History OlderThanTheyThink / WesternAnimation

* Cartoony gags are often thought to be innovations brought by Creator/TexAvery and the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes cartoons who move to a more silly and absurd style compared to Creator/WaltDisney's realistically looking cartoons. Yet Disney himself made use of cartoony gags in the 1920s and 1930s, just like ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat'' did from 1919 on. In later Disney works, slapstick gags are particularly associated with Donald Duck, as opposed to Mickey Mouse and Goofy.

** Creator/AdamWest was AdamWesting ''seven years'' before ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' premiered.

*** And that's an interesting case because, before creating ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy,'' Creator/SethMacFarlane worked on ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo.''

** Similarly, Gil Gunderson is specifically a parody of Creator/JackLemmon's Shelley Levine character from ''Theater/GlengarryGlenRoss''. This is obvious enough in his first appearance, "Realty Bites," which is a largely a parody of GGR, less so in subsequent appearances when Gil becomes a recurring StrawLoser.

* The triangular CoolShades worn by Soundwave and Prowl of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' are often mistaken to be a ShoutOut to the [[MemeticMutation famous]] ones worn by Kamina of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', but [[WordOfGod Derrick J. Wyatt]] said they were actually a reference to the much older ''ComicBook/ABCWarriors'' of ''2000 AD'' fame. They were also worn by several other characters before Kamina, including [[ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] (in one strip) and Ash's [[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Squirtle]]. Many also thought the ''Lagann'' had some influence on the Headmaster design (both are robots that could become the head of another mecha to boost its power). However, besides the idea of a robot becoming a Transformer's head dating back to [[Franchise/TransformersGenerationOne G1]], Wyatt stated that he'd never seen ''Gurren Lagann'' until after the first season was already done with production (though he stated that if he ''had'' seen it before, the design would probably have stubby legs and let Masterson poke his head out the top).

* When ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' first aired, some viewers believed certain lines popularized by Bart to have been invented by the show's creators. These include Bart's replacing the words of "Jingle Bells" ("... Batman smells, Robin laid an egg...") in the first episode and "Eat my shorts", first said in ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' (1985). And while "Yo!" quite obviously predates Bart Simpson, being famously used at the ending of ''Film/RockyII'' movie (1979), many Generation-Y kids grew up not knowing that.

* When ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' first aired, some viewers believed certain lines popularized by Bart to have been invented by the show's creators. These include Bart's replacing the words of "Jingle Bells" ("... Batman smells, Robin laid an egg...") in the first episode and "Eat my shorts", first said in ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' (1985). And while "Yo!" quite obviously predates Bart Simpson, being famously used at the ending of the first ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' movie (1976), many Generation-Y kids grew up not knowing that.

* Adult animation? Most people think ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' and ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' were the first to specifically aim more at an adult audience. In fact, Creator/RalphBakshi created the first adult cartoon features in the 1970s, pioneering topics such as sex, drugs, bloody violence and politics. And even before Bakshi you had ''WesternAnimation/AnimalFarm'' (1955), a British animated feature based on Creator/GeorgeOrwell's ''Literature/AnimalFarm'', satirizing Communism as an animal fable. Not to mention ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', ''WesternAnimation/BettyBoop'' and the cartoons of Creator/TexAvery in the 1930s and 1940s making adult jokes and sexual innuendo. You might think that Bakskhi at least can attribute the first animated pornographic film to his name, ''WesternAnimation/FritzTheCat''? Not quite, in 1928 (!) a silent black-and-white short cartoon was made called "Eveready Harton in Buried Treasures" featuring a man with a giant RagingStiffie walking around looking for a woman. This short has remained anonymous however, fell into the public domain and was only rediscovered in the 1970s.

* In 2016, the Canadian series ''WesternAnimation/{{Fangbone}}'' debuted on Creator/DisneyXD in the United States, with many dismissing it as a ripoff of Daron Nefcy's popular 2015 Disney series ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', due to both series being about young heroes from a fantasy world who come to Earth through magical means and befriend a normal kid who helps them fight monsters. What nobody at the time realized however was that ''Fangbone!'' was based on a children's graphic novel series called ''Fangbone! Third Grade Barbarian'' written by acclaimed Canadian author Michael Rex that came out in 2012 -- three years before ''Star Vs.'' was ever a thing -- '''AND''' ''Fangbone!'''s pilot had originally aired in Canada in ''2014'', a year before ''Star Vs.'' premiered on Creator/DisneyChannel.

* Star Trek: Lower Decks is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Regulars Starship Regulars]] without the SerialNumbersFiledOff.

** Long before the G4 television show, ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'', ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' already had sizable male fanbases, while ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}} Arthur]]'', ''[[WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans The Backyardigans]]'', and ''[[Series/SesameStreet Sesame Street]]'' already appealed to people well above the preschool and kindergarten age ranges.

* Some people associate "Whoop whoop whoop" noises with [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Zoidberg]], [[WeirdAlEffect completely forgetting]] ''Film/TheThreeStooges''.

* While the general public believe ''WesternAnimation/ACharlieBrownChristmas'' was the first time Charlie Brown and the other characters were in animated form. The Peanuts characters didn't make their animation debut until 1959, such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QCfkHxKf5M introducing Ernie]] [[Music/TennesseeErnieFord Ford]] for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwYV3RM4Q3w "The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EHtX2FEVyA appeared in a series]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8oA9pRSOU0 of commercials]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxkM6WbGHpY for Ford Motors.]]

** ''Jem'' is also the title of a 1980 Frederik Pohl novel.

* The Theme song for ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' mentions "There's never ever been a show like Veggie Tales". And indeed there wasn't... it actually was an AllCGICartoon ''before WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' by almost a year. To be fair, ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'' actually ''did'' air on TV as a show ''long'' before ''Veggie Tales'' did.

* The title character of ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' first appeared in a claymation short called "Arnold Escapes a Church", created by Craig Bartlett in 1988. He next appeared in 1990 in another claymation short called "Arnold Uses His Imagination" (also known as "Arnold Rides a Chair"), which was created for ''Series/SesameStreet'', of all things.

** Long before the G4 television show, ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'', ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' already had sizable male fanbases, while''[[WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}} Arthur]]'', ''[[WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans The Backyardigans]]'', and ''[[Series/SesameStreet Sesame Street]]'' already appealed to people well above the preschool and kindergarten age ranges.

** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales'' showed male ponies alongside females ones and experimented with SliceOfLife stories long before ''Friendship is Magic''.

** The [[FanCommunityNickname brony]] [[PeripheryDemographic fandom]] is this; back in the 1980s, many boys did in fact enjoy the G1 television program due to the adventure-filled plots that were uncommon in girls’ shows at the time. The primary reason male fans had no FanCommunityNickname until 2010 was that message boards and social media did not become especially popular until at least the early-to-mid-2000s.
** The infamous "Rainbow Dash always dresses in style" quote is usually associated with G3.5 (as is the theme song the lyric appears in), but the quote - and the song - were actually borrowed from G3's "Core 7" soft reboot.
** Actually, who here remembers the ''first'' time we saw multi-colored equines dancing across the screen in WesternAnimation. You know, small unicorns dancing around, and pegasi too. What, TheEighties? No...we saw these as early as TheForties - we're talking about the Pastorale in ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}''.
** The whole "Adult men enjoying a show about girls? It's the end times/turning point for masculinity/insert flimsy sociological viewpoint here" makes you wonder if everyone has forgotten ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' originally had similar demographics in the Nineties and the 2000's.
** [[PeripheryDemographic A young children's show appealing to an adult audience?]] Friendship Is Magic is revolutionary and has broken down ''all'' the barriers of the AnimationAgeGhetto...if ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}} Arthur]]'', ''[[WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans The Backyardigans]]'', and ''[[Series/SesameStreet Sesame Street]]'' didn't beat it to the punch ''years'' and even ''decades'' earlier.
** Similarly, ''Friendship is Magic'' is hardly the first time a MerchandiseDriven franchise targeted solely towards little girls was adapted into a story-driven animated series with only superficial girly elements that could be (and was) enjoyed by both genders. ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'' beat it to that honour in 1985.
** At first, ''Friendship is Magic'' became well-known for its occasional GenreShift into SliceOfLife instead of adventure. This was actually first explored in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales'' and later on in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyG3 along with G3.5.
** ''Friendship is Magic'' also averted the LadyLand aspect, introducing [[EnsembleDarkhorse popular stallions]] such as Big [=MacIntosh=], Soarin' and Carrot Cake to the cast. ''Tales'' also beat them to the punch, as male ponies have appeared in virtually every episode of that series.

** Actually, who here remembers the ''first'' time we saw multi-colored equines dancing across the screen in WesternAnimation. You know, small unicorns dancing around, and pegasi too. What, TheEighties? No...we saw these as early as TheForties - we're talking about the Pastorale in ''Disney/{{Fantasia}}''.

* An adult cartoon about an anthropomorphic horse celebrity making his way through Hollywood, set in a world where humans live alongside FunnyAnimals. WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman? Nope - Creator/KlaskyCsupo did it first with their 2012 pilot "You Animal!"

* [[{{Animesque}} Anime-influenced]] Western animation is actually this. Most casual fans will tell you this phenomenon began either in the 1980s (when series like ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' were produced with the aid of Japanese studios) or in the 1990s (when the [[Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse DCAU cartoons]] took cues from classic anime). They're both wrong. The first Western animated series to deliberately use anime tropes was 1966's ''WesternAnimation/FrankensteinJunior'', a SuperRobot series about a [[KidWithTheRemoteControl Kid With The Remote Control]] for a giant robot created by his scientist father. [[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Sound familiar?]]

** Then there's Talos from Greek mythology, the original model for ''Dungeons & Dragons''' "iron golem".

* Cartoony gags are often thought to be innovations brought by Creator/TexAvery and the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes cartoons who move to a more silly and absurd style compared to Creator/WaltDisney's realistically looking cartoons. Yet Disney himself made use of cartoony gags in the 1920s and 1930s, just like ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat'' did from 1919 on.