Berbils

[balgus82]

@CodeofThundera

They don’t have to be evil replicators. They can be good replicators who destroy Mumm-Ra.

And not the same to compare turning Berbils into Replicators to turning Slithe into a creep who preys on children. shudder

Who said anything about him preying on children? I sure didn’t. I said giving children flowers.

i.e. Turning the Berbils into bad guys is like turning Slithe into a big softy. A good guy.

[CodeofThundera]

That’s so not the image I get picturing Slithe handing flowers out to children. Maybe just the times we live in. Slithe as a good guy? That would be interesting.

[Lady_Ocelli]

@upinout

Until an official explaination comes out, I have my own… They were created to be service robots, but became self-aware. Their creators were not evil, and when they realized their creations had become a life form of their own, they helped the berbils to further achieve their independance, teaching the berbils how to re-produce. the berbils went nuts with the reproducing, resulting in over-population. In order to not over-whelm their creators they chose to explore the stars and settle on new planets.

That’s essentially how I imagined them also.

[Tygra_Rules]

@upinout

The berbils..

As some have mentioned, there is the food thing. Being robots, why the need to eat? My guess is that they are designed to extract energy from biomatter, much like living beings.

I think the OS origin is a great starting point… Their planet is over populated so they spread out to new planets. Now lets explore why they were created and by whome. How did they come to be sentient, or were they made that way? How any why did their planet become over populated?

Until an official explaination comes out, I have my own… They were created to be service robots, but became self-aware. Their creators were not evil, and when they realized their creations had become a life form of their own, they helped the berbils to further achieve their independance, teaching the berbils how to re-produce. the berbils went nuts with the reproducing, resulting in over-population. In order to not over-whelm their creators they chose to explore the stars and settle on new planets.

A nice, clean, non-violent start for our robot bears who don’t come to know violence and treachory until Mumm-Ra’s ship crash-lands on their adopted home world. Even then, the berbils remain in seclusion until the Thundercats show up, with Mumm-Ra and his allies close behind. The berbils must now choose a side in a conflict they are unprepared for and uncertain how to deal with.

I like this idea. Not everything has to be battle and struggle. Also, OS berbils seemed to be pacific by nature, and this fits right in with that.

On the flipside, I don’t like the NS berbils’ design.

[Lord_Slithor]

@CodeofThundera

That’s so not the image I get picturing Slithe handing flowers out to children. Maybe just the times we live in. Slithe as a good guy? That would be interesting.

Not entirely unheard of…at least in fanfiction. Cheezey’s written many, many stories featuring “good” Lunataks, with the ones seen on the show made to be more sypmathetic or somewhat reformed. Ocelli and I came up with a good Reptilian Mutant character who has a recurring role in later stories as well. The idea with these characters I think is just because those that we see are purely evil doesn’t necessarily mean they all are.

I recall the same kind of thing happened with the Klingons in Star Trek; initally we only saw them as villains. Then in Next Gen we got Worf, and eventually it opened up more of the Klingon culture, and we found it it was a lot more deeper and nuanced than we thought.

[KorbenDallas]

And how in the hell can berbils eat? they don’t have any stomachs

[Lady_Ocelli]

@Lord Slithor

Ocelli and I came up with a good Reptilian Mutant character who has a recurring role in later stories as well. The idea with these characters I think is just because those that we see are purely evil doesn’t necessarily mean they all are.

The character we came up with is named Rissa and she shows up in a set of stories called Mystic Journeys.
Merged Post:

@KorbenDallas

And how in the hell can berbils eat? they don’t have any stomachs

Maybe they have some kind of engine that converts organic substance into fuel?

[balgus82]

who says they don’t have stomachs? you can’t see inside them. I’ve always considered them cyborgs.

[CodeofThundera]

I stick with what I thought before. Make the Berbils replicators who destroy Mumm-Ra’s technology. Then let him face Lion-O without any technology!

[Knave_Iespyk]

I always assumed that Berbils traded their fruit in exchange for parts. On the other hand they could have some organic parts in there too that require sustenance.

[balgus82]

I mean even if they aren’t cyborgs and are robots instead who says some scientist way out wherever they are hasn’t figured out how to turn juice into fuel?

[CodeofThundera]

@Knave_Iespyk

I always assumed that Berbils traded their fruit in exchange for parts. On the other hand they could have some organic parts in there too that require sustenance.

I never thought about it. As a kid, I never considered how they came to be.

It would be nice in the new series to know who created them.

[Lady_Ocelli]

@balgus82

I mean even if they aren’t cyborgs and are robots instead who says some scientist way out wherever they are hasn’t figured out how to turn juice into fuel?

Maybe it involves fermenting it and changing into some form of alcohol or biodiesel?

[lepris]

@upinout

The berbils..

Until an official explaination comes out, I have my own… They were created to be service robots, but became self-aware. Their creators were not evil, and when they realized their creations had become a life form of their own, they helped the berbils to further achieve their independance, teaching the berbils how to re-produce. the berbils went nuts with the reproducing, resulting in over-population. In order to not over-whelm their creators they chose to explore the stars and settle on new planets.

A nice, clean, non-violent start for our robot bears who don’t come to know violence and treachory until Mumm-Ra’s ship crash-lands on their adopted home world. Even then, the berbils remain in seclusion until the Thundercats show up, with Mumm-Ra and his allies close behind. The berbils must now choose a side in a conflict they are unprepared for and uncertain how to deal with.

I like this explanation a lot, as well. I’d like to think the ancient Thunderian’s created the Berbils as a “labor force” just after their crash on Third Earth. And after time they became self aware and bam, we got a little Berbil village that grow crops and trades to survive.