Well, I was wrong!
 

I thought the new Thundercats show was going to suck balls. The still images looked horrible. I was expecting another overly stylized piece of crap like Transformers Animated. Because lets face it, EVERY new cartoon show looks like that garbage. Ever since Batman the Animated series they've been pushing that style down our throats constantly. I was expecting Thundercats to be totally ruined & unwatchable like the new Battlestar Galactica.

I missed the premier but my friend burned a copy for me. I couldn't believe I was watching a new cartoon series in 2011 that had a similar animation style as the old 80's shows. That alone put me in a state of shock for the entire time. Then they made it serious. Another thing I couldn't believe, it wasn't stupid & corny at all. And it wasn't boring at all! I bought season 1 of the old show & was bored to death with it. Most of the old 80's cartoons bore the crap out of me. But this one kept me glued to the TV the entire time.

Wilykit & Wilykat looked totally retarded in the still shots but looked really cool in action. I couldn't believe the difference. I hate the pictures I saw but they were actually really cool in the show. (but I still prefer the classic designs on those two).

I loved Snarf! If they keep him exactly like he was in the premier then I love him. I've always hated Snarf because he was totally stupid & retarded. I didn't like how he talked & hated his voice. But the new one is like a pet like he should have been in the original.

Cheetara? I'm still in love with the original. I don't like what they did to her in the new show. I love her old voice, her old costume & I prefer her with shorter hair.

I don't care for Panthro's new design but everything else looks awesome. Lion-O was cool, Tygra worked well, Mumm-Ra & Jaga looked pretty much the same & Slithe was ok.

I was tearing this show apart before it premiered because the photos looked horrible but after seeing the show I was totally wrong. THANK GOD! I'm still not interested in the toys at all but I'm behind the show 100% now. I can't wait to watch the whole series on dvd.

I am sorry, but... you think Batman TAS had BAD animation?

I think you need to go back and watch it again. At the time it was aired, it was the pinnacle of what western animation could do.
And TF Animated was a great show, despite it's childish art style. You don't often see stuff like a main character sacrificing himself or Megatron reduced to a head in a "kid's cartoon".

I think the problem is that people often judge shows by the looks alone. I could name a hundred japanese animes that have better animation then even the new Thundercats show, but have mundane plots with predictable storyline and horrible writing, dragged out into 55-episode story arcs. At the other end of the palette, we have South Park, which (while I am not a fan of the show) is cleverly written and entertaining, while having animation that a 10-year old could throw together from cutouts. :)

As I say the same with comics, writing>art style. Sure, pretty pictures help to sell the story, but it's the writing that matters.

Completely agree. I ordered the first DVD of the Thundercats from Netflix and was in awe that I thought it was SO great. Yea, I know, I was a kid, but when you watch them now you still think "I watched AND liked this?! Not what I remembered..." Kinda ruins it you know? Only upside to the oldies is when you run across an episode with that one scene you forgot about that was burned deep in your memory and when you see it, it takes you back and you can remember exactly what you were doing at the time you saw it. That's priceless... Also, I never saw the first episode of Original Thundercats. That was fun, lol. Maybe I did, who knows, I don't remember half of what I watched, shit, I was between the ages of 2-4 when I played/watched Thundercats.

Damn typoos! :mad::p

I just don't like that art style. The square chins & muscles, the teeny tiny waists & huge shoulders & huge feet, the 7 foot chins. It looks ridiculous & the toys look horrible.

That's why when I saw Thundercats I was like "OH MY GOD!!!! This actually looks normal! Except for the pointy Dragonball hair it looks like my old 80's shows."

I really didn't think I'd like the new show. But I loved it! I'm really surprised.

This is my problem with haters. Firstly ITS A CARTOON. Solid Story Telling More than just makes up for weird ass Animation. Secondly, DONT Judge a Book by its cover. Animated figures are some of the most well engineered and playable toys out there. Thirdly SEE IT BEFORE MAKING JUDGEMENTS. Check the show out, It is one of the best Shows ever.

Yeah, I had some preconceptions on the new show ever since the first image was released. But now that you see it, you can seem that animation does not make a horrible show, ITS THE WRITING THAT MAKES A HORRIBLE SHOW.

Transformers Animated was actually a good show. The only stupid parts were when they tried throwing in Human Bad guys. Transformers and Costumed Super Villains don't mix.

Ok buddy, you keep telling yourself that. Whatever helps you sleep at night. Go put your nightlight on & stick your Ed,Edd & Eddy dvd in the player. I know it's your favorite.

And you keep telling yourself that Transformers Animated was an awesome show & a smashing success. We'll just forget about the whole canceling it at the 3rd season & removing everything that was supposed to lead into the 4th season bit. And we'll overlook how the stores couldn't get rid of the Animated crap because nobody wanted it, even on clearance. The garbage is STILL showing up at ROSS & TJ Maxx because it's just so popular. I'll just agree with you that it was the best thing since sliced bread because I don't want to be called a "hater". That might hurt my feelings or something. It's horrible having an opinion, I wanna be a mindless clone & agree with everything you say. Having a mind of my own & my own individual taste sucks!

I'm glad you like the new Thundercats show. Thumbs up sir!

But Batman TAS bad art style?

Batman TAS had some of the best designers in the business working on that show. Bruce Timm, Kevin Nowlan, Mike Mignola Glenn Murukami, Lynne Naylor

That style went on to influence many artists who in turn went on to be very successful.

Im Just saying it was a great show that didnt reach it's full potential. It didnt appeal to kids as much to kids as they tried to so it was meh for teh kids and as soon as it's timeslot was moved it was ignored completely. Oh and Ed, Edd And Eddy is f@cking Retarded Show. It is basically about a group of mentally retarded kids.

I disagree with you on many things, but I'm glad we both can enjoy this new TC show.

I too was a naysayer about this show, but the storyline and character development in the first 2 episodes, really blew me away. They touched on some adult themes and did an awesome job on establishing charater interactions, issues, and perspective.

Wasnt as thrilled with the 3rd episode, as it seemed more like filler. Yeah lion-o had a revelation about "caring more for your friends", which is typical kiddie fare, but overall very superficial and bland. Hope the series continues pulling emotional strings like the first 2 episodes. If not, it may just fizzle imo. I'll be waiting for tomorrow's episode to see how they intend proceed.

To be fair, it was a character arc that was going to be touched on anyway, just from the first two episodes. As I said in the episode 3 discussion, better we get one "meh" episode (though admit it had some clever visual reworkings of the Moby Dick plotline) to get all that resolved than have Lion-O act like an asshole for a dozen episodes like what happens all too often in anime series.

my minor gripe is with the execution, the fact that they gave him an epiphany in one episode is fine. Like u said, better than dragging it on and on.

on a side note, if anything tigra should be acting more like an asshole, with that "I'm better than you" attitude that he had in the first 2 eps. I'll be watching number 4 tonight

I never liked the old cartoon series as a kid, and wasn't expecting much . HOWEVER I have to say this is the BEST resurrected 80's franchise on TV right now. It's respectful of where it came from and is EXACTLY what the 2002 Masters of the Universe should have been. Awesome show so far, and even beats out my very biased love of Transformers.

I'm still waiting for the sword of omens to show character and consciousness like the original. To me that was and is a major reason why I loved this show as a Kid and want to love it now. Unfortunately, so far I've been dissapointed with the writing and seeing that Mumm-Ra lives in a Techno-pyramid and the Eye of Thundra was his and the Thundercats took it from him just killed it for me.

I wouldn't consider that absolute truth just yet. Mumm-Ra could be lying to trick those around him into believing it was his. I imagine he would probably have fewer followers if they didn't think they were helping to correct an old injustice. We'll have to wait and see, but for now I'm not going to put too much stock into what Mumm-Ra says.

Sorry if it is the wrong place to say this, I just can't find any kind of TC 2011 appreciation thread (maybe I'm just that dumb).
I haven't actually seen the original show and, honestly, have no intention to. But I think the new one is awesome in every way possible, and I hope it stays that way.

By the way, I was really amused by the samophlange joke, heard about the stuff before and also remember the parody in World of Warcraft. :)

OP is completely invalidated by saying that Batman TAS had a bad art style. That's just incorrect. TAS Batman is more Batman than most of the movie versions. Moving on....


I love the new show. I watched one episode of the old show and found it positively revolting. Everything about it was terrible, the writing, most of the voice acting, the animation. (everybody looked like weird potato people in the ep I watched it as so bad) How something as great as this new show came from something as awful as the old one I can't understand, but I
am grateful.

I don't have quite the same appreciation for the original series as when I was a kid, and I didn't expect much from the new series or toys. I didn't even watch the premier until about a week later. But now I'm hooked on the show and am working on collecting the awesome 4" line (plus the 6" Mumm-ra).

I am watching the old series now - I have seen a few episodes as a kid and knew the characters from comics, but was never really into it. Must say, the animation is superb (typical Rankin-Bass) and there are some good storylines. It has continuity, with events from old episodes popping up again. And it has established a wonderfull and strange world full of odd locations and creatures.

But... as others said, the characters often act wooden (or over-the-top like Mumm-Ra) and the whole "can't hit anyone with a weapon" restriction really hurts the combat animation. And man... I have heard about Snarf, mentioned on the same level as Wesley Crusher and Wheelie, but now I can understand why. He is like, G1 Huffer and Gears rolled into one package and crossed with Courage the Cowardly Dog. He complains, he whines, and he always worries about anything. The new version is an incredible improvement over the old Snarf. :)

Heh, you know... I just bought the Batman TAS Bible, written by Paul Dini. There are lots of background tidbits about how the show was created.

There, Bruce Timm, who came up with the art style, mentions how he worked on stuff like Ghostbusters and GI Joe prior to this, and always had to draw things very realistically, and over-detailed... which led to wonky animation errors and was too hard to animate. He came up with this streamlined, angular style, and the producers pushed it back, saying "it was too cartoony". Bruce only remarked here in the book that "and I always wondered about that retort, because... weren't we making a cartoon?" :D

Basically, I think the strongest argument against streamlined animation is that it is not realistic. But... it shouldn't be realistic, anyway! This is a cartoon!

About Animated - you might hate it, but the toys did not sell because of Hasbro's dumb marketing (releasing them half a year after the show aired), not because they were bad toys, and the cartoon was cancelled because of an argument between CN and Hasbro (who wanted to move to the Hub, and CN obviously now saw them as a rival, doing anything in their power to hurt Animated - pushing it to a late time slot, not agreeing to have it aired on the Hub, etc...) As for how unsuccessfull it was, just look at Ebay and search for the latest, animated themed Botcon set. It is already the fastest selling set for the highest prices since the Classics Seekers set... A large percentage of the TF fans love the show, in fact I see haters of the Bay movie style more often then haters of Animated.

Transformers Animated toys were hands down some of the best Transformers toys around. There's not a Transformers show that's came out that can claim that both the vehicle and robot modes are as screen accurate as the Animated toys were (though the Prime toys might come close.)

Might? It Will Be on the same level. But both are not perfect. See Animated Jetfire and Jetstorm as well TF Prime Deluxe Optimus Prime.