ThunderCats (2011 series)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Accidental Innuendo: "Omens Part One" sees Lion-O and Tygra act out a longstanding Sibling Rivalry by competing in a racing Chase Fight game, the object of which is to climb a tree and ring a bell while fighting off one's competitor. Lion-O announces that he'll ring the bell, whereupon Tygra replies "And I'm gonna ring yours," smiling and tipping a wink. The series' fans, unaware of the phrase's usage in sport (Tygra has threatened to beat Lion-O into a concussion), and remembering that Tygra has previously smiled and winked to explicitly flirt, seized on the exchange's oddly sexual undertone to launch a Not Blood Siblings Ho Yay ship.
  • Alternate Aesop Interpretation:
    • "Song of the Petalars": "Retreat is cowardice"
    • "The Duelist and the Drifter": "Don't depend on the awesomeness of your sword, depend on your spontaneously generated superpowers."
    • "The Forest of Magi Oar": "Greed will almost always lead to self-destruction."
  • And the Fandom Rejoiced:
    • When the first official image from the reboot was released in January 2011, the fan reaction was overwhelmingly positive.
    • Some who weren't swayed by the promo art were won over by its trailer or a subsequent 9-minute preview.
    • Also? The announcement that Snarf cannot talk in this continuity.
    • Pumyra's made her official debut. Shippers are quite happy.
  • Anvilicious: "Ramlak Rising"'s "revenge is bad" Aesop.
  • Ass Pull: For some people, the season-end hook-up between Tygra and Cheetara came from way out of left field.
  • Awesome Music:
    • No one expected the music to be that epic.
    • Though things looked grim when "Omens" first premiered and No Theme Tune was evident, "Ramlak Rising" gave viewers a hypercompressed spin on a classic. There's the Iconic Logo, the Fanfare, the Epic Riff, even the words are "audible." Verdict: Stripped down, but still epic.
    • While its usage is not exclusive to the Thundercats series, the epic and amazing music used for the trailers and promos, "Protectors of the Earth", is definitely worth a mention here.
    • Wilykit's playing during Claudus' funeral. Heart-tugging.
    • Or Emrick the Petalar's funeral.
    • Lion-O's theme, which gets broken out any time he does something particularly awesome, is heroic beyond description.
  • Base Breaker:
    • Like their 80's counterparts, the Berbils.
    • To say nothing of Tygra. His constant jealously of Lion-O has earned him a fair share of dislikers.
    • Lion-O and Cheetara have become this since episode 14, thanks to the Love Triangle.
  • Better on DVD: This is rapidly becoming apparent. One complaint against the series is that it's very hard to leap in halfway and know what's going on. The creators have stated that they tried to plot the show into tightly focused, 13 episode arcs because they know how hard it is to get a second season these days and wanted to make sure the audience got a complete story just in case things don't go their way. Some episodes don't really end as much as they just stop only to pick up right where they left off the next week.
    • By Word of God the show is broken up into mini-arcs (of roughly seven episodes apiece, give or take) within the overarching season arc. Of particular note, the episodes "The Pit," "Curse of Ratilla," and "Birth of the Blades" were conceived and written as one single narrative.
  • Cargo Ship: Panthro's only love interest is the Thundertank.
  • Cliché Storm: The most common complaint leveled against the premiere, other than ones related to They Changed It, Now It Sucks.
  • Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch/Nostalgia Filter/They Changed It Now It Sucks:
    • Before the first episode aired, people who grew up with the original 80's show denounced the 2011 "too anime" character designs, though the original designs are both dated, and themselves Animesque in their time.
    • However the show has received near-unanimous praise on Thundercats.ws, one of the largest Thundercats fan-boards out there.
    • One review did suggest that most of those already denouncing the new show have not seen the original since they were children.
    • When a clip revealed that Mumm-Ra has his own tank in episode 6, some people flat out stated the show may be Ruined FOREVER because of it. Talk about jumping the gun.
  • Complete Monster: Mumm-Ra once commanded a number of races he kept enslaved using explosive collars that he placed around their necks. In his quest to rule the universe, Mumm-Ra, as we see in flashbacks, ordered the destruction of a star system in a highly-inhabited solar system, killing billions in the process simply so he could use the remains of the star to forge the Sword of Plun-Darr. Defeated and sealed inside a coffin, Mumm-Ra is freed by Grune and soon attacks Thundera with his army, killing Lion-O's father Claudus and enslaving most of the Thundercats. After taking over Thundera, Mumm-Ra proceeds to torture Jaga for information. In "Between Brothers," Mumm-Ra tries to trick Lion-O and Panthro into killing each other. In the two-part series finale, "What Lies Above," Mumm-Ra threatens to destroy the Thunderkits when they interfere with his plans, and then tries to collapse an entire city to kill his enemies. There was no line he would not cross in his quest to become Dark Messiah of all races.
    • Grune was once a highly respected general of Thundera and a friend to King Claudus and Panthro and had ambitions to one day be king. When he learned neither he nor Panthro were promoted to General of the Army he was furious, despite being given a task to find the Book of Omens with Panthro. During their quest, Grune fell under the impression Claudus knew of his desire to rule Thundera and sent him on a pointless quest to get rid of him, turning his ambitions into bitter obsession. This led him to hearing Mumm-Ra call out to him, offering him power in exchange for his loyalty. When Panthro tried to talk him out of it, Grune attacked him and sent him plummeting to his supposed death. Returning to Thundera, seemingly with a group of lizard slaves, Grune later revealed his new allegiance and overthrew the kingdom with Mumm-Ra’s army, which resulted in the death of Claudus and having the citizens he once wanted to rule over either murdered or sold off as slaves. When reuniting with a vengeful Panthro, he shows no regret for any of the crimes he’s committed against his people, only that he's not the king yet. In his final appearance, Grune shows that even his loyalty to Mumm-Ra is a lie, as he convinced Slithe to leave Mumm-Ra trapped in the astral plane, leaving him in command of his army. His motto is “any sacrifice is worth the defeat of your enemy”, and it fits how easily Grune will stab anyone in the back to destroy his enemies and claim power.
  • Continuity Lock Out: It is admittedly, a show that is heavy on plot, light on exposition.
  • Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy: Seems to be CR's main complaint when reviewing the premiere on Familiar Faces. (Some commenters thought he was missing the point.)
  • Designated Villain: The Duelist. A hustler, yes, and happy to challenge others to a Duel to the Death. But he did win those swords.
  • Ensemble Darkhorses:
    • The Thunderkittens are well liked by initial reviewers, and are already popular with fans just from the previews and leaks. One review even called them the Breakout Characters of the show.
    • Holding Panthro back for a few episodes only served to make an already popular character a clear fan-favorite.
    • The Drifter proves that Everythings Better With Bunnies.
    • Lynx-O became this as soon as he appeared. One of the most asked questions on Crew of Omens is "When is Lynx-O coming back?"
    • Certain characters who haven't even been confirmed to exist yet in this version are inexplicably popular, like Bengali.
    • The hype surrounding the appearance of Pumyra was insane, and within hours of her design being revealed (in preview clips and concept art released by the production team) fanart and fanfiction started coming in. Not bad for someone who was all but dropped from the original's cast. She's even starting to edge out Cheetara as the fans favorite female.
    • The Cats from the flashback in "Legacy," Leo, Panthera, and Tygus, have a strong following and get lots of fan art.
  • Epic Riff: Still retained in the stripped down Truncated Theme Tune
  • Family-Unfriendly Aesop: "Song of the Petalars": You might still have a chance of escaping your pursuers and attaining a noble goal when the fate of your people, perhaps even your planet hangs in the balance? Don't feel like it. We're Tired of Running! Thundercats never retreat! Let's make our Last Stand for glory! Never mind the cowering eight-year-old refugees!
    • Fabulously lampshaded the very next episode by Panthro dryly noting how miraculous it is they've survived this long "without adult supervision."
    • "The defeat of your enemy is worth any sacrifice". Granted, we probably aren't meant to completely agree with this, but Panthro does subscribe to this line of thinking when he sacrifices both his arms to trap Grune in the spirit world.
  • Fan Dumb: People criticized the characters for being shallow after only one premiere episode. Even Shortpacked negatively compared it to Avatar: The Last Airbender, though those characters were also underdeveloped in the first episode, but then fleshed out over three seasons. Jumping the gun much?
    • Some of the more extreme reactions to Episode 13 qualify.
  • Faux Symbolism: Tygra's backstory has distinctly biblical elements. His father was ordered to sacrifice him by a higher power, but didn't go through with it (Abraham and Isaac) and he was sent away for his own safety to be found and raised by the royal family (Moses).
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • Early in the second season of the original 80's show, Lynx-O tells Lion-O that his voice sounds just like his father's. In the 2011 remake, Larry Kenny, Lion-O's original VA, will be the VA for Lion-O's father, Claudus.
    • A kingdom of cats with one black maned cat leading a rebellion against the king with the oppressed minorities? Why does that sound familiar?
  • Ho Yay:

Lion-O: "I'm going to ring that bell."
Tygra: "And I'm going to ring yours." *wink*

    • The cell they're locked into has Only One Bed.
    • Claudus and Grune. They certainly seemed close.
    • Likewise Claudus rushing to Panthro's rescue.
    • The flashbacks when Panthro and Grune meet are full of this, starting with Panthro's: "Grune, we've been inseparable ever since that first day we met on the battlefield"
  • Informed Wrongness: Lion-O gets hit with this a lot. Even his good decisions land him in the doghouse.
  • It Was His Sled:
    • The cleric Jaga's seeming death during "Omens Part Two" comes as no surprise to anyone who's seen the original as he spent most of his time there as a ghostly apparition after dying at the start of the series.
    • And now subverted in "Ramlak Rising".
    • And played straight in "Journey to the Tower of Omens" as he sacrifices himself for real to protect Lion-O from Mumm-Ra and get the Book of Omens.
    • Same thing to Claudus's death. Arguably subverted with Grune, who survives the first two episodes.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Mumm-Ra.
    • Rataro even more so. Elegant. Sophisticated. Tyrannical. Rataro has his own agenda for domination and couldn't care less about Mumm-Ra.
  • Memetic Molester:
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • Tygra's girlfriend-stealing powers are quickly becoming his most remarked-upon trait.
    • Quickly! To the Mumm-Ramobile!
    • Nothing that happens to Panthro matters because he's dead.
    • "Whiskers!"
  • Moe:
    • The Thunderkittens.
    • Also, Emrick. Awww!
    • Young Cheetara too.
  • Mood Whiplash: At the end of "Between Brothers", Panthro loses both his hands for throwing Grune in the collapsing Astral Plane. Then the scene shifts to a party and Panthro yelling at Snarf for being a nursemaid. Would it hurt to be a slight bit serious?
  • Moral Event Horizon: For Mumm-Ra. Stabbing King Claudius in the back? Subjecting wise old Jaga to a Fate Worse Than Death? Hiring psychos like Kaynar and Addicus? Bringing about the downfall of Thundera and enslaving its people? Trying to Take Over the World? Oh, no... it's when, in the past, he destroyed a populated solar system to forge the Sword of Plun-Darr that he established himself as a monstrous being.
  • Narm/Narm Charm:
    • The Really Dead Montage for Emrick the Petalar varies in effectiveness depending on the viewer's contextual tolerance for Viewers Are Goldfish.
    • Most of the dialogue in "Into the Astral Plane" and "Between Brothers" comes off as detatched, stock dialogue
  • Nightmare Fuel:
    • The amount and speed that Thundera is destroyed by the Lizards' military power. Lion-O lampshades this, saying his dream has become his nightmare.
    • Mumm-Ra's, well, everything.
    • Mumm-Ra's torture and imprisonment of Jaga. Not something you'd want to experience judging by his reactions.
    • Panthro losing his arms to push Grune into the Astral plane can be a little disturbing if you're not prepared for it. Then again, Panthro plays it off very well.
    • Kaynar and Addicus. Thinking back to Jackalman and Monkian (respectively) in the 80's version, they were bumbling fools and not the least bit threatening. On the other hand Kaynar and Addicus are physically imposing and competent fighters, but as if that was not enough, Kaynar is a giggling, sadistic, psychotic serial killer, and Addicus is not only a killer himself, he also eats sentient species.
    • Lion-O's surprisingly graphic death by drowning in "The Trials Of Lion-O."
    • The Tiger Clan being killed and cursed with undeath by the Ancient Spirits of Evil. Lion-O and Tygra spent most of the episode in a literal ghost town.
    • The faces that the man with the "nervous disposition" makes in "Recipe for Disaster" if only because they come out of nowhere.
    • In "Soul Sever", Tygra gets his soul torn out and the result is a soul devouring robotic horror. Foreshadowed by Tygra who comments that the scenario was "...The stuff of nightmares."
  • One-Scene Wonder: Lynx-O has a small cameo in "Omens Part Two". Fans are already placing bets on when he returns (possibly with Bengali and Pumyra in tow)
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
    • Snarf. Being a less-sentient non-speaking creature mean's he's not a nagging whiner this time around. Fan response has been much more positive. Also WilyKit and WilyKat, for those who found them annoying in the original.
    • Although there are the few fans who enjoyed Snarf's voice in the original, and are actually upset he doesn't talk.
  • Role Association: An attack on Third Earth by Lex Luthor, Numbah 4, and Rico Rodriguez causes the deaths of Sonny the Cuckoo Bird and Zeus. It's now up to the new Thundercats - Terry McGinnis, Sancia, Nick Fury, Kirby, and Togepi - to stop their evil reign.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat: Like with all fandoms, but in this case it was a three way battle: Lion-O/Cheetara vs. Tygra/Cheetara vs. Lion-O/Tygra. Tygra/Cheetara wins.
  • Shipping Goggles: The peculiar Incest Subtext-laden Accidental Innuendo of "Omens Part One" gave rise to Lion-O/Tygra Not Blood Siblings Ho Yay Shipping.
  • So Cool Its Awesome: The premiere has been getting phenomenally good reception from both fans and those new to Thundercats. Studio 4°C's reputation from projects like Batman Gotham Knight and The Animatrix, high quantities of Badass and Moe, and a lot of Hey, It's That Guy! are probably all factors bringing the new fans in.
  • Unfortunate Implications:
    • Think of that Berbil arm seen briefly in "Omens Part One"...
  • Villain Decay: The Lizards have certainly taken a big hit from "overwhelmingly terrifying badasses" to "typical Red Shirt fodder". Unusually, losing their motivating racial pathos (whatever happened to the Merciful Minion?) is a contributing factor.
    • Lampshaded in the season 2 opener, where Slithe tells Mumm-Ra that his minions are under strict (and correct) impressions that he thinks of them as expendable drones.
  • Wangst: Tygra and Lion-O's angst over their competition for Cheetara's attention revolves around their need for her to confirm that she's "chosen" one of them without directly telling her their feelings, (and risking her explicit rejection), their Sibling Rivalry and mutual jealousy of one another, and Cheetara herself not being clear on where her affections lie. Passive-aggressive teenagers!
  • What an Idiot!: the guy who had just bumped into somebody carelessly thinks he should scream "robbers" when two kids in rags reveal themselves trying to give back his bag of money.
  • The Woobie:
    • Lion-O, let's recap. So far Lion-O has lost his father, his mentor, his surrogate father Captain Tunar. Also, his surrogate little brother Emrick the Petalar. The latest being that he Did Not Get the Girl, and to top it all off now he's dead! MAN! the poor guy might as well be wearing "Kick Me" on his back or something!
    • Tygra too - his birth mother presumably dies, his birth father sends him away from home to protect him, his adopted mother dies in childbirth, and then his adopted father dies. He grows up knowing he will lose his kingdom to his little brother and feeling like he doesn't belong, and when he finally finds his real home, everyone in it dies, including his birth father, leaving him the last tiger. In his own words: "Tell me, Lion-O, is it my destiny to lose everything I care most about?"
      • Lion-O assures him that Tygra won't lose him at least. Nevermind that in the previous episode Tygra nearly did lose Lion-O.
    • Pumyra, who wasn't always a fighter. She was sold into slavery after the fall of Thundera first in a mine and later as a gladiator under Dobo in The Pit. When she chews Lion-O out over everything that's happened and how she holds him responsible for her and the other refugees suffering she almost breaks down in tears (and in the next episode we get to see firsthand the hell she lived in). There's been plenty of Manly Tears in the show, but seeing a strong, independent woman break down like that is a first.
    • Stoic Woobie: That poor Swordmaker, so very heartwrenching to see his dreams so mercilessly crushed. That awful purple man made the cute bunny sad!
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