very progressive show.
Art by CampLazloFangirl.
12 Frozen Pets
It’s always great to come across something that is more than just a gender swap, but a random, creative parody genius of a gender swap!
Frozen would have been a very different film if the two sisters had been fused together like this, especially during the beginning. It’s hard enough when your sister starts to ignore you, but if you couldn’t actually escape being in the same room with her, that would really hurt! Although I doubt Elsa could keep her powers secret very long if she were stuck to Anna, with or without gloves. Plus, there is no way she would have put up with that whole “Love is an Open Door” sequence. I agree that Dog as Anna and Cat as Elsa makes the most sense, although I’d be happy to hear reasons for the opposite.
Art by Heinousflame.
11 An Alternate Invasion
I really like how Zim’s hair is kind of retro here. It’s rather sixties. What’s fascinating about the Irkin Empire is, despite being a dictatorship and classist society, with punishments and the poor forced into cruel situations by the higher-ups, they appear to have little segregation of gender. All Irkins are judged by their height, so the tallest Irkin would be elected tallest regardless of gender and the smallest are placed into slavery or service. Because of this Zim’s role in Invader Zim would have probably been the same had he been female.
She would still have been banished for being super small, annoying and incompetent.
I’m not completely sure if the skirt here has been flared out to be more femme or not. It’s a very subtle difference and I suppose it’s up to the individual.
Art by Mikage-yoshinoanerin.
10 More Ninja Girls
This is probably my favorite Turtles fanart, which is why I’ve left it until last. Although all the ones we’ve seen haven’t been overly subtle, with no dramatic changes to the turtles’ bodies, the detail in this is much smaller and a lot more accurate to how the turtles would be as girls. Again, it’s mostly in the eyes.
Particularly Leo has that subtle oval touch to her eyes that Pixar often uses to represent feminity.
They haven’t been given a lot of female accessories to wear, because why would they? They live in the sewers! But their bandanas have been tied in a slightly more feminine way, such as Mikey’s bow and Leo/Ralph’s flowing ribbons. When it comes to gender swapping turtles, subtlety is key!
Art by Artsicat13.
9 The Dougettes
Despite not containing the title character Doug, I believe the artist did another gender swap involving him, this is a gender swap of some of the secondary characters from the old school Nick Show Doug! Based on the adventures of a young boy named, not surprisingly, Doug. Including the series bully, Roger Klotz.
Doug is another show I missed as a child, only learning of its existence around five years ago. It’s a shame, since despite its bright colors and silly names (it’s hard to take a show seriously with characters like Patti Mayonnaise), it dealt with a lot of serious issues including eating disorders and bullying. Klotz is probably my favorite amongst these, as she is still holding a strong “tough” persona. The faces in this still hold all the personality of the characters.
Art by Luthien-Black.
8 Girl Genius
Ignoring, as we all should, that abysmal spin-off Planet Sheen (the less said about that the better), Jimmy Neutron was a pretty good show.
Despite the animation looking questionable now, it wasn’t bad for its time and the show was very good at making fun of itself.
Although this is a really fun piece of fan art, capturing the personality of the characters and the fun of the show, I do take some issue with their portray of Carl. Carl was Jimmy’s close friend who was very anxious and had a hard time saying no to him. But he was also quite notably overweight. His gender-swapped counterpart here does not appear any larger than her two friends, which is a shame as girls are far more likely to be ridiculed or shamed for their weight than boys.
Art by Sweatshirtmaster.
7 Saanivi And Claire
Pretty much everything I just said about Breadwinners could be applied to Sanjay and Craig. As with Ren and Stimpy, it wasn’t that I didn’t like this show, it was just that my stomach was far too weak to make it through an episode. I’m not passing judgment on those who enjoy gross-out humor. Comedy is an entirely subjective concept. It’s just not my cup of tea.
But as I was saying, even with an incredibly simple change such as changing the gender of the title characters, this would have been an incredibly different show. The artist didn’t have to change that much for this artwork, adding a skirt, a hair clip, and some eyelashes. But picture the show with these two instead, and I think you’ll understand what I mean.
Art by Wildstar27.
6 Fangirls
I’m not going to lie; how this show managed to win five Emmys is completely beyond me. Granted, all of those Emmys were for animation, which was certainly this show’s strong point. But it didn’t seem to offer much beyond that. This is, of course, my personal opinion, and I’m happy if you were able to enjoy something that I can’t.
While this fan art is impressive, capturing their image beautifully, I can’t help but think that those clothes aren’t as practical for superhero work. Superheroes wear spandex and tights because it’s flexible (and shows off their muscles). But in this, the girls appear to be wearing normal casual clothes, which might not be great for hero work. It’s a big leap from the original, given that one of them is just wearing their underwear over their costume. But I could be wrong.
Art by Martina313.
5 Hey, It’s Hayley Beaks
After not giving much praise to several Nick shows, I’m going to buck the trend by saying that I really enjoyed Harvey Beaks. It was just a really sweet, relatable show with characters that brought a lot to the table. As someone with OCD, it would have been nice to see more cartoons dealing with these issues, not in a showing off kind of way, but casually like in Harvey Beaks.
Harvey certainly has anxiety, with fans speculating that he was Asperger’s.
I imagine this is a great comfort to a child with Asperger’s. It’s a great shame Nick won’t be making any more of these. Unlike others, I don’t think Harvey Beaks would have been any different if it had been Hayley Beaks, proving what a great show, it really was.
Art by Linsanna.
