"It's aimed at kids"

"They're aimed at kids" is an excuse often used to dismiss criticism of characters aimed for younger audiences.

This article will focus on the matter regarding characters, which is similar to the "it's made for kids" excuse shown on the Crappy Games, Terrible Shows & Episodes, Dreadful Literature, and Awful Movies wikis.

Background
It is well known that kids are easier to entertain by simple things that grownups may find stupid or boring at first.

Even if a character is aimed at kids the adults may also be interested in them (for example, most characters made by Disney or their subsidiaries such as Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Fox, Blue Sky Studios, etc.; those characters are aimed at younger audiences, but also respect viewer intelligence and don't pander towards kids.

There is no excuse for making a poorly made character aimed at kids.

Why This Excuse Sucks

 * 1) This is just a way for critics and parents to dismiss criticism towards people who criticize terrible characters "that were aimed for kids". By dismissing criticism, the quality of these types of characters may never improve.
 * 2) By pointing out the flaws in kids' media characters, can leave improvement and ensure that more characters aimed at kids can be made to be enjoyed by grownups as well.
 * 3) This whole excuse makes kids look like idiots with no real taste who will like anything aimed at them, which isn't actually true. Kids are actually smarter than they're given credit for.
 * 4) * It should be noted that contrary to popular belief, actually even kids would very likely not enjoy these poorly-conceived kids' media characters, hence highlighting this fact further.
 * 5) The only thing this excuse encourages kids to do is to stoop to a low level, always ignore the parents and not listen.
 * 6) Most of the time, many of these characters aimed at kids are often intentionally made to act extremely immature, such as being a huge crybaby who cries over even the smallest things despite some of these characters in question are being too old in age to act that way (with Caillou, Angelina Ballerina, Peppa Pig, the ThunderCats Roar! version of Lion-O, SpongeBob SquarePants during season 6-7, Thumbelina and the GO! versions of the Teen Titans being some of the worst offenders out there), either as for cheap laughs or solely just to match with the immature mindsets of the target audience they're aiming at under the mindset from the creators that kids need characters that are very childish just like them, which is not a good thing since children need to learn to grow up and mature sometime in their lives and to learn the fact that childish behavior isn't always acceptable in real life.
 * 7) Some of these characters aimed at kids are incredibly annoying and never shut up every minute they're onscreen under the false assumption that kids' characters need to be very loud and noisy at all times otherwise their target audience of kids would lose interest in them (with  Bubsy, Stanley, Cool Cat, SwaySway and Buhdeuce, Fred Figglehorn, Fanboy and Chum Chum and the GO! versions of the Teen Titans being some of the worst offenders out there) which is not a good thing, since not only does these noisy characters negatively influence kids to be annoying and irratic to others, yet, contrary to popular belief, actually even kids would very likely be annoyed at such noisy characters. And besides, children need characters that know when to be quiet because that'd teach them the fact that there are right times for the kids to be noisy and quiet respectively in real life.
 * 8) Some of these characters aimed at kids tend to be written with a very flat and one-dimensional characterization, or have them heavily flanderized from their original complex characterizations to just one measly character trait, all because of the mindset from the creators claiming that kids are unable to relate/identify with characters with complex characterizations, which is not only false in every sense of the word, yet it is very intelligence-insulting to the kids as well. And besides, kids' characters with complex characterizations are important in helping to shape a child's mindset and character growth.
 * 9) The overuse of this excuse is what tends to make kids' characters, especially cartoon characters, in general, receive a negative reputation from older audiences, even though some of these characters don't even deserve all the hate and backlash they receive or if the characters in question are well received or not.
 * 10) This excuse is the main reason why the American television industry treats cartoon characters exclusively for kids instead of for general audiences most of the time.

List of Good Characters Aimed at Kids
NOTE: Please keep in mind that some good characters aimed at kids could also use the excuse
 * 1) Thomas the Tank Engine
 * 2) Percy the Small Engine
 * 3) James the Red Engine
 * 4) Gordon the Big Engine
 * 5) Henry the Green Engine
 * 6) Emily the Sterling Engine
 * 7) Edward the Blue Engine
 * 8) Toby the Tram Engine
 * 9) Sir Topham Hatt
 * 10) Bob the Builder
 * 11) Mh:greatcharacters:Wendy (Bob the Builder)
 * 12) Mh:greatcharacters:The Machines (Bob the Builder, 1998)
 * 13) Spud the Scarecrow
 * 14) Barney the Dinosaur (Barney & the Backyard Gang, seasons 1-8)
 * 15) Baby Bop (Barney & the Backyard Gang, seasons 1-8)
 * 16) BJ (seasons 2-8)
 * 17) Mickey Mouse
 * 18) Minnie Mouse
 * 19) Donald Duck
 * 20) Daisy Duck
 * 21) Goofy
 * 22) Pluto
 * 23) Disney Princesses
 * 24) * Snow White
 * 25) * Cinderella
 * 26) * mh:greatcharacters:Aurora
 * 27) * mh:greatcharacters:Ariel
 * 28) * mh:greatcharacters:Belle
 * 29) * mh:greatcharacters:Jasmine
 * 30) * mh:greatcharacters:Pocahontas
 * 31) * Anastasia
 * 32) * Mulan
 * 33) * mh:greatcharacters:Tiana
 * 34) * mh:greatcharacters:Rapunzel
 * 35) * mh:greatcharacters:Merida
 * 36) * mh:greatcharacters:Anna
 * 37) * mh:greatcharacters:Elsa
 * 38) * mh:greatcharacters:Moana
 * 39) * mh:greatcharacters:Raya
 * 40) * mh:greatcharacters:Mirabel
 * 41) mh:greatcharacters:Chloe Corbin (Chloe's Closet)
 * 42) Mh:greatcharacters:Bugs Bunny
 * 43) FireSam.png]]Daffy Duck
 * 44) Tweety
 * 45) Tom and Jerry
 * 46) SpongeBob SquarePants
 * 47) Patrick Star
 * 48) Fireman Sam
 * 49) Elvis Cridlington (seasons 1-5)
 * 50) Station Officer Steele (seasons 1-5)
 * 51) Norman Price (seasons 1-5)
 * 52) Lightning McQueen
 * 53) Tow Mater
 * 54) Roary the Racing Car
 * 55) Big Chris
 * 56) Elmo
 * 57) Fifi Forget-Me-Not
 * 58) The Buses (Tayo the Little Bus)
 * 59) * Tayo
 * 60) * Rogi
 * 61) * Lani
 * 62) * Gani
 * 63) Hana the Mechanic
 * 64) Nahuel
 * 65) Chuck E. Cheese
 * 66) The Heeler Family
 * 67) *Bluey Heeler
 * 68) *Bingo Heeler
 * 69) *Bandit Heeler
 * 70) *Chilli Heeler
 * 71) Elinor Rabbit
 * 72) Olive the Elephant
 * 73) Ari the Fruit Bat

List of Bad/Average Characters Aimed at Kids with this Excuse

 * 1) Thomas the Tank Engine (Miller and AEG eras)
 * 2) Percy the Small Engine (late Miller and AEG eras)
 * 3) Nia the Helpful Engine
 * 4) Rebecca the Happy Engine
 * 5) Kana
 * 6) Sandy the Rail Speeder
 * 7) Brake Car Bruno
 * 8) Arry and Bert
 * 9) Charlie the Cheerful Engine
 * 10) Billy (Thomas & Friends)
 * 11) The Machines (Bob the Builder, 2015)
 * 12) Barney the Dinosaur (seasons 9-14, Barney's Great Adventure)
 * 13) BJ (seasons 9-14)
 * 14) Baby Bop (seasons 9-14)
 * 15) Donald Duck (Mickey Mouse 2013, seasons 1-5)
 * 16) Daisy Duck (1999-2004, 2018)
 * 17) Caillou
 * 18) Peppa Pig
 * 19) George Pig
 * 20) Wolfoo
 * 21) Elvis Cridlington (Modern)
 * 22) Station Officer Steele (Modern)
 * 23) Norman Price (seasons 6-present)
 * 24) Thumbelina (Don Bluth)
 * 25) Anastasia (Broadway Musical)
 * 26) Mulan (2020)
 * 27) Oscar (Shark Tale)
 * 28) SpongeBob SquarePants (seasons 6b and 7)
 * 29) Patrick Star (seasons 6-9a)
 * 30) Mr. Krabs (seasons 6-10)
 * 31) Tow Mater (Cars 2; film)
 * 32) Marcell Toing
 * 33) Pancada
 * 34) Daffy Duck (1964-1968; 1980)
 * 35) Dora the Explorer (seasons 5-8)
 * 36) Heather the O'possum (Over the Hedge)
 * 37) Elmo (seasons 27-29, 33-present)
 * 38) Zoe (seasons 30-47)
 * 39) Chuck E. Cheese (Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000)

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