Mutant League

This cartoon came out about the time X-Men:TAS, WildCATS and other shows of the like were pouring in. Where the other cartoon focused mostly about acceptance, tolerance and that there's a hero in those who are clearly different; this show focused more on them already being excepted (for the most part) who were athletes in a sort of Major League of all manner of sports. This show was mainly about corruption in the sports world and how the main hero (Bones Justice) was trying to bring fair play into acceptance among the greedy athletes and revenge on the politician/commissioner/Slaycity Slayers Team owner Zalgor Prigg, for the disappearance of his father.

The show covered anything from women being accepted as athletes, steroid use and even how pushy parents can be. Prigg also goes the distance (as any villain should) to discredit and destroy Bone's career or life any way possible or try to put him under his thumb and shut him up. The show was kind of graphic (even for its time), but it also wasn't too preachy either and was all in good fun. The way a kid's cartoon should be!

This is a low budget cartoon with some oddities, so don't expect it with many pretty little, epileptic inducing effects, but it does go a huge way to entertain. A sort of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe with a mutant twists...sort of! It is very novel, in my opinion, in its idea of doing away with the overly used superhero and replacing it with an icon (an athlete) in his everyday world. I miss oddities like this! Well worth the pirated tape you may find on ebay!

I remember this show when it aired on the FOX channel my area had just started receiving, I had to tape it because I left for school when it started.

This was a unique show, the concept was based on the EA sports games Mutant League Football and Mutant League Hockey. The show was similar to the games by the mutants and names. I always hated that they changed the character Bones Jackson to Bones Justice, but other than that I loved the show.

The show shows the origin of the mutants, who were humans until the ground of a stadium (which was built over an old toxic waste dump) they were playing in cracked everyone in the stadium turned to mutants from the exposure to the waste.

Bones Justice (skeleton) of the Midway Monsters is the main character, the majority of the shows revolved around him, though some were about Razor Kidd, a lizard type monster who was a teammate of Bones.

When it comes to animated video game adaptations just like in one of the sports you have your goals and your misses. This show thankfully is one of those goals which makes it on my list of favorite animated video game adaptations. But also, this show under the radar gem that unlike the small Sega Genesis franchise (which consisted of "Mutant League Football" and "Ice Hockey") it's based on didn't quite catch a lot of fans and even non fans eyes, though as time went on it became sort of a sleeper cult gem.

This show is interesting as it's one of those animated show you don't see every day, which is part of what makes this show special. The plot really isn't all that important as there really isn't much of one except like in most sports stories in mainly focuses on one team and their struggle and rise in the sports world.

I really like the whole premise which I think is awesome and unique for the "Post-Apocalyptic" sci-fi sub-genre, which shows once more you still can do a lot with a genre. We see despite the uncertain and dangerous circumstances as there was a great quake that not just brought ruin to the world with the unknown substance that has turned most of the populous into mutants. It's still a functional society but radically different as we still have some of the usual technology that works even the environment is still clean, but there is also advancements in technology as there are some machines that would be considered futuristic. But we see that most sports are played by mutants and each of the sports we know, and love have some new rules making them a lot more fun as well as a lot more violent and strange. And that's what we're really in this show for the sports and the action and this show has plenty of that.

I really like the animation it's pretty much up to the well detailed standard 90's animation you would see which is cool as I wouldn't want it any other way, anything less in unacceptable.

Characters are pretty good, each of them consists of unique mutants, hopefully in the future they'll be a toy line for both the video game franchise and this series as there wasn't one for both back then which is strange as both properties are ripe orchard trees for it. Each of them aren't really deep characters but each to have personalities. One of them I like is Razor who is a humanoid lizard, he's a really fun one of the bunch as he's sort of easy going and energetic persona, this makes him a good number two for the serious leader of the team. And that leader is Bones Justice which is a cool name but also the character is true to the name as he's the strong leader archetype, who plays strong but believes in fair play and does his best to keep it that way. But I also like his down to earthiness, despite his fame he never lets it get to his head and he's not in it for the fame anyway, he's in it to play and be the best which is most to all any of us ask for in life.

Each of the games they play are cool as their pretty much you exaggerated and slight parody versions of them. It's also kind of an interesting concept of Mutant athletes having to be multi-talented in each sport as they must compete in each of them. This was also a way to keep the show fresh so it wouldn't just solely focus on one sport but also to expand and explore more of this strange sports world. But also looking as them in those other sports it also makes me sad that the video game franchise never made any other volumes for their series, as some of the episode almost looked like video games waiting to happen like one episode which consists of racing and another martial arts; "Mutant Racing and Combat Arts League" man those are video games I would love to see.

One of the things that really make this show stand out is in it's violence factor which I'm surprised they actually got away with and glad because it was once again a sign on how animated shows were starting to take that next step. Which makes sense because in the 90's most animated shows were starting to become a little more mature, which meant a lot more freedom in story direction, creativity, to take risks or go further on concepts and ideas they weren't able to before, but also expand on their audience more as this show really wasn't so much for kids but really for teens and adults. It also shows in the writing, other than being fun there is some smart satire on the sports business and how cutthroat and dangerous as it's doesn't always consist of fair play. Celebrity counterculture some of the ridiculousness of it and even danger. Some of the reality on the pressures of the sports world, how it can be a lot harder staying the best then being the best. But also, in an episode or two some real social issues like drugs and in one two parter racism.

I wouldn't mind if there was some animated revival or live action series if it's in the right hands and as for the live action adaptation the budget and effects are on par. But with both make it more for a mature adult audience where we can go further on the violence aspect but may 'be also each season it would focus on one player and there is some revolving plot arc with them that also affects the rest of the team. If not either at least a comic/graphic comic book series, there are already a few for other video game franchises like "Sonic" and "Street Fighter" we could use some new juice.

Sadly, neither of these options are likely to happen as the video game franchise hasn't had a big resurgence though there was that recent revival game to "Mutant League Football" for the PS4, X-Box One, and Switch which I personally thought was a touchdown, but it just wasn't enough to make it to the Super Bowl of popularity once again. Still, it's a nice thought to consider, let alone should be considered if another "Mutant League" game ever gets made.

So if your looking for a animated video game adaptation, this show is the goal to run toward as it's a touchdown.

Rating: 3 stars.

This series has plenty of depth. It has a nice rounded cast of characters that are very memorable. All the characters are fun and creative and easily stick out against each other once you get past the first two episodes. It is all about sports corruption and mismanagement of staff and players. It tries to show that you can play fair and not have to resort to cheating to win. It is a fun series but very hard to find. The owners of the series make no attempt to put it on any mediums so you will have to resort to creative ways to find it. I would highly recommend it and place it on the same scale as cult classics like: skysurfer strikeforce, mighty max, mummies alive and gargoyles.