I like how every episode is about how the retarded main character acts like a douchebag, greatly misuses his powers, and learns a valuable lesson from it.
plz get cancelled.
I like how every episode is about how the retarded main character acts like a douchebag, greatly misuses his powers, and learns a valuable lesson from it.
plz get cancelled.
Want to know the one thing that saves this show? ROY CAMBELL PLAYS GRANDPA! XD
Haha, yeah. I wish the grandpa would beat the kid into a coma.
The show is very much retarded.
Its just some crap-brat that misuses his powers for fun.
I hope this gets cancelled. CN does not need this crap on their network.
That Ben kid should talk to Spiderman. He should learn that with Great Power comes Great Responsibility. Plus, every superhero knows that. I've never seen an episode of Ben10 but it looks very much idiotic. Hopefully it won't last.
But CN is learning from their mistakes now. They cancelled Wulin Warriors and I'm pretty sure they are disvowing all existence of it.
Maybe the same will happen to Ben10? We can only hope.
Aw, I thought it'd be a suprise and turn out to be good…
More trashy Animitation. This is further proof of how CN's belief that a "fusion" of American-level fluidity and Japanese styles could produce a thunderclash show. Wrong; Anime may be cheaply made, but it's the stories that attract people. Not surprisingly, as the quality of animation, special effects, sound and music (not really music, though…) go up, the story development goes down. This is the same problem all western animators, producers, and directors are facing now; too much superficiality. Why the fudge do they think people watch Anime, anyway? Because it's Japanese? Or perhaps different? The snot nosed fools are overlooking, by bias or gosh knows what, the most obvious factor; IT'S INTERESTING.
Agreed. With 10 different forms, I smelled a marketing ploy to get kids to buy all ten of them. That and the powers give him a way out of any trouble he'll ever need. Like my friend said, it's a Wal-Mart version of a shapeshifter.
To be honest, I don't realyl see a lot of the anime style here. Yeah, I see a bit of it, but i see some of the American comic book style. Either way, it's crap.
And yeah, I can see the "10 forms = ten toys!!" angle.
@Cap'n:
To be honest, I don't realyl see a lot of the anime style here. Yeah, I see a bit of it, but i see some of the American comic book style. Either way, it's crap.
There's more Animitation now than ever before; back in 2003, Teen Titans could amost be called "revolutionary" in that it there wasn't much like it. Here's what I can think of…
Disney Channel
Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go!
Dragon Booster
WITCH
Cartoon Network
Megas XLR
Teen Titans
Ben 10
Hi Hi PuffyAmiYumi
Totally Spies
Kids WB!
Jackie Chan Adventures
Shaolin Showdown
CUBIX, Crack for Everyone
4Kids TV
Winx Club
TMNT: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Nickelodeon
My Life as a Teenage Robot
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Adult Swim
The Boondocks
…
Since Animitation is still fairly new, seeing it on all these networks is surprising; usually, one network makes a couple shows, then makes a ton before everyone else joins in on the fray (thing Pokemon). Not the same here; companies are finally realizing Anime is going to be big, but they've all taken the wrong approach to maximizing the interest.
My life as a Teenage Robot is not anime-styled. It's going for a more 'old Mickey Mouse' thing, with some jagged edges thrown in. It's by the same guys that did Dexter's Lab, which might be why I find that show so amusing.
Well I find Dexter's Lab ALOT more amusing the teenage robot. Teenage Robot just seems so preditable and unoriginal at times.
And as far as Ben10 goes right when I heard "he's one part kid ten part hero" I could tell it was going to one big gimmick.
My life as a Teenage Robot is not anime-styled. It's going for a more 'old Mickey Mouse' thing, with some jagged edges thrown in. It's by the same guys that did Dexter's Lab, which might be why I find that show so amusing.
Well,
Mickey Mouse/Betty Boop -> Astro Boy -> All modern Anime
Aside from that, yeah, I would agree it's pretty much an original premise.
The original Dexter's Lab run was awesome. It's jumped the shark since then, though, much like Ed Edd & Eddy. I'm glad Courage was cancelled when it was…it was such a great show, I would hate to see it jump as well.
I gave the show my standard 3 episode shot.(to rate it fairly. Every series has a bad episode now and then.) Here is my conclusion…
1. Why the HELL would any decent person allow their pre-teen grandchilden in danger monster hunting, even if the said granson had super powers? Even more insane is his pre-teen granddaughter who doesn't have any powers.
2. What's with all the stupid puns? They are so...so...STUPID!
3. Why is an old, overweight man trying strenuous activites that not only needlessly endanger youself, but your grandchildren as well?
4. Wouldn't you try to go to every place you can think of the get that accursed device off your arm? Has he tried a locksmith? A machinist? A hacksaw? A hacker? Especially knowing that thing draws enemies, I would try everything I could think of the remove it.
Nopenopenope. Don't like it very much. But it's not the concept that sucks. It's the execution that sucks. That's the way it always is with a bad show.
Yeah Dexter went down the Ed, Edd, and Eddy path, very sad. Courage was great, the show had such an, for lack of a better word "aw(not cute aw)" sense to it.
Well, when I meant I didn't see the "animimitation" I meant in Ben10. It's definitely around, though. Don't blame it entirely on America, though, because a handful of those shows are made in different countries (WITCH, Winx Club, Code Lyoko, etc.). Also, a LOT of these shows are animated by Koreans.
The Boondocks isn't so bad, because that's pretty much how MacGruder drew his strip. They always had the anime-eyes.
Well,
Mickey Mouse/Betty Boop -> Astro Boy -> All modern Anime
Aside from that, yeah, I would agree it's pretty much an original premise.
The original Dexter's Lab run was awesome. It's jumped the shark since then, though, much like Ed Edd & Eddy. I'm glad Courage was cancelled when it was…it was such a great show, I would hate to see it jump as well.
micky mouse and betty boop is modern anime?
@DougyDougyGiro!*:
micky mouse and betty boop is modern anime?
He's saying that Tezuka (creator of Astro Boy) was influenced by them. Disney cartoons especially. The big innocent eyes thing was taken from Bambi I think.
Tezuka works (such as Astro Boy) then influenced all modern anime.
@DougyDougyGiro!*:
micky mouse and betty boop is modern anime?
Osamu Tezuka created Astroy Boy after watching western cartoons, especially Mickey Mouse/Betty Boop. Since all anime is a derivative of Astro Boy, My Life as a Teenage Robot is henceforth closer to Anime than modern cartoons like Johnny Bravo.
@Cap'n:
Well, when I meant I didn't see the "animimitation" I meant in Ben10. It's definitely around, though. Don't blame it entirely on America, though, because a handful of those shows are made in different countries (WITCH, Winx Club, Code Lyoko, etc.). Also, a LOT of these shows are animated by Koreans.
The Boondocks isn't so bad, because that's pretty much how MacGruder drew his strip. They always had the anime-eyes.
I know such cartoons are animated by Koreans, but they're usually American funded and American written too, right?
That being said, I'm surprised; since Ben 10 is done by the same group that did TT, a less absurd Anime style might be a tad refreshing. Pity things didn't turn out that way.
Also…my list does not necessarily reflect "bad" shows, else I wouldn't have put up Boondocks or Megas. It's just a list of shows with obvious Anime parentage.
Yeah Dexter went down the Ed, Edd, and Eddy path, very sad.
Actually, after the PowerPuff Movie came out is when Dexter and PPG started to stink. They changed people around and took Tartakovsky/McCracken out of the picture too much. Dexter pretty much became an entirely different show, and a crappy one at that (although 'Susan' was hilarious after this for some reason). Same with PPG. Ed, Edd, and Eddy just got old I think.
OT though, I haven't seen Ben10 yet.
Tartakovsky wanted to work more on Samurai Jack is what I heard. McCracken went on to do Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends. Chris Savino was the guy who took over PPG and Dexter's Lab and he must be the biggest lameass ever because he took two good shows and drove them immediately into crap.
Hell, they should've just left Dexter in obscurity instead of getting Savino to bring it back.
@Cap'n:
Tartakovsky wanted to work more on Samurai Jack is what I heard.
Which is a sad story in and of itself as Cartoon Network cancelled Samurai Jack the minute it hit the 52 episode mark. It'll be a while before he could ever get back to it if they decide to finish the series as he's apparently working on the sequel to The Dark Crystal right now. I would trade 90% of Cartoon Network's current lineup for more Samurai Jack. I'd probably trade all of their lineup (minus Bobobo) for more Courage the Cowardly Dog. Hell, I'd probably trade a few fond childhood memories for a few more seasons of Justice League Unlimited.
Man, why does Cartoon Network have to be so actively pro-suck these days?
Hell, they should've just left Dexter in obscurity instead of getting Savino to bring it back.
Yeah, nothing would have been lost by making those cartoons. Same for continuing Johnny Bravo after Van Partible left.
They just make a bunch of really, really poor business decisions.
For example, what's happened with Toonami. They took a highly successful daily block, and pushed it to one day a week. They replaced it with a block of shows they show normally at other times.
They've also started showing programs from their new saturday morning lineup at other times (such as this topic's namesake). I don't think they understand that the point of a block is to tune in to watch programs that you can't see normally, which will (hopefully) increase ratings for that specific time. Now, they're just going to get their asses kicked by KidsWB like they have been for the past 10 years.
Getting rid of all the classics was a big mistake too, imo. They completely eliminated a good audience. Sure, there's Boomerang, but I don't know if there's a lot of people willing to subscribe to a whole other network for those shows (I know I'm not), especially if they have to wade through a bunch of shit like Banana Splits and the various failed Hanna Barbera experiments of the 60's-80's (too many to list).
Although I didn't start watching it until late in the show (since I've never had Cartoon Network before), I really like Justice League Unlimited. Too it's probably not going to continue (or is that "not going to continue" without the "probably"? I haven't been keeping up with whether it's over or not). After the current season is over I mean (which has already aired in some countires).
After the last season I didn't think it'd be continued, but BAM, new episodes.
Speaking of which, Luthor killing Grodd the other night had me rolling.
Rolling good, or rolling bad? I did find it interesting that Luthor made the same comment that I thought about Grodd's plan. I guess it was an omage to some previously stupid, pointless plan that bad guys had in the Super Friends. (I also found it interesting that they didn't dance around death at all in this episode.) Hope they keep it up, I also would like to see the return of the two part episodes, (like in the original Justice Leauge, where the later seasons were an hour long.)
Rolling from laughter. The whole scene was awesome from the moment Luthor said "Well, I wasn't going to do this for another few weeks, but…" then he tells Grodd how retarded his monkey ray plan and fucking KILLS him. Hilarious.
It was a sweet scene, I just found humor from it somehow.
I saw Ben 10 once, and all I could think about was how much the puns sucked.
And the only Cn cartoons I miss THAT much are MEGAS XLR and Courage the Cowardly Dog. Catz was freaking awesome.
Megas? Luthor shooting Grodd? What if Luthor said:
Alright you fat, overweight, talking ape freak! You use our resources, put our soldiers in danger, and cost Sting Ray his life, try turn people in to apes and worst of all, your hitting on a woman that's not even your species. You're going down!
Yup, I agree that Ben 10 sucks. I don't even know why they are wondering around the country aimlessly. This is a show made by corprate without the aid of creative people.
I just saw some of it today, and I recognized it by the kid's obnoxious attitude. xD Bleh, it reminds me too much of Jake Long and Jackie Chan Adventures.
Damn It and I just realized I missed JLU for the second week in a row, well like the old saying goes third times the charm (hopefully).
Megas?
You don't know what Megas XLR is?
Think of a less insane "Bobobo-bobo-bobo" with more parodies, a hillarious cast and pure, fluid non-stop mecha battles. Nice.
I was smitten after the third episode. It was marvelous material; CN made it even better by featuring Megas in some commercials that illustrated how utterly lame some HB cartoons have become (see: Megas v. Scooby Doo).
@Cap'n:
They just make a bunch of really, really poor business decisions.
Yes, but it's the reasoning behind the business decisions that kill me.
Toonami is drawing viewers from KidsWB, so they cut its hours back and eventually ship it off to Saturday night.
JLU can't use Batman characters (besides Batman of course) because of The Batman, hence, Clock King's cameo being the only villain from that series we've seen since the Joker's second season appearance.
Teen Titans was apparently killed, despite being the highest rated show on Cartoon Network, because executives wanted Cyborg for Smallville and Robin for The Batman.
They've even killed shows for drawing the wrong demographic. Remember the Saturday evening block Cartoon Network had before Toonami that had the video game theme? They were unhappy because it's ratings were too high in certain categories. They got the age group they wanted, but they also got children that they considered too young. The "problem", so to speak, was that those children not only watched the evening block, but also stuck around for the late night block. As a result, they revamped the entire night to try and avoid such a situation.
They're showing live action movies despite Cartoon Network getting along perfectly well without them for over fifteen years. To this end, they've actually reclassified animation as "anything with movement".
For example, what's happened with Toonami. They took a highly successful daily block, and pushed it to one day a week. They replaced it with a block of shows they show normally at other times.
Again, the reason that the executives did that was to prevent Toonami from competing with KidsWB. At one point, Cartoon Network had a Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS, and a mix of the older, 70s-80s eras cartoons on in the period before Toonami. They yanked it within three weeks because it was killing KidsWB in the ratings.
The bulk of their decisions over the past few years have been to make Cartoon Network second to KidsWB and have resulted in Cartoon Network declining in the ratings. Since the KidsWB issue is now moot, their answer is to fix things by making it more like Nickolodeon rather than returning to the things that made it popular in the first place.
@Cap'n:
Rolling from laughter. The whole scene was awesome from the moment Luthor said "Well, I wasn't going to do this for another few weeks, but…" then he tells Grodd how retarded his monkey ray plan and fucking KILLS him. Hilarious.
It was a sweet scene, I just found humor from it somehow.
Yeah, I thought so too. It was great.
Oh, and my favorite DC villain, Shadow Thief, is going to appear again in an episode called "Ancient History" (along with Hawkman). His origin has been changed drastically from the comics, but what they did with him is pretty interesting. The episode is a continuation of "Shadow of the Hawk" from the earlier season.
I love seeing the lesser known heroes and villains in JLU. Since I've been a DC fan my whole life, I can name pretty much all of them on the spot (with some exceptions though).
Another Nick on the air. Niiiiiice.
Kids WB sucks, I wish they'd understand that already.
Oh yeah, I forgot that CN and KidsWB are owned by the same company.
You don't know what Megas XLR is?
Think of a less insane "Bobobo-bobo-bobo" with more parodies, a hillarious cast and pure, fluid non-stop mecha battles. Nice.
I was smitten after the third episode. It was marvelous material; CN made it even better by featuring Megas in some commercials that illustrated how utterly lame some HB cartoons have become (see: Megas v. Scooby Doo).
I remember Megas quite well. If you read my FULL post, I was having Luthor do an omage to Coop's rightous indignation speeches. I was just combining the two. I mean after all we all know that …
You DIG giant robots
I DIG giant robots
We DIG giant robots
Chicks DIG giant robots.....nice!
I remember Megas quite well. If you read my FULL post, I was having Luthor do an omage to Coop's rightous indignation speeches. I was just combining the two. I mean after all we all know that …
You DIG giant robots
I DIG giant robots
We DIG giant robots
Chicks DIG giant robots.....nice!
Wow, I totally did not catch that. :laugh:
…
Anyway, Terek doesn't understand why coporations are not following practices that lead toward the highest ratings possible; it's not logical unless one deliberately stagnates to offeset standards and create the illussion of "growth". If OP was the second highest rated show on TV for four weeks, such a slot wouldn't look as good if OP grew to #568 on week one, #43 in week two, #3 on week three and #1 in week four. If this isn't the case...meh, I guess I don't understand corporate business as much as I thought. o_O
I thought Ben 10 would get popluar but I guess I'm wrong. Yeah, American animators thinks that if they make cartoon anime style people would be intersted in it but there is two problems: Cliche and lack of story
They still don't want to put reality stuff, they still don't want to let go of cliche. They forgot the reason why we like anime was because of the STORY. Almost all anime stories have contiunity, emotions, silly special effect, and unique storyline. Sure anime has cliches too but that's a differant story. My point is American animators need to look closly to why we like anime, if they put more good intersting and inspiring story reather then arts, special effects, musics, songs and quility.
Also, they need to kill off the bad cliches, I don't know why do they bother using it and not use their own creativity. Every anime style American shows keep screwing up because of cliches, puns and chessiness.
Cubix: Cubix sucks, it wants to be like Pokemon. Yet it's poorly made and the battle are cheap and a villian is like any cliche villians: a total dumbass and a big bad robot who can't copy Cubix's DNA or kill his "heart". Cubix is just so "I'm perfect!" and he never actully does anything cool or significate.
Code Lyoko: French cartoon anime-wannbe but they still won't get rid of bad cliches and put in the story. The show was weird and they have giant foreheads and they have to go in computers and fight computize guys. Pointless.
Totally Spies: Another Franch anime-wannbes. Damn you Gauls, that's enough! Three steriodtype girls and a mess-up story and cliche villians never fillful their "evil plans" and they were defeated in an humorous ways.
Martian Mystery: These Gauls don't want to give up. You guess it an another Franch anime-wannbe and it's stupid and bleh
Teen Titan: Weak characters and bloodless battle. They refuse to get rid of bad cliches and put in a story. They tried to aviod the words "kill" "dead" "death" "die"
And the characters are annoy, especially when Starfire says "on my planet.." Over and over and…over. The story is weak.
Winx Club: The story is slow, weak and uninspiring. The battles are cheap and the bad cliches are found everywhere.
Hi Hi PuffAmiYami: We don't need that. Are these girls embrassed when they find themselves going through bad cliches and weak story?
The Life of Juniper Lee: Still has bad cliches and weak storyline. Unispiring and cheap. Why do the hero have to be a dumbass? And why do evey villians need to be a victim of bad cliches? And why the puns?
American Dragon: Never watched it. But if you do can you tell me what is about?
TMNT: This is one of the anime style cartoons that's really good. I wished they add reality effect but the overall is good. It's still has some bad cliches yet battles are cheap but it's still action and angest.
Ben 10: Misusing his powers? Why does it remainds me of Rocket Power(Nick)? Every episode has a character screwing up, learns his lesson, olny to forget in the next episode. Bad cliche alart. No continuty is the big weakness in most American cartoons.
Super Duper Sumos: Oh gods, these guys who made this on crack: three fat giant bad-cliche sumos who shoots laser out of their butts...
The Adventure of Jackie Chan: The artstyle looks bad, the whole story is weak and bad cliches.
Tell me about Dragon Booster, Avater, Super Robot Monkeys, Shaoiln Showdown, W.I.T.C.H, Mega LRX
Well that's it from me
Avatar has quickly become my favorite show on Nick. The style and story really draws me in. I really can't think of any show like it.
Avatar has quickly become my favorite show on Nick. The style and story really draws me in. I really can't think of any show like it.
Um, how about practically every other anime out there. XD
Joekeido, you'll have to fill me in on what these bad cliches are.
Um, how about practically every other anime out there. XD
Joekeido, you'll have to fill me in on what these bad cliches are.
Here's the list I got from Wikipedia
1 Action
[edit]
1.1 Good Guys vs. Bad Guys
Characters tend to be moral absolutist and fall into one of two categories, good guys and bad guys. This fact does not escape either side who will even refer to themselves as the good guys or the bad guys. What is good and what is evil is rarely ever confusing. In fact, the good guys when necessary can break any rule without risking that they'd turn into bad guys one day. The idea that there is a clear line between good and evil was even the central theme of one episode of Teen Titans.
There will be an episode where the villain pretends to give up and/or turn good in order to lead the naive and trusting good guys into a trap (i.e. Garfield and Friends, The Smurfs and The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3).
The red team is good, and the blue team is evil (examples: G.I. Joe, The Transformers, Kim Possible).
In shows that focus on a team of superheroes, a new character will often suddenly appear to join the team. They will later turn out to be working for the villain, especially if the team accepts them quickly. However, if the team reacts to them with extreme suspicion and mistrust, the new character may turn out to be a genuine hero, usually with a mysterious and tragic past that gives them a reason to hate the villain.
There will usually be one episode in which the hero and the villain are forced to work together. Often this will involve them joining together to fight a more powerful foe. In several 80's cartoons (including G.I. Joe), this involved the good guys and the bad guys teaming up to fight the war on drugs. Invariably, the villain will attempt to betray the hero as soon as their common enemy has been defeated, or, as in Invader Zim, will simply get back to fighting.
[edit]
1.1.1 Good guys
Good guys are always good, they have no other reason to do something other than it is good. Even if they do something considered bad, it will always be for a perfectly good reason.
Good guys can be divided into several categories:
Heros are typically the stars of the cartoon and more often than not are the titular characters.
Sidekicks are less experienced than heroes, weaker, often younger, and usually idolize the hero. They tend to be the comic relief.
Good guys may often have to help children understand what is the good thing to do, especially when it comes to drugs or other social issues. This typically occurs at the end of the cartoon (GI Joe, Inspector Gadget, Captain Planet and the Planeteers). This is sometimes known as "Knowing is half the battle…" scenes, because of the line the GI Joe cartoons use.)
In modern action-adventure cartoons about a young teenage hero, if the main character is female, they will be highly competent, extremely skilled, and almost never look bad or lose in combat. However, if the main character is male, they will have excellent combat skills and usually win, but are still relatively inexperienced and flawed. Compare Kim Possible or The Life and Times of Juniper Lee with Danny Phantom or American Dragon: Jake Long.
[edit]
1.1.2 Bad guys
Bad guys are evil. That is; everything they do is done because it is evil. If it's not evil, then it is still creepy-looking or humorous.
Bad guys can be divided into several categories:
Supervillains are the main nemesis of the hero, they are cruel beyond all reason and, hateful towards everyone around them. Not only do their plans never succeed but more often than not at the end of the episode they are worse off than they were at the start. However, they always deligently come up with a new evil scheme. As the series continues, that supervillain gradually become stupider, campier, and sillier until they are not taken seriously anymore (Skeletor in He-Man cartoon, The Shredder in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, Father in Codename: Kids Next Door, Team Rocket in PokÃmon, Rastapopoulos in Tintin and Dr. Drakken in Kim Possible).
Henchmen, who are the obedient slaves to the supervillain, follow all orders even though they often lead to death. They are poor fighters and are easily defeated by heros and sidekicks alike. They also have terrible aim and rarely actually hit any good guys they shoot at. Henchmen never die violently, unless they are robots, in which case they die as violently as possible. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Samurai Jack, My Life as a Teenage Robot)
Despite having armies of stormtroopers and enough military hardware to outfit a small nation, evil organizations bent on world conquest will utilize bizarre and unorthodox methods to achieve their goals rather than straightforward military force or terrorist acts (as it is considered more entertaining for the young viewer and is less likely to involve human deaths). This was once common even in live-action films, but is now increasingly restricted to cartoons. Even cartoons today often parody this cliche; for instance, the Kim Possible villain Señor Senior Sr. often explains that more realistic plans would be contrary to "the Code of Villainy."
The few female villains typically dress and act sexually provocatively.
Supervillains of Asian descent always have green skin. I.E. Ming the Merciless in Defenders of the Earth, Dr. Julius No in James Bond Jr., The Mandarin in the Iron Man animated series.
The bad guy will have a wise-cracking, usually anthropomorphic sidekick (this is usually true of Disney films - see Aladdin). In any future sequels / television series, this sidekick will usually have joined the good guys. (Because he normally serves as the person who complains, and is fun to keep around. See Iago.)
[edit]
1.2 Typical episodes
Most cartoons include an episode in which one or more characters:
Shrink.
Travel in time.
Swap bodies with someone/something else (but usually keep their own voices).
Transform into an animal or monster, and usually attacked or hunted by their allies.
Impersonate the opposite gender or another character.
Travel to an alternate universe where all the heroes are evil and the villians good, or where the bad guys have taken over.
Get amnesia (which usually results into the character thinking they are friends with, or working for, one of their enemies).
Meet a famous singer/actor, fictional or not.
Go into outerspace, often the moon.
Celebrate and learn about Christmas.
One team members leaves the team and returns by the end of the episode.
Save the planet from an asteroid or some other large outerspace object.
Meet Japanese culture or go to Japan.
Go through a very special episode with a moral/social message.
Remind the others of all the adventures they lived through, bringing out flashbacks of older episodes (this is called a clip show).
[edit]
1.3 The City
Action cartoons typically take place in a city that constantly falls victim to bizarre catastrophes that sends the helpless citizenry into panic.
Large portions of the city are often destroyed and rebuilt rapidly and the good guys are never blamed for the amount of destruction they cause. (Parodied in The Powerpuff Girls.)
Metropolitan police forces that are regularly confronted by superhuman or otherwise exceptional criminals never upgrade their equipment in response, and must rely entirely on one or two masked super-powered vigilantes to defend the city.
[edit]
1.4 Characters
Most characters, no matter who they are, are typically two-dimensional, predictable in everyway except for maybe their witty comments. Characters with deep and complex psyches are very rare mainly because of the nature of cartoons being geared toward children (exceptions: several anime characters).
A close friend of the hero is of African descent(Kim Possible, Hey Arnold!, The Batman).
[edit]
1.5 Weapons
No one uses firearms anymore. Even the police and military are equipped with laser weapons that are rarely capable of killing anyone, despite the damage they may do to inanimate objects. Compare this to the original Johnny Quest, in which Johnny got to use firearms and even occasionally shot people with them.
The ability of someone to actually hit their target with a weapon is inversely proportional to their lethality. Thus, handguns will never hit anything regardless of which side is wielding them, lasers only rarely hit anyone and usually only during a 'dramatic moment', while cannons that launch rotten tomatoes are surprisingly effective at neutralizing an adversary.
Sharp weapons never cut anyone. Except maybe on the cheek, finger, or hair. If someone is stabbed, it fades to black. If a girl's hair is cut, she will get angry.
[edit]
2 Classic Cartoon Cliches
Digging a hole straight down to the other side of the Earth from America leads to China, or from England to Australia.
Cartoon characters can reach behind their backs (or, sometimes, into their pockets or trousers) and produce any object that they might find necessary. This works even if the object in question is much too large to be hidden behind them. The most common object to be produced in this manner is a large wooden mallet used to hit villains (or wayward boyfriends in anime) on the head, though the Transformers robots were notorious for retrieving weapons in the same fashion. The theorized extradimensional space from which these objects are retrieved is therefore called "malletspace" or "hammerspace". In Transformers, they admit it.
Cartoon characters can fall from any height, be hit with any object, be burned, have their bodies mangled and twisted into any shape, and have every tooth in their mouth knocked out and seconds later appear without any sign of injury. (Quasi-exception: the various deaths of Kenny McCormick on South Park, after which he does not appear until the next episode, and even this was spoofed by its own show.)
Cartoon characters can walk on thin air until they look down. Once they notice the lack of support beneath them, however, they will fall. One possible explanation could be that laws of physics only apply when a character is aware of them.(spoofed in Ed, Edd n Eddy)
When falling from a great height, a character may produce an umbrella from hammerspace, which acts as a makeshift parachute.
There is an alarming number of anvils around, seemingly just waiting to fall from a cliff or tall building onto a villain's head.
Grand pianos also commonly fall from the sky onto cartoon characters' heads.
When this happens to a character, piano keys will emerge from their mouth and play a tune.
If the main character is a child, their father or mother is often absent and the reasons for her absence never explained, especially in Disney films. When both parents are present, fathers are often absent-minded, impractical, lazy, or immature, while mothers are overbearing and often embarrassing, especially for older children.
Cartoon characters almost always wear the same clothing every day, unless there is some specific reason why their normal clothes would be inappropriate. This is often parodied (by some cartoons themselves, such as Doug) showing the inside of their closets actually having several identical sets of clothing. This often creates an unintentional side-effect. For example, the regular human characters in Scooby-Doo cartoons almost always dress like it is the 1960s, and it has been acknowledged. However, this cliche is becoming less common in cartoons set in the "real" world with human characters, especially for prominent female characters. For instance, Kim Possible has a handful of different outfits, while her male sidekick Ron Stoppable wears the same thing to school every day. This is due to budget, of course
Funny animal characters, especially if male, often wear shirts with no pants (Donald Duck, for example). They of course show no sign of genitalia, even if the animal has no fur or feathers to hide them. Often they wear no clothes at all, like Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck.
The eyes are the only part of a cartoon character's body that are visible in total darkness.
When in total darkness, cartoon characters can produce a match - not a flashlight or lantern - from hammerspace. When lit, the match will inevitably reveal that the room is filled with dynamite or fireworks. The characters will not have time to react before they accidentally light one of the fuses with the match, causing a large explosive chain reaction. Except maybe to blow out the match, but there's still an explosion.
Another cliche is that a person enters a dark room with himself and a friend. When you see the floating eyes, the 'friend' has mean eyes, like that of a monster. When the person mentions that something seems funny, usually his friend responds that he's not holding the person's hand (or that it doesn't feel like his hand). Then the person finds a match, and realizes he's holding the hand of the monster/antagonist, or is in an otherwise unsavory situation (used in an episode of Scooby-Doo).
When an explosive goes off in a cartoon character's face, they are blackened by the ashes, but are otherwise unharmed.
If a cartoon character is suddenly frightened, their hair may all fall out at once but, will always go back into place in the next shot.
If an unpleasant character falls down, their hair may suddenly slide off their head, revealing that it is a wig and they are actually bald, much to their embarrassment.
Male cartoon characters often have their trousers (or, in the case of "funny animal" characters, the fur on the lower half of their bodies) fall down. This almost invariably reveals white boxer shorts with a design of little red hearts, and causes the character to blush.
Cats are usually stupid and villainous, while dogs and mice are clever and good (see Tom and Jerry).
When a character faces a moral crisis, conscience and temptation (or to put in in Freudian terms, the superego and id, which would make said character the ego) are personified as a small angel and devil, respectively, sitting on the character's shoulders. This is frequently spoofed by the angel and devil bickering incessantly, or even having one of the pair lose their temper and physically attack the other (in both Excel Saga and Family Guy, the main character's angel pulls out a gun and shoots the devil, and in Shaman King, Manta's angel shoots the devil with an arrow). Sometimes a particularly malicious or selfish character, such as The Flea from ¡Mucha Lucha! or Pretty Boy from Teacher's Pet, has another devil instead of an angel.
When a character becomes popular or famous, their former best friends are usually left out. At the end of the cartoon, the popular character will have been rejected or mistreated by the superficial friends or popularity. Discouraged, the character will return to his old best friends who are more than happy to take them back (Hey Arnold!). This is also very recurrent in children's movies.
Painting the shape of a tunnel on a wall or cliffside will create a real tunnel that good characters can enter to escape pursuit by villains. When the villain attempts to enter the tunnel, they will either run into the wall or be hit by a steam train coming out of the tunnel, without explanation.
Any cave already in existence will, when examined, produce either an angry bear or a train.
Traps will only work when examined to see why they did not work by the villain:
A cannon will only fire when the bad guy looks down the barrel.
A heavy rock, precariously balanced, will only fall when stamped on (taking the stamper with it), or walked under by a villain.
The only way to escape a swarm of bees or wasps is to jump into water.
The water will invariably contain sharks, piranha, or a crocodile.
A character will slip on a banana peel on the floor.
A seemingly stupid or incompetent character will often excel at one particular, obscure field. They will be better at this one area than any of the main characters. If the character's area of expertise seems useless and is mocked by the main characters, it will turn out to be the key to saving all their lives before the episode's end.
Characters often have three fingers and one thumb on a hand, instead of four fingers and one thumb (this first appeared on Mickey Mouse, because it was faster to draw).
An echo, or a voice in someone's head, often turns out to be someone talking when the camera changes angle. Alternately, the echo does not repeat what the character says, and instead responds.
A character being chased will never be able to lose their pursuer. No matter how far away he runs, how deep a hole he digs himself into, or how many doors he locks himself behind, the other guy will be standing right behind him when he turns around.
In cartoons viewed by young children, the words "death" or "kill" are almost never used in context. I.e., they often say phrases like "I'm bored to death" or "I'd kill for a burger", but will never say "He died" or "kill him!". Similarly, in action cartoons, the villain will often use words like "destroy", "crush", or "finish" when ordering their henchmen to kill the hero(es). (This is parodied in the movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action, where the villainous Acme Chairman tells one of his henchmen "Destroy them! And when I say destroy, I mean kill! Messily and painfully!").
In a chase scene, there will one part where there are many doors or paths. The one being chased will go through one door and come out of another door in a completely different place. The chaser will follow them but come out in a different place. This will continue for several different doors which are often in the same hallway (famously used in the Scooby-Doo cartoons).
The American flag tends to appear behind a character making an inspirational speech.
The character will also usually be dressed like General George S. Patton, from the movie Patton.
The antagonist will walk off a cliff, hover in mid-air, and the protagonist will ask him to look down. He does, sees a 'Vertigo' view of the ground, looks up, waves good-bye, THEN falls (such as Wile E. Coyote often did).
Saying "it can't get any worse than this" always signals things getting worse.
Tell me about Dragon Booster, Avater, Super Robot Monkeys, Shaoiln Showdown, W.I.T.C.H, Mega LRX
Probably not sure what U mean by tell U about all that stuff but I can fill you in about Megas XLR
Quoted from Wikipedia
In the distant future, Earth is fighting a losing war with an alien race known as the Glorft. In order to save the planet, the human resistance steals a giant robot, Megas (Mechanized Earth Guard Attack System), from the Glorft and modifies it. The idea was to send Megas back to the Battle of the Last Stand, which was the last major offensive fought by humanity against the Glorft. Humanity lost that battle, but the members of the resistance believe that Megas can tip the scales and hand the Glorft a decisive defeat.
Before the plan can be executed, however, an attack by the Glorft forces the human hand to send Megas back in time. The prototype timedrive, however, accidentally sends the now-crippled Megas (its head was blown off in the attack) all the way back to the early 20th century. Megas languishes in a New Jersey junkyard until it ends up in the hands of two slackers, Coop and Jamie, around the year 2000. Coop turns Megas into a hot rod project and names it XLR, for eXtra Large Robot.
Kiva goes back in time to retrieve Megas, and when she finds she is unable to pilot it because of Coop's modifications, she decides to train Coop for fighting.
You can find episodes of season 1 & 2 on Torrentspy
Amen Joekeido, amen.
So, what are good cliche's?
Well, a cliche is only bad or good depending on how it's handeled by the writer.
Example: Luffy is basically Goku. They share pretty much the same character traits i.e. huge stomachs, endless optimism, a dumbass but a brilliant fighter, etc. It's how Oda handles and writes the character that makes him so lovable and rememorable and not stale and boring like Naruto.
Most of your recent popular stories like Harry Potter, The Matrix, and Star Wars, are all basically following the same Hero's Journey formula. It's what the creators do and how they handle the cliches that make these stories so popular and interesting to so many people.
Ben10, unfortunately, doesn't do anything new or interesting with its cliches. We've seen this stuff before. Hundreds of times. The main draw of the show is nothing more than a marketing gimmick and that's why its so stale and boring. There's no creativity involved, no risks taken. It's basically one huge toy commercial. At least other shows like TMNT and Justice League have plots and character development.
Slowly creeps back into the toybox and shuts the lid