If you saw this on an art site, I wonder if you even give it much of a second look? Would you be mean and just comment about how off it is, or make a nice remark about the artist doing a cool variation in their style?
Hooooooo boy....this is a stretch. It is going to take me a long time to get used to these designs. It's really hard to see my beloved childhood characters go through so much of a dramatic change. A friend of mine was horrified and remarked that it seemed to him like every time they try to do updated versions of American franchises they end up looking generic and slightly underwhelming.
Well I don't know about the underwhelming, but man is Lino-O generic looking! Lion-O is a boy...ugh..what on Earth? He looks like the bastard child of Goku and Pickachu. :( He is supposed to be a hulking warrior much like Conan and He-Man. That costume is just not showing enough skin for my tastes! XD LOL. Still he is different, I will give them that. I don't hate him.
Tigra looks pretty cool still. I have no complaints about him. Then there is my man Panthro. Mutton chops on Panthro? REALLY? Panthro is a proud, bald, sage inventor. He's calm and wise, like Lion-O's older brother, or father he never had. He's also in my mind a black thundercat. Here he looks like he is going to sound like the crazy Scottish guy from Samurai Jack. He looks more like villain then a good guy. He reminds me more then a little of Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop!
Cheetara...don't get me started on!!! She looks like she should be spending time cruising shopping malls for boys and putting beads in her hair. She has some sprouting to do before she can ever compare to the sexy woman of style and grace she was depicted as in the 80s. Still, she is a very cute teenybopper. At least she has a nice rack. XD But she is so pale and thin. Did she learn to stick her bo staff down her throat after every meal, or something?
I hear tell Snarf will be in it, but he won't talk. Okay so someone found him annoying, I get that whatever. So here's the deal, why not apply some writing skills and make him into a proper nurse maid??? That does bode well for my confidence in their writing department if they just want to mute a character instead of actually trying to develop him. They did this with Cringer in He-Man as well, but since he was a cat, I did my best to over look it. Snarf however I will not. When I was kid I liked Snarf, other kids like Snarf, cause well it was a kids cartoon. I don't know why everything has to be geared for adults these days. It's not like America will ever embrace cartoons like Asia does anyway. XD Sounds like they are taking steps so sap all the humanity out of the cartoon already in the name of action and dark themes.... XD *Rant Rant Rant*
What will become of the Thunder Kittens?
I was on board for the whole new He-Man in 2002. I actually found myself liking that more then the original. I usually like all the different X-Men variants too. Sadly...I don't know if I can like this. What have they done to the CATS? XD WHAT IS WITH THE FURRY BODDIES? XD
Oh well, I will give it a chance! LOL. It doesn't look TOO bad, but definitely loses a lot of the original style. The old show plays here every day now. If this one sucks I can just tune into it instead. I better get my old man Cranky Kong cane out so I can start practicing waving pointing at the TV and in toy stores in the Fall. You dang kids, don't you know Everything was better in the 80s?!!! :P
I will say, there is a little part of me that is excited about walking into a Burger King and getting a Thundercats toy, or cup with my meal once again. :)
*Rant*
ReplyDeleteBlah,
I was totally grossed out by it and ESPECIALLY by what they did to Cheetarah and Panthro.
So...because he works with mechanical stuff he's gotta be a big guy. Big scary...black guy...ringing bells (lots of bells)
And Cheetarah does not look like a warrior. What I came to realize about her that you have to love is that it was a kids cartoon but she was a GROWN woman. a WO-MAN, not some teen potential heart throb for Lion-O to get jiggly over (Lion-O was too young for those kinds of thoughts anyway)
Now they all look...cartoonish in a bad way.
When they re-did He-man you could see that the characters were simply RE-VAMPED. Not a huge overall, but they were given...the kind of attention they couldn't under Filmation because Filmation was doing a show based on toys that existed AND Filmation was just intrinsically cheap when it came to their shows. Anyway to save money they'd do it.
AND the new He-man gave a nod to that...Conan/fantasy/sci-fi hodge podge genre in its entirety. You could look at them and feel the pulp "Amazing Tales" at work in the background.
The same kind of stories that fueled the Thundercats (I mean...Mumm-ra the Everlasting had a friggen giant laser beam machine stashed away in his period to make CLONES and this worked in TANDEM with his magic...wtf?! But it "wtf" in a good way ^^)
And when you said Snarf won't speak...WHAT?!
Snarf is like...INTEGRAL to the team and to Lion-O as a person. Snarf was the one who could speak against "The Lord of the Thundercats" on a level none of the other characters could because their relationship was different.
I mean...what's next? Is Jaga going to preserve his soul in some computer box (I can see the "Hi-jacking Jaga" episode now! Mutants hack in and stuff goes KA-razy!)
I just hate that everything wants to get that "anime influence" vibe going on...but when they do it they take all the CRAPPIEST elements -_-
Stuff that your average anime fan, who has watched or read a boatload of the stuff, knows is ridiculous but we accept it because its apart of the...language. (spikey hair? We know he's reckless, dangerous, but oh so sincere about his friends and his dreams. HUZZAH!!!) But we also know ITS RIDICULOUS!
And all that armor...ugh. I liked that the Thundercats were...not afraid to show some skin. They were NAKED on that ship in the beginning. They were comfortable with themselves and it was their culture.
Ugh...I'll stop now. But still:
I smell a focus group somewhere.
(Also DP, I left you a note on FA)
I never really liked the series very much as a kid, so I can't fairly apply any opinion at all, but I can say I probably won't be catching this re-imagining. ^^; lol Too much now everything has to have that generic anime-ish look to it to appease the tweens out there. Looks mildly awful. D: Even if I didn't care for the old cartoons, I'd go back to that any day over this.
ReplyDeleteI may be an anime fan but since the original is partly made by japanese too..but it kinda like all you guys would say..."what!?" Lion-O is much better in the old ver plus lesser clothing LOL* and I can say even for the rest of the design... Snarf no voice..oh boy..
ReplyDeleteNow ever imagine what they gonna do on the next tribes if it comes to that
But I'll see what the new story will be
but curious me....what will Mum-ra's design this time???
I still love the original Cheetara here one piece orange suit..and a good rack THATS it! :D~~~
- FallenAngel
I had no idea they were doing this, so this is the first I've seen of it. I honestly don't mind the designs. I understand your objections but I just don't get hung up on stuff like this. I'd just be happy to see more T-cat stuff. For the purists there's always the original stuff. Everything changes.
ReplyDeleteJubell I should put your comment in as part of the post! I could not have said all that better myself. I agree with you on Snarf. For some reason I can see these people justifying taking Brainy Smurf out of a remake. XD
ReplyDeleteLike you said, the Thundercats were a very mature bunch. They were focused on their duties and rebuilding their lives. No one was making goo goo eyes at anyone and yeah this Cheetara certainly looks the type to be doing that eh? :( Not sure how I react to an immature Cheetara. I really respect her character.
I shudder at the Jaga idea you mentioned! LOL. I can honestly see some shit like that going down.
I also agree about the changes that were lovenly made to the He-man series. It indeed that they were doing the type of show Filmation was to cheap to do in the 80s. One could do a whole blog regarding that subject!
You never know Kid Nova, it could turn out to be good as you say. There is a part of me that hopes so.
Things do indeed change like say, Popeye and Son, Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters, Archie Bunkers Place, Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles, Castlevania Judgment, Bedrock on the Rocks, George of the Jungle, etc...LOL!
Yep there have been some good retooling of series as well over the years. But they do usually try to at least keep close to the original character designs. Some go as far as making them look more retro, like HB' Popeye and the 90s Felix The Cat cartoons. Some don't always take, but they are out there and can be enjoyed for their sporadic busts of wonderful creativity. (13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo comes right to mind.)
I will at least give this show a chance.
Sorry Fallen, I don't think any images of Mumra have surfaced as yet. You are right it is strange that the original was anime, made by the people that would later form studio Ghibli, but they felt this huge desire to use such odd designs.
Very well Said Busiris. Some things are best left in the past huh? :)