Xtacles
The series revolves around the conflict between the supervillain Killface and superhero Awesome X. Much of the show's humor revolves around parodying superhero and action movie cliches.
It debuted October 16, 2006 at 12:30 AM Eastern on Adult Swim and ended its first season on January 22, 2007. This sly avoidance of the town's name becomes a running joke throughout the series – although, in the episode "Pimp My Revenue", the logo of the "Mitzi and Verl Show" has a silhouette of the Downtown Atlanta skyline in the background.
In episode 212, there is a detailed view of Atlanta skyline, while the map on the GPS also appeared to be Atlanta. During an episode where Killface and his election crew are conferencing on the phone with Polling Consultant Mr.
The Haggar Pants Arena, where the Presidental Debate between Killface and Xander took place, is clearly the Georgia Dome with a giant pair of dress pants attached to the roof. In addition, the fictional MySpace profiles for several of the show's main characters list their locations as "Atlanta, Georgia" (though this is also most likely a reference to the location of the home offices of Cartoon Network and 70/30 Studios).
Animation style
The series' animation has a distinctive look.
Characters are rendered in a very 'clean line' style, with little fine detail. In any particular scene, the characters' movement is limited, presumably to limit animation time and cost.
Menial tasks such as scratching an itch or walking, are usually non-existent or shown in a manner where animation isn't necessary, but the character seems to glide across the background.
The color palette is typically muted or neutral, with an emphasis on shades of brown, black and white. Bright, primary colors are used sparingly, primarily to emphasize strange things (such as radioactive ants) or explosions.
Writing style
The writing is characterized by a heavy emphasis on repetition, such as multiple one-word catch phrases, sentences, sight gags, and plot sequences.
The series also makes use of overlapping dialog and dialog spanning between scenes. As the story became more complicated, a recap introduction was added to the beginning of new episodes.
These segments could contain reused footage, previously-seen sequences rewritten for comedy or brevity, or completely new material to move the story forward.
Origins
The show was created by 70/30 Productions, the same animators who worked on Sealab 2021. The show's name during development was "Whiskey Tango." There was already a band using the name, so to prevent legal action, the show's name was changed to "Whiskey Tango Six." This name, however, was determined not to be sufficiently distinct to avoid infringement suits, so the creators jokingly said they would call the show "Frisky Dingo," and the name stuck.
According to an article in Atlanta Magazine, Whiskey Tango Six was going to be the name of the six-member superhero group on which the show focused, headed by husband and wife Jack and Grace Taggart.
Killface was going to be the main villain, but not a major character. During revisions of the show's scripts, Killface became the focus of the show.
Xander Crews follows suit, re-forming his company and launching his own Presidential campaign.