Children's "hero" cartoons with non-male leads

[doctorbadwolf]

Elena of Avalor: Travis Willigham is the king, Sam Rigel is the voice director/incidental voices.

Ah, yes, thank you! I only even know about it because of the CR fandom, and bc my niece loves the show, but I couldn’t recall who all was in it for sure.

 

[Zardnaar]

Older stuff from 80s

Original She Ra, liked it as a kid idk how well it's aged though

Rainbow Bright

Gem and the Holograms. I liked it back in the day, wife rewatched it recently and enjoyed it.

 

[Lylandra]

Old one, but I loved Tonde Burin aka Super-Pig as a kid.

My Little Pony is a really great show as well, and especially watchable as an adult with all of its humor and pop culture references. More magic and slice of life though.

For movies, you may consider Momo (old one and a great book on top of that) or Pippi Longstocking.

For anything that goes deeper into magical girl or live-action he's too young I fear. Same with Avatar, my most beloved animated series.

 

[GreyLord]

Dora the Explorer
Pippa Pig
My Little Pony
Doc McStuffins
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Winx
Blues Clues
Bratz
Jojos Circus
DC Hero Girls

Good list

Add

Odd Squad
Sesame Street has a good balance of girls and boys

For a little older

Fast Layne
KC Undercover
Wizards of Waverly Place

(and several other Disney TV shows and Such).

 

[Greatwyrm]

Relying on my memory is dangerous, but I think Buena Girl from Mucha Lucha was a good character.

And I realize this is basically that Token Female Character, but I don't think The Baroness from GI Joe gets enough credit. Any plan she was working always went better than whatever crap Cobra Commander had cooked up that episode.

 

[Blue]

Came across Super Hero Girls on Netflix, it's teenaged Batgirl and a bunch. But it's written to be accessable much younger. While still being cool for actual teenagers to watch.

Oh, and not for a 4 y.o., but eventually Avatar the Last Airbender. Mixed gender team but the team lead is female, and later they add another kick-butt female to the team, plus plenty along the way. Includes dealing with one boy on the team who thinks only boys can be heroes, showing that anyone can.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Came across Super Hero Girls on Netflix, it's teenaged Batgirl and a bunch. But it's written to be accessable much younger. While still being cool for actual teenagers to watch.

Oh, and not for a 4 y.o., but eventually Avatar the Last Airbender. Mixed gender team but the team lead is female, and later they add another kick-butt female to the team, plus plenty along the way. Includes dealing with one boy on the team who thinks only boys can be heroes, showing that anyone can.

Avatar was an amazing cartoon.

And I say that having been raised on late 80s early 90s cartoons, so no nostalgia for me there, just great TV.

 

[Ulfgeir]

It is for a somewhat more mature audience, and slightly out of the way o what you are asking. But I would suggest Inspector Gadget. Yes, it is a man who is the main character, but it is his niece(?) Penny, who is the one that always manages to solve the problems, disable all the traps etc together with a talking dog, while Gadget himself just bumbles along totally oblivious.

 

[jonesy]

Infinity Train on Cartoon Network is really good.

 

[Undrave]

This is an old thread but Jonesy revived it and cartoons are kind of my specialty. By Steven's World did you mean Steven Universe? That might fly a bit over a 4 years old head but it's a good show!

Some suggestions:

• Nella the Princess Knight
• Glitter Force on Netflix is a dub of one of the Pretty Cure series, which are very much for 5 years old+ in Japan
• Would Little Witch Academia be too mature?
• There's always the original She-Ra, also on Netflix and they have an official channel on Youtube (FREE!)
• Speaking of youtube there's a Rainbow Brite Episode channel but I don't know how legal it is. I remember enjoying the show when I was very young.
• You could probably get away with watching Power Rangers, so I recommend Time Force and SPD for some of the best female characters in the franchise.
• Grossology features a Brother-Sister duo as the heroes and it's educational!
• Atomic Betty
• Unlike the original, Rescue Bots Academy has a female character from the start.

I'll come back if I think of something else!