Cartoons you find overhated/underrated

Tommypezmaster

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My Underrated and Overhated Picks
* Ricky Sprocket: Showbiz Boy-I never understood why this show got bashed online. You have an already likeable protagonist who serves as the voice of reason (which is rare to find a central character to be that in animation now a days) and will fight to set things right when the world goes crazy.
* Almost Naked Animals-It's pretty original and deserve some points for it instead of constant complaints about the characters being shaved and in their underwear.
* Pig, Goat, Banana, Cricket-Another original animal show on the list. It has an eye-capturing artstyle and Justin Rolland playing the main antagonist.
* Teen Titans Go!-This gets WAY to much hate and people can't be grateful for it's success.
* The Problem Solverz-It's supposed to be like that.
* Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon-Like TTG, This gets WAY too much hate. It's just Ren and Stimpy as an Adult show and it delivers on that promise.
* Brickleberry and Paradise PD-Somehow the people behind both shows made something that crasp, vulgar and low brow into very creative humor.
* Hoops-At least it has a better protagonist than the one in "Crossing Swords".
 

pacman000

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Clutch Cargo - They were just trying to stretch a limited budget; aside from the syncrovox lips, the animation’s not much more limited than Crusader Rabbit. Clutch Cargo’s well drawn too, with fairly complex character designs & backgrounds.
 

HildaFanatic

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I was going to add Hilda to my list of underrated cartoons but that show's been given a lot more recognition lately (and deservedly so!)

Please watch Hilda on Netflix if you haven't already. It's so good.
 

Pooky

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Bonkers (at least the Lucky Piquel episodes); yes it was derivative of Roger Rabbit, and yes Animaniacs dunked on it a couple of times; so what? It was a still a fun concept, and some episodes feature some of the best animation ever seen on television. Honestly it's one of the few Disney Afternoon shows I still find interesting.
 

Fone Bone

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Bonkers (at least the Lucky Piquel episodes); yes it was derivative of Roger Rabbit, and yes Animaniacs dunked on it a couple of times; so what? It was a still a fun concept, and some episodes feature some of the best animation ever seen on television. Honestly it's one of the few Disney Afternoon shows I still find interesting.
In a lot of ways Bonkers was a better show than Animaniacs. That's partly what made the digs so aggravating. That was the era of Spielberg cartoons where they all believed they were better than they were. Tiny Toons also suffered this (to the Nth degree).

Maybe the reason I'm less mad at Tiny Toons is that such a terrible cartoon taking shots at The Simpsons for being a terrible is pretty obviously dumb and patently ridiculous in hindsight. But the things wrong with Bonkers that Animaniacs talked about are things I think are almost half-right, which makes me wish Animaniacs were a better show, and had better ground to stand on when taking those shots. But any show that ran the Goodfeathers and Buttons and Mindy into the ground the way Animaniacs did was in no position to claim the cartoon comedy high ground. It never was.

Animaniacs was Cynical / Too Hip For The Room and Bonkers clearly was not. But being Cynical / Too Hip For The Room did not automatically make Animaniacs better quality. I'd feel a lot better about a cynical, overly hip cartoon making fun of Bonkers that never had a character like Chicken Boo in it.
 
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Red Arrow

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That was the era of Spielberg cartoons where they all believed they were better than they were. Tiny Toons also suffered this (to the Nth degree).
Yes, Animaniacs and Tiny Toons are so egocentric (?), so "Look how amazingly clever we are!". I don't know how to describe it properly, which makes it even more frustrating. It is like Jim Carrey's humour. He looks so proud of how "good" his comedy is, but it's not, and I think his fans realize this but find this behaviour funny? So it's funny because it's not? (Not sure, I THINK that's why people like Jim Carrey)

Animaniacs and Tiny Toons' characters behave just like that: "We are so clever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (hmmm, not enough exclamation marks, but you get the idea)
 

Zanneck

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Yes, Animaniacs and Tiny Toons are so egocentric (?), so "Look how amazingly clever we are!". I don't know how to describe it properly, which makes it even more frustrating. It is like Jim Carrey's humour. He looks so proud of how "good" his comedy is, but it's not, and I think his fans realize this but find this behaviour funny? So it's funny because it's not? (Not sure, I THINK that's why people like Jim Carrey)

Animaniacs and Tiny Toons' characters behave just like that: "We are so clever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (hmmm, not enough exclamation marks, but you get the idea)
@Red Arrow @Fone Bone
Something tells me I should not revisit these shows, knowing how valid these criticisms are. Everyone likes to sing the praises of them, not getting that not everyone thinks like them that this behavior either show revels in is funny (overall). Glad to see someone out there understands there's more to good comedy/humor than that. It's just a FACT of life that few can truly accept anymore.
 

Dantheman

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One thing about Tiny Toons and Animaniacs I find insufferable is the dated early '90s references to stuff like Michael Keaton's Batman and jokes about William Shatner wearing a hairpiece and....Talking...justlikethis, but that's just me.
 

Zorak Masaki

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One thing about Tiny Toons and Animaniacs I find insufferable is the dated early '90s references to stuff like Michael Keaton's Batman and jokes about William Shatner wearing a hairpiece and....Talking...justlikethis, but that's just me.
I can see that, though it should be noted that cartoons have been making references to then-current pop culture since well, the beginning of cartoons (at least as early as the 30s). There's a reason why the "Jack Bunny" shorts arent aired that much nowadays for instance.
 

LinusFan303

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I'll do some what I think are underrated.

  • It's Pony This is a really good series, Nick picked a good series and yet they seem to just not care about it, story of many shows life. It's a great warm series I love the comedy and characters. Anne and Pony are great and the show has fun stories. I wish it had more love.
  • Penn Zero; Part Time Hero: Seen it mentioned before, but it was a great series, I loved the Quantum Leap concept it was well done, It kind of got over shadowed by having Star Vs. Premiere about a couple months later. I wish it had caught on a little more than it did, at least it got a conclusion.
  • Disney One Saturday Morning: Seen this one already too, but this block had some great stuff, you don't see their stuff featured in late 90's and 2000's discussions against CN and Nick stuff is sad. Pepper Ann is a great series, well done with a strong hear to it, Weekenders was a well done show, and the idea of doing just weekends is interesting how many stories they could get out of it.
  • Time Warp Trio : Discovery Kids really gets ignored, everyone mentions the Hub, but Discovery Kids gets lost. Time Warp Trio was a fun series based off books, the show was a fun mixture of characters and history.
  • Ollie's Pack : It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's really a fun series with a good mixture of things you'd want. I like the cast of characters, they are kind of stock characters but then have their own additions to give them something a little more, it's a fun series.

I think I'll that many for now...
 

Fone Bone

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Yes, Animaniacs and Tiny Toons are so egocentric (?), so "Look how amazingly clever we are!". I don't know how to describe it properly, which makes it even more frustrating.
How about smug? Insufferable? A show that puts on unearned airs? A bad chicken joke with pretentions? Tina Fey is allowed to joke that she's better than Jesus for the sole reason that she is. Anyone who does that who isn't just gets nothing but my scorn in return.

By the way. Tina Fey? We already know you're better than Jesus at this point. You've proved it multiple times. You can stop now. Please stop shoving it down our throats. It's getting annoying. And that's when the person ACTUALLY better than Jesus does it. You can't imagine how obnoxious I find Tiny Toons slams on The Simpsons to be. Because it's not better than Jesus. It's not even better than Darkwing Duck. Which is not a terribly high bar.

I'm feeling rude today towards old cartoons. Have you noticed?
 
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Zanneck

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How about smug? Insufferable? A show that puts on unearned airs? A bad chicken joke with delusions of pretention? Tina Fey is allowed to joke that she's better than Jesus for the sole reason that she is. Anyone who does that who isn't just gets nothing but my scorn in return.

By the way. Tina Fey? We already know you're better than Jesus at this point. You've proved it multiple times. You can stop now. Please stop shoving it down our throats. It's getting annoying. And that's when the person ACTUALLY better than Jesus does it. You can't imagine how obnoxious I find Tiny Toons slams on The Simpsons to be. Because it's not better than Jesus. It's not even better than Darkwing Duck. Which is not a terribly high bar.

I'm feeling rude today towards old cartoons. Have you noticed?
No, I love this rudeness. Keep it up. Express that opinion - bonus points is that you're winning me over with it, as there's some stuff I agree wholeheartedly with here that I wish more people saw. I, myself? As someone who grew up in the 90s and has to put up with all the nostalgia obsession and whining from others on a 24/7/365 basis, I can proudly say that far too many cartoons I've watched in the past decade (2010s, no matter what others may say or think about them) are better than Animaniacs and/or Tiny Toon Adventures, as it is IMHO, anyway.
 

pacman000

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I can see that, though it should be noted that cartoons have been making references to then-current pop culture since well, the beginning of cartoons (at least as early as the 30s). There's a reason why the "Jack Bunny" shorts arent aired that much nowadays for instance.
Felix Goes to Hollywood is the earliest I know of. Felix in Hollywood - Wikipedia
 

DBTrilogy100

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If I'm being honest, I feel that there is a tendency lately for some to be overly harsh towards works of fiction they don't like and I believe it has gotten to the point where I can't help but question why they would bother to keep watching something they clearly don't like and there are even some cases where I can't help but question why they bother to watch anything at all if they only have negative things (and maybe the occasional backhanded compliment) to say about pretty much everything. It also doesn't help when I have seen some of these individuals act needlessly defensive (dare I even say, hostile) towards those who question why they keep investing time and energy in something they clearly don't like, sometimes going so far as to accuse them of trying to silence anything bad about what they like.

Let me make this as clear as daylight that I am not saying constructive critique is a bad thing; it is perfectly possible for someone to find flaws in something they like but still find the overall product enjoyable. What I'm talking about goes far beyond constructive critique as an attitude that gives the false impression that there is no middle ground and acts like their word is law; it pretty much comes off as "hate watching", complaining about and/or picking apart every little detail, constantly coming back just to keep repeating their hatred without adding anything new/after already making their point and giving off the impression of treating their opinion as fact. Constructive critique is perfectly valid but I also believe there is such a thing as being too critical and setting your standards too high so that they can never be met; unfortunately, I feel like being too critical has become far too common these days and that attitude is just setting one up for misery.

Following up on my point about some treating their opinion as fact, I also feel that the manner of how some individuals express their opinions has gotten to a point where it has gotten far too antagonistic and give off the impression of acting like smug elitists who are "above" everyone else. I honestly get the feeling that some individuals don't seem to realize that the problem may not necessarily be their opinion (regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with it) but rather the manner it is expressed. As a tangent, the treating an opinion as fact attitude is precisely why "overrated" is one of my "pet peeve words" as I feel that is has lost its intended meaning and devolved into a buzzword that gets tossed around to callously dismiss a popular opinion and imply there's something "wrong" or "bad" with something being well liked by the majority. "Underrated" is also one of my "pet peeve words" although it is to a lesser extent as I don't see it tossed around to the same extent as its sibling term and I have seen a fair amount of its use being used to express feelings that something is overlooked more often than not rather than being a snobby elitist way of disagreeing with popular opinion.

Getting that out of the way, I will share 2 examples of shows I feel get more hate than they deserve from others. Of course, this is merely based on my reference pools and it may differ from the reference pools of others.

To start things off, I feel like ThunderCats (2011) is a show that tends to get an excessive amount of hate around here and among the franchise's extremist purist fans, especially after too many instances of hearing some being glad it got cancelled just because they didn't like it, which I find rather callous & tactless. Fair enough that some individuals didn't like the show but those individuals also had the choice to simply stop watching if they didn't like it while those who did enjoy the show were out of luck when it got cancelled which is why I find the gloating & cheering about it being cancelled to be extremely petty (dare I even say, spiteful). I wasn't a big fan of ThunderCats Roar but I simply walked away after giving it a chance along with my 2 cents and I'm willing to acknowledge it had concepts/ideas with potential (Lion-S, Barbastella and Skrimm are characters I would be open to seeing appear in future adaptations); I didn't keep investing time & energy in it after it was clear it wasn't for me and I didn't cheer & gloat about it getting cancelled.

While ThunderCats (2011) wasn't perfect and I would have made different choices for certain details if it were up to me, I still feel that the pros outweighed the cons and still considered it to be an enjoyable watch, overall. I definitely felt that there was heart and passion in ThunderCats (2011), which I can admire and appreciate along with the attention to detail. Based on the limited versions of the franchise, I would be inclined to consider embracing the "Fantasy Kitchen Sink" trope (different concepts such as aliens, magic, science-fiction, various myths & supernatural phenomenon co-existing) to be the "spirit" of ThunderCats for the time being. While the 2011 Series has a more serious atmosphere when compared to the 1985 Series, I still feel that it does embrace the Fantasy Kitchen Sink trope but simply presents it in a different manner compared to the 1985 Series. My re-watch of the 1985 Series' first season before watching the 2011 Series greatly helped me to catch similarities & differences between the two shows and I feel the 2011 Series was able to acknowledge aspects of the 1985 Series while still having its own identity and introducing its own spin & changes to other aspects. Some changes I found myself getting behind included Thundera being a kingdom on Third Earth rather than a separate planet, the ThunderCats & Mumm-Ra having a more personal history, Lion-O being a teen aging into adulthood naturally rather than a kid in an adult body, Lion-O & Tygra being adoptive brothers, Snarf not talking (much like Cringer in the 2002 He-Man Series), Grune being given a more prevalent role as Mumm-Ra's second-in-command (at least up to the halfway mark of Season 1), Jackalman, Monkian & Vultureman being given more distinct names ("Kaynar", "Addicus" & "Vultaire", respectively) and Ratar-O being an independent villain from the other animal villains (Mutants, as they were called in the 1985 Series). I also appreciated how the show was willing to acknowledge the shades of gray in morality (such as showing the Cats' society had problems that needed to be fixed and making it understandable why Slithe would side with Mumm-Ra even if his actions weren't agreeable and he ended up no better than those who wronged him) and highlight the dangers of the conflict (such as a willingness to acknowledge characters of any allegiance weren't necessarily safe from the Grim Reaper).

While I understand how the plans for Season 2 may have given some individuals concerns, I am a big believer that tropes/ideas/plots/concepts aren't inherently good or bad, it ultimately depends on the execution. Past experiences have lead to me learning to keep an open mind about something I might have reservations about initially and actually see how it is executed before forming my final thoughts about it; if I don't like something after seeing it executed, then I can, at least, say I gave it a fair shot and didn't jump to conclusions just based off of first impressions or preconceived notions. Unfortunately, we don't have any way of knowing how the Season 2 ideas would have been executed at this point in time but I still consider it unwise to act dismissive about them without seeing any kind of execution (especially when taking other variables and factors into consideration in a hypothetical scenario where production on Season 2 were to occur). It's one thing to make assumptions about how events would have panned out just by seeing it on paper/reading about the "clip notes version", it's an entirely different scenario to see the execution of how events would have unfolded.

The Legend of Korra is another show that I feel gets more hate than it really deserves, especially when compared to Avatar: The Last Airbender. While The Legend of Korra wasn't perfect and I do feel Avatar: The Last Airbender executed certain concepts better, I also feel The Legend of Korra did have its strengths and executed certain concepts better than Avatar: The Last Airbender did. To give an example, while I found myself preferring Aang's Team Avatar (Katara, Sokka, Toph & Zuko) over Korra's Team Avatar (Mako, Bolin & Asami), I actually found myself preferring Korra over Aang as a main character (let me also stress that I don't hate Aang, Mako, Bolin & Asami even if I prefer other characters). I also felt that The Legend of Korra addressed some of my grievances with the series finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender (such as conveying the concept of Energy Bending better and having Aang's unwillingness to finish off Yakone coming back to bite him), as another example of me feeling that The Legend of Korra executed certain concepts better than Avatar: The Last Airbender did.

Other examples of shows I feel get more hate than they deserve may come to me at a later time.
 

KeldeoKitty

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Cartoons I find underrated:

Uncle Grandpa: I’m not a big fan of it but it gets hate for being too goofy. Compared to other cartoons that have random humor this one is pretty tame.

Clarence: It’s a generic comedy and some of the characters are dorky like Clarence and Sumo but I got a kick at the laid back humor this show has.

We Baby Bears: Compared to We Bare Bears, this one has a lower IMDB rating and isn’t getting much discussion. As much as I dislike almost all spin-offs of TV shows because they are generally always vastly inferior to their parent show, this is one of the few ones I like especially considering age-down spin-offs have been overdone. I don’t mind it because We Bare Bears already did several Baby Bears episodes so it doesn’t feel so forced. That and it goes on various adventures akin to Adventure Time, the visuals are more vibrant and has a better opening and closing theme, so unlike most spin-offs a lot more passion has been put into it. I prefer We Baby Bears over it’s parent series, and every other baby spin-off. Dare I say I prefer We Baby Bears over Rugrats as well.

Unikitty!: This one gets compared to Teen Titans Go! Because of it’s similar animation and humor and has a lower than average IMDB rating. Actually Unikitty is very cute and charming even if it is hyper. It reminds me of My Little Pony or Littlest Pet Shop but funnier.

Summer Camp Island: This show doesn’t get a lot of praise or discussion especially compared to Infinity Train. This is of the most wholesome shows I’ve seen, it reminds me of a children’s book in the form of a cartoon so it makes me feel nostalgic, dare I say more nostalgic than most shows I grew up with. It has Adventure Time-esque plots and the shows tone is reminiscent of Moomin a wholesome children’s book series.

Jellystone!: It’s gotten some unfair hate either for having differences from the cartoons they were based on or for not being like Looney Tunes Cartoons or Animaniacs 2020, With some comparing it to Thundercats Roar. I’ll admit it’s not Greenblatt’s best but I still enjoy it for what it is and I like having it around because it uses characters that have been underutilized for decades.

Harvey Beaks and It’s Pony: While I loved Harvey Beaks I was kind of lukewarm on It’s Pony. If there was one show that Nick needed to care about it was Harvey Beaks for the quality of it’s production values and valuable messages that kids need. Still both shows are examples of cartoons Nick should’ve aired more often because they are a lot more pleasant than SpongeBob or the Loud House. In fact I actually prefer them over Nick’s 90’s shows as someone who grew up with them. Besides they aren’t too dark for kids like Invader Zim, they are actually much more appropriate and perfect for kids than what Nick usually airs so there was no reasonable excuse to treat them poorly through their run. At least Cartoon Network is being nice to Craig of the Creek.

Penn-Zero Part Time Hero: This show had some potential. A guy who takes the role of a different hero in various dimensions. Unfortunately it was brushed off and didn’t get nearly as much praise as Gravity Falls or Star vs. the Forces of Evil yet it had potential to be as ambitious.

Jing-Ju Cats: A very competent Chinese cartoon about cats who go on adventures in a fantasy world and fight monsters. It has a high IMDB rating but it’s really obscure, and I would’ve never heard of it if I didn’t find it while browsing Kabillion as there is almost no info on the internet about it. This cartoon shows the Chinese animation industry has potential and it’s not all about direct knock-offs. (I’m looking at you Miracle Star and the Autobots!)
 

ShadowBeast

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UNDERRATED:
Final Space- Unlike most adult shows with gross humor, this has some, no, this show has a lot of heart in it. The show's writers were able to give a scumbag like Clarence a hero's death in a way that is believable.
The way it was cancelled, and on such a ruthless cliff hanger, it's a crime.
 

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