Anonymous
6/27/2025, 2:47:53 PM No.149178252
Why do the 2010's get painted as a golden age when it was mostly an age of failed potential?
From 2010-2012, yes, it did look like TV animation was headed towards a good path. Same with some animated movies at the time. Cartoon Network had Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Gumball all debuting and running hot after Chowder and Flapjack failed to really fill the shoes of Ed Edd n Eddy, Codename Kids Next Door, Foster's Home, Billy and Mandy, etc. They were also taking chances with more action shows like Star Wars The Clone Wars, Generator Rex, Thundercats 2011, Sym-Bionic Titan, the DC cartoons. Mystery Incorporated was also running around this time. Toonami re-emerged on Adult Swim. Gravity Falls would come into its own. Phineas and Ferb was also going strong on Disney's networks. A certain show I cannot mention was also a cultural phenomenon and is under-discussed when this topic comes up. Even Nickelodeon had some promise with The Legend of Korra.
Things quickly fell apart after this though. Action shows were getting pre-maturely cancelled left and right due to toy sales or not having the right audience, or even being written off as tax write-offs. Adventure Time became more about Rebecca Sugar's relationship drama than fun D&D esque adventures and this would become a pattern in a lot of major 2010's cartoons like Regular Show, Star Vs the Forces of Evil, ESPECIALLY the awful Steven Universe (which is now wrongly considered a tentpole of this fake renaissance when in actuality it killed any potential real renaissance). Slop like We Bare Bears, OK KO, Craig of the Creek, Teen Titans Go, dominated Cartoon Network. Stuff like Wander Over Yonder (sorry WOYbros), the millions of Gravity Falls clones that'd show up in the later half of the decade, Milo Murphy's Law, and many others failed to live up to their potential.
So why oh why does it get treated as a golden age if it was already running out of steam by 2013?
From 2010-2012, yes, it did look like TV animation was headed towards a good path. Same with some animated movies at the time. Cartoon Network had Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Gumball all debuting and running hot after Chowder and Flapjack failed to really fill the shoes of Ed Edd n Eddy, Codename Kids Next Door, Foster's Home, Billy and Mandy, etc. They were also taking chances with more action shows like Star Wars The Clone Wars, Generator Rex, Thundercats 2011, Sym-Bionic Titan, the DC cartoons. Mystery Incorporated was also running around this time. Toonami re-emerged on Adult Swim. Gravity Falls would come into its own. Phineas and Ferb was also going strong on Disney's networks. A certain show I cannot mention was also a cultural phenomenon and is under-discussed when this topic comes up. Even Nickelodeon had some promise with The Legend of Korra.
Things quickly fell apart after this though. Action shows were getting pre-maturely cancelled left and right due to toy sales or not having the right audience, or even being written off as tax write-offs. Adventure Time became more about Rebecca Sugar's relationship drama than fun D&D esque adventures and this would become a pattern in a lot of major 2010's cartoons like Regular Show, Star Vs the Forces of Evil, ESPECIALLY the awful Steven Universe (which is now wrongly considered a tentpole of this fake renaissance when in actuality it killed any potential real renaissance). Slop like We Bare Bears, OK KO, Craig of the Creek, Teen Titans Go, dominated Cartoon Network. Stuff like Wander Over Yonder (sorry WOYbros), the millions of Gravity Falls clones that'd show up in the later half of the decade, Milo Murphy's Law, and many others failed to live up to their potential.
So why oh why does it get treated as a golden age if it was already running out of steam by 2013?
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