X-Men: TAS vs. X-Men: Evolution vs. Wolverine and the X-Men

[Hulkout42]

I would go with Evolution, i like the directions they took with the characters.
TAS and WaTXM will have a place my heart but they don't occupy the first place as Evolution does.

[Sparta]

I voted XTAS, but Evolution got really good JUST before it got cancelled. Wish it had 2 more seasons.

[NK1988]

A few years ago now I did a complete rewatch of Evolution and, if anything, it's gotten better with time.

Many people are down on the first and second season but I think those seasons are part of what makes Evo unique. We're actually shown our heroes living (somewhat) normal lives, going to a regular school, having human friends. The society at large knows nothing of mutantkind yet so I feel it really demonstrates the hollowness of anti-mutant prejudice. At one moment everyone got along great with Scott and Jean and they were like, the Alpha Couple of high school. Then they are "outed" as mutants and suddenly everyone turns against them. They haven't changed but now they are hated because bigotry is stupid and awful like that. You don't get this in TAS at all. You don't get the before and after of how humans and mutants interacted and so the anti-mutant racism is somewhat less effective in my mind. Don't get me wrong, I realize racism comes in many forms, from subtle insults to outright genocide. Evo went with something more low key though and I feel that was to its benefit and gave it its own identity.

It's also impossible to overstate how much I love some characters in Evo, especially Rogue. I know some love TAS Rogue but I never did. I don't think I'm alone either in absolutely adoring Evo Rogue and seeing her as my favorite character in the show. From voice-acting to design to her character development, she's perfect.

I grew up on TAS and I still hold it affectionately in my heart. But after growing up and seeing other X-media, who can deny that killing the Wolverine/Cyke/Jean love triangle is a good thing? Thank god Evo ducked that cliche. And of coruse Evo Jean is approximately 1000000000x more awesome than TAS Jean who really had the Dark Phoenix Saga and nothing else to make her impressive or interesting.

Wanda being the second strongest mutant in the s series next to Apocalypse was interesting. In fact, I think they realized they made her OP (plz nerf) and that's why they had to do the mind whammy on her. In fact, I'm gonna end this lovefest with Evolution by criticizing it.

Spoilers!

Evolution ends with the Twins carrying away Magneto. It's very touching. Meanwhile, Rogue and Kurt turn their back on Mystique. Now, Mystique and Magneto have a lot of awful deeds to their name but I dare say Evo Mystique is generally portrayed as more evil than Mags. But all of that matters not to me because Wanda only helps her father away because he literally had her brainwashed to forget why she hates him. The narrative presents this sweet scene of "aw, look, these kids can forgive and love their father" but it's all a sham! If Wanda had her own mind, she'd do a Rogue and kick her helpless pops off a cliff.

So, even if in some rather arbitrary moral calculus way Mystique is more evil than Magneto, it doesn't justify the dichotomy presented here of forgiveness and rejection. Mags should be just as rejected as Mystique was. I've never understood what the writers were thinking.

[Alan2099]

I could never get into Evo. Too many of the characters felt nothing like they did in the comics and a ton of the character designs were just horrible.

[WebLurker]

A few years ago now I did a complete rewatch of Evolution and, if anything, it's gotten better with time.

Many people are down on the first and second season but I think those seasons are part of what makes Evo unique. We're actually shown our heroes living (somewhat) normal lives, going to a regular school, having human friends. The society at large knows nothing of mutantkind yet so I feel it really demonstrates the hollowness of anti-mutant prejudice. At one moment everyone got along great with Scott and Jean and they were like, the Alpha Couple of high school. Then they are "outed" as mutants and suddenly everyone turns against them. They haven't changed but now they are hated because bigotry is stupid and awful like that. You don't get this in TAS at all. You don't get the before and after of how humans and mutants interacted and so the anti-mutant racism is somewhat less effective in my mind. Don't get me wrong, I realize racism comes in many forms, from subtle insults to outright genocide. Evo went with something more low key though and I feel that was to its benefit and gave it its own identity.

Yeah, I liked that they started out with mutants under wraps and showed the reveal and how society changed. I will concede that some of the earlier seasons had more lightweight stories then the latter ones, but I did generally like the character focus.

It's also impossible to overstate how much I love some characters in Evo, especially Rogue. I know some love TAS Rogue but I never did. I don't think I'm alone either in absolutely adoring Evo Rogue and seeing her as my favorite character in the show. From voice-acting to design to her character development, she's perfect.

Yeah, that was a favorite of mine, too (favorite version of the character, in fact); still "hear" this version when reading and all that.

I grew up on TAS and I still hold it affectionately in my heart. But after growing up and seeing other X-media, who can deny that killing the Wolverine/Cyke/Jean love triangle is a good thing? Thank god Evo ducked that cliche. And of coruse Evo Jean is approximately 1000000000x more awesome than TAS Jean who really had the Dark Phoenix Saga and nothing else to make her impressive or interesting.

Wow, I actually thought that Jean was the least interesting of the EVO cast and in pretty much every version of X-Men I've seen, it seems like the Phoenix Saga is the only interesting thing Jean has going for her. That said, I would've been interested to see this Jean do the Phoenix, esp. since it looks like she was going to die for real. Having gotten to know the character over the course of the series, that would've been more effective then the movies, which had a lot shorter buildup.

Wanda being the second strongest mutant in the s series next to Apocalypse was interesting. In fact, I think they realized they made her OP (plz nerf) and that's why they had to do the mind whammy on her.

Could be.

In fact, I'm gonna end this lovefest with Evolution by criticizing it.

Spoilers!

Evolution ends with the Twins carrying away Magneto. It's very touching. Meanwhile, Rogue and Kurt turn their back on Mystique. Now, Mystique and Magneto have a lot of awful deeds to their name but I dare say Evo Mystique is generally portrayed as more evil than Mags. But all of that matters not to me because Wanda only helps her father away because he literally had her brainwashed to forget why she hates him. The narrative presents this sweet scene of "aw, look, these kids can forgive and love their father" but it's all a sham! If Wanda had her own mind, she'd do a Rogue and kick her helpless pops off a cliff.

So, even if in some rather arbitrary moral calculus way Mystique is more evil than Magneto, it doesn't justify the dichotomy presented here of forgiveness and rejection. Mags should be just as rejected as Mystique was. I've never understood what the writers were thinking.

Interesting point. The thought had occurred to me, but I never really gave it much thought.

[yogaflame]

I could never get into Evo. Too many of the characters felt nothing like they did in the comics and a ton of the character designs were just horrible.

Thank you.

I can not stand the character designs/design aesthetic. And the tone was off for the majority of the series.

[WebLurker]

Thank you.

I can not stand the character designs/design aesthetic.

Fair enough if you think so, but I did think the designs seemed better tailored to animation and so worked better in motion and that the simplified designs made things easier to follow. I've seen clips of the old '90s cartoon and, with all due respect to it and what it was trying to do, I really don't think those old comic book costumes worked well in animation at all. (To be honest, I really don't understand what was so great about those '90s costumes in the first place, but I didn't grow up with them and was introduced to X-Men stuff when a very different style was in play.)

And the tone was off for the majority of the series.

How so?

[Snoop Dogg]

EVO outright had the best designs that like a third of the cast have ever had in any medium.

[Cyclops15]

For X-men TAS, I liked it since its the really closest to the source materials (comics).
For X-men: Evolution, i really liked it because even though its not really true to the comics, their personalities make it relatable in which i was a teen at the time. So a teen who loves the X-men plus characters being teenagers it was amazing.
For the WatX, i never bothered to watch it. Title itself bummed me out.

[NewMutant]

The cartoons are fascinating to me.

1) TAS series was an adaptation of the comics.
2) The movies then adapted from the TAS.
3) Evolution then adapted from the movies.
4) The movies solidify that Wolverine is the central/core character.
5) Wolverine and the X-Men puts Wolverine front and center.
6) The post DoFP movies are an adaptation of Evolution.

Its so interesting to see how the franchise is affected by its own comic spin offs, media (tv/film/video games), to toys, and over produced/mass marketing actually affect the content of the series. And then in turn how the creatives involved in the process change it from artists in the 90s to J Law as Mystique.

[Triniking1234]

You lost me at the movies adapted from the TAS.

[yogaflame]

You lost me at the movies adapted from the TAS.

Singer couldn't be bothered with reading the comics, so he just watched the first season of TAS and winged it from there.

[NewMutant]

You lost me at the movies adapted from the TAS.

Read or watch interviews with the creatives behind TAS and movies. They acknowledge it. As well as Singer not wanting anyone working on the films to read the comics.

[Triniking1234]

That's what Singer and his boys said but that's not what we got. Yoga was right about winging it.

[Graphicisnovel]

The cartoons are fascinating to me.

1) TAS series was an adaptation of the comics.
2) The movies then adapted from the TAS.
3) Evolution then adapted from the movies.
4) The movies solidify that Wolverine is the central/core character.
5) Wolverine and the X-Men puts Wolverine front and center.
6) The post DoFP movies are an adaptation of Evolution.

Its so interesting to see how the franchise is affected by its own comic spin offs, media (tv/film/video games), to toys, and over produced/mass marketing actually affect the content of the series. And then in turn how the creatives involved in the process change it from artists in the 90s to J Law as Mystique.

Great point, it is funny to watch, and it also explains why like a game of telephone, the more recent the media the less "X-men" it feels.

And yes, the original movie was based on TAS, it's obvious for example the way Jean and Beast [albeit cut from X1] behave like the cartoon, and if you read writer interviews. The core of the characters and dialogue was taken from TAS