Generic as in there's a lot of other characters out there that are mostly the same and you could swap out characters from Atomic Betty with pretty much anything else at the time and you wouldn't notice the difference and it wouldn't effect the show. It's pretty much the same as you can swap any villain in most action films with another villain from another film and you wouldn't really notice, or how a lot of video game protagonists you could swap with little effect to the product.
Thanks for telling me what that means. But I can see how it makes sense. Replace Betty, Sparky, and X-5 with the powerpuff girls, and there's no difference. They can do like the same things both the aforementioned characters did and the powerpuff girls in their show. Also, Betty isn't the first superhero with red hair and a pink dress. Five years before it premiered in Canada, the powerpuff girls premiered. One of them even had red hair and a pink dress with belt. She's even commander too. Bubbles is like Sparky, but more entertaining to watch and not as dumb, and Buttercup is pessimistic as X-5. Even if powerpuff girls is over, it still remains to be a classic. Atomic Betty would be more obscure than Disney's lesser known animated films. And, the powerpuff girls seems more original. And several other characters from the powerpuff girls are similar to the other characters from Atomic Betty. AB is just the same as PPG, but only in a different coat, and less character.
It could be bad because it's not really doing anything new, or it's nothing special. If it's a totally generic show then this wouldn't necessarily mean it's bad but it's not doing anything worthwhile and that you could/would rather watch something unique.
Not to mention that with characters and stories, it takes away a lot of the experience for most people since you can pretty much guess what is going to happen because you've essentially seen these characters and events happen in a much to similar way in other things already.
Like I said about Atomic Betty and Powerpuff Girls, the PPG is a classic and AB is not. And I believe the Powerpuff Girls is more original. Nothing can replace the powerpuff girls characters from their show to yield only slightly different results, but you can to Atomic Betty. So I see what's wrong with generic characters now. Not to mention, Atomic Betty had too many freaky weird stuff (such as a fish as a commander and a cat as a space villain, if they had matching themes and different purposes, it would've been better). The Powerpuff Girls isn't too freaky and weird on what choice of characters they have.
Sort of how Steam is flooded with Zombie, survival and what they like to call 'horror' games. None of them are particularly different from the last (other than varying degrees of awful) and you could play almost any of them and it would feel like you've played the rest. There's no point to them, they're not really doing anything special and you could be wasting your time with something more unique and different.
I don't know much about Steam, but this reminds me of Little Big Planet and how platformers dominate the better levels of the game. There were too many of them with the same concept. I was more creative when I made my platformer (player light, flashing light sensors etc). But yeah, if there are too many games of the same kind, it gets dull. This is probably how Atomic Betty and shows with a similar background (like Total Drama Island to Survivor or Johnny Test to Dexter's Laboratory) is like.
I can't remember what the characters in Atomic Betty were actually like but I'm imaging her as a wise cracking cocky protagonist with a 'wussy' robot companion and a dumb sidekick, the villains usually being a bit dim as well with the 'solution' to any of their plans being something stupid and obvious that they should have planned for, this in particular aiming for 'comedy'. She also has stupid reasons for disappearing on Earth when she goes doing 'saving the world' stuff and horribly cheesy answers to what she was doing when she returns that usually involve a cheesy pun on her recent adventure.
Assuming that's correct, I would say that's generic since I just based that from other generic 'silly action cartoons'.
You're actually right. Atomic Betty is about a girl with a double-life as a normal girl and a space ranger. And when the villains keep failing, it seems to be more comedy and less adventure. With less action than PPG, and less comedy than Spongebob, and less sci-fi than Star Wars, this show is too generic and easily a forgettable show. What's easier to forget? One user's 247th post on the restocks thread (I'm not being specific), or the entirety of Atomic Betty? And it's not just Powerpuff girls it's similar to. Try comparing it to the other space shows or other superhero shows. In fact, try comparing it to Fairly Oddparents. It's just same and unoriginal. As for the "stupid reasons for disappearing on Earth" part, that's kinda like living in your own world rather than living in the real world. And she's not doing what she's supposed to for the sake of imagination.
I just watched an episode and my description wasn't far off...
The only thing that it was really missing was that 'b***h rival' who thinks she's better than everybody else that always tries to 1-up Betty, but it turns out badly for her in the end...As seen in an uncountable amount of similar cartoons of the time. (Kim Possible, Fairly Odd Parents, Dexter s Lab and Recess just to name a few)
You're right again. Are you referring to Penelope? Yeah, Betty has enemies from both sides of her life. And Penelope is another example of what's forgettable.
One flaw I see is how ugly these characters look. I mean, Betty's space ranger outfit is not a typical space hero outfit. Even space superheroines (I think) have space suits than casual dresses as their superhero outfit.
One last thing to talk about before moving on. Atomic Betty isn't the most miserable failure CN picked up, but it's pretty much down there. CN had a lot of other failed shows. Stuff like Gym Partner's and Squirrel Boy are bad, but they aren't as low as Atomic Betty. Out of Jimmy's Head is a prime example of what Atomic Betty is like when discussing CN's failures. Same with the other shows on CN Real. Some shows are very unlucky as others aren't, and Atomic Betty follows the trend of unlucky shows. In fact, if I remember, it was the worst show on Cartoon Network around the time it was on. Before getting taken off for good, there was a time where it only aired reruns on Sundays. Not just Sundays, but only once a day. I'm probably thinking it's at a time that not very many people watch TV. And it doesn't air every Sunday when that limit was put on. That's how bad the show was.
But here's a bright side. For the failures it had in America, it was successful in Canada and Australia. And it had good merchandising as well. Most of CN's shows after Atomic Betty didn't have much merchandising, despite getting many reruns (even up to this date). And it's not even famous for being a failure. But it's bad enough that it's going to fade to obscurity in the near future, even when the internet can store old memories.
