One of the most iconic projects of this early 2000s boom came in the form of Mondo Media’s unexpectedly violent Happy Tree Friends, a mean-spirited parody of cute and cuddly early childhood cartoons.
The rise of widespread internet access also gave these unusual cartoons a chance to connect with international audiences, marking a unique moment in animation when independent creations could compete on near equal footing with titans like Nickelodeon and even Cartoon Network.
This ultimately led to an explosion of offbeat projects that would have previously been unfeasible to produce on regular TV networks. Sure, the cheaper production value and recycled frames resulted in a noticeable decline in quality in some areas (even if that was usually due to studios overworking animators), but it also meant more democratic access to cartooning tools and more varied creators working in the field. There’s no understating the impact that the now-defunct Macromedia Flash had on the animation industry.
