Top 10 Franchises that Resonated with an Unintended Target Audience

The Top Ten
1 My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated children's television series based on the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise. The show follows a studious unicorn (later an alicorn) pony named Twilight Sparkle (Tara Strong) and her friends Applejack (Ashleigh Ball), Rarity (Tabitha... read more

Can someone add Bluey? There are lots of teenagers and young adults who dig this show. There is a surprisingly large amount of content that only adults would understand in this show. I am not a fan of Bluey, but you get what I mean.

It helped break gender barriers. Boys liking girl stuff is a GREAT change.

Before, barely any boy would like girl stuff but this show actually changed everything about how boys think about girl stuff. Congratulations!

Isn't that a good thing though? Like it was intended for little girls, but it's so good, that grown men can like it.

2 Adventure Time Adventure Time is an American animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (voiced by Jeremy Shada) and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio)—a dog with the magical power to change shape... read more

This show was made for stoners and tweens. Weeaboos and emos like this show. I still don't get how this show is influenced by anime.

3 Pokemon Pokémon, abbreviated from the Japanese title of Pocket Monsters and currently advertised in English as Pokémon: The Series, is a Japanese anime television series, which has been adapted for the international television markets. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 1, 1997, in the United States... read more

Pokemon is supposed to be for little kids yet pretty much any age range can be a fan of it. I personally knew a 67 year old woman who loved to watch the movies and T.V. series alongside Beyblade and other shows. Not to mention that I have seen more fellow adults when playing the games online.

Although many watched this show when they were kids, the fanbase is now made up of adults and otaku teens.

4 Five Nights at Freddy's

This game is loved by people younger than the target audience. Also, how is this game similar to Minecraft?

5 Paw Patrol PAW Patrol is an Canadian animated television series created by Keith Chapman. It is produced by Spin Master Entertainment with animation provided by Guru Studio. In Canada, the series is primarily broadcast on TVOKids, which first ran previews of the show in August 2013. The series first aired on Nickelodeon... read more

Adult and teenage furries watch this show, but the target audience is still mainly toddlers.

Almost half the people in my high school love this show! (Emphasis on high school)

I'm 13 and I can't stand it, why does everyone older adore it?

6 Littlest Pet Shop Littlest Pet Shop is a toy franchise and cartoon series owned by Hasbro. The original toy series was produced by Kenner in the early 1990s.

This toy was made for young girls, but teenage emo anime fans enjoy it more.

7 Family Guy Family Guy is an American adult animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a family consisting of parents Peter (Fat, Idiotic Dad) and Lois (Nagging Bitchy Wife), their children Meg (Socially Awkward Daughter) Chris (Fat, Idiotic... read more

This show is made for adults, but kids watch it mostly.

No, mostly adults and teenagers watch it.

Kids don't watch this show mostly.

8 Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir Also called "Miraculous", "Miraculous Ladybug", "Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir", "Ladybug and Cat Noir" or simply "Ladybug" . It's a French show created by Thomas Astruc and Jeremy Zag, produced by Method Animation (by Zag) and SAMG Animation (in Korean version). The theme song singed by Cash Callaway... read more

It's supposed to be for young girls. But teens-adults love it anyway. I feel like this show is slowly becoming the next MLP.

9 Super Mario
10 Twenty One Pilots Twenty One Pilots is an American musical duo that is originally from Columbus, Ohio, who are best known for their songs "Stressed Out", "Heathens" and "Ride". Currently there are two members, Tyler Joseph (lead vocals, piano, keyboards, synthesizers, ukulele, bass and guitar) and Josh Dun (drums and... read more

This band is a mystery box of musical genres except for punk rock, but emos love it. I guess their cover of "Cancer" by My Chemical Romance proved that.

The Contenders
11 The Lion Guard The Lion Guard is an American animated television series developed by Ford Riley based on Disney's 1994 film "The Lion King". The series was first broadcast with a television movie titled "The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar" on Disney Channel on November 22, 2015 and began airing as a TV series on January... read more

Made for the preschool demographic that watches Disney Jr., but there are tons of dark and explicit overtones in the show that may be disturbing.

12 13 Reasons Why 13 Reasons Why is an American teen drama streaming television series developed for Netflix by Brian Yorkey, based on the 2007 novel Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. The series revolves around high school student Clay Jensen and the aftermath of high school student Hannah Baker's suicide. Before her... read more
13 Sonic the Hedgehog

Made to be a video game series by Sega to complete with and cash-in to the success of Nintendo's Mario. But sadly, the Sonic franchise attracted the wrong audience in the form of classic cartoon fans, who have comparing Sonic to the likes of Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny as opposed to video game characters like Mario, Pac-Man or Mega Man. It's even worse when these fans make crossovers of Sonic with anything that isn't a video game icon. I don't care what anyone says, Sonic will ALWAYS be just a video game icon to me. Sonic may be adapted to T.V. shows or such, but so do other video game icons, so there is no reason to see Sonic as a cartoon icon rather than a video game icon.

14 American Horror Story American Horror Story is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. Each season is conceived as a self-contained miniseries, following a different set of characters and settings, and a storyline with its own "beginning, middle, and end."
15 Squid Game
16 Fortnite

The game is rated T. But for some reason, it has merchandise meant for younger kids.

17 Undertale
18 Call of Duty

Call of Duty is a rated M game, but children 6 years and up play this game with no problem.

This game isn't THAT inappropriate for children. It's perfectly fine.

This game is for ages 17 and up, but most of its fanbase is way under 17.

19 Omori
20 Bendy and the Ink Machine
21 Helluva Boss Helluva Boss is an American adult animated web series created by Vivienne "VivziePop" Medrano. It revolves around the misadventures of the employees of I.M.P., an assassination company in Hell. The pilot was released on November 25, 2019, while the first episode of the first season was released on October... read more
22 Invader ZIM Invader Zim is an American animated television series created by Jhonen Vasquez for Nickelodeon. The series centers on an extraterrestrial named Zim from the planet Irk, and his mission to conquer Earth and enslave the human race along with his malfunctioning robot servant GIR.
23 Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, is an American–Danish action comedy family animated TV series that started as a pilot shorts for LEGO that aired on Cartoon Network in 2011. The show centers on the adventures of six ninja: Lloyd, Kai, Cole, Jay, Zane, and Nya.

I haven't watched Ninjago in years. But I think the Fandom consists of adults and teens nostalgic for the theme and show.

24 Genshin Impact
25 Regular Show Regular Show is an American animated television series created by J. G. Quintel for Cartoon Network that premiered on September 6, 2010. The series revolves around the lives of two friends, a blue jay named Mordecai and a raccoon named Rigby—both employed as groundskeepers at a local park.
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