ThunderCats Roar (2019)

[Spiteface]

Waaaay back when I first signed up to this place (I think some of you were still living in your dads' balls back then), I was known as a bit of a ThunderCats fan. It's what I would deem one of the big three merch-driven cartoons of my childhood alongside He-Man and Transformers. It still looks good now, compared to the "Originals" of the other two. It's natural that news of a new reboot would get my attention. Then this greets me:

http://comicbook.com/tv-shows/2018/05/18/thundercats-roar-announced-cartoon-network/


As one might imagine a lot of people are claiming their childhoods are ruined about now. I get it, this looks fucking terrible and like every other badly-drawn bad cartoon doing the rounds these days. I made my peace with this pretty quick, though. The reason being, unless the people behind this have invented Time Travel or torch every DVD copy of the old show and the 2011 reboot in existence, the old one still exists. And I also lived through The Return:


Yeah, this new one might be bad, but things can always be worse going the other way. WilyKat & WilyKit as Mumm-ra's slaves and Cheetara getting raped by the Mutants? You know when some people talk of someone's take on an established thing being "glorified fanfiction"? They never fucking read this.

[Twed]

Not concerned about childhoods being reimagined etc., but fuck it's lazy when people just make every character this:

[bgmnts]

I like the tits and arse.

[popcorn]

It's such a similar style I assumed it comes from the Stephen Universe people. Does it? Embarrassingly derivative if not. Applying it to an old franchise makes it particularly bankrupt somehow.

[Spiteface]

I've heard it referred to as "CalArts style" whatever that means.

[Twed]

The world would be a better place if universities weren't the default method of learning everything.

[Malcy]

This can fuck right off...

[ieXush2i]

imagine being bothered by this

[Glebe]

[tag]I am Lion-O, her me roar.[/tag]

[biggytitbo]

I'll judge this entirely by how well drawn Cheetara's arse is.

[BritishHobo]

I'm on both sides of this. That is some fuckin utterly lazy franchise rehashing, stripping out any unique character the original animation and character designs had, and replacing it with generic 'this seems to be what all animation looks like now, so let's do that' bollocks. And undoubtedly the tone will be sub-Adventure-Time knowing, meta, random humour at all times. At the same time, I find it very funny when grown men on reddit act like cartoons they liked as a child are so fundamentally important that a new version is genuinely and unironically a bigger outrage than literally anything else going on in the world.

So, y'know. Swings and roundabouts.

[Phil_A]

Not concerned about childhoods being reimagined etc., but fuck it's lazy when people just make every character this:

I would say even more so than Stephen Universe, the look it's trying to duplicate is Ian Jones-Quartey's show OK KO!



Actually what this really seems like is a desperate attempt to cash in on Cartoon Network's two currently biggest properties, the aforementioned OK KO! and Teen Titans Go(another comedy remake of a beloved property that all the old fans hate), by making something that looks like an ugly fusion of both.

[Twed]

At the same time, I find it very funny when grown men on reddit act like cartoons they liked as a child are so fundamentally important that a new version is genuinely and unironically a bigger outrage than literally anything else going on in the world.

But is that a problem here or anywhere where you don't directly seek it out? Let's not enable (Ex poster) by actively seeking out meta drama over this and just let us be critical or positive outside of that framework.

[greenman]

Ironically though you could argue its exchanging the mid 80's anime influence of the original for a style that has its source from 70's Doraemon.

[bgmnts]

Isnt it a good thing it is introducing children to Thundercats?

[Steven]

Isnt it a good thing it is introducing children to Thundercats?

That's like saying isn't it a good thing the Tweenies was introducing children to Jimmy Savile.

[Dex Sawash]

That first panel looks like Viz Fat Slags flash game, Fuckaroo

[cakeinmilk]

I dunno, the art style appeals to me, especially if it's emphasizing the comedic elements of the new show. I never liked the anime kinda style of the last TV reboot of ThunderCats (and He-Man) had, and I doubt I could sit through too many of the original, so I'll probably give this a go.

What I am definitely looking forward to is Funko's classic 5.5" figures so they can finally team up with my old Masters of the Universe toys instead of being relative giants.

[drummersaredeaf]

That pic in the first post looks like a cereal box.

[madhair60]

Gonna crack one out to that OP later

[Swoz_MK]

The footage of the new opening sequence is fantastic. Looking forward to this.

[ASFTSN]

The OP picture isn't "badly drawn". 

It's just almost completely devoid of anything approaching originality or character.  I blame Adventure Time for all of this.

[im barry bethel]

Wait till you see the new bike tie-in franchise

[Beagle 2]

I know a lot of people are going to say Piers Morgan's got it sewn up, but for me Snarf just edges it as TV's most irritating cunt.

[Replies From View]

I've heard that in this version, when Lion-O says "give me sight beyond sight" Cheetara is duty-bound to return from wherever she is and sit on his face.

[idunnosomename]

This looks like generic flash-animated crap, but because it's using a nostalgic property it's got the angry men of the internet going on about ESS-JAY-DOUBLE-YOUS, cucks and soy. It almost seems engineered to bait them, tbh. A guy with a man bun going on about how his older brothers watched something and making it into cutsey shit.

I mean I don't care, I don't think I ever watched Thundercats except the intro (which is fucking brilliant), but this looks ugly as sin. It looks like those awful tumblr webcomics we make fun of in the "pathetic attempts at humour" thread.

[idunnosomename]

I'll judge this entirely by how well drawn Cheetara's arse is.

She's barely drawn at all.

[madhair60]

I don't really care about T-Cats; it's slightly before my time and it was on really early in the morning anyway. As others have said that intro is amazing.

As for this, everything looks like this now and it's boring. As someone who can't draw, I prefer my cartoons to be drawn by people who can draw. This is another deliberately show stylised to look slapdash, like Adventure Time was, but unfortunately more cynical by virtue of being based on an extant property. It will be better than Thundercats but still not worth watching I imagine.

[idunnosomename]

Wait no one has linked to the official video yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qi41rHz4ps

It's just that hack pompous idiot voice (originally a rip-off of Zapp Brannigan I guess?) and saying stupid bwoin-oi-oi-ing *phrrrt* slide-whistle cutsey shit that really riles me. "My slicey stick!"

And a J-pop song for the intro. And the guy clearly can't fucking draw looking at his storyboards.

[purlieu]

I was always a bit unsure about ThunderCats as a kid - frankly I always found superhero-type stuff a bit too pompous even as a little 'un - but the one thing I always loved about it was how it looked. It always seemed so much more vivid than a lot of other cartoons at the time. So it's a shame that one of the original show's strengths is now lost. I doubt many kids will go "I love this new cartoon, I wonder if there was a better made version 30 years ago?" and buy the original on DVD either.

Really though, it is what it is: a 2018 interpretation of an old idea. Occasionally they get it right, by sticking to the spirit of the original (Clangers being a great example) or doing something new and really expanding on the original (can't think of a kids example, but I suppose Battlestar Galactica would be a common choice), but most times remakes just tend to be a bit pointless, as this probably will be.