History FranchiseOriginalSin / WesternAnimation

*** The first episode of ''Friendship Is Magic'' had Princess Luna get immediately forgiven for trying to bring TheNightThatNeverEnds to Equestria. But she was Princess Celestia's beloved sister, introduced alongside [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds a compelling enough motivation and backstory]] to grant her EnsembleDarkhorse status, her wrongdoing fell under CartoonishSupervillainy (which also applied to Discord turning Equestria into a WorldGoneMad) and they were committed as [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]], meaning Luna's willfulness was debatable. This made her forgiveness perfectly justifiable in-and-out of work. Later examples were guilty of willfully committing [[RealismInducedHorror more realistic]] wrongs[[labelnote:examples]]Babs Seed, Sunset Shimmer and Diamond Tiara were cruel bullies; Starlight Glimmer ran a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything dictatorship-inspired]] {{cult}} and nearly [[BadFuture doomed Equestria]] seeking revenge for the destruction of said cult; Juniper Montage lashed out over [[NeverMyFault self-inflicted problems]]; Wallflower Blush's actions were compared by some to a school shooting[[/labelnote]] with at best a last-minute FreudianExcuse that tended to make them UnintentionallyUnsympathetic[[labelnote:examples]]Babs wanted to avoid being further bullied but her actions were worse and unnecessary than required for that; Diamond Tiara had an abusive mother but we only saw a NiceGuy father to influence her prior; Starlight lost her friend when he got his Cutie Mark and had to move away, which are similar situations that Apple Bloom and Moondancer went though without descending into villainy; Juniper's seeking popularity to get friends was blink-and-you'll-miss-it and only properly elaborated on in the novelization; Wallflower stole memories as revenge for people not noticing her despite making no effort outside her introduction to ''actually'' be noticed[[/labelnote]]. Season 8 onward [[AuthorsSavingThrow addressed the sin]] by having the cast be far colder to the remaining major unredeemed villains, such as [[KilledOffForReal killing off]] Sombra, sending new villain [[EnfantTerrible Cozy Glow]] to [[DraggedOffToHell Tartarus]], and [[spoiler: [[TakenForGranite petrifying]] Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis for their many crimes]], while having the redeemed villain Chancellor Neighsay have enough positive qualities despite his flagrant racist {{jerkass}}ery [[note]] he genuinely cares about keeping Equestrians safe, actually makes ''valid'' arguments against Twilight Sparkle and her school alongside his unreasonable ones, the various non-ponies actually doing things that ''justify'' his fears like threatening war and endangering others, and only acting against the non-ponies when he thinks he's caught them in the act of attacking Equestria[[/note]] that helped properly foreshadow his potential change for the better. The fact that all 4 of said unredeemed villains soundly rejected friendship and redemption once everything was said and done helps, though the issue reared its head again with [[TheBully Garble.]] [[note]] who was retconned in his redemptive episode into being a victim of peer pressure and being redeemed once he gained the courage to follow his true passions, despite previously having been portrayed as a leader amongst dragons who peer-pressured others and was significantly more violent and racist than other dragons, though it was at least shown that Spike, the primary victim of his bullying, took most of the episode to forgive him. [[/note]]

*** The first episode of ''Friendship Is Magic'' had Princess Luna get immediately forgiven for trying to bring TheNightThatNeverEnds to Equestria. But she was Princess Celestia's beloved sister, introduced alongside [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds a compelling enough motivation and backstory]] to grant her EnsembleDarkhorse status, her wrongdoing fell under CartoonishSupervillainy (which also applied to Discord turning Equestria into a WorldGoneMad) and they were committed as [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]], meaning Luna's willfulness was debatable. This made her forgiveness perfectly justifiable in-and-out of work. Later examples were guilty of willfully committing [[RealismInducedHorror more realistic]] wrongs[[labelnote:examples]]Babs Seed, Sunset Shimmer and Diamond Tiara were cruel bullies; Starlight Glimmer ran a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything dictatorship-inspired]] {{cult}} and nearly [[BadFuture doomed Equestria]] seeking revenge for the destruction of said cult; Juniper Montage lashed out over [[NeverMyFault self-inflicted problems]]; Wallflower Blush's actions were compared by some to a school shooting[[/labelnote]] with at best a last-minute FreudianExcuse that tended to make them UnintentionallyUnsympathetic[[labelnote:examples]]Babs wanted to avoid being further bullied but her actions were worse and unnecessary than required for that; Diamond Tiara had an abusive mother but we only saw a NiceGuy father to influence her prior; Starlight lost her friend when he got his Cutie Mark and had to move away, which are similar situations that Apple Bloom and Moondancer went though without descending into villainy; Juniper's seeking popularity to get friends was blink-and-you'll-miss-it and only properly elaborated on in the novelization; Wallflower stole memories as revenge for people not noticing her despite making no effort outside her introduction to ''actually'' be noticed[[/labelnote]]. Season 8 onward [[AuthorsSavingThrow addressed the sin]] by having the cast be far colder to the remaining major unredeemed villains, such as [[KilledOffForReal killing off]] Sombra, sending new villain [[EnfantTerrible Cozy Glow]] to [[DraggedOffToHell Tartarus]], and [[spoiler: [[TakenForGranite petrifying]] Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis for their many crimes]], while having the redeemed villain Chancellor Neighsay have enough positive qualities[[note]]That he genuinely cares about keeping Equestrians safe, actually makes ''valid'' arguments against Twilight Sparkle and her school alongside his unreasonable ones, that the various non-ponies actually do things to ''justify'' his fears such as threatening war and endangering others, and that he doesn't actually act against the non-ponies until he actually thinks he's caught them in the act attacking Equestria[[/note]] despite his flagrant racist {{jerkass}}ery that helped properly foreshadow his potential to change for the better. The fact that all 4 of said unredeemed villains soundly rejected friendship and redemption once everything was said and done helps, though the issue reared its head again with [[TheBully Garble.]] [[note]] who was retconned in his redemptive episode into being a victim of peer pressure and being redeemed once he gained the courage to follow his true passions, despite previously having been portrayed as a leader amongst dragons who peer-pressured others and was significantly more violent and racist than other dragons, though it was at least shown that Spike, the primary victim of his bullying, took most of the episode to forgive him. [[/note]]

* 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]] [[GoodOldWays 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 {{Only Sane|Man}} {{Everyman}} 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]] [[StrictlyFormula 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 an asinine]] SubcultureOfTheWeek. Because of this, Hank came off as a CreatorsPet since his strict way of life was often the only one treated as valid, and the show that was meant to elevate the image of [[GoodOlBoy the humble Bible Belt conservative]] that was usually an {{Acceptable Target|s}} elsewhere wound up unintentionally embodying its worst characteristics -- in particular its bullheadedly insular and jingoistic attitude against any ideals other than its own.

** The Season 2 finale "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E25ACanterlotWeddingPart1 A Canterlot Wedding]]" introduced viewers to Rainbow Dash's never-before mentioned brother alongside the first alicorn who isn't Celestia or Luna, and was given a massive 'Royal Wedding'-themed marketing and toyline push by Hasbro in a clear attempt to ride the mania created by the previous year's real world royal wedding of Kate and Prince William. ''My Little Pony'' will always be a MerchandiseDriven show, and "A Canterlot Wedding" is still a widely-liked pair of episodes, but for ''Friendship is Magic'' it was the first really blatant example of a story being introduced in service of the toys, something that became more common and disliked in future seasons.

** One comparatively minor additional element of criticism for the later seasons was the overuse of pop culture references, outdated memes, and 2010s slang in an attempt to pander to newer audiences. Thing is, the show had fairly often made use of pop culture references, meme culture nods, and timely slang even in its heyday. The key difference in this regard between the earlier seasons and later ones, however, is that the earlier seasons came when the show as a whole was still fresh and contained various other high quality elements to make it easily enjoyable without feeling too reliant upon these more overly timely elements. And the fact that said timely elements usually tended to be featured in fairly small dosages and occurred fairly spread out from each other compared to the show's other forms of humor also helped. But by the time of the later seasons, not only had the 'timely elements' gratuitously increased in frequency, but they were also popping up at a time when the show as a whole [[SeasonalRot had already shown signs of heavily declining in quality]] and reaching the point of [[FranchieZombie having long since expired and reached the need to be put out to pasture]], resulting in the immensely increased frequency of references to contemporary or outdated pop culture, memes, and slang feeling more as if the show were trying desperately to stay relevant instead of like enjoyable flavor dressing.

%%** There's also the overuse of pop culture references, outdated memes, and 2010s slang in an attempt to pander to newer audiences. Even in its heyday, it was clearly a product of the 2000s.

* ''Franchise/TheLoudHouse'': A growing criticism of the franchise is newer media [[EarthDrift 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 didn't 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. 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.

** While fans have [[BrokenBase many different ideas]] about what caused the show's SeasonalRot, its increasing reliance on extended over-the-top {{Imagine Spot}}s is sometimes held up as a symptom of its declining quality, as it increasingly shifted the focus away from the simple day-to-day struggles of the babies. In truth, though, the show was ''always'' known for its surreal and fantastical overtones -- but in its early days, the babies didn't ''need'' {{Imagine Spot}}s to make their world seem like a bizarre wonderland because the quirky writing and animation made the entire setting seem surreal. The {{Imagine Spot}}s just drew a clear line between the mundane world and the world of the kids' imaginations, where none had existed before. Case in point: compare Season 2's "Toy Palace" with Season 5's "Submarine". The former revolves around the [[HilarityEnsues ensuing hilarity]] when Tommy and Chuckie spend the night in a sprawling toy store that (apparently) includes life-size robotic gorilla toys, automated Old West towns, and ''a working {{time machine}}''; the latter just has the kids pretending that a van at a car lot is a submarine, which ended up making the more overt and clear case of them using their imagination to pretend they're in a bizarre situation instead of merely thinking their already in a genuine bizarre situation made it a lot harder for viewers to get invested.

*** It also highlights another recurring theme that took over the plot, the usage of therapy. Therapy sessions had been featured as far back as season 1, but as the show was focusing on the more realistic consequences of featuring teenagers as {{child soldier}}s, it made sense some would need to seek mental help for their actions. It remained in subdued use throughout the series, until season 4 where Beast Boy's aforementioned mental trauma and the attempts to help him and provide him therapy took up large portions of screentime from other major characters.

** Representation. Greg Weisman had incorporated greater diversity into his [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} previous]] [[WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan shows]] in the past, and ''Young Justice'' is no different. The show has always been invested in having a racially diverse cast, with characters such as Artemis [[RaceLift becoming half-white, half-Asian]] (which is also a side effect of the full-Asian Cheshire [[RelatedInTheAdaptation becoming her sister]]), the dark-skinned Kaldur being created to take the role of Aqualad, several Hispanic characters such as Jaime and Eduardo Jr. having prominent roles, etc., which is generally considered a good thing, or at least not a negative. However, a problem with Violet is that being Muslim isn't a racial trait (which is a very common mistake many make), and her appearance ([[AllMuslimsAreArab dark skin, headscarf, dresses conservatively]]) fits the stereotype of what many assume a Muslim woman ''looks'' like, while also being from the fictional nation of {{Qurac}}. While adding a heroic Muslim character is commendable and the show notes that there’s nothing wrong with wearing a hijab as a way of practicing UsefulNotes/{{Islam}}, religion isn't bound by race [[note]]For example, 95% of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechnya Chechnya]], Russia's citizens practice Islam and most people who live there are very light-skinned. There are also many Jews who are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Israel of Ethiopian descent]] or are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_American_Jews Hispanic/Latino]].[[/note]], thus it requires more than what most {{Race Lift}}s require to properly represent. And ''Young Justice'', like most popular entertainment, has always skirted around religion, with none of the characters ever referencing it in either belief or disbelief. It's obvious why the creators would want to specifically represent Muslims (as opposed to other religions) given topical events, but Violet was probably never a good fit given her new origin of being [[spoiler: the spirit of a Motherbox, an extraterrestrial pseudo-mystical object/being that would have no investment in any human religion]]. Season 4 addresses the complaint by having her briefly discuss her Islamic faith in a [[TheStinger credits scene]] while introducing the Muslim character of [[ComicBook/DoctorFate Khalid Nassour]] and portraying his own faith as a Muslim more accurately.

* ''Franchise/TheLoudHouse'':
** A growing criticism of the franchise is newer media [[EarthDrift 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 didn't 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. 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.
** The series' sixth season has only amped this up further, often featuring fantastical situations as the premises for entire episodes (such as time travel, space travel, ghosts, villainous robots, and giant mosquitos, among other things), not unlike what happened to similar long-runners like ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. Lisa's inventions also feature much more often than in other seasons, as either plot points or the driving force to get an episode started.
** The LiveActionAdaptation ''Series/TheReallyLoudHouse'' only seems to be even more fantastical than the animated media. A major example of this is Lucy summoning an otherworldly demon to threaten her teacher into giving her a good report on her parent-teacher conference.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': A growing criticism of the series is newer episodes [[DenserAndWackier featuring more fantastical situations]] compared to Seasons 1-3. There were already instances of more unrealistic things happening in 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 didn't impact the plot, and previous seasons at least had boundaries for the reality of ''The Loud House'''s 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 becoming seemingly more ingrained into the show's formula as Season 5 came around, and reaching its apex in ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouseMovie'', which features magic and dragons as major aspects of the film's conflict, with the climax of the film featuring a "dragon vs. magic" battle, and ghosts being major characters in the film. 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.

** On a related note, another strongly criticized element the 1st season of the revival is an overly large amount of topical humor that involved mocking a large number of contemporary trends and spoofing likewise contemporary pop culture. The original 1990s run was itself no stranger to such topical humor, with the Kids' WB era being particularly notorious for relying more on then modern media like ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', ''Series/{{Friends}}'', ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}''. But much like the political content, the original series largely had the most blatant uses of topical humor present in the later seasons, while also allowing more opportunity for being balanced out and avoiding chances of overloading viewers via the broadcasting schedule, whereas the revival's 1st season made an incredibly large usage of such humor right out the gate in a format that allowed the entirety of said 1st season to be easily binge watched in its entirety within a short period of time, which left it very open for complaints of [[UnintentionalPeriodPiece being too dated]].
** 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.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'' has a reputation for being StrictlyFormula because of the color shorts made by Famous Studios, which overused the plot everyone associates with Popeye (him and Bluto fighting over Olive Oyl and Popeye eating Spinach to defeat Bluto). While Creator/MaxAndDaveFleischer invented that plot and made use of it, the cartoons made by the Fleischers were much more varied in their stories overall. Many shorts lacked spinach, Bluto or both, many more shorts featured Popeye and Bluto doing things besides fighting over Olive Oyl, and others still featured characters like Wimpy, Swee'Pea, Poopdeck Pappy and Eugene the Jeep to do different kinds of stories.

** When Tom and Jerry began appearing in [[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryDirectToVideoFilmSeries Direct To Video crossover]] movies in the late 2000's, such as with ''Theatre/TheNutcracker'' and Literature/SherlockHolmes, it was either accepted or ignored, because at least they still had some measure of originality. Eyebrows were raised when they crossed over with ''Literature/TheWizardOfOz'', but it being a public domain story that they at least attempted to do different things with (although heavily basing it on the [[Film/TheWizardOfOz 1939 film]]), it was largely excused. It finally seemed to cross a line with the release of ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryWillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'', an animated ShotForShotRemake of the 1971 film adaptation with Tom and Jerry thrown in as an afterthought, sparking outrage and ridicule across the internet, mostly from people who didn't know that the movie series had been doing these kinds of crossover plots for around a decade, and ultimately becoming a FranchiseKiller for those movies.

** As the ''Franchise/Ben10'' franchise went on, one of the most major complaints about it is that many aliens in the sequels use similar abilities, as well as many outright having the same power. Surprisingly, the first show could run into this problem too, with a few aliens with redundant abilities that could sometimes render another alien obsolete (Benvicktor/Frankenstrike, along with super strength, has lightning powers, and generally does everything Four Arms could do, except without the arms). Thing is, for all the moments in which some aliens had relatively similar abilities to each other in the original series, the majority of the aliens had just enough uniqueness in their abilities for it to appear as if the writers were genuinely putting in effort to allow each of Ben's alien forms to stand out on their own[[note]]For example, Four Arms had both the [[MultiArmedAndDangerous aforementioned four arms]] as well as SuperStrength, Heatblast had [[PlayingWithFire pyrokinesis]], Wildmutt has SuperSenses and all the natural ability of an AngryGuardDog, [=XLR8=] had SuperSpeed, Diamondhead could weaponize his crystalline body, Ripjaws was an aquatic alien with several abilities themed after fish, Stinkfly could both fly and spew nasty smelling slime from his eyes and mouth, Ghostfreak had various abilities similar to those typically found in ghosts, Grey Matter was incredibly small but also incredibly smart, and Upgrade could merge with technology and use them to fight for him, etc.)[[/note]]. However, as an increasingly large number of aliens in later installments of the franchise used very similar powers to not only their predecessors in earlier installments, but also each other, the increasing lack of creativity and originality in the aliens' abilities only became all the more difficult to ignore.
** ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Ben 10: Alien Force]]'' was the beginning of the [[ContinuityPorn overt focus on old elements]], [[PanderingToTheBase pandering to first-series fans]], and sometimes [[RecycledScript script-recycling]] criticized more heavily in later installments, where after the show got a mixed reception when it first premiered, primarily for the shift to a DarkerAndEdgier tone. The show eventually started also bringing back other classic series elements, but tried to tell new stories with them at first (notably, Kevin becoming a composite of the types of matter he absorbed in season 3, but remaining an ally of Ben). As time went on, more pandering began to build up starting in season 1 of ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'', such as Kevin's insanity and being a composite form of Ben's aliens near the end of season 1, and featuring a guest appearance from the original Ben. This eventually culminated in the base-breaking ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse Ben 10: Omniverse]]'', where flashbacks now regularly showed young Ben, accompanied by a DenserAndWackier tone attempting to emulate the lighthearted classic series, and claiming that the same future Ben originally witnessed in the third season of the original series was once again his canon future (one where Ben married his first love interest, [[TheScrappy Kai]], and had a son named Ken), even though there's just as much debunking that future (the Ben in that future, as seen in the first series, retained the original form of the Prototype Omnitrix, which in the present recalibrated and later self destructed during ''Alien Force''); all despite these elements either contradicting with established canon, coming across as obnoxious and gratuitous pandering instead of loving homages, or feeling like unimaginative rehashes of earlier stories and plot points.
** In general, Ben being an obnoxious IdiotHero was much easier to swallow when he was 10, and therefore younger and a complete newbie (in the [[WesternAnimation/Ben10 original series]]). And while Original Series!Ben was certainly immature, part of what made him compelling was that he showed true compassion and bravery many times, not to mention he was more BookDumb compared to Gwen rather than outright stupid, as shown by his constant resourcefulness and quick-thinking when it came to heroics. Rampant ExecutiveMeddling in response to complaints of TheyChangedItNowItSucks from fans towards the original run of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'''s first two seasons, such as claiming that aging Ben up to 15 years and writing him more maturely made him a FlatCharacter, caused his immaturity to reawaken from arrogance, where it was less humorous and caused SeasonalRot. ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' tried to balance this out and somewhat make him, now a 16 year old, more mature again, but further seasonal rot in tandem with the show's darker themes reaching their most extreme caused ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', the last of the sequels from the original continuity, to depict the teenaged Ben as a {{flanderiz|ation}}ed version of his original child self for the sake of humor despite him being much more experienced by then.

** The pre-[[UnCanceled uncancellation]] seasons already showed many of the traits that would fully manifest once it came back, including {{Cutaway Gag}}s, {{Overly Long Gag}}s, and the main characters bordering on {{Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist}}s. In the earlier seasons these were balanced out and broken up enough that it wasn't as much of a problem, and the formula was new enough that they were still genuinely surprising when they happened and not expected as they are now.

** The cast’s horrific treatment of [[ButtMonkey Meg]] is now one of the most frequently criticized aspects of the show, provoking many appalled reactions from fans; despite the show’s attempts to play her treatment for BlackComedy, quite a few people have pointed out that it often crosses the line into outright ''emotional abuse''. But in some ways, this can be traced back to the earliest episodes, where Meg was [[CharacterizationMarchesOn a considerably different character]]. While her family certainly didn’t hate her in those episodes, one often got the sense that the ''writers'' didn’t particularly care for her: she was the [[FlatCharacter least developed]] of the Griffin children by a pretty wide margin, and didn’t really have her own comedic gimmick like her parents and siblings did. In later seasons, the writers never really gave her CharacterDevelopment, but they did give her the "gimmick" of being despised and/or ignored by her entire family -- which many fans liked even less. If you compare Meg’s appearances in Season 1 to her later appearances, you’ll notice that she isn’t exactly less of a FlatCharacter in those early episodes, but she at least wasn’t just the object of other people’s hatred.

** For people who hate Brian, a lot will be surprised to learn that a lot of his worst character traits were fully on display in the early seasons and were the reason the character was generally liked. However, they were either far more restrained, or the show acknowledged that they made him a bit of an asshole. For example, he still acted as a [[AuthorAvatar mouthpiece for the writers]], but this was normally limited to quips, and other characters commented about how it could get annoying. In later seasons these short quips turned into full-blown {{Character Filibuster}}s, and anyone not holding the StrawmanBall either agreed with Brian or got out of his way.
* ''Franchise/{{Avatar| The Last Airbender}}'': The signs of the series focusing on teenage romance and ShipTease at the expense of plot and character development could be seen all the way back in [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender the original series]], as later seasons gave those subplots more focus in response to the creators realizing how large and {{vocal|Minority}} the {{shipping}} community was, but because the 3 season story arc had already been planned out there was only so much room for those scenes to be inserted and for the most part they didn't feel like they got in the way. Come ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', which had a brand new story arc built from scratch around older teen protagonists, and the creators put in far more romance and a LoveTriangle from the second episode to the point it became a RomanticPlotTumor that made many fans dislike one of the central characters (Mako) and the rest of the plot, including the main antagonist and the social forces behind his movement, felt rushed and underutilized. Later seasons tried to undo the damage by having Mako and Korra break up, and fan consensus is that it wasn't until season 3 that the story began to truly feel more balanced. Another major factor is that unlike the first series, the first season of ''Korra'' was written under the possibility that it was a self-contained mini-series that could be expanded into [[TwoPartTrilogy three more]] if the former was successful while a combination of TroubledProduction and Book 2 serving to deconstruct the previous events led to SeasonalRot. Seasons 3 and 4 were made back to back and feature far more confidence in shoving the romantic material to the side.\\\
By a similar count, despite that fervent shipping fandom, the romance being none too great was a problem in the original as well. Part of the reason Zuko/Katara became such a notorious FanPreferredCouple was that the canon Katara/Aang and Zuko/Mai were seen as lacking chemistry and intrigue (even the show itself joked on how a lot of fans seemed to prefer Katara and Aang to be LikeBrotherAndSister), and the comparatively well-received Suki/Sokka is mostly done as an arc after two episodes. But the romances were minor enough as an element that they were easy to ignore, or leave fans room to imagine more interesting things. When ''Korra'' (and the ''ATLA'' sequel comics) focused more on romance, it became a real problem; ''Korra'''s main pairing early on in particular is essentially a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute to Zuko/Katara, being the pairing of a passionate and action-oriented female Waterbender and an angsty and aggressive male Firebender, and yet ended up achieving absolutely none of the fame of its non-canon parent. It's likely for this reason that the creators decided to play Korra/Asami subtle.
* Part of the reason ''{{WesternAnimation/Chowder}}'' became popular was its heavy usage of PaintingTheMedium and fourth wall breaking jokes. In the final season, gags about breaking the fourth wall became so overused that the novelty wore off.

** 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 the 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.
** Everyone and their mother points fingers at Scrappy-Doo -- the [[FearlessFool overconfident]] [[KidAppealCharacter ankle-biter]] who always threw himself InHarmsWay -- as [[TheScrappy one of the all-time worst characters on TV]]. The thing is, Scrappy's debut gave the show some of its highest ratings and are credited with saving it from cancellation. ''WebVideo/InsideAMind'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fdQS-rjsnk posits]] that the problem was not Scrappy himself, but how he was utilized. Things were fine when the core of the show was still intact, but struggles keeping a consistent cast together led the show-runners to decide that since Scrappy was such a hit, they could use him to trim the fat, so to speak, cutting Velma, Daphne, and Fred (seen as the less memorable members of the gang) and have him take over for them.[[note]]Though Daphne was restored to the main cast later on.[[/note]] This meant that Scrappy was [[CompositeCharacter the one who found clues, got kidnapped, and set the traps]], which not only clashed with his stated characterization, but made Scooby and Shaggy seem even more bumbling and useless. Not helping matters were some even more questionable {{retool}}s, such as having the gang encounter real monsters and pairing Scrappy with cowboy-themed {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}s of Scooby and Shaggy. All in all, Scrappy was pushed front-and-center into a show [[AudienceAlienatingEra that was already losing its way]] and never meant to be his in the first place. At that point, further retooling to get things back on track wasn't enough to save the original run of ''Scooby-Doo'', and Scrappy's infamous reputation sticks with him to this day.

** While fans have [[BrokenBase many different ideas]] about what caused the show's SeasonalRot, its increasing reliance on extended over-the-top {{Imagine Spot}}s is sometimes held up as a symptom of its declining quality, as it increasingly shifted the focus away from the simple day-to-day struggles of the babies. In truth, though, the show was ''always'' known for its surreal and fantastical overtones -- but in its early days, the babies didn't ''need'' {{Imagine Spot}}s to make their world seem like a bizarre wonderland, because the quirky writing and animation made the entire setting seem surreal. The {{Imagine Spot}}s just drew a clear line between the mundane world and the world of the kids' imaginations, where none had existed before. Case in point: compare Season 2's "Toy Palace" with Season 5's "Submarine". The former revolves around the [[HilarityEnsues ensuing hilarity]] when Tommy and Chuckie spend the night in a sprawling toy store that (apparently) includes life-size robotic gorilla toys, automated Old West towns, and ''a working {{time machine}}''; the latter just has the kids pretending that a van at a car lot is a submarine, which ended up making the more overt and clear case of them using their imagination to pretend they're in a bizarre situation instead of merely thinking their already in a genuine bizarre situation made it a lot harder for viewers to get invested.

** One of the biggest points of contention for G4 is the large number of antagonists being EasilyForgiven without punishment or consequences for their villainous actions. This phenomenon has occurred in ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' long before fan complaints about it started during Season 3 of ''Friendship is Magic'' [[note]]When they reformed [[MadGod Discord]] in "Keep Calm and Flutter On".[[/note]].

*** [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls1 The first]] ''Equestria Girls'' movie has [[BigBad Sunset Shimmer]] get immediately forgiven by the heroes for years of being an AlphaBitch bully and brainwashing the school, with the consequences she faces being unserious throwaway mentions. At the time, it was criticized as it came almost instantly and with a suddenly tacked on motive of [[IJustWantToBeLoved just wanting friends]], which felt like nothing more than a contrived excuse to redeem her. However, this was comparatively tolerated as she had an interesting backstory and many fans [[IKnewIt correctly predicted]] her [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks next appearance]] would have her face due consequences of [[ReformedButRejected still being hated and an outsider by the rest of the student body]], demonstrating that [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome just because some people instantly forgave Sunset, it doesn't mean everybody else would automatically do so]]. Even the heroes [[TheFriendNobodyLikes don't fully trust the former bully]] despite being the only people around willing to hang out with Sunset and give her a second chance. This means that Sunset would have to properly earn her redemption by helping defeat the villains of ''Rainbow Rocks''[[note]]this was in fact absent from the first draft of the script, but it got added once the writers realized it was an important story to tell[[/note]]. The subsequent three movies' villains either weren't redeemed or were sympathetic enough that their redemptions were uncontroversial. Then, every ''Equestria Girls'' special that came after ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsLegendOfEverfree Legend of Everfree]]'' all had villains who were redeemed despite them coming off worse than Sunset pre-HeelFaceTurn as they committed misdeeds worse than anything Sunset [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity willfully]] committed onscreen[[note]]Juniper Montage's worst actions were before she was shown to became magically corrupted; Wallflower Blush was treated sympathetically by the story despite her actions being completely voluntary and was never at any point magically corrupted by the Memory Stone; Vignette Valencia showed no signs of magical corruption [[InformedAttribute as stated]][[/note]]. The specials' shorter length also meant their redemptions were even more rushed, interesting or redeeming factors in the villains were fewer if not absent, and left no time or opportunity for them to return to get a proper redemption like Sunset. It got to the point where even [[https://twitter.com/ishiH3Art/status/1017125609305042944 the director Ishi Rudell]] [[CreatorBacklash criticized all the redemptions]] both this show and ''Friendship Is Magic'' pulled.
** The fights against the villains became increasingly criticized for using TheWorfEffect, IdiotBall, MilitariesAreUseless, and AntiClimaxBoss. At first, that 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 keep 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 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.

** 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 childrens' 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.

** If you ask any fan where the show went wrong with Cosmo and Wanda, chances are they'll probably say when they made them into a complete idiot and a total nag, respectively. During the ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons'' shorts, Cosmo and Wanda were already a bit goofy, with Cosmo being TheDitz compared to the cool one and Wanda becoming more of a nag. Most fans were okay with this, since it was DivergentCharacterEvolution, but it would foreshadow how they would be portrayed in much more {{Flanderiz|ation}}ed fashion later on.

** [[PosthumousCharacter Rose Quartz]] was shown to be more or less [[IncorruptiblePurePureness morally perfect]] upon her introduction, and it wasn't until later that the show started including flashback episodes that highlighted her character flaws. When this first happened, it was applauded because it gave more nuance to Greg and Rose's relationship and served to flesh out her character. However, as time went on, more and more of Rose's flaws and mistakes were revealed, to the point where audiences began to lose sympathy for her. First was "Bismuth"'s revelation that Rose poofed and bubbled the titular character, but the details of the incident were never revealed in full, making it appear unjustified to many. Then "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS3E23BackToTheMoon Back to the Moon]]" seemingly revealed that Rose shattered Pink Diamond which, combined with the previous twist, came off as hypocritical to some. Then the DramaBomb "A Single Pale Rose" had the [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore story-shattering reveal]] [[spoiler: [[TwoAliasesOneCharacter that Rose Quartz and Pink Diamond were actually the same person]] (the latter character was set up as a SpoiledBrat in "Jungle Moon") and Pearl was her slave. TheReveal made Rose and Pearl's romantic relationship come off as [[NoYay inherently creepy to some]]; because Pearls are programmed to worship the gems that own them, it's unclear whether Pearl's feelings for Rose were ever genuine or just an extension of her programming (or a combination of both.) Then there's the fact that Rose/Pink's decision to fake her death was what lead to the corruption of most the Gems, meaning she's indirectly responsible for the events of the show.]] By the time ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'' and the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'' episode "Volleyball" revealed that Rose [[spoiler:abandoned Spinel, who considered her a close friend, by making her wait millennia for her in an abandoned garden, in a way the had many parallels to ParentalAbandonment to some]] and [[spoiler:permanently damaged her original Pearl during a temper tantrum, which is all but explicitly compared to abuse]], respectively, a vocal portion of the fanbase had concluded that Rose had crossed the MoralEventHorizon, transforming from a flawed character to a villain in all but name. As a result, she became a massive BaseBreakingCharacter, with many wondering why the show even considered suggesting that she might be forgivable, let alone remotely morally upstanding.
** The strict focus on Steven's point-of-view, give or take the occasional {{flashback}} or ImagineSpot, rarely hurt the show early on since the world was relatively self-contained (Beach City, the Temple and the Gems' occasional missions), the cast was fairly small, and it helped focus on Steven's personality and CharacterDevelopment. As the show continued and its universe expanded, however, more and more fans saw this narrative choice as problematic, both for story (Steven needs to be present for all major story events) and character development (Steven missing out on a major character moment means the audience does as well). Major examples of the latter include Lapis, who goes from barely tolerating Peridot in "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS3E4BarnMates Barn Mates]]" and "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS3E5HitTheDiamond Hit the Diamond]]" to being her best friend in "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS3E21Beta Beta]]"; Amethyst meeting and befriending several of the Quartzes that were produced in the same Kindergarten she was "born" in long before she existed during the events of "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS4E13TheZoo The Zoo]]", which helps her overcome a lot of her self-esteem issues; and Lars [[TookALevelInBadass going from being a moody, insecure teenager to a heroic spaceship captain]] (even stealing a Gem ship) in-between "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E4LarsHead Lars' Head]]" and "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E11LarsOfTheStars Lars of the Stars]]" with his new friends, the Off Colors. All of these are [[CharacterDevelopment huge changes in characters' personalities]] and [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot interesting story-lines that were never really explored in any depth]], all because the show never bothered to deviate from Steven's point of view.

** One minor gripe fans had with ''Future'' and ''The Movie'' is that, despite taking place two years after the end of season 5, most of the human characters barely look older, even Steven, who's age-up was specifically pointed out by the crew [[note]]Compare the previous time Steven aged into a teen, where he was much taller and had visible peach fuzz, to his growth in the movie, which was memetically summed up as "he has a neck now"[[/note]]. This was also apparent in the original series, in which at least two years and a half pass and none of the humans age in any noticeable way, with only Steven (who ages depending on his mental state) having an excuse. The difference was that ''The Movie'' put emphasis on the TimeSkip and the fact that the characters, Steven in particular, have gotten older, with one of the songs having the lyrics "Here we are in {{the Future}}", making it easier to notice.

** WesternAnimation/BugsBunny was always supposed to be witty and resourceful from the start without the extreme absurdity nor the over-the-top wackiness of WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck. This still didn't mean that Bugs had PlotArmor to carry the day after every short starring the character back in TheForties, but it was fairly established even then that he was smarter (at least where street-smarts concerned) than the average ''Looney Tunes'' character. Creator/ChuckJones took these features to their logical conclusion and added a Music/BingCrosby-esque ''sang froid'' element to Bugs Bunny in TheFifties, making his version the definitive one; the studio has been reluctant to wander away from this take too much. But ever since, Bugs seems to be permanently stuck in lower quality iterations of the Chuck Jones version, making him often seem smug and petulant (the cover image in his [[WesternAnimation/BugsBunny trope page]] is his current default expression) while doing very little and allowing other characters to steal the spotlight.
** WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck was made into a more overconfident and self indulgent character quite early on, long before Chuck Jones retooled him into a egotistical {{foil}} for Bugs. However, this was only to give him some degree of pathos and motivation compared to the one-dimensional heckler he was in his earliest shorts by Creator/TexAvery, and even after Jones' retool, harks back to his wackier more competent characterization reemerged every now and then. However, Daffy went on to trade many hands, with most trying too hard to emulate the frustration of Jones' version, Flanderizing him into a pompous, bitter {{Jerkass}} with an almost NonIndicativeName.

* ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'' was ''never'' to everyone's tastes, being one of the most unabashedly trashy {{Animated Shock Comed|y}}ies on television from the very start. The thing is, earlier seasons had a few surprisingly heartfelt moments that, combined with the show's "take nothing seriously" attitude, gave it a sense of sincerity. That became lost when the third season put more focus on its VulgarHumor and how {{unsympathetic|ComedyProtagonist}} the cast could be. This came to a head in the GrandFinale, which not only upped the raunchiness to the point that it came off as mean-spirited, but also somewhat clumsily tried to ''justify'' it.
* Some of the biggest complaints that fans have with ''WesternAnimation/PlanetSheen'' stem from Sheen’s CharacterExaggeration making him becoming incredibly [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist selfish, obnoxious, arrogant, uncaring towards his friends]], and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero often the cause of the very problems that would need to be solved in every episode]]. Elements of this can be traced back to ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'', in which Jimmy himself had a quite abrasive personality, being smug, somewhat lazy, opinionated and selfish, regularly acting like he was the smartest kid in the world who always knew what was best. In fact, even in the [[WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutronBoyGenius original movie]] Jimmy's pride was always presented as his FatalFlaw, with his TooCleverByHalf additude often causing problems and him regularly being forced to admit he was wrong and needed others’ help. However, Jimmy was... well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a boy genius]], capable of casually building revolutionary technology whilst [[SurroundedByIdiots living in a town full of gullible and foolish people]], thus these flaws made perfect sense to his character. More importantly Jimmy [[MrViceGuy still possessed enough redeeming and sympathetic traits such as his bravery, loyalty and compassion]], and as such would [[MustMakeAmends always put his talents to good use to undo any damage he had caused]], and even then [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin he never got off lightly for his many stunts]] (to the point that it was almost a RunningGag that they had made him very unpopular with the townsfolk). Sheen, presumably to make his show a SpiritualAntithesis, was constantly portrayed as a complete idiot who, while truly well-meaning, often made things worse than he found them through his sheer stupidity, arrogance or refusal to listen to common sense, yet still acted like he knew what was best, also losing all his redeeming traits save a shallow friendliness. He would regularly ignore everyone’s warnings and do things which were incredibly stupid, [[NeverMyFault then blame them for not telling him when things went wrong]], [[TheFool only to come out on top due to the efforts of others or sheer dumb luck]], get away scot-free, and still be celebrated as a hero [[IdiotHoudini regardless of the damage he caused]]. Whilst this was intended to be PlayedForLaughs, it instead made Sheen into an obnoxious DesignatedHero.

** The first sign of this comes from the idea of a {{shared universe}} due to merging with its parent series. Phineas And Ferb also did this with the [[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbMissionMarvel Marvel]] and [[WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbStarWars Star Wars]] {{crossover}}s. While they have their fair share of detractors, most people still like them, and even those who don't agree that they're both self contained one-and-done events, and the show still stands on its own feet (the fact that the Franchise/StarWars crossover was explicitly non-canon also helped). That's not exactly the case here, with the heavy number of references to its predecessor in season 1, culminating in [[spoiler: Doof]] appearing in the season 1 finale, and then the shows become heavily integrated after the crossover. And as a precise result of just how heavily integrated both shows became to each other in the plot, it is believed that the {{fanservice}} for ''Phineas and Ferb'' fans ultimately ended up hijacking ''Milo'', turned it into "Phineas and Ferb 2.0", and undermined the show's ability to stand on its own without assistance from its predecessor.

** The last point to talk about is how the show seems to be less about [[VanillaProtagonist the main character Milo himself]] and more on the supporting cast. While Phineas and Ferb didn't completely escape this criticism, it was something that happened gradually over time, and they still managed to be active players in many situations, and was thus mostly tolerated. In the case of this series, Milo, despite his active tendencies, tends to be someone who mostly just reacts to whatever comes his way, and because more focus involving the overarching story is for supporting characters (like Cavendish and Dakota) and not Milo himself, he's a borderline {{blank slate}}.

** Character Relationships. The show has always been weird about pairing characters, developing relationships, and teasing others, with many of the most prominent relationships being created whole cloth by the show itself, and many other relationships not getting the proper development or setup. Conner/M'gann and Wally/Artemis, as can be shown by entries covering the earlier two seasons, had some detractors because they had no basis in the original comics. But at the same time, there were just as many people who considered themselves fans of both pairings precisely ''because'' of said lack of basis due to how that made the pairings completely unique to the show and thus able to stand out on their own merits provided within the show's narrative. Cassie/Tim are a rather infamous example of the show suddenly pairing characters with little to no build-up, as the two had never even been shown speaking to each other before they were stated to have gotten together, and each having more prominent love interests (or at least Tim does, Cassie's (whom is actually Conner) is taken) than each other in the comics (though they ''have'' dated in the comics, it's just not the relationship most fans of either character like, and said "relationship" only lasted as far as a kiss born from grief). But again, much like with Conner/M'gann and Wally/Artemis, others were willing to give the relationship a chance due to both how it was largely unexplored territory for the show compared to the two characters' more prominent relationships with other people in the comics and the possibility of becoming better developed later in the series. The sudden ShipTease of Will/Artemis, however, has neither of the reasons for defense that the other aforementioned pairings have. For unlike the aforementioned pairings, is is neither unique nor conductive of potential for better development as a romantic pairing to make fans more receptive, but just involves two characters that most fans particularly don't want to see become romantically involved with each other (as opposed to just apathy), whether it be the NoYay of in-laws becoming romantically involved while the spouse is still around (and may not have left of her own [[DaddyHadAGoodReasonforAbandoningYou free will]]) or the fact both characters are part of other pairings that many prefer.[[note]]The 25th episode of season 3 addressed the problem by [[spoiler:having Artemis and Will, despite briefly kissing at the beginning of the episode, not actually get together at the end by realizing they had NoSparks and that they can still work together as friends to take care of their families.]][[/note]]
** Representation. Greg Weisman had incorporated greater diversity into his [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} previous]] [[WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan shows]] in the past, and ''Young Justice'' is no different. The show has always been invested in having a racially diverse cast, with characters such as Artemis [[RaceLift becoming half-white, half-Asian]] (which is also a side effect of the full-Asian Cheshire [[RelatedInTheAdaptation becoming her sister]]), the dark-skinned Kaldur being created to take the role of Aqualad, several Hispanic characters such as Jaime and Eduardo Jr. having prominent roles, etc., which is generally considered a good thing, or at least not a negative. However, a problem with Violet is that being Muslim isn't a racial trait (which is a very common mistake many make) and her appearance ([[AllMuslimsAreArab dark skin, headscarf, dresses conservatively]]) fits the stereotype of what many assume a Muslim woman ''looks'' like, while also being from the fictional nation of {{Qurac}}. While adding a heroic Muslim character is commendable and the show notes that there’s nothing wrong with wearing a hijab as a way of practicing UsefulNotes/{{Islam}}, religion isn't bound by race [[note]]For example, 95% of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechnya Chechnya]], Russia's citizens practice Islam and most people who live there are very light-skinned. There are also many Jews who are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Israel of Ethiopian descent]] or are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Latin_American_Jews Hispanic/Latino]].[[/note]], thus it requires more than what most {{Race Lift}}s require to properly represent. And ''Young Justice'', like most popular entertainment, has always skirted around religion, with none of the characters ever referencing it in either belief or disbelief. It's obvious why the creators would want to specifically represent Muslims (as opposed to other religions) given topical events, but Violet was probably never a good fit given her new origin of being [[spoiler: the spirit of a Motherbox, an extraterrestrial pseudo-mystical object/being that would have no investment in any human religion]]. Season 4 addresses the complaint by having her briefly discuss her Islamic faith in a [[TheStinger credits scene]], while introducing the Muslim character of [[ComicBook/DoctorFate Khalid Nassour]] and portraying his own faith as a Muslim more accurately.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': The romance has often been seen as one of the show's greatest weaknesses in later seasons, but it's been like that since the beginning with the show constantly pushing a Star/Marco pairing despite them having more of a sibling-like dynamic. It worked better then since it was rarely in your face and they still showed support for each other, unlike later episodes, where it becomes the main plot despite them not having enough meaningful interactions in those later episodes.[[note]]Marco being frequently absent in season 3 despite moving to Mewni means that most statements about him and Star having a healthy relationship is all talk and no show.[[/note]]. This reached its nadir in [[SeasonalRot Season 4]], where the show’s continued ignoring of the MythArc was seen as one of the main reasons the fandom called [[FanonDiscontinuity discontinuity of the season]].

** A lot of the major flaws that various characters have that were criticized in season 3 and beyond (e.g. Marinette's treatment of her romantic rivals, Adrien's EntitledToHaveYou attitude towards Ladybug, and Alya's inability to check her sources) have been present in the characters since season 1. They were forgiven back then because there were also signs of CharacterDevelopment that fans thought would stick; however, when it became apparent that they would continue to have these flaws, the criticisms fans had became more widespread and vocal.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' producers describe being torn about the removal of jokes, characters and plotlines from finished episodes, as sometimes good jokes were lost to trim an episode to 22 minutes. But that process led to well-received episodes where only the best jokes made it to air. The direct to DVD movies were criticized for dragging on plots that in earlier seasons would have been resolved in a single episode, but were still beloved by the show's fanbase. When the same problems were criticized in Cohen and Groening's next show ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}'', it was a lot harder to defend, since that show had no pre-existing fanbase, and repetitive characterizations and plot points made the show feel bland and convoluted.

** While fans have [[BrokenBase many different ideas]] about what caused the show's SeasonalRot, its increasing reliance on extended over-the-top {{Imagine Spot}}s is sometimes held up as a symptom of its declining quality, as it increasingly shifted the focus away from the simple day-to-day struggles of the babies. In truth, though, the show was ''always'' known for its surreal and fantastical overtones -- but in its early days, the babies didn't ''need'' {{Imagine Spot}}s to make their world seem like a bizarre wonderland, because the quirky writing and animation made the entire setting seem surreal. The {{Imagine Spot}}s just drew a clear line between the mundane world and the world of the kids' imaginations, where none had existed before. Case in point: compare Season 2's "Toy Palace" with Season 6's "Submarine". The former revolves around the [[HilarityEnsues ensuing hilarity]] when Tommy and Chuckie spend the night in a sprawling toy store that (apparently) includes life-size robotic gorilla toys, automated Old West towns, and ''a working {{time machine}}''; the latter just has the kids pretending that a van at a car lot is a submarine, which ended up making the more overt and clear case of them using their imagination to pretend they're in a bizarre situation instead of merely thinking their already in a genuine bizarre situation made it a lot harder for viewers to get invested.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': A growing criticism of the series is newer episodes [[EarthDrift featuring more fantastical situations]] compared to Seasons 1-3. There were already instances of more unrealistic things happening in 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 didn't impact the plot, and previous seasons at least had boundaries for the reality of ''The Loud House'''s 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 becoming seemingly more ingrained into the show's formula as Season 5 came around, and reaching its apex in ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouseMovie'', which features magic and dragons as major aspects of the film's conflict, with the climax of the film featuring a "dragon vs. magic" battle, and ghosts being major characters in the film. 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.

** Once it was released, ''WesternAnimation/{{Velma}}'' quickly became regarded as the new nadir of the franchise for betraying its child-oriented roots and being [[TooBleakStoppedCaring too dark and meanspirited for its own good]], despite the fact that similarly DarkerAndEdgier ''Scooby-Doo'' projects aimed at mature audiences such as the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' crossover "[[Recap/SupernaturalS13E16ScoobyNatural ScoobyNatural]]", ''ComicBook/ScoobyApocalypse'', ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooOnZombieIsland'', and most noticeably ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' had been released earlier to surprising acclaim. However, what allowed them to escape the vitriol that ''Velma'' received was their portrayal of Mystery Inc. as a likable band of TrueCompanions, containing some moments of levity (mainly through the titular character), and utilizing the dark content to enhance their sincere plots, as opposed to the rampant {{Adaptational Jerkass}}ses, the complete absence of Scooby-Doo himself, and [[AnimatedShockComedy gratuitous shock value moments]] of ''Velma'' choking out its intended premise as an [[OriginsEpisode origin story for the group]].

** Once it was released, ''WesternAnimation/{{Velma}}'' quickly became regarded as the new nadir of the franchise for betraying its child-oriented roots and being [[TooBleakStoppedCaring too dark for its own good]], despite the fact that similarly DarkerAndEdgier ''Scooby-Doo'' projects aimed at mature audiences such as the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' crossover "[[Recap/SupernaturalS13E16ScoobyNatural ScoobyNatural]]", ''ComicBook/ScoobyApocalypse'' and most noticeably ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' had been released earlier to surprising acclaim. However, what allowed them to escape the vitriol that ''Velma'' received was their portrayal of Mystery Inc. as a likable band of TrueCompanions, containing some moments of levity, mainly through the titular character, and utilizing the dark content to enhance their sincere plots, as opposed to the rampant {{Adaptational Jerkass}}ses, the complete absence of Scooby-Doo himself, and [[AnimatedShockComedy gratuitous shock value moments]] of ''Velma'' choking out its intended premise as an [[OriginsEpisode origin story for the group]].

** Once it was released, ''WesternAnimation/{{Velma}}'' quickly became regarded as the new nadir of the franchise for betraying its child-oriented roots and being [[TooBleakStoppedCaring too dark for its own good]], despite the fact that similarly DarkerAndEdgier ''Scooby-Doo'' projects aimed at mature audiences such as the ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' crossover "[[Recap/SupernaturalS13E16ScoobyNatural ScoobyNatural]]", ''ComicBook/ScoobyApocalypse'' and most noticeably ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' had been released earlier to surprising acclaim. However, what allowed them to escape the vitriol that ''Velma'' received was their portrayal of Mystery Inc. as a likable band of TrueCompanions, containing some moments of levity, and utilizing the dark content to enhance their sincere plots, as op to the rampant {{Adaptational Jerkass}}ses and [[AnimatedShockComedy gratuitous shock value moments]] of ''Velma'' choking out its intended premise as an [[OriginsEpisode origin story for the group]].

** There's also the overuse of pop culture references, outdated memes, and 2010s slang in an attempt to pander to newer audiences. Even in its heyday, it was clearly a product of the 2000s.

** In general, Ben being an obnoxious IdiotHero was much easier to swallow when he was 10, and therefore younger and a complete newbie (in the [[WesternAnimation/Ben10 original series]]). And while Original Series!Ben was certainly immature, part of what made him compelling was that he showed true compassion and bravery many times, not to mention he was more BookDumb compared to Gwen rather than outright stupid, as shown by his constant resourcefulness and quick-thinking when it came to heroics. Rampant ExecutiveMeddling in response to complaints of TheyChangedItNowItSucks from fans towards the original run of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'''s first two seasons, such as claiming that aging Ben up to 15 years and writing him more maturely made him a FlatCharacter, caused his immaturity to reawaken from arrogance, where it was less humorous and caused SeasonalRot. ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' tried to balance this out and somewhat make him, now a 16 year old, more mature again, but further seasonal rot in tandem with the show's darker themes reaching their most extreme caused ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', the last of the sequels from the original continuity, to depict the teenaged Ben as a [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] version of his original child self for the sake of humor despite him being much more experienced by then.

* Most of the more debated aspects of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' Seasons 3 and 4 aren't new:

*** It also highlights another recurring theme that took over the plot, the usage of therapy. Therapy sessions had been featured as far back as season 1, but as the show was focusing on the more realistic consequences of featuring teenagers as [[ChildSoldier child soldiers]], it made sense some would need to seek mental help for their actions. It remained in subdued use throughout the series, until season 4 where Beast Boy's aforementioned mental trauma and the attempts to help him and provide him therapy took up large portions of screentime from other major characters.

** To go into detail, compare "[[Recap/RenandStimpy2x04SvenHoek Sven Hoek]]" from ''Ren & Stimpy'' to "[[Recap/RenandStimpyAPC1x02RenSeeksHelp Ren Seeks Help]]" from ''Adult Party Cartoon''. The former is famous for its scene where Ren, in a slow and [[TranquilFury unnervingly serene]] matter, [[ToThePain describes the abuse he plans to inflict upon Stimpy and Sven]] as they cower in fear. Part of why the scene works is that it starts with Ren reacting to the absurd mess they made (which is PlayedForLaughs in of itself) and has a punchline in Ren [[ExcrementStatement whizzing all over their favorite]] {{board game}} (only to find that it's called "Don't Whiz on the Electric Fence" for a reason). The latter, however, starts right out of the gate with a first act devoted entirely to overblown {{melodrama}} over [[NoodleIncident something]] that [[TheUnReveal never gets revealed to the audience]], spends the bulk of the episode describing in lavish detail how Ren spent his childhood [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals mangling and torturing small animals to the point that their mere existence is utter hell]] before subjecting them to CruelMercy, and comes to a climax that only serves to reinforce what the entire episode has been drilling into the viewer (that Ren is twisted in the head).

** ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Ben 10: Alien Force]]'' was the beginning of the [[ContinuityPorn overt focus on old elements]], [[PanderingToTheBase pandering to first-series fans]], and sometimes [[RecycledScript script-recycling]] criticized more heavily in later installments, where after the show got a mixed reception when it first premiered, primarily for the shift to a DarkerAndEdgier tone. The show eventually started also bringing back other classic series elements, but tried to tell new stories with them at first (notably, Kevin becoming a composite of the types of matter he absorbed in season 3, but remaining an ally of Ben). As time went on, more pandering began to build up starting in season 1 of ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'', such as Kevin's insanity and being a composite form of Ben's aliens near the end of season 1, and featuring a guest appearance from the original Ben. This eventually culminated in the base-breaking ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse Ben 10: Omniverse]]'', where flashbacks now regularly showed young Ben, accompanied by a DenserAndWackier tone attempting to emulate the lighthearted classic series, and claiming that the same future Ben originally witnessed in the third season of the original series was once again his canon future (one where Ben married his first love interest, [[TheScrappy Kai]], and had a son named Ken), even though there's just as much debunking that future (the Ben in that future, as seen in the first series, retained the original form of the Prototype Omnitrix, which in the present recalibrated and later self destructed during ''Alien Force''); all despite these elements either contradicting with established canon, was starting to come across as more like obnoxious and gratuitous pandering rather than loving homages, or feeling like unimaginative rehashes of earlier stories and plot points.
** In general, Ben being an obnoxious IdiotHero was much easier to swallow when he was 10, and therefore younger and a complete newbie (in the [[WesternAnimation/Ben10 original series]]). And while Original Series!Ben was certainly immature, part of what made him compelling was that he showed true compassion and bravery many times, not to mention he was more BookDumb compared to Gwen rather than outright stupid, as shown by his constant resourcefulness and quick-thinking when it came to heroics. Rampant ExecutiveMeddling in response to complaints of TheyChangedItNowItSucks from fans towards the original run of ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'''s first two seasons, such as claiming that aging Ben up to 15 years and writing him more maturely made him a FlatCharacter, caused his immaturity to reawaken from arrogance, where it was less humorous and caused SeasonalRot. ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'' tried to balance this out and somewhat make him, now a 16 year old, more mature again, but further seasonal rot in tandem with the show's darker themes reaching their most extreme caused ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', the last of the sequels, to depict the teenaged Ben as a [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] version of his original child self for the sake of humor despite him being much more experienced by then.

** Everyone and their mother points fingers at Scrappy-Doo -- the [[FearlessFool overconfident]] [[KidAppealCharacter ankle-biter]] who always threw himself InHarmsWay -- as [[TheScrappy one of the all-time worst characters on TV]]. The thing is, Scrappy's debut gave the show some of its highest ratings and are credited with saving it from cancellation. ''WebVideo/InsideAMind'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fdQS-rjsnk posits]] that the problem was not Scrappy himself, but how he was utilized. Things were fine when the core of the show was still intact, but struggles keeping a consistent cast together led the show-runners to decide that since Scrappy was such a hit, they could use him to trim the fat, so to speak, cutting Velma, Daphne, and Fred (seen as the less memorable members of the gang) and have him take over for them.[[note]]Though Daphne was restored to the main cast later on.[[/note]] This meant that Scrappy was [[CompositeCharacter the one who found clues, got kidnapped, and set the traps]], which not only clashed with his stated characterization, but made Scooby and Shaggy seem even more bumbling and useless. Not helping matters were some even more questionable {{retool}}s, such as having the gang encounter real monsters and pairing Scrappy with cowboy-themed {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}s of Scooby and Shaggy. All in all, Scrappy was pushed front-and-center into a show [[DorkAge that was already losing its way]] and never meant to be his in the first place. At that point, further retooling to get things back on track wasn't enough to save the original run of ''Scooby-Doo'', and Scrappy's infamous reputation sticks with him to this day.

** During the 1950s, many shorts (particularly those directed by, again, Chuck Jones) moved the focus away from slapstick and towards dialogue and the interplay between various characters, while the animation (with a handful of standouts) became noticeably stiffer and more limited. This era yielded some of the best shorts in the franchise due to Jones's excellent writing chops and the character-based humor being well-defined and effective, but it was in many respects a harbinger to the franchise's 1960s DorkAge. When the shorts could no longer fall back on Jones's strong writing after he left the studio, it became very evident that [[LimitedAnimation the animation and slapstick]] was declining to Hanna-Barbera levels. Jones's love of interplay and crossovers also proved the patient zero for the baffling pairings of the franchise's later years--the most infamous being Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales, which dominated the studio's later output despite the two having little to no chemistry or reason to compete.

*** The first episode of ''Friendship Is Magic'' had Princess Luna get immediately forgiven for trying to bring TheNightThatNeverEnds to Equestria. But she was Princess Celestia's beloved sister, introduced alongside [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds a compelling enough motivation and backstory]] to grant her EnsembleDarkhorse status, her wrongdoing fell under CartoonishSupervillainy (which also applied to Discord turning Equestria into a WorldGoneMad) and they were committed as [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]], meaning Luna's willfulness was debatable. This made her forgiveness perfectly justifiable in-and-out of work. Later examples were guilty of willfully committing [[RealismInducedHorror more realistic]] wrongs[[labelnote:examples]]Babs Seed, Sunset Shimmer and Diamond Tiara were cruel bullies; Starlight Glimmer ran a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything dictatorship-inspired]] {{cult}} and nearly [[BadFuture doomed Equestria]] seeking revenge for the destruction of said cult; Juniper Montage lashed out over [[NeverMyFault self-inflicted problems]]; Wallflower Blush's actions were compared by some to a school shooting[[/labelnote]] with at best a last-minute FreudianExcuse that tended to make them UnintentionallyUnsympathetic[[labelnote:examples]]Babs wanted to avoid being further bullied but her actions were worse and unnecessary than required for that; Diamond Tiara had an abusive mother but we only saw a NiceGuy father to influence her prior; Starlight lost her friend when he got his Cutie Mark and had to move away, which are similar situations that Apple Bloom and Moondancer went though without descending into villainy; Juniper's seeking popularity to get friends was blink-and-you'll-miss-it and only properly elaborated on in the novelization; Wallflower stole memories as revenge for people not noticing her despite making no effort outside her introduction to ''actually'' be noticed[[/labelnote]]. Season 8 onward [[AuthorsSavingThrow addressed the sin]] by having the cast be far colder to the remaining major unredeemed villains, such as [[KilledOffForReal killing off]] Sombra, sending new villain [[EnfantTerrible Cozy Glow]] to [[DraggedOffToHell Tartarus]], and [[spoiler: [[TakenForGranite petrifying]] Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis for their many crimes]], while having the redeemed villain Chancellor Neighsay have enough positive qualities[[note]]That he genuinely cares about keeping Equestrians safe, actually makes ''valid'' arguments against Twilight Sparkle and her school alongside his unreasonable ones, that the various non-ponies actually do things to ''justify'' his fears such as threatening war and endangering others, and that he doesn't actually act against the non-ponies until he actually thinks he's caught them in the act attacking Equestria[[/note]] despite his flagrant racist {{jerkass}}ery that helped properly foreshadow his potential to change for the better. The fact that all 4 of said unredeemed villains soundly rejected friendship and redemption once everything was said and done helps.

*** The first episode of ''Friendship Is Magic'' had Princess Luna get immediately forgiven for trying to bring TheNightThatNeverEnds to Equestria. But she was Princess Celestia's beloved sister, introduced alongside [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds a compelling enough motivation and backstory]] to grant her EnsembleDarkhorse status, her wrongdoing fell under CartoonishSupervillainy (which also applied to Discord turning Equestria into a WorldGoneMad) and they were committed as [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]], meaning Luna's willfulness was debatable. This made her forgiveness perfectly justifiable in-and-out of work. Later examples were guilty of willfully committing [[RealismInducedHorror more realistic]] wrongs[[labelnote:examples]]Babs Seed, Sunset Shimmer and Diamond Tiara were cruel bullies; Starlight Glimmer ran a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything dictatorship-inspired]] {{cult}} and nearly [[BadFuture doomed Equestria]] seeking revenge for the destruction of said cult; Juniper Montage lashed out over [[NeverMyFault self-inflicted problems]]; Wallflower Blush's actions were compared by some to a school shooting[[/labelnote]] with at best a last-minute FreudianExcuse that tended to make them UnintentionallyUnsympathetic[[labelnote:examples]]Babs wanted to avoid being further bullied but her actions were worse and unnecessary than required for that; Diamond Tiara had an abusive mother but we only saw a NiceGuy father to influence her prior; Starlight lost her friend when he got his Cutie Mark and had to move away, which are similar situations that Apple Bloom and Moondancer went though without descending into villainy; Juniper's seeking popularity to get friends was blink-and-you'll-miss-it and only properly elaborated on in the novelization; Wallflower stole memories as revenge for people not noticing her despite making no effort outside her introduction to ''actually'' be noticed[[/labelnote]]. Season 8 onward [[AuthorsSavingThrow addressed the sin]] by having the cast be far colder to the remaining major unredeemed villains, such as [[KilledOffForReal killing off]] Sombra, sending new villain [[EnfantTerrible Cozy Glow]] to [[DraggedOffToHell Tartarus]], and [[spoiler: [[TakenForGranite petrifying]] Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis for their many crimes]]. The fact that all 4 of said unredeemed villains soundly rejected friendship and redemption once everything was said and done helps.

** One significant criticism of season 4 was the extensive focus on the traumas suffered by Beast Boy, which while a [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome more realistic depiction of trauma]], was happening to a famed comic relief character in the comics who usually [[SadClown put a smile on in spite of his suffering]]. But he had shown problems with coping with his losses as far back as season 2. There, he had a brief moment where a waterfall on Rann reminded him of his mother's death. Being the only such moment showing how he was hurting, it was used to show emotional depth, and he didn't angst over it every episode. Season 3 expanded on how he coped with several deaths of people in his life (both revealed in flashbacks and having already been known to have died in season 2), but he had been DemotedToExtra at that point, so it was ADayInTheLimelight for him until [[AscendedExtra he retook his spot in the cast]], and even then he still didn't angst over any of them throughout the season (Wally's then-recent death was being grieved over by other characters like Dick and Artemis instead). In contrast to both earlier seasons keeping his trauma in check, season 4 used it to make Beast Boy [[TookALevelInJerkass become far more paranoid and agitated]]. This initially fit with his focus in Miss Martian's arc, but following [[spoiler:Lor-Zod's seemingly successful murder of Superboy]], he was handed a depression arc that excessively stole screentime from Artemis', Zatanna's, Kaldur's, and Raquel's arcs throughout the season and further contributed to the divisive nature of his characterization, and had a less satisfying payoff for some (his recovery is shown in less detail than his downfall aside from his new therapy dog Wingman, [[spoiler:he never joins the final battle against the forces of General Zod nor encounters Lor-Zod, and he mentions Superboy being alive without his reaction to Superboy's survival being shown onscreen]]).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': A growing criticism of the series is newer episodes featuring more fantastical situations compared to Seasons 1-3. There were already instances of more unrealistic things happening in 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 didn't impact the plot, and previous seasons at least had boundaries for the reality of ''The Loud House'''s 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 becoming seemingly more ingrained into the show's formula as Season 5 came around, and reaching its apex in ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouseMovie'', which features magic and dragons as major aspects of the film's conflict, with the climax of the film featuring a "dragon vs. magic" battle, and ghosts being major characters in the film. 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.

** A few early episodes in Seasons 2 and 3 ''do'' feature extended plots that take place in the kids' heads, with "What the Big People Do", "Reptar 2010" and "Angelica's Worst Nightmare" being a few notable examples. But while those did push the show in a DenserAndWackier direction, they're still tolerable because the writers actually put some imagination into the {{Dream Sequence}}s, and often used them for CharacterDevelopment. Rather than just allowing the writers to put the kids in implausible situations, they were used to show a baby's skewed perspective on the world, giving viewers insight into how the kids think. "What the Big People Do" shows what they imagine the adult world to be like, "Reptar 2010" features a RashomonPlot where each of the kids imagines themselves as their hero Reptar (with the plot changing to reflect each of their personalities), and "Angelica's Worst Nightmare" is a [[BlackComedy darkly humorous]] {{horror}} story that shows Angelica's fear of [[ItsAllAboutMe losing her parents' attention]]. It wasn't until the plots that took place in the kids' heads started largely being used more for the sake of it without containing any underlying character development to compliment them while also using them as [[ExcusePlot an excuse]] to place them in increasingly implausible and unrealistic scenarios that they finally began to overstay their welcome.