Line #77 OlderThanTheyThink/WesternAnimation


1	* "The Rubberface of Comedy," the first half of ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'''s two-part Season 1 finale, was the first attempt at adapting ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'' into another medium, predating [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheKillingJoke the official adaptation]] by over a decade.
2	* Apparently some fans believe that the term 'twinkle toes' was coined by ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones "Twinkle Toes" Flintstone]] would have something to say about that.
3	* Who first used HumongousMecha? Was it ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}''? The Japanese ''[[Series/SpiderManJapan Spider-Man]]''? Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/StarshipTroopers''? The Martian tripods from ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898''? The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garuda Tale of Garuda]] from ''ancient Hindu legend'' had a robot with [[ChainsawGood rotary saws for hands]]. This one is officially one of TheOldestOnesInTheBook.
4	** Then there's the bronze giant Talos from Greek mythology, the original model for ''Dungeons & Dragons''' "iron golem".
5	** Myths are replete with this. Hittite mythology has one. Golden automata and other mechanical creatures were all over Myth/GreekMythology. Rabbi Loew's Golem was well-known for being large and powerful. Creating a mechanical man is a very old idea indeed, and making it huge is simply the next step up. Naturally, it's arguable which of these "count" as actual mecha, but the basic idea goes back.
6	* Some people associate "Whoop whoop whoop!" noises with [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} Zoidberg]], [[ParodyDisplacement unaware that this is a reference to]] ''Film/TheThreeStooges''.
7	** The DVD subtitles and closed captions on TV, at least, give "MIMICS THREE STOOGES" or "IMITATES CURLY FROM THE THREE STOOGES" rather than "WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP".
8	* 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/PokemonTheSeries 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).
9	* Although many people think the catcall "[[HeadTurningBeauty Hellooooo, nurse!]]" was originally from ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', it originated several decades ago, in vaudeville.
10	** As did most things on ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}''. Most of the trio's routines are very similar to Creator/TheMarxBrothers.
11	*** Such as Wakko's accent, which was based entirely off Music/RingoStarr.
12	* WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker's first appearance was actually as the villain of a short of a now forgotten character called "WesternAnimation/AndyPanda". Oh, and his laugh (produced by Creator/MelBlanc) didnt start with him either. Blanc used it earlier in a few of his Warner Bros. shorts like ''WesternAnimation/PorkysHareHunt'' (where it was used by the prototypical Bugs Bunny!).
13	* 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'' (1979), many Generation-Y kids grew up not knowing that.
14	** This is particularly ironic, as the creators note in the first season's DVD commentary, because Bart was meant as social commentary, speaking almost entirely in borrowed catch phrases and clichés. When the popularity of ''The Simpsons'' caused people to attribute the phrases to Bart instead, the joke was lost on many viewers. In fact Creator/NancyCartwright, the voice of Bart, says that she first heard "eat my shorts" when she was in high school (in the 1970s), and that it became a running gag among the fellow members of her high school marching band.
15	** Homer's iconic "D'oh!" outburst is from Creator/LaurelAndHardy regular supporting actor Jimmy Finlayson (though in a shorter form), as [[http://www.heraldscotland.com/what-s-the-story-with-homer-s-d-oh-1.840349 confirmed]] by Creator/MattGroening and Dan Castellaneta.
16	** While Homer Simpson is named after creator Matt Groening's father, he also shares his (first ''and'' last) name with a supporting character in Nathanael West's novella ''Literature/TheDayOfTheLocust'', which was written in 1939. This has amused more than a few English majors, though Groening deliberately got the name from that novel. In the Series 24 episode "Penny-Wiseguys", Homer lampshades the literary origin of his name with the line "I never thought Homer Simpson would be a part of the Day of the Locust!"
17	** Creator/AdamWest was AdamWesting ''six years'' before ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' premiered.
18	** The Yes Guy is an homage to comedic actor Frank Nelson, a frequent player on Radio/TheJackBennyProgram.
19	** Similarly, Gil Gunderson is a parody of Creator/JackLemmon's Shelley Levine character from ''Theatre/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.
20	** Many famous ''Simpsons'' episodes are direct homages to or parodies of other material, especially anything in the Halloween episodes.
21	*** Even those who think the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E2CapeFeare Cape Feare]]" is a direct parody of the two ''Film/CapeFear'' films have forgotten that said films are based on the 1957 John D. [=MacDonald=] novel, entitled ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Executioners_(MacDonald_novel) The Executioners]]''; in other words, the episode seems to be parodying the original novel itself.
22	** Similar to Zoidberg from ''Futurama'' above is the famous bit from "Last Exit to Springfield" of Homer spinning around on the floor going "WOOP WOOP WOOP WOOP!", which was originally used by Curly, but is now more commonly associated with ''The Simpsons''.
23	* The American ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' cartoon featured a bespectacled boy named Harry Grimoire who was studying magic (and happened to have Felicia as a "pet"). This would've been an obvious rip of ''Literature/HarryPotter'', if not for the fact that the cartoon came out some years before.
24	** A similar thing happened with ''ComicBook/TheBooksOfMagic'', which has a bespectacled young boy who is destined to be a wizard -- in fact Neil Gaiman admits that despite having a bespectacled wizard go to school wasn't his original idea, and that he and Rowling were more inspired by Arthurian legends than each other (unfortunately, a magazine MisBlamed him as having accused Rowling of ripping off his ideas, which he rebutted).
25	* Most Disney fans assume that WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse is Walt Disney's first cartoon character, and Peg-Leg Pete was created to be his primary enemy. Actually, Pete was the ''very first recurring Disney character'', created in 1925 (before even ''WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit'') for one of Disney's WesternAnimation/AliceComedies, a series of shorts which mixed live action and animation. Pete was always a villain, but the fact is that he was imported into the earliest Mickey cartoons to [[RoguesGalleryTransplant give Mickey an established character to fight]], not the other way around.
26	** For that matter, most people don't know that Mickey was an {{Expy}} of Oswald...but even fewer know that Oswald himself was an Expy of Julius the Cat from the Disney's ''WesternAnimation/AliceComedies'', who was himself a CaptainErsatz of WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat.
27	** Even worse is when people believe that Mickey was the first cartoon character ''ever'', when in fact that honor belongs to Windsor [=McCay's=] "WesternAnimation/GertieTheDinosaur", who was created when Walt was still in junior high school.
28	** Pete's son, PJ, is generally thought to have been created in 1992 for ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop''. He was actually created half a century prior, debuting in a WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts cartoon]] called "Bellboy Donald" (though he went by Junior and he looked like WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse with cat ears), and the character is only 17 years newer than his father. However, his personality was [[CharacterizationMarchesOn the exact opposite in every way from what was to come]], so he simultaneously looked ''less'' like his father and acted (and sounded) ''more'' like him.
29	** Likewise, Goofy's son, Max, was created as "Goofy Jr." in 1951 in the Goofy short "Fathers Are People", but also had extensive changes done to his personality and design. Though the personality changes weren't ''as'' extreme as PJ's (Max kept his wild side, he just gained a serious side too), the appearance changes were ''more'' extreme (originally "Goofy Jr." was a redhead with a pink nose and no ears).
30	** It's also common to name Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy in this order, assuming this is how they were created in chronological order. Yet Goofy is actually two years older than Donald, having been created in 1932, albeit still with a beardy chin which made him literally look older than he is nowadays.
31	** The classic ''WesternAnimation/ChipAndDale'' shorts are well-known for portraying the duo as [[TheUnintelligible unintelligible]] pests that do battle with other Disney characters like Donald Duck and Pluto. That is until they were re-invented as talking anthropomorphic characters that wear clothes and live in a MouseWorld in 1989's ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers''. Except they weren't. That already happened decades earlier in 1952's ''WesternAnimation/TwoChipsAndAMiss''.
32	** Fans of [[Creator/DisneyChannel Disney Junior]] believe that shows like ''WesternAnimation/DocMcStuffins'' and ''WesternAnimation/SofiaTheFirst'' were some of the first animated preschool shows to not have any FakeInteractivity[[note]]Barring the end credits during the first season of ''Doc [=McStuffins=]''[[/note]], when in reality, animated preschool shows without FakeInteractivity, such as ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'', ''WesternAnimation/HandyManny'', and ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', have existed quite a while before the Disney Junior block was a thing.
33	* Spoofed in the "Springfield Shopper" booklet that comes with the ''Simpsons Movie'' DVD; in it, Homer (as a movie critic who's ''way'' behind with his column) describes ''Star Wars'' (by which he means ''Film/ANewHope'') as being "a parody of ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}''".
34	* An animated action series with a FieryRedhead ActionGirl whose blond male sidekick and a VoiceWithAnInternetConnection help her pursue a former crimefighter with long black hair who turned to crime ForTheEvulz because she was bored being a good guy. What? What is this "WesternAnimation/KimPossible" you speak of? It's ''WesternAnimation/WhereOnEarthIsCarmenSandiego''.
35	** You know, Kim Possible? The [[BuffySpeak slang-happy]], petite, fashion-forward cheerleader who [[ActionGirl fights bad guys]] and occasionally saves the world while trying to maintain a normal social life, with the help of her two classmates, a nerdy computer hacker and an [[ButtMonkey ineffectual partner]] with HiddenDepths who's secretly in love with her? They occasionally butt heads with the [[AlphaBitch mean rich girl]], or Kim's [[DarkActionGirl snarky brunette]] [[ShadowArchetype nemesis]] who defected from the good guys to [[TheDragon hench]] for a perky villain-. No, wait, I was thinking of Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer.
36	** And you could push it back even further - ''much'' further - with Buffy herself. A naive teenage girl who has mystical visions that compel her to become a warrior in defense of her people, [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer becomes a social outcast because of this]], [[VindicatedByHistory but ultimately is recognized as a cherished national icon]]? UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc has Buffy beat by ''over five centuries''. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer And in real life, too.]]
37	* Now and then someone will accuse ''WesternAnimation/ThundarrTheBarbarian'' of being a ripoff of ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'', despite the fact that ''Thundarr'' predates ''He-Man'' by three years.
38	* To this day, there are still fans of the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' cartoon who are surprised when they find out the cartoon was preceded by the ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'' comic book by ''41 years''.
39	* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'', Gus is involved in a plot against the Ashleys wherein he claims Ashley is also his name - insisting that it's not that unusual in the progressive 1990s. In reality, "Ashley" was almost solely a boy's name until the early 20th century; it was perfectly acceptable for a boy to be named Ashley ''over a hundred years'' before the episode was written or aired.
40	** One of the best-known examples ''in pop culture'' would be Ashley Wilkes of ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'', a film consistantly put in top 10 lists.
41	*** Which was a best-selling ''book'' first.
42	** Another one people here may be familiar with is [[Creator/BruceCampbell Ashley "Ash" Williams]] of ''Franchise/EvilDead'' fame.
43	* On a larger scale, a lot of baby boomers who grew up in TheSixties, if they have no knowledge of animation history, will be surprised when you tell them that cartoons from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation such as ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' and ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' were coming out in the 1930s and '40s, and were already decades old back when they remember watching the cartoons on Saturday mornings.
44	* Creator/AdamWest as Catman is a parody of Series/Batman1966 in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''. However, there actually is a Catman which is a Batman villain created in the '60s.
45	** And the crazy paranoid Adam West in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' made his first appearance in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo''.
46	*** And that's an interesting case because, just before creating ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy,'' Creator/SethMacFarlane worked on ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo.''
47	* The expression "Cowabunga!" did NOT originate on ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles\|1987}}'' (or even the surfer/skater culture they were imitating). The phrase originated from "The Howdy Doody Show" (1947-60), spoken by Chief Thunderthud, the Indian founder of Doodyville.
48	* ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'':
49	** 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 were not acknowledged until 2010 was that message boards and social media did not become especially popular until at least the early-to-mid-2000s.
50	** The famous "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.
51	** Animated multicolored equines have been around since TheForties in the form of Pastorale from ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}''.
52	** Long before the G4 television show, shows starring a leading female cast like ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'', ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' already had sizable male fanbases, while ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'', ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'', and ''Series/SesameStreet'' already appealed to people well above the preschool and kindergarten age ranges.
53	** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTales'' showed male ponies alongside female ones and experimented with SliceOfLife stories long before ''Friendship is Magic''.
54	** Many ponies (especially in the toy line) predate ''Friendship Is Magic''. Applejack was outright one of the first G1 ponies as she was a year 2 character.
55	* ''"The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down"'' did NOT originate with ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', It even has its own lyrics that are different than the ones Daffy sing. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOg2wL9W_Vs Here is a link to a YouTube video with people singing the (slightly modified for gender) original lyrics]].
56	** Similarly, "Merrily We Roll Along" did not originate with Merrie Melodies. It was a song from a show of the same name in 1934, sung and co-written by Eddie Cantor. It was first repurposed with different lyrics in the cartoons "Billboard Frolics" (1935) and "Toy Town Hall" (1936) before becoming the Merrie Melodies theme.
57	* ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'' got a lot of flack for being LighterAndSofter and having multiple improbable crossovers and where spidey faces foes not in his RoguesGallery. They probably never heard of [[http://www.spiderfan.org/comics/title/spiderman_super_stories-2.html Spidey]] [[http://notthebeastmaster.typepad.com/weblog/2004/03/hey_kids_death.html Super]] [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2010/06/14/i-lova-ya-but-youre-strange-2/ Stories]]
58	* Remember that one episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' where Peter sang "Surfin' Bird"? Turns out the idea of using that song in a cartoon has been done before — a cover was used for the short-lived Creator/{{CBS}} cartoon ''WesternAnimation/{{Birdz}}''. Oh, and the original showings of ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' (In its first episode, at that!).
59	** ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' causes a honking crapload of these sorts of errors thanks to its ReferenceOverdosed nature. Any film or TV show clip later parodied on ''FG'' will have hundreds of comments on [=YouTube=] mistakenly asserting the video is a reference to ''Family Guy'', even if the age of the clip makes it obvious that it originated decades before Seth [=MacFarlane=] was even ''born''.
60	** The "Do you remember [X]? Pepperidge Farm remembers." joke from the episode "Hell Comes to Quahog" had also been done in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode "A Fishful of Dollars" seven years earlier, which made many say TheyCopiedItSoItSucks.
61	* Pop quiz: what was the first animated series about a teenager from a primitive society who is granted a magical weapon that, when he holds it above his head, grants him super-strength and transforms his pet into a fierce animal sidekick, and it features a character named She-Ra/Sheera? If you guessed ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'', you're wrong - that honour goes to Creator/HannaBarbera's ''WesternAnimation/MightyMightor'', created in ''1967''.
62	* A lot of Internet commentators accused the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' short "Hidebehind" of ripping off Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos -- being apparently unaware that the Hidebehind is a much older folkloric creature.
63	* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' Harley sings a song about her [[DomesticAbuse relationship]] with Joker. The song, "Say That We're Sweethearts Again", is an actual song from the 40s and Harley ''did not'' tweak the lyrics. It's a BlackComedy that's even more violent in the original.
64	* A T.V. show about a team made up of four penguins who go on adventures with hijinks ensuing. No, no, not ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'', it's actually ''WesternAnimation/ThreeTwoOnePenguins'', made by Big Idea, the same studio that produced ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales''.
65	* Cartoon characters BreakingTheFourthWall is nowadays mostly associated with ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', but ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' did this already in the 1930s and 1940s. And even before that, in the 1920s, ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat'' often used a SpeechBalloon or other parts of his own drawn environment in his gags, sometimes directly addressing the audience.
66	* 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/AnimalFarm1954'', satirizing Communism as an animal fable. Not to mention ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', ''WesternAnimation/BettyBoop'' and ''WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons'' 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.
67	* [[{{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/FrankensteinJr'', a SuperRobot series about a KidWithTheRemoteControl for a giant robot created by his scientist father. [[Anime/{{Gigantor}} Sound familiar?]]
68	* RogerRabbitEffect: Cartoon characters interacting with humans in live-action is almost as old as animation itself. Creator/MaxAndDaveFleischer already did it in the 1920s with ''WesternAnimation/KokoTheClown''. Creator/WinsorMcCay did a primitive version in ''1914'' in ''WesternAnimation/GertieTheDinosaur''.
69	* Stylized LimitedAnimation is associated with the UPA cartoons of the 1950s. Yet Creator/ChuckJones already made a cartoon like this in 1942, ''WesternAnimation/TheDoverBoys'', and was almost fired over it (he only managed to keep his job because a replacement couldn't be found and the cartoon ended up being a hit)!
70	* ClassicalMusic in cartoons is often associated with WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes, who used a lot of StandardSnippet music from symphonies, {{Opera}} and the like. Yet the Looney Tunes just copied this practice from the ''WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies'' cartoons from Walt Disney Productions who did this since 1930. For instance, it's Mickey Mouse who first performed Music/FranzLiszt's "Hungarian Rhapsody" on a piano in the early 1930s, years before the more famous cartoons ''WesternAnimation/TheCatConcerto'' with Tom & Jerry and ''WesternAnimation/RhapsodyRabbit'' with Bugs Bunny.
71	* 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 typically associated with Donald Duck, as opposed to Mickey Mouse and Goofy.
72	* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'':
73	** Despite being the TropeNamer for ScoobyDoobyDoors, the franchise is not the trope originator. Creator/TexAvery's works did this gag in the 1940s, two decades before ''Scooby-Doo'' went on the air.
74	** You know that routine on ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'' in which Shaggy and Scooby-Doo had? Shaggy makes a {{pun}}. Scooby-Doo laughs, then says, "I don't get it." It comes from "Hang in There, Scooby-Doo" on ''The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Show''. The gang had found a cassette of rock music in the cavern.
75	--->'''Shaggy:''' Those cave teenagers love their rock music?
76	--->'''Scooby-Doo:''' (laughs) I don't get it.
77	** ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooOnZombieIsland'' is often mistaken for the first entry in the franchise in which the gang deal with real monsters, instead of the usual criminals [[ScoobyDooHoax disguised as monsters]]. However, ''WesternAnimation/TheScoobyDooAndScrappyDooShow'' featured real monsters a full decade before the movie, albeit PlayedForLaughs. Several tv specials such as ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMeetsTheBooBrothers'' (1987) and ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheGhoulSchool'' (1988) also featured real monsters. Even the original ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou'' series hinted at truly supernatural elements existing alongside the hoaxes.
78	** ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' is often thought of as the first ''Scooby-Doo'' show to feature a DarkerAndEdgier tone that deconstructs its typical tropes and features an overarching plot. ''WesternAnimation/The13GhostsOfScoobyDoo'' did both in 1985.
79	* Cat-and-mouse cartoons. Everybody immediately thinks of ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry''. Yet even ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie'' with Mickey Mouse and Pegleg Pete is already an early prototype of this typical cartoon situation.
80	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfVoxMachina'' is not the first animated series based on a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaign. Long before Creator/MatthewMercer started DM-ing for ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'', which would serve as the basis of ''[=TLoVM=]'', Ryo Mizuno wrote stories based on a ''[=DnD=]'' campaign that he DM-ed for, later published as novels and spawning animated adaptations of its own, called ''Literature/RecordOfLodossWar''.
81	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' is one of those series associated heavily with the late 90s and early 2000s. The first book (''[[Literature/{{Arthur}} Arthur's Nose]]'') came out all the way back in 1976. Several generations grew up with the characters before the cartoon came out.
82	* The voices in ''WesternAnimation/TheArchieShow'' were cast to emulate the voices from the 1940s ''Archie'' [[Radio/TheAdventuresOfArchieAndrews radio shows]].
83	* ''Super Secret Secret Squirrel'' from ''WesternAnimation/TwoStupidDogs'' is a revival of a 60s cartoon named ''WesternAnimation/SecretSquirrel''.
84	* Many people are unaware that the cartoon segments on ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse'' originated as segments of the short-lived ''Mickey [=MouseWorks=]'' television series, possibly due to some of the shorts making their debut on ''House of Mouse'' without previously airing as part of ''Mickey [=MouseWorks=]''.
85	* When it was announced that ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' would be getting a brand new fifth season years after being cancelled, one notable aspect that surprised many is that the new season would be set to premiere on Creator/{{Toonami}} on Creator/AdultSwim... and would ''still'' be produced by Cartoon Network Studios, the same company who produced the first four seasons. Surprising? Maybe, but it's actually not the first time that Cartoon Network Studios has produced anything for [adult swim]. That honor belongs to the second season of ''WesternAnimation/BlackDynamite''.
86	* Speaking of Creator/CartoonNetwork, it has recently become common to blame network CEO Christina Miller for the poor performance of its more "serious" action-based cartoons, with many viewers even accusing her of subscribing to the AnimationAgeGhetto. But this problem actually dates back several years earlier, with ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'', ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', and ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'' all being cancelled in a short period of time before Miller arrived.
87	* The Chipettes from ''Franchise/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'' first officially appeared in 1983 however they were first referenced a year earlier in [[Music/AlvinAndTheChipmunks the song]] "The One That I Want" from the CD ''The Chipmunks Go Hollywood''. In the song, Theodore mentions Charlene and states that she's from a group known as "The Chipettes". Charlene was eventually replaced with a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute, Brittany.
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89	* Think sexualized furry/anthro art like you see on {{Website/DeviantArt}} or Furaffinity is a new thing? Think again. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7ewdrHU6to This clip]] from a 1940 ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short shows an anthro lizard, greatly resembling something from those aforementioned sites, performing a striptease as it sheds its skin, rotoscoped from an actual stripper.
90	* Animated shows with ongoing story arcs and cliffhangers are usually thought of as a recent phenomenon, at least as far as Western animation is concerned. Not true. The first "serialized" animated show, conceived with a plot continuing from episode to episode rather than having each episode stand on its own, was ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'', which came out in all the way back in 1959.
91	* Many think ''WesternAnimation/QuackPack'' was the first time Disney portrayed their FunnyAnimal characters amongst humans. In reality, many ''WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts'' did not take place in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals. This could possibly be due to Walt Disney's belief that the characters were really [[StylizedForTheViewer stylized humans]]
92	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'':
93	** The Misfits were originally a horror-themed punk band from New Jersey formed in 1977, NOT an original creation as a fictonal band in ''Jem''. The band was obscure at the time and had split up 2 years prior to the cartoon's creation, so it was unlikely anyone involved knew of them at the time, but when the band themselves tried to prevent Hasbro from using the name, Hasbro chose to go ahead regardless due to "legal loopholes" involving trademarks. Then former frontman Glenn Danzig gave his approval when he learned of it, no doubt due to his anger with the rest of the band at the time. While the band themselves have not taken any legal action to this day, Jerry Only and the rest of the band refuse to publicly acknowledge the cartoon even exists and will not answer questions concerning their thoughts on it (perhaps to avoid giving the series any attention at all). ''Jem'' fans likewise sometimes get angry when it's mentioned, believing the band has no right to complain (and yes, we shall point out the irony in anger over copied names, what with ''Jem'' having been the name of a character in Harper Lee's ''To Kill A Mockingbird'' some 20 years prior). Reportedly, the original intro was replaced because the original intro featured The Misfits proudly exclaiming their band name.
94	** ''Jem'' is also the title of a 1979 Frederik Pohl novel.
95	* On ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'', Gwen Stacy's debut may have people surprised at what a [[AcademicAlphaBitch stuck-up, less-than-kind attitude]] she has. However, this is actually Gwen's attitude when she originally debuted in the comics, and [[CharacterizationMarchesOn the characterization changed and was subsequently forgotten about over the years.]]
96	* 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 2004 pilot ''You Animal''.
97	* 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 "The Arnold Waltz" in 1990, and a third claymation short called "Arnold Uses His Imagination" (also known as "Arnold Rides a Chair"), which was created for ''Series/SesameStreet'', of all things.
98	* Ahsoka Tano of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' got a lot of flack for using a ReverseGrip with her lightsaber, even though [[VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed Galen Marek]] was using it several years earlier.
99	* 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.
100	* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starship_Regulars Starship Regulars]] without the SerialNumbersFiledOff.
101	* One of the [[ContestedSequel many criticisms]] levied against ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' is the addition to Cybertron's backstory of originally housing organic life. However, this was not a RetCon invented solely for this series. [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers The original G1 cartoon]] which is set in the same continuity as ''Beast Machines'', had an episode called "The Dweller in the Depths" which revealed that the Quintessons, the creators of the Transformer race, originally experimented with half organic creatures called Trans-Organics and the episode shows some of the organic caverns deep in the depths of Cybertron. In fact, the link between the Trans-Organics and the Transformers could explain how the latter could scan organic creatures for alt modes in the first place.
102	* While the general public believe ''WesternAnimation/ACharlieBrownChristmas'' was the first time Charlie Brown and the other characters were in animated form, [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} the Peanuts characters]] actually made their animation debut in 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.]]
103	* 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 ''Literature/FangboneThirdGradeBarbarian'' written by acclaimed 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.
104	* The ThinLineAnimation style, often known in internet circles as the "[=CalArts=] style", gets a lot of flack because of its ubiquity since TheNewTens. However, different cartoons during a specific time period always had a tendency to resemble each other. The 1920s and early 1930s had the InkblotCartoonStyle, the 1980s had a trend of realistically-drawn characters, the late 1990s and early 2000s had ThickLineAnimation inspired by [[Creator/ColumbiaCartoons UPA]] and Creator/HannaBarbera, etc. In fact, the "[=CalArts=] style" term originally referred to the trend of {{Disneyesque}} animated films during UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation.
105	* A lot of Americans figure that ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'' is a fairly recent creation, debuting in the 2010's. It actually first broadcast in 2004, with the new tens being when it became popular in the United States.
106	** Most people are also unaware that Peppa Pig's debut in the United States came from Tickle U, a short-lived block that aired preschool shows on Cartoon Network from 2005 to 2007, even being redubbed with America voice actors.
107	* OtakuOClock is something invented in the TurnOfTheMillennium as a place to put animated shows (usually Anime or adult-oriented cartoons), right? Nope. Even in the 1980s, some syndicated stations would start their broadcast day at 3 or 4am with cartoons they didn't want to put in prime time. Some of them were cheaply made {{DomesticOnlyCartoon}}s designed only to take up space. Others were old ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' or Creator/TexAvery reruns. A few, however, were anime or {{Animesque}} series that were unable to fit anywhere else.
108	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'': While some might think Rico's {{Flanderization}} for coughing up weapons originates in this series, it was used twice. First in the Christmas special where he pulls out a stick of dynamite (though even then he's struggling) and a Game Boy Advance video game called ''Operation Penguin'', where he would casually burp out each new weapon for Private.

Context OlderThanTheyThink / WesternAnimation