Earlier this year, Adult Swim released a nifty iOS app that let users stream Adult Swim shows on their devices for free. Now, the functionality has been ripped out and streams are reserved for cable subscribers only, something no one is particularly happy about. The issue isn’t so much about the lack of streaming shows but rather the events that lead up to this point.

First off all, Adult Swim used to stream its shows for free and not for a week or two or anything, but a matter of months. That being the case, the removal of the functionality seems like little more than a cruel ending to an awesome feature that has now been retconned into a tease. Secondly, it seems that Cartoon Network (or Adult Swim, whoever is really in control) are attempting to spin this change as a feature, promoting the fact that you can now stream shows if you’re a cable subscriber, conveniently failing to mention that you used to be able to do that even if you weren’t.

A while back, fans got a pretty awesome Christmas gift in the form of a season five announcement for The Venture Bros. What better news than a season five for everyone’s favorite intricately detailed parody universe, you ask? A season six, of course! Giving us all the good news on his blog, Jackson Publick announced that the real life Team Venture signed a new contract with Adult Swim for two more seasons of the show, as well as a long-form (60-90 minute) Venture Bros. special, the platform of which–television or direct-to-DVD–has not yet been determined, along with an 11 minute Venture Bros. special that they’ll be animating and producing entirely in-house.

This is certainly good news, as more Venture Bros. is definitely better than less, and we can only barely begin to imagine what’s in store for the most intricate universe on television. Will 21 finally embrace his good guy destiny? Is Molotov really gone? Will Hank and Dean embrace their seemingly mapped-out fate in which they grow up to be the new Brock and Rusty? Will we all still miss 24? How many more times will they say “sphinx?” Thankfully, we’ll have at least two more years and a couple of specials to find out.

(Publick Nuisance via Topless Robot)

Cartoon Network’s nighttime alter ego, Adult Swim, home of The Venture Bros., Tim and Eric, Family Guy reruns, and a running gag about a robot humping machinery, released an iOS app that streams full episodes and clips of their shows, as well as provides a schedule if one is inclined to watch their shows on something other than an Apple product.

The iPad version of the app comes with extremely important extras, such as an Adult Swim music player, a clock, weather info, and a calculator.

Most importantly, the app is on the market for the super low price of free, which is less expensive than most things.

(iTunes Store via How-To Geek)

Topless Robot is in possession of this official image from the new ThunderCats cartoon. While some people might not be too keen on remakes, I actually think this one has potential for a pretty wicked reboot. Is it time for a new generation to have the ThunderCats in their lives? I would have to say “HOOOOOOOOOOOOH” to that. (That means “Yes.”) So, right off the bat, what’s different?

It was announced last summer that 1980s teen sensations Debbie Gibson and Tiffany would be appearing/battling each other in a SyFy movie called “Megapython vs. Gatoroid,” which is scheduled to air this Saturday. Just try and tell me what’s wrong with this sentence, because for me, a girl who sang “Electric Youth” into a hairbrush the year I got my first pair of glasses, this is proof that all is right with the world. Everything is going according to plan.

I first saw this ad while watching Adult Swim, the block on Cartoon Network that shows adult-oriented cartoons. At first, it seemed weird that Luvs was advertising during Adult Swim, but then as I watched the ad, I realized it was exactly where it belonged. Because it’s an MTV Beach Party-style contest in which babies compete to crap themselves. Also: Tag Team? Really? Was this thing written in the late 1990s and shelved because people thought it was too “of the times,” and they’ll unleash it once the late ’90s are “retro”? (PS: This hasn’t happened yet.) Unless this is supposed to target people my age, who came of age during that era of free-wheeling tackiness and are supposed to have babies by now, but are watching Adult Swim instead … oh. I see. Thanks, Luvs. Thanks a lot.

(via AdFreak)

Adult Swim geek opus The Venture Bros. is coming back for a fifth season! Christopher McCulloch, otherwise known as Jackson Publick, gave Venture fans the best Christmas present of all last night on his blog:

P.S. One last Christmas gift: I promised “news” the last time I was here. And though I’m not at liberty to disclose the full details just yet, I am happy to at least be able to tell you that we were not lying in the end credits of our season finale: The Venture Bros. will indeed return. More on that later… Happy Holidays!

To go along with this wonderful news, the Venture team released their annual Christmas song, “Fan Club Christmas Album 2010,” performed by Hank and Dermott’s (awful-but-hilarious) band, Shallow Gravy.

Adult Swim News (otherwise known as the Chinese program Apple Daily) recaps the entirety of the Kevin Smith/Southwest Airlines conflict, from the seating, to the ousting, to the tweeting, to the podcasting, to the… the angry mob marching through the streets?

As always, there’s no translation from the Chinese, so hit the jump for your daily, physician recommended, dose of surreality.

Remember Apple Daily, the Taiwanese tabloid that produces CGI videos depicting the events of major Western news stories? And how their segment on the Tiger Woods scandal started a mini-empire of Internet virality? Adult Swim is now airing the videos as “Adult Swim News” segments. Can a show composed entirely of “viral” “internet” “vids” be far behind?

(That is, one that isn’t on G4?)

Viewers watching Sunday night’s new episode of Family Guy on FOX might have been surprised to see what looked like one of Adult Swim’s telltale white-font-on-black-background ads. Only it wasn’t during the commercial break: it was in the middle of the episode. And it plugged Adult Swim as “funnier” than Fox for not cutting out jokes. What gives? Video after the jump: