So I finally found out the name of this specific cartoon style people had been mocking about in recent years: the so-called "CalArts" style. It's that infamous cartoon style that's used in totally unrelated shows like Steven Universe, The Amazing World of Gumball, Gravity Falls, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, etc..

And now, things really heated up after the announcement of ThunderCats Roar, which also uses this cartoon style. Man, the amount of beef people threw at this reboot of the well-known ThunderCats franchise is incredible, to say the least. O_o Not only fans are upset because they're so used with the more realistic designs of the original 1985 series, the fact that this reboot uses a similar "CalArts" cartoon style is seen as an unspeakable sin. Hence the bashing, the death threats towards the creators, etc. as well as fanarts that mock the show's use of this style with the drawings of other shows, typically serious anime, drawn in a facsimile of that ThunderCats Roar poster.

Personally, I don't give a damn. ThunderCats Roar wasn't even out yet, so until the episodes are out, I'd rather not immediately jump into conclusions and claim that the reboot sucks, because we don't even know if it's even going to be that good. Also, I don't see anything wrong with a franchise trying out something different for a change: the Transformers franchise also similarly had vastly different cartoon (and occasionally anime) styles over the years. I mean, when the 2011 reboot of ThunderCats came out, people also similarly criticized that show's use of blatant anime style. (I gotta admit, 2011 Snarf is ridiculously cute.)

But yeah, I can understand why people are upset over this new ThunderCats Reboot. It's just so different from what people are used to the franchise. Again, I'd rather wait until the first few episodes are out before judging the show.

Personally, I think it's a case that we're witnessing a similar phenomenon that had always been happening with anime for decades: people copying a show's cartoon style, in order to piggyback the success of that show. It might not even something that people realize that they're doing it. They just do it because they notice that audiences seem to like this style the best. Let this happen dozens of times, and soon, the cartoon style got its general name -- in this case, CalArts -- to describe shows that use this style. It's a cultural osmosis that just keeps spreading... at least, until another cartoon style in the future takes over.

As a special note, the name "CalArts style" is a misnomer: many of the creators of such shows weren't even graduates of California Institute of the Arts, which is where "CalArts" came from. Though, somehow, the name stuck.

So yeah, this pic is my own parody of this style. Please don't kill me. D= And no, I will not be switching my usual art style to this style any time soon. XD

Update: whoops, accidentally put the tiny nub toe on the wrong foot. O_o It's fixed now.