History FranchiseOriginalSin / WesternAnimation

** Many long-time fans have argued that the franchise's formula stopped working around the time that they tried to bring ''real'' monsters into the show (notably in ''WesternAnimation/TheThirteenGhostsOfScoobyDoo'', [[WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooDirectToVideoFilmSeries the direct-to-video movies]], and [[Film/ScoobyDoo the live-action films]]), which killed the elements of mystery that gave the original series its charm. While the original ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' generally stuck to the famous ScoobyDooHoax for most of its stories, genuinely supernatural elements have been around as far back as that series, and not all of its [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters of the Week]] turned out to be costumed crooks. The villain of "Foul Play in Funland" was a real robot gone haywire, one scene in "A Night of Fright is No Delight" had a bone floating onto Scooby's plate from the air with no explanation given, and the supporting characters in "That's Snow Ghost" were implied to have faced a real Yeti in a flashback. But this was all mitigated by the fact that there were still mysteries to solve and that the latter two cases were largely flavor-dressing or relegated to the background. ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooOnZombieIsland'' (usually regarded as one of the best stories in the franchise), likewise had it as a selling point that there were real monsters in it. But again, the difference was that there was still a mystery to solve and enough plot twists ([[spoiler:the zombies are on the heroes' side for one]]) for it to all feel natural and still come across as an authentic Scooby-Doo story. ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryInc'' did use real monsters as well, but like with Zombie Island, there was still a mystery to solve, and many episodes had the classic ScoobyDooHoax anyway. But as much later entries in the franchise continued to make increasingly large usage of real monsters and equally increasingly downplayed the mystery aspect of the show, fans began to feel alienated due to the real monsters and lack of mystery now seeming to have overstayed their welcome to the point that they'd robbed the show of its original charm.

** The fights against the villains became increasingly criticized for using TheWorfEffect, IdiotBall, MilitariesAreUseless, and AntiClimaxBoss. At first, the fact that there were ''any'' fights in ''My Little Pony'' was so surprising and [[RuleOfCool cool enough]] most fans were willing to overlook this. However, it got worse as the series went on, as the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil and SerialEscalation reached the limit of what they could get away with without falling into this. The first villains, Nightmare Moon and Discord, were {{Physical God}}s who could only be defeated by [[VillainBeatingArtifact the Elements of Harmony]], justifying only the heroes being able to oppose them, with [[BigGood Princess Celestia]] contributing though [[BatmanGambit cunning plans]] keeping her from being useless. The Season 2 finale had the Changelings; despite them being weaker, they successfully overran Canterlot despite its army being mobilized. This combined with [[NiceJobBreakingItHero all the bad decisions]] and [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter bad judgements]] the heroes made beforehand, as well as Celestia getting defeated in her first on-screen fight, caused the first backlash. This was mitigated by the Changelings grabbing the element of surprise so tightly even fans didn't see them coming, Celestia's loss being [[WorfHadTheFlu due to unique circumstances]] even the villain was surprised by (and Celestia was ''winning'' the fight before those unique circumstances set in), and the heroes [[CurbStompCushion still put up an epic fight]] and were only beaten by [[ZergRush sheer numbers]]. This keeps it very well received by most who didn't expect any action, much less that kind of bar-raising. The Season 3 opener was criticized for its lesser action, but still worked as Sombra, was so CrazyPrepared that he nearly won without a fight and the Princesses' noninvolvement was justified as them testing the heroes. The Season 4 opener and finale were very well received, to the point the latter is oft considered the best episode of the series, thanks to it having the best action and justifiably threatening foes, which again raised the bar to the point most overlooked the heroes and Princesses [[DidntThinkThisThrough poorly thought out plans]] indirectly enabling Tirek's actions. The contrivance started to set in Season 5, as Starlight Glimmer inexplicably rivaled [[TheChosenOne Twilight Sparkle]] in power despite being a regular unicorn, which was harder to ignore as the action was not struggling to up the ante. The Season 6 finale had all the heroes and Princesses getting defeated ''offscreen'' by the aforementioned Changelings without anyone noticing or ''any'' kind of explanation given all the circumstances they needed last time. [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot This denied a chance for action]] and upped the contrivance to the point it broke WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. Not helping was [[ToughActToFollow that by that point the expectations for action was was raised to a point it couldn't measure up]] and the aforementioned [[HeelFaceTurn Starlight Glimmer]] was the only one (besides three allies she had) left to save everyone; this added to her criticism of making the other characters look bad to give Starlight [[CharacterShilling unfair favoritism]]. ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTheMovie2017'' only added to this, as an ActionizedSequel that amped up the action ended up amping up the contrivances as well while also making them so central to the story it was harder for viewers to overlook.

** Another primary criticism of the revival is the lack of variety in its shorts, with the majority of the episodes consisting of two shorts each featuring the Warners and one short each featuring Pinky and the Brain sandwiched in between, with only the occasional exception. But the original 1990s incarnation of the series didn't entirely escape similar criticism itself. More specifically, in the Kids' WB era, with Pinky and the Brain having had to be dropped for a while due to spinning off into their own separate show, Minerva Mink only being relegated to cameos in other characters' shorts due to the few shorts dedicated primarily to her in earlier seasons causing her to be deemed 'too sexy' for kids to watch, the Good Idea Bad Idea segments getting phased out, and Rita and Runt starting to get featured less often due to Rita's voice actress Creator/BernadettePeters having been deemed too expensive to keep onboard for long periods of time, the show was largely being carried by the Warners and Slappy Squirrel in a format similar to that of the revival. The difference, however, is that the original incarnation still had enough additional characters (such as the Goodfeathers and Buttons and Mindy) appearing in their own shorts frequently enough to allow the show to not feel too confined to Slappy and the Warners and retain the variety show format it was known for. The revival, on the other hand, has largely stuck to the aforementioned Warners-PATB-Warners format with only the occasional outlier in the form of a brand new original short concept, while so far having all the other characters from the original show be relegated to brief cameos in a single episode (with only Chicken Boo in particular being able to so far get a 2nd cameo appearance in the 2nd season), making the revival come across as too StrictlyFormula.

* ''Franchise/TheLoudHouse'': A growing criticism of the franchise is newer media [[DenserAndWackier featuring more fantastical situations]] compared to Seasons 1-3 of the [[WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse original animated series]]. There were many instances of this in earlier seasons, from Lisa creating a garbage monster to Lucy's MaybeMagicMaybeMundane moments, but they were usually sporadic moments that didn't break the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief, and were quick gags that didn't impact its world. As early as Season 3, however, one episode ("The Mad Scientist") had the conflict be resolved via time travel. By Season 4, many had begun to take notice of these instances happening practically several episodes and becoming far more zany and explicitly outside the realm of realism, with it getting seemingly more ingrained into the show's formula as Season 5 came around. It reached its apex in ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouseMovie'', which features magic and dragons as relevant aspects of the plot (with the climax featuring a "dragon vs. magic" battle), and ghosts being major characters in the film who provide crucial plot information, causing many to [[FanonDiscontinuity disregard many of these episodes and moments]]. And this criticism only got worse when the series' sixth season and later LiveActionAdaptation only further cranked up the fantastical elements and scenarios, as does its spin-off ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes'', which throws Mesoamerican gods into the mix, in both the series and [[WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandesMovie the movie]].

* ''Franchise/TheLoudHouse'': A growing criticism of the franchise is newer media [[DenserAndWackier featuring more fantastical situations]] compared to Seasons 1-3 of the [[WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse original animated series]]. There were already instances of unrealistic things happening in the show's prior seasons, like the extent of Lisa's intelligence and child-prodigy nature, but these were forgiven for the most part because they were subtle, sporadic instances that rarely broke the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief and mostly were just for quick gags and didn't dramatically impact the plot, and previous seasons at least had boundaries for the reality of ''The Loud House'''s world. In other words, the reality was stretched, but it remembered to quickly snap back. As early as Season 3, however, one episode ("The Mad Scientist") had the conflict be resolved via time travel. By Season 4, many had begun to take notice of these instances happening practically several episodes and becoming far more zany and explicitly outside the realm of realism, with it getting seemingly more ingrained into the show's formula as Season 5 came around, and reaching its apex in the film ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouseMovie'', which features magic and dragons as relevant aspects of the plot (with the climax featuring a "dragon vs. magic" battle), and ghosts being major characters in the film who provide crucial plot information. This made people decry it as moving too far away from the show's original premise as a relatable, grounded series about a boy and his 10 sisters. And this criticism only got worse when the series' sixth season and later LiveActionAdaptation only further cranked up the fantastical elements and scenarios, as does its spin-off ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes'', which throws Mesoamerican gods into the mix, in both the series and [[WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandesMovie the movie]].

* ''Franchise/MyLittlePonyGeneration5''
** Like in the early episodes of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyMakeYourMark'' some of the episodes in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', especially earlier ones, have characters acting annoying or stupid for the sake of the plot, plot holes, pacing issues, kids show cliches, and lackluster humor. In the preceding series, though, these problems tended to be lesser in scope and overshadowed by good instances of Worldbuilding, CharacterDevelopment, original humor, set-pieces, musical numbers, and characters acting lovable or compelling, even before the show [[GrowingTheBeard Grew The Beard ]] as writers and fans got used to the writing of ''My Little Pony'' being enjoyed by older ages and having to live up to higher standards. ''Make Your Mark'' however, despite facing both its predecessor series and [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyANewGeneration pilot movie]] as a ToughActToFollow, seems to approach itself as a standard young children's show for whom these issues don't matter, and has fewer musical numbers or interesting set-pieces to fall back on when it comes to making episodes fun to watch.

** The show flanderized aspects of the personalities of the Penguins and the Lemurs but those were relatively minor characters in the movies, who mostly served as comic relief. The Penguins were very close to be {{Satellite Character}}s to each other. In the views of many fans, not only the exagerated characterizations didn't downplay more complex and sympathetic characters, they actually managed to flesh them out. Kowalski's TheSmartGuy status and Rico's StomachOfHolding actually [[AdaptationalBadass became more impressive]] in the series. Skipper, Private, Maurice and Mort were given more characterization. And while fans are split over King Julien's handling, his role was still not that far of a strech from the movie's version to become jarring. Also, HeroicComedicSociopath aside, the penguins remained sympathetic and heroic characters, even more that the movies arguably, so fans didn't see an issue with the changes. Fans however did take an issue when later shows turned [[AdaptationalJerkass heroic three-dimensional characters in one note-jerkasses]] and took away [[BadassDecay the elements that make them badasses in the movies]] or made them more incompetent for the sake of RuleOfFunny.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'': Some of the later Creator/DreamWorksAnimation's shows like ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'', ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens2013'', ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'' and ''WesternAnimation/MegamindRules'' would often receive criticisms for downgraded animation quality and flanderization of the characters, leading to many older fans to consider them cash grabs that lacked the spirit of the movies. Despite having a much better reception, this show ended up kickstarting these trends but managed to control them well enough for them to not be an issue:
** The show flanderized aspects of the personalities of the Penguins and the Lemurs but those were relatively minor characters in the movies who mostly served as comic relief and the Penguins were very close to be {{Satellite Character}}s to each other, so to many fans not only the exagerated characterizations didn't downplay more complex and sympathetic characters but managed to flesh them out. Kowalski's TheSmartGuy status and Rico's StomachOfHolding actually [[AdaptationalBadass became more impressive]] in the series. Skipper, Private, Maurice and Mort were given more characterization. And while fans are split over King Julien's handling, his role was still not that far of a strech from the movies to become jarring. Also, HeroicComedicSociopath aside, the penguins remained sympathetic and heroic characters, even more that the movies arguably, so fans didn't see an issue with the changes. Fans however did take an issue when later shows turned [[AdaptationalJerkass heroic three-dimensional characters in one note-jerkasses]] and took away [[BadassDecay the elements that make them badasses in the movies]] or made them more incompetent for the sake of RuleOfFunny.
** The show is a clear victim of NoFlowInCGI but it managed to play with it's limitations, it averted the more complicated scenarios from the movies to focus on the relatively minor Central Park Zoo and the New York City and deliberately AdaptedOut the main characters in favour of focusing on the less complicated to animate Penguins, compare this with later shows that tried to recreate the more complicated character designs and scenarios from the movies they were based on and you get UnintentionalUncannyValley.

* ''Franchise/TheLoudHouse'': A growing criticism of the franchise is newer media [[DenserAndWackier featuring more fantastical situations]] compared to Seasons 1-3 of the [[WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse original animated series]]. There were already instances of unrealistic things happening in the show's prior seasons, like the extent of Lisa's intelligence and child prodigy nature, but these were forgiven for the most part because they were subtle, sporadic instances that rarely broke the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief and mostly were just for quick gags and didn't dramatically impact the plot, and previous seasons at least had boundaries for the reality of ''The Loud House'''s world. In other words, reality was stretched, but it remembered to quickly snap back. As early as Season 3, however, one episode ("The Mad Scientist") had the conflict be resolved via time travel. By Season 4, many had begun to take notice of these instances happening practically several episodes and becoming far more zany and explicitly outside the realm of realism, with it getting seemingly more ingrained into the show's formula as Season 5 came around, and reaching its apex in the film ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouseMovie'', which features magic and dragons as relevant aspects of the plot (with the climax featuring a "dragon vs. magic" battle), and ghosts being major characters in the film who provide crucial plot information. This made people decry it as moving too far away from the show's original premise as a relatable, grounded series about a boy and his 10 sisters. And this criticism only got worse when the series' sixth season and later LiveActionAdaptation only further cranked up the fantastical elements and scenarios, as does its spin-off ''WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandes'', which throws Mesoamerican gods into the mix, in both the series and [[WesternAnimation/TheCasagrandesMovie the movie]].

* One of the most pervasive flaws of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' was how [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality Hank was always right about everything]], [[TheWarOnStraw and anything that didn't gel with his conservative values was always wrong]]. As [[http://www.macleans.ca/authors/jaime-weinman/a-brief-history-of-king-of-the-hill/ this article explains]], Creator/MikeJudge had always wanted the show's CentralTheme to be about the brand of [[GoodIsOldFashioned good old-fashioned integrity]] that Hank exemplifies proving superior to any snooty bleeding-heart liberals and whatever [[PoliticalCorrectnessIsEvil modern-age PC hogwash]] they were espousing. Earlier seasons had the counterbalance of co-creator Greg Daniels, who liked to write episodes exploring a character's struggles and shortcomings. Because of this balance, other characters had their time to shine, while Hank's uptight, stubborn, out-of-touch nature was often treated as flawed and often made him a less-than-ideal FamilyMan. As a result, his role as the diligent, no-nonsense, ethical OnlySaneMan was more sincere and broadly portrayed; anyone could appreciate what Hank stood for, regardless of their standing on the political spectrum, since it wasn't being made out as the end-all-be-all way to live. Eventually, Judge and Daniels became less involved with the show, and the balance began to waver -- mass {{Flanderization}} ensued, not just of [[ObsessivelyNormal Hank's uptight conservatism]], but eventually his role as the OnlySaneMan as well. [[IssueDrift The show fell into a formula]] of Hank railing against anything [[AuthorFilibuster that could be considered nontraditional]], such as {{Boy Band}}s, {{Open Minded Parent}}s who preferred [[GentleTouchVsFirmHand Gentle Touch over Firm Hand]], nerdy TabletopGame enthusiasts, Bobby being InTouchWithHisFeminineSide, owning a pet other than a [[HeroesLoveDogs dog]], or even [[CanadaEh Canadians]], [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong all of which portrayed as little more than asinine]]. Because of this, Hank who was meant to elevate the [[GoodOlBoy the humble Bible Belt conservative]] wound up unintentionally embodying its worst characteristics -- in particular its bullheadedly insular and jingoistic attitude against any ideals other than its own.

* ''Franchise/TheLoudHouse'': A growing criticism of the franchise is newer media [[DenserAndWackier featuring more fantastical situations]] compared to Seasons 1-3 of the [[WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse original animated series]]. There were already instances of unrealistic things happening in the show's prior seasons, like the extent of Lisa's intelligence and child prodigy nature, but these were forgiven for the most part because they were subtle, sporadic instances that rarely broke the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief and mostly were just for quick gags and didn't dramatically impact the plot, and previous seasons at least had boundaries for the reality of ''The Loud House'''s world. In other words, reality was stretched, but it remembered to quickly snap back. As early as Season 3, however, one episode ("The Mad Scientist") had the conflict be resolved via time travel. By Season 4, many had begun to take notice of these instances happening practically several episodes and becoming far more zany and explicitly outside the realm of realism, with it getting seemingly more ingrained into the show's formula as Season 5 came around, and reaching its apex in the film ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouseMovie'', which features magic and dragons as relevant aspects of the plot (with the climax featuring a "dragon vs. magic" battle), and ghosts being major characters in the film who provide crucial plot information. This made people decry it as moving too far away from the show's original premise as a relatable, grounded series about a boy and his 10 sisters. And this criticism only got worse when the series' sixth season and later LiveActionAdaptation only further cranked up the fantastical elements and scenarios.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'': Some of the later Creator/DreamWorksAnimation's shows like ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'', ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens2013'', ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfPussInBoots'' and ''WesternAnimation/MegamindRules'' would often receive criticisms for downgraded animation quality and flanderization of the characters, leading to many older fans to consider them cash grabs that lacked the spirit of the movies. Despite having a much better reception, this show ended up kickstarting these trends but managed to control them well enough for them not to be an issue:
** The show flanderized aspects of the personalities of the Penguins and the Lemurs, but those were relatively minor characters in the movies who mostly served as comic relief and the Penguins were very close to being {{Satellite Character}}s to each other, so to many fans, not only did the exaggerated characterizations not downplay more complex and sympathetic characters, but instead managed to flesh them out. Kowalski's TheSmartGuy status and Rico's StomachOfHolding actually [[AdaptationalBadass became more impressive]] in the series, and Skipper, Private, Maurice, and Mort were given more characterization to go along with their exaggerated traits. And while fans are split over King Julien's handling, his role was still not too far of a stretch from the movies to become jarring. Also, HeroicComedicSociopath aside, the penguins remained sympathetic and heroic characters, even more than the movies arguably, so fans didn't see an issue with the changes. Fans however did take an issue when later shows turned heroic three-dimensional characters (such as [[Franchise/KungFuPanda Po]]) [[AdaptationalJerkass into one note-jerkasses]] and took away [[BadassDecay the elements that make them badasses in the movies]] or [[AdaptationalDumbass made them more incompetent]] for the sake of RuleOfFunny.
** The show is a clear victim of NoFlowInCGI, but it managed to play with its limitations. It averted the more complicated scenarios from the movies to focus on the relatively minor Central Park Zoo and the New York City and deliberately AdaptedOut the main characters (aside from Alex the lion appearing as a hallucination) in favor of focusing on the less complicated-to-animate Penguins, compare this with later shows that tried to recreate the more complicated character designs and scenarios from the movies they were based on and you get them falling into the UnintentionalUncannyValley.

*** The original G1 series ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'' and its TV specials had reforming villains, but they actually showed some sign of decency beforehand; this ranges from having misgivings about their actions that grow over the course of the story to outright hating the BigBad and planning to jump ship at the first opportunity, and the worst of the villains did not reform and were either properly defeated or killed outright. The most notorious examples from G4, however, showed no signs of regret, conflictedness, or anything to suggest they actually ''deserved'' forgiveness [[AssPull until the last moment when it turns out they "just wanted friends all along"]].

** The show flanderized aspects of the personalities of the Penguins and the Lemurs, but those were relatively minor characters in the movies who mostly served as comic relief and the Penguins were very close to being {{Satellite Character}}s to each other, so to many fans, not only did the exaggerated characterizations not downplay more complex and sympathetic characters, but instead managed to flesh them out. Kowalski's TheSmartGuy status and Rico's StomachOfHolding actually [[AdaptationalBadass became more impressive]] in the series, and Skipper, Private, Maurice, and Mort were given more characterization to go along with their exaggerated traits. And while fans are split over King Julien's handling, his role was still not too far of a stretch from the movies to become jarring. Also, HeroicComedicSociopath aside, the penguins remained sympathetic and heroic characters, even more than the movies arguably, so fans didn't see an issue with the changes. Fans however did take an issue when later shows turned [[AdaptationalJerkass heroic three-dimensional characters into one note-jerkasses]] (such as [[Franchise/KungFuPanda Po]]) and took away [[BadassDecay the elements that make them badasses in the movies]] or made them more incompetent for the sake of RuleOfFunny.