Panthro becoming a technology buff suddenly is indeed weird (or impossible) but they made this aspect like he was in the OS. The other things are pretty normal though, in the Dark Ages people also put a complete stop to any and all technological advance while believing in magic (burning witches etc). And pumyra was mad that lion-o took so long to help the slaves. I see no evidence that he actually delayed anything like this, seemed pretty busy to me, but he acknowledged this himself so there must be some truth to this somehow.
But why is wierd? Everyone “knew it existed” some did just not believe in it. What if there were documents that said how stuff would be used and operated and they did learn some in school as part of history?
What is do weird about Panthro knowing of technology? He was away from Thundera for a good 7-10 years, so he probably just grew onto believing in it and learned how to use it. It’s not that difficult to understand.
Comparing memories here again little friend. Was it ever stated it was “7-10” years"? 
Educated guess. Lion-O and Tygra looked pretty young when they left. I should have made that more clear, sorry.
I remember Claudus saying something like “many seasons ago”. Does not tell much but what ever.
Yeah, the whole time span of the series hasn’t been very clear, but it isn’t in a lot of shows.
Which is a shame. In my upcoming book that will be addressed as i think time span is an important factor.
Like after some one dies, the characters search or run for something etc etc.
The lack time span clarity doesn’t really affect my view on the show at all. You can tell that the characters are aging (especially Lion-O). It would be kind of cool to know how long it has been since the pilot episode, though.
Maybe he spent five years at a university learning all about tech when he was away, but otherwise I don’t see how he could get this level of skill out of nowhere. Either way it’s not a big deal.
It’s not that stupid at all. Maybe he found ancient texts that told of that stuff and he also had heard of it when he grew up like Lion-o and the others. We dont know for sure what everyone did all their lives in the past so it’s very plausible.
Ancient texts.. about technology. I lost my train of thought because that just made me laugh 
They had technology in the past. What’s so laughable about that? I mean, it’s funny if you relate it to our history, but that’s it.
Why laugh? It does make much sense.
Tech did not “die” when they crashlanded much most of them did not use it, did not wanna use it and/or forgot about it.
Some (like the thundercats) probably did not wanna use tech cause it was something mumm-ra used but still wrote down most of it in text so people would not forget about it. After many generations some people believe in those stuff and others don’t, just like the old texts we have today. You also have “The Book of omens” which is a fusion of both MAGIC and TECH.
Panthro obviously isn’t an expert on technology. Have you seen him when he fixes the tank? He hits things and breaks things. He just knows more about it than the rest because he’s been around it longer.
Maybe the Thundertank came with an owner’s manual and repair kit.
In the appendix of said manual, it says something odd:
“Note: thundrilium and samoflange sold separately.”
The Magic vs Tech is a common theme in steamPunks. Time in the show bugs me a little it gotten better as the show moved a long. but way did it take One ep to jump to the mountain and two to drive back and did NativeSon seam out of place for the time line of the show.
Apparently, in Urban Dictionary’s words, a samoflange is “a bomb, typically used to unblock, or open doors.” And also “come to be defined as any piece of sensitive technical equipment that may or may not actually exist.”
While I’m a bit skeptical/facepalmish about UD, the latter meaning might be plausible cos when the whole samoflange scene plays out in “Old Friends,” we never see Lion-O’s feet standing on the samoflange.