New age of cartoons creating a “hipster adult fandom”

YouTuber Geoff Thew, who’s in his mid-30s and whose channel is named Mother’s Basement, once said: “What excites me about the cartoon boom isn’t the reinvigoration of big franchises. It’s the new wave of high quality, original story driven shows for all ages.”

All the series he references such as “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “Adventure Time” are streamed on networks that are oriented toward younger, pre-teen audiences. Despite their seemingly childish origins and premise, such animated works have proven to be surprisingly popular among adults.

But exactly what about these shows is so appealing to mature audiences and causes a fully grown man to claim they are enjoyable “for all ages”?

One example that can answer this question is the well-received show “Avatar: the Last Airbender,” which premiered February 2005. Many people love this show, which is about a young boy who’s chosen to end a decades long war, as the pioneer of the current age of modern serialized cartoons. As proof of its large adult fan-base, the production staff intentionally made its sequel, “The Legend of Korra,” more dark and mature, arguably to appeal to the older fans.

The popular and respected YouTuber film critic Doug Walker, widely known as the “Nostalgia Critic,” gives “Avatar: The Last Airbender” series high praise, saying it possesses “ingenious writing” and “brilliant characters.” This is similar to many sentiments about the show, revealing its source of popularity as its genuine quality.

The same cannot be said for the Disney XD show “Gravity Falls,” which premiered in 2012 and had a large, active adult fan base throughout its run-through to 2016. “Gravity Falls” is about two young twins and their summer vacation at their Uncle’s scam museum, where they encounter several paranormal events.

Although many praise the show for its quality, perhaps its greatest appeal is within its many mysteries and codes that fans love to theorize and obsess over. The influence of the adult fandom is apparent in this aspect of the franchise as adults are often the ones on Reddit and YouTube publicly sharing their findings and putting their heads together to decipher the series’ hidden messages. Younger fans typically do not dive as deep into the show’s conspiracies.

Not all shows that obtained a adult fanbase are well received. “Steven Universe,” a Cartoon Network series that gained a great amount of publicity and interest upon its premiere, quickly fell short of viewers’ expectations. Some, like critic Lily Orchard, vehemently criticized the series’ shortcomings in his popular video “Steven Universe is Trash and Here’s Why.”

“Steven Universe turned out to be a mess of inconsistent storytelling, a mash of cliches that haven’t been allowed to die, and a conga line of characters so consistently horrible that it’s like being around all of your worst family member for the longest Thanksgiving ever,” Orchard said.

Despite its supposed poor quality, “Steven Universe” was undeniably one of the most popular modern cartoons to come out to date, appealing to many with its LGBT representation and transparent production process.

This rise in popularity of children’s cartoons among adults is still happening today. With series like “Shera” and “Voltron” being some of the most recent examples, the new “cartoon boom” that Thew mentioned and the dedication of adult fans  doesn’t show any signs of ending soon.