Now, i don't want to sound like "Back in MY day...things were all better" and maybe it IS that complex, but i REALLY have a problem with entertainment nowadays. Actually they came up with ONE cartoon that's better than it's older version, TMNT. Watching the Fred Wolf cartoon i thought "wow this is it", then i DID read the comics, and when i heard there was a new show i was like REALLY? Little did i realize it was owned by Mirage and it was, how do you say....AWESOM-ER and closer to the original thing. I guess GI Joe got better too, since Real American Hero was CRAP. But all in all, i would like to say the themes, the art and the character depths of some old (80s and 90s) were really great. And if you look at the EARLIER versions (60s/70s) well,... let's just FORGET those, i haven't watched them much anyway. (Some filmation shows though, Tarzan, Zorro, impressed me more than newer ones would, maybe it was my age, but even at that age i could tell all those shows had the same plots and they had repetitive scenes). 
 You see what i'm saying here right? X-Men, the ripoff Ultra Force, Savage Dragon, the comics of the X-Men were drawn like the popular cartoon as well. And they started drawing Lois Lane like Teri Hatcher right? (same era, i WANT to say Lois&Clark were a good show but i cant remember it well enough) And the music, the FEEL of X-Men TAS was GREAT. There were people kissing and wearing sexy clothes,....it WASN'T for children, but it was GOOD. Compared to NOW though,....unless they come out with a MOVIE, these cartoons are too....for children. X Men Evolution kept it decent still, the characters were younger, but therefore imperfect, which was strange (seeing Cyclops willing to cheat in a capture-the-flag game) but then they had to do Brave and the Bold and Super Hero Squad. But ok, TV is mainstream, children have more access to it, whereas comic books which you have to willfully pursue are more ADULT,...EVEN SO! They had to bring the covered head back on Cyclops? and the way they draw Wolverine's costume.....it's so much more different. Although i like to say BTAS was the greatest Batman series ever "The Batman" which came out later was actually better, (just had to get used to the change) even Double Dragon which i KNOW is kinda lamish, and,...what other cartoons were there? Conan, (the adventurer but the comic was there too and i guess it hasn't changed much.) Even Thundercats, which plot wise was pretty ridiculous, was rich in morals, (or was supposed to be) it had a higher level of "macho", i remember me and my friends were impressed about the art and the muscle, (and the way they spoke too) but any cartoon i happen to stumble upon these days are VERY SOFTCORE and i'm wondering,...HOW DO KIDS WATCH THESE??? there is NO VIOLENCE (and even in X Men TAS though the fights LOOKED cool they would just begin and end and weren't TOO violent) Ben 10 was a good original cartoon i liked, it had some references to old characters like this green watch he uses to turn into aliens which even in DESIGN was close to GL's power ring and some of the aliens he turned into looked like the Human Torch, or the Hulk/Goro or reminded me of the Flash or Aquaman, and "man of action"s 2nd creation, Generator Rex was equally "watchable"