You Like Cartoons, Don't Cha? (Recommendations for the Hiatus) · 12:04am Jul 14th, 2015
"Don't cha, Apple Bloom?"
As most of you know, MLP is going to have a mid-season hiatus. Those of you who didn't, now do. I know some pretty good cartoons, so I figured I'd recommend some of them to watch while MLP is once more in its off-season.
Also the way Hasbro botched the announcement was knee-slap-tacular. Announcing season 6 was later this year and then turning around to say, "Oh wait, no season 6. Hiatus instead."
#1: Gravity Falls
Scooby Doo meets Twin Peaks. Great humor and great characters embroiled in an ever-thickening mystery.
Gravity Falls is finally getting a new episode soon after a long hiatus, but honestly I can't even be mad. The last episode before this hiatus was probably my favorite episode of any show I've seen, bar none. The show is about a pair of twins, Dipper and Mabel, who are spending the summer at their uncle's tourist trap, The Mystery Shack. All the monsters and bigfoots on display there are fake, of course, but not long after arriving they begin to find numerous real mysteries surrounding the little backwoods town of Gravity Falls, Oregon.
#2: Steven Universe
Beings made of pure energy, the Crystal Gems fight to keep earth safe and journey on quests on foreign planets. Steven is the youngest of their members, the son of a Crystal Gem and a human.
This show was created by Rebecca Sugar, who for those of you who don't watch Adventure Time, developed most of Adventure Time's emotionally heavier story lines and character arcs. Steven Universe starts out a little slow and mundane, but gradually picks up steam over the first season and closes the first season off with a fantastic finale. The show's quirky humor does eventually grow on you, but where it really shines are the moments where it flips the switch and allows things to become drop-dead serious. If it starts off too slow, just feel free to skip to episode 10.
#3: Rick and Morty
Morty's grandpa, Rick, is an abusive alcoholic, dimension-traveler, and genius scientist. Rick drags Morty along on his adventures, most often with blatant disregard for Morty's safety.
Rick and Morty is a lot more of a comedy than the above two. The show is created by some very talented voice actors and comedians, and the simple premise of dimension traveling gives the show a lot of material to work with. If you're looking for something more adult, with a dark sense of humor and some great laugh out loud moments, this is the show I'd recommend. I sometimes like to describe it as if Futurama and Adventure time had a delinquent child.
#4: Over the Garden Wall
A hauntingly creepy atmospheric take on western fairy tales. Follows two brothers, Wirt and Gregory, as they try to find their way out of the enchanted woods to go home.
As a miniseries just 5 episodes long, you can marathon this in one sitting, since it's roughly the length of a movie. This miniseries manages to nail a strong, consistent tone of creepiness that is pervasive in anywhere Wirt and Gregory go in this world. Like Steven Universe, this show is a gradual build to a fantastic finale. It's also one of the most well-reviewed and critically acclaimed cartoons in the past decade. I've only watched this recently, but I know it's a series I'm going to come back and watch again and again.
#5: Star Vs The Forces of Evil
Star is a negligent, irresponsible princess who as tradition dictates inherits a powerful magic heirloom on her 14th birthday. Unable to properly control the wand's magic, her parents send her off to earth where she's likely to cause the least damage.
This show is cute, adorable, and fun. For some reason I still haven't quite placed, it reminds me a lot of Fairly Oddparents. The titular character is cute and funny, while also kind of badass with her magical powers. Her best friend is a floating unicorn head. I don't know what to say besides that this show is a lot of fun.
#6: Wakfu
Yugo is from a thought-to-be extinct race tightly connected to mythical dragons. As he comes of age he discovers his unique powers, and answers the call to adventure to stop the nefarious plans of the time-manipulating villain Nox.
A really great french adventure cartoon based off the MMO of the same name. No knowledge of the MMO necessary (I've never so much as glanced at the thing). Wakfu has some truly stellar animation and what I believe to honestly be almost all of the best fight scenes of any cartoon. Seriously: if I had to list my top 10 fight scenes from cartoons/anime, Wakfu would probably take 8/10 or more slots. The show manages to steer clear of many of my pet peeves when it comes to similar shows: namely dialogue tossed back and forth during fights. Villains don't stop to explain nefarious plots, characters don't pause to explain abilities, and characters just generally don't halt or say things during a fight when it doesn't benefit them. Both season of this show have great villains and plots, though honestly it could do with fewer filler episodes. Still, if you feel really bogged down by the filler episodes at the start of season 1, just skip to episode 13. Everything after there is just gravy.
Where the hell is Time Squad and Samurai Jack?
3235719
I like the way you think.
~Skeeter The Lurker
All of those are noted for future reference, thanks!
Also, if you're not really into cartoon-y things and instead want to sink a lot of time into something, Red vs Blue is always there. Waiting.
I think Wakfu was the show that:
After the season 4 opener with the flashback to NMM Vs. Celestia, someone was arguing in a blog on this site that just because this is a kid's show was no reason the fight couldn't be like the ones in Wakfu and the fact that it wasn't meant MLP stinks. Or something like that.
New GF and SU episodes out today what what!
I just started Steven Universe today. Only halfway into episode 1 I felt hooked.
Or you can marathon the hell out of The Last Airbender! Always a good time.
Thanks for the recommendations.
If we're talking 'shows that are way better than they should', like FiM itself, then I heartily suggests Transformers Rescue Bots! The tension they can build in a show aimed at preschooler is just amazing, there's a lot of continuity and some really likeable characters served by amazing vocal performances! (Steve Blum as Heatwave, Levar Burton as Doc Greene, Mark Hamill as Uncle Woodrow, etc).
The latest season finale was a nail biting two parter that leaves me wanting more because they just changed the status quo and we've yet to see the effect it will have!
Wow, I'm looking forward to these! I love Gravity Falls.
I got into Gravity Falls just last week, watched both seasons up to "Stan is Not What He Seems."
Trying to get around to watching Rick and Morty and checking out Steven Universe right now.
3235719
Hells yeah Samurai Jack!
I can back up the recommendations on Gravity Falls and Over the Garden Wall. They're both pretty good from what I've seen. Haven't seen enough of the others to judge, but Iunno. SU and Star both kind of put me off with their art styles.
3236019
Seconded.
I would actually put steven universe above gravity falls. in list of quality i would rank it steven universe, gravity falls, mlp close behind it.
in ranks of favorites i would be unable to seperate steven universe and pony.
steven universe handles an overarching story in an ingenius way. there are few things at all that are just dropped and never referenced again. and oddly enough those are often magical artifacts. nothing that has to do with characterization and dynamics are ignored though.
honestly i would love to have seen mlp have this level of world building. the issue is not them being ponies, as these are basically magic rock people from space. its the execution. this series started with the intent to have this overarching story.
ALWAYS happy to be watching great cartoons. I've watched about 50% of this list, and can heartily say that Gravity Falls, Stephen Universe, and Rick and Morty have my highest recommendations. I've also heard really good things about the rest... except for Over the Garden Wall, which I've never even heard of until today, and so I am extremely excited to add it to my "watch this stuff" queue! Thank you very much for the recommendations, and for anybody reading, this is a great list!