As a fan of Spider-Man for the past 30 years, I can honestly say I love BOTH cartoons, and both Spec and Ult are a far cry better than the 90's poorly animated snoozefest. I like Ultimate because the humor is more entertaining. More like a teenager's random thoughts. Spectacular focused a tad too much on Peter's angst. While it IS a part of the character's mythos, it also gets a tad tiring especially after Sam Raimi's angst-filled, humorless drivel.
Well, when you write your book, you can have MJ be whatever you want. So funny you should talk about "destroying the flagship". People were saying the same thing in the 80's, 90's, and now. Every generation of fan complains about the "death of the franchise" and how "the XX's were the best years of the comics."
As for Sony, I would honestly LOVE for Disney to snag the rights back for all of the Marvel characters. The Paramount/Disney/Marvel teamups have been stellar compared to the crap spewed out from Fox and Sony.
Why does a CARTOON have to be mature? why does it have to be emotional? The 80's Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends was an EXCELLENT cartoon, and was obviously aimed at kids. There was zero continuity, much like the majority of comics in the golden age. They didn't weave intricate, multi-issue soap operas, they were fluffy bits of light reading for kids. Characters also weren't SPOT ON, either. I remember when Spectacular first aired, and everyone here had their panties in a twist over Eddie Brock being "totally out of character". There were also complaints about the animation. No one wanted a "kiddie show" everyone wanted "Days of Our Spider-Lives". Problem with anyone old enough to sign onto a forum is, they demand companies cater to them, rather than the ACTUAL market for a saturday cartoon: KIDS. 35+yr old basement-dwelling nerds is a small market compared to the 7 to 12yr olds out there, who are the ACTUAL demographics for cartoons.
Good. I'm glad. I was watching "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" the other day on Netflix, and it was fun to just turn on a random episode and have fun. Can't do that with Spec. Strict continuity is not a mandatory thing. South Park and Simpsons have been going strong for decades with only the most minimal of continuity. They put entertainment first.
Hulk-Goblin wasn't my favorite... looked more like the Green Ogre than a goblin. Goblins are slight, willowy, gleeful mischief makers, not behemoths.
Loved the "punk with a heart of gold" take on Gwen. Turning her into Carnage was a tad ... off putting... but if I recall correctly, they cured her of that.