When cartoons delivered these controversial moments, fans questioned their own loyalty. For this list, we’ll be looking at some of the highly controversial animated scenes that heavily disappointed viewers in the worst ways.
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00:00 "I am the great Gazoo, and I thank you for rescuing me."
00:04 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:08 for the Top 20 Cartoon Moments That Made Fans Rage Quit.
00:11 "I'm so sorry Mrs. Griffin, but Brian's injuries are just too severe for us to save him.
00:17 I don't know how much longer he has, but I suggest that you all go in and say your goodbyes."
00:21 For this list, we'll be looking at some of the highly controversial animated scenes
00:26 that heavily disappointed viewers in the worst ways.
00:29 Which cartoon moment made you turn off the TV? Let us know in the comments.
00:34 Hey Mojoholics! For a chance to win cash prizes,
00:39 play our live daily trivia challenges every day at 3pm and 8pm eastern only at watchmojo.com/play.
00:46 Number 20. Lucy Ruins the Game. It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown
00:53 It's the homecoming game, arguably the biggest football game in Charlie Brown's life.
00:59 And he is determined to impress his longtime crush. Unfortunately, Lucy is his place-kick setter,
01:05 and we all know how the dynamic between these two works.
01:09 "Charlie Brown, do you think that I'd pull this football away in an important game like this?"
01:15 You'd think Lucy wouldn't dare pull her tricks during an important match, but she does.
01:20 She humiliates Charlie Brown every chance she gets by pulling the football away.
01:25 The team loses the game, and Charlie Brown is blamed.
01:29 Lucy doesn't get reprimanded at all, even though it was literally all her fault.
01:34 Honestly, we probably could've accepted Lucy pulling her pranks on Charlie Brown again.
01:39 It's a Peanuts tradition, but she should've at least gotten called out for it this time.
01:44 "They beat us by one point. I blew it. The little red-haired girl must think I'm a fool."
01:52 Number 19. Ben and Julie Break Up. Ben 10 Omniverse.
01:57 While Ben and Julie's relationship wasn't perfect, many fans grew fond of the chemistry they shared.
02:03 However, when Omniverse came around, the crew decided it was time to break them up.
02:08 And how did they accomplish this? In the dumbest way possible.
02:12 A misunderstanding over the phone while Ben is playing a video game.
02:15 "I am not ready for the next level!"
02:19 "I am paying attention."
02:20 "You're strangling me!"
02:22 Splitting up a major couple is one thing, but they decided to take the lazy route
02:27 and play it off for laughs. Many fans and even some staff members wrote letters,
02:32 and even threatened to stop watching the show. But Cartoon Network wouldn't budge.
02:37 Instead, they leaned towards hooking Ben up with his first crush, Kai,
02:41 which would've been fine if their tactic wasn't so underhanded.
02:44 "You don't believe in fate, do you?"
02:47 "Nope."
02:50 "Yeah, me neither."
02:56 Number 18. Rest in Peace, Terrence.
02:59 Aqua Teen Hunger Force
03:01 Part of what makes Aqua Teen Hunger Force so beloved is the absurd misadventures of our
03:06 favorite sentient food creatures in a rundown suburban setting. However, around season 5,
03:12 that zany spark that made the show special started to fizzle out, and in its place came
03:18 gratuitous, disgusting shock value scenes.
03:21 "Who's turn is up?"
03:22 "Whose do you think?"
03:23 "Yours?"
03:26 For example, in the episode "Ridiculous," Master Shake tries to torment Meatwad by microwaving a cat.
03:33 Not only is the punchline uninspired, but the act is just gruesome. Sadly,
03:38 the episode only gets worse from here, as it includes a disgusting variety of radioactive
03:44 feces, rotting corpses, and more. The Aqua Teens may be vulgar, but this just feels
03:50 grossly out of place for them.
03:51 "So who's good and who's not worth talking about here?"
03:54 "Well, do the math. You had one, now you have none."
03:57 Number 17. The Goliath Chronicles - Gargoyles
04:01 While fans constantly praised the first two seasons of Gargoyles,
04:05 the third, dubbed The Goliath Chronicles, left a sour taste in their mouths.
04:10 The biggest reason was that the writing staff was replaced with a new team
04:14 that didn't seem to understand the show.
04:16 "How could you refuse them, David? Get one of those Gargoyles to the library steps right now!"
04:22 They couldn't grasp its continuity or how its characters should be portrayed.
04:26 For example, in one episode, Fox, a well-trained ex-mercenary who can hold her own,
04:32 was reduced to a weak, fragile person who gives up too easily.
04:36 This abysmal characterization is just one of the reasons the third season
04:40 is considered non-canon by everyone. This includes the series' creator,
04:45 Greg Weissman, who continued the show's story the right way in comic form.
04:50 "It ends tonight."
04:50 Number 16. The Fart Fairy - Total Dramarama
05:01 Fans of the original Total Drama already had mixed opinions on the spin-off prequel series,
05:07 Total Dramarama, but this episode really clinched the fandom's well-deserved hatred.
05:12 For context, the kids encounter a fairy that collects farts by smelling them.
05:17 "Come on! I can't be the only one here who thinks that's really messed up!"
05:22 The worst part? We're subjected to a creepy montage of him inhaling the children's farts
05:27 and clearly enjoying it way too much. Yes, Total Drama is no stranger to fart jokes,
05:32 but this takes it to a disgusting new level. Seriously, who thought a fairy with a full-grown
05:38 man's voice sniffing toddler flatulence would appeal to anyone? Unfortunately,
05:42 even with the 2023 reboot, the writer's obsession with flatulence hasn't gone away.
05:48 "That came out of nowhere. Well, not nowhere. It just, it took me by surprise, is all I'm trying to-"
05:54 "I might have trouble crossing the island silently."
05:57 Number 15. The Time Skip. Phineas and Ferb.
06:01 The penultimate episode of Phineas and Ferb's fourth season gave us a look at 10 years in the
06:06 future, when the kids are heading off to college. Here, Phineas and Isabella finally confront the
06:11 latter's secret feelings for the former, and the fandom's reaction has been very split at best.
06:17 "It's too bad Isabella and Phineas never got together."
06:20 "Yeah, I always thought they were meant for each other."
06:23 On the one hand, seeing the two hook up is very wholesome, and the song "What Might Have
06:28 Been" leaves us feeling misty-eyed. On the other hand, the whole episode feels more like glorified
06:33 fanfiction with no actual conflict. Plus, it doesn't seem realistic for Isabella to just
06:38 drift away from Phineas as a friend. Also, the future designs for the kids just feel off somehow.
06:44 "What might have been."
06:47 Number 14. Iggy Torments Arnold.
06:51 Hey Arnold. When Arnold discovers an embarrassing secret about Iggy, Sid and Stinky find out and
06:57 turn Iggy into a laughingstock. Arnold is blamed for all this, and goes out of his way to apologize
07:04 to Iggy for something that wasn't even his fault. "So does that mean you forgive me?" "No way."
07:09 Iggy refuses to accept his apology, unless he completely humiliates himself. Even though Iggy
07:17 learns his lesson at the last minute, his unsympathetic characterization ensured that
07:21 he never got a major role in an episode ever again. Meanwhile, Sid and Stinky, the ones who
07:27 cause all this trouble, get off completely scot-free and remain major players for the
07:31 rest of the show. And poor Arnold learns that some people aren't worth forgiving.
07:37 "Boy, Iggy's really taking this thing hard." "Yeah, that's true. But how long can a fella stay mad?"
07:43 Number 13. Bendy Gets Off Scot-Free. Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
07:49 11 minutes is all a show needs to send its reputation down the toilet. Case in point,
07:54 the short episode "Everyone Knows It's Bendy." "Have you considered that perhaps it is not
07:59 Bendy performing these acts, but your son instead?" "What?" Throughout the episode,
08:04 newcomer Bendy commits a ton of bratty actions, like writing on the walls, breaking vases,
08:10 and walking through the house with muddy shoes. Unfortunately, other characters like Blue and
08:14 Wilt are framed and accused of Bendy's wrongdoings, and he eventually gets off without repercussions.
08:20 Bendy was such a detested character that he was never brought back, and the episode's writer,
08:24 Lauren Faust, apologized to fans for writing him into the show. "Back up the pipe system so I can
08:30 expose him for the fraud he is!" "Blue? You flooded the house!" "Yeah, but Bendy took a cookie!"
08:39 12. No Such Luck - The Loud House Overwhelmed with attending important family
08:44 events, Lincoln tricks the rest of the Louds into thinking he's bad luck so that they'll leave him
08:49 be. Unfortunately, the trick goes too far, as the rest of the Louds go to extreme lengths to avoid
08:55 Lincoln's alleged unluckiness, including boarding up his bedroom and locking him out of the house.
09:01 "Guys, I think you accidentally locked me out!" Worst of all, in the end, he's forced to wear
09:06 a lucky mascot suit for who knows how long. Yes, Lincoln shouldn't have tried to weasel out of
09:12 supporting his family, but how they treat him over some stupid superstition is just cruel.
09:17 Fans universally agree how horrible this episode is, and are still writing fanfics of it to this
09:23 day. "Hey buddy, think I could bunk here for the night?" "Me too, Charles!"
09:27 11. Arthur's Big Hit - Arthur To set the scene, D.W. destroys Arthur's model
09:34 plane and acts like a callous brat about it. Arthur, in a fit of frustration, punches D.W.
09:40 in the arm. "I told you not to touch it!"
09:45 Obviously, Arthur hitting his sister is wrong, but later, he gets hit by Binky,
09:52 and Binky doesn't get punished for it. Nor does D.W. for breaking Arthur's personal property.
09:58 Instead, Arthur is the only one in the wrong. The episode tries to show that violence isn't
10:03 the answer to conflict, but it struggles to properly deliver the message, and makes everyone
10:08 involved look terrible. This episode is so hated that the infamous punch scene has since become an
10:13 online meme. "Arthur Timothy Reed, come here!" "Uh oh, middle name!"
10:19 10. The entire American Fung episode - American Dad
10:24 "He admits he's bored of only being a cartoon emperor. So I give him tennis shoe business,
10:31 and he give me American Dad." American Fung was an experiment that just did not work. In this
10:38 meta-episode, American Dad creator Seth MacFarlane sells the show to a Chinese businessman named
10:43 Fung Wah. It's kind of an interesting concept that could have yielded some funny scenarios,
10:48 but it didn't. It was immediately disliked by fans, and currently sits at a quite abysmal 4/10
10:54 on IMDb. Common criticisms include the purposeless inclusion of Fung Wah, the lame, repetitive jokes,
11:00 and the total absence of a plot. "Well, looks like they've decided to put us in a private room.
11:05 Let the anniversary begin!" Viewers were left staring at their TV screens in total disbelief
11:11 as this bizarre and humorless event played out in front of them. And let us tell you,
11:16 they were not happy about it. "I was crushed by my family." "No, we are happy ducks."
11:25 "And don't forget we are in love together." Number 9. Archer Falls into a Coma. Archer.
11:32 "Wait, but if that's a cyborg..." "That means the man in the pool is..." We hate to say it,
11:39 but the future legacy of Archer could be in question. If it ended around season 7,
11:44 it may have been praised as one of the best animated shows of all time. But seasons 8 and 9
11:48 have done significant damage to its reputation, and it all started with Archer falling into a
11:53 coma. The subsequent seasons, Dreamland and Danger Island respectively, have been fiercely
11:59 criticized by the fan base for being inconsequential. "He's been on this crummy island
12:03 for years, so he's never heard of the Hobbit." "Which, as we all know, was published just last
12:08 year in 1937." Yeah, Archer's coma has allowed the writers to experiment with different settings,
12:13 time periods, and situations, but it also means that none of the on-screen events hold meaning.
12:18 They're essentially two seasons of filler, and unfunny filler at that. "Oh, oh, oh,
12:25 oh, for the... Come on, seriously? What, you couldn't find a snow globe?"
12:32 Number 8. Garrison's Gender Affirmation Surgery. South Park. If there's one thing we've learned
12:39 about the TV business throughout the years, it's that South Park can survive anything. Whether
12:43 it's seemingly world-ending controversies, political enemies, or proclamations of declining
12:49 quality, the show has weathered it all. Except maybe the whole Garrison thing. "Mom, Dad,
12:54 what's a sex change operation?" The gender affirmation storyline was criticized for being
12:59 lazy and cliched, with many considering it little more than an excuse to be controversial.
13:05 This is reinforced by the inclusion of graphic footage from a real operation, which Trey and
13:10 Matt only included because they were out of ideas. South Park can be intelligent and
13:16 thought-provoking when it wants to be, but this was not one of those times. "Don't you tell me
13:20 what I can and can't do with my body! A woman has a right to choose!" Number 7. The Return of Slade.
13:27 Teen Titans Go! Sometimes a show is a little too cheeky for its own good. "You don't understand,
13:32 it's Slade." This infamous episode began with Robin breaking the dramatic news of the evil
13:40 Slade's return, but it then cut straight to the battered Titans emerging from the tower
13:45 and talking about how great the battle and associated storylines had been. "And it wasn't
13:49 just a fight that was amazing. In the end, so many compelling storylines came together and resolved
13:54 in such a satisfying way." As you can imagine, this royally pissed fans off, and many were quick
13:59 to denounce the show's manipulation. Others hated the episode's message about how childish
14:04 nostalgia can be. "We can't hold on to our childhood forever. Things change." The Return of Slade
14:10 currently sits at a 3.1 on 10 on IMDb, a clear indication of the utter disdain the fans have
14:16 towards this episode. "Well, it's too bad people will never see any of it." "No, that's a good
14:21 thing, bro!" "It was just too epic!" Number 6. Scrappy-Doo. Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. When
14:28 Scooby-Doo's ratings were falling, one bold decision ended up saving our favorite meddling
14:33 kids - Scrappy-Doo. "Uncle Scooby? Hi, I'm Scrappy-Doo!" Scooby's nephew brought something
14:41 fresh to the series, and the show was saved. But very soon, Scrappy overstayed his welcome. He
14:47 ended up stealing his uncle's spotlight, replaced Fred, Velma, and Daphne, and his more abrasive
14:53 personality really drove people nuts. After one last appearance in The Reluctant Werewolf, and a
14:59 villainous role in the first live-action film, Scrappy was never used again outside of a few
15:04 jokes about his existence. Of course, Scrappy does still have his fans. Most of them feel like it's
15:09 unfair to abandon him instead of trying to make him work in the new era. What do you think? "We
15:14 could do a comic about the blue Scooby and his partner and nephew, Scrappy!"
15:22 Number 5. Plankton's drastic attempt - SpongeBob SquarePants
15:26 Honestly, what the heck happened to SpongeBob SquarePants? What was once a charming show about
15:35 an eccentric sea sponge is now… whatever it is. We can think of two specific scenes that are
15:41 emblematic of the show's decline - the disgusting toenail sequence from House Fancy, and Plankton's
15:46 attempt on his own life in One Course Meal. The former represented an unwelcome shift to
15:59 gross-out humor, while the latter was something that just didn't belong on a children's TV show.
16:04 Fans hated that Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob preyed on Plankton's fears to this point,
16:08 and harshly condemned the writers for treating a sensitive topic irresponsibly.
16:13 "There's nothing like this kind of joke to get the kids laughing," said no one.
16:17 Number 4. The introduction of Poof, Sparky, and Chloe - The Fairly OddParents
16:31 Introducing new characters into a beloved show is always tricky. Some, like the cherished Desmond
16:36 Hume on Lost, became instant fan favorites. Others, like Poof, are so bad that they single-handedly
16:43 ruin what was once a great show. The death knell of The Fairly OddParents arguably rang with the
16:52 season 6 premiere Fairly OddBaby, which introduced fan not-favorite Poof to the show. And things only
16:58 got worse. Sparky joined the Turner family in season 9, but was instantly hated by the fans
17:03 and written out. And then Chloe was introduced in season 10 and broke the proverbial camel's back.
17:09 A show can only withstand so much. Number 3. Meeting the Great Gazoo - The Flintstones
17:19 Jumping the shark is a term that represents a show's instantaneous decline in quality,
17:23 and it's named after a scene in Happy Days where Fonzie literally jumps a shark on water skis.
17:28 [Music]
17:41 If jumping the shark never caught on, we could have used "Meeting the Great Gazoo" because this
17:45 little green alien effectively killed the Flintstones. While Gazoo wasn't introduced
17:53 until the final season and only appeared in a handful of episodes, critics immediately lambasted
17:58 his inclusion for being nonsensical and stupid. Why on earth did they decide to write an alien
18:04 into the show? No one knows. And to this day, it remains one of the most baffling decisions in TV
18:09 history. So join America's favorite TV family and a tiny green space alien named Osmodear that only
18:17 Homer can see on Fox this fall. Number 2. Brian's Death - Family Guy
18:24 Brian Griffin's death will always have a place in the TV history books, just not for the right
18:28 reasons. The whole fiasco began with the 12th season episode "Life of Brian." In it, Brian
18:34 is graphically mangled by a car and later dies with the tearful Griffins by his side.
18:44 His surprisingly poignant death made headlines and reinvigorated mainstream interest in Family
18:49 Guy, but was met with terrible ire from the show's fanbase. IMDb was pommeled with bad
18:54 reviews and a petition to bring back Brian was started on Change.org. And while Brian did indeed
19:00 return only two episodes later, this too received criticism as the temporary death was considered a
19:05 manipulative ratings ploy. It was a lose-lose situation. Before we continue, be sure to
19:18 subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos. You have the
19:24 option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them. If you're on your phone, make sure you
19:29 go into your settings and switch on notifications. The weird thing about The Simpsons' decline is
19:38 that no one can agree on when it started. Many critics point to the evil elf jockeys from season
19:44 11's Saddlesore Galactica, but others argue that the decline came sooner. In season 9's The
19:58 Principal and the Popper, this is the episode that reveals Seymour Skinner to be an imposter
20:03 named Armin Tamzarian. Fans absolutely hated this revelation, and it's often called the definitive
20:19 end of the show's golden age. Even those associated with The Simpsons, including Matt
20:23 Groening and Harry Shearer, consider the episode to be a horrible mistake and one of the show's
20:28 worst. With this one simple storyline, a TV empire began to crumble.
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