Cartoon Network, the “Comeback Kid” of basic cable, seems to be winding up for an exciting year.  Not only do we have returning favorites, like the Amazing World of Gumball and Steven Universe (eventually), but we’ve also got a lot of new material to look forward to.

Unikitty!: January 1st

Love it or hate it, the fleeting character from the original LEGO movie now has her own flash animation cartoon series.   And you know what?  It’s honestly not terrible.  While it does fall into the same vein of humor as Teen Titans Go, not every episode of either show is worthy of the disdain they get.  The only major complaint I have is that the show should have been done in CGI of some kind, because otherwise, her head spinning around is entirely lost in its effectiveness.  Otherwise, the show is usually cute and charming, especially Richard.

But don’t go in expecting true depth or character development, just goofing around.

Apple and Onion: February 23rd

Did you ever wonder what it might be like if The IT Crowd and Regular Show had a baby?  No?  Well, that’s okay, because Apple and Onion is still a uniquely charming and refreshingly diverse kind of show.  It’s a world populated by food that has no qualms or questions about eating other food.  Sometimes, they’re very aware of it, and other times it doesn’t register how bizzare the concept is. But the two main characters have the kind of sweet nievity that would probably get a person killed in rela life.  The good news for them, is that the rest of the world seems to be willing to just roll with it.

Craig of the Creek: March 30

Although the official premiere of Craig of the Creek isn’t scheduled for a few more weeks, Cartoon Network has basically already given us the first two episodes.  And already, I love them!  It’s got a flavor all its own, with vague tastes of The Goonies and Kids Next Door, but it manages to be grounded in reality.  At least for now, we see the fantasy play out around the kids, as opposed to going inside their minds and being part of it.  And while there’s something to be said for both ways of telling a story, the comedy really seems to come from watching them try and accomplish fantastic things with mundane household items.  It makes you think, “I used to do that with my friends. That was fun.”

Summer Camp Island: Summer 2018

Admittedly, we don’t know much about this one yet, just that it centers around two characters attending a surreal summer camp where weird things tend to happen, and everyone else just goes along with it.  It I had to attribute the feel of this series, its sort of a Gravity Falls kind of thing.  But I hesitate to compare it to anything just yet.   The character designs, from what little we’ve seen, are very reminiscent of European children’s cartoons, and will be a welcome change from the overly simple flash animation craze.

Victor and Valentino: TBA

This is another series that has had its pilot on Cartoon Network’s youtube page for a while.  It’s a wonderful story about two brothers whose family owns a Taco restaurant.  They manage to gain access to the Land of the Dead by following  a dead Chihuahua, of all things.  Again, it’s another show with a Gravity Falls sensibility to it, though this one I can be more certain of, having seen the first episode.  We haven’t gotten an official release date, but Cartoon Network has added it to the promised lineup of 2018.

 Mega Man: TBA

Again, this is a series we know next to nothing about, other than it will be based on the original Mega Man video game, as opposed to later games, like Mega Man X.   It will be the second Mega Man series to premiere on Cartoon Network, after Mega man: Star Forces, which aired in 2007.  To be honest, I don’t remember hearing about it or seeing it, so it was probably not a wildly impressive show.  I’m sure it had a fanbase somewhere, which might be why Cartoon Network is willing to give the little blue bomber another shot.   We’ve really only gotten this one image, as of this article, and I’m not particularly impressed with how it looks.  But I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.

So there is what’s otheeh horizon that we know of thus far.  Cartoon Network may switch things around on us, but we’ll just have to roll with the punches.