Oddbods
Oddbods is a Singaporean-British computer-animated comedy television series produced by One Animation. The series centers on eight characters—Bubbles, Pogo, Newt, Jeff, Slick, Fuse, Zee and as of season 4, Lulu—wearing furry suits of different colors. The characters make sounds but there is no dialogue, making the series easily translatable and international. The characters also do not speak English or any human languages coherently, and the characters only speak gibberish.
The series debuted in 2013. Each season has 60 episodes, and the first season ended in 2015. Season two followed in 2016. Season three released on 4 April 2022 on Netflix. Each episode is relatively short, and various formats have been broadcast, including one, five, and seven-minute episodes.
The series has won several awards since its debut, including the Asian Television Awards, Apollo Awards, Gold Panda Awards, and Web TV Asia Awards. In 2017, it was nominated for an international Kids Emmy Award.
Plot
The series focuses on eight creatures in colorful furry suits called the Oddbods: Fuse, Pogo, Newt, Slick, Bubbles, Jeff, Zee, and Lulu.The storyline of each episode depicts how these characters "survive the perils of everyday life, unintentionally turning ordinary situations into unexpected, extraordinary and always humorous events." Episodes typically employ physical comedy and pranks played out between the characters, and the events that follow.
The series was conceived as a non-dialogue comedy, which the series' creators and writers say, "captures the madcap yet charming antics of the Oddbods, who celebrate success where they find it and take failure in their stride. To turn 'different' into a positive; celebrating individuality in a humorous, warm and unexpected way."
The series' strapline is "Embrace your inner odd, there's a little odd in everyone!"
Characters
Main
- Fuse : is a red Oddbod. He's the hot-headed leader of the Oddbods. He can instantly change from serene to enraged, which makes his friends avoid him whenever he is in a bad mood, but admire his "heart of gold". He is always willing to play sports, but only if he wins.
- Slick : is an orange Oddbod. He believes in YOLO, but suffers from FOMO. He likes to dance, and tries to act as the cool person in the group. He is often seen trying to flirt with Newt.
- Bubbles : is a yellow Oddbod. She performs scientific experiments with an obsession of discovering or inventing interesting objects, such as futuristic devices and UFOs. Her friends like her for her personality, although they do not like being excluded from her personal experiments.
- Zee : is a green Oddbod. He always takes naps, even while eating junk food. He never cleans his house. His laid-back attitude serves as both a strength and weakness when it comes to his friendships with the others.
- Pogo : is a blue Oddbod. He does not follow common etiquette as he is dubbed the "ultimate prankster". His friends like his practical jokes if they are not aimed at them. He owns an ice cream truck.
- Jeff : is a purple Oddbod. He has obsessive compulsive disorder and is a germaphobe. As a result, he can spot extremely tiny dust particles, and is very tidy. He is very talented in art and likes classical music and his friends like him for his admiration of detail. However, he wishes that he can act in a more relaxed manner.
- Newt : is a pink Oddbod. She is addicted to candy and her friends are inspired by her pleasant interaction with others, although she can be arrogant. She is inquisitive, always hangs out with her friends, and enjoys taking selfies with them. She loves nature.
- Lulu : is a cyan new Oddbod from Minibods. She first appeared in "Lulu's Hero". She is the shortest Oddbod; and likes music. She and Newt typically have a sisterly relationship.
Recurring
- BG Oddbods : Is a Grey oddbods, they have no features on the costume. They all look the same and act, by and large, like typical citizens. Some BG Oddbods have accessories, like moustaches and hats.
- Yin and Yang : They are the Odd Ninjas. These Ninjas are actually actors of a TV show, not members of the Oddbods.
- Modo : is a light blue Oddbod. He only appears in "One Two Many". He is a cloned version of Pogo. Modo is a very mischievous character, but even more so than Pogo.
- Oddroid: Oddroid would do anything with anybody but mostly being Slick who bought him and acts like a friend to all but he gets struck by lightning, and since then, wants to destroy everything and anyone who annoys him and appears to be always in a bad mood.
- Genie : a Oddbod genie. He only appears in the episode "Pogo and the Lamp". The Genie seems grumpy and doesn't care that much. He is willing to offer wishes but does not like being waken up constantly.
- Robo Helper : It only appears in "Robo Helper". The Robo Helper is a robot that was invented by Bubbles.
Guest
- Marv : a gray Oddbod. Marv is a magician who had turned most of the Oddbods into monsters because they laughed at him. And so it's up to Slick to bring back the magician and undo the magic spell and bring back the Oddbods to life again. He has only appeared in "Party Monsters".
- Santa Claus |Marc Thompson]: a red Oddbod. He appears in the Christmas-themed episodes, "The Festive Menace" and "Festive Encounters".
- Oddbeard: A gray Oddbod. He appears only in "Oddbeard's Curse". He is a pirate captain with a golden tooth who died after the battle with some sailors.
Production
Development
Speaking in an interview with the Manchester Evening News in 2016, Richard Thomas, the creator of the Oddbods and creative director at One Animation described how he first devised the show:One Animation
Founded in 2008, One Animation Pte Ltd was a Singaporean CGI animation studio based in the Alexandra subzone of the Bukit Merah district. The company had also produced Rob the Robot, Insectibles and cancelled series Hard Boiled and Abigail's Tales. The company had produced a portfolio of successful animated series that are broadcast on global networks such as Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney XD, Discovery Kids, ABC, and seen across more than 100 countries worldwide.The company focused on developing family-focused TV, film and new media content, facilitating shorter than average production schedules, utilizing a crew that was typically one-third the size of a traditional CGI animation production team.
In May 2022, One Animation was acquired by Candle Media company Moonbug Entertainment. Nearly 2 years later, in February 2024, Moonbug officially shut down One Animation.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack is composed by Kristin Øhrn Dyrud.''Minibods''
Minibods is a spin-off of Oddbods that features five out of the seven main Oddbods characters as toddlers with the addition of new character, Lulu. It premiered in 15 April 2023 on the series' YouTube channel with 39 episodes produced.Episodes
Broadcast and release
The series has been broadcast on 25 networks in 105 countries worldwide on free-to-air, as well as subscription channels, such as Boomerang, Disney Channel, Télétoon+, ITV, Pogo, Cartoonito, RCTI, ANTV, RTV Spacetoon , Kapamilya Channel, ETTV Yoyo and Cartoon Network. It is also available on-demand on social media channels, most notably YouTube, iQIYI and ABC Me, where it has gained over one billion views in just one year. There are currently approximately 11.8 Million subscribers to the series' YouTube channel. In 2015, the series aired on Disney XD in the United States and last aired in 2015. In 2016 Japan, the series aired on Disney XD with adaptation of The Oddbods Show, only showing in season 1, but it stopped airing and removed the show. The series came on ITVBe's LittleBe on 3 September 2018. Also, the series came to Disney XD in 2020, but stopped airing and streamed episodes on DisneyNOW, which also stopped streaming episodes. In 2017, Netflix added seasons 1 and 2 into their streaming service only other countries available in season 2, such as Singapore, Philippines, Japan and South Korea, the streaming removed season 2 and only showing season 1 in 2021.Reception
Ratings
In 2015, Oddbods was one of the highest-rated children's television shows in the United Kingdom, by number of viewers. It was one of CiTV's top five shows for the first quarter of 2016.Awards
- 2014: Best 3D animation at Television Asia Plus
- 2014: Asia Image Apollo Awards
- 2014: Apollo Awards: 3D Animation
- 2015: Sichuan TV Festival 'God Panda' Award: best animated character
- 2016: Web TV Asia Awards
- 2017: International Emmy Kids Awards
- 2019: International Emmy Kids Awards
- 2020: International Emmy Kids Awards
Interactive
The site hosts seven games with player leaderboards. Other features include videos, user generated content, in store section, shop now section, interactive background pages on each of the characters complete with trading card-style character summary and related videos. There is also an interactive collector poster which allows fans to view the episode their collectible figurine was inspired by.
Licensing
In 2016, One Animation announced via press releases various partnerships with key licensing partners for Oddbods around the world including, amongst others, with ITV Studios Global Entertainment and Copyright Promotions and Licensing Group.This led to the commencement of a global licensing programme being rolled out, the first of which was a range of toys made available first in Europe and the Middle East. As well as extending the toy availability around the world over the course of 2017/18, a wider range of consumer products including apparel, giftware and stationery are also in the pipeline.