Unconventional or unpopular opinions you have (re: animation)

[Freddy]

So how did the package films from 1979-88 fare with The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Movie, The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, Bugs Bunny's 1001 Rabbit Tales, Daffy Duck's Fantastic Island, and Daffy Duck Quackbusters fare as Looney Tunes theatrical movies? Notably aside from the last one, they did even involve the crew of the original shorts such as directors Chuck Jones and Friz Freleng, writers John Dunn and Dave Detiege, and various animators from the golden era/

Not to be pedantic what does or doesn't count as a movie, but I don't feel that just slapping a loose framing device around unconnected shorts makes the strongest/most narratively tight story. Nothing inherently wrong with them and I guess back then that was pretty fun way to make the experience a bit more "special" than just playing the shorts back-to-back as they are. However, I generally want to experience things as their original creative team intended, so I would probably personally always rather watch the shorts individually than ever feel like watching any of the package films.

 

[ElSquibbonator]

Here's a big one of mine:

Adult fans of cartoons shouldn't try to justify their enjoyment of kids' cartoons by trying to make them out to be more "mature" than they actually are. This has been a thing since the early 2010s at least, and in my opinion it's done bad things for the animation fandom.

Instead of actually discussing animation as a serious artistic medium, we come off as a bunch of spoiled brats whining that our favorite kids' shows got cancelled. Yes, it's sad that things like The Owl House and Infinity Train were cancelled. And yes, those were good shows. But guess what? You weren't in the target audience for them in the first place. In fact, the reason those shows were cancelled was because they had too many adults watching, and not enough kids.I feel like we wouldn't have this whole cult-like worship of kids' shows if the kinds of shows their fans actually wanted to watch-- serious adult animated dramas-- were more common.

And I say "worship" because at times it really does feel like a religion, at least the way they talk about it. You have a lost Golden Age (the classic Nickelodeon/Cartoon Network/Disney Channel shows), a Devil figure who causes the world to fall (generally whoever is in charge right now, i.e. David Zaslav, Bob Iger,), and a prophesied savior who will restore the Golden Age (indie studios like Glitch). 99% of the time, it feels like the self-proclaimed cartoon fans, both here and elsewhere, don't actually care about appreciating animation as a medium. They just want everyone to take their favorite kids' shows as seriously as they do.

That's not to say adults can't enjoy kids' shows-- I do myself-- but the way I often see them do it is not healthy.

 

[Freddy]

Here's a big one of mine:

Adult fans of cartoons shouldn't try to justify their enjoyment of kids' cartoons by trying to make them out to be more "mature" than they actually are. This has been a thing since the early 2010s at least, and in my opinion it's done bad things for the animation fandom.

I would add that, if adult animation fans want to seriously spread the "animation is a medium, not a genre" mindset, they need to start broaden their own horizons and stop having their lists of "mature"/great animations mainly be made out of works aimed at children. Yes, children media should be quality and worthy of serious analysis. And yes, a lot of non-Japanese (and there's still a certain biases that make recommending anime to non-anime fans difficult) adult animation is made out of pretty one-note comedies. However, nobody is going to take you saying "animation isn't exclusively for kids" arguments seriously, if your only examples are stuff like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Steven Universe or Puss in Boots 2.

I'm not saying that those works aren't good or something that an adult can't love, but they are still made for kids and someone who believes that animation is only for kids isn't going to have their mind changed by having them recommended to them.

Related to this, online animation reviewers need to stop making a bit out of them being shocked/flustered, when an animated project has rougher edges in terms of its themes and story content than an average Simpsons episode. Say, one can have many complex feelings about Ralph Bakshi, but we are way past the point of needing to start every single review of his work with "OMG, can't believe that I'm seeing something like this in animation".

 

[Pooky]

About 20 years ago on a General Entertainment/Comedy forum I used to frequent there was a thread about Pinky & the Brain. The main two or three posters were arguing that it had "some great hidden jokes for adults". One poster was not convinced and asked "is it really worth sitting through a kids' show just to hear the odd adult joke?" I probably don't have a lot in common with whoever that was, but they had a point. If Pinky & the Brain is worth watching it's surely because you find the show as a whole entertaining, not to sit through antics you find beneath you just to hear one gag about how much Nixon used to sweat or whatever?

(Of course P&TB had a season in prime time so there's a case to be made that it doesn't completely fit the description of kids' show, but that's how it's perceived)

That said, I don't know if fans of Infinity Train and Owl House are secretly pinning for more mature works. I'm no expert on either show but I think there's a degree of innocence and whimsy there that people respond to. And a lot of the fans are or were in their mid-teens, a little out of the target audience but still in some sense kids.

 

[SpecialColorfull]

I know this isnt really unpopular but animation desperately needs SOME SORT of alternative funding different from what already exists. ESPECIALLY KIDS TV. There needs to be a western counterpart to crunchyroll, a system that reduces risk so new ideas can actually happen, SOMETHING. And it needs to be figured out fast. I tried saying this in other threads or make a thread about this but it never gets picked up so I do it here.

 

[AnimatedFan01]

Magical Girl Friendship Squad was great and is in need of a season 2 immediately

 

[Vuxovich]

My perception is that Harmony Gold USA still exist to this today for no purpose at all. Is this also the Macross/Robotech fandom's perception/opinion?

 

[SpecialColorfull]

It exists to exploit the Robotech franchise which still has released on streaming and home video.

 

[Spacething7474]

I kinda like the original plot to the Regular Show's Eggscellent a bit more (in that draft, it was about Rigby losing the challenge by vomiting the omelet out, then the vomit comes to life to train him to win the challenge).

 

[Vuxovich]

As of late, every time I ask the Google AI about the production problems of Xiaolin Chronicles, that AI always mentions ''Canadian laws''. It seems very likely the fan-made rumors about the production of Xiaolin Chronicles cannot die. Unless we get an official confirmation about the production issues of Xiaolin Chronicles, those fan-made rumors will never die. What do you think?

 

[Freddy]

As of late, every time I ask the Google AI about the production problems of Xiaolin Chronicles, that AI always mentions ''Canadian laws''. It seems very likely the fan-made rumors about the production of Xiaolin Chronicles cannot die. Unless we get an official confirmation about the production issues of Xiaolin Chronicles, those fan-made rumors will never die. What do you think?

I think you shouldn't use A.I. as any kind of source of information.

 

[Spacething7474]

In terms of wacky expressions/wild takes/"next big meme faces"/whatever you wanna call them in modern SpongeBob, I've never really been bothered by them, because I find Mickey Mouse 2013 to be a worse offender in this.

 

[SpecialColorfull]

In terms of wacky expressions/wild takes/"next big meme faces"/whatever you wanna call them in modern SpongeBob, I've never really be bothered by them, because Mickey Mouse 2013 is a slightly worse offender in this.

I honestly agree with this but I forgive it because those shorts at least attempt to make Mickey Mouse a real character and not just a mascot, and they've been amazingly successful because its got 300 million views on Youtube. Not saying popularity means quality but there is at least a new generation loving Mickey Mouse.

 

[Vuxovich]

In my opinion, treating My Adventures with Superman as an adult cartoon is unfair. That would be like if there's a Digimon racing game with the DigiDestined (or the Digimon themselves) driving their cars or a Pokémon one with the Pokémon trainers (or the Pokémon themselves) doing the same. What do you think?

 

[Scofisticated]

In my opinion, treating My Adventures with Superman as an adult cartoon is unfair. That would be like if there's a Digimon racing game with the DigiDestined (or the Digimon themselves) driving their cars or a Pokémon one with the Pokémon trainers (or the Pokémon themselves) doing the same. What do you think?

I dont quite understand the statement. I'm guessing you're saying MAWS shouldnt be classified as adult animation?

 

[Vuxovich]

I dont quite understand the statement. I'm guessing you're saying MAWS shouldnt be classified as adult animation?

Of course!

 

[Sparklefan1234]

What if kids don't like My Little Pony anymore and the failure of Gen 5 was telling Hasbro

they would like to see something different?

 

[IAmStripped]

My unpopular opinions:

• Homer’s Enemy is my least favorite Simpsons episode (I honestly like The Principal And The Pauper much more).
• The Harry Potter TV series should’ve been an animated series like an anime or something.
• Justice League is superior to Batman: The Animated Series as a DC animated series.
• I still like Family Guy much more than American Dad (even though I still like American Dad).
• The 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series was way better than the 80’s series.

 

[Vuxovich]

I recently discovered that Mighty Max featured an incredibly rushed ending. Do you remember this?

 

[Scofisticated]

The 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series was way better than the 80’s series.

YEEEEES!