The thunder- thunder- THUNDERCATS HOOOOOO!-thread

[Orb]

That may be from the cancelled CG movie, I believe I saw a storyboard art for this scene with Lion-O and I forgot the lizard guy's name.

 

[Lencho01]

Yes, it's from the film they were going to make...

http://www.movieline.com/2009/07/mo...n-concept-art-for-warner-bros-thundercats.php

 

[tecnowraith]

Ahh ok I forgot about that. Makes me feel better.

 

[TheVileOne]

Lizard guy's name is Slithe.

New animated show's toys were shown at Toy Fair. I think they overdid it for Mumm-ra's transformation look. His mummy look is pretty much the same.

The good news is they are actually going to make 6" figures for show so we won't have to buy those dinky 4" scale figures only.

 

[bell110]

First, I want to say that that 3D version on SSH's front page looks much better than what we are getting.

Anime is not a fad; it's here to stay.

And that is unfortunate.

Technically BTAS was influenced by the 30s and 40s style of comics like Dick Tracy and the Fleischer Superman cartoons, the way Bruce Timm tells it.

Exactly

It's no surprise that the animators in Japan added their own touch when finishing a scene

[YT]ERmAiXrsR1I[/YT]

I also guess you should avoid Batman Beyond also

Bruce timm & co. used elements of Akira (they're big animé fans) for Batman beyond.

Not to mention elements of Blade Runner which also had a huge Japanese influence

Fine, they added their own touch. It still is not anime.

Yeah Japanese animators and producers have actually been working on our favorite cartoons longer than most fans are willing to admit or even remember.

Even look at classic Thundercats there's very much a Japanese anime influence to the designs based on the design style common for the time (1980s) and it also had Japanese animators working on it.

Also a lot of the Japanese crew that did Batman later did Big 0 which was sort of a Japanese anime version of Batman except with giant robots instead of a giant bat costume.

I'm aware the animation was done in Japan. It's cheap labor. Anime, to me, goes a lot deeper than just being animated in Japan. Nothing about Thundercats in the 80's screams anime to me like what we are getting now.

 

[Tron Bonne]

What "screams" anime to you, exactly?

 

[bell110]

That's the problem. It's hard to put my finger on it. I just look at it and see anime. Apparently I'm not the only one.

 

[Tron Bonne]

You're right, you aren't the only one, but like many of the others, no one seems to be able to define this problem. If it runs deeper than simply being 'animated in Japan', or being animated in the 'standard' anime style, then where does it run? You sure do seem to be railing against something pretty hard that you can't even really define :/

 

[TheVileOne]

Well it's being animated by a prominent Japanese anime production company.

I'll give it a shot. I love Thundercats but the original is a little dated with some stiff and often times awkward and clunky dialogue. I hope the new version will have some more natural voice work and some slightly edgier storytelling where people can actually get hurt and die.

I also hope it will last more than a season.

If its about trying to adapt an anime style for the US . . . well for Teen Titans for example, I hated it. But I also want to point out most anime don't look like Teen Titans anyway.

 

[Panthro]

Well it's being animated by a prominent Japanese anime production company.

Isn't it one of the companies that worked on 2008's Batman: Gotham Knight DTV?

I'll give it a shot. I love Thundercats but the original is a little dated with some stiff and often times awkward and clunky dialogue. I hope the new version will have some more natural voice work and some slightly edgier storytelling where people can actually get hurt and die.

What beloved 80s cartoon isn't a little dated and suffering from stiff and often awkward/clunky dialogue? Or some very questionable storytelling?

I wouldn't mind seeing Silverhawks, the little brother series to Thundercats (same company, most of the same voice actors plus Janice from Friends) get a revamp, but unfortunately Silverhawks doesn't have the kind of fan love nostalgia that Thundercats, GI Joe, Transformers & He-Man enjoy.

I also hope it will last more than a season.

We all do.

If its about trying to adapt an anime style for the US . . . well for Teen Titans for example, I hated it. But I also want to point out most anime don't look like Teen Titans anyway.

Teen Titans took the goofiest aspects of the anime style and ran with them.

 

[Gold Samurai]

Kit and Kat revealed

 

[Timstuff]

I know I'm going to sound like a troll for saying this, but I find some of the fan reactions to this cartoon really amusing. It's a classic example of the "they changed it, now it sucks!" cliched reaction that fans seem to have whenever an old property is given a modern makeover. I didn't really grow up with thundercats, even though they were around when I was a kid, so I don't really have a lot of nostalgia for it. I think therefore, I'm in a pretty good position to say unbiasedly that the old designs are pretty silly and outdated. Of course they're going to re-design them, that's part of rebooting. They look close enough to the original characters that I can easily identify who is who, and they look cool, so to me the new character designs are good.

Sorry if that's being a bit too pragmatic, but I am not nostalgic enough about the old character designs to overlook how outdated they are. It's the same thing with the G1 transformers designs. They looked good for an 80's cartoon, but in a modern context they'd look like outdated dinosaurs. Like Transformers, Thundercats is something I'm familiar with but didn't have around much when I was a kid, and that kind of brings me a sense of clarity in regards to judging the newer incarnations that I'm afraid a lot of life-long fanboys lack. Just because it looks different doesn't mean it's bad, but unfortunately, the original always seems better than it really is if it's what you grew up with.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Kit and Kat revealed

D'awww

 

[Panthro]

Kit and Kat revealed

So Thunderkittens have tails yet adult Thundercats don't?

Slithe & Mumm-Ra look pretty cool.

 

[Primal Slayer]

What happened to WilyKit and WilyKat? More Kit. I was hoping they would go with a more tougher teen look for them instead of making them actualy thunder babies.

 

[Tron Bonne]

What happened to WilyKit and WilyKat? More Kit. I was hoping they would go with a more tougher teen look for them instead of making them actualy thunder babies.

You wanted Wily Kit and Wily Kat to be tough teens? Were they even teens in the originals? It'd be weird to see them have that kind of look in a prequel series. Well, I mean, kind of weird just in general, but especially considering that.

 

[Primal Slayer]

They looked to be basically preteens in the original. And what do you mean a prequel series? This new one is starting off just as the first one did with them on arriving on New Earth isnt it?

 

[Tron Bonne]

They looked to be basically preteens in the original. And what do you mean a prequel series? This new one is starting off just as the first one did with them on arriving on New Earth isnt it?

Is it? I thought this was a prequel series, and would focus mostly on stuff before that (like Lion-O's ascension into prince hood), hence why they all look younger. I know that was the original plan, anyway, has that changed?

 

[Primal Slayer]

I never even heard of it beign a possible prequel. The thunder kittens were the same age as Lion-O before they went into stasis, Snarf(s) were able to talk (he wont be able to in this) And it says that Panthro will have been on New Earth longer than the others.

 

[Gold Samurai]

What happened to WilyKit and WilyKat? More Kit. I was hoping they would go with a more tougher teen look for them instead of making them actualy thunder babies.

Something like this?

 

[Tron Bonne]

I never even heard of it beign a possible prequel. The thunder kittens were the same age as Lion-O before they went into stasis, Snarf(s) were able to talk (he wont be able to in this) And it says that Panthro will have been on New Earth longer than the others.

Oh, okay. I remember hearing it was meant as a prequel when it first was announced way back when, but I guess that changed or I misread the original thing. I haven't seen looked in a whole lot detail into the details of more recent stuff.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

What happened to WilyKit and WilyKat? More Kit. I was hoping they would go with a more tougher teen look for them instead of making them actualy thunder babies.

Good. Now their appearance will match their uselessness.

 

[Timstuff]

An observation I've made in my talks with fans and non-fans of Thundercats regarding their reactions to the TV reboot's character designs and the test footage from the CG movie: fans of the original cartoon usually seem to advocate making the characters look more human, whereas people who are newer to the franchise from a distance prefer that the characters look more feline. This is merely an observation, and I don't have any particular theory as to why this may be, but perhaps some of our TC veterans here might have an idea or two.

And wouldn't you know it, I did not grow up with Thundercats, and I too prefer when they have more cat-like character designs. Go figure.

 

[Tron Bonne]

Good. Now their appearance will match their uselessness.

Psst, more like their appearance just matched how awesome they now will undoubtedly be.

 

[Casius--J]

the kittens look cute has hell man lol I actually dont mind their look. Slithe and Mummrah look more or less the same. I'm really looking forward to this new series as I've been waiting for a Thundercat remake since the 2002 He-man series came out.