Topic: Western Animation Discussion (Cartoons)

Same idea as the anime thread, but instead we're discussing anything animated from Western countries. Can be anything as young as Paw Patrol, PJ Masks etc, up to adult animation like Archer, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Final Space etc.

I recently finished Hilda: Season 2 on NetFlix, wasn't disappointed by the overarching story and it was great to see everyone again, as well as all of the new characters that were introduced. Hopefully Season 3 will release sometime in 2021, fingers crossed.

As for what I'm watching right now, I'm slowly making my way thru Big City Greens: Season 2 and Boss Baby: Back in Business Season 4.

Haven't watched any cartoons, anime or otherwise, for a long time. But, Pinky and the Brain/Animaniacs, and Courage The Cowardly Dog were my jams.

@KidBoruto
I like Handy Manny & Wild Kratts as educational animated series for kids. 😀
Tiny Toon Adventures & Biker Mice from Mars are my childhood Western cartoon series during 90's era.

South Park is the greatest TV comedy ever made. Change my mind.

King of the Hill is up there as well.

Me and my brother recently finished up watching the Animaniacs/Pinky & the Brain reboot, which was mostly really, really good. I personally loved the anime inspired segment.

In terms of negatives, my biggest issue with it is that I felt like it stepped into "gross out" humour a tad more than I remember the original series doing, but it wasn't overbearing with the stuff. Otherwise, it was a bit disappointing they didn't bring back any of the other skits (Goodfeathers, Mindy & Buttons, etc.), but I understand just starting out with the most popular elements when testing the waters for a reboot (plus, they did provide a narrative reason for why these other characters weren't around, so that opens them up to returning). They had a couple one shots that I didn't care for much at all, such as the one with the gnome that lives in people's mouths. Finally I think the writers were a bit too obvious when it came to their socio-political stance(s). It's not a big deal by any means (and TBH Trump himself has earned all the satire that comes his way), but it's plainly obvious they didn't attempt much of a middle ground given there's an episode centered around the Warners having their theater experience ruined by an obnoxious "manspreader". Oh, and the complete absense of Hello Nurse is also definitely related to the more "woke" nature of the writing. To be fair, even those segments were still often humorous, but I can understand why it'd be an issue for some.

Speaking of political satire, my brother & I have also just began watching season 2 of Our Cartoon President.

I used to really like Regular Show and Adventure Time. Any fans of those shows on here?

@RR529 I remember Goodfeathers with a great amount of ❤ ,That one aggressive pigeon mob leader boss was hilarious, I had a lot of fondness for those cartoons back in the day, and whilst I haven't seen the reboot (of Animaniacs/Pinky & the Brain) if it's as good as you say it is, I would love to check it out.

@KidBoruto
Oh, Biker Mice from Mars episode from Youtube.

@Ralizah I'm with you on South Park, I love how it makes fun of everyone.

@KidBoruto big fan of archer too! Takes a while to get used to but it is so funny once the characters have warmed on you.

I also quite like disenchanted, not the funniest show but I just love the characters. I actually love Futurama and the Simpsons too but Im not even close to having seen all of it. Simpsons is always on when we eat dinner though so I pretty much watch some Simpsons every day unless there is a BoJo address.

Early family guy was really good and I loved American dad. I won't turn these shows off if they are on TV.

In terms of kids TV, I used to love biker mice and tiny toons @Anti-Matter . I used to play the Tiny Toons game on the super Nintendo loads and still fire it up every now and then. I still have biker mice toys in the loft!

@RR529 I loved the original animaniacs and pinky and the brain, haven't seen the new one but I might give it a try some day!

I was a big fan of the original ducktales too, again I haven't seen the new series. I used to watch the original Ninja Turtles and Transformers too.

In terms of films my favourite Disney films are Hercules, Aladdin and the Lion King. I do like others a lot but those are my favourite traditionally animated ones.

Obviously I'm a huge fan of Toy Story, all 4 of them. I grew up with them and Toy Story 4 really was a perfect ending for the series now im a grown up. It deals with loss, goodbyes and bittersweet emotions really well.

I was a big fan of the Disney games too like Aladdin (SNES version for me) Toy Story on mega drive and Toy Story 2 on PS1

I used to love Nickelodeon cartoons like Rugrats, Catdog, Rockos Modern Life, Angry Beavers etc. I might be getting some of these mixed up with CN which I....

Also I loved cartoon Network shows like Johnny Bravo and whatever series of scooby doo that was on at the time! (I think it was one where the monsters were real and shaggy and scooby had to choose doors to go through in a big scary castle.) I remember they did a "live" cartoon network broadcast when I was young where Johnny Bravo interacted with characters from all the other shows on it.

Holy Moly I almost forgot to mention the 90s X men and Spider man shows! They were really just brilliant! X men especially is still great as an adult, it really reminds me of modern serialised programmes like Lost where you have season long story arcs. Spider man Unlimited was a great follow up to Spiderman too. I really enjoyed X men evolution when that was on TV too, I need to dig that out some time

It's a shame that traditional action cartoons (stuff like Justice League, the OG Teen Titans, Avatar, Batman: TAS, Gargoyles, Thundercats, etc.) seem to be an extinct breed on cable cartoon channels.

The closest I can think of from Cartoon Network in modern times is Adventure Time (which I've never watched), but I'm assuming it's in the same wheelhouse as Rick & Morty, though obviously more kid friendly (as in it's more of a comedy, but with action thrown in, which is different from the action toons of yesteryear). I guess Nickelodeon probably has a Ninja Turtles cartoon in there somewhere since they have the rights (Nick feels wrong for action anyways since they never used to have any back in the day, until they randomly came out with Avatar, and arguably Danny Phantom, in the mid 00's. I swear Avatar still feels out of place as a Nick property, though I like it). Forget Disney Channel, they were just preschool shows & kiddy live action comedies when I was a young (I haven't even attempted to keep up with them today).

I guess streaming is probably keeping the traditional action cartoon alive, what with Disney + making new Star Wars & Marvel stuff, & Netflix has Castlevania (though it's more adult focused).

@RR529 Adventure Time is well worth a watch, it’s a perfect blend of comedy and action. Admittedly I didn’t get as into the main plot in later seasons that ramped up the craziness as I prefer the early seasons’ lower stakes but it’s really great. I loved Regular Show too which also went mental towards the end.

I should probably mention Gravity Falls as well. And My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, despite the... erm... notoriety of its fanbase. It's a solid magical girl show. With horses.

@ralphdibny
Biker Mice from Mars was the reason i like to draw six pack dudes for my drawing.
But before i got hyped by six pack dudes, i was hyped with Sailor Moon style drawing when i was 5th / 6th grade student.

@RR529
I really like to watch Handy Manny series from Playhouse Disney channel from my Cable TV. I like the Chibi style peoples on Western animation for kids.

@Ralizah
Did someone said My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic ? 😃
Well, i haven't watched all the episodes from Cable TV as i found some episodes from Youtube.
I also have some MLP songs Eurobeat version, created by Youtubers. It called Super Ponybeat if you want to listen from Youtube.
Also.... There was The Sims parody videos by using MLP characters as Sims from Youtube. It called The Ponies. It looks like The Sims 1 game with MLP characters.
Try to watch from Youtube, it was very hilarious. 😂

@Anti-Matter It was all the rage in nerd communities for years. Even my local anime convention was taken over by it. So I imagine you'll find a trove of fan stuff to enjoy online.

I kept my distance from the fandom, and primarily just watched it with my young nephew.

@RR529 Man, I totally forgot Batman TAS. One of the best cartoons of all time, and easily the best run of stories for the Caped Crusader outside of comic books.

Never understood the MLP love. It’s basically a magical girl show but with a strange and not very appealing art style. Like it’s not bad and the fans absolutely sunk it into the ground by being possibly the worst group of people in all of fandom but I dunno, the show itself never really came across as anything that special.

Outside of nostalgic ventures I really don't watch many cartoons anymore (and this is becoming truer & truer with me & anime as well). I don't want to say I'm "growing out" of it, but I understand that nothing is going to mean as much to me as the stuff I grew up with, so it's better to not get invested in it (& heck, I'm an old fogey by cartoon standards that considers stuff like Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends to be "for the next generation", lol).

@Anti-Matter oh right, that's quite interesting!

One of the best things about having kids is being able to revisit cartoons from my childhood with them!!

Transformers, Thundercats, Voltron, 90's X-Men, Looney Toons we watch em all. Lately they've been into more modern stuff like Adventures of Gumball and Teen Titans but cartoons/animation is pretty much all we watch outside of sports and a movie here and there

Though its obviously wildly popular, never got the appeal of South Park. Been coming on since I was a teenager but never really grabbed me and the comedy fell flat.

I've gotten back into cartoons in the past couple of years. My favorite is King of the Hill (if my avatar didn't already give that away ) followed by Looney Tunes. I guess my favorite era would be the Golden Age. I find that the animation is generally better (although I know there's some modern stuff that looks great) and I also prefer the shorter length of the cartoons as I find them more re-watchable compared to a 22 minute episode of a series. I also prefer to watch TV shows in order compared to theatrical shorts that I can just watch at random. I'll also say this: I hate watching censored shorts. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. So glad Warner Bros. doesn't do it for their Looney Tunes DVDs and Blu-Rays. I'll also admit that I don't watch modern cartoons. I'll get to some eventually, but not now.

Lately I've been watching Robot Chicken and random Tom and Jerry shorts. I'm also very slowly getting through a bunch of other stuff. Needless to say I don't finish much of anything that I start lol.