You know, not to be an old grouch (but also to be an old grouch because why not), but there's this trend that's been going around and it's been really bugging me: It's a bunch of animation teeny boppers trying to proclaim that modern cartoons are waaaaaay darker and scarier than the previous generation of cartoons (90's to 2000's) were and that somehow it makes them better.

Prime example of this will be some post or tweet or whatever and it goes like:

"Cartoons today are so much darker! Look how scary this is!"

*insert a gif of some extremely mild clip from Owl House or Amphibia or Gravity Falls or whatever*

And I'm not saying this to disrespect those shows; I've already stated multiple times that while I don't really like those shows, I highly respect them for how they managed to succeed. But posts like that reek of such insecurity. You don't have to justify the modern cartoons you watch today, it's fine. But, and this isn't even subjective opinion, this is just straight up fact: Cartoon shows from the 90's and 2000's had much darker, scarier imagery or sequences.

"But why are you saying it's straight up fact?"

Because the guidelines for cartoons today are gripping them by their fucking nutsacks, that's why. There's so much you can't show or can't deal with, or so much weird visual shit that gets shut down before it makes it into the official cut. I say it to object to the producers and their desires to absolutely neuter some of these shows in what they... well, show.

Gargoyles had a whole episode about gun safety, where Eliza gets shot by Broadway after he finds her gun and starts playing with it. TMNT 2003 had an episode where Baxter Stockman created a new body for himself, that began rejecting the transplant and literally rotting, Batman Beyond had a villain who was mauled by a panther, had his spine broken in 5 places, went through an excruciating surgery that gave him enhanced physical capabilities, and went back and tore the panther that mauled him near in half by the jaws (and also there was Tim Drake's physical and psychological torture by the Joker). All the insane body-horror shit that went on in Invader Zim. Any fucking episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog. And there's much more I could go on about but then we'd lose the point.

Guys, your modern day shows are fine. They're not bad. But they're definitely not "darker or scarier or edgier" than the cartoons of the 90's and 2000's. The showrunners of those shows you like so much constantly talk about how much obstruction they dealt with from the higher-ups, it's not a good idea to be propping up and praising these new "edgy" moments in modern cartoons when they're incredibly sanitary depictions.