#nicktoons network original

[cosmicsponge2004]

[bubs-the-skunk]

Been really enjoying doodling my oc in my favorite cartoon characters outfits! I might just do some more!

[mythicalmeowz]

just my thoughts

One thing I’ve been noticing more and more recently is. A lot of people have been saying they think Cosmo and Wanda must’ve gotten marriage counseling between the ending of the OG show and the beginning of the new one.

Which is fine! I think if anyone wants to take everything from the original, even the "bad", as canon, that’s entirely okay. As much as I would like to pretend those things were never written, I can’t change the fact that they were written.

But one thing I think is important to note is: Cosmo and Wanda were never intended to be written in a loveless marriage in the first place. They were never intended to be written mean, or neglectful, or hateful. And that’s very obvious to me, reading the original show’s pitch and reference books.

There is nothing in this world that could ever convince me Cosmo and Wanda were meant to be anything but loving. These are screenshots from the original Pitch and the show’s guideline booklet:

They really spell it out perfectly. “It’s a show about friendship.” It was always meant to be.

The inclusion of “great, fleshed-out characters” here leads me to believe they never meant for Cosmo or Wanda to become flanderized to a single trait. Cosmo was never meant to just be “the idiot”, and Wanda was never meant to be the “anti-fun” one. They were meant to be equals.

“[he] doesn’t have a mean bone in his... body,” as well tells me Cosmo was never meant to be written the way he was in later seasons; he wasn’t meant to be mean, nor was he meant to hate his wife. It’s my belief that, had the writers never changed, or had they hired writers who Did care, the writing of the show would not have suffered the way it did.

__

“So if it was never intended to happen, then why did it happen?”

Around the time Cosmo and Wanda’s characterization began deteriorating, they had hired writers who were notorious for writing mean-spirited and anti-marriage jokes in other shows. And this was around the time those sexist and “I hate marriage” jokes began seeping into the Fairly Oddparents’ writing. Nickelodeon saw success with the pilot and first two seasons of the show, and when their original writers left, they hired people who didn’t care as much for the continuity or storytelling of the show because they wanted that success to continue.

I think a lot of people tend to forget this show was cancelled five separate times during its run. For every season past its fifth, they wanted to end production, but Nickelodeon would not let them.

It was, and still is, one of Nickelodeon’s highest rated and longest running shows they’ve ever made; they kept ordering new episodes, despite the writer’s wish for it to end, because Nick wanted to ride its success. They didn’t care if it deteriorated or got worse; they just wanted it to continue making them money.  

That’s why so many characters were added to the show past season five. Nick told the writers they had to add one new character per season. That’s why Poof, Foop, Goldie, Sparky, and Chloe were all added—for views and for money.

And when it stopped making them money, they cut its budget. They switched to flash animation. They moved it to their sister channel, where Nicktoons go when they’re not profitable enough for the network.

The original was a show that suffered in the hands of corporate greed.

I really, really appreciate the new show and all who have worked on it for taking what went wrong with the original and repairing it from the ground up. Oddparents has been my special interest since I was a child; it means a lot to me to see it, once again, in the hands of people who seem to really care. (though, this does not include what they did to cupid)

Again, if anyone wants to headcanon C&W as going through marriage counseling, that’s entirely fine! This isn’t meant to be me taking a jab at anyone or anything; it’s more-so just me spilling my own thoughts (because I sure have a lot of them). And if anyone likes anything from the "worse" seasons, thats fine, too! Even I like episodes from the later seasons. They're not all bad!

*For anyone interested, the original pitch from 1999 and the guidelines reference book can both be found on the Internet Archive.

[namitomoon]

Honestly, I think the fact Yugioh isn't popular at all with kids in the West compared to Pokémon needs to be studied.

Most people would (rightfully) blame how overcomplicated the game became compared to the early DM/GX days with all the new meta. But I think part of the blame relies on the way Konami handled the anime too. Both the broadcasting and the core.

I read on the Wiki that Yugioh DM, GX and 5Ds were dubbed by 4Kids and broadcasted it on Saturday morning blocks. When cable and with it the Saturday morning cartoon blocks faded away, 4Kids Entertainment (and their succesor, 4K Media) were very slow in adapting to the new reality. They moved to Nicktoons, then Hulu and then for free on Pluto TV.

Compare this to Pokémon franchise which was pretty much taken away from 4Kids and handled much better by TPC, staying solidly on the same network and then switched to the much more massive and GLOBAL Netflix.

Yugioh has the dubious "honor" of being one of the few remaining anime that still gets localized and dubbed following the heavy censored 4Kids handbooks and I think I finally figured the reason: Konami (who directly handles the dubbing and localization of Yugioh through Konami Cross Media NY, which is basically the remnant of 4Kids) is DESPERATE to build a younger gen Z/Alpha audience on the West.

The average Yugioh player in the West is in their mid 20s who was hooked with the original DM and GX (and maybe also 5Ds). Konami is fine with it but they really wish their game was as popular among kids as the Pokémon TCG is. There's always the fear of the mature audience simply leaving the game because they have bigger responsibilites with work, families, etc. Heck, that's the biggest reason why they didn't bother bringing the physical Rush Duels cards.

Which is why they focus heavily on targetting their shows towards kids. They could perfectly make more loyal-to-the-original teenage/mature focused dubs and broadcast them on Adult Swim or Crunchyroll. But because of their desperation in building a new audience, they instead make kiddified dubs so SEVENS is shown on Disney XD of all places.

[s10127470]

My Wolverine and the X-Men Rewrite (Part 1)

I'm sure many of you are familiar of Wolverine and the X-Men, as it was the last major animated series based on Marvel's merry band of mutants before X-Men '97 came out....

And before Marvel entered their infamous "anti-mutant" phase of the 2010s.

(If you don't count the X-Men Anime, which was a mini-series.)

Premiering back in 2009 on the somehow still-existing Nicktoons Network, the series is about the X-Men disbanding after a mysterious explosion results in the destruction of the Institute and the disappearance of Charles Xavier and Jean Grey.

About a year later, the team ended up reuniting for two major reasons.

The MRD (short for the Mutant Response Division), a government-supported organization created for the detainment and subsequent registration of existing mutants, begin capturing mutants from all over the country. Not only that, but they’ve even taken humans as prisoners as well just for helping mutants.

Charles Xavier, who the team find out is actually alive but in a coma resting on Magneto’s island nation of Genosha. Xavier is able telepathically communicate with the team from, in the words of Squidward….

Essentially, the explosion resulted in Xavier’s psyche being flung 20 years into the future. And Xavier himself won’t be awakened from his coma until those 20 years pass. Meanwhile, in the future, Xavier is awake, but finds himself constantly trying to survive as the future he’s in is absolute shit.

Being a loose adaption of Days of Future Past, the future Xavier’s in is one where the Sentinels have conquered the world after a war that broke out between the Master Mold program and Genosha.

In the end, nobody won.

As in this future, humanity has essentially been wiped out and mutants are on the verge of extinction, being placed in concentration camps.

But there is some hope....

Xavier in the future has formed a new X-Men team as it’s revealed that all of the original team are now dead. This new team consists of the likes of Bishop (who’s was one of the many mutants unfortunate enough to be born into this life instead of being a police officer from the distant future), an older Domino (whose present self is an enemy of the X-Men as she’s a member of the Brotherhood), and Marrow (who isn’t a member of the Morlocks).

Since Xavier is able to communicate with his past X-Men, he wants them to ensure that this future never happens.

So now, the reunited X-Men must face on the MRD, stop whatever plans Magneto has up his sleeves this time, and prevent the dark future from happening.

And all with Wolverine being the leader.

Yep! Wolverine is the leader of the X-Men as of right now as Cyclops is not doing so well….at all.

But in addition to those two, the rest of the X-Men consists of Storm, Beast, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Shadowcat, Angel, Forge, and newcomer Emma Frost.

WAXTM is notable things for two things.

It was also shortest-lived of the shows, only lasting 1 season of 26 episodes, which ran through the year of 2009, from January 23rd to November 29th.

This would be the sort-of beginning of an all-new shared animated universe known as the Yostverse, which consisted of the Hulk vs. Films, Thor: Tales of Asgard, and most notably, The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. The reason I say sort-of beginning because one of the shows that’s supposedly a part of this universe is The Spectacular Spider-Man, which came out almost a year before this show did. But that’s a discussion in itself.

Ever since its cancellation, WAXTM has gained a following and has become one of the many animated shows that got cancelled too soon and has led thousands of fans clamoring for a revival.

And to this day, people consider the show an underrated gem.

But I'm gonna have to come out and say it.....

Wolverine and the X-Men is not exactly a good show....

It's not bad by any means, but does have a lot of flaws.

And while it did do some things right, it wasn't quite to the extent of X-Men Evolution and especially X-Men: The Animated Series.

So today I want to discuss how I would rewrite the show. Keeping what worked about the show and either strengthen or removing what didn't.

And for this rewrite, be prepared to expect changes in characterizations, looks and even voices!

For the first part of this rewrite, we'll be covering the first three episodes of the show, Hindsight: Parts 1, 2 and 3.

And for this version of the show, all 3 of episodes would premiering on the exact same night: January 23rd, 2009.

Essentially, Wolverine and the X-Men's premiere in this AU would be a full-on TV movie!

This would be similar to what Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends did as when they first premiered, they had the first three episodes packed into a TV movie.

And one last thing, I would like to credit synergysilhouette as my main inspiration for this post, as he also shared his own idea on rewrite Wolverine and the X-Men as well.

So with that being said, let's get this party started!

First thing we need to get out of way that this show would not be called "Wolverine and the X-Men".

As that title is undoubtedly emblematic of the show's greatest flaw: the focus on Wolverine.

It's pretty obvious that the original series was riding on the coattails of the X-Men films, which Wolverine was not only the most popular character of, but the essentially the main character (and the only one that really mattered, much to the detriment of basically everyone else.).

Made more obvious with the fact that it premiered just four months before his long anticipated solo film.

Yeah, we all know how well that turned out....

Apparently, when WAXTM was first conceived, it was initially meant to be solo cartoon for Wolverine.

At least in the eyes of the executives...

But to the directors and producers, this was meant to be another X-Men cartoon.

In the end, the two sides essentially came to a compromise: the show would have the X-Men as its main cast, but Wolverine would be the focal character of the show.

Everyone has already said it before, but it does bare repeating.

The X-Men are suppose to be an ensemble. It shouldn't focus on just one character and essentially make everyone else irrelevant.

For this rewrite, the show's name would be changed to "X-Men Destiny", which I feel like fits perfectly with the premise of the series.

Next we come to the tone and style. This was another area where the influence from the films is quite obvious.

Just like the FOX films, Wolverine and the X-Men is notably more serious and gloomy than most other X-Men media, even the comics at some points.

It's somewhat melodramatic and there's rarely ever a sense of levity or humor to lighten things up

I'm admittedly not a fan of this style. I understand the X-Men are a little more serious when compared to other characters of the Marvel universe, but I don't think they need to be this overly serious.

I feel like the core of the X-Men, in spite of the all bullshit they deal with, they still persevere and keep their heads up no matter what.

So for this version of the show, the tone will be a little more light-hearted.

There will actually be humor present and some characters will be the resident comic reliefs.

But don't worry, the show will still take itself seriously when it needs to.

But another area the show would see change in is the art-style.

For this version of the show, the character designs would be done by ZyalahDoodles.

She’s an artist here on Tumblr who has done some redraws and redesigns for WAXTM.

I really like her style. It strikes that balance between being similar to the original art style while still being somewhat different. And if anything, it’s actually an improvement over the original style, especially when look at characters like Quicksilver. 

Like Jesus Christ, he was hideous in the original!

I know he’s suppose to be Magneto’s son, but you didn’t need to make him look as old as him too! 

Like Zyalah’s Quicksilver can actually get it.

If you want to check out more of her art, here’s the link to her page below.

Next we come to the roster.

Overall, it's largely the same as in the original except we would see the addition of one more character.

And that's none other than the steel-skinned gentle giant himself, Colossus!

Not only because he's one of my favorite X-Men, it's also because he's honestly kind of deserves it.

For those who don't know, despite only appearing in the prologue of the first episode, Colossus was weirdly in a lot of promotional material and merchandising for the show.

Apparently he was suppose to return to the X-Men following the explosion, but the producers decided not to do that and just save him for the planned season 2.

I'm guessing that the promotional material and merchandising started production during the early development of the show and before everything got finalized.

And thus, it's why a lot of this stuff still shows Colossus as a main character.

It's similar to what happened with The Simpsons, as during its early years, a lot of merchandising featured Bart famously wearing a blue shirt instead of his trademark red shirt.

But now that we got our roster out of the way, let's talk about the characters.

Specifically, their voices, appearances and ages.

In terms of voices, just about everyone still have their respective VAs in this version....except for two of the X-Men.

Those two being Iceman and Rogue.

Iceman would be voiced by Jason Marsden, replacing Yuri Lowenthal.

But don't worry, Yuri would be still in this version of the show, but as a different character (who we'll get to shortly).

And Rogue would be voiced by Melissa Disney, replacing Kieren van den Blink.

As for appearances, synergysilhouette brought up how a little wonky the builds of the characters were.

Like some of the males had buff upper bodies but surprisingly thin torsos and legs, and the females were pretty paper thin.

Like, we're talking almost VivziePop thin, specifically in the leg area.

The only part of them that wasn't thin were their chests....

Who designed these girls? Greg Land?

So yeah, in this version of the show would fix some of those designs.

Particularly putting a little more meat on the females.

I guess you could say I made them....

But for the builds of the X-Men.

Wolverine has a stocky and muscular build.

Cyclops is lean but athletic.

Emma Frost has an hourglass figure with a more top-heavy build.

Storm also has an hourglass figure, with an all-around build.

Beast...basically looks the same as he does in the original show.

So does Nightcrawler, Angel, Colossus, Iceman, Shadowcat and Forge (expect he'll actually have tanned skin)

And Rogue has a similar build to Storm.

Apart from the builds, the X-Men look largely the same as in the original show.

Though Cyclops and Rogue would definitely be getting a serious hairdo.

Since let's be real, their haircuts were pretty awful in the original show, especially Rogue's.

Cyclops' new hair would look just how it does in Zyalah's piece I showed earlier, and Rogue would have much longer hair.

As for heights, the X-Men are pretty accurate to those from the comics.

Yes, and that does include Wolverine.

However, there is one exception to this and that's with Beast.

I've always felt that Beast definitely should be a much taller character than he actually is.

(He's canonically 5'11)

But despite that, in the more recent comics, he's always shown as being bigger than most of the other X-Men.

So here, Beast is like 6'5.

As for their outfits...

Wolverine, Storm, Emma, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Angel, Rogue and Forge would be wearing the exact same outfits they did in the original show.

Beast as well, but he would also be sporting goggles this time.

(He just looks so right with them).

Iceman would wearing a modified version of his outfit from the show.

It would have a light blue and dark blue color scheme, short pant-legs and no shoes.

Shadowcat would be wearing her outfit from the Astonishing X-Men run.

And Cyclops, well....

This what he'll be wearing.

If you collected any Marvel merchandising during the 2000s, you've most definitely seen this look before.

It's kind of like an combination between his 90s outfit and his Astonishing outfit.

And in all honesty, it's really cool looking.

But weirdly enough, he's never wore this any iteration outside of the merchandising.

So I figured.....

Finally, we come to the ages of the X-Men.

I'm reason I'm bringing this up is because of the episode, Breakdown.

In that episode, we take a look into Cyclops' past, and just like in the comics, the X-Men originally started off with the original five.

And we can clearly see that they're teenagers.

But this becomes an issue when take Iceman into account.

In the second episode when Wolverine and Beast come to recruit him, the latter mentions to his parents that Iceman is now 18.

Which would mean that three years have past since the X-Men formed.

And since the estimated age difference between the original five is that Beast is older than Cyclops, Jean and Angel by 2 years and Iceman is younger than them by 2 years, that would mean that Cyclops, Jean Angel are around 19-20 and Beast is around 21-22.

And yeah, there's is no way in hell that's the case.

I could definitely see them being in their 20s, but like mid-to-late 20s.

Definitely not early 20s!

Here, it would be established that the X-Men have been around for about 8 years, including after the explosion.

As for the ages of the team.

We all know Wolverine is old as hell!

Cyclops, Jean and Angel are 24.

Emma is 29.

Storm is 26.

Beast is 27.

Nightcrawler is 22.

Colossus, Rogue and Forge are 20.

And Iceman and Shadowcat are 18.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's go ahead and talk about the episodes themselves!

Hindsight: Part 1

This episode is largely the same, but there would be a few changes.

-All of the X-Men would be present in the prologue. Iceman would training in The Danger Room with Shadowcat, Colossus and Nightcrawler, Forge would be working on a new device while ignoring the cries for help from the four after getting trapped, and Angel would be seen spending them with Storm.

-We would get the establishment of where everyone else is once Wolverine and Beast reunite. Cyclops has living in a rundown apartment by himself, Storm moved back to her village in Kenya, Angel has been working at his father's company, Iceman and Shadowcat moved back in with their parents, Colossus moved back to his family's farm in Russia, and nobody's heard from Nightcrawler or Rogue. As for Beast, he's been hanging at what's left of the mansion with Forge, working together to see what caused the explosion in the first place.

-Speaking of Forge, he would be helping out Wolverine and Beast with their break-in. And also, and more importantly, Forge's characterization is much different. Here, he's basically like Sokka and Velma, being the team's resident tech-genius and total smartass.

-Pyro wouldn't be one of the mutants freed when Wolverine, Beast and Forge free the prisoners. Instead, his place would be taken by Jubilee (voiced by Janice Kawaye). She would end up staying with the X-Men, kick-starting one of the storylines for this series. As for her characterization, it's pretty accurate to how she is in the comics. In terms of overall physical appearance and age: she's about 15, has a slightly petite build, black hair in a bob-cut style, pink lips, brown eyes, stands at 5'1, and wears a modified version of her classic 90s outfit. It's largely the same, except with a navel-bearing shirt, fingerless gloves and sneakers.

Hindsight: Part 2

Once again, largely the same with a few changes.

-The Brotherhood has two new additions from the original version in the form of Pyro and Gambit. Yep! Gambit is a member of Brotherhood in this version of the show, as it would set up his eventual turnover to the X-Men and his romance with Rogue. And in typical Gambit fashion, he'll definitely be laying his Cajun charm on Rogue immediately. As their voices, all of them remain the same except for Quicksilver, Toad and Pyro. Quicksilver would be voiced by Yuri Lowenthal (I told you we would be coming back to him!), Toad would be voiced by Danny Cooksey, and Pyro would be voiced by John Kassir. Also, Toad will be British. Yeah, remember when he used to have a British accent?

-Cyclops' characterization. One of the biggest flaws of the original show was how Cyclops was characterized. In the original, he was intolerant, depressed grub. I get that he's grieving over the loss of Jean, but man. It's hard for us to feel sorry for the guy when he's constantly being angry and angsty. He may've not been done as dirty when compared to the Fox films, but this version of the character isn't too far behind. But here, Cyclops is will actually remain as the leader of the team, and his big story of the season (apart from the obvious) is him grappling with whether or not he still has what it takes to be leader again. And along with that, he isn't gonna nearly as angry and angsty as he was in the original. However, he will still be grieving and his depression will be shown in a way where we actually sympathize with him. This would be first shown when Wolverine tries to recruit him and after blasting him out of his room. And although he starts off looking down at Wolverine angry at first, but once he leaves, his expression eventually turns into one of regret.

Hindsight: Part 3

Just like with the last two, it's mostly the same with one notable exception.

-When the X-Men meet Emma for the first time, their reactions are a little different. Angel isn't smitten by her at all, as he already has a special somebody (i.e. Storm). But Iceman still is. But he's not the only one. The other would be Shadowcat. Yep! In this show, Shadowcat and Iceman are both, in the words of NSYNC....

Well that's all I have for now.

Let me know what you guys think about this rewrite. And if you could, give me some ideas on how the rest of the series should play out!

But anyway, I'm gonna go play some X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse....

Peace out, yo.

[arkus-rhapsode]

Now I've been working on something involving Cartoon Network and its 30+ history and recently it really hit me just how much I had grown up with the channel, but also how much its still growing.

I had started watching in the early 2000s just before the CN City bumpers were a thing and would catch numerous reruns of shows from the 90s. In a lot of ways, Cartoon Network was my channel. Now I enjoyed Nickelodeon for stuff like Spongebob and Danny Phantom and Invader Zim and I just never had Disney Channel in our cable package so I missed out a lot of those shows. But CN... to say its got a special place in my mind palace is an understatement I remember the checkerboard and seeing Cartoon Network Studios at the end of an episode and their little animations. I was there when Miguzi was a thing as well as the alien invasion. I watched the Noods take over in real time and the transition from black and white to rainbow colors of Check it! for the network. I can even remember Johnny Bravo and Dexter's Lab showing up in the Hannah Barbera logo as I was barraged with these old times characters.

I think one of the things so captivating about this was Cartoon Network's skill at making their programs feel like a family. Like not a shared universe like Marvel or Star Wars, but rather entertainment companies having this identity of their properties able to fit together whether through shared advertising, little crossovers, Easter eggs, etc. Who remembers the "Spot the Block" campaign? I was cringing even as a child to that song. This is something companies like Nintendo does a lot or even what Nicktoons used to do. It made it feel so much bigger than just a show, but it also felt intimate. Personal. That all these characters off in their own little world could find themselves sitting down for coffee or playing catch.

However, by 2015 I had basically stopped with the network. My family opted to get rid of cable and invest in early streaming for entertainment and to be honest, I kinda just knew my time may have been up. I was a teenager almost done with high school and this channel is still primarily aimed at kids, my generation was passing.

I would hear about things through the grapevine. Stuff like Steven Universe and Teen Titans Go were kinda impossible to avoid in 2016. But for the most part what the channel did was kinda under my radar. I was perfectly content to transition into my "Anime 4 Life" adulthood. Cut to the 2020s with HBO Max, and I had the chance to catch up on some TV shows and it was fun. Going back down that rabbit hole of nostalgia and I was fine stopping there. But then this year I started working on a project which required my looking back into every Cartoon Network original show ever.

So of course that meant I had to do research into basically a whole decade after I had stopped watching. So I did some watching-We Bare Bears, Long Live the Royals, Mighty Magiswords, OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Villainous, Apple & Onion, Craig of the Creek, Summer Camp Island, Victor and Valentino, Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart, Infinity Train, etc. This is probably the part where you expect me to say something like "Everything was better in my day" or something. But like no. I was not... sad about what I was seeing but like I was really glad. There was apart of me being like I'm glad this exists. I'm glad that you can still see that Cartoon Network DNA. It's different than it was before, but like there was still that core of what made Cartoon Network so unique in children's programming. Hell I was a little jealous I couldn't view this through the eyes of a kid today and what it feels like for them.

But for what I am, a man in his mid 20s who still watches animated content, I could almost feel like there was still this link between generations in a way I don't think I've ever seen before. These two halves of a thirty year time frame able to reach out be able to still be Cartoon Cartoons.

Yes I know, people will bring up how there's "dark times" but there always has been. This network wasn't perfect. I know a lot of people like to say there was a downfall, but I gotta be honest, the network always had mixed and controversial bags. I remember people telling me Chowder and Flapjack were garbage that pandered to only loud and gross out humor fans. Yet now they're talked about as absurdist comedy classics. CN Real is considered the lowest point of the network that goes against the entire ethos of the network, but in 2010 you got the debuts of shows like Adventure Time, Generator Rex, Ben 10 Ultimate Alien, etc. The real downfall I see happening right now is in how Warner Bros Discovery the Business has treated animated projects and their horrible treatment of animators in the name of corporate greed.

But I just can't truly dismiss all the good that has come for the last decade. And Hey we're apparently getting a new Cartoon Network show next year, Iyanu: Child of Wonder, it looks good so far. It looks like something that CN City heads wouldn't mind walking around town with Grim and Samurai Jack. And the thing that got me was how I taught to myself "Im glad that if I had kids I know they're is something good for them watch and I could watch alongside them..."

I don't know the future of CN. I don't think anyone can say. But when I really think about kids dedicated networks with an emphasis on purely animation, but also creative visionary driven animated programming, I really thought about how its history is very short in the grand scheme of the world. And I was lucky to be born in the early years of it. I can't tell you, how much a smile the Crossover Nexus special made me smile. Not because it was pandering to my nostalgia of CN City, but like seeing all of these characters preserved in statues in this world, from big names like Ed Edd n Eddy and Courage to stuff that were so short lived like Sym-Bionic Titan or Megas XLR to shows people would scream to the heavens they thought were trash like Secret Mountain Fort Awesome or Problem Solverz to so projects that barely got off the ground like Firebreather. It felt like everything mattered. That this short history means something. Its worth remembering the new and the old and everything in-between.

Because it's not just memories that matter, but it's carrying on that creative spark. That vision for a Network about and for cartoons. Carrying it beyond my life time. Carrying it far into the future. I hope I'm not the only one who feels that.

Welp, sorry for this ramble post to my usual followers. I was just taking a break from my usual discussion based content to work through some feelings I was having.

[ms-scarletwings]

Media Musin’ Monday, #7:

Screw You, Nickalodeon: Making Fiends Deserved Better

I have no idea how anyone could seriously believe that the entertainment industrial complex™ even tries anymore to hold the illusion of a just or meritocratic realm. No holds barred, I have my issues with about every company still clinging like barnacles to the tragic, sinking ship that cable TV has become, but if you want me to point to a network that’s given me an entire skeleton of bones to pick by this point, and I’m underlining Nickelodeon in red at the top of my list.

It’s not because they host some bad shows, no. It’s not a sour grapes reaction to the untimely end of some of my favorite shows either, and though the entire rotten apple situation with creators like Dan Schneider and Butch Hartman certainly added to barrel’s spoilage, I would still feel every bit of my disdain for Nick’s tv group for the one cardinal sin they have committed again and again and again to ad nauseum- their ongoing phase of running a talent slaughterhouse.

It sounds hyperbolic, but I’d call it a fair observation: Spongebob is widely aknowledged as legitimately both the best and the worst thing to happen to this corner of kid’s media, hands down, but I don’t blame the little yellow guy one bit. He’s only another victim to the mess, and as much as I would love to go on a whole dossier spiel of the history of Nickalodeon from the 90s “golden age” to a full list of the dozens of shows and creators their execs have royally fucked over in the name of chasing the ratings dragon… for one, that’s been done a hundred times by other people at this point, and much better than I could. For two, that would take all freaking day. Just off the top of any cartoon savvy person’s head you’d vaguely recall the assassination of Legend of Korra, El Tigre, or Invader Zim, but that can is filled with so many “blink and you’ll miss it” smaller shows that were barely given two steps out of the starting gate, it pads down an entire TVTropes article on the subject. Dozens of them, shows that Nick all but basically set up for failure before quietly shipping them to the peaceful farm upstate- by which I mean shuffled off to inconsistent time blocks and lower priority channels so they could burn out their final approved episodes in hospice. Nicktoons alone garnered a hell of a reputation for exactly what I’m talking about, but that’s show biz, or… something.

Their worst and probably most audacious offense of all? Let me tell you about the fate of the charming world of a little girl who made fiends.

There’s no better place to talk about the end than the beginning.

Making Fiends, I mean, the original Making Fiends was a series of flash-animated shorts among a handful of other early 2000s web cartoons made by Amy Winfrey.

✨ Just, in case you didn’t recognize or feel something for that name, Amy Winfrey is one of the utter beasts of cartoons in general, not purely kids’ media. Songwriter, directing, animation, screenwriting, voice acting… you name a part of the process, and she’s probably dipped her toe in there at some point. Professionally, she broke into the industry contributing work to earliest season of South Park, and while she personally is most known for and associated with Making Fiends, the likely most prominent body of work she’s been a part of would be Bojack Horseman, wherein she’s credited as a director for many of its strongest episodes, including (but not limited to):

- “Free Churro”

- “The Telescope”

- "Sunk Cost and All That"

- “The View from Halfway Down”

- Amy Winfrey and her spouse (Peter Merryman) making a cameo appearance in the BJH episode “sunk cost and all that”

And even before all of that, she’s been at this animation stuff since the 90s and it shows in a loaded up portfolio of accolades and projects, both professional and personal.

The relevance of this information is to help put in some perspective to just how rotten of a deal she comparatively got with Nickelodeon, when one of those passion creations got a chance to join the network’s airing list.

But to sum up the idea of the web series proper, it independently released 24 short episodes in total, each centered around the antics of two girls engaged in both a completely one sided friendship and nemesis-ship. The show’s namesake refers to the single action the evil little Vendetta is most known for- creating a variety of servant monsters, many of which she uses to secure her rule over the port town of Clamburg, and all its inhabitants. Charlotte, on the other hand, is the quintessential “children’s show” character: near inhumanly kind, cheerful, and naive. So much so that she’s oblivious to her “best friend’s” near daily attempts to murder her, or the fact that she, you know, despises her.

In 2006, Nickelodeon took an interest in Winfrey’s toon and the prospect of adapting it into a TV series, reportedly because a daughter of a studio employee was a huge fan.

And fun fact btw, this was actually the first time that Nick did this approach of turning an indie web animation into one of their shows, but it certainly wasn’t the last if you remember this was also the origin of Breadwinners.

And as far as the audience was concerned, it was quite the successful transition! The TV version pretty much kept all of the major beats and vibes of the original, with polished animation, the same voice actors, and some stylistic upgrades to the art/environmental designs. For a brief time, it was the highest rated thing on its release channel too. Someone I don’t quite recall the name of once endearingly referred to the show as “baby’s first grimdark” and I adore how fitting of a summary that is. It sports a charmingly unique art style, memorable soundtrack, and I can swear to y’all, the humor aged like a fine wine.

“Why don’t you pretend to be dead?”

“:) ok!”

*slam*

(Also, sidenote, the entire series is still up on your tube, in HD, completely free to watch!)

So, if it’s such a neat little show, then why on earth does barely a soul seem to remember it existing? And even fewer scare who recall knowing about the show during its 2008 release?

Because Nickelodeon Studios, without hyperbole, set this show up for failure at every single turn before it even got a fighting chance.

People know of some shows that Nick treated like garbage, but this one they treated like absolute shit for reasons I can’t fathom.

Making Fiends, for one, never actually saw the light of day on the main network channel, as per the original plans. It was actually instead delegated over to Nick’s sister channel, Nicktoons, by a last minute decision.

Nicktoons, fyi, was not carried by most cable packages. I obviously lived on it as a kid, and it was functionally to Nick what I remember Boomerang being to Carton Network- the cable block where reruns of much older but loved shows were shoveled off to once they finished their days on the main channel.

Second, it was quietly premiered with barely a couple farts of advertising, too. I remember maybe seeing one preview as a kid, on Nicktoons.

And I guess, not keeping either of these in mind, Nick then abruptly pulled the plug on the whole thing, citing the tried and true “low ratings” explanation and leaving it at that.

Not counting years of post-cancelation reruns, the show actively ran from October 4, 2008, to November 1, 2008.

That is roughly a month between premiere and the end production date.

One season. Six entire episodes.

Seven whole additional completed scripts abandoned on the table.

Yeah.

I’m a touch salty about it still.

And with the shutting down of the Nicktoons network social media in 2018, any additional acknowledgment of the show from Nickelodoen themselves has kind of vanished to my knowledge. Like, it’s almost no wonder you already had to be part of the cult following to know about it, when Nick has been quiet about the calf they sent to auction since. Worst part is, they still hogged the rights to the show instead of idk, wild idea, giving it back over to Winfrey. I can only imagine people get away with entire reuploads of the series under the otherwise very IP protective Nick’s nose as another display of how low and bastardly those execs really view Making Fiends.

And that sucks! Wow! But I guess in a “be happy it happened, not sad it ended” way, I’m kind of glad for the fact that we can still enjoy and pass around the show that we did get to experience at all, rather than see it fade into true lost media territory.

Even today, about 16 whole years later, I know for a fact there are still plenty of other fans that remember and cherish the splash this tiny show made in that big, brutal pond. So, in that manner, you can’t truly call Making Fiends dead and gone.

A bittersweet story to think about, and only one of many down a long list, but ultimately one I’m happy to be able to tell at all.

Even if all the while still raising a giant middle finger to the network for the ending.

[monkey-network]

The Disposable Era of Cartoons

There exists many cartoons in the world that a vast majority never really bring up, and that's okay. Not everyone can watch everything all the time and you can argue that we only scratch the surface since the beginning. I've always had this deep seeded thought however of how animation's been treated, notably of tv shows. Browsing my usual "streaming" sites, I often come upon a show I've never heard of before. One just recently was Zokie of Planet Ruby, a series made by Nelvana, hosted by Nickelodeon, with its entire first season dropped on Amazon Prime on the last day of 2023. Overall, it's not a show I'm interested in, but how it was just dumped onto streaming upon other factors like that got deep seeded thought resurfacing into a theory. A theory regarding the potential era where excess is reaching its apex.

Animated TV shows I say are more arduous to make than films. Not to say films are more effortless to produce, god no, but have better limits given you'll have a set script and runtime to work off of as opposed to having to constantly produce multiple at a time for episodes ranging from 7 to 22 minutes. We work on a timeline where it's hard to believe any new story isn't derivative of already told stories, but the beauty does come in how we're able to transform them with new purposes and concepts. The workload however can be a lot many recognize but don't grasp themselves only as outsiders. The pitch getting greenlit is just the big toe in the door, finally stepping in is a matter of juggling multiple episodes a day, revising and editing, deliveries to the animators, all for the hope that it gets back in time to air. This is where I've come to appreciate The Simpsons, good and bad. Regardless of a recent season's quality, it's undoubtedly difficult to schedule fresh ideas that can stick with the same concepts for 30+ years, all to meet the quota by the beginning of the autumn season. Things have shifted thanks to streaming.

In retrospect, what felt like a novel idea was inevitably gonna turn into a capitalistic nightmare. It makes some sense that Netflix wouldn't have a monopoly on hosting every show from cable TV to be put on their newly founded streaming site in 2007. It wouldn't have been long before every other studio threw their hat in, developing their own stream sites with the properties they made and owned themselves. Competition is natural, but now you're basically spending the same prices as cable or satellite if you wanted to watch every show you remembered seeing on TV. Sites like Tubi and PlutoTV I say are the saving graces where you can shockingly find a ton of film/shows old and new for free, but you've probably seen shows and films getting removed from the sites they originate from, either to be traded to another site or written off for good because investment returns weren't a shake 'n bake. All this is because of rights ownership and a complex web of cost cutting against the people behind said shows and films. What does this mean for cartoons, though?

Like TV shows, you're gonna have a few poster boys upon a ton of shows nobody beyond avid seekers are gonna bother remembering. This has been a trend long in the making, but while many shows can be greenlit and made it can be a crapshoot as to whether the company actually believes in that show enough to market it. For Nickelodeon, it's an open secret that any cartoon not an instant hit like Spongebob, despite little promotion from the company, would be chucked onto the Nicktoons network to run out their remaining episodes. With streaming however, you'd either get something like Zokie of Planet Ruby where everything's dumped without warning or Glitch Techs where it's stuck in development limbo with half its episodes un-aired or incomplete. This isn't just with Nick however. Disney and Cartoon Network has had its fair share of duds everyone's slept on if they weren't massively eyecatching regardless of quality. The fates of their existence is dependent on who's keeping an eye on the companies. This isn't to say shows like Infinity Train and Final Space, which got removed digitally back in October and December respectively, didn't have their supporters who expressed outrage. It's to say other shows couldn't get that level of reported support, and I feel it's only going to get worse.

This is what I believe amounts to the theoretical "Disposable Era" of television, where we aren't just having companies dispose shows but create shows that are purposefully disposable. For websites designed to stream cyclically endless content, this will mean an exponential ton of commissioned projects for cheap that anyone will pick up once, never watch again, and can be written off immediately after a small period because no one outside the crew responsible would notice, incapable of viewing unless someone miraculously torrents everything. While I've brought up TV in general as opposed to just animated stuff, I personally feel the efforts and imaginative possibilities of animation count more for the generations that grow up with them as much as the influences they can have on artists. And I can feel it's discouraging for creators to know that their work can be eventually assembly lined, worst than reality tv, and then erased for tax breaks because nobody thought about them for more than the weekend they binged it all.

This is all if you don't account for anime studios like MAPPA which are a whole other horrifying story

I say "theoretical" because we aren't that far to where it could be possible. Shows do take time to make, and even if companies are pushing AI it's barely able to be anything more than an asset for certain cases. People have their reasonable fears, but an animated show fully AI generated that lasts more than 2 7-minute episodes, at this point in time, is a wet dream from investors. AI will not easily replace the craft, but the craft will be abused year after year with of how many shows get greenlit, made within a couple years, only to be thrown out when the numbers don't appease. This doesn't mean we won't get quality gems, but the rough they come from will pile more and more, and the gems some find that the majority will ignore will be written off and vaulted. I say the inception behind my theory wasn't exactly from the recent stuff like David Zaslav or Paramount's haphazard treatment of their content, it goes a little further back.

Hanazuki: Full of Treasures wasn't a huge series back in 2017, but it was one I enjoyed a lot when it was premiering on Youtube at the time. After its first season finished, Hasbro would produce a theatrical short to coincide with the My Little Pony movie in October. This is where I felt things fell apart. While the film was a commercial success, the short was basically overshadowed and I can't help imagine was what affected the series by the time it got a season two. 2019 was where Hanazuki not only got its broadcast season cut, Hasbro would basically start erasing its existence while supposedly having in development limbo since. While it was all thankfully reuploaded, you wouldn't have been remiss to know Hasbro couldn't even allow it to stay on Youtube after its TV broadcasting.

Everything surrounding rights ownership and royalties has basically developed an endless turmoil of how shows and their crew are treated. I don't blame anyone for not discussing or mentioning everything that gets to exist. Variety is never a bad thing, and sometimes people want certain things because again not everyone thinks or enjoys stuff homogeneously. It's just always increasingly bothered me that so much can get pumped out to be either taken away or left there for people to stumble across. TV's become Youtube but more business heavy where creativity is a tightrope of whether their appeal gets to live for more than a week or not. Like Youtube though, can also be lost to time to no one looking back. Let's just say David Zaslav running WB is only considered the worst because he's become the biggest face of an open secret. He could very well be the beginning of a shift that could lead us into the Disposable Era, and it's anyone guess of how bad it could get.

With all this said, I don't believe preventative hope can't exist, especially without the effort. Piracy is already doing enough for preservation and availability, even if you gotta have adblock to watch them properly. More creators I feel should learn and process the rights they can have with their properties. If there's anything I learned from artists Bill Watterson and Making Fiends' creator Amy Winfrey, is that production syndicates will abuse their knowledge of the law to do as they see fit, especially when it comes down to what you're offering them. The eventual animators and VFX work strikes could provide something more stable, but that's all in due time. How much the average audience member can retain or hyperfixate on is not something to concern, rather that it happens at all. The best solution is finding a middle ground between the disposable and sentimental; more people being vocal about good stuff they found no matter how small. There can be pushback from online lethargic asshats, but it's far better than complaining about the multitude of reboots or how woke everything's become. Something is only as disposable as nobody proclaims otherwise.

but that's all just a theory.

[ptbf2002]

Everyone Hates Miraculous Tales Of LadyBug And Cat Noir

because of that shit, i stopped watching Disney Channel nowadays, proving that miraculous became Disney Chamberlain Cash Grabbing Machine. Marinette is the Mary Sue in this show. miraculous ladybug is keeps on milking the show all over again. it's also like Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil, which was fallen apart and turned into a romantic drama. because of only focusing on Star Butterfly And Marco Diaz. over a stupid Starco. Starco now became my guilty pleasure. i mean seriously?! what in the name of Mickey Mouse is going, airing Miraculous all over again?! this is ridiculous! Disney Channel was like a masterpiece that made a lot of great shows, such as, The Replacements, American Dragon: Jake Long, Recess, Kim Possible, Lilo And Stitch, House Of Mouse, Phineas And Ferb, Kick Buttowski and etc. even great live-action shows like The Suite Like Of Zack And Cody, Jonas, The wizards of waverly place, zeek and luther, aaron stone, K.C Undercover, and others. and now it's nothing but filling up Disney Channel with stupid Miraculous shit. this is why i stopped watching Disney Channel nowadays, and this is why i should move to Disney XD since i want to watch good Disney shows, or watch Disney+. i mean why would Disney has acquired Mediawan and The ZAG franchise, i almost feel embarassed

Original Templates:

https://www.deviantart.com/zmcdonald09/art/Who-Likes-or-Hates-Miraculous-Ladybug-1037238627

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Credit Goes To @Tagirovo

SpongeBob SquarePants Belongs To Stephen Hillenburg, Rough Draft Studios, Inc. Carbunkle Cartoons, SEK Animation Studio, Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. United Plankton Pictures Inc. Joe Murray Productions Inc. Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Nickelodeon Productions, Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Nickelodeon Group, Nickelodeon Networks Inc. Paramount Kids and Family Group, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount International Networks, Paramount Domestic Media Networks, Paramount Media Networks, Inc. Viacom International Inc. And Paramount Global

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The Looney Tunes Show Belongs To Leon Schlesinger, Hugh Harman, Rudolf Ising, Sam Register, Spike Brandt, Tony Cervone, Yearim Productions Co., Ltd. Toon City Animation Inc. Lotto Animation, Inc. Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. Crew 972 Ltd. Warner Bros. Animation Inc. Cartoon Network, The Cartoon Network, Inc. Warner Bros. Discovery Networks, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution Warner Bros. Television Studios, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia, And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

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The Simpsons Belongs To Matt Groening, Anivision, DR Movie, Film Roman, LLC Hanho Heung-Up Company, Klasky-Csupo, Inc. Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. Toon Boom Animation, Toonzone Entertainment, Wild Horse Animation Group, Gracie Films, 20th Television Animation, 20th Television, Disney Television Studios, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Entertainment, FOX Broadcasting Company, FOX Entertainment, FOX Corporation, And The Walt Disney Company

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Hilda Belongs To Luke Pearson, Mercury Filmworks, Atomic Cartoons Inc. Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc. Nobrow Press, Flying Eye Books, Silvergate Media Limited, Sony Pictures Television Kids, Sony Pictures Television Studios, Sony Pictures Television Inc. Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Sony Entertainment, Inc. Sony Corporation of America, Sony Group Corporation, And Netflix, Inc.

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Danger Mouse (2015 TV series) Belongs To Brian Cosgrove, Mark Hall, Cosgrove Hall Fitzpatrick Entertainment, CHF Entertainment, FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment, Fremantle Limited, Boulder Media Limited, Boat Rocker Media Inc. CBBC Production, Windmill Lane Studios, CBBC, BBC Television, BBC Worldwide Ltd. BBC Studios Ltd. And British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trolls The Beat Goes On! Belongs To Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger, Erica Rivinoja, Matthew Beans, Hannah Friedman, Sam Friedman, Digital emation, Inc. NE4U, Inc. DreamWorks Animation Television, DreamWorks Animation LLC, Universal Pictures, Universal City Studios LLC, NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, NBCUniversal Media Group, NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Comcast Corporation And Netflix Inc.

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Magiki Belongs To Eryk Casemiro, Cyril Deydier, Pegbar Animation, Animasia Studio, Rainbow S.P.A. Paramount Media Networks, Inc. Paramount Global, DeAgostini Publishing Italy S.P.A. DeAgostini Editore S.P.A. DeAKids, DeA Junior, DeAgostini S.P.A. DeAPlaneta Kids And Family, DeAPlaneta Entertainment, Télé Images Productions, Zodiak Kids Studios France, Zodiak Kids & Family, Banijay Kids & Family, Banijay Entertainment S.A. Banijay Group N.V. Ketchup TV, KidsMe S.R.L. Gulli, TiJi, Metropole Télévision S.A. Groupe M6, Frisbee, Switchover Media, Discovery Italia S.R.L. Discovery Networks Italia, Discovery Networks EMEA, Discovery Networks International, Discovery, Inc. And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

Amphibia Belongs To Matt Braly, Saerom Animation, Inc. Sunmin Image Pictures Co., Ltd. Sugarcube Animation Studio, Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. Disney Television Animation, Disney Channel, Disney Branded Television, Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Disney Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Inc. And The Walt Disney Company

Harvey Street Kids/Harvey Girls Forever! Belongs To Alfred Harvey, Emily Brundige, Dave Enterprises, Digital Emation, Inc. NE4U, Inc. The Harvey Entertainment Company, Classic Media, LLC, DreamWorks Classics, DreamWorks Animation Television, DreamWorks Animation LLC, Universal Pictures, Universal City Studios LLC, NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, NBCUniversal Media Group, NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Comcast Corporation And Netflix Inc.

South Park Belongs To Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Bardel Entertainment, Inc. Titmouse Canada Animation Inc. Titmouse, Inc. Celluloid Studios, Braniff Productions, Parker-Stone Productions, South Park Studios, MTV Entertainment Studios, Comedy Central, Comedy Partners, MTV Entertainment Group, Paramount+, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount International Networks, Paramount Domestic Media Networks, Paramount Media Networks, Inc. Paramount Streaming And Paramount Global

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Belongs To Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Andy Suriano, Ant Ward, Digitoonz Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Flying Bark Productions Pty. Ltd. Studio 100 N.V. Mirage Studios, Image Comics, Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Nickelodeon Productions, Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Nickelodeon Group, Nickelodeon Networks Inc. Paramount Kids and Family Group, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount International Networks, Paramount Domestic Media Networks, Paramount Media Networks, Inc. Viacom International Inc. And Paramount Global

Atomic Betty Belongs To Trevor Bentley, Mauro Casalese, Rob Davies, Olaf Miller, 2 Minutes Animation, Hong Guang Animation (Su Zhou), Caribara, Atomic Cartoons Inc. Thunderbird Entertainment Group Inc. Breakthrough Entertainment, Télé Images Kids, Télé Images Productions, Marathon Media, Marathon Animation, Marathon Productions, Marathon Media Group, Zodiak Kids, Zodiak Kids Studios France, Zodiak Kids & Family, Banijay Kids & Family, Banijay S.A. TELETOON, TELETOON Canada, Inc. Corus Entertainment Inc. M6 (TV channel), Metropole Télévision S.A. Groupe M6, TÉLÉTOON+, CANAL+ S.A. Groupe CANAL+ S.A. Vivendi SE, Phil Roman Entertainment, Breakthrough Distribution, Cartoon Network, The Cartoon Network, Inc. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. WarnerMedia Entertainment, WarnerMedia Studios & Networks, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia, AT&T Inc. The Hub, Hub Network, Discovery Family, Hasbro Entertainment, Hasbro, Inc. Discovery Networks U.S. Discovery Networks International, Discovery, Inc. And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

The Owl House Belongs To Dana Terrace, Sunmin Image Pictures Co., Ltd. Sugarcube Animation Studio, Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. Disney Television Animation, Disney Channel, Disney Branded Television, Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Disney Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Inc. And The Walt Disney Company

Sonic Prime Belongs To Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, Hirokazu Yasuhara, Joe Kelly, Joe Casey, Duncan Rouleau, Steven T. Seagle, Jam Filled Entertainment, Boat Rocker Media Inc. Flixzilla Aura, Sonic Team, SEGA of America, SEGA Corporation, SEGA Sammy Holdings Inc. Man of Action Entertainment, WildBrain Studios, WildBrain Ltd. Netflix Animation Studios, Netflix Worldwide Entertainment, LLC, And Netflix, Inc.

Cleopatra in Space (TV series) Belongs To Doug Langdale, Fitzy Fitzmaurice, Titmouse, Inc. Inspidea Sdn. Bhd. Digitoonz Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. DreamWorks Animation Television, DreamWorks Animation LLC, Hulu, LLC. Disney Streaming, Disney Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, Universal Pictures, Universal City Studios LLC, NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, NBCUniversal Media Group, NBCUniversal Media, LLC, And Comcast Corporation

Avatar: The Last Airbender Belongs To Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, DR Movie Co., Ltd. JM Animation Co., Ltd. MOI Animation, Inc. Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Nickelodeon Productions, Nickelodeon, Paramount+ Nickelodeon Group, Nickelodeon Networks Inc. Paramount Kids and Family Group, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount International Networks, Paramount Domestic Media Networks, Paramount Media Networks, Inc. Viacom International Inc. Paramount Streaming, And Paramount Global

The Legend of Korra Belongs To Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko, Studio Mir Co., Ltd. Pierrot Co., Ltd. Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Nickelodeon Productions, Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Group, Nickelodeon Networks Inc. Paramount Kids and Family Group, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount International Networks, Paramount Domestic Media Networks, Paramount Media Networks, Inc. Viacom International Inc. And Paramount Global

The Curse of Molly McGee/The Ghost and Molly McGee Belongs To Bill Motz, Bob Roth, Mercury Filmworks, Disney Television Animation, Disney Channel, Disney Branded Television, Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Disney Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Inc. And The Walt Disney Company

The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder Belongs To Bruce W. Smith, Ralph Farquhar, Snipple Animation Studios, WildBrain Studios, WildBrain Ltd. Bar Productions, Disney Television Animation, Disney+, Disney Streaming, Disney Branded Television, Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Disney Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Inc. And The Walt Disney Company

Hazbin Hotel Belongs To Vivienne Medrano, Bento Box Animation, Princess Pictures, SpindleHorse Toons, Bento Box Entertainment, FOX Entertainment, FOX Corporation, A24 Television, A24 Films LLC, Amazon Prime Video, Amazon MGM Studios, Amazon Content Services, LLC, And Amazon, Inc.

Unikitty! Belongs To Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Ed Skudder, Lynn Wang, Renegade Animation, Snipple Animation Studios, Rideback, Lord Miller Productions, VERTIGO Entertainment, LEGO System A/S, Warner Bros. Animation Inc. Cartoon Network, The Cartoon Network, Inc. Warner Bros. Discovery Networks, HBO Max, WarnerMedia Direct, LLC. Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution Warner Bros. Television Studios, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia, And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

Star vs the Forces of Evil Belongs To Daron Nefcy, Mercury Filmworks Toon City Animation, Inc. Rough Draft Korea Co, Ltd. Sugarcube Animation, Disney Television Animation, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Branded Television, Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Disney Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Inc. And The Walt Disney Company

Rocko's Modern Life Belongs To Joe Murray, Animal-Ya, Klasky-Csupo, Inc. Pacific Rim Productions, Inc. Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. Sunwoo Entertainment, Co., Ltd. Shanghai Rainbow Animation Tama Production, Wang Film Productions Company, Joe Murray Productions Inc. Games Animation Inc. Nickelodeon Animation Studio, Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon Group, Nickelodeon Networks Inc. Paramount Kids and Family Group, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount International Networks, Paramount Domestic Media Networks, Paramount Media Networks, Inc. Viacom International Inc. And Paramount Global

Angry Birds: Summer Madness Belongs To Rob Doherty, Scott Sonneborn, Yowza! Animation, Kickstart Entertainment, CAKE Entertainment Ltd. Rovio Animation, Ltd. Rovio Entertainment Corporation, SEGA Corporation, SEGA Sammy Holdings Inc. Sony Pictures Television Studios, Sony Pictures Television Inc. Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Sony Entertainment, Inc. Sony Corporation of America, Sony Group Corporation, And Netflix, Inc.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Belongs To Brandon Montclare, Amy Reeder, Natacha Bustos, Jack Kirby, Steve Loter, Jeffrey M. Howard, Kate Kondell, Flying Bark Productions Pty. Ltd. Studio 100 N.V. Cinema Gypsy Productions, MARVEL Animation, Inc. MARVEL Television, MARVEL Studios, LLC, MARVEL Entertainment, LLC, Disney Television Animation, Disney Channel, Disney Branded Television, Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Disney Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Inc. And The Walt Disney Company

Family Guy Belongs To Seth MacFarlane, Digital eMation, Inc. Film Roman, LLC, CNK International, Grimsaem Animation Co. Ltd. Sunwoo Entertainment, Co., Ltd. Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. Rough Draft Studios, Inc. Toon Boom Animation Inc. Yeson Entertainment, Yearim Productions Co., Ltd. Fuzzy Door Productions, Inc. 20th Television Animation, 20th Television, Disney Television Studios, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Entertainment, FOX Broadcasting Company, FOX Entertainment, FOX Corporation, And The Walt Disney Company

Teen Titans Belongs To Bob Haney, Bruno Premiani, Glen Murakami, David Slack, Sam Register, MOI Animation Co., Ltd. Lotto Animation, Inc. DongWoo Animation Co. Ltd. DC Comics, Inc. DC Studios, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation Inc. Kids' WB! The WB, The WB Television Network, Inc. Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC. Tribune Media Company, Nexstar Media Group, Inc. Cartoon Network, The Cartoon Network, Inc. Warner Bros. Discovery Networks, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution Warner Bros. Television Studios, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia, And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

My Life as a Teenage Robot Belongs To Rob Renzetti, Rough Draft Studios, Inc. Frederator Studios, Frederator Networks, Inc. WOW! Unlimited Media Inc. Kartoon Studios, Inc. Nelvana Limited, Corus Entertainment Inc. Nickelodeon Animation Studios, Nickelodeon Productions, Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Nickelodeon Group, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount International Networks, Paramount Domestic Media Networks, Paramount Media Networks, Inc. Viacom International Inc. And Paramount Global

Ninjago Belongs To Thomas Sørensen, Tommy Andreasen, Thomas Kristensen, Simon Lucas, Nelson LaMonica, Menelaos Florides, William Stahl, Scott Godon-Decoteau, Maarten Simons, Michael Svane Knap, Toby Dutkiewicz, Brian Nielsen, Lars Danielsen, Tommy Kalmar, Cerim Manovi, Robert May, Heidi Rathschau Nielsen, Kevin Burke, Chris "Doc" Wyatt, LEGO System A/S, WILFilm ApS, WildBrain Studios, WildBrain Ltd. Cartoon Network, The Cartoon Network, Inc. Warner Bros. Discovery Networks, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Warner Bros. Television Studios, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia, And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

Lego Monkie Kid Belongs To Simon Lucas, LEGO System A/S, Flying Bark Productions Pty. Ltd. Studio 100 N.V. WildBrain Studios, WildBrain Ltd. Tencent Video, Tencent Holdings Ltd. Youku Tudou Inc. Alibaba Group Holding Limited, iQIYI, Baidu, Inc. 9Go! Nine Network, Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited, Cartoon Network (Australia & New Zealand), Discovery NZ Limited, Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks Asia Pacific, Turner Broadcasting System International, WarnerMedia International, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia, And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight Belongs To Mitch Watson, Peter Hastings, Technicolor Animation Productions, Mikros Animation, Dave Enterprises, Stellar Creative Labs, 88 Pictures, DreamWorks Animation Television, DreamWorks Animation LLC, Universal Pictures, Universal City Studios LLC, NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, NBCUniversal Media Group, NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Comcast Corporation And Netflix Inc.

Hailey's On It! Belongs To Devin Bunje, Nick Stanton, Saerom Animation, Inc. Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. Disney Television Animation, Disney Channel, Disney Branded Television, Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Disney Entertainment, Disney Enterprises, Inc. And The Walt Disney Company

Bravest Warriors Belongs To Pendleton Ward, Breehn Burns, Will McRobb, Chris Viscardi, Portfolio Animation, Portfolio Entertainment Inc. 9 Story Media Group Inc. Frederator Studios, Frederator Networks, Inc. WOW! Unlimited Media Inc. Kartoon Studios, Inc. Nelvana Limited, Corus Entertainment Inc. YouTube Studio, YouTube, Google LLC, Alphabet Inc. TELETOON, TELETOON Canada, Inc. VRV, Crunchyroll, LLC, Aniplex, Inc. Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc. Sony Group Corporation, Disney XD (Canada), Disney Branded Television, Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution, Disney General Entertainment Content, Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, Disney Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company Cartoon Network (Japan), Discovery Japan, Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific, WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks Asia Pacific, Turner Broadcasting System International, WarnerMedia International, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. WarnerMedia, And Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

[xenohog]

“KittiKat” idents for nicktoons network! both modeled and animated by nathaniel akin in 2004. originally created for a different nickelodeon project pitch, then picked up by nicktoons to create idents for the networks rebranding.

[popculturebuffet]

Pride Month Triple Feature Finale: Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling (Commission for Weird Kev 27)

Well this last installment is a bit late, but any month can be pride month if you belivie in yourself, so we end this pride month trilogy with Rocko’s Modern Life Static Cling, something i’ve been wanting to cover for years, but usually something came up or I realized I forgot to include it by the time the schedule was already full up. But with violence, legeslation, and outright bigotry towards Trans Persons only escalating, it felt like the right time.

For those not as familiar with Rocko, quick refresher: Rocko’s Modern Life was one of the earliest Nicktoons, created by Joe Murray and being a hit not just with the networks target demo, but adults who related to the series, a 20 something hang out sitcom but with all the lunacy animation allows. Our Rocko, his doofy friend Heffer and nerdy best friend Philbert dealt with nipples of the future, death, time travel with the elderly, elves, and recyling. The show was very of it’s time but also timeless as MANY of the fairly adult subjects it tackled in it’s unique goofy way still resonate: the show tackled topics like your parents not approving of a mixed marriage, the struggles immigrants face, homosexuality (via clowns), a sexually unsatisfying marriage leading to a wondering eye (done ENTIRELY straight to the point the episode was banned), finding out your adopted, bosses treating their workers like a commodity instead of a person, megacorporations running our lives, credit card debt, and even sex work

It’s thanks to Rocko we have classics like Regular Show, it’s successor Close Enough and Tuca and Bertie. The kind of show that uses wacky humor while still showing some very real shit we have to deal with. 

So in hindsight. .it’s not really a stretch that with changing times, rocko would go from having to use clowns to cover queerness to doing a full coming out episode in it’s revivial special, a pogniant well done story that deeply reconteculaizes a beloved character

Pig you’ve been out since 1996. 

So let’s look at this touching tale and all the other neat stuff just in time for the show’s 30th anniversary shall we?

Static cling follows our boy, his bulbous buddy and his somethign else rhyming with b , picking up where we left off.. and the original finale to the series had our heroes shot up into space, returning as the elderly. The last part is stricken from the record Roseanne style, and instead our heroes have largely settled in: Filburt misses his wife tails, he misses her a lot, but otherwise our heroes are doing fine on fatheads reruns... till Filburt notices the remote has been jammed up Heffer’s butt for the past decade, they fight as usual and Rocko has to scream at them to “PUSH THE BUTTON”. TV’s Frank would not abide. 

SO with that our heroes return to earth. There’s also a nice small joke in that... most people really aren’t phased our heroes were gone 20 years: while we sadly dont’ get a scene with Heffer’s family , easily one of my faviorite parts of the series with Rocko’s dinner visit being one of my faviorite episodes, we do get to see his beaver hating grandpa, with all his innuendo glory, the only change being

And Filburt naturally easily reunited with Hutch because their perfect and we need that. It’s like our heroes were never gone for the most part.  The real exception is ROcko.. and i’ts easy to why: Filburt had a wife and four adoring children eager to finally get to know their dad. Heffer’s family is implictly there and his grandpa is still around only now he can posses lawn gnomes. Nothing’s really changed for either in a way that harms them. Filburt missed most of his kids’ lives, but they seem to have grown up fine.  In contrast when you think about it.. no one was really waiting for Rocko. He hit it off with Shiela well, but that was one episode towards the end. I mean he could look her up on face-o-rama, or something, so ti’s not lost, but when you think about the series with his family in australia.. all Rocko had were his friends, mrs. bighead (who warmly welcomes the guy back and gives him some needed support), and Spunky. Rocko really has nothign to come back to: his job is gone and while his friends adapt to the 2010′s really well... it’s all too much. it also makes sense: Heffer always went with the flow and while Filburt seems a bit too accepting on paper, he’ sa giant nerd in a world where he can livesteream being nauseous and blather about his opinons for an adoring public. I mean I woudnln’t of had the tools to do this when the show aired. I was two and the internet wasn’t easy to come by. Six maybe. 

While the montage of various “new” things was.. dated even by when it came out and is kinda just there outside of Schlammo, the unhealty energy drink , it hammers home that while his friends have accepted the present.. Rocko is lost in it. He was never one to easily accept new trends in the show itself, usually being pulled into things like health clubs or credit cards by Heffer, so it’s entirley in character that being stuck in a world 20 years later with nothing to really hold him there shatters his normal optimisim. I’ts pretty heartining to see rocko shattered a bit when bev finds him. It makes her trying to support him and help him heartwarming.. but it can’t really fix the problem of feeling like the world’s passed you by. It was striking to realize how deep Rocko’s story comes off, a story about nostalgia and how it can help us when we feel lost.. but how we can cling to it as our only salvation. I’ll admit to having dived into my various coping mechanisms, comics, games, tv, youtube, to escape... and to have a minor panic attack if one’s missing, so I may just relate to rocko a bit.. but it still works.  It also kicks off the plot as the fatheads is gone, and Rocko badly needs it. HIs cries for it fall on deaf ears for mr bighead though, who just oopsied at work.. and now his world is collapsing for real, with his job gone and his house soon to be gone. “A tv show won’t solve your problems rocko”. It’s a simple statment.. but one that’s true. TV can offer an escape.. but it’s not going to fix what’s wrong with yoru life. It’s the thesis statment of this special.  Granted it can at least save ed’s job and house and conglomo as the special revenue would do it. It’s heavily spoofing how much companjies rely on these revivials and nostalgia pops, with the series lovingly mocking how much money fans think a rocko special would bring nick.. and then accidnetly being accurate as while Static Cling didn’t bring in millions upon millions of dollars, it was still a success all the same. 

The problem is the head of congolmo wants the chameleon twins to make it cheap with CG. I mean grante dth eproblem is the fatheads also you know.. ende din the run of the show, but honeslty i’m willing to ignore that for what a good story it is and it could easily be said Rachel just had to go back and make more to pay the bills or something. This was also built both off the actual rumors, that later came true of a CG Rugrats reboot, which honestly dosen’t LOOK bad.  So with that our heroes decide to search for the series creator, “Ralph” Bighead, who disappeared during the time skip, as all the money, all the success didn’t make them happy. We get some fun gags including a faviorite of mine “Culturally ambgious pillows”, as our heroes tour the world to find the creator.  And thus about halfway into the special they find them int he desert.. and find out why no one had seen them. See while they last saw them as “Ralph”.... our heroes instead find RACHEL Bighead. 

And honestly ti’s excellently done for the most part. Before we get to all the good let’s get the elephant out of the room: Joe Murray should not have continued playing rachel. Joe.. is a cis man. A cis man should nto play a trans woman. I can however accept this wasn’t done with any malcious intent, and was likelky done to hide that Rachel was trans now, as the special has it as a twist, wtih Rachel having a hat on and only revealing their trans by steping out of her fatheads foodtruck. Having a new VA might give that away. I still wish they’d swapped them but I get Joe meant well.  I mostly get that.. because everything ELSE is done well. When you look back on who rachel was.. they were miserable. They had all the money in the world, but could never find creative fufillment with the fatheads, to thepoint they tried sabotaging a followup with wacky delli. I mean we got the cheese, the best character in the show, but Rachel never found fufillment. It was only by realizing who they always were and making their body into what they truly always wanted that Rachel is happy. Said happiness.. allows her the reconciatlion with her creatoion she never got in the original show, selling fatheads freezie pops. She found a new art, the life she alwasy wanted she’s content. She even refuses to do the special, and rightfully so: while the creator SHOUDL revivie a work if possible, if they don’t want to.. they shoudlnt’ be forced to. Rachel only agrees because her parents are in danger.  I also love the acceptance rachel gets: the boys all think it’s neat and instantly accept it, as you should. The reveal itself is simply done: Rachel steps out, says “I’m rachel now”.. and the boys all think it’s neat and accept it, attaching their drone to the ice cream truck and flying off. Bev also fully accepts it, happy their daughter’s happy and even finding her some cute shoes. It makes sense for all involved: while all from the 90′s, Rocko’s group has always been an accepting bunch for the most part, while Bev was always the parent that accepted their kid more.  It’s harder for Ed.. but it’s a well done harder. He’s bigoted, and potrayed as stupidly as that sounds: he rejects the idea of the special simply because he rejects the idea he has no son but a daughter. I also like the stealth pun there: he once claimed he had no son when he disowned rachel.. and it turns out he never did. Everyone around him rightfully sees this as stupid, and it’s portrayed as such, but what i Like is that they play this realistically. Instead of Ed throwing out slurs or throwing a tantrum, which sadly could very well happen, he just disowns his child, again, and storms off. He can’t accept a trans daughter because to him it’s a change. To Rachel.. it’ sbeing who she was always meant to be. Rachel ends up still making the special, remembering her past, including biting ed’s eye as a baby.. and using that. And while Ed has to be dragged to the premiere, as many a person has to be dragged into acceptaince... it’s said work that helps Ed see what a fool he’s been. Rachel reworks the fatheads.. but now includes a baby based on themselves. It adds great new jokes to the bit.. but it’s the last one, a reinactment of her “damaging her fathers retina”.. that makes Ed realize what he shoudl have all along: this is his child and who they always were. Being a woman not only allowed them to be happy.. but it dosen’t change who they are.. because this is who they ALWAYS were. And what helps is that... Rachel didn’t NEED ed’s acceptance. Their disapointed, but when he wails no at it, she simply says yes. They do the short because, even if Ed dosen’t accept her, she wont’ leave her parents homeless and still loves them both. And it’s ED who has to come around and accept that he has a daughter, he always did.. and that’s wonderful.  We also get Rocko.. not accepting the change. A baby, how dare he.. but ed talks him down, getting to the point of the special in a truly lovely speech. 

“Rocko we can’t live in the past, we can be grateful for it, but life isn’t permenant, and if we don’t embrace what’s now, we miss out on a lot of the important stuff. “ I couldn’t of said it better myself and belivie me i’ve tried. And it’s a perfect message for this special.. and for Rachels’ story. embrace what you have, not what you thought you had. This special is phenominal, with tons of great gags, a truly amazing story at the core, and lots of great cameos in some lovely animation. Check it out wether your new to rocko or want to revisit an old friend. Thanks for reading and happy belated pride. 

[hottestcartoonnetworkmanbracket]

Welcome one and all, to the first (and likely only) bracket celebrating only the sexiest of men from Cartoon Network!!!

This bracket is helmed by @kangaroowife! Starting next week I will begin the bracket!

While I haven’t finished setting up all of the matches, I will be stating such:

All of the characters I have picked are adults. Mod is an adult so I’m not picking no kids for this bracket XD

In order to make the bracket not last a bajillion years I have decided I will only put 1 guy per show, so each guy representing each show is admittedly based on the mod’s bias 😅 (or in some cases it may be my friends’ biases if its a show I’m not really familiar with!)

I’m also NOT doing any of the DC cartoons or acquired shows (so no total drama—i mean most of those characters are kids anyways and I just said I aint putting no kids in this bracket!) So cartoon network originals ONLY. (as defined by me since closer to the beginning of the channel what makes a show an original is. contentious)

also some shows might “technically” have multiple champions if they contain multiple separate segments within them (like how cow and chicken is technically 2 shows, how grim and evil was 2 shows, etc etc) this is mostly to do my best to make sure there’s an even number of characters to match up

You can submit propaganda in the form of text or even fanart! I have media enabled for asks for this purpose :)

I might do a losers bracket if enough people ask for it

I might also do a bracket for hottest cartoon network women as well! After the main bracket is over obviously,

Hell I might even do other channels cartoons once I’ve determined the hottest man and hottest woman of cartoon network! (i.e. hottest man in nicktoons, hottest man on disney channel, etc etc maybe a bracket pitting all the winners from every channel against each other as well?)

But yeah that’s all I have to say for now! See you guys when the bracket begins!!!

[seeksstaronmewni]

What happened to Korean animation???

I can not stress this enough, but what is it with the Korean animation on most Burbank-made cartoons produced after 2015 looking so… slow and stiff???

There're LOTS more on 2s animation timing... and less inbetweening, while characters, props and effects are not as loosely drawn as they used to be before 2016.

Look at this example below of what a modern cartoon looks like when animated in Korea:

Bernard Williams ain't selling the acting well now; is he?

That episode of Craig of the Creek, "Creature Feature", was made in 2020; it was animated by Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd. — an animation studio founded by Gregg Vanzo as a cheaper means for quality animation on none other than The Ren & Stimpy Show (Don't believe me? Thad Komorowski will tell you).

He's moving too slow. This shot is all on 2s. His arms move stiffly, and his head bobs up and down just a little bit. It doesn't sell the specific emotions he's expressing as richly as they could... compared to something like classic Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon shows of the past. The overseas animators should listen to the audio track, the recorded dialogue. That's what they did on on Ren & Stimpy!

Now let us to go back 10 years before Rough Draft animated that episode of Craig of the Creek... to another Cartoon Network Studios original that Rough Draft animated, the Sym-Bionic Titan episode "The Phantom Ninja":

LOOK HOW LOOSE AND SMOOTH THIS LITTLE BIT OF ANIMATION IS! ☝

This level of Korean animation quality was normal for TV cartoons back in the 2010s.

This one shot has a healthy balance of on 2s animation and on 1s animation.

It's just Ilana Lunis and Octus doing a bit of a... I don't know... a shrug... giving Lance a certain look. Not even talking in this shot, nor is it an action sequence, and this little bit of acting looks far better than Craig of the Creek ever animated in general.

Rough Draft also animates on Spongebob and they're struggling but usually excelling on the animation quality overseas.

This applies to cartoons made and aired before 2016 where post-2105 episode/content are the same quality as most post-2015 cartoons shows these days that're animated in Korea; examples are Uncle Grandpa, Samurai Jack Season 5, The Venture Bros. Season 6 onward, We Bare Bears Season 2 onward, and even later Disney TVA shows as Amphibia Season 3, The Owl House (even Luke Weber noticed the degrade in animation quality) and Hailey's On It! (excluding 2/3 of the first episode)... though mostly it involves Warner Bros. Discovery-owned properties - Turner Broadcasting System-based ones namely.

Now what are the reasons for Korean animation quality since 2016?

In the case of some post-2015 episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants, the issue might be TIME, since it's a popular franchise which, among other new Nicktoons these days, Nickelodeon is trying to dump out on TV as fast as humanly possible. The Patrick Star Show seems to rarely suffer from this, however; only few episodes like "The Commadore Episode" were animated mostly on 2s and more stiff than loose - there just might not've been time for retakes, although TV and certainly streaming platforms tend to dump a bunch of episodes out all at once. Those that're animated in Korea would probably suffer from this business practice. Why can't we just put new episodes on every Thursday, Friday, or Saturday... with breaks in-between instead of not stopping until the season is over? That reminds me that most [adult swim] shows tend to have 6 or 10 episodes per season.

On the other hand... may be that Korean animators just need a break. Perhaps the Korean overseas facilities need more money... more direction... more communication... more retakes (as if we could actually afford all or any of that with today's gas prices?). Most American cartoons, which are typically animated in California (namely Burbank), are animated overseas in Korea — more so than any other country, Asian or not. Could America be overworking the Koreans? It's a possibility. Additionally, in 2024, there were some leaks that suggested that other studios had people in North Korea contracted for overseas animation work, and work between the US and the weapon-protected North side of Korea is forbidden.

Instead of overworking Korean animators, why not animate domestically here in America? In Burbank? When America had domestic animation for TV shows crippled, Japan became one of the most popular of overseas production facilities... until they became too premium for America, and America had to resort to other Asian countries like Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, and in some cases even China. In my opinion, the Philippines can deliver better animation (a bit roughly but still better than Korea for the most part) for the US! Taiwan isn't as involved with Burbank animation anymore, and China rarely does anything except to animate for some shows like Secret Mountain Fort Awesome and Mike Young-era Clifford the Big Red Dog. Speaking of Rough Draft Korea, however: Hanna-Barbera sent John Kricfalusi overseas to Cuckoo's Nest Studio/Wang Film in Taiwan to train the assistant animators there in acting, animation, and layout on the 1980s' episodes (or is it a reboot?) of The Jetsons. All that John K wanted to do was character design, but he ended up doing a lot more on the show — and for an overseas Asian animation production facility prior to the founding of Rough Draft Studios!

What about rigging (puppetry in 2 dimensions), though? The future of quality TV/non-theatrical 2D animation may be in the hands of Canada's and Ireland's finest riggers. Mercury Filmworks, Boulder Media, Lighthouse Studios, Snipple Animation, and Jam Filled Entertainment can deliver better animation through rigging than Korea can do for most hand-drawn shows!

That is unless it's the Spongebob Squarepants franchise of course... that and Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? and... pretty much anything animated by Yearim or Yeson (most of which are adult cartoon sitcoms with rather restricted animation so as not to distract from their comedic wordplay, since those shows are more script-driven anyway).

I asked some people about the current condition of Korean animation to see what they think about that. Maxwell Atoms had a good bit to say...

The What's in My Head? podcast interview with Randy Myers largely benefited from a question I suggested on Twitter/X about the animation quality differences between the first 6 seasons of The Powerpuff Girls and the 2016-2019 PPG "reboot" episodes.

Ariel Vracin-Harrell tweeted that overseas animators often follow the storyboards "religiously", and tiny little micro-poses in storyboards can result in the animation looking "laggy and odd". (Perhaps those Korean animators view the storyboard animatics as key animation?)

Lauren Faust says that you shouldn't animate you storyboards. One example to illustrate effective storyboarding that isn't an animated storyboard animatic is the intro to Batman: The Animated Series.

Another possible reason for stiff Korean animation since 2016 might be that the Korean animators are trying to animate as clean (and thus on-model) as humanly possible.

I'll expand more on this post later.

Tweet thread version here.

[new-employeeamillion]

Someone might ask me about this for next year’s QnA, but what the heck.

My immediate thoughts regarding the tentative Warner/Paramount merger.

I’m no business expert, but I’m educated enough to know that merging two already huge media companies will be a bad thing for workers. Remember what happened when Disney bought Fox 5 years ago? Content from both companies has become more homogeneous since then.

Just thinking about the idea that Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon could share the same parent company has me worried. They’ve already been dealing with identity crises since the streaming bubble took people’s attention away from cable, and if they both have the same executives controlling them, that’ll just make the situation worse. Think about how low their viewership has gotten in the past decade. If they’re both under the control of the same company, one or both of them will have the plug pulled. And with Cartoon Network Studios shutting down recently, I bet it’s going to be them.

I’m spitballing here, getting paranoid over a hypothetical outcome that only exists in my head right now, but if Cartoon Network is no longer a studio, channel or active brand identity by 2025 or 2026, that’ll make me really sad. Sure I don’t follow their new stuff as much as I review their old stuff, but I focus on their old stuff for a reason. It’s a symbol of the animation renaissance of the late 80s, 90s and early 2000s. The medium was in crisis before then, but an impassioned new wave of animators brought it back, with the help of a business tycoon and his channel that actually saw value in the art form. I can’t see that happening again when there’s less companies and less job opportunities for animators. Time isn’t always cyclical. This could very well be the end what we currently consider the Modern Era of Animation.

And the possibility of Warner Bros. owning SpongeBob has me even more concerned about its future. They could do one of two things:

-Cancel everything in the franchise as a tax write-off (can you blame anyone for thinking they’ll do that?)

-Dip even harder into movies and spin-offs, making Nickelodeon’s current strategy seem quaint

Here’s the thing. I wouldn’t be so apprehensive about movies (beyond the first two) and spin-offs if the main show was over already. I’m not saying Season 13 and 14 are bad and shouldn’t exist, just that Nickelodeon should only be doing one or the other, the main show or subsequent media. At this point, I’ve come to terms that SpongeBob is like Mickey Mouse and Looney Tunes, this animated mascot that’s outlived the creator and so will always be a symbol of the corporation it came from. But notice how with Mickey Mouse and Looney Tunes, their original serieses ended decades and decades ago. We’ve been getting spin-offs, film appearances and complete reimaginings for far longer than their original theatrical shorts were in production.

I’m fine with SpongeBob still being around as a mascot in 50 years like them, but not if the show is going to be in its 44th season and a virtually different production with different people behind it. There is the likelihood that Warner Bros. Discovery Paramount will look at the ratings it’s getting on Nick and put it to rest, leaving behind spin-offs and reimaginings. As harsh as it is to say, that’s the safest possible outcome, but I don’t think that’ll be what they do. They’ll either do even more to oversaturate the brand, or throw it all away like it’s worthless. Sorry if this spiel has been pretty cynical, but I have no reason to be optimistic if this goes through.

The only thing people are excited about with all this is all the crossover possibilities if all the NickToons and Cartoon Network Originals were owned by the same people. And while they seem tantalising, those old franchises were only so good because the creators were encouraged to compete, encouraged to experiment, encouraged to make what they wanted to watch, and encouraged to leave a lasting impact. If the merger goes through, that might not be the case. Crossovers are literally the only positive people seem to be gleaming from this, so fair enough. Have those happy thoughts, because you’re really gonna need them. A SpongeBob/Looney Tunes crossover will break everyone’s brains though, and I mean that in bad and good ways.

[euniexenoblade]

Friend on twitter did these so I decided to be a copycat. I feel like these both date me and tell you what channel I watched the most.

https://tiermaker.com/create/cartoon-network-programming-21708

[beardedmrbean]

Wait the first ATLA would be worse how the fu-

Oooooooh right…Shamalyan is Indian…and ATLA used his culture ideologies and concepts…in a western digestible way…need to be careful so the ATLA fans won’t lynch me. So he had a good gasp on what ATLA

Also about the Netflix ATLA tv show and what their doing

My brother in Christ we are living in a world where a Disney marvel spoon feed shit Black Panther pointing out the the villain was wrong is considered right to college educated people

And like the stuff I hear about how they are toning down Sokka sexism and not having “detours” like Aang did. While sokka sexism is because he was a immature TEENAGER who later develop-

😳

Okay ATLA is a great show with great characters arcs, but at the end of the day it was a Y7 cartoon with Karens breathing down kids networks necks, HAD to be able to be syndicate with other Nicktoons stuff like SpongeBob.

And at the end of the day the main cast…act like middle class American kids most of them time. Obviously it not bad or anything as that what the original target demographic was. But it very obvious if you go into more eastern fantasy stuff with their handling of kids. They were still good characters

But….Holy Fucking Shit

Showrunners…understand…the importance of…character development….right? I myself is very different from the mess I was from 9-13 and more mentally mature and such.

Unless…Hollywood and liberal circles-Oh what the hell we have 30 years old on fucking tumblr that think the genocide of men is a good thing

No wonder character development is shit in modern western media. Where certain characters ( I ain’t naming who but leave hints) get more development than MCs who have significant more screentime than them.

When did the whole “I have no idea what actual growth is?!” Started become so popular among liberals Gen x and millennials creators?

The Shamalyn ATLA thing was because he was a fan of the show and did his best to make it good, this looks like a more recent interview.

Looking round at stuff comparing the two now the big thing I'm seeing can be summed up with the saying that 'netflix one will be as diverse as the shyamalan one wasn't'

Which just tells me there's no reason to watch it, not because I have issues with diversity mind you, but if that's your selling point you've lost my interest before you had a chance to gain it.

Not that I was interested to begin with, never watched the show so eh, but screaming it's diverse as a big selling point is a no starter for me.

Hearing what they've "fixed" for the movie it sounds like they've whitewashed over everything in order to sanitize it instead of allowing for the character development as you said.

Bad guys can't become good guys, the best shot they have is in becoming a antihero, but you're still held down by who you were.

It's stupid and only feeds into the purity culture that's gotta be one of the leading causes of mental health issues these days.