I've really been craving something animated to watch as of late. But the world of western animation is just embarrassing at the moment, with the concept of adult cartoons having died off as everyone realised how obnoxious they can be, and even the children's realm of animation has been getting killed off over the years as Disney struggles to find its soul and has no idea what to create anymore. Western animation is in dire condition, to say the least. So, with this, I was thinking of something from the past to check out, something that was actually a series and had a few seasons that I could dive into, with a solid story and set of characters. Not quite wanting something that would've been animated for Cartoon Network, for example. Though I have also been craving a bit of Invader Zim as of late... But all of this mixed with my recent comic book readings led me to the 1992 released animated series of the X-Men. It seemed fun, something very different to what I would've usually watched. And given I had been reading a few X-Men comic books, I figured it would also be fun to get a deeper look into some of the characters featured and see which ones I had more interest in for additional reading. Considering this came out in 1992, I knew what I was getting into for the most part: that era of animation that was still quite grounded, with a style that wasn't exaggerated in its character designs all that much.
I never really watched animations like this growing up, I missed out on the more serious stories that were told. I never saw the Spiderman animations, nor did I ever watch the Batman ones. At that age I wasn't particularly interested in this sort of thing, preferring the aforementioned Cartoon Network style; the shows like Ed, Edd, and Eddie. This has made jumping into X-Men: The Animated Series a lot more fun, I think. It feels fresh to me, but also quite nostalgic as it would've been something I may have stumbled into briefly on television as a child, despite not really paying any interest in it. Making me think of those previous years where such creations were more of a thing. I understand that recently Disney rebooted the series with a sequel, though I haven't watched that and I'm sure it won't quite have the same impact as this 1992 release. These animations do tend to be a thing of their era, something that just can't quite be replicated due to the animation style that is more traditional, the colour palette and use of film, but also the sound effects and audio that came with lower quality audio equipment. All of which come together to form the show. I've really enjoyed this so far, the lower quality and somewhat jank animations have been really fun, it's certainly different. Though I can see how modern audiences might find something to complain about.
So far this been a fairly straightforward X-Men narrative: your usual suspects running around and getting caught up in the world's little bits of drama, and how mutants are often looked down upon within society even if they're running around saving people in the process. I quite like that so far the episodes haven't been making a clear narrative structure so far. There is something showing a bit of form, but it doesn't seem like something that's going to run throughout numerous seasons: the X-Men discovering a plan to create Sentinels to kill mutants -- the Sentinels are actually something I've only just discovered as being a thing having read 2024's ongoing X-Men release that I've been reading but haven't bothered writing about given the constant comics posts I've been throwing out. It was nice to see them referenced and actually have a bit of an understanding into what their purpose is and what they actually are. A few other bits of narrative that aren't related that I'm yet to really explore: Magneto being Magneto and generally being a bit off the rails with his approach to things. More a villain than anything else. Interesting to see a mutant character that almost wants to create a war to defend the mutants, having a more direct and harsher perspective on humans given their troubled ongoing relations.
In terms of its visuals, it's definitely a lot of fun. It really feels like something that was made about thirty years ago at this point. The animation in parts can look a bit weird, but that's from the style being a bit more closer to the more realistic style of animation, rather than something more cartoonish and gestural. Think the total opposite of Disney's animation style, for example. This was the era before digital animation, so I think some of that weirdness that is somewhat felt comes from the fact that it's hand drawn and that sometimes can look a bit off with certain movements. But for me I think that adds to its charm. It's unlike the realm of animation now. I think the only thing that can feel a bit poor is the audio side of things. The sound effects of the world and its action sequences are fine, but the voice acting sometimes sounds a bit strange. Not an outcome of the sound quality itself but more the performances. Gambit doesn't sound very European for example, he sounds more like someone trying to get a generalised Euro accent out while not quite getting it. The same with Rogue. Different to how the comics are often read to which even she would have a thicker southern accent from the US. But I guess back then the budget was a bit lower given the size of the industry. Where visual creations of comic book characters and stories still weren't huge. Especially beyond the likes of Superman and Batman.
It's a cozy watch in the evenings with some fun stories to each of its episodes. Not the best animated series there is out there, but there are a few reasons behind that which don't really bother me and I can put aside. I've also really been wanting to find something animated like this for a while now, not too serious, and not too cartoonish. A nice sweet spot in the middle.
