Let us share a moment of silence for great Western action cartoons: a sub-genre that is slowly but surely becoming extinct in this new era of television. We, the audience, have set high standards upon this genre in the wake of The DC Animated Universe, X-Men, Gargoyles and Avatar: The Last Airbender. However, those standards were never enough to hold up a show that doesn’t rely on toilet humor and collectable mentality. Emmys and good ratings do not mean a damn thing, and neither does internet love. Only merchandising and  impulse drive seem to be the only thing that are important to the networks. Oddly enough, T.V. is dying out as well, and both problems can be attributed to the same cause: Nielsen Ratings. Once again, stupid executives give a few hundred families the power to determine the fate of a show who’s potential viewers could vary on wider range of demographics than they selected. This is done regardless of the quality of said show:which is why shows with great acting, brilliant writing and great characters go to the wayside, while all the other schlock gets to 5 seasons.

Goodbye my friends by ~Gokulio on deviantART

 So it fills me with PROFOUND SADNESS, that last  weekend, both GREEN LANTERN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and YOUNG JUSTICE have become the latest victims of this action cartoon epidemic. 

One is an underrated hit, once derided for being a computer generated, action-packed light show but now praised as yet another worthy addition to the ever-impressive legacy of Bruce Timm’s DC Adaptations. The second season really brought the series to the forefront by highlighting the torrid love between Aya (the robot chick who pilot the ship) and Rayzor (sarcastic Red Lantern), ending it on a tragic note. It also made a big effort to highlight a lot of the DC Cosmic Universe including the other Lantern Corp and The Anti-Monitor. Hell, if there was another season, we would have had The Sinestro Corp, The Indigo Tribe and THE BLACKEST NIGHT!! Shame the graphics turned away most of the audience.

The other is perhaps one of the most darkest, sophisticated and critically praised cartoons of this generation, brought to you by writer/producer Greg Weisman, who once again is getting punished simply for daring to NOT insult the intelligence of his audience and trying to entertain all demographics. Sure, the 5 year time skip alienated some fans (to say the least), but this series continued to deliver on incredible character development, surprise twists, great combat choreography and a large sense of scope that has note been seen since Justice League. It helped introduce a lot of young fans to the greater DC Universe, including fan-favorites like Wonder Girl, Impulse, The Reach, Miss Martian and Aqualad (who has only appeared in this show post- New 52). It’s worse that it ended on a cliffhanger, making this the 3rd Weisman show that did so. Honestly, that guys is just too good for children’s telelvision; SOMEONE PUT HIM ON ADULT SWIM ALREADY!!!

They will be replaced by two new series: BEWARE THE BATMAN, yet another Batman show @_@. DC is probably thinking that CG animation could fare better under a more marketable hero, but this show has already caught flak with the fans for trying to be overly dark, not using classic villains and supporting characters and showing a big bulky Alfred who is packing heat! The other is TEEN TITANS GO, a comedic, cute version of the fan-favorite animated series, featuring all the original voice actors. It was based on DC Short “New Teen Titans”, so despite more interesting projects , like Super Best Friends Forever, Amethyst &  Sword of The Atom, DC decided to play it safe and try to cash in on fan nostalgia. Except the fans have not been happy to see their favorite teen heroes reduced to a gag-based FLASH ANIMATED chibi toon, so we’ll see if this revival was worth it.

Wasn’t the whole point of DC NATION was to get kids hooked on the wide-world of the DC Universe?! To find new profitable IPs from the 100 + heroes and villains they write every day? What is the point of all those shorts if you’re just going to play it safe?! How many times can DC and CN fall on Bruce Wayne’s bank before it breaks?! Can’t the WB find another network to use it’s DC license that isn’t make a mockery of themselves trying to be like Disney Channel?!!

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