History YMMV / Animaniacs2020

** The episode ''[=WARnerGAMES=]'' has Wakko playing a game very similar to VideoGame/SuperSmashBros, showing off a pair of sisters who are obvious [[{{Expy}} expies]] of [[Characters/SuperMarioBrosMarioBrothers Mario and Luigi]] (with the color scheme of a [[Characters/WarioAndWaluigi different]] pair of siblings. The Donkey Kong [[{{Expy}} expy]] has the name Jackass Monkey. What makes it this trope is that back in the 80s there was a bootleg of the original Donkey Kong arcade game called... "Monkey Donkey".

** The episode ''WARnerGAMES'' has Wakko playing a game very similar to VideoGame/SuperSmashBros, showing off a pair of sisters who are obvious [[Expy expies]] of [[Characters/SuperMarioBrosMarioBrothers Mario and Luigi]] (with the color scheme of a [[Characters/WarioAndWaluigi different]] pair of siblings. The Donkey Kong Expy has the name Jackass Monkey. What makes it this trope is that back in the 80s there was a bootleg of the original Donkey Kong arcade game called... "Monkey Donkey".

** The song about television show reboots mentions [[WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017 the 2017 reboot]] of ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' (at the time of the show's writing, a year old), when only a few days after the premiere of this show, it was announced that the 2017 ''[=DuckTales=]'' would be ending after three seasons.

** The younger side of the fandom, mostly on Website/{{Twitter}} and Website/{{Tumblr}}, likes to headcanon ''all three'' of the Warner kids [[TransAudienceInterpretation as LGBT]]: usually Yakko as bi, Wakko as non-binary, and Dot as a trans girl. Wakko being non-binary in particular is backed up by [[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/552904117534588935/780132351886753882/EncEFxfXEAYlJq3.png a gag in the comic]] where Wakko claims to be of the "other" gender so that the siblings could have a gender-balanced ensemble, and some of the crew members like the idea of non-binary Wakko.
*** Following the trans Dot headcanon. "Dottie" is often considered by these fans to be her deadname, and her [[OverlyLongName infamously long full-name]] is a result of her not being able to decide one name for her new name, so she just picked as many as she could.

* JerkassWoobie: Julia. She's trying to kill Brain, but only because Brain's attempt to manipulate her with a faulty MindControlDevice drove her crazy, and even Brain feels guilty about it.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The first episode openly acknowledges that the show was written in 2018 while debuting in 2020, preventing any truly current cultural references, leading to:
** Mentions of 2020 being an election year, but acknowledging that the show can't make any jokes about it because the writers can't predict the outcome. Perhaps even more than the Presidents involved, it especially stands out how Dot's song about the First Ladies makes no mention of Dr. Jill Biden, who had became First Lady-elect only a couple of weeks prior to the series' premiere.
** References to the ''Series/TheXFiles'' and ''Series/MurphyBrown'' revivals, neither of which made it past 2018.
** Olympics jokes, which were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
** Also due to the pandemic, the Manny Manspreader segment became completely irrelevant due to the fact that most people hadn't been able to properly conduct man-spreading for the past 8 months prior due to a majority of theaters still being closed when the show premiered, and how the theaters that were open had to follow social distancing guidelines and space out the people that are watching the movies in the process.
** Fidget spinners get referenced in a Pinky and the Brain short, immediately putting the viewer right back to the time it was written. While they do joke about the fact it was indeed a fad, people weren't removed far enough from their demise to feel nostalgia for them yet and as a result it comes across as this.
** Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that this also applies a bit to The Apology segment, with a subtly-hidden joke where the like to dislike ratio for the Warners' video starts to favor the latter when they take it back halfway towards the end. Less than a week after its premiere, Website/{{YouTube}} announced a permanent disabling of the dislike count in the public view as a result of what they claimed to be an overly strong abuse of the feature.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in "The Warner's Vault", where a heavy-handed lecture about "current" economic turmoil is complimented with a blinking sign that reads "DATED MATERIAL WARNING."

*** Brie utterly humiliates him and Pinky during a Congressional hearing against her. When Brain says that her being named for a cheese proves that she must be a mouse, Brie smirks. She says that cheese is an American staple and downright patriotic. Then she browbeats Pinky into confessing the truth. Brain can only tell Pinky it wasn't his fault that he cracked, as they're fleeing for their lives.

*** Brain has genetically altered his "wife" Julia and sees her as a mere pawn for becoming a senator and later a governor. When Julia flips the script and tells him he could be a nicer mouse, Brain responds by brainwashing her, turning her into a feral monster and costing them both the election. The catharsis is that Julia somehow regained her sapience and is monitoring Brain, ostensibly for revenge; in addition, Pinky is putting salt into Brain's coffee, which is a natural emetic that makes the drinker throw up. You can't blame Julia for looking smug and going for PassThePopcorn.

* CrossoverShip: It has become popular among some fans, particularly on Tumblr, to ship Yakko with [[WesternAnimation/AGoofyMovie Max Goof]].

** Related to this, both ''Starbox And Cindy'' and ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' end with effective cliffhangers, with the latter having [[EnsembleDarkhorse Julia]] return as a flat out DistaffCounterpart to Brain, since, similar to WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017, the production team were still laying groundwork for what they assumed was a guaranteed Season 4.

* JerkassWoobie: Julia. She's trying to kill Brain, but only because Brain's attempt to manipulate her with a faulty MindControlDevice drove her insane, and even Brain feels guilty about it.

** Another character from the ''Pinky and the Brain'' segments, Julia, has received as much of a following among standard furries for her [[MsFanservice design]], humble personality, and her character arc of MoralityPet-turned-FemmeFatale.

** Some criticism on ''Pinky & the Brain'' is how much harsher Brain is in regards to his plans and Pinky. In the original, he was calmer and more tactical but still had morals, and his treatment of Pinky leaned more towards annoyance and (in)tolerance. Despite that, Brain did show on several occasions he cared for Pinky's welfare. Here, Brain is more openly hostile to Pinky and seems to insult and abuse him more readily, Brain has a much colder demeanor, and he likewise mentions things like using child labor to make bombs or throwing his fellow mice under the bus in pursuit of world domination. Not to mention the fact he straight up tortures Julia the moment she doesn't want to go along with his plans and is completely apathetic to her suffering.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Marie Antoinette, the queen of France, and the first female historical figure to get slapstick treatment on the show. She's portrayed as a SpoiledBrat WomanChild, but as in real life, Marie is ObliviouslyEvil. She doesn't know any better about the people being poor, and cannot understand it due to her upbringing. The Warners pose as servants to get entrance to Versailles and eat all the cake she has; her response is to chide them for not doing their jobs and wait on her. They didn't even try their usual shtick of asking politely first and getting incentivized to fight back when they insult her. It wasn't very polite calling them "Lazy servants", but her request was completely reasonable. Also, if you know your French history, Marie wasn't the one responsible for the poverty of her people; she was merely a scapegoat due to being a foreigner [[note]] she came from Austria[[/note]] and having expensive tastes while the whole system needed an overhaul.  What's more, while she may or may not have sentenced the Warners to death for stealing from her (see AlternateCharacterInterpretation above), she doesn't deserve Yakko happily announcing she'll be sentenced to prison and executed in due time as she was in history. 

** Despite being based on a show intended for all ages that originally ran on kid-oriented programming blocks, the show is significantly RuderAndCruder than its original iteration and features a ''lot'' of references to pop culture and current events that you actually need to be somewhat familiar with in order to follow the plots, even if both seasons so far are rated TV-PG.

** Has Julia actually [[spoiler:pulled a FaceHeelTurn, or is she merely planning revenge on Brain for the MindRape? The last scene makes it ambiguous, with her looking smug at Pinky putting salt in Brain's coffee. (For those who don't know, salty coffee makes the drinker throw up.) After all, she was mad at Brain how he was abusing Pinky as well]].

** "Narf Over Troubled Water" has Pinky and Brain run away to Paris together after they reunite. A tablecloth even rips in such a way that it looks like Brain is wearing a wedding veil. The kicker? The entire scene is a re-enactment of the ending of ''Film/TheGraduate''. And yes, it's complete with the classic [[TheGraduateHomageShot homage shot.]]

** Related to this, both ''Starbox And Cindy'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain]]'' end with effective cliffhangers, with the latter having [[EnsembleDarkhorse Julia]] return as a flat out DistaffCounterpart to Brain, since, similar to WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017, the production team were still laying groundwork for what they assumed was a guaranteed Season 4.

** The even more painful thing? The ''"...see our new contracts"'' line has a BlinkAndYoullMissIt TakeThat to the early cancellation, when it ''instead of 3 New Seasons'' it has 2 and 10/13, implying that the season ''itself'' was CutShort!

** [[spoiler: The series was cancelled while Season 3 was late in the production cycle, causing the show to go for the rushed RocksFallEveryoneDies ending scene. This is even harsher though in the many episodes leading up to the finale having characters joking about "appearing in Season 4" making it seem like the series had been attempting to negotiate for a fourth season before getting the final cancelation notice, and had left in the jokes about a Season 4 just as ominous foreshadowing for the finale.]]

** Pinky and Abigail's song in "Royal Flush" for [[WesternAnimation/Aladdin "A Whole New World"]].

** "Pinko and the Brain" emphasize that you must always stand up to InsaneTrollLogic persecution with a really heavy-handed Red Scare analogies. Notably, it's one of the few episodes where even Pinky is super-uncomfortable with Brain starting an anti-mouse campaign while posing as a US senator, and telling him it's a bad idea. We see images of children being arrested, and Congress shaking in fear about being accused. Brie ends up being the OnlySaneWoman who stands up to Brain and turns his own logic against him by saying that accusing her of being a mouse due to her being named after cheese is stupid because cheese is an American staple, so Brain must not be patriotic. Even Brain seems to admit that he went too far when they're busted and fleeing, telling Pinky it wasn't his fault for cracking under pressure.

** In "Royal Flush", Pinky refers to he and Brain hiding in a cozy barn as "romantic". Later, Abigail sees [[SkyFace the face of her]] [[SickeninglySweethearts beloved fiance]] in the stars ... and Pinky sees Brain.
** Wakko is willing to seduce Beastwipe to escape from TheGameComeToLife in "WARnerGAMES".

** Pinky and Abigail's song in "Royal Flush" for [[Film/Aladdin "A Whole New World"]].
** "Here Comes the Sea" for [[Film/TheLittleMermaid "Under the Sea"]].

*** Following this the trans Dot headcanon. "Dottie" is often considered by these fans to be her deadname and that her [[OverlyLongName infamously long full-name]] is a result of not being able to decide new name, so she just picked as many names as she could.

* AcceptablePoliticalTargets:
** As with before, the Warners aren't afraid to take potshots at American politicians. UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump in particular is the target of several jokes, notably being depicted as an {{expy}} of Polyphemus from ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' in "Warners Unbound" (as well as being the obstacle in that episode that finally makes Odysseus give up and beg for mercy) and to an even greater extent as UsefulNotes/{{Nero}} in "Rome Sweet Rome".
** As was the case in the past when UsefulNotes/BillClinton was in office, UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton is made fun of at least twice.
** The Russian government, non-stop. "Anima-Nyet" was about a Russian version of ''Animaniacs'' used as propaganda for UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin.
*** They even manage to make a potshot at both Putin ''and'' Trump in one fell swoop at the end of the segment:
---->'''Russian guide:''' I apologize for my countrymen. Russians are good people. We just have egotistical idiot in power.\\
'''Yakko:''' We know the feeling, comrade.
*** In the same episode there's also a jab at UsefulNotes/{{Venezuela}}.
** They even make fun of Creator/FoxNewsChannel, with a channel called "Faux News" appearing in one episode and one called “Fake News” in another (both of which have logos modeled after Fox News). "That's Not the Issue" features an {{expy}} of Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson arguing with the Warners.
** Even Melania Trump gets a potshot in the First Ladies song, as her name is sung between Pat Nixon[[note]]FLOTUS of Richard Nixon, considered one of the worst Presidents[[/note]] and Laura Bush[[note]][[NeverLiveItDown who killed a person in a car crash after her 17th birthday]][[/note]].
** Dictators in "The Pinktator" (Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Nicholas Maduro), who are of course some of the most acceptable targets of all.

* AlternativeJokeInterpretation: The "Catch Up Song" includes a reference to "cage free, vegan, paleo sausage." Nothing "cage free" is vegan, paleo discourages cage free in favor of pasture raised, and there were no vegan sausages made of only paleo ingredients on the market at the time. If meant to be taken literally, the joke doesn't work due to these inaccuracies, but it can be viewed as an over-the-top parody of modern food labels that couldn't actually exist.

** A ''lightning round'' of it caused by AnimationLeadTime. The first episode has a gag that seems to have been intended to reference the [[YouTubeKidsChannel Johnny Johnny Yes Papa]] videos, with a poster showing Creator/JohnnyDepp starring in a film called "Johnny 2: Telling Lies"[[note]]Relevant lyrics from the Johnny Johnny Yes Papa videos: "Johnny Johnny / Yes Papa? / Eating sugar? / No Papa! / Telling lies?"[[/note]]. This apparently being intended as a meme reference is underscored by immediately following the "Telling Lies" poster with one for "Johnny: The Beginning" that features what appears to be a baby in the style of Johnny Johnny Yes Papa eating sugar. Unfortunately, while the meme reference was relevant in 2018 when the episode was written, plenty of people didn't catch it in 2020, instead believing the "Telling Lies" title was accusing Depp of lying about being a victim of domestic abuse, leading to cries of poor taste.

** The Warners confronting foreign copycats of themselves and singing a song about how being original is better than copying others becomes absolutely side-splitting when you realize ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' ''did the exact same thing first'' with their episode "The Copycats". Even with the AnimationLeadTime, "The Copycats" came out in 2017, a full year before the ''Animaniacs'' episode would have been written.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The second season contains less overt political humor and almost entirely removes the GrossoutShow elements, two parts of the first season that were often criticized.
** After [[spoiler:Chicken Boo was [[AdaptationalVillainy turned into a villain]] in "Good Warner Hunting", some fans were sort of offended by it, so his reappearance in Season 2 was much more light-hearted, having him be a newly hatched chick in a nice little origin story]].
** Brain's abuse of Pinky was a bit more exaggerated in the first season; while Brain mistreated Pinky in the original series, it was made clear on numerous occasions that Brain is a JerkWithAHeartOfGold who really does care about Pinky as a friend. The second season tones down the treatment a little and gives Brain PetTheDog moments where he is nicer to Pinky.

** TheReasonYouSuckSpeech on comparing Putin's hairline to global influence in "The Pinktator" became this as Ukraine Invasion in 2022 tanked the country's reputation (both from atrocities and the abysmal failure to take the country quickly).

** As for the absence of the older characters, Hello Nurse seems to stand out a lot: is getting rid of her for good because [[ValuesDissonance of her looks]], or should she have returned with her stereotype-breaking CharacterDevelopment from the original show's later seasons and ''WesternAnimation/WakkosWish'' as a strong, intelligent, independent woman? Tom Ruegger has sided with the latter group, saying that if he were to be brought back, he would've had Hello Nurse replace Mr. Plotz as the CEO of Warner Bros. rather than create Nora Rita Norita.
%%** Let's just say the show's portrayal of Donald Trump and allies is rather divisive.