Noods

Launched	Defunct
July 14, 2008	May 28, 2010

Studio

Capacity

Announcers

Greg Cipes (2008)
Will Arnett (2008–2010)

Composer(s)

Dave Hummel

CN president(s)

Stuart Snyder

Preceded by	Succeeded by
Fall	CHECK it

Concurrent
Let's Go!

Noods (also known as Rebrand 2008/09 and 2008 On-Air Redesign) was the eighth branding of Cartoon Network. It debuted on July 14, 2008, replacing the Fall brand. The brand was replaced with the CHECK it era on May 29, 2010. Transformers: Animated was the first show to air under the Noods era after Adult Swim signed out at 6:00am.

Official Description[]

"Cartoon Network’s brand identity is inseparable from the identities of the countless interesting and lovable characters which inhabit the CN airwaves. The characters themselves are the brand and their collective power makes Cartoon Network what it is. With this redesign, the team at CN wanted to create an undeniably strong connection between the network and its content. Using one unifying body shape (designed by urban vinyl legends Kidrobot) we collaborated with Cartoon Network’s creative team to develop an interchangeable system of elements that gathered all of CN’s characters into one place. These blank figures, called Noods, are the canvases upon which characters of all shapes, sizes, and styles can coexist. The CN logo is also an extension of this vocabulary as the colors and patterns from the characters – their DNA – find their way onto the network’s blocky logotype for the first time. The resulting world is a playground of rich colors and unlimited combinations, ownable only by Cartoon Network."- Capacity^[1]

Bumpers[]

Made in a collaboration with Kidrobot and Capacity, the bumpers showed various dummy figures (called Noods) interacting with colors and turning into various Cartoon Network characters from the time. Their counterparts in Latin America are Toonix. From January 19 to May 28, 2010, the Nood bumpers ran concurrently with the Let's Go! era, with the former only being used in daytime hours (6am-6pm).

Most of the "Up Next" bumpers from this era show a Nood character posing as the character from the TV show for each show is up next. However in February 2010, these bumpers were only used during daytime hours of the channel, as the prime-time bumpers were completely different and were apart of the Let's Go rebrand.

Interestingly, the era's color bars were first introduced in the Har Har Tharsdays block, which premiered a month before the Noods era started. The Noods themselves weren't added to the block until the rebrand happened, replacing the bouncing character balls used in early promos and bumpers for the block until the fall of 2008.^[2]

From January 5, 2009 to January 18, 2010, Cartoon Network aired its primetime bumpers (used from Sunday-Friday) which featured a Nood with a billboard and filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. These bumpers include Total Drama Island, Chowder, Flapjack, Johnny Test, Ben 10: Alien Force, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Secret Saturdays, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and Ed, Edd n Eddy, as well as the generic one that simply featured the colorful Noods.

Two split-screen credit types were in this era used: a column layout with the promo on the left, and a horizontal type with the promo on the top stretched to fill the screen width. They were customized depending on the block or holiday.

Programming[]

From this period, the network began to experiment with different age groups such as young adults and teenagers after the success of Total Drama Island, to turn the Thursday night lineup into Har Har Tharsdays and replacing the Toonami brand and Fried Dynamite with You Are Here. Cartoon Network would also introduce a new strategy for their live-action output: "alternative" reality series (CN Real) and scripted teen dramas (which was greenlit during this era, but wouldn't air until the following era). Original Cartoon Network movies greenlit or premiered during this era would be based on established IPs either from Cartoon Network or other companies which appeal towards their target demographic, such as Scooby-Doo! and Ben 10.

By this time, all the original Cartoon Cartoons (notably, Ed, Edd n Eddy was the last surviving Cartoon Cartoon in this era) had ended their runs, though they still continued to air reruns. Cartoon Network would also produce more live-action original series and air it on their new live-action block, CN Real. Toonami had also ended after 11 years on September 20, 2008. There were only four series still regularly producing new episodes in this era.

Ed, Edd n Eddy (ended November 8, 2009)
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (ended May 3, 2009)
My Gym Partner's a Monkey (ended November 27, 2008)
Chowder
Transformers: Animated (ended May 23, 2009)
Ben 10: Alien Force (ended March 26, 2010)
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack
The Secret Saturdays (premiered October 3, 2008 and ended January 30, 2010)
Adventure Time (premiered April 5, 2010)
Ben 10: Ultimate Alien (premiered April 23, 2010)
Generator Rex (premiered April 23, 2010)

Appearances in other media[]

The Noods were featured in the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode, "Crossover Nexus". During the crossover, they appear being defeated by Strike (the episode's main antagonist), at the end of the crossover itself, they appear after CN City is restored by Strike's pen.

Trivia[]

The Noods were based on a D.I.Y. toy called Dunny.
A Nood can be seen in a cameo on the CHECK it rebrand's stuffed nose bumper.
- This is also the case on a Check or Fail bumper, where a Nood was peeking through the key hole in the bumper.
A variation of the Noods Flicks intro was used during the first month of the CHECK it rebrand, with some minor alterations to match the rebrand. It was replaced in July of 2010 with the normal CHECK it Flicks intro, as the Noods one was likely used as a placeholder.
On the Cartoon Network website, a Nood was the default profile picture for accounts on the site. The Nood profile was removed in 2018, along with accounts on the site.
On January 12, 2009, an afterschool block debuted in the weekday afternoon hours, featuring papercraft-themed bumpers and cardboard-styled graphics. This lasted until the CHECK it era began.
Dude, What Would Happen was the final program to air under the Noods era and using the 2004-2010 Cartoon Network logo as Adult Swim signed on after it at 10:00pm, and the CHECK it era began and 2010 and current CN logo was unveiled when Adult Swim signed off at 6:00am.
During the first 3 months of the rebrand, the "Coming Up Next" bumpers were dubbed by Greg Cipes.
Although Pikachu, Scooby, Bloo, and the young version of Gwen appear in the bumpers, Pokémon, Scooby-Doo!, Foster's, and the original Ben 10 series do not have their own show-specific bumpers.
All Capacity made Noods bumpers were produced in HD widescreen.
As seen in the Nood rebrand montage, the Top 5 block was originally going to continue airing during the Noods era. For unknown reasons, the block was cancelled and the Nood bumpers made for it went unused.
Capacity produced around 253 bumpers during the Noods era.^[3]
Noods were also used in Spain in the CNxion block.