YMMV / Suske en Wiske

• Americans Hate Tingle: When the album Het Dreigende Dinges (The Threatening Something), a story that partially took place in Japan and had the tale of A Dog of Flanders driving the plot, was translated and published in Japan, it was met with scathing reactions, mostly due to the tale being interpreted as "just another kid's story" and the errors considering Japanese customs, not to mention all Japanese had a yellow-ish skin color.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Despite being Belgian, the series is far more popular in The Netherlands nowadays than in their homecountry. Of course, this is mainly because most of the Belgian references have been replaced by Dutch ones. The characters all speak standard Dutch now, use the Dutch airlines KLM and spent more time in Dutch locations then in Belgian ones. There was even a trasition scene in the main series where the characters explicitly explained the name changes (most notably, Wiske's doll was renamed Schanulleke from the original Schalulleke, which sounds rather rude in Dutch ("lul" being a Dutch swearword for asshole, and also a pseudonym for dick).
• Stock Footage Failure: In the late 1980s and early 1990s a TV cartoon series was made in Flanders. While the designs of the character resembled those in the comics, the cartoons themselves were so cheaply made that almost every scene was stock footage. For instance, whenever a specific character was walking from one point to another, they always played the same clip. The animators also animated only one expression of a certain emotion for each main cast member. If for instance a specific character became angry, it was always the same scene without any sort of variation. As one can imagine, watching these cartoons can become rather tedious after a while, especially since they follow the stories of the comic book albums almost frame-by-frame in extremely slow pacing.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The series started out whimsical, funny, exciting and original, with many fantastical elements in the stories. Over the course of the series, the art and stories got more realistic over time, with heavy layers of aesops on top.
  • From the 1960s on the stories became increasingly moralistic, even ending each story with a literally explained heavy handed message or ethical life lesson.
  • Since the 1990s too many storylines revolve around Wiske being jealous of Suske whenever he gets attention from other girls.
  • Ever since the death of the original author, Willy Vandersteen, in 1990, many stories have lacked any form of suspense, comedy, inspiration or charm. It got to the point that the newer stories are almost unrecognizable, compared to the classics. Even the studio itself felt it had to fire one of its employees, because his eccentric ideas became too obnoxiously awful and stupid.
  • Re-releasing older albums and "updating" them (read: removing old gags, refreshing the text etc.) does not sit well with old time fans and collectors.
  • The main characters briefly received an update to their clothing style, which was dropped after a few issues due to a huge amount of complaints coming from the fanbase.
  • The stories are being driven by the side characters at this point in time, as both Suske and Wiske come off as rather bland compared to any other character. They are little more than walking/talking moral compasses for other characters and the reader at this point.
    • To be fair, Wiske is slighly less bland than Suske, due to her personality quirks.
  • One could also make a point that aside from the background art and stories, very little does actually change. Character poses and expressions seem to be little more than templates being used page after page, album after album.
• Values Dissonance: considering what a Long Runner the series is, the older comics can contain elements that would be considered inappropriate or racist today, like depicting Chinese and Japanese people with yellow skin.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: Especially the early black-and-white albums often had Take That! references to Belgian politics, often from a conservative Christian, Flemish nationalistic viewpoint. In later albums and the reprints many of these jokes were removed. Today the comic strip is mostly a-political. Occasionally jokes about dishonest politicians will be made, but almost never with specific targets in mind.
  • The album "De Stalen Bloempot"^note "The Steel Flowerpot" (1950) is a thinly disguised conservative satire at the "Koningskwestie"^note King Problem in Belgium at that time. Because of his Nazi sympathies during World War II many Belgians felt that their king, Leopold III, should abdicate. Other, more conservative Belgians were against this decision. The debate become so heated that Leopold III decided to abdicate to prevent a civil war. In "De Stalen Bloempot" Suske returns to the isle of Amoras, because he is the rightful king to the country. A villainous cult tries to prevent Suske from becoming king and wants a Tower of Babel on the isle instead of a cathedral. The people want "the king" to return, but the cult is against it.
  • In "De Charmante Koffiepot"^note "The Charming Coffeepot" Lambik and a talking coffee pot hitch a ride with a Maoist driver, who is revealed to be a hypocritical communist zealot.
  • The album "De Koeiencommissie"^note "The Cow Commision" and "De Rebelse Reynaert"^note "The Rebel Reynaert" both have very direct and nowadays incredibly outdated references to Belgian politics and scandals of the 1990s.