Infamous Episodes/Seasons of Cartoons You Didn't Find That Bad

The episode with the elderly criminals was also a Downer Ending, with everyone mad at Blossom for her Lawful Stupid approach (granted it was cathartic to see Buttercup actually look right for her combative approach for once).

I know and I agree with you. I don't hate the episode and I don't think it's a bad episode because it at least had good aesops and the girls at least had a happy ending. It just isn't one of my favorites because of the way the girls were treated. This is the same way I feel about the episode "Ponyville Confidential" from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

I never liked that episode either as a kid, because of how Blossom used to be my favorite Powerpuff girl growing up, and I hated episodes of her messing up. Now that I'm older, although I still don't like the episode because of the Downer Ending, I think Blossom should have found a better way to handle it, like her handcuffing the Ministry of Pain instead of harming them and simply taking them to jail. Not to mention, Blossom is supposed to be the smart one! I also agree that I'm happy that there was another moment that Buttercup was actually right, and normally, she's just always portrayed as the Jerk with a Heart of Gold & that's it.

The girls getting treated so poorly was part of the joke, though, unlike in Ponyville Confidential where the citizens' overreaction to the CMCs was meant to be an overreaction. For the PPG episode, though, you see these loose cannon vigilantes come tearing into your relatively orderly city and create millions in property damage to stop a relatively minor crime, like basically destroying a bridge that would then take weeks or months to render operable again, you'd hate them too. The funniness of it comes more for people who actually live in cities (as i now do for the past few months), and realize just how disruptive the girls' methods would be to daily life (assuming that there were no supervillains to justify superheroes). One bridge going out can fuck over the whole town in ways that are hard to fathom.

I think the episode was basically a subversion of something. Getting old superheroes back into action, maybe, and showing just how it would play out realistically.

"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."

Ah, fair enough. Sorry for getting a bit snippy there.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Meh, makes sense. I think it's because I'm not a fan of most episodes with Downer Endings.

It's okay. Sometimes I have moments when I get too snippy as well.

Oh. I thought their downer endings were usually a funny surprise.

@Ogodei: I'm not really sure it was meant to be an overreaction in Ponyville Confidential. There was a small bit of Hypocritical Humor, but nothing stated the citizens were wrong for frothing at the mouths at the CMC, and when the Aesop came, the CMC apologized and the others....accepted it. I think that's what irritated a lot of fans.

I'm mixed about Downer Endings. Sometimes they can be too cruel, especially if done in excess, but seeing odd moments a character ends up humiliated or defeated is very humanizing (eg. the odd times Bugs Bunny lost). As Ms CC put the episodes your favorite character ends up the brunt of things can sometimes be unpleasant, but at the same time those flawed moments are likely one of the reasons we like the character, if they didn't screw up and were on top all the time, they'd be much flatter characters (I remember as a little kid I loved Thomas The Tank Engine but only liked the "nice Thomas" episodes, refusing to watch any he had a crash or got scolded for being arrogant, but then again if those things didn't happen I wouldn't have sympathized with him. Same for the Screwball Daffy Duck cartoons, which I don't think I would have loved nearly as much if I hadn't known Daffy as Chuck Jones' bitter Butt-Monkey beforehand).

edited 1st Apr '14 5:07:18 PM by Psi001

I agree that the citizens should have been called out on their bad behavior. While the Crusaders were wrong for what the did, the citizens aren't 100% innocent because they laughed at the ponies who were featured on the papers, but were upset when they got gossiped about.

You know, I went through a similar phase myself.

I didn't like the endings of a lot of Ed Edd N Eddy episodes because I sympathized too much with the Eds.

Similarly I couldn't watch the ends of the Sponge Bob episodes "Opposite Day" and "Pranks a Lot" because I thought it was just too cruel. What did they do, after all? They had no idea what they were doing.

But I have outgrown that phase. I now look back on some of the things that I used to fear (like the Cat Dog episode "Dem Bones") and wonder why I ever hated it.

Maybe the sensitivity problem on the Internet is that too many people are stuck in that phase and never outgrew it.

"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."

Er, I'm not sure having too much sympathy is a problem people on the internet have these days.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Yeah, the bizarre thing is that the people who are the most sensitive about things like meanness or disturbing stuff are also the most fuckwadish of the bunch.

The many, many tweets hurled at Casey Alexander by people who wish him ill should be evidence of that.

"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."

Even though Blossom isn't my favorite Powerpuff Girl anymore (Buttercup is now), I still don't like some episodes when she loses, especially "Not So Awesome Blossom" when she gets thrown in jail. Granted she broke the law and that she had to suffer the consequences of her actions, but throwing her in jail was too harsh. I do like the episode "Not So Awesome Blossom" when she loses her self-confidence and gains it back, because it shows that even the smartest heroes screw up sometimes, and that nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes.

To me, I think if you find yourself tweeting death threats and mean comments to someone associated with a TV show, it shows that you have an unhealthy obsession with it and that you need mental help just for that.

Too HARSH?! She BROKE THE LAW!

Of course, don't you know anything about ALCHEMY?!- Twin clones of Ivan the Great

I meant the ending was too harsh. I mean, it's a different story for other kids (like Princess Morbucks) to get thrown in jail because they were far worse than Blossom.

So it's okay for other kids to break the law and be punished, but not the Powerpuff Girls? Good to know.

edited 2nd Apr '14 11:00:19 AM by maxwellelvis

Of course, don't you know anything about ALCHEMY?!- Twin clones of Ivan the Great

That's because Blossom stole and she did deserve the community service she got, whereas Princess committed assault and major property damage of the school, which was worse than what Blossom did.

Anyway, I can't bring myself to hate "Keep Bikini Bottom Beautiful" from Sponge Bob. I though it was pretty funny when Squidward got all those tickets and the first time I saw it, I laughed so hard, I was rolling on the ground. I do regret buying the episode off of iTunes, because this episode is "Band Geeks" compared to the atrocity episode it is paired with ("A Pal For Gary").

edited 2nd Apr '14 12:32:35 PM by MsCC93

While I have preferences for which characters are more fun to see get screwed over, I find show that rotate it around indiscriminately tend to come off more balanced and less mean spirited than ones where one same character is constantly the brunt of things.

MLP FIM does have a few Broken Aesops at times, but at the same time no character is constantly being picked on or enabled. Rainbow Dash and Twilight Dash are the nearest to a Right Way/Wrong Way Pair (sometimes unfairly, hence the bile with Mare Do Well) but even then there are plenty of role reversals that prevent it from getting too insufferable, compared to other shows that do maybe one or two if generous, and thus their Broken ones are more glaring.

The Blossom or Bubbles episodes were maybe a tad more painful than the Buttercup ones, but they did feel necessary. Imagine if it was just every single episode with Buttercup getting picked on or hit with The Complainer Is Always Wrong and the other two girls just boring Straight Men who win every argument (even when it's undeserved).

This is what slowly repelled me from shows like American Dad and Sonic Satam. I don't really like when one same character is always being picked on, even if it means enabling someone who could really use humbling themselves.

edited 2nd Apr '14 1:17:12 PM by Psi001

Post 213: It's probably a sign that your mental maturity is such that anyone who does something you don't like is automatically a mean bully - the equivalent of a child thinking his parents are mean because they want him to eat his vegetables.

"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."

So you're saying that because I feel that because I don't like how some people are punished, I have a bad mentality? I find that highly offensive, honestly.

Also, I was speaking in general about the whole Twitter thing.

edited 2nd Apr '14 1:37:33 PM by MsCC93

Sorry. I meant the Twitter thing. I didn't mean to insult you. I do understand where you're coming from.

"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."

Apology accepted. Next time, be careful how you write your posts

Thanks then.

But to repeat myself, people who would do things like tell Casey Alexander that he's a bad person on Twitter because he wrote a few bad episodes are at the same level as children who think their parents are mean because they got punished for something they did.

Except the children are children. The adults are adults, and ought to know better.

Even worse, I think I may know how all those people got his Twitter address...

"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."

Thy Twitter incident also proves that people take cartoons far too seriously.

Anyway, I always enjoyed "Just The Two Of Us" from The Fairly Oddparents.

People have to take cartoons seriously - otherwise we stop getting good shows to watch... And to remember... And to pass on to others to remind society of what quality programming is.

Just don't get nostalgic about it, though - that's where trouble follows.

Even if I had different face, I AM STILL DISGRACED.