Pubertina was the second cartoon to air on Shut Up! Cartoons. The first episode came out on May 2, 2012 and the cartoon ended on July 4, 2012. Almost a year later, Pubertina announced that the cartoon was coming back for another season. The first episode of the second season came out on February 20, 2013 and the series ended on May 22, 2013.
Description
Join Pubertina as she tackles the giant pile of mishaps, embarrassment and acne that is puberty -- every Wednesday right here on Shut Up! Cartoons!
Theme Song
Puberty is killing me
It's making it hard for people to look at me
Pubertina
Where is this blood coming from?
Main Characters
Pubertina
Pubertina is the titlular protagonist of the series. She is nicknamed "Pubes" by most of the characters. She is goofy and slightly strange, as she is going through puberty and experiencing many bodily changes, such as acne, crushes, growth spurts, and mainly, blood flowing through her vagina.
Debs
Debs is Pubertina's friend and is often seen with her. She is younger and shorter than Pubes, and seems to be much smarter than her. She is also a little bit mischievous. Debs has been seen to be very protective of Pubes, as seen in Boy Crazy, when she throws a ball at three boys laughing at Pubes’ breasts, shouting, "She's a human being!" In Deb's Obsession Part 1, Debs celebrates the seven month anniversary of her and Pubes's friendship, where she starts exhibiting some strange obsessive behaviors, going as far as collecting one of Pubes's used tampons to put on her album. Debs gets really upset when Pubes decides that the two need to take a break on their friendship. At the end of Menstrualine, she grows a single breast nub, indicating that puberty has just begun for her. During Deb's Nubbie, she starts feeling jealous that Pubertina has two nubbies, to the point where she wants the rest of puberty to happen to her right then. In Pubertina's Little Helper, she asks Pubertina if she'll ever find her own prince, but then adds in "-ess", as in she's asking when she'll find her princess, hinting that Debs may be a lesbian. In The Sleepover, Debs reveals to Pubertina that she is in love with her. In Deb's Nubbie she said that Karen has "cute dimples" and "beautiful golden hair", which could indicate that she is also in love with her.
Andrew
Andrew is Pubertina's crush. He has blond hair in a hair style kind of like Ian's. He was first introduced in "Boy Crazy," where Pubertina had a deep crush for him until seeing a horrible secret about boys. He returned in "Persistence where she tried yet again to impress him, but wanted to stay friends before later revealing he was gay. Since Valentine’s Gay, he has been dating a red haired boy named Tommy.
Minor Characters
Rusty Sprinkler
Rusty Sprinkler is a famous singer in the Pubertina series, and is a parody of Justin Bieber. He comes to visit Pubertina after she posts a video of herself crying for him on the Internet. Rusty sings a song to her, but indicates that it's not really about her but it is about her at the same time. His singing voice may be similar to Finn's voice from Adventure Time, due to the auto-tuned like voice. Rusty's personality is very hard to indicate, but he has shown to be a bit of a "Ladies' man" and self-centered. However, he showed a little kindness when he sang to Pubes to make her feel "temporarily better".
Xtina
Xtina (real name: Christina) is Pubertina's goth older sister and first appeared in Acne Cream. She is shown to have very smooth skin, "Like a baby's butt." Xtina is a moody teenager who seems to get along with her sister, but got angry at Pubes when she called her Christina and says to Pubes "Ummm, It's with an X, XTINA!" stating that she'd rather be called "Xtina" than Christina. Her mouth seems to form an X shape whenever she says her name, followed by rock music. She has also made an appearance in the episode The Blind Date.
Menstrualine
Menstrualine is one of Pubertina's friends who has recently gone through puberty. At first, she hates the transformations her body is going through, but with a song, Pubertina manages to encourage her to be more outgoing. In Menstrual Queen, Mensturaline uploads a video about her puberty, which makes her popular at school. Mensturaline apparently has super powers with which, whenever she is angry, she can cause people to spontaneously go through puberty.
Karen
Karen is a snobby girl in Pubertina's class. She speaks very slow. She has picked on Debs for having one nubbie and Menstrualine in her debut. She also made fun of Pubertina's zit in the holiday special. She wears a purple skirt and a red sweater and has waist-length blonde hair, which Debs describes as beautiful. In Deb's Nubbie she is shown hanging out with two other girls.
Reception
Pubertina, unlike Do's & Don'ts and Zombies vs. Ninjas, received mostly negative comments from viewers. The series was criticized for it's "terrible music, bad animation, and bad voice-acting." Most of the "hate" behind reactions was due to Pubertina being about a girl going through puberty, made by a woman, and for featuring menstrual blood on the pants of a doll made to look like the title character, and for just being different than the norm, as not many cartoons or TV shows feature the details about girls going through puberty. Countless people have made it clear that they want Oishi High School Battle to replace Pubertina. The reception clearly contradicts the positive reception to the original 2010 video, which had "better animation and music" than the series. It has become a safe haven for people who liked the original Pubertina to tell the creator they support her work.
As a result, ratings for all Pubertina episodes have been disabled. In response to the negative reception, on May 9th, 2012, Shut Up! Cartoons uploaded an unlisted video titled "Y U NO LIEK ME!? " The video shows Pubertina sobbing while saying "Why? I'm just a girl..." over and over. The video has 1,500+ likes but 10,600+ dislikes. This series is the most polarizing of the three Shut Up! Cartoons.
The premiere of season 2 however, had mixed, but nonetheless improved, reception. The season 2 premire is the first episode of Pubertina overall that did not have the ratings disabled. The ratings bar was split between likes and dislikes, with a slight favor to likes. While some showed their discontempt to Pubertina's return, others were estatic about it.
Openings
After every saying, Ian says, "SHUT UP!" followed by Pubertina saying "Cartoons" glumly.
- Rusty Sprinkler: "I want Rusty Sprinkler."
- Acne Cream: "PIZZA FACE!"
- Tampon Dreamin': "Could you spare me a tampon?"
- Boy Crazy: "He wants to know what i'm wearing."
- Ruff Ruff's Dilemma: "You used to squezze me at night."
- Devin Nitley Love: "You don't have to say anything. Well, just-"
- Deb's Obsession Part 1: "Today, huh? I thought you seemed a little agitated."
- Deb's Obsession Part 2: "This is not the kind of feeling."
- Persistence: "I'll pile it with heart stickers. It'll work."
- Menstrualine: "Ugly!"
- Deb's Nubbie "I only have one nubbie, remember?"
- Valentine's Gay: "1, 2, 3"
- The Blind Date: "Hahahaha (sigh)....whatever."
- Poet Shmoet: "No, I'm a beatnik. I'm a real cool cat."
- Rusty's Rival: "It's that Shawn Sleaziman...isn't it?"
- Pubertina's Little Helper: "You're little helper."
- Menstrual Queen: "(grunt) I'm Menstrualine."
- The Sleepover: "Yes! Sleepover!"
- Pubertino Part 1: "Your name's...Pubertino?"
- Pubertino Part 2: "I have a boyfriend! I have a boyfriend!"
- Pubertina Holiday Special: "This is the life Debs."
List of Episodes
| # | Season | Name | Writer(s) | Released | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Rusty Sprinkler | Emily Brundige | May 2, 2012 | 3:11 |
| 2 | 1 | Acne Cream | Emily Brundige | May 9, 2012 | 3:41 |
| 3 | 1 | Tampon Dreamin' | Emily Brundige | May 16, 2012 | 3:18 |
| 4 | 1 | Boy Crazy | Emily Brundige | May 23, 2012 | 4:30 |
| 5 | 1 | Ruff Ruff's Dilemma | Emily Brundige | May 30, 2012 | 3:30 |
| 6 | 1 | Devin Nitley Love | Emily Brundige | June 6, 2012 | 3:26 |
| 7 | 1 | Deb's Obsession Part 1 | Emily Brundige | June 13, 2012 | 3:20 |
| 8 | 1 | Deb's Obsession Part 2 | Emily Brundige | June 20, 2012 | 3:54 |
| 9 | 1 | Persistence | Emily Brundige | June 27, 2012 | 3:58 |
| 10 | 1 | Menstrualine | Emily Brundige | July 4, 2012 | 3:25 |
| 11 | 2 | Deb's Nubbie | Emily Brundige | February 20, 2013 | 3:36 |
| 12 | 2 | Valentine's Gay | Emily Brundige | February 27, 2013 | 3:50 |
| 13 | 2 | The Blind Date | Emily Brundige | March 6, 2013 | 3:38 |
| 14 | 2 | Poet Shmoet | Emily Brundige | March 13, 2013 | 4:25 |
| 15 | 2 | Rusty's Rival | Emily Brundige | March 20, 2013 | 4:02 |
| 16 | 2 | Pubertina's Little Helper | Emily Brundige | March 27, 2013 | 3:55 |
| 17 | 2 | Menstrual Queen | Emily Brundige | April 3, 2013 | 3:58 |
| 18 | 2 | The Sleepover | Emily Brundige | April 10, 2013 | 4:14 |
| 19 | 2 | Pubertino Part 1 | Emily Brundige | April 17, 2013 | 4:15 |
| 20 | 2 | Pubertino Part 2 | Emily Brundige | May 22, 2013 | 3:57 |
| 21 | Special | Pubertina Holiday Special | Emily Brundige | December 19, 2013 | 3:55 |