Loonatics Unleashed

Loonatics Unleashed began as a pitch by Christian and Yvon Tremblay, originally titled The Loonatics, which reimagined classic Looney Tunes characters. Warner Bros. Animation President Sander Schwartz responded favorably and gave a formal production commitment after testing the concept with a focus group of kids.

The Loonatics were first unveiled to the public in February 2005 through a live-action/animated promotional short featuring early character designs and names, including Zadavia, who was originally called Maxima.

Ace Bunny's original planned name was Buzz Bunny, but it was likely changed due to a similarly named character created by Metin Seven and because it shared a name with a sex toy.

The unveiling of the Loonatics' angular, imposing character designs sparked backlash among Looney Tunes fans, leading to a petition demanding design changes that gathered 85,000 signatures.

In response to fan backlash, Warner Bros. Animation stated that the circulated drawings were only early preliminary designs, which had since been modified to have softer, less imposing features.

Sam Register, who became WB's executive vice president of creative affairs in 2008, later described the show's character designs as 'a reminder of what not to do.'

For the 2006–07 season, The CW's press release described Loonatics Unleashed as a 'breakout hit,' crediting it with helping Kids' WB become No. 1 in key demographics like boys 6-11 and tweens 9-14, and it tied for second place overall against Nickelodeon's The Fairly OddParents.

Despite earlier praise, by March 2007 The CW's lineup presentation for the 2007–08 Saturday Morning schedule no longer included Loonatics Unleashed.

The series has been referenced in later media, including a cameo of Ace Bunny in New Looney Tunes, jokes about the show in Teen Titans Go! episodes 'Huggbees' and 'Unleashed,' and appearances of several Loonatics characters in the Animaniacs reboot episode 'Suffragette City.'