Avatar Aged So Well.

2/2/17

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a goofy, yet emotional show that aired on nickelodeon back in 2005 through 2008.  It follows the adventures of Katara, Sokka, and Aang, who is the Avatar.

Image from HD WALLPAPERS.

This show has a very interesting story arc and great lore.  It was a breath of fresh air from the domination of cartoons with one plot per episode at the time.  In other words, you'd need to watch from the beginning if you wanted to understand the whole story. Like other cartoons with full story arcs, this show suffers from  TOO MANY FILLERS.  This definitely isn't a good thing, but they were able to prolong the series' airtime as a result of doing this.

Screenshot from Wikipedia

The voice acting in this show is superb.  The main characters were fantastic in portraying extreme feelings in emotional situations.  Each of their voices fit their character.  That's another thing that makes this series so amazing.  It's the character diversity.  Aang is an air bender who was frozen for nearly 100 years after escaping a genocide from the fire nation.  Katara and Sokka come from the southern water tribe, and Toph Beifong comes from Gaoling in the Earth Temple.  Finally, they meet Zuko from the fire nation.  If I were to give you the background information on each of the four nations, I'd probably be able to go on forever.  Each of the characters have their own stories, they're all from different places around the world, and the places they're from are rich in history as well.  The Avatar universe just feels so large!

Image from Crunchyroll.

Image from Giphy.

In the end, Avatar is just a stunning show that's cleverly written, diverse, and has an awesome cast of voice actors to play each role.  This cartoon is such a stupendous example of how great western animation is.  I give the show a 5/5 because of how phenomenal it was at the time up 'till today, and how it set such a high standard for the nickelodeon cartoons that came after it.

Modern Spongebob isn't as Good as the Old Spongebob.

1/30/17

We're all familiar with the cartoon icon, Spongebob Squarepants.  However, the series changed drastically since the first few seasons we've seen him.  In this blog, I'll be taking a look at the sponge we all know and love, and how much he's changed since the beginning of the series.

Image from Youtube.

As usual, we're looking at the humor of the show first.  I realized that the humor of this entire show is based on Patrick and Spongebob's simple-mindedness.  Usually, entire episode plots are triggered through a misunderstanding of some sort, but I'll get to that later.  

Gif made using Youtube.

Another thing that changed a bit was the art-style of each character.  Spongebob got a bit more skinny since his debut, which in my opinion is a better design choice because it makes him feel more proportionate with Patrick.  Patrick however, stayed the same design-wise.  Sandy cheeks was another character who was refined by the animators.  Her eyes were a lot bigger and her torso was much wider back in older episodes.  It seems to be a common theme that the characters got skinnier in the newer episodes.   

Images from the Spongebob Wikia.

Speaking of new episodes, you can really tell that they're running out of creative ideas and are on the edge of creative burnout.  The new episodes feel random, and sometimes boring when it comes down to what they're actually supposed to be doing in each situation.  Another really bad problem is that they keep dishing out episodes about Spongebob failing to get his boating license, and Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy - themed episodes.  They end up all feeling the same because of how many there are.

Image from Spongebobia.com

Overall, the show isn't in the best place it can be, but it still does end up as probably the best cartoon on nickelodeon comparing it to the other ones.  This show gets a 4/5 from me because of how well it's been holding up since the beginning.

Image from Tenor Gif Keyboard.