Motorcity

If you think Cybertrucks are cool, get the fuck out of here right now. This ain't for you.

As if their whole body of work didn't already speak for itself, I am thoroughly convinced that Motorcity is the ultimate example of what cements Titmouse as the legendary animation studio it's universally revered to be.

Now that may seem like awfully high praise when stacked against Titmouse's other, much more successful and beloved hits (Metalocalypse, The Legend of Vox Machina, Scavengers Reign, Megas XLR, etc), but speaking strictly as one strongly opinionated and wholly biased bitch living on the fringe badlands of the wild internet, Motorcity takes the whole cake for me. Aside from its intriguing premise, diverse cast of characters, and unhinged punk-ass art style, not many cartoons out there can really hold up against Motorcity's indomitable energy and spirit.

...and I just really wish it weren't so criminally unsung in the animation community.

I miss that era of early 00s racing games that threw realism out the window in favor of wacky shit like this.

Clickbait-y YouTube thumbnails aside, I virtually NEVER hear this show mentioned among cartoon afficionados or see it pop up in anyone's Top 10 Lists. And that's not due to people disliking the show - most anyone who has at least seen it will agree it's pretty fuckin' cool - but because it remains a hidden or overlooked gem that was never given enough advertisement to really gain an audience. Given that the show aired right around the time Netflix's streaming model exploded in popularity and began eroding the traditional cable television lineup, I can't say it's surprising that this show was lost in the shuffle, along with many others like it.

Produced in that extremely brief but extremely bright spot in the early 2010s - during a sudden avalanche of high-quality action cartoons that burned out the budgets of many of the biggest cartoon-centric television networks at the time - Motorcity stood right alongside other big name players of that era, like Young Justice, Transformers: Prime, and The Legend of Korra, but unfortunately did so in the obscurity of its home channel: the strange no-man's-land of Disney XD.

Being a Disney production puts a lot of weird restrictions on what you can and can't show in a cartoon, but I bet it gives you a nice fat budget to be lavish on your animation with.

Started in 2009 as a somewhat natural outgrowth of their famed Toon Disney channel, XD was created to appeal to the entertainment business's most treasured demographic: 6 to 11-year-olds and young teenagers. Borrowing a page from their successful "Jetix" block (Toon Disney's answer to Cartoon Network's far more successful "Toonami"), Disney XD was home to a variety of original cartoons and licensed anime titles interspersed with sports and gaming segments, hoping to snag a piece of that (mostly male) tweenage audience.

However - as I recall it, anyway - Disney XD was a premium channel not included in most basic cable packages of its time, which severely limited the range of audiences privy to what it had to offer. So despite boasting some heavy-hitting titles early on (Phineas & Ferb and Gravity Falls, to name a couple) many shows that lived on XD also died on XD. The only way you'd even know about shows like Motorcity would be if you were an animation chaser following various news outlets (like me), or were blessed with parents who could afford the fancy cable package that enabled you to catch it in passing (definitely not me).

Even celebrity power isn't enough of a draw to upgrade to the premium cable package. Then again, considering some of the dumb shit Dee Snider's been saying lately, maybe that's for the best.

Unfortunately for the money gluttons at Disney, vying for the attention of young boys is an absolutely sisyphean task, like hunting for a whale in a kiddie pool, and there's already an extreme overabundance of "boy-focused but girl-inclusive" programming out there, making it doubly difficult for the network to really stand out above the crowd. And while the channel still vaguely exists in 2024 (that I know of), it's clear that it never really lived up to the hype that the suits expected it to, resulting in less money spent on marketing and advertising, and many of its original works fading into obscurity.

So while Motorcity remains an un-classic that will never join the ranks alongside XD's other breakout successes like Star Vs The Forces of Evil or the 2017 DuckTales reboot (both later moved to regular Disney channel to boost viewership, further highlighting a lack of faith in XD), I feel compelled to drag it out of the closet and sing its praises, because hot DAMN is it one sick-ass cartoon.

As a reminder, batshit wild sequences like this are in Every. Single. Episode. How does this show not have a bigger reputation?!

Set in a not-too-distant futuristic Detroit, the show centers around a group of vigilante thrill-seekers and their custom-built extreme hot rods, living their lives in the run-down underworld as both adrenaline junkies and peacekeepers. Detroit itself is split into two radically different halves. The bottom half - a decrepit underground junkyard slum cut off from most necessary resources - comprises the original Detroit, now simply referred to as Motor City. Rising above is Detroit Deluxe, a squeaky-clean minimalist paradise made of floating ivory towers, ruled lock stock and barrel by a billionaire corporate monarch by the name of Kane.

For cartoonishly evil reasons, Kane is dead set on forciby ejecting the citizens of Motor City out of their homes so he can reclaim the land below for development and resources, and our ragtag posse of badass stunt drivers are the only thing keeping his outlandish schemes in check. Using their turbo-charged and battle-ready cars, they keep the citizens of Motor City not only safe from harm, but free to live outside of Kane's iron-fisted mandates.

Sorely missed opportunity not to attempt a toy deal with Hotwheels for this show.

These vigilante heroes (collectively, the Burners) are all young-ish hotshots, each with some form of chip on their shoulder that keeps them fighting for Motor City. Unofficially headed by a former KaneCo security commander turned deserter (Mike), the Burners use their sharp talents and fearless bravado to scrape Motor City's ruins for parts, with which they continually supe up and trick out their jaw-dropping vehicles. Whether using them as defenses against Kane's robot armies, or just for the thrill of attempting absurdly dangerous stunts, each member has taken on their role as a Burner for different - sometimes conflicting - reasons, but they all remain banded together under their chosen credo, "Live Fast, Live Free".

And while living Fast is clearly the main focus (hence all the cars), living Free is given equal measure. Down in the depths, away from the long arm of Kane's so-called "law", the Burners are allowed to pursue their own individual passions, including self-expression through graffiti, dressing how they please instead of wearing only KaneCo-approved jumpsuits, forming LARP groups with foam weapons, and of course, challenging their rivals to dangerous high-speed races.

The artists really went the extra mile on that indie graffiti aesthetic, and pairing it with a strong DIY mentality really helps nail the show's rebellious underground vibe.

While Mike remains the main character of the show due to his natural charisma and history with Kane, the show gives plenty of spotlight time to the other Burners as well. Tech nerd Chuck, artist and tinkerer Dutch, eccentric himbo Texas, and double agent Julie each have their own skill set and story to tell, ensuring that even if every episode is chock full of exhaust fumes and thrash metal, there will always be something interesting to explore story-wise.

That said, the format of the show is almost completely episodic, with no direct continuity between episodes. There are recurring plot elements and returning frenemies at every turn, but no plot progression to follow. Each episode forms a self-contained adventure, and leans heavily on high-stakes action and sassy comedy to carry itself. While that doesn't leave much room for a narrative, it does ensure that the show's world and characters are thorougly explored, and in a world like Motorcity's, that's definitely a positive for me.

Of course the eccentric himbo is the fan favorite character. When is the eccentric himbo NOT the fan favorite character?

In lieu of lack of lore and legend though, the show more than makes up for it with its unbridled bravado and stylish action scenes. Titmouse, already known for their jaw-dropping animated sequences, pushes the boundaries of 2D and 3D art styles to their extreme, blending them together in a wildly creative indie comic-esque visual style that's somewhat fallen out of fashion in the modern animation world (outside of say, movies like Into The Spider-Verse). The characters' hyper-elongated limbs and squarish hands give them all a stretched-out feeling that creates a perfect accompaniment to the high-speed car chases, and the digital animation style leaves plenty of room for subtle details like hair bounce and lighting effects.

Naturally, the bulk of the action gets devoted to sick stunts and car money shots, but that doesn't come at the detriment of animating the characters outside of their vehicles. Hand-to-hand fight scenes are still in plentiful abundance, and their choreography and visual readability are every bit as appealing as the bigger-scale stuff. Again, it's baffling to me that everyone knows who Titmouse is, but no one ever seems to mention Motorcity when referring to their mind-blowing animation talent.

I don't think I've seen such a cool mix of stylish action and weird anatomical structure since Peter Chung's work in Aeon Flux or Reign: The Conqueror.

Another reason I consider this series to be Titmouse's finest work is in the way it perfectly encapsulates everything else the studio is known for. The art direction shows a clear love of machinery, retrofuturism, punk and heavy metal art and iconography - all staples of other beloved Titmouse classics - while the punchy, sarcastic writing and visual gags contain clear echoes of earlier hits like Megas XLR. You can even see hints of Motorcity's influence in Titmouse's later work on shows like Turbo FAST (the virtually-unknown animated series based on the Dreamworks movie). It's a show with such a powerful sense of identity that rivals even big-budget movies, and there's really just nothing else like it on the market OUTSIDE of movies. Given the way animation keeps getting shafted by streaming corporations in the 2020s, my guess is there won't be anything else like it for a long time yet to come.

Consider this Review my "animation opinion that's got me like this".

Alright, full disclosure for this next part here, I'm not from the area and won't pretend I know what I'm talking about in terms of Detroit, but I definitely know of the city's long and intensely personal relationship with cars and automobile production. It can't be nicknamed "Motor City" for nothing! But just judging from what I can see, Motorcity THE SHOW is glowing with love for its namesake city and the car culture it's famous for. Each vehicle is lovingly rendered in exquisite detail, with design aesthetics ranging from vintage hot rods to demolition derby warmachines to 70s-inspired plush interiors and back again, and the show spends just as much screen time in the garage as it does out in the field. I have to wonder if any of the creators grew up in the area.

Similarly, setting the show in the slummy, junkyard remains of a once-great city with a new "clean" utopia dystopia built on top of it really underscores the societal problems that (still) plague the real-world area it's modeled after. From my research, Detroit scores pretty high in the country-wide poverty rates, and when you consider the long-standing dirty water crisis in Flint, coupled with ongoing police brutality issues, it's clear that - intentional or otherwise - Motorcity carries a built-in biting social commentary about gentrification and oligarchy, not to mention the old classic of outraged youth standing up against oppressors.

If you listen closely, you can hear Living Colour's "Open Letter To A Landlord" playing in the distance.

If there's one major downside to it all, it's that Motorcity only lasts for one season. And while 20 episodes is still more than the average original animated series gets to its name - these days, especially - it feels like this is a world that could easily have gone on for at least 20 more. Even aside from unexplored and unfinished story elements, who wouldn't want more episodes involving Motorcity's eclectic cast of weirdos?

The show ends on a high-stakes two-parter that threatens to really open up a new hole not only in the world of Detroit, but in the foundation of the Burners, which would have made a perfect breaking point for a new story arc, or at least an intriguing new twist to follow up on. A second season would be extremely unlikely after 12+ years of dormancy, even if there were a sudden influx of new viewers demanding it, but it sure wouldn't feel out of place in the slightest if the show were ever to return and pick up right where it left off. It makes for a bittersweet ending in that respect, but the sheer adrenaline rush of the entire rest of the show makes it well worth the price.

I just want someone to give Nate Torrence a medal for all the incredible screaming he did in the studio in order to voice Chuck.

On that note, let's talk recommendations. If you enjoyed Motorcity and are looking for something to fill the Motorcity-shaped hole in your heart after watching it, I whole-assedly recommend the classic Saturday morning staple SWAT Kats. Similarly set in a junkyard staffed by vigilante heroes working under the radar to save the city from maniacal villains where the local law enforcement cannot, it's got a lot of the same heart and soul and energy of Motorcity. Not to mention one cool-ass jet.

Other easy picks for follow-up include classic racing anime titles like Initial D or F-Zero: GP Legend. If you want something that matches Motorcity's sheer energy in one single movie-sized burst, Redline should be at the top of your list. And following off the SWAT Kats rec, you could also give Biker Mice From Mars a try, but while the two shows have similar vibes, one is set in Detroit and the other in Chicago, so do with that knowledge what you will!

The hallmark of a good villain is being cartoonishly evil, but also evilly cartoonish.

Final thoughts: honestly, I just wish more people would simply watch this show. You can find it here and there on streaming services, it's not in any immediate danger of becoming lost media or anything like that. It just remains a hidden gem that I think animation enthusiasts owe it to themselves to at least check out. I wouldn't call it a show that will appeal to everyone, but fans of fast and frenetic action will likely eat it right up, and I'd love to see it discussed more in their cartoon circles. The simple knowledge of people seeking out new cartoons to watch, regardless of their success or popularity, is something that will always bring a smile to my face.

And, knowing how highly the Titmouse staff loved this show themselves, I'm sure it would bring a smile to theirs as well.

Listen, all I'm saying is, I know I was lovestruck the moment I laid eyes on this show, so maybe you will be too...