#all the netflix cartoons i liked were cancelled

[articulately-composed]

Let me know if I'm missing the mark here, but I think the netflixification of tv shows has ruined their ability to be obsession-worthy, and in turn, is contributing to all of us being just a little bit more depressed.

Maybe it's just me, but an 8 episode series that can be binged in a day does not scratch the itch I need to be scratched. It's a nice little distraction, but once it's over, it's over, and it stops occupying my brain space. I'm not being given enough time to mull over the characters or get excited about the next episode coming out. I was sick this past week, and ended up binging two 8-episode netflix series', and sure, they were good, but they're over now. my brain is done with them.

And I know people have been talking for ages about how the "chuck all the episodes on the streaming platform at once for max bingeability" method is killing fandoms, but I can't help but think it's making us all a bit more depressed too. We have nothing to look forward to week to week. Life is a constant cycle of dragging ourselves to work for the privilege to keep our basic human needs met, and now we don't even have that one day a week we can look forward to to watch our blorbos do something new.

And yes, I know some streaming services have been trying to remedy this by spreading out episode releases, like what Max did with Fionna and Cake, but again. 8 episodes. not enough time to get extremely invested.

basically, I'm just begging networks to bring back 26 ep seasons with weekly releases. Please, I need new blorbos. It's been ages.

[allergictocolor]

The Origin of the Addams Family

The Addams family has always been goth and enamored with the macabre. But did you know they didn’t always have names?

They started as recurring characters in New Yorker cartoons by Charles Addams in 1938. They were a mother, father, uncle, grandmother, two children, and a butler in an eccentric family. (Occasionally others joined them. It's a big family.) They weren’t all officially named until the 60s, when dolls were released of Wednesday and Morticia, and the TV show debuted in 1964.

Charles Addams made a LOT of cartoons in his lifetime, about 1,300 total*. Only 58 of those in The New Yorker featured the Addams family, but they are what he became best known for. He also published some collections on his own, eventually creating 150 standalone, single-panel comics featuring the Addams family.

You’d expect Charles Addams to look like Gomez, but he didn’t. He actually looked like this:

He based the father of his strange family on this guy:

That’s Thomas E. Dewey, the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He ran for president in 1940, 1944, 1948, and 1952. He had a reputation for honesty, but he was also kind of a weirdo. It was said that he had "a personality that attracted contempt and adulation in equal proportion." Maybe that’s why Charles Addams based a character on him. Or maybe it’s just because he was funny looking.

Addams, who signed his name Chas, was only somewhat involved with the TV show. The rights to it belonged to his second wife. He earned residuals from the show, which placed him in dire straits once the show was canceled after only two years. At that point, he had come to rely on the income, and The New Yorker wasn’t publishing him enough for him to live off of.

The show had more tropey, goofy plots than their later adventures, since it was a sitcom. Charles Addams criticized the show because the characters were only “half as evil” as they were in his comics. They had run-ins with neighbors and local politicians. Gomez ran for mayor of their small town. They recommended Cousin Itt for a job at the zoo and he was mistaken for an exotic animal. Wacky hi-jinks that never rose to the heights of pouring boiling oil on carolers, as the family did in a Christmas strip Charles drew, which was later sold as greeting cards.

Still, the show expanded upon the original comics and established much of what became canon for the Addams family and its members to this day. They have a dungeon in their mansion they like to relax in. The front gate has a mind of its own. No one can quite explain where their money comes from. They try to help others, even though their help is rarely received well. And they can't understand why other people don't live like they do.

In the next few weeks, I'll be posting character profiles of the various members of the Addams family throughout the years, from what I can find of their inception up through the Netflix show. I hope you will enjoy it.

*edited to clarify that his 1,300+ cartoons were drawn in his lifetime, not exclusively for The New Yorker.

[blueikeproductions]

CyberWorld is officially a go go.

Earthspark is in the rear view window barring any last minute changes or surprises. (It’s feeling like some toys announced were quietly cancelled but I’m not certain of that, and the Quintessons were likely the final villains of the show.)

So what IS CyberWorld?

We now have an answer: it’s a YouTube series that sees the Transformers dropped into different “diverse” environments in a “combined” world to do battle.

Some fans have compared it conceptually to Marvel’s Battleworld, so I guess it’s like that, but who The Beyonder initiating this Secret War is we don’t know, assuming there IS one. Vector Prime? Liege Maximo? I ‘unno. Transformers Robot Masters was also brought up as a comparison which saw Beast Wars Megatron and G1 Optimus lead different dimensionally displaced Autobots and Decepticons (Maximals & Predacons too) in a quest to find Earth’s Solitarium deposits.

The so called combined and diverse world looks to just be Earth with Cybertron mixed in. Most planets beyond those two in Transformers lore tend to just be Earth or Cybertron variants anyway so if Nebulos or Gigantion is mixed in here, we won’t know it since both are Earth like planets anyway…

As such it’s not clear if the cartoon has humans (or humanoid aliens) in it, but with the huge emphasis on being inspired by mecha anime, I’d be surprised if there weren’t humans since humans are pretty vital to that. Heck look at the most recent thing in Bravern.

This leads to another thing I’m unsure on: the animation. People are begging this to be 2D, but I think those days are gone. Even modern, non Gundam, robot anime like Bravern, tend to go the Energon/Cybertron direction: 3D robots, 2D humans. Strong possibility it’s that, unless Trigger was brought on to work on this and Wild King and it’s primarily 2D, but we won’t know yet. It would be cool if it was like TFA, and they hired different Japanese studios like Mook and the Answer Studio to work on it, but frankly I’m anticipating it to be another collab with Polygon like Prime, RiD15 and WFC. And that’s assuming a Japanese studio is involved at all to better evoke the mecha anime style.

The press release implies it might be the kid aimed version of Legacy, similar to RiD15 Combiner Force being the kid aimed version of Combiner Wars. That being said, Hasbro claimed Cyberverse’s final two films would be Multiverse romp with Megatron recruiting other Decepticons from other universes, and that was not at all reflected in toys or cartoon. So who’s to say.

Still if were to assume this is Spider-Verse inspired also, they might explain how the art suggests a Bay inspired Bee, a Beast Wars Megatron build for Grimlock, and a Classics inspired Optimus among the Autobots, with Megatron being from a universe where he has a Beast Mode? I ‘unno. This suggests a generic Beast Megatron is leading RiD Sky-Byte, Energon Scorponok, G1 Chop Shop and Movie Scorponok, but we won’t know until we see the toys in a toy show next month in February.

The press release makes a big emphasis on a sandbox approach like how all kids play with toys. A kid today probably had Bumblebee, Mario, Donkey Kong, Miles Morales and Lego Emmet going on an adventure together to Paw Patrol world so it feels like toy wise, Hasbro is banking on this once more but with a YouTube slant.

Sticking it on YouTube is also pry the smartest thing they’ve done, as it’s far more accessible than Netflix and Paramount+, and kids are raised more on YouTube these days, the modern equivalent of sticking a kid in front of a TV.

Going in an anime inspired direction is also smart, but whether it’s getting an actual Japanese studio or just going an Airbender/My Adventures With Superman/Netflix Voltron direction with a non Japanese studio we don’t know yet. I wouldn’t expect Demon Slayer quality is what I’m saying.

I wouldn’t expect anything that complex story wise. My guess is the plot sees the Quintessons (or equivalent third party) summoning various Autobots, Decepticons and humans/aliens from different dimensions to do battle and otherwise see how they interact. Your standard sci-fi adjacent “Let’s stick a bunch of strangers together and see if they kill each other” plot.

We won’t have long to wait as it looks like early February is when we’ll start seeing what this is all about.

[watchdogfanclub]

This was written in response to someone thinking WOY never took off because streaming was getting popular in the 2010s:

Nah, as someone who watched from when the SDCC trailer came out that wasn’t it. For most of it’s airing it had a small fandom that was roughly as active as the current fandom. The main reason it didn’t get popular is because Disney treated it like trash.

(Sidenote: Streaming services didn’t become major players in the cartoon game until the late 2010s. Voltron, one of the early hits, didn’t “air” until 2016. Wander’s last episode came out during the same month and it had been cancelled a bit after season 2 started airing. Cancelled because Disney had an unofficial 2 season limit to all but it’s biggest hits.)

Before I start talking about that I’ll link ratings reports. I was planning to show the airing schedule too (focused on reruns) but I can’t remember who posted it.

First off: The episode aired at 5 PM on the west coast (when kids are often eating dinner) and it was worse for the rest of the US because it aired simultaneously. So that meant it aired at 6 PM mountain time, 7 PM central, and 8 PM eastern time. How many kids are watching then?

Frankly, after acting as a third parent to my baby brother for a few years, I would not have let him watch Wander Over Yonder after dinner because it’s too high energy for winding down. That’s when kids watch calming shows like Sesame Street and Arthur.

Another thing: If you didn’t have cable the only way to watch it legally was on iTunes. They took awhile to add it too. And then they cut the seasons in half without prior notice to double bill people with a season pass.

Then there was their airing schedule. It would go on long hiatuses for no good reason before returning with minimal if any promotion. Which meant that it was hard to tell when it aired unless you constantly checked the tv guides. (To be fair: Every Disney series got this but…)

The American Disney Channel dragged their feet so long that some episodes first premiered in France (The Hero), Russia, and the UK if I recall correctly. Heck, a sizeable amount of episodes that first aired in the US leaked on On Demand first.

And then it got booted to Disney XD halfway through season 1. Which is a premium channel where shows go to die. So that didn’t help…

Anyways, about that promotion: Maybe it’s just me, but if I got an animation legend who created two pop culture phenomenons to make a show for me I’d shout his name to the high heavens. But Disney was so quiet about it that most of the fanbase only heard of it while checking out his other works. How would the target audience stumble upon it when it aired at dinner time or later with few reruns and scant advertising?

(Somehow Netflix was worse about it and I didn’t even know Kid Cosmic existed until I got back into WOY a year after it ended. Granted, Netflix and other streaming services turned producers make Disney look good. Many cartoons only get one season and the crew laid off before it’s even posted. He got 3. But about the same advertising as others around the same time such as, say, Dogs in Space. Never heard of it? Yeah. Thanks Netflix.)

Finally, a few complaints about how the show was presented:

The Picnic wasn’t a great choice for a promo episode and they should have aired The Greatest first (as intended by the crew) because the latter both introduced the characters and better represented the tone of the show. A lot of people were initially turned off by the Looney Tunes type antics and thought Wander was annoying.

Some of them continued to give the show a chance. But who knows how many didn’t? And in hindsight, as much as I love the theme song, I can see why it made a lot of people change the channel before it even ended. (Especially parents trying to find a show that won’t mess up their bedtime routine!) The original theme song, the one in The Little Guy’s credits, would have worked much better.

[jazzyblusnowflake]

Besides Murder Drones, what are some of your favorite shows, and why?

Its difficult to come up with things off the top of my head tbh hm. i only have so much attention span to spare for any shows i watch XD especially since usually i never finish a show all the way through- its hard to keep me interested- cuz most shows end up getting cancelled anyway T-T but lets see-

for example- i really liked rottmnt and monkie kid- for story and also they have the same animation crew i think- but i wasnt able to get through all eps. and yet the characters and animation are very dear to me.

i liked atla [not korra, sorry] because of the complex story and characters.

Tmnt 2003 is very very dear to my heart- one of the first cartoons i grew up with- even tho if i probably rewatch it, it might be a bit nonsensical XD but on a world building and story telling standpoint i still prefer it over any other of the tmnt variations- even if people say the more further seasons were cringe lmao- i still loved it.

Mlp:fim's story telling was oddly touching and i was obsessed with it for a long time- esp just for the sake of character designs and shipping alone lmao- [just the "friendship is magic" gen tho...]

also i was dragged into being a jjba fan 😔 i cant really uhh... say anything on why i like it XD i just do lmaooo-

Glitch Techs was also an obsession- i loved the trope and colors and character designs and everything <3 oh also Inside Job! loved the story and characters and how they solved different issues [🖕 you netflix for both these shows]

oh and one of my current obsessions is Scissor Seven <3 story, characters, world building, simple artstyle- aaaa

and these are still only a few i can think of on the spot and not counting movies or games. but again not all of the mentioned shows here have i seen through til the very end either. so yeah...

i just kinda gotta be asked if i am or am not familliar with a certain show XD

[omegansamurai]

I hate that these YouTube videos complain and moan about how the Netflix live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender was a 'failure'...I mean, if that was the case, then why had it been renewed for not one, but TWO seasons, huh?

And like...I doubt the Avatar Studios stuff is gonna be anything groundbreaking. I don't even think Avatar Studios' content will be any good. Really, it's like, why is this even a thing? Just leave the franchise alone, Bryke, and just let people who can write and make your story a lot more enjoyable (Netflix's Avatar).

It just reeks of desperation and Bryke trying to be relevant. Avatar is not the next Star Wars, I'm sorry. It's a Nick cartoon that should've been an epic four-season (maybe five seasons, who knows?) show, but it shrunk to three, to make a failed shitty trilogy movie that the first movie bombed at the box office, thanks to the creators 'SUPER WISE' decision of canceling the fourth season because they want that trilogy movie series, and honestly? That itself was a bad idea. Bryke tries too hard to make their product the next Star Wars(which I think they're fans of, which says a lot), and it painfully shows. They try too hard. REALLY hard.

Like with Legend of Korra, they try to be super edgy with their 'story' and 'characters', but they just miss the mark on what made ATLA great. I mean, they don't even care about how the bending looks anymore in Korra. Really, there's a reason why they put the final season online, and it was just a bad show. Don't deny it, everyone. I'm certain it would've been good...but it was executed poorly and made not only a mockery of the characters in that show but the OG characters of ATLA(especially Katara). Well, maybe Zuko is the only one who's doing alright...but that just reeks of sexism doesn't it? Toph is all alone in the Swamp, and Katara is...not who she is...always sad about Aang's death...like get it together girl, you're mother-effin KATARA. Get with it!

And another thing, what more is there to tell? What is the next series even going to be? The Avatars are cut off after Korra, right? So...what now? And if you put the setting in some lame-ass futuristic steampunk or cyberpunk world and have bending in it, then...well, that's not really Avatar, is it? It's just its own thing at this point. And really, I don't want any new characters...I never wanted Korra's characters either if the writing they have for them was that bad.

I just think this whole Avatar Studios is just...again, desperation. Like why not reboot it or just...tell the same story, but with a different setting?

Sorry, lost track.

What I'm trying to say is, is that people act like the Netflix live-action of Avatar: The Last Airbender supposedly 'failed', which isn't the case. Y'all are just butthurt about how your 'perfect show' got 'tainted' by big corporations, and honestly, that's far from it. The people behind this live-action were very committed, and the actors were very respectful of their roles. The BTS looked like everyone was having a good time. And here you have idiots going on about how the live-action sucks because...what, Aang talks too much? No sexism from Sokka? Katara didn't act all rage-filled or whatever? I can get the criticisms, but still, I enjoyed it. I liked it. I want to see more.

It's just that this stupid fandom likes to put down the live-action because the cartoon is supposed to be this or that and it doesn't have this...when honestly, it's its own thing, but it's still Avatar! Let it be its own thing! You got the cartoon, now look at this NEW Avatar: The Last Airbender by Netflix! Look at the way they portray the characters, look at the direction they're going, look how they world-build, just look at it! It's almost like fanfiction, and really, isn't that what Avatar is? Fanfiction? It may be a cartoon show, but it's still fiction. They're not real people. We can do whatever we want with them. We're just borrowing their characters, story, and world.

This whole thing is an adaptation. So it's not your cartoon...but it's still Avatar.

I know I'm just rambling at this point, but I'm just kind of tired of seeing thumbnails on YouTube of people bringing down the live-action Avatar. I genuinely enjoyed it, and yes, while it may have some things to work on, the people behind the show will listen to their criticisms and work on that. But again, I still liked it.

Just know one thing...Bryke would've made the live-action of Avatar a whole lot worse if they were in control. I really do believe that. And as for Avatar Studios...I give it a year before it goes bankrupt. I know that's a little harsh, but I just know that the animated Avatar movie is going to be disappointing. ^^;

[freakyshibs]

Shows that were canned too early that deserved better (imo)

We all hate it when we get wayy too invested into a show with good characters, an interesting plot, and a solid setup right? Well it seems that the networks for these shows didn’t really see it that way sadly, some of these shows are known, others aren’t, but this is just gonna be me rambling about how we didn’t get more of these said shows 😭

The Owl House

Now this one I wont dig deep into too long? We did get a solid ending in the end, but we were definitely robbed of a full season 3

The fact that this was Disneys next big thing, (like Gravity Falls) and still got axed kinda baffles me a bit because executives love big ratings

I heard they cancelled it because of it ‘not fitting the disney brand’ (mostly because there were two main gay characters in it) which I thought was super unfair, because they really were that homophobic 💀

All in all, I enjoyed this show and wanted a full season 3

Close Enough

From Regular Show creator J.G Quintel, this show was definitely more for an older audience, and let me say they did amazing at it.

The shows humor didn’t revolve around cussing or sex jokes, (which is what I see all the time now in modern adult animation) and the show was definitely funny!

Unfortunately though, Max cancelled it after 3 seasons due to the merge of Discovery + and HBO Max, with Max canning alot of shows during that time, this being one of them

We kinda sorta got left on a cliffhanger of sorts?? At least imo. Liked the show and wish we had more

Wander Over Yonder

For a show made by Craig McCracken (Powerpuff Girls, Fosters Home) you’d think it would be popular and have a bunch of seasons right?

Well no, with this show only having two seasons after Disney cancelled it because ‘80 episodes were enough for this show’ which is kinda dumb?? I dunno I just don’t like executives and rules and stuff

I remember this show from my childhood, it was really good in my opinion, I feel like we could’ve had more if Disney didn’t cancel it as early as it did

Love you WOY 🫡

Inside Job

The fact that this show left on a cliffhanger too made me even more upset that Netflix cancelled it as early as they did

Not only was this another adult animated show that didn’t rely on cussing or sex jokes, the story was actually really interesting too and if the show did continue, we would’ve had a happy ending

Screw Netflix actually I will never forgive them for this one

Grojband

I CANNOT stress enough about how this show deserved so much more than what it got, I actually would’ve put it at number one, but the next one is kinda justifiable so ._.

From Todd Kauffman and Mark Thornton (Total Drama Island) this show featured a kid and his friends that were in a band, and used lead singers sisters diary as lyric ideas, bc they suck at writing them

And I loved it

I swear I don’t think I’ve ever been heavily interested in and emotionally attached to the characters in a show before, it was so good

The songs in this show were also heavenly, I suggest you give them a listen, theyre really good!

Also another reason I really liked the show was because it was a Canadian toon that didn’t revolve around gross out humor (I applaud them for that)

Unfortunately this was a show Cartoon Network screwed over BIG time, with when it came out during the summer it was airing, kids were mostly outside playing, never really gaining an audience, and then after the first half of the season aired, it was on a 2 YEAR hiatus. With fans questioning if the show would ever come back

Fortunately it did! Except Cartoon Network shoved it on their app, and a year later shoved it onto their sister channel, Boomerang. Then, after the show FINALLY ended their first season, the show was immediately cancelled, with Cartoon Network never really giving it a chance

The whole way Cartoon Network handled this show frustrated me immensely, with it having a decent fanbase, and people wanted more (me being one of them:()

The creators even had alot of plans for next said season, but I guess we will never get to see them (unless a Clone High situation happens but that’s doubtful)

Show was very underrated and deserved SO much more, Cartoon Network fumbled this one and the last show Im about to mention

Sym Bionic Titan

This sci fi animated series by Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Dexters Lab) only lasted one season with 20 episodes

With Cartoon Network cancelling it because of the failure to produce a TOY LINE

The fact this show got axed because of toys just makes me so upset

This was one of those shows that also left on a cliffhanger sadly, so we never really got to see how this show properly ended

With Genndy even saying that he wrote 10 more episodes, but now we will never get to see them

ALSO THE SHOWS SOUNDTRACK WAS SO GOOD?! Love when shows put banger songs in the bg, reminded me so much of Clone High

Anyways thats pretty much it? These are just my opinion tho, everyone is entirely different

[awakefor48hours]

As I'm rewatching TADC, I'm beginning to realize that in the near future, we're probably going to see more indie projects and I actually think that it has the potential to be good for the entertainment industry as a whole.

As time goes on, more people are pretty much only using streaming services but streaming services have a lot of problems with their platforms. The subscriptions are getting more expensive, there's so many of them, and a lot of the shows are getting cancelled in their infancy (some after being greenlit for more) despite their popularity.

Since 2019, Netflix alone has cancelled dozens of shows such as Dead End Paranormal Park, Julie and the Phantoms, Inside Job, Lockwood and Co, Warrior Nun, The Baby-Sitters Club, Raising Dion, Shadow and Bone, The Oa, I Am Not Okay With, A Typical, Anne with E, and much more.

This list doesn't even touch on other streaming platforms but I'm choosing to focus on these shows from Netflix (probably the most well respected streaming service) because I feel like it gets to the root of the problem. A lot of these shows were cancelled in their infancy despite having had high ratings (once again, some of them were even greenlit for more seasons). I almost never hear about shows ending anymore, I only hear about how they get cancelled after a season or two.

With both streaming services and cable not really giving creators the most certain platform, doing indie projects seems like the best bet and it works really well for both the creator and the audience.

To go back to streaming services, the amount of streaming services in the world are only growing and not everyone has the ability to pay for all of them but even the people that do pay for a lot of streaming services can't watch everything. I've mentioned this once but my parents are subscribed to 5 different streaming services, that's so many but they still ask me for help to pirate about once a month because they want to watch a show that isn't available on the streaming platform they use. That is ridiculous and I fully believe my parents should be allowed to watch whatever they want. (Just like my parents, I'll gladly share the piracy sites I use but it's through DMs only, I promise I'm not scary I cry watching kids cartoons).

But when it comes to shows on YouTube, it's available to basically everyone with a Wi-Fi connection and I fully believe it's the main reason why shows like TADC, Lackadaisy, Helluva Boss, RWBY, RvB, and more were able to get their level of popularity. They're on a free to use platform and can be shared to other people just as easily. Also when creators post their show on YouTube, it's much easier for people to make gifs and edits (which, let's be honest, are the real advertisers of a show) because YouTube lets people take screenshots/screen record without any hassle.

*If you want to know how to screenshot/screen record DRM content (things like Netflix, Hulu, CrunchyRoll, etc), I do have a post about here.

Along with the fact that it's more available to the public, it's also more available to the crew and creators. A few years ago, Dana Terrace (creator of The Owl House) made a tweet introducing a new character to the show but the tweet got popular because admitted that she had to pirate The Owl House in order to watch it.

(Since it's cropped in this screenshot, in the top right corner is a watermark of a well-known piracy site for The Owl House).

Imagine working for a company like Disney and not have the ability to watch your own show. They couldn't even give her complimentary mp4 files or even a subscription to Disney+ despite the fact that without her the show wouldn't exist. It's really annoying to see this but when it comes to shows like TADC, that problem doesn't really exist. You can just watch the episodes for free on YouTube.

Also, the fact that the episodes take a while to come out really makes the fandom feel a lot more united. The wait time between episode really kills the binging aspect of TV and I'm in full support of that. Ever since streaming services started to become the default way to watch TV, binging culture has gotten really bad and it can be pretty isolating to people who have busy lives.

Take me for an example. Someone like me, a single adult who has no kids and a terrible sleep schedule (ignore username), can stay up until 3 in the morning binging shows without too many negative consequences. But I have friends who are married/getting married and have kids/planning on having kids, meaning that they don't have the same amount of time as me. I can finish binging shows in a day or two which isn't a pleasure my friends have and it also mean I can't talk to them about it because they're only on episode 2.

I also feel a lot more comfortable donating to these indie projects because the money goes directly towards the creators and crew. When the WGA strike happened, creators explained how they got paid (you can watch the whole video here), and the quick version of it is, they only get paid the amount of times someone watches and episode, they get paid thee residuals from the subscriptions which is so little that it almost feels criminal. When you really put it into perspective, donating to 2 dollars to a GoFundMe and watching the show three times on YouTube is going to do more for a show then paying for a 15 dollar subscription and watching it 10 times.

YouTube definitely has it's problems, I've been subjected to whole ass adults saying "seggy" for nearly a decade, but when you compare it to the current state of streaming and cable, it seems like the best option for both the creators and fans.

[the-badger-mole]

You are so real for deciding to avoid Netflix's ATLA live adaptation. I was on Twitter earlier and what's been coming out is starting to discourage some of the fans lol. Like, they're removing moments that were part of the character's growth arc, like Sokka's sexism, and gender issues which is part of what drives Katara's arc and was a big part of the NWT and why Katara fought Pakku and seemingly more, like Aang's constant decisions to run off and have "adventures" even when he shouldn't

Yeah...I've been having this conversation with other fans. I'm not thrilled with what they seem to be taking out of the story arcs, but at the same time, I also strongly agree that an adaptation should build on and change things from the original to justify its existence. Heck, I applaud them for not trying to make this a shot-for-shot remake (stares at Disney) I get that the show runners and actors also probably can't reveal any new or expanded on flaws because of spoilers. So, while I'm rolling my eyes at the whispers that they're taking away things like Sokka's sexism arc because it was "problematic", and getting rid of Aang's irresponsible sense of adventure instead of actually addressing why it's an issue, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the people looking forward to the series that they have some even better storylines planned.

None of the changes are why I'm not planning to watch (though they aren't making me regret my choice). My reasons for not watching are more personal than I'm worried they're going to ruin the original series (first of all, the original series still exists and I can still watch it. Second, the original series had major flaws and plot holes of its own). I'm just not interested in live action remakes. I have a finite capacity to engage in new shows, and a live action remake of a fantasy cartoon I loved as a kid is not high on the list. You can blame Disney, if you want (and you wouldn't be totally wrong. The Disney Live Actions have been stupid wastes of my time. Yes, even your favorite remake), but if I'm going to start a new show, I want it to either be something fresh and new, or a series I've seen enough times to quote whole episodes. Yes, my most of my new faves have been cancelled in the last year (I'm still holding my breath for We Are Lady Parts and the next season of Abbot Elementary), but I'm still in the head space of preferring either something new or just plain old reruns to watch.

None of my feelings are an indictment of what I expect from LA ATLA. I encourage anyone who's even remotely interested to watch. And when you do, please post your thoughts. I, personally, will be lurking to see what people think. Who knows. Maybe someone will change my mind, and I will end up watching after all.

[l0thcat]

I keep thinking about TBB and how it ended. Or the whole season i should say, the ending was pretty good with a few flaws ( in my opinion ).

And you know, I'm not surprised, as much as i LOVE this show, I'm used to cartoons getting shit. Its been going on for far too long.

Its Disney AND Netflix. And here is a list of shows that were doing good, got told mid season its getting canceled, and a rushed ending.

Amphibia

The Owl House

She Ra and The Princesses Of Power ( 2018 )

Centaurworld*

My Little Pony G4* and G5

Steven Universe*

OK KO lets be heroes.*

Star Trek Prodigy*

Kipo and the age of the wonderbeasts.

The Mandalorian ( i know its not a cartoon but it has the same vibes as TBB ).

And probably many more. It sucks, so bad, for animation. And I'm saying this because i fully believe Disney or whoever was going to cancel TBB if it already isn't. They just didn't want to announce that.

Other notes:

*Centaurworld ; Was meant to be an ADULT cartoon and very much has left overs from that, however Netflix decided it was too MLP-esc so they made it for kids instead which ended up just being a bunch of fart and butt jokes. And then got canceled anyways so everything had to rush and wrap up in season 2. Which SUCKS because it is so beautiful when it can be and has beautiful music.

*MLP G4 is not Netflix nor Disney and while it did get multiple seasons and an ending, it had new writers during, i don't know, s6 or s7. And things slowly went backwards. And the end felt rushed imo. It wasn't a bad one but it didn't feel.. satisfying.

*Steven Universe ; i love Steven Universe, it was canceled because the creator got an Sapphic wedding AND kiss scene on screen, on a kids cartoon. But they compromised by after the finale they would get a spin off and a movie. The finale is good. Whats rushed here to me, was the spin off. And again, this is not Disney or Netflix, but Cartoon Network.

OK KO and Star Trek prodigy are also not Disney or Netflix ( which apparently Netflix is trying to save Star Trek Prodigy ) but also kicked the bucket.

All this to say ; there is a huge problem within the animation area and I'm tired of CEOs or whoever forcing creators and writers to cancel or shorten their stories.

The Bad Batch s3 is no better in my opinion. I loved a lot of scenes of it and I'm grateful for a lot of it and I'm not honestly sure if this is Disney or Jennifer or someone else but it really hurts.

Here is why it bothers me:

I'll just get this one out of the way first. Tech. Tech COULD have been sacrificed. He COULD have died. In a way that was actually meaningful. Omega got captured anyway, she was probably going to whether Tech went home with them or not. His death IS sad and i DO see them trying to honor it, i do. But its bad to me because it really does feel like "gotta kill the autistic person". Its really annoying when shows try to have an autistic character and then mistreat them ( She Ra 2018 as well but Entrapta didn't die but she does get mistreated a lot ). Its annoying and hurtful. Especially with the writers and such teasing his fans so strongly. There was no reason to. Its not a spoiler.

The TALKS in between that we missed. Tech talking to Phee about Crosshair. Crosshair learning about Tech's Death from Omega. Omega talking to Emerie about her brothers. Crosshair coming back with Omega, we don't even see them just silently watching him walk into the ship. Its just nothing. I'm sure i am forgetting some because it happened, SO much during this season.

What happened to Cody. Like its fine if he's being saved for another series but then perhaps say that.

Creators do not have to be extremely secretive about everything. Fans who don't want spoilers don't go looking for it. I'm not implying they need to spoil the ENTIRE plot, but saying Tech is dead-dead is not something to be secretive about, An hour long finale is not something to be secretive about, etc.

The other Clone X's, while they are very very cool and supposed to mirror CF99... they weren't overly needed honestly. It felt so rushed. Like I'm not saying they needed to be someome either, they don't need to. But i wasn't fearful or full of impact when i saw them my genuine reaction was "this is too much now". It was like if they DID decide to put Darth Vader in it at last second. Like i fully believe Omega was supposed to be home with Crosshair for a little longer and help Echo and Rex with the clones. And then these new CX clones were supposed to show up in s4 and be the ones to get her again.

The fans.. would have wanted.. season 4?...... i don't know why its so bad to want that. And honestly atp, i don't get why its so bad to have plot filler. Its BAD for series that got canceled or shortened, but its not bad for a series that you want more of, because then you get more time with them or more lore if you're lucky.

It occured to me there was not one flash back. Not one about the past. The most was Omega talking about how she watched CF99 be made and that it implied shes older ( and is ) than them. Could you imagine the emotional impact on us and for Omega, watching her, watch them grow up. I don't think Rebels or TCW really had flash backs either but they usually did it in other ways.

I'm not like.. a good writer, so maybe writers on here will disagree and thats okay, I'm open to that.

TLDR: I'm tired of Cartoons kicking the bucket too soon for far too long. I feel like The Bad Batch s3 also had this treatment and it isn't fair to the fans.

[aniketsanimationblog]

The Fallen TV Animation Empire

Chapter 1: The Rise of Television Animation with Saturday Morning Block

On August 18th, 2023 - I made a Post titled "The Summary of this whole current Debacles of Animation Industry" on this very Tumblr Page, @aniketsanimationblog, and you, animation fans, have expressed the concerns about What is Going on in The Global Animation Industry as a Whole, I am glad by that!! I am so thankful to those who expressed this concerns and realised that Animation is in Danger. Because, what happened in the Last Year, When Nickelodeon and Paramount+ Canceled and Removed Star Trek: Prodigy from their platforms at that time, until Netflix saved it to stream the entire Season 2 in one-go, just paint a big picture in the Animation Community. Last Year, Star Trek: Prodigy's Cancelation and Removal was not just the omission or abandonment of a Star Trek Show set in their universe or the best Star Trek Show in the Alex Kurtzman's Era of New Star Trek Shows, but also a big Massive Shocker of a Serialised Animated Kids' Show, that had a chance to become Nickelodeon's Next Avatar: The Last Airbender, betrayed by their own original Network, is like committing a Seppuku.

And it happened at the same time or before that incident, when most of the great Animated Series at the same time were Canceled/Canceled + Removed/Sabotaged by their respective Broadcasters, showing the Dismays of Fandoms of their respective shows. Now either only a handful of Good shows are left or there is nothing to watch at all, because of Kids TV Broadcasters' Greed and most notably Animation Community's Biasness towards Shows that, nowadays, have become a Money Generator, and no longer serving any good quality things to the fans, whatsoever, once they had in their prime, in the first place.

Now depending on who you may ask, "How did this Happen? What Happened to the Kids Television, once we used to love since our Childhoods, have gone in their Worst Phases now?"

Well, to understand why this happened, we need to go to the history of how this Kids TV Animation had started to build its Large Empire.

To understand the history of Kids TV Animation, we need to go back to where it all started. Since, it's a long history, and for context, The Kids TV Animation first started in the United States of America, as Hollywood were the only film industry to create Animation Renaissance from the big screens, they are also responsible for creating Majority of their Animations in the Small screens, we have to go back all the way to 1928. This is the year, when Walter Elias Disney, as we all know him as the legendary Pioneer and The Father of Animation, released his iconic Cartoon Character, Mickey Mouse's First Short film, "Steamboat Willie". At that time, "Steamboat Willie" was released over on Hollywood Theatres. But at the same time, there was an experiment happened at the small screens, aka The Television, with some limited animation cartoons appeared on TV with one of the images of "Felix The Cat". And remember, at that time, TV was available to some people who could afford TV, when majority of people weren't ready to switch from Traditional Radio. So, a handful of People watched that experiment going on.

Then some Animated TV movies happened like, "Willie The Worm" by Chad Grothkopf. It was an Eight-minute experimental TV Movie in Animated form.

But all changed in 1950s when, TV Animation started to broadcast like, "Crusader Rabbit" and "Colonel Bleep" etc.

But the First TV Animated Series came along, consisting of Animated Shorts, "Captain Kangaroo", by the Terrytoons, which is often referred to as, "One of the Finest Cartoons to ever produce on TV".

But the Cartoons, at that time, was seen primarily as "Children's Entertainment" by some Movie Exhibitors.

In 1954, Walt Disney capitalized on the Medium of Animation to Showcase on TV, with his weekly show, "Disneyland", which was broadcasted by US Terrestrial Channel, ABC, which expanded later to "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color".

But as soon as Television popularized in the US, the people were slowly moving away from their traditional Radios and Movie Theatres, to the Compact form of Entertainment, Television. And thus, a new format was started to develop for TV Animation for Children, "The Saturday Morning Blocks", as the name suggests, the TV Animation would only be broadcasted on Saturday Mornings, because on Weekdays, The Kids are at their Schools, and on Sunday, With the American Football games clogging up the Sunday Schedules. At that time, there were no Cable systems, people were relying on Terrestrial Channels like ABC, CBS and NBC. And thus, American Children of that era were having a Ritual of watching Cartoons on Saturday Mornings.

And thus, some Television Animation Production Studios came afloat at the time. Such as, Filmation, Depatie-Freleng Enterprises, UPA Studios, Warner Brothers with their Merry Melodies, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) with their first classic iteration of Tom & Jerry until it's collapse in 1957, Disney Studios, and the leader of all Studios, Hanna-Barbera Studios, by the Creators of Tom & Jerry, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

For the Starters, 1960s era was the era, when TV Animation boomed with mostly H-B Studios, "The Ruff & Reddy Show", then "The Huckleberry Hound Show", "The Yogi Bear Show" and most notably, "The Flinstones", which was like an Half-an-hour Animated Sitcom series, aired on ABC, which was their biggest successful show on Studio History, running for 6 years, alongside The Jetsons and Top Cat.

Hanna-Barbera had the common Trope used in most of their series, featuring atleast an Anthropomorphic Animal and a Child Character, up until they created "Scooby-Doo! Where are you?" in 1969 for CBS. Many incarnations of Scooby-Doo spawned for 17 seasons on CBS and then ABC, uninterruptedly with their new formula of A Group of Teens solving Supernatural mysteries or Fighting Crime. And they are the ones, who started with their Limited Animation Technologies at that time for Artistic Reasons.

Disney Studios had their fair share of Animated Shows, showcased on TV, most notably The Mickey Mouse shorts including characters from the Mickey Mouse Universe, as we all know today, and also "Winnie The Pooh".

The Studio still had a decent amount of TV Animated Series, even after Walt Disney's Demise on 15th December 1966.

At the time of 1960s, there were several Animation Artists, mostly Animators, that are still called Legendary/Veteran Artists, like Walt Disney, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Gene Deitch, David H. Depatie, Friz Freleng, Don Bluth, to name a few.

But as Time went on, the Kids TV Animation was changed for a new era, that is beyond just only for "Saturday Mornings".

To be continued...

Next Post, Chapter 2: The Fall of Saturday Morning Cartoons and Rise of American Cable Television for Kids TV Animation.

[ariel-s-awesome]

I'm rewatching Kid Cosmic and man, the one complaint I have about that show is the wasted Chuck potential. It would've been great seeing Kid adjust to Chuck trying to be a friend, or Chuck, Tuna and Rosa all going out on their own space adventure. Or heck, he seemed to have a bit of a thing with Biker Girl Carla in latter half of the series, give them their own adventure! Overall, I def missed the 'filler', even if the main story in KC was good.

Right!? Dave Thomas said that his story had been told (was gonna link you until I realized you were the one that asked him about it), but it reeeaally wasn't. They just didn't seem interested in his story.

His life just started after his old one got shattered. And him becoming a side character was really abrupt.

Then there's him trying to atone by straining himself to speak without a translator and bud. Bud bud bud bud. That's self harm! Let's work on that dangerously low self esteem!

The crew should of either addressed that to show that it's not healthy or left it out. Because now that I think about it, that's not a great thing to normalize in a kid's show. Or any show, but kids are still developing.

It would be pretty easy in universe to get him a translator. Or maybe he could've learned a form of nonverbal communication that the cast picks up so he can be included without hurting himself.

The process would help with his healing too since first he'd have to accept that he doesn't need to hurt himself to become a better person. Then he'd grapple with how being raised in his empire affected him, and that he isn't an inherently bad person for being one of their loyal soldiers.

The rest of the cast helping him find a form of communication he can use and learning it with him (along with showing concern about him martyring himself out of guilt) would reassure him that they care about him despite his past. And that they're a far cry from his old comrades who wouldn't even react if he got killed.

Anyways, Kid Cosmic's biggest flaw was having too large of a "main" cast. None of the Local Heros aside from the original five (minus Chuck after he got shoved aside) had enough focus to become actual main characters.

Building up a huge main cast like DC and Marvel's superhero teams requires hundreds of chapters/episodes where they're gradually introduced so people have the chance to get to know them. And plenty of character-focused "filler" episodes.

Unfortunately Kid Cosmic didn't have that kind of time and instead of giving up on the idea Craig brought 7 background characters into the "main cast" at once.

Frankly, with how Netflix cancels most of their cartoons after a single season (especially the ones they don't promote) Kid Cosmic was lucky to get three seasons. And while I do think Wander Over Yonder's cancellation taught Craig a valuable lesson about not expecting networks to give him ample time to complete the story he wants to tell, he was still overly-ambitious non-plotwise.

[pixeljade]

Man. Looking at the state of the TV animation industry these days sends me into an irrational rage as someone who grew up in the 90s and 00s.

I mean that was an era with two stations dedicated almost entirely to animation (Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network), 3 if you include Toon Disney later on, not to mention original animated blocks on WB, ABC, ABC Family, Fox, and Disney proper; plus you had several preschool stations too. Both Nick and CN had systems where they created small shorts which could turn into bigger series and *put them on the air so viewers could help decide*! Add onto this that you had the massive boom of experimentation brought on by the development of digital animation tools, AND the fact that Anime was being imported all over the place, injecting new ideas into animation, AND you had Adult Swim creating the first dedicated adult animation block...there were COUNTLESS series which are still impacting the zeitgeist today! Even the series which got canceled early became cultural icons, Invader Zim basically built an entire subculture! Animation was EVERYWHERE, and it was new and different every fucking year!

Now TV animation is basically a wasteland. Most animators are saying nothing is getting picked up unless its a reboot or a sequel or a tie-in (even Craig McCracken said his new shows werent getting picked up iirc), and animation studios are shuttered left and right. Even the shows I loved most from this year, Fionna and Cake and Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, were rehashes of previous franchises. Even great shows from the horribly short streaming boom are getting deleted unceremoniously from existence! I want to beat David Zalsav to death with my bare fists for what he's done, but he's hardly the only fuckstick CEO who's decided animation 'isnt worth it'. Even Disney feels less and less focused around animation every year, shoveling more franchise slop into our mouths, and cancelling great shows because they're even a little gay. Netflix is still making SOME stuff, but its hard to get excited when its probably not gonna get more than an incredibly short season or two. There's also indie projects here and there, but those are still slow to produce because there's no studio backing most of it.

Idk. Its just extremely upsetting to think that I saw what was probably the peak of the animated industry (at least, for now) come and go. And now so many folks I know and love who went to school for this will be stuck churning out more Spongebob content and never get their own ideas picked up. I do support the indie works to the best of my ability, because I do think that whether you like Hazbin or TADC or not, they're at least healthier for the animation ecosystem than Corporate-Approved Animated Program #201836, BUT i am not exactly missus moneybags over here. Idk. I just miss the old days I guess.

[deaddee-anime-brownfanlady]

Fav Series to get to know me a little better.

Been seeing a few posts do this and thought it could be fun to try too. No pressure but feel free to join along if you want!

The Sandman- While I've read a few chapters of the comic (which I still need to read more of) par say, the Netflix show adaptation is so freaking good & seriously exceeded my expectations in terms of the visually effects also the storytelling is done so well & seeing Morpheus in live-action is also great too. So hyped for S2.

POSE- I swear this series doesn't get enough attention on it as far as I can tell. Because it's honestly I think one of the best shows I've seen so far, Set during 1980s America during the AIDs crisis with a mostly Black and POC casting that's focuses on Ballroom culture which offers a place of belonging to NY gay/queer communities. This show is a emotional roller-coaster that had me feeling so much for its great characters & it should be watched more by everyone because it's so good.

Arcane- Just seriously one of the best mature adult animated series thus far. Before I got into Arcane the only one or two thing I knew about it was hearing how awesome it was and that its based off of the long time popular online game League of Legends & that was pretty much it. But actually seeing this show upon first episode had me hooked from the start, everything dealing with this show is top-notch. From the fantastic, incredible 3d animation to the mature well-written compelling storytelling, along with well-rounded, morally complex flawed characters that feel so human in terms of the choices they make be it in the wrong or right, also the real banging soundtrack along with it. Just one of the bests series I so far seen.

Primal- Yet another example of really great adult animated series that have come out recently way ago. By the creator of Samurai Jack and Dexter Laboratory, Gennady Tartakovsky Primal is to me a good, well done showcasing of visual storytelling. Just a epic & awesome story about a caveman dub as Spear and his Dinosaur pal "Fang" that bonded over the loss of their families & now goes on a journey together through the violent prehistoric times. I consider this animated show to be akin to art, like a show with zero dialogue & all atmosphere & raw emotions. Just a piece of like animated art.

American Gods-Ah this show, Yet another one of Nail Gaiman works. I have a bit of some conflicted feelings on this show because while its so damned good and I seriously love everything about it on the premise of Gods and Deities from other cultures and mythology living within the modern world & trying to rebuild the influence they've once had on humanity & everything else how this show is put together in terms of visuals also storytelling is great...except for that damn cliffhanger and the fact that the show was cancelled...so yea. Still love it a bunch but eh...yeah.

Tuca & Bertie- Yet another fav adult cartoon show of mine that also got done so dirty yet again but also I feel don't get a lot of attention on it. Made by Lisa Hanawalt who in case you didn't know was the character designer of BoJack Horseman, and I would say Tuca & Bertie is like the less depressed and lesser cynical sister series of Bojack while still tackling some real heavy mature issues and problems. The world of Tuca & Bertie is one filled with mainly anthro bird people and dogs also talking plants people too. The show just has this more off-beat , zany , fun optimistic feel-good vibes going for it that's feels so inventing. But similar to Bojack in a way were its not afraid to get emotional serious about adult problems like sexual abuse or dealing with harassment & treating said issues with tact & maturity while still keeping the show overall light-hearted tone. Should be watched more.

The Midnight Gospel- The short way to giveaway on what this show is or deal with? Can be phase in one way. And that there's should be more animated Podcast. Made by Pendleton Ward the same man behind Adventure Time, I swear this show was quite the experience but in a good way. The animation is so trippy and yet so uniquely creative with using different styles. It follows a dude who goes inside a simulator to different worlds to try to interview people. The talks within this show can hit on many different levels with discussions of coping with loss and death or dealing with the struggles of hoping, a show you should take your time with, but so worth it.

Castlevania- I'll try to keep this one short & sweet. But another real awesome and oh so good adult animated series based off the classic game of the same title. great and amazingly done action /fight scenes as well as also just as wonderfully engaging and entertaining characters that you'll truly end up feeling so much for and the crap they have to deal with. Fantastic beautiful animation also the storyline and plot is just as good as the look of the show. Truly another banger.

AMC Interview with a Vampire- Now, this might sound like a controversial statement. But I deeply think and feel that this series version of interview with a Vampire is ten times more better then the movie. Not! That the movie is bad or anything, I very liked and enjoy the movie...but it never been one of my top fav movies to be honest. But the show on the other hand is so Top-notch on many levels, especially with the great performance of each actor. So Love Jacob Anderson playing as Louis de Pointe du lac and with him as an black man during 1900s America and how that's play into dealing with his vampirism, also his sexuality in terms of black queerness and showing the intricacies of the many challenges also jump ropes a black man having to keep the front of hypermasculinity especially black masculinity in a time era were being black your already seen as less than human is written so damned well. Also Sam Reid playing Lestat De Lioncourt is so fucking both great and entertaining to watch like for real, and Claudia in this show I feel is so much better then the one in the movie. Like I felt so much for her in this series. Like its so good.

Documentary Now- One of my most favorite comedy series that's never fails to creak me up. Like for real if you're interested in or into mockumentaries style of comedy then this show right here is right up there. Each episode focuses on a different "documentary " topic from dealing with a band rise & fall from success to the son of a famous chef overcoming his fears of chickens and taking over for his dad to a broken man that's ends up having a deep connection with a monkey. This show is just something else ^0^ .

Final Space- Final Space is probably one of if not the best adult animated series that I truly feel belongs right alongside with Bojack-Horseman to be honest. It's severely underrated in terms of adult animation which I think it's a shame because it really surprises me with how good it ended up becoming. At first glance looking at this sci-fi themed average typical comedy adult cartoon ended up being and becoming a much more well-rounded, emotional thought out very developed top-notch mature series. What I love about final space is that unlike other so-called “adult” animated shows is that it doesn’t try so hard with its adult humor or go overbroad with how much it tries to make it so “adultlike” such as having non-stop cussing or unnecessary super crude gore or out of place sex & nudity ( which I feel isn't always a bad thing when done right...but some adult cartoons tend to go overboard with it) This show has such a great balance of its comedy while also not afraid to get emotional serious about loss & grief or deal with some real heavy dramatic moments that are treated as serious as can be & isn't treated as a joke or a one off thing like how it would in certain other adult cartoons. One of the most mature animated series I've had the pleasure of watching & still pissed that it was done so wrong.

Welp that's about it! Sorry if this got too long ( ￣▽￣). This is just a couple of series I love. Tag in if ya'll want too!

@iamnmbr3 @dorkynerd23 @lokomotives

@feministfandomforever @uncleasriel

@zinexine @itwv-brainrot @vulgar-mary-p-ppins @captainbarinius @eddawrites @that1-otter @ghostbauhaus @freedom-and-beyond @dreballinarts @youlackconviction @toe-star @gey-scout

[blueikeproductions]

I can tell you right now, if this actually happened it’d be suicide. This Chinese spin off couldn’t even get off the ground when Cyberverse was on, coupled with political tensions at the time, what makes you think this is gonna work now?

The Cyberverse toys barely sold as it was. They went to clearance immediately when it came out during Christmas, and Japan cancelled the line outright it did so poorly. Japanese stores were STILL clogged with unsold merchandise after the show ended in America!

So no, until Hasbro actually says so, I don’t believe for an instant they’d be THAT stupid to pseudo revive one of their worst selling toy lines to buy time for a post EarthSpark kids cartoon. They’d have better luck dubbing and repackaging Transformers Go!, the Braves meets Beast Hunters Prime continuation Japan got when Prime was cancelled down there.

I don’t think partnering with Nick or Cartoon Network matters anymore anyway. Nick is so neck deep in controversy it has fully become The Sponge Network: All SpongeBob, All The Time. Cartoon Network has nothing new except Ivandoe, which is just Gumball again like the incredibly short lived Elliot From Earth was, so that’s not helping. Tiny Toons Looniversity sure, but that’s on borrowed time, as that only appeals to Animation Twitter Stans and curious Millenials who grew up with Adventures, and the later has mostly abandoned it.

In my experience, modern kids hate most modern cartoons anyway and are either watching web shows, trendy anime or older cartoons like Tom & Jerry.

Transformers’ best bet now is becoming a Netflix series like Pokémon has become in the west. Paramount+ is a glass house waiting to crumble, that so far most rocks thrown at it have been terrible aims.

And as much as some don’t want to hear it, the best type of show Transformers can be now is pure anime like RiD01 & the Unicron Trilogy. Anime is bigger now than its original boom in the 90’s and 2000’s, and a new kid oriented toyetic Transformers anime is the best thing they can do now.

What that would be I don’t know beyond classic Autobots vs Decepticons with Optimus & Megatron as the hero & villain we know them to be, not shady moronic uncle and still somehow slightly racist but repentant great uncle they are in EarthSpark. (I’ve said once I’ll say it again, MEGATRON palling around with the lead black-Asian family is not the flex people think it is.)

I would also accept Autobots vs Terrorcons as the gimmick of a kids anime, but we need proper hero and villain characters again. Skybound is proving head over heels this is what people want.

If Hasbro has the audacity to revive Cyberverse and force what many outside China will probably think is Astro Boy in heelies, the series outside of Skybound will be even more worse off.

The only thing they can reasonably be tinkering with is a kids cartoon based on ONE, and that can either be telling the story of what happened after the Quintessons on Cybertron, or more likely, they’re on Earth with an original story about the Decepticons & Quintessons doing something, while Optimus and Elita tell vague stories to Spike (white), Carly (Asian), and Chip (black) about what happened on Cybertron relating to the problem of the day so as not to overshadow an eventual TFTWO. And best case scenario that won’t be ready until summer of next year at the earliest.

Bottom line: Cyberverse no, TFONE the Animated Series on Earth yes. Energon Universe anime is preferable but we’re not there yet.

[nosetoons]

Is it me or does like very few stuff on Netflix I love/really like that have already been either cancelled or overshadowed isn't really worth the $16 a month? No, Squid Game doesn't count.

I miss The Midnight Gospel forever and always. But at least now I don't have to fork over money to a company that only cares about popularity because someone on eBay literally made a bootleg DVD that contains all 8 episodes of this show. And I would rather pay $25 once for a DVD I can watch over and over for free from now on than pay $16 a month for stuff Netflix ignores.

I'm not usually vocal about piracy and bootlegging, because that just seems to be the thing most people do because "skurew da compahnii" but the thing is this, Netflix isn't losing money. They're a billionaire company just like the rest. And they flat out refuse to do physical media copies of their own stuff unless they can outsource it to other home media distributors.

That being said, Netflix fumbling the bag for one of my all-time favorite shows is one mistake I can't forget, nor honestly forgive. It makes it even worse they straight up told its co-creator Duncan Trussell that they were happy with the show when it premiered. Fucking two-face liar. If anything TV show cancellations are very confusing to me. Because the thing is Netflix is a multi-billionaire company, if the show wasn't successful for them, they have like all the other shows that are super successful, why not put some of the money they earned from that one successful show to give to the people to work on a new season for that show, specifically for those fans. Not every show on there needs to be on the line like Squid Game, Stranger Things, or in animated terms, Big Mouth. Like at this point, what was even the point of opening up the animation division if you're not going to let the artists and animators in the division have their projects take off by letting it just die after one or two seasons? It makes no sense.

Not like it matters anymore, because it seems like to me Netflix's future of adult animation wants to line up with Fox's adult animation lineup; just nothing but soulless adult animated sitcoms. It's not even just Family Guy clones anymore. It's just the goofy quirky character goes on stupid adventures and says "fuck" and "shit" and there's TONS OF NUDITY AND POP CULTURE REFERENCES HAHAHA. It doesn't even help the fact Netflix's most recent adult cartoon is resulting in the company being boycotted by Black people because they thought using BLACK STEREOTYPES was a great way to make a show for black people. Meanwhile, shows like Midnight Gospel and Inside Job are left rotting away because Netflix didn't give it a chance but are literally looking for ways to make the next Big Mouth.

In other words, if you are wanting to do a cartoon, avoid both Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery. They're not into animation for passion, they're in it to make a quick buck.

Anyways, here's my annual doodle for the show's 4th anniversary. Again, I know it's long gone, but it's still an amazing show that I highly recommend even if it's only 8 episodes. If you don't have Netflix, just buy the DVD off of eBay. It's worth the 25 bucks.

Happy 4th Anniversary, The Midnight Gospel! 2020-2024