History YMMV / Toonami

** While reviewing ''VideoGame/AlienHominid'', Tom references other games like ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'' and ''VideoGame/MetalSlug''. Creator/SteveBlum, the voice of Tom, would later go on to voice Master Contra, the BigBad of ''Neo Contra''.

* AnimationAgeGhetto: The Creator/AdultSwim version of Toonami attempted to avert this by airing Creator/CartoonNetwork shows such as ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'', ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'', and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', all of which were considered much more mature fare than Cartoon Network's other shows at the time. Unfortunately, such attempts were often met with derision and cries of NetworkDecay from fans, mostly those who think that Toonami is an anime block and that such shows are made exclusively for kids. Of course, if Toonami getting to premiere a brand new season of ''Samurai Jack'' and later airing ''WebAnimation/GenLock'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Primal}}'' is any indication, they're ''still'' trying to avert this.

** At the end of each ''[[Anime/TenchiMuyo Tenchi]]'' promo, you hear the narrator say, "love stinks", keep in mind that [[Creator/PeterCullen that narrator]] was the voice of [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers the original Optimus Prime]]! Mr. "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings"! A character who is known for being serious and almost entirely lacking in a sense of humor (at least in later ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' [[WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime shows]] and [[Film/{{Transformers}} movies]])!

-->[[Creator/{{Toonami}} ONLY Toonami.]]
-->[[TheStinger Kids Love It!]]

* AlasPoorScrappy: The same fans who spent the last two years of the block's original run referring to TOM 4 as "[[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends TOM-ass the Toonami Engine]]" cried when he left. It was because a simple word ("Bang...") reminded the older audience -- the ones who had watched Toonami through all eleven years -- that they weren't forgotten. Sure, we thought they had when they started [[AdoredByTheNetwork milking]] ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' for all it was worth, (practically) changed hosts, and got rid of all the credible shows and original series. But what TOM said -- what Creator/SteveBlum said -- just meant so much more. The fact that Website/FourChan practically broke down during the last hour or so of the final run, overwhelmed with nostalgia and [[TearJerker begging each other to do something to stop Toonami from shutting down]], simply adds to the heartbreak. In short, Toonami with a crappy looking host is still better than no Toonami at all. As of ''WesternAnimation/TheIntruderII'', [[spoiler:he became the subject of an [[KilledOffscreen off-screen]] BusCrash, as the Intruder gloats about killing TOM 4, and WordOfGod would confirm that his fellow crewmembers Flash and D weren't spared after the events of the tie-in comic. Poor guy. Even ''worse'' was that he and his friends were stranded on the moon at the time, all they wanted was to get home. TOM 4 instead spent the last 36 hours of his life running from the Intruder, and just when things finally looked up... [[ShootTheShaggyDog it's revealed it survived TOM 4's attack]].]]

* FanonDiscontinuity: TOM 4 ''never'' happened. ''Ever''. It waned a bit after the reveal that [[spoiler:TOM 3 and 4 are separate beings]].

** It should noted that the block itself almost never airs any anime that has Moe art style or aesthetic, mainly because many of the Moe anime usually aren't action anime.[[note]]The staff consistently said that Toonami is an action block, not an anime block.[[/note]] That being said, several individual series such as ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'' and ''Manga/AkameGaKill'' have characters that fit into this bill, as well as when ''Anime/{{Hamtaro}}'' aired in 2002.

** "This month's fan-art features some real [[IncrediblyLamePun heavy]] hitters!"[[labelnote:Explanation]]While the circumstances behind the incident and the aftermath are arguably tragic, the most notable thing about the stolen fanart in the 1/8/23 bumper that made it the final one was that it was a fetish drawing to the varying levels of surprise of many viewers, not only using reuploads of the bumper as a [[FetishesAreWeird shock video]], but also making TOM's beginning line a pun regarding [[BalloonBelly the fetish]] in [[BigBeautifulWoman question]].[[/labelnote]]

** Toonami's relaunch grew its beard when they fully expanded to six hours in length. The beard thickened considerably when it gained ''Manga/OnePiece'' to complete the ''Manga/{{Naruto}}-Manga/{{Bleach}}-One Piece'' trinity.

** Marathons. Ever since the start of 2015, Toonami has continually ran marathons during weekends with major holidays [[note]]Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the last two weekends in December[[/note]] due to television ratings be traditionally low. Fans get upset with producers despite them being rather transparent about the limited budget they are working with.

** In 2013, around when the first season of ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' was announced to air, there were detractors claiming that airing the show would lead to ''the death of Toonami''. Fast forward to the time of this edit. [[note]]May 2022.[[/note]] Not only is Toonami still around, but the second ''and'' third seasons, ''Sword Art Online II'' and ''SAO: Alicization'', have also aired in full.

** It should noted that the block itself almost never airs any anime that has Moe art style or aesthetic, mainly because many of the Moe anime usually aren't action anime.[[note]]The staff consistently said that Toonami is an action block, not an anime block.[[/note]] That being said, several individual series such as ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' and ''Manga/AkameGaKill'' have characters that fit into this bill, as well as when ''Anime/{{Hamtaro}}'' aired in 2002.

** "This month's fan-art features some real [[IncrediblyLamePun heavy]] hitters!"[[labelnote:Explanation]]While the circumstances behind the incident and the aftermath are arguably tragic, the most notable thing about the stolen fanart in the 1/8/23 bumper that made it the final one was that it was a fetish drawing to the varying levels of surprise of many viewers, not only using reuploads of the bumper as a shock video, but also making TOM's beginning line a pun regarding [[BalloonBelly the fetish]] in [[BigBeautifulWoman question]].[[/labelnote]]

** "This month's fan-art features some real [[IncrediblyLamePun heavy]] hitters!"[[labelnote:Explanation]]While the circumstances behind the incident and the aftermath are arguably tragic, the most notable thing about the stolen fanart in the 1/8/23 bumper that made it the final one was that it was a fetish drawing to the varying levels of surprise of many viewers, not only using reuploads of the bumper as a shock video, but also making TOM's beginning line a pun regarding [[BalloonBelly the fetish]] [[BigBeautifulWoman in question]].[[/labelnote]]

** "This month's fan-art features some real [[IncrediblyLamePun heavy]] hitters!"[[labelnote:Explanation]]While the circumstances behind the incident and the aftermath are arguably tragic, the most notable thing about the stolen fanart in it was that it was a fetish drawing to the varying levels of surprise of many viewers, not only using reuploads of the bumper as a shock video, but also making TOM's beginning line a pun regarding [[BalloonBelly the fetish]] [[BigBeautifulWoman in question]].[[/labelnote]]

** During the AprilFoolsDay 2012 broadcast, Toonami aired a commercial advertising the Bandai Entertainment DVD release of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Wing]]'' (which had went out of print literally the day before) that would initially be HarsherInHindsight, saying to [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes "pick up the DVDs wherever you can find them."]] Creator/NozomiEntertainment later struck a deal with Creator/{{Sunrise}} to distribute almost all of the entire ''Gundam'' franchise in the U.S., ''Gundam Wing'' included, so the fans got another chance to buy those [=DVDs=].

* AnimationAgeGhetto: The Creator/AdultSwim version of Toonami attempted to avert this by airing Creator/CartoonNetwork shows such as ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'', ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'', and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', all of which were considered much more mature fare than Cartoon Network's other shows at the time. Unfortunately, such attempts were often met with derision and cries of NetworkDecay from fans, mostly those who [[CriticalResearchFailure think that Toonami is an anime block]] and that such shows are made exclusively for kids. Of course, if Toonami getting to premiere a brand new season of ''Samurai Jack'' and later airing ''WebAnimation/GenLock'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Primal}}'' is any indication, they're ''still'' trying to avert this.

* CriticalResearchFailure:
** In 2000, when the OG Toonami still had a fan art segment, they implicitly said that they would not display artwork of any character that had not yet premiered on a specific show (namely [[Anime/DragonBallZ "NO TRUNKS"]]). However, you could easily see the fact that they ''did'' display fan art of [[Anime/SailorMoon Chibi Chibi]], who not only has never appeared in Toonami's ''Sailor Moon'' airings, but didn't appear ''anywhere'' in the United States until 2015, outside of the internet and fansubs, which some kids apparently watched back then. They may have assumed that since she had pink hair, she must have been existing character Chibi-Usa/Rini.
** Anime fans thinking that Toonami is only for anime while ignoring that Toonami focuses on "action cartoons" and has aired Western stuff for years. In fact, ''Anime/{{Voltron}}'' was the only anime series on their initial lineup in 1997. There are also anime fans who mistake it for a general anime block. Barring the oddities like ''Anime/{{Hamtaro}}'', Toonami is ([[Manga/PopTeamEpic mostly]]) action-aimed.
** There's the problem of anime fans claiming that with streaming sites and services like Website/{{Crunchyroll}} and Creator/{{Hulu}} allowing them to watch an anime almost immediately after it airs in Japan, Toonami has become essentially pointless. This ignores the fact that 1) Toonami happens to be airing on [[Creator/AdultSwim one of the highest rated television networks]], 2) anime distribution companies like Creator/{{Funimation}}, Creator/{{Aniplex}} USA, and Creator/SentaiFilmworks actually ''want'' to have their shows air on the block, and 3) Toonami is one of the very few television blocks currently dedicated to airing action animation, let alone anime, and the only one aimed at mature audiences.