The Problem Solverz
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 Can you believe that this show was rejected by Adult Swim? Because it clearly doesn’t fit well on Cartoon Network.
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The Problem Solverz is an animated series on Cartoon Network created by Ben Jones that aired from April 4, 2011 to March 30, 2013.
Premise
Three young men - Alfe, Roba, and Horace - run an unorthodox detective agency that tries to solve the mysteries of the universe. Alfe is a creature described as part anteater, part human, and part dog. Roba has a fear of humanity that compels him to dress as a robot. Horace is known for having a cool haircut.
The Problemz With Thiz Show
- The show is notorious for its extreme overuse of very bright colors, along with a complete lack of ambiance or shading as if the background designers were on drugs. Mr. Enter said in his review on the show that his computer has a hard time rendering them, and later was diagnosed with myopia as a result of watching the show. Not to mention, it is seizure-inducing with some of the scenes containing flashing/strobing lights.
- After doing research, there is a logical explanation behind all of this. Creator Ben Jones was part of the art collective Paper Rad, which consists of comics, music, and video art. He created the “Dogman 99” art style, in which they used juxtaposed images and bright neon colors, combined with primary colors to give their work a distinct lo-fi and underground look. Jones also drew influence from Japanese pop art. So, now we know why the show’s art style looks like this. And you know what? It actually does explain a lot. But that doesn’t mean the overall style is good.
- Not to mention that the flashing lights in the show, along with other forms of media, can trigger seizures, which is well known as being "photosensitive epilepsy".
- The show has an unpleasant and shoddy flash animation, with characters sometimes moving in stiff, bizarre, and robot-like ways. This is very unacceptable as other anime/animated shows such as Hunter x Hunter, The Amazing World of Gumball, Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, Thundercats (as in the 2011 show) and ect all look ten times if not over 9000 times way better, and those shows were created before The Problem Solverz.
- Horrendously abysmal and ugly character designs, made without any depth or detail until season 2.
- Alfe looks nothing like a large, fluffy, man–dog–anteater hybrid as he was supposed to be, and he looks more like a poor man's Domo-kun. But at least it was later revealed that he’s a fur monster.
- The characters' mouths look like they got stung by bees, and they're similar to two worms splattered onto their poor faces, making them look a lot like Pepe the Frog meme or look like they have poorly drawn large African lips.
- Roba's eyes close horizontally for some reason, is he supposed to be a non-human character or something? Like an alien, a robot?
- The faces (sometimes anime-esque) the characters make come off as ugly, hideous, creepy, weird, cringe-worthy, silly, and laughable, or making them look like these emotions from Thalasin.
- The worst offenders are the ones seen in "Funny Facez." Even the episode is called that.
- Unlikable characters such as Alfe, who's a very annoying and painfully unfunny character. He's also a terrible character in the show, especially in season 1 and the early episodes of season 2.
- Horace and Roba are also unlikable.
- Overuse of disgustingly unfunny and lame jokes that focus on nothing but toilet humor such as Roba's uncontrollable farting when he eats beans and Alfe bathing in a toilet in Awesome Banditz. Plus, there is too much toilet humor seen in episodes, especially in season 1.
- There was even one infamous moment in Roba Has Dreadlocks where Alfe does a song that was farting.
- Any main character gets in serious pain, especially Roba. The worst offender is Making of The Problem Solverz Video Game, where all of the characters get tormented.
- Alfe is the only character to be less in pain, and whenever he does the torment, he gets little to no consequences for doing that. He's also destructive and can destroy everything often, so he mostly does all of the disaster.
- The layouts of Farboro (while detailed and creative) and other locations are designed, due to the extremely bright and flashing high gamma colors.
- The voice acting is very obnoxious and laughable, with Alfe and Roba's voices being the worst offenders.
- Terrible episodes like Alfe Is Da Boss, Alfe Has a Baby, K-999 and Da Little Explorerz, and more to count. There were so many, the show had more bad episodes than good.
- Terrible writing and sometimes it can make plot holes in some episodes.
- Time Twister was a horrible way to start the series, as well as the second season premiere.
- The show has a short-lived segment seen at the end of each episode (until Episode 6) called Ask Alfe which has to be considered filler because it has many simple questions, as this segment was made to advertise the show more often. It's also random since Alfe answers the questions with not-so-helpful answers.
- The promos and bumpers made for the show are too hyperactive, nonsensical, random, and also have way too many bright colors all over the place (if not more than the show itself).
- The show was so badly-received, that it was put on hiatus for 1½ years, and its full second season was exclusively burnt off on Netflix on March 30, 2013.
- After the show was removed from Netflix in 2015, the season 2 episodes used to be lost media briefly until all of the episodes were released on Dailymotion.
- "Zazz Boyz Are Zazzin' It Up" is just a poor man's "Band Geeks".
- Terrible finale: The episode, Alfe's Gonna Run Away, is about Alfe running away and moving to a new home due to an insult from Roba, making him depressed. Meanwhile, Alfe was replaced by a bear, which is just cruel and mean-spirited. The episode ends with Alfe coming back and Horace and Roba are glad. Then, the bear (that replaced Alfe) crashes in and roars, then Alfe leaves quickly, leaving Horace and Roba behind making the finale an absolute cliffhanger.
- The sad thing is that Ben Jones actually does have a passion for animation and art, and this show actually would’ve fit better on Adult Swim as Neon Knome, like he intended. It’s just too bad the executives were too stupid to reject this show for looking “too cute”, when Jones never made the show look cute in the slightest.
Qualitiez That Solvez the Problem
- The 8-bit soundtrack is decent, especially the theme song.
- Some nonsensical moments can come off as funny, even taken out of context.
- Alfe getting stung by bees, for example, is admittedly hilarious.
- It is pretty cool that a Superjail! reference was added in the “Puffy Puppiez” episode. You can tell that Ben Jones is a huge fan of Superjail!.
- The show actually did warn us about the AI invasion. Showing that even Ben Jones hates AI art.
- The layouts of Farboro, while an eyesore, are at least detailed and look creative.
- Tux Dog, Horace (sometimes), and Roba (sometimes when not tortured) are good and decent characters. Also, Alfe gets a bit better in season 2.
- Its premise is quite original.
- To add this, the animation in season 2 (for the most part) also improves a bit.
- The bright colors are also toned down in the final episodes of season 1 and the entirety of season 2.
- It's surprisingly got a "So Bad, it's so good" reputation to some people.
- Season 2 did improve upon the animation, except not very much.
- The CN Studios logo is good.
- The “Neon Knome” pilot, co-produced by PFFR, has better execution than the actual series, surprisingly. Too bad Adult Swim claimed it looked too cute.
Reception
The series was met with extremely negative reviews and is often considered to be one of the worst (if not the worst) Cartoon Network shows ever made. On IMDb, it sits at a 2.1/10, making it the lowest-rated Cartoon Network show on the site (2nd if The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange is counted); until Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go overtook its place. Only 19% of Google users liked this show. It was ranked #1 on WatchMojo's Top 10 Worst Cartoon Network Shows video. It was ranked #3 on Mr. Enter's Worst Cartoons of the 2010 list. RebelTaxi ranked it #4 on his ugliest cartoons list. PhantomStider ranked it #4 on his worst canceled cartoons list. Kj_anw_pro ranked it #9 on his worst Cartoon Network shows list.
Trivia
- The show was originally pitched to Adult Swim, but the executive claimed the show to be "too cute", thus pitching it to Cartoon Network instead.
- Making of The Problem Solverz Video Game was the only season 2 episode to use season 1's animation style while the rest of the season 2 episodes used a different style.
- In Cartoon Network Canada's first promo, clips of the show were featured, suggesting the show would also air in Canada. However, probably due to the negative reception, the show never aired in said country.
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