Nostalgia for the Critics.

[Lynchenberg]

Do you suppose one day people will be nostalgically looking back on and doing retrospectives of the Nostalgia Critic, and AVGN? I ask because these internet review shows are sort of like this generation's version of watching cartoons on TV. I mean yeah kids are watching TV, even if it's just streaming Netflix. But it seems that in general, it's all aimed at adults. Even in animation, Adventure Time, Stephen Universe, and the Avatar franchise all seem to be finding most of their audience with people over 20. Sure, you see the occasional kid with merchandise for some current show or cartoon, but that stuff is demonstrably marketed toward adults. I remember going to a movie with a friend, and when we saw a toddler in a Friendship is Magic shirt, we both both pointed out it was more out of the ordinary to see that now than to see adults sporting My Little Pony duds. (Just an aside; literally minutes before we saw the little girl, we passed a grown woman who was clutching a teddy bear to her chest. I make no judgement, just putting it out there for you to interpret as you will.) When I see little kids on their phones now during visits or whatever, I've also noticed that they're usually watching user-created YouTube content. Another friend was also telling me his nephew only watches stuff like Nostalgia Critic and Let's Plays, never TV. I imagine the simple "I'm being zany and silly" humor seems to really appeal to young kids, who might be turned off by the complexities in modern cartoons that cater to adult tastes. It actually kind of makes me appreciate SatAM that much more. A common criticism of SatAM is that it's trying to be this dark, science fiction epic, but it falls short. I don't think that's true though. It's a dark science fiction epic... aimed at children. It's engaging enough that it can draw in adults, but I'm never surprised when I read a review that says it doesn't hold up. The show is doing a version of the revolution story that feels cool and exciting to the age group it's for. If it was TOO dark, or TOO dense, kids wouldn't be able to get into it. Or at least most wouldn't. Like I said, there are still kids who watch today's cartoons. But it did set me thinking... shows like SatAM were kid's cartoons that adults could also watch. I feel like today's shows are adult cartoons that kids can also watch. Why? Because the vast majority of kids are looking elsewhere to get the simple silliness they crave. It's going to be interesting to watch them grow up. What's a generation raised by Doug Walker going to look like? It's not going to be bad, but it's going to be different!

[Neon Black]

Do you suppose one day people will be nostalgically looking back on and doing retrospectives of the Nostalgia Critic, and AVGN?

Not exactly. With reviewers, critics and letsplayers, there's not much to analyse. It'd be like doing retrospectives on Roger Ebert today, I mean, these guys are cool but you still need original content, there's no point in reviewing a reviewer. I think there'll certainly be plenty of new media to analyse as time rolls on, though, and people like AVGN will definitely be the subject of discussion in the future, maybe more for the time period they represent than anything they actually say.

In 20 years, "I miss pewdiepie" will be an actual phrase, muttered from one friend to another across the web, and it will be met with heartfelt, sentimental nods. That might be an idea that could fill some of us with horror, but I don't think it's a bad thing at all, it's just a sign of the times.

The medium of cartoons is growing up, and while it's certainly true that there are a lot of cartoons getting around that are more broad-reaching in scope, there's no shortage of simple slapstick humour to go around either.

SatAM, by the bye, is really characterised as being a lot darker than it really is. Sure, it's dark compared with most Sonic media, but compared to some of its contemporaries like Gargoyles and Batman: TAS, it was hardly what I'd call 'edgy'. At most, it was taking a dark subject matter (a small group of survivors trying to escape/topple a despotic regime) but its moment-to-moment action and dialogue frequently came in the form of humour and light-heartedness. People tend to separate 'serious' and 'funny' as mutually exclusive things, but you can totally have both, and I think SatAM does.

Avatar covered extremely serious topics like nationalism, racism, religion, arranged marriage, abandonment, genocide and plenty more, but plenty of kids still watched it because this was woven in with very healthy doses of slapstick comedy and running gags.

I think that's more of a sign of writing nuance than anything, and remember, we were all kids when we were watching shows like SatAM and our attention spans were no different from the new generation's. It's only when you grow up and get to analyse something like that that you start to appreciate the more complex themes they might try to tackle.

Far as I can tell, stuff like Adventure Time is a bit of an outlier but does still find its audience largely among kids, it's not really an 'adults' show despite there being some traction among adults via a kind of memetic, ironic pop-culture kind of allure. There are tonnes of new shows that just go all-out for zany, wacky craziness, like Rabbids and Phineas and Ferb. And not to forget Sonic Boom, a show that nobody here would ever watch if it weren't for the nostalgic Sonic hook.

But then again, writing all of this has made me realise I'm super out-of-touch with youth now and at the age of 27 I am well into the process of turning into a jaded, cynical fuddy-duddy. *waves cane*

[Lynchenberg]

Not exactly. With reviewers, critics and letsplayers, there's not much to analyse. It'd be like doing retrospectives on Roger Ebert today, I mean, these guys are cool but you still need original content, there's no point in reviewing a reviewer.

Except... exactly that has happened.



You could also argue there is original content in stuff like AVGN and Nostalgia Critic. They rely just as much on ongoing characters, running gags, and even story lines. Personally, I think the less Walker focuses on that and the more he focuses on just reviewing something, the better his videos are. I only watch the NC editorials and Real Thoughts now, the reviews themselves are very grating to me. But that's an entirely different topic.

SatAM, by the bye, is really characterised as being a lot darker than it really is. Sure, it's dark compared with most Sonic media, but compared to some of its contemporaries like Gargoyles and Batman: TAS, it was hardly what I'd call 'edgy'. At most, it was taking a dark subject matter (a small group of survivors trying to escape/topple a despotic regime) but its moment-to-moment action and dialogue frequently came in the form of humour and light-heartedness. People tend to separate 'serious' and 'funny' as mutually exclusive things, but you can totally have both, and I think SatAM does.

Very well put. I was trying to say the same thing, that SatAM's "dark" elements are overstated. First, by people who wanted to puff up the show's chest back when dark was "in," thanks to the success of Tim Burton's Batman and its followers. And currently, by people who want to deride it now that dark is "out," thanks to the Marvel movies. My point was that SatAM has that dark, exciting feel as a hook for kids. But it also has a healthy dose of heart and humor so it doesn't alienate them.

Avatar covered extremely serious topics like nationalism, racism, religion, arranged marriage, abandonment, genocide and plenty more, but plenty of kids still watched it because this was woven in with very healthy doses of slapstick comedy and running gags.

I really need to watch Avatar. From what you've told me, it sounds like a great model for if someone were to do a re-imagining of SatAM or a SatAM-like show for modern audiences. People are always telling me the new My Little Pony is SatAM "done right." However, Avatar sounds far more in line with what made the show appealing to me as a kid, and why I'm still able to watch it at 25. You can't forget that the central idea is a bit goofy (talking animals fighting robots in SatAM, or kids with magical element powers in Avatar) so there needs to be humor and whimsy. But that doesn't mean you can't deal with complex issues, provide thoughtful characterization, and tell a damn good story.