Western Animation / Stickin' Around

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Stickin' Around is a Canadian children's animated series from Nelvana about a 8 (later 9)-year-old girl named Stacy Stickler and her best friend Bradley. The two kids live adventures through their hyperactive imaginations taking them wherever they might. Their weird and whimsical exploits are really just their way of confronting the various everyday life scenarios that come their way, from dealing with local bullies to putting up with the demands of grown-ups to just playing games with their friends.

Described by the creators (animator and TV writer Robin Steele and actress Brianne Leary) as basically being what would happen if kids were allowed to create their own cartoons, Stickin' Around is told entirely from the viewpoint of its young and wildly creative protagonists, whose imaginative and fantastical approaches to navigating the problems that all kids face every day reflect the show's quirky and playful storytelling. More obvious is how the show is intentionally drawn crudely to simulate a young child's drawing, and the results actually look very convincing, with all the childlike whimsy that accompanies such art.

The series started life as a series of one-minute interstitials that aired between longer series on CBS' Saturday-Morning Cartoon block in 1994, but was developed into a full series in 1996 that debuted on YTV and ran for 3 seasons of 39 episodes. A favorite of many Canadian children (and American ones, as this show had a brief, but memorable run on Fox Kids at the same time) during The '90s, the show is generally seen as one of YTV's best original animated series, becoming an iconic part of their lineup during its time on air and still carrying nostalgic value for many today.

Fun fact: This was one of the very first cartoons by Nelvana to be animated primarily using computers.

From 2016 to 2020, the show aired in the United States on Qubo. It is also available in its entirety on Retro Rerun, a YouTube channel operated by Nelvana.

The tropes from Uranus! (Real mature, Bradley!):

• The '50s: Some of this show's background music is similar to that of movies made from that time period.
• Accidental Pervert: As seen in "Hit the Showers", when both the boys and girls see each other after running out of their respective showers.
• Acting Your Intellectual Age: Subverted with Polly. She plays off this trope accordingly, though it doesn't stop her from playing with the other kids. She also remains unaware that the dog she pulls around is dead.
• Adults Are Useless: Most of the time, especially during the "Imagination Sequence of the Week".
• Aliens Steal Cattle: In "Texas Chainsaw-Ectomy," Mr. Doddler tells the kids a story about the time he got his tonsils removed and claims that he was operated on by aliens with lasers. He also reportedly dressed up as a cow and waited for them to beam him into their UFO, which Bradley willingly believes in. At the end of the episode, Bradley, to his horror, is forced into a cow costume by Stacy and beamed up to a UFO for his tonsil operation. Stacy, having put up with his Uranus joke so many times, turns it back on him as he's being beamed up by telling him it looks like he's "finally going to get to see Uranus."
• Alpha Bitch: Ashley, a (thankfully) minor character.
• Amicable Exes: Stella and Stanley seem to be on good terms with each other for the most part, despite no longer being together.
• Amusing Injuries: There's a lot of slapstick in the series, resulting in this happening pretty regularly. Of course, since the characters are just stick figures, there's no repercussions for any of it.
• Animals Fear Neutering: In "If It Ain't Fixed, Break It", Frank the dog runs away from Stacy's parents because they are taking him to the vet to get "fixed". Bradley calms the former down by calmly telling him why he needs to be neutered, while Stacy distracts his thoughts by saying that the vet will be like a spa, but he faints or panics whenever he sees a pair of scissors or a pipe wrench. Throughout the episode, the kids learn the importance of having a pet spayed or neutered while chasing after Frank. Frank finally goes to the vet when Stacy's parents find him sleeping with Bradley in the dumpster. However, the aftermath isn't shown but it is implied he gets lazy after the surgery.
• Art Evolution: The second and third seasons boast sharper detail than the first season, and the second season has early use of Flash animation. The show switched back to traditional animation in the third season.
• Assumed Win: "And the Wiener Is..." is centered around this. Also happens at a lesser extent in a few other episodes.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Frank becomes one in....."Jumbo Frank".
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Bradley and Stacy are accused of this in one episode, which is mostly because they're frequently with each other throughout the entire series. Despite this, there's no confirmed romantic relationship between them at all.
• The Big Guy: William, yet another minor character.
• Bilingual Dialogue: Mrs. Salazar (along with her cousin, Julio) only speaks Spanish, which is never translated for the audience. Stacy, as well as the adults, can understand her with no problem and in turn, can understand their English.
• Black Bead Eyes: Sometimes the characters get normal eyes.
• Bowdlerise:
  • When the show aired on Fox Kids State-side, a lot of scenes had to be cut for time reasons. The intro sequence was also badly edited.
  • Sync TV's Kidlet site replaces burp sound effects with silence or white noise.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: At the end of "Hit the Showers", a towel-clad Russell packs up his gym clothes before looking directly at the camera and telling the audience to stop staring at him.
• Butt-Monkey: You'd be hard-pressed to find a scene where Bradley actually catches a break: not only is he frequently bullied by Lance and Russell but also by his own best friend on a number of occasions. The series even ends with him getting beat up by the two bullies and Stacy happily unveiling a statue of him getting wedgied.
• Cake Toppers: In "Stacy and Bradley Sittin' in a Tree", Bradley and Stacy are briefly depicted as bride and groom figurines on top of a cake while others make fun of them for supposedly being in love with each other.
• Catchphrase: Numerous!
  Bradley: This looks like a job for... [insert alter-ego]!
  
  Bradley: Aliens from...
  Stacy: Don't say it, Bradley!
  Bradley: Uranus!
  
  Stacy: [Insert said information] for your big fat information.
  
  Stacy: Real mature, Bradley.
  
  Dill: HOLY MACKEREL!!!
  
  Russell: What? [Said immediately after the whole cast has shouted; "Whoa, man! What's that funky smell?"]
  
  Russell: Yeah, [insert word that Lance just said].
  
  Mr. Doddler: Course, we couldn't if we wanted to.
  
  Ms. Mobley: Won't that be fun?
• Charlie Brown Baldness: As part of the childish artstyle, all of the characters look like they have a few strands of hair.
• Child Prodigy: Polly, given the fact that she's young enough to be in kindergarten and is in the same grade as the two lead characters.
• Christmas Episode: "Christmas of Doom!", which isn't a Christmas celebration so much of a clip show of previous episodes coupled with an attempt to keep the Latchkey Garden Apartments from being torn down.
• Clip Show: "Christmas of Doom!".
• Cloudcuckoolander: Mr. Doddler likes to tell stories about the "old times" and the lack of commodities in the old times (goes up to, and including, the Big Bang). Then again, he might be senile.
• Comedic Underwear Exposure: Stacy in "Photo Oops". Bradley takes two photos of her and the flashes from the camera cause her to be dazed. She staggers before climbing on and bending over a sofa, and when Bradley takes the third pic, it shows her underwear.
• Crossdressing: In "Pool Party", Bradley, Lance and Russell disguise themselves as mermaids in an attempt to blend in at Melody's birthday party.
• Defeat Catchphrase: Lance's "You're gonna pay for this, Scradley!"
• Deliberately Monochrome: Invoked during the Casablanca spoof scene in and the ending of "Casa Blank Stare". Also used in the western film scene in "Madam Know-It-All".
• Deranged Animation: Nothing says "deranged animation" like an 8 year old's stick figure drawings come to life.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The intro is performed by Stacy.
• Double Entendre: Because no Canadian kids' show would be complete without them.
• "Down Here!" Shot: In "Journey to the Center of Stacy's Closet", when Lance and Russell confront Stacy and Bradley in the attic and accuse them of hiding out in their "secret clubhouse", the camera focuses on Lance for a bit, before tilting down to reveal Russell peeking out from between his legs.
• Dream Within a Dream: In "Photo Oops" Stacy has several of these the night before picture day, to the point where the next morning she still thinks she's in the dream.
• E = MC Hammer: "And the cosine is the ratio of the length of the side adjacent to (gibberish)."
• Elvis Lives: In "What's the Scoop?", Bradley suggests Elvis sightings for the journalists to write about in the school newspaper.
• Episode on a Plane: "Return Your Seats To An Uptight Position", where Stacy demonstrates her airplane flying skills with hilarious results.
  • Also, be on the look out for Lance and Russell's international terrorist attack.
• Expository Theme Tune: How's this for expository? "For your big fat information, this is our imagination."
• Family-Friendly Firearms: In "Do the Hooky Pokey", the Board of Education police officers use water guns in place of actual guns.
• Fan Disservice:
  • Lance and Russell succumb to being this during school picture day when they're shown wearing their more "casual clothing".
  • Same goes to Stacy, who shows up in her pajamas, wearing a bird's nest as a hat, with mud covered on her face.
• First-Name Ultimatum: Whenever Stacy notices that her friend Bradley did something wrong, she often says "BRAD-LEY!"
• Four-Fingered Hands: The characters are drawn with these.
• Groin Attack: Bradley endures this once during gym class, in a game of dodge-ball. The episode makes it very clear that it was Stacy that dealt the ball-busting blow.
• Gross-Out Show: Everything, from vomit, urine, flatulence, hygiene, germs, and even gastronomic implications (feces too). Comes with sound effects to help emphasize the grossness.
• Grounded Forever: Stacy goes to Picture Day thinking that she's dreaming and causes chaos because she believes that she won't face repercussions. The next day, she is given detention for a very long time before her mother convinces the school board to shorten her sentence to 2 years.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: Stacy and Bradley keep getting sent back 15 minutes whenever gym class ends, until Bradley takes full blame for something he did instead of letting everyone share the punishment.
• Hiccup Hijinks: "This is a HICCUP!" is centered around a more virus-y version of the hiccups.
• Imagine Spot: Built out of this. Every single episode has crazy imagination sequences.
• Improbable Hairstyle: Every character that has hair, this especially goes for Bradley and his purple afro.
• Incoming Ham: Dill tends to announce his arrival with a loud "HI GUYS!"
• I Need to Go Iron My Dog: In "Slime-a-Bean", Bradley tries to get out of going to Stanley's place for dinner by claiming he hears his parents calling him, only for Stacy to point out that his parents won’t be home from work until 8:00 and 9:30, respectively.
• Inflating Body Gag:
  • Stacy's body inflates when she tries to break the record for the world's largest trumpet note in "What’s the Flap, Jack?".
  • Bradley's body inflates in "Temper, Temper" after Stacy tells him he’s "full of hot air" during their argument.
• Injured Limb Episode: In "Wimbled'uh", Bradley accidentally breaks Stacy's arm just before the school's table tennis tournament, prompting him to disguise the cast with a costume and pass it off as Stacy's visiting cousin. It works, but both of them get disqualified after the costume gets damaged mid-game.
• Insistent Terminology: Lance insists on calling Polly his half-sister.
• It Tastes Like Feet: The central premise of the "Beware the Lunchwad" episode. Taken a step further when Bradley asks Stacy if she's ever eaten anything gross.
• Jerkass: Stacy, Bradley, Stella, heck, everybody's got a Jerkass moment in this show.
• K-I-S-S-I-N-G in a Tree: In the episode "Stacy and Bradley Sittin' in a Tree", whose title references the trope, Lance thinks Stacy and Bradley are dating each other and makes fun of them for it, which causes the other students to recite this rhyme, with accompanying visuals of the two as literal lovebirds, a decoration on a wedding cake, and a married couple with a baby stroller.
• Lady Land: "It's the Planet of the Girls!"
• Limited Animation: Mainly in the second season (which was animated in Flash), with more emphasis on keyframes.
• Limited Wardrobe: Mostly played straight, though the Imagine Spot does attempt to subvert it.
• Line Boil: Inverted where the colors painted within the outlines boil. In the first season and the original shorts, the outlines also boiled.
• Magitek: An enchanted copier and a TV remote, the latter of which somewhat counts as a Reality Warper.
• Making a Splash: Done mainly in a mundane fashion, preferably with squirt guns and water balloons, among other non-supernatural methods.
• Malaproper: Stacy complains that she's not very "Photo-genetic". The same episode has Bradley stating that Lance is wearing some kinda "lawsuit".
• Malicious Misnaming: Lance often calls Bradley "Scradley."
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Sometimes, especially in Season 2 and 3, you have to wonder which of the crazy stuff that happens are part of the kids imagination and which of them are REAL.
• Mind Screw: This little exchange from Madam Know-It-All.
  Russell: What's a psychic?
  Bradley: No, who's a psychic?
  Russell: What?
  Bradley: Who?
  Russell: Huh?
  Bradley: Who is a psychic?
• Mini Series: Precisely what this series started as.
  • It's worth noting that there's a slight difference in both the actors and the animation, and in the Photo Oops-esque episode, Polly asks Stacy if she joined the Navy (due mainly to her sailor outfit).
  • Of course, all of them would be made available if the DVD release of this series becomes reality.
• Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: Ms. Mobley, right down to the way she speaks.
• Mouse World: Sea monkeys and mice, the latter of which comes close to taking over the Stickler residence until Stanley decides to stop paying for the cable.
• Mr. Imagination: Stacy and Bradley live off this trope.
• Mummies at the Dinner Table: Polly, despite being spectacularly well informed and articulate for her young age, cannot accept that her pet dog Pepperoni is dead.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Especially considering the overall premise, it's hard to imagine that Stacy and Bradley are just going through episode after episode enduring everyday life situations.
• Naked Freak-Out: In "Pool Party", Stanley accidentally vacuums off Lance, Russell, and Bradley's bathing suits with his Sludge Suck 3000 right in front of the girls. The boys gasp in horror and cover their chests (with Russell hiding himself in his hat) before retreating into an inflatable tube.
• Nature Tinkling: In "Hold It", Bradley needs to pee after drinking a six-pack of Mr. Fizzy and attempts to relieve himself behind a tree while at the park, but Stacy interrupts him before he can do anything just to torture him.
• No Animals Were Harmed: Subverted with Pepperoni, who's already dead (with a clear tire track across it). The subversion also happens to a turtle that gets run over, a school pet that Bradley was supposed to take care of, and a baby bird that fell out of its nest.
• NO INDOOR VOICE: "HI, GUYS!" "...hi, Dill."
• Oh, Crap!: The general reaction given everytime Stanley attempts to do some handy work.
• Parental Abandonment: Except for Stacy, we don't see the parents of any of the other kids.
• Parental Bonus: The movie references count as this.
• Parent ex Machina: Some of Stacy and Bradley's imagination driven hijinks do get them in trouble at times.
• Picture Day: Stacy Stickler has repeated nightmares of the upcoming Picture Day in "Photo Oops". Tired of letting the nightmares take advantage of her, she decides to have some fun with it. Unfortunately for her, she was awake this time.
• The Pig-Pen: Russell is infamous for his terrible hygiene and disgusting habits.
• The Pollyanna: Ms. Mobley, Stacy and Bradley's ridiculously cheerful teacher.
• Potty Emergency: Bradley experiences one in "Hold It" after drinking six cans of Mr. Fizzy.
• Properly Paranoid: When Stacy, Bradley, Dill, Melody and Polly buy their weekly lottery ticket, they start picturing everything around them as Lance and Russell, including the garbageman and a trash can, an old lady and her dog, and the lights on the back of a car. As it turns out, the old lady and her dog really were Lance and Russell in disguise.
• Putting the Pee in Pool: Stacy and Bradley dread "baby day" at their apartments' swimming pool for this exact reason.
• La Résistance:
  • Bradley and Stacy do this for a tree, complete with causing a riot, with which Bradley helps out by causing mischief as a Bandito named El Bradliachi.
  • Also done in Christmas of Doom in an attempt to prevent Latchkey Garden Apartments from being torn down.
• Riding into the Sunset: Done with washing machines. Lampshaded in the same occasion by Mr. Doddler.
• Sadist Show: The series is very often this to Bradley, especially when it comes to bullies Lance and Russell, who frequently wedgie him and beat him up while his "best friend" Stacy shows him little to no sympathy for it.
• Sadist Teacher: Both Mr. Lederhosen and Principal Coffin, though the former counts as more of a bossy drill sergeant.
• Scrabble Babble: Inverted during a game of Squabble, since it requires one to spell out anything that isn't a word.
• Share the Male Pain:
  • In "Hit the Showers", when Bradley gets hit in the "luggage" with a dodgeball, Lance and Russell observe with their hands over their own junk. Ashley doesn't understand what the big deal is.
  • Bradley clutches his groin in "If It Ain’t Fixed, Break It" in response to Frank getting "fixed". There’s also Franks in the background doing this as well.
• Signature Scent: More like signature odor. One way of knowing Lance and Russell are coming is by smelling the latter's odor.
• Shout-Out:
  • In "Beware the Lunchwad", Stacy and Bradley are freaked out when seeing their lunch server, Mrs. Lewis, pulling out some lambchop and pretending to use it as a puppet.
  • In "Send in the Clones", the stack of books Stacy and Bradley give to their clones for homework include "Stick Tracy", "Stickspeare", "Stacy at the Bat", and "Dill Gates' Monopoly for Dummies".
• Sick Episode: The "Fairy Tale" episode is about how Bradley is sick. Stacy finds a book of Fairy Tales under his mattress, and Hilarity Ensues.
• Slice of Life: The series follows this format. Most of its happenings are mundane in nature, but since they are presented through Stacy and Bradley's overactive imaginations, they quickly become quite outlandish.
• Smooth-Talking Talent Agent: An Imagine Spot in the episode "This Is A Hiccup!" has Bradley being this kind of agent for Stacy, who is supposed to be singing in front of a stadium full of fans, but can't because of her hiccups. Bradley takes it upon himself to cure her, although both of his attempts fail. The first being to push her off a diving board higher than Earth's atmosphere, and the second having Bradley getting Stacy to drink a tanker truck full of water until she becomes a human water balloon with hiccups powerful enough to destroy the stadium. After the second one, Stacy decides enough is enough and fires him.
• Squiggle Vision: Subverted. The show was animated using software called Boiler Paint.
• Stick-Figure Comic: This, alongside Stick Figure Theatre, is a rare occurrence of a Stick Figure TV Show.
• Stuck in the Doorway: Frank often gets stuck in the pet door because of his overweight body, to the point where Stella decides to put him on a diet.
• Stylistic Suck: "Simple" would be a better word, as the artstyle of the series is meant to mimic that of an eight year-old's drawings. Enforced even more with Season 2, when it switched to Flash.
• Super Hero: The most frequently used alternate persona of Bradley and Stacy. In one episode alone, Bradley takes the form of five superheroes while playing baseball with his friends, including "The Amazing Rubber Guy".
• Tears of Awe: In "Gross Anatomy", while Stacy and Bradley are defending themselves from Lance and Russell from inside Dill's body, one of their defensive tactics involve Dill doing a rather clumsy pirouette. Russell is so moved by the sight that he tears up and starts slow-clapping in admiration… only to stop when Lance shoots him a Death Glare.
• Two Shorts: The standard formula of the series.
• Time Abyss: Mr. Doddler more or less says he's been around since time began. Of course he's joking. ...Maybe.
• Toilet Humor: A lot, which makes sense considering this show is basically meant to be from the point of view of two young children.
  Stacy: "This one is about the Princess and the Pea. Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess... and she had to pee real bad!"
• Toilet Teleportation: In "Voice of Doom", Stacy and Bradley flush themselves down the toilet to retrieve Bradley's lost voice in the sewers.
• The Tonsillitis Episode: In "Texas Chainsaw-Ectomy," Bradley dreads his upcoming operation after finding out he has tonsillitis, and the rest of the gang only make things worse by scaring him with exaggerated horror stories and further fueling his already overactive imagination. He finally starts to relax when Stanley reassures him that he'll get unlimited ice cream and a whole week off school to recover... only to panic all over again when he learns at the last minute that the surgery will involve lasers (though for completely other reasons).
• Trademark Favorite Food: While just about every kid in the neighborhood loves Cheez Poopers, Mr. Fizzy, and Mr. Fudgie bars, Polly enjoys peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Russell loves cheese, and Dill likes any food that starts with the letter "P" for some reason.
• Two-Teacher School: The only staff at Middlestick Elementary consists of Principal Coffin (principal), Ms. Mobley (homeroom teacher) and Mr. Lederhosen (gym teacher, but occasionally teaches health class). There's also Ms. Lewis (lunch lady), Ms. Megaton (school librarian), and an unnamed janitor who appears in "Do the Hooky Pokey".
• Underwater Fart Gag: At the beginning of "Lights Out", Russell farts in the pool, exposing his and Lance's hiding spot to Stacy and Bradley.
• Uranus Is Showing: Bradley's favourite joke. He will shoehorn it into nearly any situation, to Stacy's endless frustration ("Real mature, Bradley!"). And yes, you can always guarantee the joke to appear whenever the kids are imagining themselves in a situation involving outer space or extraterrestrials.
  Polly: His what?
• Vocal Evolution: Many of the child characters have their voices in a higher pitch in the earlier episodes before becoming deeper later in the show's run (especially noticeable with Stacy, Lance, Russell, Polly and Dill). This makes sense, since their voice actors were actual children.invoked
• Water Equals Whizzing: In "Hold It", Bradley spends the whole episode having to pee. This is not helped when he comes across running water, such as a sprinkler, a car wash, and Niagara Falls. His urge to pee is symbolized by a boy inside him struggling to contain a lot of water inside some pipes. As his urge becomes worse, the pipes start to leak, and then when he finally wets himself from laughing too hard, the pipes explode.
• Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: Another notable element in Bradley and Stacy's relationship.
• What Are Records?: In one episode, Mr. Doddler reads off a list of items found during the last scavenger hunt he organized, including a record player. When the kids ask what that is, he crumples up his list and tosses it aside.
  Mr. Doddler: Seems I'll have to update my list.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Stacy pays homage to Indiana Jones in a scene involving fake snakes by essentially quoting the trope.
• Your Other Left: In the episode "And the Wiener Is...", Lance and Russell have this exchange after the latter falls into a sewer trying to obtain the kids' lottery ticket.
  Lance: To the right.
  Russell: Right.
  Lance: No, left!
  Russell: Right.
  Lance: I said left!
  Russell: Right.