>>91923322Okay, thought you were asking "what made it so bad compared to so many other cartoons" but wanted to make sure before I typed a bunch of stuff out. I'd actually say that was the problem, that it didn't feel very different from many other comedy cartoons and didn't seem to have the ambition to change.
In a lot of ways it felt like it would always be a totally episodic cartoon, sticking to a fairly repetitive status quo above everything (Ludo wants the wand but never gets it, Marco can't talk to Jackie, Star fucks up and never learns), and not even making much use of its own premise about a magical princess from another dimension. The Other Exchange Student especially could have come from any show. And when a show doesn't appear to be going anywhere despite a potentially interesting concept and isn't even remarkably weird or funny or unique, it just feels like a totally mediocre cartoon all around.
Of course, to Season 1's credit-- and I do really like Season 1-- the show did change pretty quickly. There were some great episodes and weirder concepts and locations and of course things did change.
But such a weak start that didn't indicate anything more, combined with the slow as hell release schedule in its first few months, seemed to have turned a ton of people off. Basically with the mindset of "I'm an adult, I'm sure kids love this but it's clearly not operating on the same level as Gravity Falls/Steven Universe, and so I can't waste my time on it :^)"
Those complaints seem dumb when by just the 8th episode it showed there'd be a bigger plot. But there were literally 6 months between the premiere of the first and that one, because of the fucked schedule, and so it is kind of understandable why from a dumb cartoon nerd perspective it can feel like NOTHING IS HAPPENING
But I do think Season 1 is good and that it didn't get a fair chance. It just didn't do much early on to challenge initial negative impressions, despite how different it gets by the end
