Most Obnoxious Fandoms

[beatnikchick300]

Not saying CN can't take a hatchet to something great (look at what happened to MegasXLR... where was that show all my life?!) and worship something awful (A Johnny Test marathon on Christmas Day... really!?!?). But what my big beef about militant 90's kids over all the other decade nostalgia favoring cartoon fans is that they don't have the historical context of what television cartoons were like before then. Sure, G.I. Joe had some surprisingly inappropriate and deep stuff for a show selling kids toys. But the sheer amount of corporate meddling in that decade and the parental groups that turned the 70's into bubblegum pop Scooby-Doo and Archie knockoffs... I'll give them one thing, at least they should be praising the memorable shows from that decade. I've seen people defend Maxie's World, and that's one of the worst cartoons I've ever seen. The 90's was the rise of the cartoonist taking over, and the rise of darker elements in super hero cartoons (except Spider-Man for some strange reason). They were indeed an impressive turn around from the past 2 decades since Action for Children's Television was formed and whined about those 60's Super Hero cartoons.

But that movement never exactly stopped. We're in a post-90's cartoon world where we're still getting away with stuff we could never get away with in those 2 decades. Only there's swings between action and comedy, sometimes both. There were always garbage cartoons since the dawn of animation, and like movies we either remember the really good ones or the really bad ones. There will always be something amazing that fails to find an audience and fall by the wayside (coming from a Fox Kid's cartoon fan, I know all about that), and something that somehow is more popular than it deserves. My main complaint however is that matter of taste does not equal quality, and what makes a show/movie/cartoon/whatever bad is usually universal. there's a difference between "I really don't care much for Super Hero movies" and "Mac and Me was one of the worst movies ever." No one can defend Mac & Me, even ironically. And if someone manages to do so, it's on nostalgic merit.

And that trolling on deviantart for shows you don't like to complain about them in an immature, thoughtless, and disturbingly time consuming manner (and that just happened to me which is why I'm ticked off) is a waste of everyone's time.

I think "militant" is kind of a harsh word. I doubt anyone is actually militant about shows from their childhoods (I say that as a 90s kid, being a toddler through preteen in that decade, as I said in my journal post).

And yes, TV animation (and animation in general) has changed a lot. Shows do cross genres (fantasy/comedy like Adventure Time, action/drama/some lighter moments like Teen Titans (the original, not...that OTHER version), and so forth).

I must, however, disagree that what makes a cartoon bad is universal by default. Everyone likes and dislikes things for different reasons. Sure, some things, like poor animation (after, say the '80s, which was basically the first time TV animation HAD budget) can bring a show down, no matter how high quality other aspects are. But some people enjoy shows with unlikable characters and/or toilet humor, and others do not.

 

[D'Snowth]

I find that there's really no median in cartoons anymore these days: back in the day, cartoons had a way of appealing to both kids and adults, but now, it's as if cartoons are either watered and dumbed down to appeal to kids only, or made really mature to appeal to adults (and teens) only.

 

[Drtooth]

Spoken like someone who hasn't given anything a chance.

There were always watered down cartoons. The 70's and 80's were the age of the watered down cartoon (with some thin exceptions in the 80's). Sure, in the 90's we had Ren and Stimpy (and even then, early Ren and Stimpy...later seasons made the show somehow less mature and more disturbing), but we also had preachy environmental cartoons which only appeal after wide eyed idealistic older childhood is ironic, especially with conservatives who love to make fun of how heavy handed the messages are and therefore the entire movement (yeah, I hate Captain Planet once Turner took over, and Toxic Crusaders managed to deliver the message friendly and funny...but OH that Stop the Smoggies. You thought it would have been 10 years too late for another Smurfs knockoff), horrible TMNT ripoffs (I'll admit there are some nice concepts in Street Sharks and the toy line was kinda cool, but overall bleh... to say the least of Extreme Dinosaurs), and just forgotten junk we'll never remember unless someone on a blog tears it apart (and that would be me if I had the initiative to bother with the billion and twelfth animation blog out there). Yeah, we remember Dexter's Lab, Animaniacs, Batman TAS (which we wouldn't have had your precious 2000-era Justice League without), and Rocko's Modern Life. And that's not to speak of the movies back in that era. Who are we kidding? Thumbellina or How to Train Your Dragon? Easy choice.

But darn Skippy there are watered down terrible shows. Frankly, there aren't that many of them because we actually produce far less cartoons than we used to. We'll always have garbage like Wild Grinders and NFL Rush Zone (which is at least insanely stupid enough to make fun of) just as we always had Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids (cheap cash in off of the kid from The Partridge Family, not an awesome cowboy show), Bisketts (You broke my heart, Robin Hood lookin' Dogs... you broke my heart!), and Clutch Cargo (the NFL Rush Zone equivalent of the group. So bad it's hilariously so). And in the case of the 90's, including (but not limited to) Stop the Smoggies, Cave Kids (and people were worried that Seth MacFarline would ruin The Flintstones), Double Dragon (and yet Captain N gets all the grief), Extreme Dinosaurs, Bureau of Alien Detectors (made to not at all capitalize off a superior film and animated series), and essentially anything that would have aired Sunday Morning.

The thing that really gets under my skin is this whole misconception that animation has somehow slid back into preschooliness because we no longer have the Warners running around making sexual references and rapid fire pop culture jokes. Both still exist, but are done much more subtle. Pop culture jokes took a huge hit with Seltzer/Frieberg films, remember. If anything, cartoons are getting more experimental. Guest animators on Adventure Time, shows like Clarence which you never know what you're going to see next, and my favorite... continuity. You would NEVER see anything like today's stuff back in the day, and not even in the 90's. Just because Batman Brave and the Bold wasn't as dark as Batman TAS doesn't mean it reverted back to the "no superheros throwing punches and letting the bad guys get away" Super Friends. Quite the contrary.

And that's where my 90's kid rant comes back... you do not realize how good you had it! It's like being in a generation of kids who had to suffer years of living in a war torn environment growing up to see the kids growing up in peacetime whining about how boring peace is! The way has been paved, and you can't blame anyone for taking the road that's already been broken. When the envelope is pushed, there's not too much more you can go with it. That's why Family Guy's not as good as it used to be. After the 30th Hitler, ironic racist, or rape joke, the shock is well gone.

 

[CensoredAlso]

That's why I personally feel discouraged from really trying to continue my work any further than the confines of YouTube, because I know in this day and age, there's no room for little independent guys like me who won't settle for the network and execs taking over complete control of what we create and them tell us what our creations will be, who our characters are, who's going to play them, and owning what we do to boot. Heck, even community and public access stations want to own what you create!

I've known many people who have "regular" jobs and are still able to indulge their artistic sides (doing plays, their own films, etc.). It is certainly possible and can be very satisfying. And you don't have to pander to mindless executive types (at least not as much, hehe).

Of course, I'm not saying you should give up on trying to make a career out of entertainment. But it's good that you know it's an uphill battle.

 

[D'Snowth]

I've known many people who have "regular" jobs and are still able to indulge their artistic sides (doing plays, their own films, etc.).

Yeah, but it's a matter of principal with me... I feel to have a regular job to support your artistic endeavors is the following the masses, rather than your own path... it's like the old saying, "Every waiter in Los Angeles is a wannabe actor, and every waiter in Nashville is a wannabe country singer" and why would you want to be like everyone else? If you have to have a regular job to support your art, then what's the point in trying make a career in art when you've already got a job? And if you want to do something with yourself, what would be the point in doing so if you have to do something else to do what you want to do? All the true greats were able to make it past the breakers and leave their mark in their own way, such as Jim, but again, the masses are the one who apparently wait tables and hope somebody will discover them.

 

[CensoredAlso]

why would you want to be like everyone else?

I don't think too many people "want" to be in food service. It's simply a matter of survival.

If you have to have a regular job to support your art

My Grandfather did. He was a painter and playwright, and never gave those things up, but he also worked as a salesman. He hated it, but he had a wife and two children to support.

So I would argue the "regular" job isn't the source of the problem. It's wanting to be a career artist and wanting to have a family. People don't want to admit that you can't always have both.

All the true greats

...also had luck and connections on their side. It's the equivalent of winning the lottery. That doesn't mean no one else tries just as hard to buy tickets.

 

[Drtooth]

...also had luck and connections on their side. It's the equivalent of winning the lottery. That doesn't mean no one else tries just as hard to buy tickets.

Indeed. Connections are very important. Every Cartoon Cartoon/Cartoon Network original was created by someone who worked on a previous series. There's definitely a good network, and you probably have to go to CalArts to get those kinds of connections. Though I do recall some animation teachers I had got invitations to submit things to CN back in the day.

 

[KremlingWhatnot]

Okay, there are two fanbases that are starting to get on my nerves.
and those fanbases are the preschool show and logo fanbases.
let's start first with the logo fanbase.
on they're videos they do nothing but include obvious fake logos that are theirs and put it with major company logos like Disney or 20th Century Fox, while including home video openings to movies THEY DIDN'T EVEN CREATE!! .
and then they'll say that said show or movie was created by THEIR COMPANY!!
along with the wrong company that didn't even CREATE IT!!

and now, onto the preschool show fanbase.
I've seen some users on DeviantART making relationships with someone from the Bubble Guppies and pairing it up with the girl from Team Umizoomi.
it's stupid nonsense.

 

[Drtooth]

Okay, there are two fanbases that are starting to get on my nerves.
and those fanbases are the preschool show and logo fanbases.
let's start first with the logo fanbase.
on they're videos they do nothing but include obvious fake logos that are theirs and put it with major company logos like Disney or 20th Century Fox, while including home video openings to movies THEY DIDN'T EVEN CREATE!! .
and then they'll say that said show or movie was created by THEIR COMPANY!!
along with the wrong company that didn't even CREATE IT!!

YES! I'm glad someone took that one down a peg. I've thought that the odd logo obsession thing was a bit weird in the eccentric sense. There's stuff I get about it, except those constant mishmash logos that appear on Youtube. Yeah, yeah. We all want to see the 1980's Dic Logo after Children's Television Workshop and the NHK one. Because we all dream of the day Japanese Sesame Street was localized by a French cartoon company back in 86. And then there are the ones so obsessed with logos they put on completely irrelevant logos at the beginning of show uploads. And I don't mean YTP either, actual shows.

 

[beatnikchick300]

And that's where my 90's kid rant comes back... you do not realize how good you had it! It's like being in a generation of kids who had to suffer years of living in a war torn environment growing up to see the kids growing up in peacetime whining about how boring peace is! The way has been paved, and you can't blame anyone for taking the road that's already been broken. When the envelope is pushed, there's not too much more you can go with it. That's why Family Guy's not as good as it used to be. After the 30th Hitler, ironic racist, or rape joke, the shock is well gone.

Being a '90s kid (not that I can speak for everyone in my generation), I'm well aware how good I had it. And to your other point, that's a big part of the reason "trying too hard" is one of my bigger problems with a lot of shows and movies today, including some with Obnoxious Fandoms I listed. There's no need for it; you can write something compelling and/or funny without trying to push the envelope harder and harder (and on a side note, I hate how people defend shows like Family Guy by calling the sicker jokes "black comedy," because there's a way to do that without coming off as trying too hard).