They Changed It, Now It Sucks/Western Animation

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Thundercats 2011 is already starting to get growls (pun intended) from the older fanbase due to the art style, storyline, and character plot changes, all of which has been accused of being too 'generic anime like'. (For example: Snarf has been accused of turning into a cliche` cute pet sidekick that doesn't speak and is there to be the teams mascot (Nevermind that the original Snarf wasn't very well-liked), Tygra is accused of being turned into Lion-O's rival/borderline frienemy who just so *happens* to be interested in the same girl but will come through for him when it 'counts' to show that he 'cares', Lion-O himself is accused of having been turned into the late teen/young brash man that has to 'learn' to believe in himself and his power... ) Then there's the apparent 'love triangle' between Lion-O, Tygra, and Cheetra which isn't supposedly helping quell said 'anime' notion... and this was all before the show even AIRED!
    • Of course once it actually aired, people learned that it was not, in fact, just like a generic anime. It was, in fact, an attempt to cash in on the popularity of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Unfortunately, despite trying to copy Avatar, the series creators didn't really seem to understand what made that series a success, and the new Thundercats instead wound up as episodic and limping. Oh, also, all that stuff about the lame characterization of Tygra and Lion-O and the love triangle turned out to be dead-on. Whether it objectively sucked or not is a matter of debate, but enough of the old and the new fans apparently thought so that it wound up canceled.
  • Any of the RoboCop cartoons will do. Hell the second one gets more flak because Murphy simply has more gadgets, and he gets called "go go gadget cop". That nickname might have less to do with just the gadgets and more to do with one of the most commonly used gadgets was extendo-arms, and that the series liked to find excuses to turn him into an incompetent recipient of goofy slapstick.
  • Transformers has gotten this pretty much since Beast Wars. The fandom itself has its own self-deprecating phrase for the trope: "TRUKK NOT MUNKY", regarding the complaints over Optimus Primal being a gorilla, which isn't actually a monkey at all. The more general term is "GEEWUN".
    • We'll never know how the fans' heads exploded when they first saw the character designs for Transformers Animated, or when they found out it would have human villains, with the Decepticons being a recurring threat and not the only one, or the fact that Optimus Prime would be voiced by David Kaye (who before has primarily voiced Beast Wars' Megatron), or that Optimus was a firetruck (until they realized he was technically a semi-truck outfitted as a firetruck. Then some were upset that he didn't have smoke stacks...), and let's not forget about Optimus not being the leader of all the Autobots. There are even people going berserk that the new Soundwave doesn't sound exactly like the old one (Frank Welker is expensive nowadays, one presumes). Transformers Animated, however, has managed to convert many of those same naysayers through much story, design, and casting Shout Outs that show that the writers had indeed Shown Their Work. Even so, some Fan Dumb just won't quit.
    • In the live-action movie, many were pissed that Optimus was a Peterbilt instead of a regular trailer (which was done to prevent large amounts of mass-changing between vehicle and robot modes). Not only that, but Bumblebee was a Camaro and not the original VW beetle, Megatron was a jet, not a Hand Cannon.
    • Though most of the "change" causing absolute fury in Transformers Fan Dumb is the prominence of humans in the story... y'know, humans, the dominant life form on the planet the story is taking place on? These fans consider it a change that the humans weren't shown briefly in the background occasionally as a catalyst for the story, while the camera stayed firmly on robots the entire time; in spite of the fact that many, many episodes of the original cartoon were pretty human-centric (Spike, Chip Chase, Carly, others). So, y'know, basically they were pissed that the movie wasn't Beast Wars. "Trukk not munky" indeed.
      • Given that the entire series is about SHAPE-CHANGING ROBOTS (y'know, Robots In Disguise?), Transformers is quite possibly the most ironic and idiotic example of this trope ever. Hell, the very backstory of them coming to Earth even involves them changing from a Cybertronian body, to an Earth body.
    • Transformers Prime is now getting a lot of flak from fans who agonise over how the design aesthetic, particularly for the Decepticons, strays too far from the norm (read: G1), instead electing for more of a hybrid movie/Animated look. Starscream and Soundwave are the biggest examples, drawing a lot of complaints about how their ultra-lean, spiky bodies look "anorexic" or something to that effect, never mind that the designs actually complement their personalities quite nicely. Soundwave has it the worst between the two of them, with most folks being appalled at how he's not the bulky, square-ish bot he was in G1 and War for Cybertron.
    • Put simply, TRUKK NOT MUNKY gets use every time a new series comes out. The Transformers fandom is the trope namer for Ruined FOREVER with good reason.
  • The episode of The Simpsons "That 90's Show" is hated by many fans entirely because it was a an alternate backstory for Homer and Marge. This despite the fact that the show has never had anything even resembling continuity and has always operated on a sliding time-scale. What's even more ridiculous is that a lot of professional reviewers were actually getting away with massive amounts of Fan Dumb, like Robert Canning who literally spent four-fifths of the review bitching about this instead of the actual content of the episode, gave it a 3/10, and called it "an abomination". Simpsons' "continuity" is Serious Business.
    • The 90s episode is bad for two reasons. They immediately went back to the old continuity of Homer and Marge attending high school in the Seventies in later episodes like "Take My Life Please". The second reason is that the show already did a far better job of making fun of the Nineties while they were actually happening.
      • Another thing is that this is a massive exaggeration of the effect, claiming that it RetConned away every past event established to have happened. If you accept that the show has a sliding timeline (which it very obviously does), the only thing this changes is that Marge went to college for a short time and Homer formed a band between them graduating and Marge getting pregnant. So it's more along the lines of: "They made their Expansion Pack Past and use of Comic Book Time come with somewhat more obvious Ret Cons and they've thus thrown out all other previously established past events, now it sucks".
    • The seasons when Mike Scully was show-runner (9-12) are often denounced as a Dork Age for simply being weirder then the most. This also leads some fans to make the ridiculous claim other episodes were "realistic" instead of just not as strange.
    • As if people aren't already displeased with the current state of the show, in season 20 the intro was permanently changed for the first time ever. It was remade to go along with the show's widescreen HD makeover. The completely newly animated sequence features various minor characters and gags that weren't there before.
      • Which is itself wrong: this isn't the first time the opening change, it's the second: it changed the first time in season 2 and did pretty much the same thing the third opening did (added characters that were since introduced).
      • Not to mention that technically, there have been literally hundreds of different opening sequences when you take into account the various couch gags.
    • Speaking about The Simpson, if you go to ANY inhabitant of Latin America and ask when the show turned bad the answer will be, of course, when they changed the original voices about 2005. This fact, almost unknow in the rest of the planet is an universal truth in the subcontinent. While few people know that the decline of cuality begun near or even before that point, due to new writters, directors o executive meddling, this is not associated to any other change than the voices that were subittly replaced when Audiomaster 3000 closed their contract. People to this date can't take Otto Valvabuena as Homer, and recognice the real one to be in the voice Humberto Vélez well recognized mexican voice actor.
  • Toonami got a lot of this; fans themselves are a Broken Base as to whether it sucked when (in Toonami's last change in style) TOM received a childish look and a face instead of a helmet (being a robot, it was assumed to be his whole head), the AI character SARA disappeared with no explanation and was replaced with robots similar in design to the new TOM, and the setting was changed to a jungle planet outpost instead of the spaceship Absolution. Of course, there was a similar reaction way back when after TOM replaced Moltar...
  • Because 4Kids redubbed and edited Winx Club, it got quite a bit of this reaction from fans This comments page for a video of a cut scene has quite a few comments expressing anger at 4Kids for removing the scene, even though as far as the plot goes, it's completely unnecessary.
    • Some changes have been more generally preferred, however. On example is the hip-hop music used in the Halloween episode. Another liked change is with Stella, who was a stereotypical blonde bitch in the original, is A LOT nicer and more likeable in the 4kids version.
    • 4Kids have had a HORRIBLE track record of dubbing foreign shows to the point that they become stupid, makes no sense, and leaves plotholes you could drive a truck through (see Dub-Induced Plot Hole). Scenes of character development have been taken out of Winx Club or developing lines replaced with "funny dialogue" which is usually a string of puns and taking away all the drama. Some personalities were also changed to the extreme, the main one being Layla. Originally, she is a girl with insecurity issues due to her royalty life and wants to have friends, but 4Kids turns her into an extreme feminist who tends to act like a bitch.
    • Now that Nickelodeon has started airing a heavily condensed version of the series, fans are complaining that they've removed too much. While that is an understandable complaint, one of the major things that has angered fans is the removal of the "Charmix" which after season 2 was never used or mentioned again.
  • Thomas the Tank Engine fans on hearing the show would be switching from models to CGI. Caused acts of Fan Dumb on YouTube.
  • There exists certain parts of the fandom that are absolutely furious that in Batman the Brave And The Bold Batman's parents died when he was mad at them over a Christmas present. There is also that the humor has devolved to Adam West-era puns, Batman practically having super strength, Batarangs being made of cellophane peeled from his chest logo (???), or that he's voiced by Hoss Delgado making him even harder to take seriously. (Of course, this is more about this entire thing being based on the Silver Age.)
  • Fairly Oddparents-Fans believe that about season 4-7 and the main character's Flanderization and Jerkassness.
  • When Mattel announced that they will release 'Tween Dora' to appeal to older girls. Many were expecting Bratz Dora.
  • Doug-Fans of the Nickelodeon version were and probably still known to trash the Disney version, because the biggest change made to it was Disney making it now!
    • The changes weren't so bad, and the creators made explanations for the changes a part of the script. The show is set one year after the first series, so the characters are a year older, dress differently, have different hairstyles, different voice actors, etc., and the first new episode focused on Doug learning to overcome and deal with his fears of the changes in his life.
    • The fact that Billy West refused to voice Doug in Disney's version because even he didn't like the changes still stands out, though.
  • Though The Spectacular Spider-Man is very well received by comic book fans and others, there are people who do not like the show for things such as the style, Shocker not being Herman Schultz, but Montana of the Enforcers, Venom's design, there may be other reasons I'm forgetting to list, but I'm obviously not forgetting about some of the more Militant fans of the previous series.
  • Ultimate Spider-Man received similar treatment from fans of Spectacular, who speculated that the show's very existence was the reason why Spectacular was axed in the first place. Once more became known about the series, other fans began complaining about the series not adhering to the comic book of the same name, as well as allegedly being very "toyetic".
  • Complaints were leveled at Green Lantern: The Animated Series for incorporating a lot of the more recent and controversial elements from the Geoff Johns run (such as the Red and Blue Lanterns and the Star Sapphire Corps) despite starring the original Silver Age GL, Hal Jordan, and not any of the more recent Lanterns like John Stewart, Guy Gardner or Kyle Rayner. Early fan outcry was also leveled at the series for using CGI animation rather than the traditional hand-drawn looks used in most other DC cartoons. And even the fans who liked the elements from Geoff Johns' books have criticized the serie for things such as the Red Lanterns not being mindless raging beast like in the comic.
  • The Legend of Korra gets this from some fans of the original series who are upset that it has an entirely new cast and takes place several decades after the original ended, instead of directly continuing Avatar: The Last Airbender.
  • Beware the Batman is already getting this despite nothing more than two teaser posters being released. Some fans are angered about a teen version of Katana appearing as Batman's sidekick despite traditionally being portrayed as an adult in the comics. Alfred using firearms has proven to be another controversial element. Additionally, some fans seem to take issue with the fact that a teen Katana is being used as Batman's core sidekick when |Cassandra Cain, the Asian Batgirl, fills a similar function and has yet to be used in any DC telelvision show beyond a non-speaking cameo in Justice League. And of course there are also animation purists who detest the use of CGI.
  • Futurama had a rumored new voice cast that thankfully didn't go through, possibly due to fan reaction.
    • Or maybe because you know...replacing the entire cast would be really messed up.
      • "Messed up" or not, the dispute was mostly due to the voice actors' salary demands, with numerous fans afraid and angry at the possibility of change demanding that Fox throw as much money at the actors as was necessary. Because who doesn't want to invest large amounts of cash in a series that had to be Uncancelled?
    • Now that the show's back, it's already getting wild accusations (even after the first two episodes of the season!) that the show has officially been Ruined FOREVER just because the jokes have become slightly edgier (the third episode in particular is also getting a lot of this because of all of its topical humor).
  • Many people didn't like the idea of Batman Beyond where Bruce Wayne wasn't the actual Batman. As far as Spinoff Babies go, this series is easily one of the best examples of it being done right.
  • Ben 10 Alien Force gets this reaction a lot. While the original wasn't a classic, apparently Your Mileage May Vary isn't allowed to apply when it comes to declaring the franchise Ruined FOREVER. Just look at the series page. While some of the criticism are justified, others tends to fall in the Fand Dumb department.
  • Young Justice initially drew the ire of certain fans of the 90's comic book of the same name. Despite the fact that the creators said from the beginning that it would only loosely adapt elements from the book and that it would mostly do its own thing, fans still raised a massive stink. It got to the point where Peter David, who wrote the original comics, had to step in and tell people to calm down and accept that it was going to be good despite not matching his work. However, now two years into the show, the drama more or less died down.
  • The Venture Brothers fandom seems to be heading in this direction. The changes made for season 4 are mostly par for the course for a show with so much character development (every season has kicked off with some sort of major change) but Brock Samson's departure from the regular cast has led to a vocal faction of fans declaring that the show is terrible without him. This might end up being a moot issue, though since Brock may or may not be back following the events of the most recent episode.
    • To a lesser extent, Hank and Dean's new designs have gotten this sort of reaction as well.
  • Strawberry Shortcake has been prone to this due to the uncertainty of the direction each of the master licensees want to take the franchise which has angered fans due to its frequent changes. When the 2003 version started, some of the older fans felt that the franchise was doomed. And when the 2003 version was aged-up in 2007, there was trepidation from some (particularly, fans of Honey Pie Pony, who weren't pleased that she had retired to Ice Cream Island permanently, and even then the send-off was only mentioned in a chapter book and not on the TV series officially, and after that the existing fillies, Honey Pie and Ice Cream Island was never mentioned ever again, while others who disliked the Pie-Man voiced their dislikes in the franchise bringing him back). Then there's the 2009 series, which were widely decried by the Educational TV connisseurs who're drawn to the series by the 2003 series being educationally wholesome as lacking in terms of educational content and emphasis on beauty over moral values, the transition to CGI, as well as being nothing more than a 30-minute toy commercial.
  • Scooby Doo Mystery Inc is getting this by a number of fans. This review sums up what a lot of fans are complaining about pretty nicely by complaining about the same things. Others are accepting the series quite well and chances are it'll be a base breaker.
  • A lot of fans cried fool when Dwayne McDuffie, writer of Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, said Superwoman--who traditionally is the Mirror Universe version of Wonder Woman--was one of Mary Marvel and said an underling was WW's counterpart. But then, said movie's original form was to originally bridge the gap between Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and a lot of fans felt Wondy did suffer from Adaptation Decay there.
    • Kind of stupid when you realize that it was more inspired by the Grant Morrison story where Superwoman was Lois Lane.
    • A number of Grant Morrison fans proclaimed that the movie was bad simply because it didn't adapt his arc panel for panel, despite only loosly borrowing from it.
  • South Park, where to start? There are fans that have long cried foul over the show's change in direction from its more surreal era to the political and current events-charged seasons, the changes in animation from more cartoony and crude violence to outright Gorn, and endless debates on whether or not these directions have worked. And then there are those that feel the show sucks due to the changes in female voice talent (which became a necessity due to Mary Kay Bergman's suicide): When Eliza Schneider left over a contractual dispute and her successor April Stewart took the job, one particular faction has not been very amused.
    • The "real" death of Kenny at the end of season 5 and his replacement by Butters in season 6 ignited flamewars on the official site's forums and elsewhere. Following Butters' replacement with Tweek, it led to another debate over whether the show "sucked" now for changing the dynamic. All seemed well when Kenny returned, until he got put Out of Focus for Butters. But they've still thrown Kenny fans a bone from time to time, what with his role as Mysterion.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! If it's not exactly like the 80's cartoon a large portion of the fandom instantly grab their torches and pitchforks and complain about how it isn't like the "original source material" despite the fact that the show had massive Adaptation Decay from the Mirage comics (which, for the record is the original source material!). The worst part is that when some adaptations try to be more like the comics (the first live-action film, the 2003 series, TMNT) they still get flak from fans saying it strayed too far from the original (That is, the 80's cartoon).
    • The character designs of the 2012 show are drawing a lot of ire-and it hasn't even aired yet!
      • And then the 2014 movie designs came out, and the TMNT fandom exploded in nerd rage like never before. Amusingly, there was a lot of whining of "Why didn't they just make it like the 2012 cartoon?! We love that!"
  • The Looney Tunes Show is getting a lot of this, mostly due to the changing of most of the characters almost completely from their original selves and the sitcom-esque style.
    • Loonatics Unleashed was and still is a victim of this. Kind of stupid as the characters are the Looney Tunes descendants, so nothing was actually changed character-wise.
  • Jeph Loeb announced that the second season of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes will end with 12 self-contained episodes. This stands in contrast to the fact the first season followed a serial format. Fans decided to hate these episodes before they even got to read synopses.
    • The addition of recaps to Disney XD airings necessitated a trimming of the minute-long intro. This trimming resulted in the replacement of the Ear Worm "Fight as One" with a speech by Nick Fury, as well as animation unique to the intro giving way to random episode clips. Fans wish for the reinstating of the longer opening, especially since Fury's speech sounds more like a promo for the movie The Avengers than a proper introduction to the cartoon, but the only consolation they received came when the last episodes of the first season came to DVD and Netflix with the theme song attached. Even then, Marvel probably attached it for consistency's sake, instead of fan appeasement.
    • Executive Meddling resulted in at least one of the episodes guest-starring Spider-Man getting redubbed. The lines that Josh Keaton recorded for Spidey got replaced by Drake Bell. Never mind the possibility that Bell's performance sounds fine on its own standards; a number of fans already consider the episode tainted.
  • My Little Pony fans did not treat the "Core 7" revision of the series nicely, especially when it came to Rainbow Dash; her accent changed, she became more generic instead of being a Cool Big Sis to everyone, and her catchphrase changed. In general Pony fans don't like changes to the series. G2 is often passed up in people's minds, and G3.5 has a Hatedom.
    • Season 2 of the G4 TV series has earned the vitriol of a pool of Slice of Life fans who were attracted to the show by the post-two-parter Season 1 episodes, as it was believed to feature a recurring villain, the two-parter season premier is dark as heck (and the villain was not permanently destroyed and did not undergo a Heel Face Turn), and the E/I bug is missing.
      • Some fans have become very cynical towards it now that Lauren Faust has left the show, with even the admins of one Pony forum (which will go unnamed) admitting they stopped watching it early in Season 2. There is no consensus amongst these fans as to what they think is wrong with the show now, other than that Faust is no longer in charge. This attitude mostly seems to appear amongst the earliest G4 fans, and given that the show's fanbase keeps growing it may be a case of It's Popular, Now It Sucks.
  • Many Veggie Tales fans reacted this way to the new intro theme, which cuts off a verse.
  • Franklin fans reacted this way to the new All CGI Cartoon.
  • In Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable has this reaction In-Uiverse when he discovers the changes Dr. Drakken made to Bueno Nacho when he took over. It’s marginally preferable to what happened to Bueno Nacho in the bad future Shego made, but perhaps Bueno Nacho was indeed better off without Dr. Drakken - though in his defense, the Diablo toys were indeed rather successful.
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