Wait, you think there aren't any good live action series that's as good as action series? I would recommend watching Kamen Rider Zero One. The current Kamen Rider series that's running in the very long franchise.
I think action cartoons are making a resurrgence because its not as expensive as it once was and because services like netflix give you the content straight up which helps spread it around faster because they see the whole season rather than watching an episode which adds to a stronger recommendation. honestly i could see symbionic titan get some seasons if netflix wanted it.
Didn't Walt Disney say that when you make art specifically for kids, you're dooming yourselves to failure? After all, "what are adults but kids all grown up?"
Pretty much. Especially worse when you have a franchise that is known to cater the teens and adults...try to grab the kid audience as well. The result would be a horrible mishap that doesn't know what it wants to be that ends up driving away the kids and enraging the existing fanbase. The anime Gundam Age is a good example.
Months ago I rewatched the series, and it was a nostalgia trip. I used to watch it every Friday right after Ben 10. I think part of the reason why it tanked is because of that. CN gave it no love and it had to compete with Ben 10 on the same animation block (Sym-Bionic Titan used to also be after Ben 10)
I honestly believe there is no story that is told better through live-action rather than animation. I really don't understand why people want live-action versions of things or things to be made in live-action so badly.
@@CalastantNight Cheaper sure but it doesn't change that properly animated it would be better. There are plenty of reasons not to animate, but I just believe that a properly budgeted version of any story would be better animated.
Live action has its own appeal to people who aren't as into animated stuff as you and me. Different audiences I think even though there is obviously some overlap.
Haruhiro Grimgar live action is inherently more realistic than animation and as such usually works better for mundane stories. Animation can do a lot of cool things but it can't convey the nuances of human body language as well as an actual human can, so if your story is nothing but humans interacting in everyday environments why bother going to the trouble of animating it?
Is it weird that I kinda dislike anime somewhat because of this I mean don’t get me wrong anime is great but not everything in the west is straight up crap
Finally someone mentions "Motorcity"! That was such an *AWESOME* show nobody seems to remember, just like "Megas XLR", which, coincidentally, was made by basically the same crew!
@@quatreunhuit Yep, and I love the influences of Takeshi Koike's "Red Line" on the show. The extreme camera angles, the lighting and colors, the underground cyberpunk feel of the world's environment, it's all so freaking cool! I only wish Megas could've been animated like that back when they were working on it in 2004-2005 at CN, because there's only so much a Korean studio filled with work can achieve, specially with how short the pre-production time for western shows usually is.
@Peek- At -Ch'you What I'm trying to say is that action cartoons are basically dead now, while there might be one or two action cartoons here and there that's not really enough to satisfy the itch.
I'm glad you mentioned Castlevania Netflix series, we need more action cartoons. If you didn't watch it already, Samurai Jack had a final season like two years ago
generator rex is so good. one of my favorite cartoons of all times. its one of the few cartoons that finished its story, without dragging on or overstaying it’s welcome. it’s such a shame it’s underrated, but i’m glad more people are talking about it on youtube.
@@liam-ethanwallis4924 True, the ending felt rushed. One problem with Generator Rex was that story progression felt uneven. I don't think we ever really knew what happened to Van Kleiss and Breach in the end either.
I really like Generator Rex, but I think the show's biggest problem is that it has too many filler episodes; like that one episode where they play ping-pong, or whatever, it's my least favorite because nothing interesting happens. To be fair, that might have to do with the uncertainty of whether the show would get cancelled or not and its occasional hiatuses, since it can be difficult for writers to plan around that. Season 2 is my favorite, and Lions & Lambs is my favorite episode. I just wish they'd had fleshed out the characters a bit more.
@@AnimaVox_ Lion and Lambs is my favorite as well. There was a lot of character development for Rex in that episode. That's also why I like this series so much. Rex is a boy with superpowers, but underneath he's still the same as every other teenager. He's a little cocky at times, and not always easy to handle, but in the end the only things he wants is a family and friends.
@@JH24821 Yes, that's exactly one of the reasons why I liked it. I also really liked Rex's development, how he goes from an arrogant and somewhat self-centered boy, to a young man that genuinely cares about helping people, even if it's someone on the other side, like Breach. Lions & Lambs really delivered on that character development, with both Rex and Breach. I wish we'd gotten to know more about her too.
It actually is. Popular with both kids and adults, critical acclaim, an actual toyline, at least 52 episodes, etc. It did better than 2011 Thundercats.
Another aspect of the dark age of action cartoons: Critics and anime. Critics absolutely LOVE to rip a cartoon a new one for being "too anime", I know for sure that played a part in the downfall of the Thundercats reboot and I wouldn't be surprised if that was also true for the other shows. Whether it is art teachers, animation studios or show critics EVERYONE hates anime influence, I don't know how much of that is being narrow-minded and how much is they were annoyed by one weeb too many but I have heard it too often to not be true. There is a fine balancing act of detail, animation and writing in order to not get slandered as an "anime wannabe" so with new shows they had pretty much given up on action cartoons. *EDIT:* To make it clear I have no problem myself with anime influences in shows and am aware critics are less harsh on actual anime. However for some reason they dislike it when they feel that a show that is not anime has some anime parallels like they assume it is trying to be an anime wannabe or something.
I always hated that. Especially since old action toon cults like SWAT KATS looked just like anime. Some people have forgotten there was a time where anime and western toons were visual equals.
@@stardustcodon926 Not to mention that part of the reason why a lot of action cartoons had anime-like animation is because they are partly made in Japan! Tons of shows were outsourced to overseas studios in Asian countries particularly Japan and still are! I don't think a western cartoon has been solely made in America in decades!
Considering Anime has become a growing influence within Pop Culture and in many circles of nerd culture, I think it is a matter of time before the critics who strike down Anime like or (likely a better way of putting it) 'Anime-lite' shows are going to be pushed out and replaced by critics who flatout enjoy animation and fans hosting there own awards and the like.
Another reason is because most of the shows were hated by their producers, thunder cats and symbiotic titan were despised by the corporate heads at Cartoon Network, and they were determined to save the show was destined to die by rearranging the time blocks constantly changing up when they were wearing not notifying the schedulers everything. I don't know the corporate history on generator. But something tells me there was some corporate meddling in their too and let's not forget the corporate meddling in a lot of other series. This comes down to even the concept of not releasing the toys for when they decide to release the toys they release it in the areas where nobody can get or by said toys without being hardly confuse. I mean, I've barely saw a single commercial advertising the thunder cats toys with the show, thunder cats, which is a sign that says you're not in the mood to sell your toys to fund the product.
yeah , the creators outright said at one point young justice was canceled because it had high female viewership over young boys , and girls"dont buy toys" so they canceled it.
I always hated it when channels would put the shows I actually wanted to watch on time blocks I wouldn’t normally be able to watch (too early in the morning or during school hours).
FCC regulations stare that you can't advertise products connected to the show that they're on. In short, you can't advertise Thundercats toys or products during Thundercats
And I know that he explains heard from his you. What a failure is from the business side but what I considered a failure is that you were unable to finish what was originally planned out for your show or is left on a cliffhanger or opened ended
@@sirmel11 that one is in a more unique situation, Spectacular Spider-Man was cancelled because when Disney bought Marvel they gave Sony the option of EITHER: keep the TV rights to the character or keep the film rights to the character, Sony chose the film rights so they couldn't continue making Spider-Man content for television
Young justice made me sad when it changed in "invasion" I think. I wanted what we already had to be expanded on, so instead I turned to fanfic. Lot's of fan fic. That slowly turned into romance fanfic and shipping. I was 12
I think Young Justice is one cartoon that should've stayed dead after the narrative mess S02 was, because, hell, those new eps are even more awful! DC's animated features are going through a dark age of mediocre writting and SJW fan service that I'm really not fond of...
The original Thundercats cartoon wasn't that great to begin with because their was hardly any violence and the action and fighting scenes were very bland and poor.
The show had such a big hiatus between seasons you can almost count it as a failure. Heck, they even got a hiatus between half of a season and half of another
Well, I know of one 2010's action cartoon that succeeded: *Ninjago* And it's so successful, that it's still going on today 9 years after it was first released. And the reasons it survived, I think, are the toy sales it drove (obviously), the quality stories it produced, and being similar enough to anime so it could hitch a boost in popularity as anime became more mainstream.
Here in Brazil all, and i mean ALL of this cartoons were big hits in this time period, since the television schedule of their airing was acessible and the toy industry was marketing them heavely. Especially generator rex. Which appealed heavely to south and central american culture and and day-to-day life. And his narrative structure was similar to the telenovelas ingrained in our culture mixed with sci-fi action, which was a nice touch. And the blocks where this animetions were airing are beloved to this day here as a golden age. So that was my two cents on the subject. Love your channel, and thanks for your nice work ^-^
@Angello! R. "Anime is not even popular in Latin America" *LOL* Do you even know how big the "Dragon Ball", "Bleach", "One Piece", "Saint Seiya" and "Naruto" fandoms are down here? They're HUGE! ! ! Not to mention all the other recent shows with enormous and still growing fandoms, like "One Punch Man", "Mob Psycho" and "Boku no Hero Academia", to name a few.
@@guilhermevianabarbosa803 Heidi, Candy Candy, Sakura Card Captor, Inuyaza, Super Campeones, Doraemon, Ranma 1/2, Pokémon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh. They are a lot, since the 80's.
The term "not actors" is easily stretched by greedy corporations where if they can, they will RUclipsrs don't have much to lose from being honest about being sponsored or not. So even if they're greedy they're actually more likely to be upfront about sponsors as being on good terms with them could influence more down the line (maybe anyway) But you can sometimes pick up on how dishonest a RUclipsr just by watching them so it's easier to feel they aren't lying
Star Wars Rebels and TMNT 2012 actually thrived this time of the death of the action cartoons. Yeah they had their comedy and filler episodes but the center was action
Disney canned Tron: Uprising and Motorcity cus they bought Star Wars around that time, so they figured "why bother supporting these shows when you got a money making machine like Star Wars" -But then one confusing trilogy, 2 anthologies one losing money than earning it and soon to be cancelling "Star wars: Resistance" later, they might have to regret saying that. we'll just have to see if it comes out on Disney+
Loved the video mate. As a person who grew up watching action cartoons I'm glad someone took the time to address situation you referred to as the "Dark Age of Action Cartoons"
To be fair some action cartoons were cancelled for stupid reasons, such as Young Justice. That was cancelled because the higher ups felt that the show was doing too well with a demographic they didn't want I.E. it had a higher female viewership than male and they shut the show down because of that. A lot of the other action shows tended to "Fail" because no matter how good of a show you had, it was harder to sell toys with serialized shows like that and thus since the toy sales just weren't there those shows would then be cancelled.
Thinking about that reasons is compete bull and ironically funny as My Little pony had the same problem but via versa with the demographic yet it still got on to have a lot more season... shame it was with Young Justice though.
Some of my favorite action cartoons shows Ben 10 ThunderCats OG and 2011. Generator Rex Mega XLR SWAT KATS. Ninja Turtles. StormHawks. Hot Wheels Battle Force 5. He-Man Justice League Unlimited/Bat Man animated shows/ OG X-men and 90s Spiderman. Teen Titans OG. Young Justice. Samurai jack Transformers. Clone Wars/Rebels Avatar's last air bender.
Damn no mention of Tron: Uprising, it happened to come out during that time period and unfortunately only had 1 season. Art-wise I doubt I'll ever see anything quite like it again it was Ufotable level in my opinion. I hope someday they make another season with the same studio the ending left me craving more. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. Green Lantern: The Animated Series is another cartoon from that time period that I'd highly recommend. 7:56 This looks super cool. Since you asked Ironman Armored Adventures, Batman Beyond, Justice League, JL Unlimited, Young Justice, all the DCAMU movies, Batman: The Mystery of Batwoman, and Planet of the Hulk are all fantastic.
We want action shows back! We’re tired of only goofy kid shows! I want Rex to come back because I didn’t give him a chance until his last episode aired and I loved it. And Danny Phantom because a new chapter in his life started when he and sam got together and the world learned his identity and sees him as a hero
@@SteamingHillenturds Because the merchandise is where they make most of their money. That and DVD/Blueray sales. Just look at the 80's, back then most if not all cartoons were made primarily to sell toys.
@@leetri You're right. Because the animation and art style has to be good, toys need to sell in order for the show to continue. Shows like young justice got canceled due to poor toy sales.
I tried to watch Generator Rex but CN kept moving it around making it hard to keep up with it. Then they rushed the last season leaving questions unanswered. But at least it got an ending unlike Symbiotic Titans or Thundercats or I’m surprised you left out He-man 2012. I’m also on the look out for good action cartoon series but have yet to find one except in Anime. I don’t know if Carmen Sandiego counts as an action cartoon. I tend to view it as an educartoon.
A cartoon I miss was transformers prime it was supposed to have a fourth season but they preferred to end the saga with a movie (wich is pretty cool actually). Still feels like there were more stories to tell but the show was cancelled after that
I heard a theory that action cartoons actually "died" because of anime. The point is, making animation for action shows is much more expensive (more detail, a lot of elaborate moves etc), so with massive introduction of anime to western audiences (about 1990-2000) many channels saw it to be more profitable to buy rights to show anime instead of investing into creating their own action shows. It also affected western action animation in the way that it often has some similarities to anime in terms of art style or plot tropes.
I feel like it just fills the void of action cartoons instead since anime started to be more popular by the beginning of the 2010s which is where all the action cartoons started to disappear
@@BBBHuey The end of Avengers: EMH Season 2 was so rushed it hurts. Like, you KNOW they wanted to give it the best send off they could, but they 1-episode an entire season with of Galactus, and the entire Surter plot setup for season 3 never came to be.
The thunder cats reboot was a really good show and the only reason it died is cuz CN wanted to. 🙄 (so they could write it off their taxes.. ) On top of that, they animated in Japan, which made it good quality but it costs more than getting it animated in China or Korea where alot of the new cartoon network shows get animated. And they kept moving the darn show's time slot.. it went from a nighttime schedule to a Saturday morning show at 7am.. which means less people are gonna watch cuz some people aren't early birds.. especially adult viewers (who are the main targets of reboots in general..) Also they would change the schedule without telling anybody.. no commercials nor ads warning viewers that their show was switching time slots.. (same thing they did with young justice.. which forced alot of viewers to buy individual episodes in the apple store.. I remember, they were bragging how young justice was topping the download charts. ) network literally set up their show to fail by making it harder to find. Honestly, it's a no brainer why people pirated a show that was easier to find online than on air... Also because the thunder cats reboot followed a continuous story line watching out of order is not possible.. which makes putting it online all the more reasonable. Keeping the episodes in the same spot for binge watching.. is the best way for action cartoons to continue long story lines.. but yeah, I was super upset with the cancellation of thunder cats and still am! 😑
espio329 there’s going to be a “go” version of Thundercats? Never before have I been so reaffirmed in my decision to cut tv from the rest of my life than before now.
Im a bit older so growing up I was flooded with Swat Katz, Gargoyles, Batman TAS, Jackie Chan, Street Sharks, so its interesting to see how it changed! nice video!
Disney Channel and Disney XD have action adventure cartoons such as Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Resistance, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: United They Stand.
While I can't say anything about the Star Wars shows; there Marvel programs aren't very good and are most used as a tools to sell MCU related stuff. Go watch some of Average Assemble and then watch Avengers: United They Stand.
Winx Club was a good action cartoon...then Nickelodeon came and ruined it. World of Winx is good but, like Generator Rex and Symbionic Titan, too "underground".
As someone who’s watched Winx Club since the beginning...I have to disagree. I wouldn’t even call it an “action cartoon”. It’s a magical girl show. Yes, that means it has action in it, but it’s always been weighed down by the typical magical girl tropes, especially transformations. Also, while Nickelodeon did make things worse, the show had a lot of problem before they got involved. There are tons of plot holes (in the whole series, not just the later seasons); a lot of filler episodes; and a lot of worldbuilding elements that aren’t explained and/or make no sense.
The problem with action cartoons on streaming services is that they're really expensive. Since streaming services only make money off of a popular show if it draws subscribers, and the streaming market is already pretty saturated by Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix already (let alone all the new streaming services coming online from Disney+, and Warner's HBO Max, and NBC/Universal's Peacock) it's going to be hard for a single show to really pull in subscribers, even it becomes a must-watch cultural phenomena. That leaves the only way for a streaming service to make money off a cartoon like some sort of Thundercats or He-man show, will be through merchandising. And, one of the reasons several of the shows you listed, as well as Young Justice (another of the excellent action cartoons from the 2010 era - but somehow didn't make your list) "failed" was their failure to generate toy sales. And, I don't know if you've visited your toy section at your favorite Target or Walmart or whatever, action/adventure toys don't sell well. There used to be 2 or 3 aisles for toys from Transformers to Star Wars, Superheroes and Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers to Professional Wrestlers. Now-a-days that's all compressed down to one aisle. While the girl's section has a half an aisle dedicated to just My Little Pony, let alone the whole aisle of Barbie stuff, and the under 6 kids need more and more space for Paw Patrol and PJ Masks toys. The toy industry has struggled to find something that can draw older boys' toy-buying dollars. They don't want to buy some $7 Iron-man action figure with their allowance, they don't want their grandma to buy them some $20 transformer; because all their allowance and birthday/Christmas money is going towards that next $60 game dropping for their Switch or Playstation. Because of that, my own outlook for the future of action-oriented adventure cartoons is pretty bleak. There's little incentive or profit to be made in producing them, and, they're just too expensive to animate compared to cheap flash-animated stuff like MLP or TT Go.
@@yashwardhansingh4787 *You just contradicted yourself.* By declaring any animation would be considered "anime" in Japan you have effectively discredited the use of the word "anime" as only being Japanese. I agree, and here's some more "Cartoon" originally meant the material a drawing was printed on and not the drawing itself. Isn't it interesting how definitions can change?
I really recommend Cannon Busters on Netflix. Haven't seen almost anyone talk about it yet. It's really underrated and I believe that it flew under many peoples radar.
Based on what review i red, Cannon Buster is basically made by the wrong Philosophy of "Wierd=Anime". The same philosophies followed by neoyokio and shit. For what i red and heard, and few scene i saw on RUclips. It trows so many anime tropes on it, seemingly not knowing the context of the trope but instead, just to hit a hidden check box of some sort. It also turns me off hard it tries to pander on the style of cowboy beebop and how hard it tries to pander on black culture. Not that its wrong, but you can tell that its forcing it self. That's just personal opinion though.
I’ve never cared about animation being only for kids, mostly cuz of adult cartoons but mostly cuz idc, especially cuz my favorite tv show is miraculous ladybug and I started watching it in the beginning of season 1, I think the most recently aired episode at that time was Lady WiFi, the first time she was akumazied, and the reason why I didn’t care is because I was 10 so I was the targeted audience they were looking for, and I still love the show just as much as I did at 10 even tho I’m turning 18 soon and am graduating high school, Idc what anyone says cuz I can like whatever I want and if someone doesn’t like it, just don’t watch it and let people like what they like
I think an important element to this is also how the networks treated the shows. Transformers Prime was also an action series around this period of time, and I don't have the numbers, but it always seemed like it did really well, especially for a series (then-exclusively) on a premium cable channel, since it had three seasons and a movie, but it also was given good time slots, which a lot of networks ended up not doing for many of these action shows (Especially Cartoon Network). But Transformers is also an interesting case because later series did lean more towards the humor end, so I think it is also a generational shift (But also a shift because they were now showing on cartoon network, which wants shows featuring more comedic elements) basically what im saying is please watch every transformers series if you havent already but especially prime
Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters on Netflix is pretty good. It has a good 2000s action cartoon feel and some great plot twists and stories later on.
Wow, your analysis is so accurate it’s scary. I had no interest in anime at all when I was younger (I had some weird cousins who were absolutely crazy about it at the time, so it was a little unfairly stigmatized in my family), but I missed Avatar, Thundercats and Generator Rex so badly that I couldn’t help but be drawn in by the gorgeous art that some contemporary animes had at the time - now I’m not embarrassed at all to say I’m a huge fan. Live action never particularly elicited my interest when I was little, and even now that I’m 22 there’s very little in live action movies or television that gives me the sense of awe and adrenaline that my favourite animated shows do. I feel like a grumpy old lady who just finished yelling at kids to get off my lawn, but honestly the cartoons back in my day were just SO much better - children now are only exposed to cheap computer animated crap (don’t get me started on Disney ‘animation’ now OH MY GOD) with zero imagination ...I can vividly remember being little and just so excited, I couldn’t wait to get outside and reenact the most exciting scenes from my favourite cartoons. anyway, rant concluded. (I feel like a huge fossil now ...time to hop on my mobility scooter and go feed some pigeons 😔)
I've always seen Titans/Korra/Gen-Rex/Titan as shows for the "older kids". Problem is that when these older kids grew up eventually they got kids of their own too. As a friend of mine pointed out, these new parents would rather want something light and breezy to watch with their toddlers. I think this is also why Adventure Time, Gumball, and Regular Show got a bit big during this time period... it's because those shows appealed to BOTH toddlers who just laughed at the goofy hijinks and their parents who got all the pop culture references. Case in point, my mom used to take care of this 7 year old girl (we co-inhabited with another family, it was a huge house), and that kid watched Regular Show with me religiously back when it was kinda big. My mom, who never appreciated the animated stuff, would always remark how we that kid and I laughed at different parts of the same show.
For me, who grew up with a younger brother, 10 years younger, I would not let him watch Gumball or Adventure time (well, mostly Gumball). I was fine with Regular Show as I feel it didn't go over the top and it had some really cool moments (Mordekai delivering the T-shirt to margaret, him driving her to the airport, the much later Synth Battle in it's final episodes, Skips backstory), but Gumball was just: NO. The humor was mostly bad and the worst part was the attitude of the main characters: dumb and self-entitled with absolutely no real consequences. Of course, my parents did not get this and just wanted to get rid of his tantrums so he would go on and watch them anyways at times. And it clearly shows. A few years later, he's a narcisistic, entitled little bastard and that's not the worst he has ever been in this timeframe.
@@nottoday3817 yeah, Gumball was something else, I've always felt it was a primetime FOX show (like the Simpsons, or Family Guy) disguised as CN kid's toon...
try do a video about why western cartoons have less genres than anime. like the isekai genre. the only western isekai that come to my mind are amphibia,infinity train over the garden wall......samurai jack and.....maybe star vs the forces of evil?the last one may not be a reverse isekai. also why don't we hear the thoughts of cartoon characters like we do with anime characters?
There's another one in 90s called King Arthur's and the knights of Justice. It was about a football team going back in time of wizards and magic. Story was good, but the animation was not.
Because back then creators wanted to experiment and do their thing instead of making neatly packaged shows full of the same old trite tropes as everyone else, and these days lazy comedy is the "Golden" (i.e. profitable) standard. And as the mustachioed man said, most of those shows aren't character driven.
It's not really a genre, it's a troupe. That plot point has been around for forever. It's not uncommon for troupes to become genres if they are popular enough. The body switching troupe comes to mind. There's certain expectations with that troupe, for example body switching movies are typically cheesy comedies because a serious take of the troupe would get dark real quick. Same thing applies with Isekai as a genre.
Thundercats (2011), Young Justice, Green Lantern and Sym-Bionic Titan failed because for a number of reasons due to Cartoon Network's incompetence. 1st Scheduling: Constant movement, numerous hiatuses, and zero advertisements, how are you suppose to watch the show if you don't know where it is? 2nd Product sales: The reason why they worked in the 80's and 90's is because they advertised everything everywhere, these shows had none after they premiered. How were kids suppose to buy the products if they don't know they exist? Heck, I use to go to Toys R Us a lot saw nothing on the shelves. and 3rd The Demographic: Word has been going around of too many Girls or age inappropriate viewers cause these too, but that's still up in the air. Bat Man the Brave and the Bold and Generator Rex worked because they faced none of these problems. Korra was moved due to declining rating, Nick still knew what they were doing especially with their new big hit at the time, the 2012 CGI TMNT. Action Cartoons can still work they just need more respect and better planning, not some half-assed "Oh well, whatever" job!
@@GamerSlyRatchet1 Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder. Let's just hope that the next president of Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. can do something about this folly.
I miss you Ben 10(original), Teen Titans(original), Avatar: The Last Airbender, Transformers Animated and Transformers Prime. I'll always remember you...
This video made me think of three series that I LOVED (One of which I still do love) as a kid Magi Nation Spider Riders Redakai All of these shows I think you should do a "What Happened To" video on
yeah, I'd love to learn what happened to Redakai. I remembered it with your sayingbut itwas amazing and I think they didn't translate the whole thing to my language.(Most shows are translated very late or not at all though)
Some action cartoons I can think of would be The Dragon Prince, The Tales of Arcadia series (start with Trollhunters first) and some older ones would be Godzilla: The Animated Series (not too shabby), Gargoyles, Hot Wheels World Race and Acceleracers, Transformers Prime, Beast Wars, and Transformers Animated. I feel like toy deals and trying to make things kid friendly over trying to tell a good story really screws over action cartoons. And its a damn shame because I never watched Thundercats (mainly because they never really advertised it) that clip shown looks absolutely badass.
If you want a reasonable action cartoon from the 2000s to talk about there's class of the titans. It's a Canadian cartoon based on greek mythology where the main characters are the descendants of greek hero's like heracles, achilles and Jason and the argonauts.
can you make a video researching why cartoons have gone from a more dark and gritty palette like Batman Beyond and TMNT 2003 to a need for more vibrant palettes? how does the mood and overall theme of shows change when changing its lighting and its effect on viewers and does that change its quality as a show?
Merchandising was definitely the downfall of several shows from this era - especially the Thundercats reboot. They couldn't compete with the shows that had better collectible toys.
Was it so hard to make figures and dolls based off of the new one though? Like, who wouldn't want Lion-o's castle? Or the sword? Or a playset based off of the creepy forest etc?
@@amandaslough125 By all means, some people really did want them. That said the Thundercats reboot was on during the Saturday Toonami block rather than during the week. I think that in part made it difficult to advertise for it.
@@Axelablaze How would that make it more difficult? Saturday afternoons are when kids and teens have the most free time to watch TV, which is when they'd see advertisements
@@stevenhiggins3055 Saturday afternoons and evenings were harder to advertise for (and still are for that matter) because Saturday is the most common day off for people. They make plans, go out, and do other things rather than watch TV. That's why most major networks run syndicated shows and movies rather than air new content and most advertisers just phone it in. Saturday mornings were the exception, but the Saturday morning cartoon blocks we knew back in the day are a thing of the past.
It's always interesting to hear stories about how relatively recently anime became mainstream in countries like the US. I grew up in France and, where anime was THE kid tv show staple. I always have to remind myself that most English speaking peeps discovered stuff like Dragon Ball 15+ years after I did (no seriously you guys have no idea, anime was ALL over our TVs) and we even had stuff like City Hunter and Fist if the North Star.
On the bright side, seems like action cartoons are on the way back into fashion, with shows like Castlevania, the two new He-Man reboots, Invincible, etc. Hopefully it sticks this time.
Honestly i was so happy when i saw Sym Bionic Titan on Netflix i hope more pple will like it and see it so it will turn into a Netflix original and get a season 2 that show needs a second season
the best part about action cartoons to me are the fact that the characters develop and change over time. you feel like you've been on the journey with them if it's done right
Man that’s a shame, I always loved more action cartoons rather than just the nonsense and comical ones, even before this “ dark age “ of the 2010’s, justice league, static shock, samurai jack..
For me, anime raised my expectations for animation so high that western cartoons look pathetic in comparison. This happened to me at a very young age, I watched DragonBall Z with my uncle and no other western cartoon had the fights, the deaths, and the absurdity that anime did. Any cartoon I like is strictly nostalgic, and I probably couldn't argue that they're good on their own.
In Mexico, Generator Rex was a bit more popular than in the US probably because Ben 10 really exploded in Latin America and kids really wanted something of that style (quirky sci-fi action), something Men of Action could only provide.
I haven't heard anyone mention Generator Rex in a long time. Other than that I do believe there's hope for action animation in the future. In recent years we've had Castlevania, Samurai Jack season 5 and Primal. They're more geared toward an adult audience, but I'm sure it can become more popular.
Holy shit, you have enlightened me. I stopped watching cartoons and moved to anime. I never even realized it had happened. Holy shit my brain is small.
Also, did you know there's shirts. I have shirts: teespring.com/stores/negatives-store
When you showed Astartes, my 40k Fanboy meter went to extreme! I can't wait for Angels of Death to come out
hero 108
Wait, you think there aren't any good live action series that's as good as action series? I would recommend watching Kamen Rider Zero One. The current Kamen Rider series that's running in the very long franchise.
Negative Legend it’s also more difficult to convince companies to make something to appeal to guys
I think action cartoons are making a resurrgence because its not as expensive as it once was and because services like netflix give you the content straight up which helps spread it around faster because they see the whole season rather than watching an episode which adds to a stronger recommendation. honestly i could see symbionic titan get some seasons if netflix wanted it.
Didn't Walt Disney say that when you make art specifically for kids, you're dooming yourselves to failure? After all, "what are adults but kids all grown up?"
@Alexander Exactly
I've seen similar quotes and ones I've made myself floating around similar to this
Pretty much. Especially worse when you have a franchise that is known to cater the teens and adults...try to grab the kid audience as well. The result would be a horrible mishap that doesn't know what it wants to be that ends up driving away the kids and enraging the existing fanbase.
The anime Gundam Age is a good example.
@@secondsein7749 Legend of Kora in some cases, as well as many others.
Avatar the Last Airbender is one of the few who cater to all three audiences real well from what I can see.
Don't you DARE to remind me about the cancellation of Thunder Cats
at least we will get roar im a right?
@@pierreprtn4059 Well yes, but actually no
At least Toonami is wanting to rerun it soon
Pupil Potato how dare he remind me of that cancellation of sym bionic titian
@@theberrby6836 what my eyes are seeing??? Could this be true??????
Action cartoons like Generator Rex was so underrated and under appreciated.
@@sfozo2485 so relatable
Their was also this anime called LBX it was underrated and almost no one knew about it.
I know!!!!! I loved this cartoon.
💯
Months ago I rewatched the series, and it was a nostalgia trip. I used to watch it every Friday right after Ben 10. I think part of the reason why it tanked is because of that. CN gave it no love and it had to compete with Ben 10 on the same animation block (Sym-Bionic Titan used to also be after Ben 10)
I honestly believe there is no story that is told better through live-action rather than animation. I really don't understand why people want live-action versions of things or things to be made in live-action so badly.
I assume it's cheaper to use props, CGI, and live actors than it is to hire an entire team of animators and artists.
@@CalastantNight Cheaper sure but it doesn't change that properly animated it would be better. There are plenty of reasons not to animate, but I just believe that a properly budgeted version of any story would be better animated.
because people believe that live-action is more mature than animation
Live action has its own appeal to people who aren't as into animated stuff as you and me. Different audiences I think even though there is obviously some overlap.
Haruhiro Grimgar live action is inherently more realistic than animation and as such usually works better for mundane stories. Animation can do a lot of cool things but it can't convey the nuances of human body language as well as an actual human can, so if your story is nothing but humans interacting in everyday environments why bother going to the trouble of animating it?
Action cartoons: _begin to fade away_
Japan: allow us to introduce ourselves
@@SteamingHillenturds
Heck manga is over shadowing comics
Ron Doe gotta fill the void somehow, the comedy cartoons ain’t really cutting it.
@@Comkill117 and why cartoon network nowadays is dead
Is it weird that I kinda dislike anime somewhat because of this I mean don’t get me wrong anime is great but not everything in the west is straight up crap
@@brandonjones7151 There's some great stuff in the west, but you really have to dig deeper than you do with anime. It's kinda sad tbh
‘Avatar was their strongest series’
*AND NEVER THINK TWICE ABOUT THAT SENTENCE*
Strongest action series
Not a korra fan, but even I'll admit its bending was beautifully done.
The Great Walrus meh
Spongebob
@@pinchman2946 the animation feels amazing seeing some animation test
Anyone remember Firebreather on Cartoon Network it was a TV movie
Oh yeah thanks i completely forgot the name for so long
I do it was only aired maybe 3 times and that was it. I was shocked it got a cameo in OK KO's Cartoon Nexus episode.
Based on a comic.
I remember Fire Breather it was my favorite show when I was 6
I have the dvd and I need to re watch it
"Sym-bionic tiatan this, Generator rex that, Thundercats this and that" Let's talk about an action show most people _actually_ forgot, Motorcity.
Finally someone mentions "Motorcity"! That was such an *AWESOME* show nobody seems to remember, just like "Megas XLR", which, coincidentally, was made by basically the same crew!
@@guilhermevianabarbosa803 right? This show was sakuga fest!
@@quatreunhuit Yep, and I love the influences of Takeshi Koike's "Red Line" on the show. The extreme camera angles, the lighting and colors, the underground cyberpunk feel of the world's environment, it's all so freaking cool!
I only wish Megas could've been animated like that back when they were working on it in 2004-2005 at CN, because there's only so much a Korean studio filled with work can achieve, specially with how short the pre-production time for western shows usually is.
@@guilhermevianabarbosa803 Oh, I didn't know that, I'll watch Grandline then, Thanks for the recomandation, bro.
Loved that show
*"Why Action Cartoons Fail"*
*Wakfu:* _Must be a Glitch in the Matrix_
Damn straight
The animation was terrible, It had clunky movements
@Shaman Xeed alright, then I'll try the other seasons, it just looks like someone was using paper to move the character
Wakfu was from the late 2000s when action cartoons were popular
Wakfu was from France, a place that has never really had a problem with action shows.
I miss Symbionic Titan...
It's on Netflix right now
But we want season 2😭
I was sooo upset they didnt continue
Still hoping that they bring it to adult swim
@@glitchmenlord4790 RIGHT!!?
Action cartoons had everything from good fights to good character deigns, and development to good comedy and good life lessons
Or you could just watch anime, that works too.
Children’s card games like yu-gi-oh did stuff like this well
@Peek- At -Ch'you What I'm trying to say is that action cartoons are basically dead now, while there might be one or two action cartoons here and there that's not really enough to satisfy the itch.
@Peek- At -Ch'you Okay, that's fair.
@Peek- At -Ch'you You too.
I'm glad you mentioned Castlevania Netflix series, we need more action cartoons.
If you didn't watch it already, Samurai Jack had a final season like two years ago
Samurai Jack 👌
Castlevania wasn't good because it was an action cartoon. It's good because it had good writers with memorable and fun characters.
@@ravenfrancis1476 not only that, the animation and art direction was insanely good
Mohammed Al Nass Animation is almost completely irrelevant to the quality of a show
@@ravenfrancis1476 This is false, why would someone watch a show with bad animation? Just read a book or comic then.
generator rex is so good. one of my favorite cartoons of all times. its one of the few cartoons that finished its story, without dragging on or overstaying it’s welcome. it’s such a shame it’s underrated, but i’m glad more people are talking about it on youtube.
Audrey Rose It also kinda got rushed at the end sadly. The final villains were obviously meant to but were not given enough time to 'simmer'
@@liam-ethanwallis4924 True, the ending felt rushed. One problem with Generator Rex was that story progression felt uneven. I don't think we ever really knew what happened to Van Kleiss and Breach in the end either.
I really like Generator Rex, but I think the show's biggest problem is that it has too many filler episodes; like that one episode where they play ping-pong, or whatever, it's my least favorite because nothing interesting happens. To be fair, that might have to do with the uncertainty of whether the show would get cancelled or not and its occasional hiatuses, since it can be difficult for writers to plan around that. Season 2 is my favorite, and Lions & Lambs is my favorite episode. I just wish they'd had fleshed out the characters a bit more.
@@AnimaVox_ Lion and Lambs is my favorite as well. There was a lot of character development for Rex in that episode. That's also why I like this series so much. Rex is a boy with superpowers, but underneath he's still the same as every other teenager. He's a little cocky at times, and not always easy to handle, but in the end the only things he wants is a family and friends.
@@JH24821 Yes, that's exactly one of the reasons why I liked it. I also really liked Rex's development, how he goes from an arrogant and somewhat self-centered boy, to a young man that genuinely cares about helping people, even if it's someone on the other side, like Breach. Lions & Lambs really delivered on that character development, with both Rex and Breach. I wish we'd gotten to know more about her too.
I hope Netflix considers buying ThunderCats good show
Yes because She-Ra was a such a great success....
If they were ton continue where it left off that would be AMAZING!
It actually is. Popular with both kids and adults, critical acclaim, an actual toyline, at least 52 episodes, etc. It did better than 2011 Thundercats.
@@SaikouShiva Are you being sarcastic? because it has 4 seasons and is lined up for a 5th sooooooooooo
@@GamerSlyRatchet1 True, it isn't the best action cartoon show out there, but it is certainly entertaining for all audiences.
Actually Nickelodeon's strongest series is Spongebob.
Fair point
Yeah Spongebob is the new Mickey Mouse.
Nicktoons main show was probably Avatar or Huntik
DeOnn Norton True...until it fell off a bit...and then Stephen died R.I.P....but at least we’re getting a new movie though
i wanted to like but it's on 69 likes
Transformers Prime. First series I ever watched start to finish as a kid.
Such a great show
That an animated got me hooked with the franchise
I prefer Animated. Prime just felt like a Linkin Park music video
@@CayeDaws how so?
I respect your opinion but I'd like to know why lol
Ironically, you overlooked The Dragon Prince, a Netflix series co-created by the head writer of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Another aspect of the dark age of action cartoons: Critics and anime. Critics absolutely LOVE to rip a cartoon a new one for being "too anime", I know for sure that played a part in the downfall of the Thundercats reboot and I wouldn't be surprised if that was also true for the other shows. Whether it is art teachers, animation studios or show critics EVERYONE hates anime influence, I don't know how much of that is being narrow-minded and how much is they were annoyed by one weeb too many but I have heard it too often to not be true. There is a fine balancing act of detail, animation and writing in order to not get slandered as an "anime wannabe" so with new shows they had pretty much given up on action cartoons.
*EDIT:* To make it clear I have no problem myself with anime influences in shows and am aware critics are less harsh on actual anime. However for some reason they dislike it when they feel that a show that is not anime has some anime parallels like they assume it is trying to be an anime wannabe or something.
I always hated that. Especially since old action toon cults like SWAT KATS looked just like anime. Some people have forgotten there was a time where anime and western toons were visual equals.
@@stardustcodon926 Not to mention that part of the reason why a lot of action cartoons had anime-like animation is because they are partly made in Japan! Tons of shows were outsourced to overseas studios in Asian countries particularly Japan and still are! I don't think a western cartoon has been solely made in America in decades!
Considering Anime has become a growing influence within Pop Culture and in many circles of nerd culture, I think it is a matter of time before the critics who strike down Anime like or (likely a better way of putting it) 'Anime-lite' shows are going to be pushed out and replaced by critics who flatout enjoy animation and fans hosting there own awards and the like.
At least critics have not harmed games
you want something not anime while made in Japan? just watch panty & stocking with garterbelt, so please stop worshiping anime
Another reason is because most of the shows were hated by their producers, thunder cats and symbiotic titan were despised by the corporate heads at Cartoon Network, and they were determined to save the show was destined to die by rearranging the time blocks constantly changing up when they were wearing not notifying the schedulers everything. I don't know the corporate history on generator. But something tells me there was some corporate meddling in their too and let's not forget the corporate meddling in a lot of other series. This comes down to even the concept of not releasing the toys for when they decide to release the toys they release it in the areas where nobody can get or by said toys without being hardly confuse. I mean, I've barely saw a single commercial advertising the thunder cats toys with the show, thunder cats, which is a sign that says you're not in the mood to sell your toys to fund the product.
yeah , the creators outright said at one point young justice was canceled because it had high female viewership over young boys , and girls"dont buy toys" so they canceled it.
@@AngelichuXD that's bs
I always hated it when channels would put the shows I actually wanted to watch on time blocks I wouldn’t normally be able to watch (too early in the morning or during school hours).
@@AngelichuXD they say that about every show they've cancelled that was actually good
FCC regulations stare that you can't advertise products connected to the show that they're on. In short, you can't advertise Thundercats toys or products during Thundercats
I wouldn’t say that Generator Rex failed because it was able to finish it series
True
And I know that he explains heard from his you. What a failure is from the business side but what I considered a failure is that you were unable to finish what was originally planned out for your show or is left on a cliffhanger or opened ended
even so the fact their not available to steam makes me mad
@@okami1101 watchcartoons man, watchcartoons.
Wait, it finished? I could have sworn the last episode ended on a cliffhanger, with Van Kleis returning to the present.
Negative Legend: All early 2010s action cartoons got canceled and were never seen again.
Young Justice: *Are you sure about that*
Spider Man got cancelled too
@@sirmel11 that one is in a more unique situation, Spectacular Spider-Man was cancelled because when Disney bought Marvel they gave Sony the option of EITHER:
keep the TV rights to the character or
keep the film rights to the character,
Sony chose the film rights so they couldn't continue making Spider-Man content for television
Young justice made me sad when it changed in "invasion" I think. I wanted what we already had to be expanded on, so instead I turned to fanfic. Lot's of fan fic. That slowly turned into romance fanfic and shipping. I was 12
Young Justice is different. DC cartoons get a lot of love, jist look at how many cartoons they relesse every year.
I think Young Justice is one cartoon that should've stayed dead after the narrative mess S02 was, because, hell, those new eps are even more awful!
DC's animated features are going through a dark age of mediocre writting and SJW fan service that I'm really not fond of...
Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja was my jam back in the day.
I was absolutely devastated when it wasn't renewed for a third season.
Everyone: All the great action cartoons of the 2010s were quickly cancelled
Me: TMNT 2012 had five seasons, Where were all of you during that time?
And it still got canceled
For rise of the tmnt, a pseudo teen titan go a la tmnt
That is the Turtle Anomaly, since for some reason ANYTHING TMNT related sells, no matter how weird or crappy
And it was treated well, at least by Nick standards.
Plus it being TMNT meant the toys sold like hotcakes too.
@@Zoroark_Master Rise of TMNT >>>> Teen Titans Go.
zoroark MASTER The show didn’t have a finale?
When they killed Thundercats that's when i lost hope in humanity.
And then when the Roar series was announced.....
dont lost hope in humanity
For me it was ben10
The original Thundercats cartoon wasn't that great to begin with because their was hardly any violence and the action and fighting scenes were very bland and poor.
@@SailorMoonFriends the comment above didn't meant the original thundercats they meant the 2011 thundercats
Thundercats was one of my favorites cartoons and I was so disappointed when they decided to stop the series
Watch the 80s series maybe? The 2011 one is a remake in the end.
The show had such a big hiatus between seasons you can almost count it as a failure. Heck, they even got a hiatus between half of a season and half of another
Well, I know of one 2010's action cartoon that succeeded: *Ninjago*
And it's so successful, that it's still going on today 9 years after it was first released. And the reasons it survived, I think, are the toy sales it drove (obviously), the quality stories it produced, and being similar enough to anime so it could hitch a boost in popularity as anime became more mainstream.
Also because since it's in CGI, it's far easier and less expensive to animate.
@@succubastard1019 Not exactly. What made it easier to and cheaper to animate is the fact that it's a bunch of LEGO figures.
Here in Brazil all, and i mean ALL of this cartoons were big hits in this time period, since the television schedule of their airing was acessible and the toy industry was marketing them heavely.
Especially generator rex.
Which appealed heavely to south and central american culture and and day-to-day life.
And his narrative structure was similar to the telenovelas ingrained in our culture mixed with sci-fi action, which was a nice touch.
And the blocks where this animetions were airing are beloved to this day here as a golden age.
So that was my two cents on the subject.
Love your channel, and thanks for your nice work ^-^
Generator Rex was the Man Of Action team's magnum Opus.
@Angello! R. "Anime is not even popular in Latin America"
*LOL* Do you even know how big the "Dragon Ball", "Bleach", "One Piece", "Saint Seiya" and "Naruto" fandoms are down here? They're HUGE! ! ! Not to mention all the other recent shows with enormous and still growing fandoms, like "One Punch Man", "Mob Psycho" and "Boku no Hero Academia", to name a few.
Rex was Hispanic after all...
@@guilhermevianabarbosa803 Heidi, Candy Candy, Sakura Card Captor, Inuyaza, Super Campeones, Doraemon, Ranma 1/2, Pokémon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh. They are a lot, since the 80's.
@@angelcou254 Exactly
Dude, look at the lens, not the viewfinder. Easy mistake even I do sometimes.
Tv ads: These are not actors
Me: Now that's bs
RUclips videos: This is not sponsored
Me: ok
The term "not actors" is easily stretched by greedy corporations where if they can, they will
RUclipsrs don't have much to lose from being honest about being sponsored or not. So even if they're greedy they're actually more likely to be upfront about sponsors as being on good terms with them could influence more down the line (maybe anyway)
But you can sometimes pick up on how dishonest a RUclipsr just by watching them so it's easier to feel they aren't lying
Star Wars Rebels and TMNT 2012 actually thrived this time of the death of the action cartoons. Yeah they had their comedy and filler episodes but the center was action
Rebels had Disney money, I feel like Clone Wars was more a part of this era
We need more Adult-oriented action cartoons.
Man just start watching anime at this point
@@debleb166 he's possibly watching anime although Crunchyroll is ruining it.
@@TheOwl22 I do watch anime. I'm watching one right now. I just want more action-oriented adult cartoons. Practically every adult cartoon is a comedy.
Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal. Watch it.
@@KamenSentaiMetalHero you won't regret it
Still hoping they make season 2 of Tron: Uprising, especially since Disney tortures us this year releasing a ton of videos on RUclips!
Oh my god dude you just opened up a hole i closed off long ago now im sad
That was such a good show
I dislike Disney but that show was awesome
I was really too immature to understand it at the time, then I saw Tron legacy and was like, "I need to see this"
Disney canned Tron: Uprising and Motorcity cus they bought Star Wars around that time, so they figured "why bother supporting these shows when you got a money making machine like Star Wars"
-But then one confusing trilogy, 2 anthologies one losing money than earning it and soon to be cancelling "Star wars: Resistance" later, they might have to regret saying that. we'll just have to see if it comes out on Disney+
Loved the video mate. As a person who grew up watching action cartoons I'm glad someone took the time to address situation you referred to as the "Dark Age of Action Cartoons"
I was watching Thundercats every day it aired live on TV until they changed the air time and never said to where.
RIP Thundercats 2011, I’ll always remember you.
To be fair some action cartoons were cancelled for stupid reasons, such as Young Justice. That was cancelled because the higher ups felt that the show was doing too well with a demographic they didn't want I.E. it had a higher female viewership than male and they shut the show down because of that. A lot of the other action shows tended to "Fail" because no matter how good of a show you had, it was harder to sell toys with serialized shows like that and thus since the toy sales just weren't there those shows would then be cancelled.
@Forever Zenith someone lesser or lower than you doing a better job or making more than you? Can't have that! Egos man. They get in the way
That seems pretty ridiculous but merch sells everything
Thinking about that reasons is compete bull and ironically funny as My Little pony had the same problem but via versa with the demographic yet it still got on to have a lot more season... shame it was with Young Justice though.
Young justice was funded through a toy deal with mattel. The toys were a sales disaster and mattel pulled its funding.
Some of my favorite action cartoons shows
Ben 10
ThunderCats OG and 2011.
Generator Rex
Mega XLR
SWAT KATS.
Ninja Turtles.
StormHawks.
Hot Wheels Battle Force 5.
He-Man
Justice League Unlimited/Bat Man animated shows/ OG X-men and 90s Spiderman.
Teen Titans OG.
Young Justice.
Samurai jack
Transformers.
Clone Wars/Rebels
Avatar's last air bender.
definitly a genera full of hidden gems shout out to my fave The Secret Saturdays
Oh I loved that one
*sees Thundercats 2011 in the thumbnail, IMMEDIATELY CRIES*
Thundercats was FANTASTIC. I wish they had finished that plot line.
Now that I think about it, it was around this time when all these shows were canceled that I kinda stopped watching tv, aside from a few things.
TRON: UPRISING Season 2....
Press F to pay respects
😭
Glad there's still people who know of this show :)
Damn no mention of Tron: Uprising, it happened to come out during that time period and unfortunately only had 1 season. Art-wise I doubt I'll ever see anything quite like it again it was Ufotable level in my opinion. I hope someday they make another season with the same studio the ending left me craving more.
I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.
Green Lantern: The Animated Series is another cartoon from that time period that I'd highly recommend.
7:56 This looks super cool.
Since you asked Ironman Armored Adventures, Batman Beyond, Justice League, JL Unlimited, Young Justice, all the DCAMU movies, Batman: The Mystery of Batwoman, and Planet of the Hulk are all fantastic.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Since Disney owns Star Wars, they gave up entirely on TRON
To sum it up in a word: Toys.
basically yeah
We want action shows back! We’re tired of only goofy kid shows! I want Rex to come back because I didn’t give him a chance until his last episode aired and I loved it. And Danny Phantom because a new chapter in his life started when he and sam got together and the world learned his identity and sees him as a hero
Mediocre shows sell the most cash for the quickest buck
The problem with action cartoon is merchandise. Most of action cartoons gets cancelled because the merchandise weren’t selling
@@SteamingHillenturds Because the merchandise is where they make most of their money. That and DVD/Blueray sales. Just look at the 80's, back then most if not all cartoons were made primarily to sell toys.
@@leetri You're right. Because the animation and art style has to be good, toys need to sell in order for the show to continue. Shows like young justice got canceled due to poor toy sales.
@@SteamingHillenturds Can you list any of the action cartoons disney XD has right now? it's been a while.
I tried to watch Generator Rex but CN kept moving it around making it hard to keep up with it. Then they rushed the last season leaving questions unanswered. But at least it got an ending unlike Symbiotic Titans or Thundercats or I’m surprised you left out He-man 2012. I’m also on the look out for good action cartoon series but have yet to find one except in Anime. I don’t know if Carmen Sandiego counts as an action cartoon. I tend to view it as an educartoon.
Disney actually has a blend of "Action based" and "cute for the kids" with it's newer cartoons, like Gravity Falls, Ducktales and Owl House
It literally brings tears to my eyes to remember how Thunder Cats was cancelled. It was such a great show....
A cartoon I miss was transformers prime it was supposed to have a fourth season but they preferred to end the saga with a movie (wich is pretty cool actually). Still feels like there were more stories to tell but the show was cancelled after that
I heard a theory that action cartoons actually "died" because of anime. The point is, making animation for action shows is much more expensive (more detail, a lot of elaborate moves etc), so with massive introduction of anime to western audiences (about 1990-2000) many channels saw it to be more profitable to buy rights to show anime instead of investing into creating their own action shows. It also affected western action animation in the way that it often has some similarities to anime in terms of art style or plot tropes.
I feel like it just fills the void of action cartoons instead since anime started to be more popular by the beginning of the 2010s which is where all the action cartoons started to disappear
Avengers: EMH is one of the few Marvel Animated properties that I would say was as good as the golden age of the DCAU.
Cory Morgan yep EMH, Spectacular Spider-Man too.
Avengers: EMH was a masterpiece. I believe the inly reason it was canceled is because of the mcu
@@calvingates6185 It most likely was, which sucks as avengers assemble is a joke in comparison to it.
A show that could've been the next Justice League Unlimited. Cancelled due to Disney wanting their Marvel products to be closer to the mcu...
@@BBBHuey The end of Avengers: EMH Season 2 was so rushed it hurts. Like, you KNOW they wanted to give it the best send off they could, but they 1-episode an entire season with of Galactus, and the entire Surter plot setup for season 3 never came to be.
The Dragon Prince is also a very good show on Netflix.
I still have to watch season 2 and 3 of that show
A man with one hand Please do, the two season improve so much fr9m season 1 both animation and writing wise.
@@bravops2570 Wow yeah I can see it
The thunder cats reboot was a really good show and the only reason it died is cuz CN wanted to. 🙄 (so they could write it off their taxes.. )
On top of that, they animated in Japan, which made it good quality but it costs more than getting it animated in China or Korea where alot of the new cartoon network shows get animated. And they kept moving the darn show's time slot..
it went from a nighttime schedule to a Saturday morning show at 7am.. which means less people are gonna watch cuz some people aren't early birds.. especially adult viewers (who are the main targets of reboots in general..)
Also they would change the schedule without telling anybody.. no commercials nor ads warning viewers that their show was switching time slots.. (same thing they did with young justice.. which forced alot of viewers to buy individual episodes in the apple store.. I remember, they were bragging how young justice was topping the download charts. )
network literally set up their show to fail by making it harder to find.
Honestly, it's a no brainer why people pirated a show that was easier to find online than on air...
Also because the thunder cats reboot followed a continuous story line watching out of order is not possible.. which makes putting it online all the more reasonable. Keeping the episodes in the same spot for binge watching.. is the best way for action cartoons to continue long story lines.. but yeah, I was super upset with the cancellation of thunder cats and still am! 😑
and pouring salt into the wound is that they’re making that “Go” version of thundercats which looks...so bad.
espio329 there’s going to be a “go” version of Thundercats? Never before have I been so reaffirmed in my decision to cut tv from the rest of my life than before now.
@@Hyper_Drud I'm surprised you've avoided all the clout about Thunder Cats Roar up until now 😂
Alexandre Grand-Pierre like I said, I’ve stopped watching TV. Plus I mostly stick to watching stuff on RUclips that I like or interests me.
Im a bit older so growing up I was flooded with Swat Katz, Gargoyles, Batman TAS, Jackie Chan, Street Sharks, so its interesting to see how it changed! nice video!
Yeah I grew up same time you did with all of those old great cartoons. Good times. I think my favorite at the time was probably Darkwing.
Disney Channel and Disney XD have action adventure cartoons such as Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Resistance, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: United They Stand.
While I can't say anything about the Star Wars shows; there Marvel programs aren't very good and are most used as a tools to sell MCU related stuff.
Go watch some of Average Assemble and then watch Avengers: United They Stand.
Winx Club was a good action cartoon...then Nickelodeon came and ruined it.
World of Winx is good but, like Generator Rex and Symbionic Titan, too "underground".
Winx Club is a) not very good (at least in my opinion, and is undoubtedly pretty cheaply made) and b) not an American action cartoon. It's Italian.
I remember winx club. I used to love that show even tho I thought it was mainly for girls lol
I personally loved w.i.t.c.h., and I'm disappointed by how obscure it became
As someone who’s watched Winx Club since the beginning...I have to disagree. I wouldn’t even call it an “action cartoon”. It’s a magical girl show. Yes, that means it has action in it, but it’s always been weighed down by the typical magical girl tropes, especially transformations.
Also, while Nickelodeon did make things worse, the show had a lot of problem before they got involved. There are tons of plot holes (in the whole series, not just the later seasons); a lot of filler episodes; and a lot of worldbuilding elements that aren’t explained and/or make no sense.
Bro! I'm glad someone remembered, this show had some good depth in the beginning.....I dont know what the hell happened down the line
The problem with action cartoons on streaming services is that they're really expensive. Since streaming services only make money off of a popular show if it draws subscribers, and the streaming market is already pretty saturated by Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix already (let alone all the new streaming services coming online from Disney+, and Warner's HBO Max, and NBC/Universal's Peacock) it's going to be hard for a single show to really pull in subscribers, even it becomes a must-watch cultural phenomena. That leaves the only way for a streaming service to make money off a cartoon like some sort of Thundercats or He-man show, will be through merchandising. And, one of the reasons several of the shows you listed, as well as Young Justice (another of the excellent action cartoons from the 2010 era - but somehow didn't make your list) "failed" was their failure to generate toy sales.
And, I don't know if you've visited your toy section at your favorite Target or Walmart or whatever, action/adventure toys don't sell well. There used to be 2 or 3 aisles for toys from Transformers to Star Wars, Superheroes and Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers to Professional Wrestlers. Now-a-days that's all compressed down to one aisle. While the girl's section has a half an aisle dedicated to just My Little Pony, let alone the whole aisle of Barbie stuff, and the under 6 kids need more and more space for Paw Patrol and PJ Masks toys. The toy industry has struggled to find something that can draw older boys' toy-buying dollars. They don't want to buy some $7 Iron-man action figure with their allowance, they don't want their grandma to buy them some $20 transformer; because all their allowance and birthday/Christmas money is going towards that next $60 game dropping for their Switch or Playstation.
Because of that, my own outlook for the future of action-oriented adventure cartoons is pretty bleak. There's little incentive or profit to be made in producing them, and, they're just too expensive to animate compared to cheap flash-animated stuff like MLP or TT Go.
Here's a hard truth.
You trying to brand these shows as "Action-Cartoons" when they are in fact "Western Anime".
Anime is the Japanese word for animation. Even Disney movies are considered American anime in japan.
@@yashwardhansingh4787
*You just contradicted yourself.*
By declaring any animation would be considered "anime" in Japan you have effectively discredited the use of the word "anime" as only being Japanese.
I agree, and here's some more
"Cartoon" originally meant the material a drawing was printed on and not the drawing itself.
Isn't it interesting how definitions can change?
Anime made in the United States and any other part of the Western World is called Anime Influenced Animation, Animesque, or Westernime
@@SailorMoonFriends
And Western Anime.
Still hoping they bring back Thundercats and Symbionic Titan. If they can do it for Young Justice, they can do it for any action show.
I really recommend Cannon Busters on Netflix. Haven't seen almost anyone talk about it yet. It's really underrated and I believe that it flew under many peoples radar.
I heard it's really nothing like the comic its based off of at all. The little i've seen of it doesn't give me a good feeling about it.
Ziko577 I found it amazing personally
Based on what review i red, Cannon Buster is basically made by the wrong Philosophy of "Wierd=Anime". The same philosophies followed by neoyokio and shit. For what i red and heard, and few scene i saw on RUclips. It trows so many anime tropes on it, seemingly not knowing the context of the trope but instead, just to hit a hidden check box of some sort. It also turns me off hard it tries to pander on the style of cowboy beebop and how hard it tries to pander on black culture. Not that its wrong, but you can tell that its forcing it self. That's just personal opinion though.
It was meh.
@Schepp Andreas Sorry to say this man but one of the main reasons it's really under the radar is bc simply put: it's total hot shit on a stick🤷♂️
There should be more mature action/drama western animation. Primal’s a great example of that!
For real
I absolutely agree
I’ve never cared about animation being only for kids, mostly cuz of adult cartoons but mostly cuz idc, especially cuz my favorite tv show is miraculous ladybug and I started watching it in the beginning of season 1, I think the most recently aired episode at that time was Lady WiFi, the first time she was akumazied, and the reason why I didn’t care is because I was 10 so I was the targeted audience they were looking for, and I still love the show just as much as I did at 10 even tho I’m turning 18 soon and am graduating high school, Idc what anyone says cuz I can like whatever I want and if someone doesn’t like it, just don’t watch it and let people like what they like
I think an important element to this is also how the networks treated the shows. Transformers Prime was also an action series around this period of time, and I don't have the numbers, but it always seemed like it did really well, especially for a series (then-exclusively) on a premium cable channel, since it had three seasons and a movie, but it also was given good time slots, which a lot of networks ended up not doing for many of these action shows (Especially Cartoon Network).
But Transformers is also an interesting case because later series did lean more towards the humor end, so I think it is also a generational shift (But also a shift because they were now showing on cartoon network, which wants shows featuring more comedic elements)
basically what im saying is please watch every transformers series if you havent already but especially prime
Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters on Netflix is pretty good. It has a good 2000s action cartoon feel and some great plot twists and stories later on.
Wow, your analysis is so accurate it’s scary. I had no interest in anime at all when I was younger (I had some weird cousins who were absolutely crazy about it at the time, so it was a little unfairly stigmatized in my family), but I missed Avatar, Thundercats and Generator Rex so badly that I couldn’t help but be drawn in by the gorgeous art that some contemporary animes had at the time - now I’m not embarrassed at all to say I’m a huge fan.
Live action never particularly elicited my interest when I was little, and even now that I’m 22 there’s very little in live action movies or television that gives me the sense of awe and adrenaline that my favourite animated shows do. I feel like a grumpy old lady who just finished yelling at kids to get off my lawn, but honestly the cartoons back in my day were just SO much better - children now are only exposed to cheap computer animated crap (don’t get me started on Disney ‘animation’ now OH MY GOD) with zero imagination ...I can vividly remember being little and just so excited, I couldn’t wait to get outside and reenact the most exciting scenes from my favourite cartoons. anyway, rant concluded.
(I feel like a huge fossil now ...time to hop on my mobility scooter and go feed some pigeons 😔)
I've always seen Titans/Korra/Gen-Rex/Titan as shows for the "older kids". Problem is that when these older kids grew up eventually they got kids of their own too. As a friend of mine pointed out, these new parents would rather want something light and breezy to watch with their toddlers. I think this is also why Adventure Time, Gumball, and Regular Show got a bit big during this time period... it's because those shows appealed to BOTH toddlers who just laughed at the goofy hijinks and their parents who got all the pop culture references.
Case in point, my mom used to take care of this 7 year old girl (we co-inhabited with another family, it was a huge house), and that kid watched Regular Show with me religiously back when it was kinda big. My mom, who never appreciated the animated stuff, would always remark how we that kid and I laughed at different parts of the same show.
For me, who grew up with a younger brother, 10 years younger, I would not let him watch Gumball or Adventure time (well, mostly Gumball). I was fine with Regular Show as I feel it didn't go over the top and it had some really cool moments (Mordekai delivering the T-shirt to margaret, him driving her to the airport, the much later Synth Battle in it's final episodes, Skips backstory), but Gumball was just: NO. The humor was mostly bad and the worst part was the attitude of the main characters: dumb and self-entitled with absolutely no real consequences. Of course, my parents did not get this and just wanted to get rid of his tantrums so he would go on and watch them anyways at times. And it clearly shows. A few years later, he's a narcisistic, entitled little bastard and that's not the worst he has ever been in this timeframe.
@@nottoday3817 yeah, Gumball was something else, I've always felt it was a primetime FOX show (like the Simpsons, or Family Guy) disguised as CN kid's toon...
try do a video about why western cartoons have less genres than anime.
like the isekai genre.
the only western isekai that come to my mind are amphibia,infinity train over the garden wall......samurai jack and.....maybe star vs the forces of evil?the last one may not be a reverse isekai.
also why don't we hear the thoughts of cartoon characters like we do with anime characters?
There's another one in 90s called King Arthur's and the knights of Justice. It was about a football team going back in time of wizards and magic. Story was good, but the animation was not.
Dragon Tales?
Because those cartoons are story based instead of based on internal character struggles
Because back then creators wanted to experiment and do their thing instead of making neatly packaged shows full of the same old trite tropes as everyone else, and these days lazy comedy is the "Golden" (i.e. profitable) standard.
And as the mustachioed man said, most of those shows aren't character driven.
It's not really a genre, it's a troupe. That plot point has been around for forever. It's not uncommon for troupes to become genres if they are popular enough. The body switching troupe comes to mind. There's certain expectations with that troupe, for example body switching movies are typically cheesy comedies because a serious take of the troupe would get dark real quick. Same thing applies with Isekai as a genre.
Thundercats (2011), Young Justice, Green Lantern and Sym-Bionic Titan failed because for a number of reasons due to Cartoon Network's incompetence.
1st Scheduling: Constant movement, numerous hiatuses, and zero advertisements, how are you suppose to watch the show if you don't know where it is?
2nd Product sales: The reason why they worked in the 80's and 90's is because they advertised everything everywhere, these shows had none after they premiered. How were kids suppose to buy the products if they don't know they exist? Heck, I use to go to Toys R Us a lot saw nothing on the shelves.
and 3rd The Demographic: Word has been going around of too many Girls or age inappropriate viewers cause these too, but that's still up in the air.
Bat Man the Brave and the Bold and Generator Rex worked because they faced none of these problems.
Korra was moved due to declining rating, Nick still knew what they were doing especially with their new big hit at the time, the 2012 CGI TMNT.
Action Cartoons can still work they just need more respect and better planning, not some half-assed "Oh well, whatever" job!
Don’t forget Beware the Batman. They didn’t even have a toyline ready and CN pulled it after 11 episodes. Toonami had to rescue and finish it.
@@GamerSlyRatchet1 Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder. Let's just hope that the next president of Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. can do something about this folly.
If Tonnami is really bringing Thundercats back, that means there REALLY IS HOPE!!!!
They aren't, they just reran it
I miss you Ben 10(original), Teen Titans(original), Avatar: The Last Airbender, Transformers Animated and Transformers Prime. I'll always remember you...
i wish they Finished teen titans
This video made me think of three series that I LOVED (One of which I still do love) as a kid
Magi Nation
Spider Riders
Redakai
All of these shows I think you should do a "What Happened To" video on
i have been trying to find Redakai for like 3 years but i could not remember it's name.
so i say to you: thank you so much
When I saw this video I immediately remembered Redakai but not the name, thank you very much
yeah, I'd love to learn what happened to Redakai. I remembered it with your sayingbut itwas amazing and I think they didn't translate the whole thing to my language.(Most shows are translated very late or not at all though)
Some action cartoons I can think of would be The Dragon Prince, The Tales of Arcadia series (start with Trollhunters first) and some older ones would be Godzilla: The Animated Series (not too shabby), Gargoyles, Hot Wheels World Race and Acceleracers, Transformers Prime, Beast Wars, and Transformers Animated.
I feel like toy deals and trying to make things kid friendly over trying to tell a good story really screws over action cartoons. And its a damn shame because I never watched Thundercats (mainly because they never really advertised it) that clip shown looks absolutely badass.
Are you getting “What Happened to Ben 10/Thundercats” soon :)
For an action cartoon I recommend.......
The Hollow on Netflix,
Cannon busters on Netflix,
Emara on RUclips,
If you want a reasonable action cartoon from the 2000s to talk about there's class of the titans. It's a Canadian cartoon based on greek mythology where the main characters are the descendants of greek hero's like heracles, achilles and Jason and the argonauts.
Holy shit someone else has watched it! I love the show so much I want to rewatch it all over again just thinking about it
Oh yeah... That one I forgot about it until now
I remember that show
I thought it was kinda cool that Harry (Heracles' descendant) actually got to met his Ancestor because the "big H" became the god of strength.:)
I fond memories of watching that on Qubo
These are all my childhood shows and I enjoyed them very much. I remember getting very upset when most of them are cancelled...
I didn't know Symbiotic Titan came to Netflix till this video.
Still not in Canada.:(
Is it in America?
@@Dave102693 yes
@@stormsurge2103 Lots of episodes are on RUclips I think
can you make a video researching why cartoons have gone from a more dark and gritty palette like Batman Beyond and TMNT 2003 to a need for more vibrant palettes? how does the mood and overall theme of shows change when changing its lighting and its effect on viewers and does that change its quality as a show?
This era is also when Ben 10 started going downhill too
Great video it's probably going to be useful to me in the future
Merchandising was definitely the downfall of several shows from this era - especially the Thundercats reboot. They couldn't compete with the shows that had better collectible toys.
Was it so hard to make figures and dolls based off of the new one though? Like, who wouldn't want Lion-o's castle? Or the sword? Or a playset based off of the creepy forest etc?
@@amandaslough125 By all means, some people really did want them. That said the Thundercats reboot was on during the Saturday Toonami block rather than during the week. I think that in part made it difficult to advertise for it.
@@Axelablaze How would that make it more difficult? Saturday afternoons are when kids and teens have the most free time to watch TV, which is when they'd see advertisements
@@stevenhiggins3055 Saturday afternoons and evenings were harder to advertise for (and still are for that matter) because Saturday is the most common day off for people. They make plans, go out, and do other things rather than watch TV. That's why most major networks run syndicated shows and movies rather than air new content and most advertisers just phone it in. Saturday mornings were the exception, but the Saturday morning cartoon blocks we knew back in the day are a thing of the past.
It's always interesting to hear stories about how relatively recently anime became mainstream in countries like the US. I grew up in France and, where anime was THE kid tv show staple. I always have to remind myself that most English speaking peeps discovered stuff like Dragon Ball 15+ years after I did (no seriously you guys have no idea, anime was ALL over our TVs) and we even had stuff like City Hunter and Fist if the North Star.
I need to go back and rewatch Generator Rex...I wasn’t really into it when it first came out, but I feel like I’d like it a lot more now.
On the bright side, seems like action cartoons are on the way back into fashion, with shows like Castlevania, the two new He-Man reboots, Invincible, etc.
Hopefully it sticks this time.
now these days people watch shonen type anime wich is what we loved in action cartoons but even better
With all the gorgeous art and writing in action in manga lately it's hard for me to even watch anime.
Honestly i was so happy when i saw Sym Bionic Titan on Netflix i hope more pple will like it and see it so it will turn into a Netflix original and get a season 2 that show needs a second season
the best part about action cartoons to me are the fact that the characters develop and change over time. you feel like you've been on the journey with them if it's done right
And that is why we loved them.
@@Michael-fd1gx that's why most people filled the void with anime
Man that’s a shame, I always loved more action cartoons rather than just the nonsense and comical ones, even before this “ dark age “ of the 2010’s, justice league, static shock, samurai jack..
There will never be another action cartoon show like Static Shock. It wasn't afraid to take chances or tackle real issues.
The 2010's is not a "dark age" for cartoons. There's been plenty of good stuff and continues to be.
So streaming both killed and saved action cartoons?
Man! I didn't even know they did a remake of Thundercats! I really was looking forward to that and I didn't know it was already here! Like, what?!?!
For me, anime raised my expectations for animation so high that western cartoons look pathetic in comparison.
This happened to me at a very young age, I watched DragonBall Z with my uncle and no other western cartoon had the fights, the deaths, and the absurdity that anime did.
Any cartoon I like is strictly nostalgic, and I probably couldn't argue that they're good on their own.
In Mexico, Generator Rex was a bit more popular than in the US probably because Ben 10 really exploded in Latin America and kids really wanted something of that style (quirky sci-fi action), something Men of Action could only provide.
Thundercats was great
I haven't heard anyone mention Generator Rex in a long time. Other than that I do believe there's hope for action animation in the future. In recent years we've had Castlevania, Samurai Jack season 5 and Primal. They're more geared toward an adult audience, but I'm sure it can become more popular.
Do a “What happened to Secret Saturday’s” video that would be dope
ZOROGOTBANDZ holy shit yes
It ended?!
Holy shit, you have enlightened me. I stopped watching cartoons and moved to anime. I never even realized it had happened. Holy shit my brain is small.
Truth be told, I'd rather be watching the Harley Quinn animated series than the Game Awards...