Thundercats 2011

[grungethemovie]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Omygosh. This might be the best thing ever:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndA69KiffJE

hehe i caught that today on TV

[Zulithe]

I loved the new Thundercats but the non-renewal of the show makes a lot of sense now. There is no way it could compete going up against LEGO Chima after LEGO proved its might with Ninjago which was a huge hit. Chima is similar and will have a stronger, more established toy line to support it, plus builds off of the fanbase of Ninjago. Thundercats would have floundered.

[Candy Kappa]

Lego have nothing to do with this, the ThunderCats toys was hard to find in the first place. You can't make money on things people can't get a hold on.

[Zulithe]

I think this is because retailers simply chose not to order them. Clearly they made plenty, because they are easy to find at discount stores such as Marshalls and ROSS. I own all of the figures, I got them on amazon -- most of them for 20, 30 or even 80 percent off!

Again it is a weak brand and nobody wanted to carry the stuff I guess.

I watched every ep of the new show and thought it was BETTER than the original in a lot of ways. But I am moving on.

[Bauer536]

I'll be honest with you - I'm glad Thundercats had one series. It was possible that season 2 might have been a trainwreck. I don't know. At a time when I was getting into the show, I lost interest. It was cool how it started with Lion-O's father getting killed and meeting Panthro for the first time. However, buy the time the journey started with those plant-like creatures and robotic bears, it got really bizarre. I almost felt the creators didn't know what to do anymore. But in the end, I realized I just wasn't cut out for this. I had to be a real Thundercats fan to enjoy this, but I didn't.

Also, I just wasn't liking the characterization in the end. Lion-O was either cool or boring, Cheetra was like a cardboard cut-out, the kids were annoying, and Tygra was a jerk. I felt nothing along the way. I tried to like them, but I gave up when it was becoming ridiculous.

Here's hoping Chima is successful!

[gobo]

So old... Still good though.

[TheCanadiandrome]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Omygosh. This might be the best thing ever:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndA69KiffJE

Rofl, too funny

[Pterobat]

Originally Posted by Bauer536

I'll be honest with you - I'm glad Thundercats had one series. It was possible that season 2 might have been a trainwreck. I don't know. At a time when I was getting into the show, I lost interest. It was cool how it started with Lion-O's father getting killed and meeting Panthro for the first time. However, buy the time the journey started with those plant-like creatures and robotic bears, it got really bizarre. I almost felt the creators didn't know what to do anymore. But in the end, I realized I just wasn't cut out for this. I had to be a real Thundercats fan to enjoy this, but I didn't.

Also, I just wasn't liking the characterization in the end. Lion-O was either cool or boring, Cheetra was like a cardboard cut-out, the kids were annoying, and Tygra was a jerk. I felt nothing along the way. I tried to like them, but I gave up when it was becoming ridiculous.

Here's hoping Chima is successful!

I can't make many specific complaints, since I jumped ship about halfway in. I'm not a ThunderCats fan, so I didn't care that the new series was different-in fact, I liked that they were going to start with a mostly-clean slate, using a different type of setting and a more complex morality. I had high hopes for this show.

But then, the series didn't seem to go anywhere after the pilot, with so many filler episodes before they would briefly rush to now create "plot" before settling in for another lag.

In addition, the justifications the Lizards and other races had for hating the Cats was pushed aside in favour of more straightforward morality.

All in all, it felt like ThunderCats was trying to imitate the powerful cartoons of the day, but never could do it.

[grungethemovie]

well, i agree a bit with bauer
i think it was too slow, i watched the first episodes and found it was cool and all but then i got a sneak peek at episode 24 i think and they still didn't have their thundercats logos on their costumes
since i haven't watched much, i still wanna give it a shot, i really want to like it

and regarding cancellation, well, here comes my thread crossover with toy sightings
i thought the new tmnt toys would dominate christmas, but there's no tmnt toy still, here in Brazil, the stores were, instead, full of Thundercats figures
so either they're just getting rid of stock and throwing it in third world (earth XD) or - what i like to fool myself into - since they never announced they cancelled the show, they might be trying it in other countries to see if it's succesful, might be a stretch but do you guys remember max steel? toy stores are still full of new releases down here.

[Candy Kappa]

Originally Posted by Zulithe

I think this is because retailers simply chose not to order them. Clearly they made plenty, because they are easy to find at discount stores such as Marshalls and ROSS. I own all of the figures, I got them on amazon -- most of them for 20, 30 or even 80 percent off!

It never came to Norway, even 2002 He-Man came here. A short while but it was plenty of it while it lasted. And there was no show airing as far as I know.

ThunderCats nada, even my LCS had lots of trouble getting a couple of the 4 inch figures and Lion-O 6 inch.

I think it might be Bandai to blame

[zodiac brave]

Originally Posted by Bauer536

I'll be honest with you - I'm glad Thundercats had one series. It was possible that season 2 might have been a trainwreck. I don't know. At a time when I was getting into the show, I lost interest. It was cool how it started with Lion-O's father getting killed and meeting Panthro for the first time. However, buy the time the journey started with those plant-like creatures and robotic bears, it got really bizarre. I almost felt the creators didn't know what to do anymore. But in the end, I realized I just wasn't cut out for this. I had to be a real Thundercats fan to enjoy this, but I didn't.

Also, I just wasn't liking the characterization in the end. Lion-O was either cool or boring, Cheetra was like a cardboard cut-out, the kids were annoying, and Tygra was a jerk. I felt nothing along the way. I tried to like them, but I gave up when it was becoming ridiculous.

Here's hoping Chima is successful!

dunno if you ever watched the original, but it was an episodic series, where each episode was a different adventure featuring a creature or character of the week. it really was just designed to sell toys. the new series did a great job of combining the feel of weekly adventures with bizarre characters and an episodic soap-opera type story-telling. we can agree to disagree on the characterization of the characters (i feel it's some of the best in any recent animated series, personally), but the adventures they had were right in step with the franchise's vibe.

and those "robotic bears" are called berbils. they're kind of a big deal.

[Pterobat]

The problem is, though, that ThunderCats 2011 created the expectation it would be one of those serial animated shows, what with its trying to be more "adult" and imitating the grand style of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

If it'd never established those expectations, maybe we'd be easier on it.

[oldmanwinters]

To build on what zodiac said, the new show actually followed a similar theme of the earliest episodes of the original show. In the original show, once the Cats arrived on Third Earth they went about setting up a new base and forming alliances with the various creatures and tribes on the planet.

The primary arc of the first season of the new show (which apparently ended up being the only season) is a story about uniting the forces of good on Thundera against Mum'ra. I think it's poignant that the kingdom's ruling class consisted primarily of prideful lions (the tigers actually had their own sect, Cheetara was grafted in as a foreigner, the Thunderkittens were street urchins trying to survive in their quest to find the legendary city of El Dora) who were feared but not truly respected by the other creatures of the planet. Lion-O aimed to broaden the scope of the Thundercats' alliances and ended up amassing a powerful and diverse alliance of friends by the final episode.

Too bad we never got to see what was to became of Pumyra though.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by zodiac brave

dunno if you ever watched the original, but it was an episodic series, where each episode was a different adventure featuring a creature or character of the week. it really was just designed to sell toys.

To be perfectly fair to the old show, it often did dip into serialized storytelling quite a bit in the later run of episodes, and many of them were quite good. They didnt lose any of the 80s cheese, but there was still great stuff in there that moved the characters along.

And just so we're clear...every cartoon ever made is designed to sell toys, and the new show was no exception, and had just as many moments that were intended to advertise something.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

And just so we're clear...every cartoon ever made is designed to sell toys, and the new show was no exception, and had just as many moments that were intended to advertise something.

Sadly, the show apparently didn't sell enough of them.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

And just so we're clear...every cartoon ever made is designed to sell toys, and the new show was no exception, and had just as many moments that were intended to advertise something.

THANK YOU. Said the exact same thing in conversation the other day... while watching OT Thundercats, actually. People say "cartoons are toy commercials" like it's a BAD thing. Frankly, when I was a kid, if a show or movie I liked didn't have a toy, I got kinda pissed.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Sadly, the show apparently didn't sell enough of them.

True, although some cartoons can have long lives despite poor toy sales (Jackie Chan Adventures), that depends heavily on the network and what their preferences are.

[meta ray mek]

I'll admit: I was really excited for this series and I was hyped after seeing the premiere. I dug the 2002 He-Man cartoon, and I got similar vibes from ThunderCats. Plus, I have fond memories of rushing home from school to watch the original on Toonami back when I was in the 4th/5th grade, and my older sister and I used to come up with all kinds of ThunderCats fan fics/fan art.

Sad to say, I lost interest maybe about 1/3rd of the way through. The plot felt like it was going nowhere at that point, and I eventually flat out stopped watching after a preemption by Cartoon Network. Even though it was, at the time, on right after Clone Wars (the only other cartoon I watched. I tend to watch 'toons about 2 at a time. Then it was TCW and Adventure Time. Now it's Green Lantern and TMNT), the series drifted from my mind and I forgot it existed after a while.

After seeing a thread for it on /co/ maybe a few months ago, I looked up what happened. After reading what they did to Pumyra -my favorite character from the original-, I'm glad I didn't tune back in. Yuck.

A real shame the stars weren't lined up quite right for this one, though. I feel bad for the people who genuinely liked it. =(

[Bauer536]

Originally Posted by Leo656

THANK YOU. Said the exact same thing in conversation the other day... while watching OT Thundercats, actually. People say "cartoons are toy commercials" like it's a BAD thing. Frankly, when I was a kid, if a show or movie I liked didn't have a toy, I got kinda pissed.

Exactly! That's the same thing I thought of when I saw a TV show or movie. If it was really good, I wanted toys based off of their presentations. The first time I saw movies like Galaxy Quest, I thought, "Gee. When are they going to make action figures for this film?" At this point, it may be possible, but back then, the figures were cancelled. That's the fun of watching a good show or film. If it's enjoyable, I feel the need to have some sort of merchandise.

[Hamato Yoshi]

Ive seen a few eps such as the "robber with magic bag" and "plant people" episode.....I liked the plant people as it was philosophical , that to them a day was a lifetime.