>>41954834that's how the show always was. If you look at the actual production order, he was the show's useless punching bag village idiot from the start.
What's weird is that CN aired the first season out of order and put most of the episodes that didn't focus on his idiocy up front.
It's also strange that Ben would characterize Gumball in such a negative way, considering he says the show is based on his childhood. Compare it to how Alex Hirsch styles his childhood in Gravity Falls. There you get a real sense of youthful adventure and wonder, whereas in Gumball it ends up feeling close to nihilistic sometimes. Even the ones that end on "heartwarming" notes like the gi or the meddler are 10 minutes of showcasing what a hopeless moron Gumball is and then try to patch it up with a few seconds of convenient resolution.