I’m a bit shocked about some sentiments on here about the Sword of Omens. That’s like having He-man not have his sword, which means, he’ll always stay Adam. The same with She-Ra. The Sword of Omens is a VITAL part of the story. Without it, there is no story. Anybody ever thought that the SoO could have been a possible hint / symbol of spiritualism? When it doubt, go back to your faith (not saying religion per se!) and draw power from there. But besides that, I’m totally against the idea of ever changing the basics of the sword. It is what it is - and that’s what makes it so good. And remember, it was a kids cartoon - so of course when he gets out his “magic wand” he will win the day. This was written to entertain, not make sense all the time. Go ahead, stone me. Really just think its a bit harsh.
It’s interesting that you brought He-Man up. The concept of Adam changing into He-Man was created by Filmation. The original concept of He-Man in the mini-comics did not have him transforming at all. He was a warrior barbarian called Oolar and the sorceress gave him the sword and armour.
Some concepts Sebastiaan just get over used and the SoO was one of them. It was cool at the start but the more and more power they added to it just made the other characters appear so much weaker. It just became such an easy fix all for lazy writing.
The She-Ra cartoon had her sword able to transform into pretty much any device she needed to save the day. :00
The same with Voltron’s Blazing Sword attack…as soon as he did that you knew that was the end to the monster they were fighting.
The Transformers had the Matrix of Leadership and how often was it ever used to save the day? Once in the movie and once more later on in the series.
Even Bravestarr didn’t rely on his animal powers to save the day all the time.
I enjoyed shows were they were actually an equal team without one character being treated as the star like Transformers, Defenders of the Earth, Galaxy Rangers, Visionaries, TMNT and Centurions etc.
Exactly - it just proves the point that the show was written for kids since they’re more approachable by the magical than the logical. Again, just talking from experience here. That’s probably why I liked the show so much - its magical aspects which wowed me and transported me to a different world. Today something like that may seem silly to me as an adult, but then again, if it has a great backup story, it will be acceptable. The 2011 version put their own spin on the SoO too, which in today’s climate makes sense. Back to He-Man - I doubt kids would’ve watched it if he was never Adam. The same with TC - it may have been to much of a stretch if too much reality was written into the show. I don’t think it was laziness on the writers’ part, I think it was more of the guidelines they were given.
When I say lazy writing I mean how they just had the sword save the day. It may have been a kids show but there is no excuse for lazy writing regardless of who your audience is.
Just look at Family Guy for terrible writing and characters in an animated show aimed at adults.
Transformers and TMNT had them use their brains and come up with plans to out smart and beat the bad guys rather than some magic device to always save the day.
How will Lion-o defeat the robot? How will Lion-O free them from the spell? How will Lion-O know the real Panthro? How will he free them from their bindings. Use the sword for all problems!
I think He-Man would have been fine without the Prince Adam identity. In fact it would have been better if he had just been Prince Greyskull or Adam Greyskull or whatever rather than He-Man. That name sounds so childish and uninspired. The original concept of He-man came from Conan the Barbarian and even the shows Blackstar and Thundarr the Barbarian had magic sword wielding warriors who didn’t need secret identities. And lets not forget Adam’s outfit design LOL. 
Perhaps that’s where we differ in opinion here. I think that the magical aspect of the sword (although it gives Lion-O an “easy way out” or “quick resolution” to their problems) is what made it unique. It never bothered me that it was always the answer to the issue or the quick fix. It was something I always counted on. The show does contradict itself though - and I’ve seen many mention it - why didn’t Cheetara use here speed there or why didn’t Tygra turn invisible there and why did Pumyra only use her skills once there and so on. There seems to have been many quick resolutions to many of their struggles and difficult situations, but very often it was left in the background probably, I assume, to give focus to the main character (in this case Lion-O) and his weapon of choice. So although it appears as lazy writing, I think that that was the type of story they always meant to tell:
- Bad guys attack
- TC in trouble
- Lion-O saves the day (well, mostly!)
I guess having those as guidelines would always mean that the writers were limited with their writing as they had to stick to the formula of the show. Although I agree it would’ve made for far more interesting episodes today, I hardly ever sat back after watching an episode as a kid and thought why did that not happen or why is it always Lion-O saving the day. Its a different story obviously as an adult. That’s what makes it fun I guess - seeing the “flaws” and dissecting them. I cherish the original for what it is, flaws and all. But I still would not have messed with the SoO. That’s like cutting Cheetara’s character. Blasphemy!!! :giggle
Granted sight beyond sight was pretty cool and being able to call the other Thundercats but I would not have it have numerous magical properties that they can just use as the solution all the time.
I grew up only watching the first half of episodes…but I think had I seen the second half when I was younger I would have felt the same that it was an easy way out.
I love the old Thundercats cartoon but I think of the first half up to the movie…the second half I am not so keen on, especially the inclusion of the Lunatacks.
I recall when I was younger being bothered with The New Adventures of He-Man and how he rarely every used his sword for sword fighting. It was usually always blocking laser blasts or shooting laser beams etc.
That kind o
That did happen once in “Unholly Alliance” when Lion-O tried to use it to kill some deers for food.
I think Sebastiaan has a point when he says it was a kid’s show and that, when watched as a kid, you don’t question a lot of thing we’re discussing now.
But I also agree with all of you in that, by the second half of the first season (or by season 2 if you prefer), it got boring and tiresome to see the SoO solving every single problem. It not just made the other TCs look weak, as Mark says, but even Lion-O. I watched the show as a kid and remember thinking: “Why do you all TCs even bother to get out of CatsLair to fight Mumm-Ra/Mutants/Lunataks/baddie-of-turn and risk t get yourselves in danger? Just make Lion-O call the Eye of Thundera and it will be over”.
I’d say the SoO should have been granted the following powers:
[ul]
[li]Sight beyind sight[/li][li]Summon the TCs[/li][li]Warn Lion-O when there was some trouble (as someone said -sorry, I can’t remember and am too lazy to go back to look for it LOL-, I’d make some adjustment here, because the SoO didn’t warn Lion-O when the baddies were planning something, but only when someone got in peril, and it could have been too late (fortunately it never was LOL). Also, sometimes the SoO waited for all the TCs to get cpatured to warn Lion-O about it. Think of “Mongor”: Tygra got captured, then Cheetara and finally Panthro. Wouldn’t it have been easier and more useful that the SoO warned Lion-O as soon as tygra got captured, then he could have summoned the otehrs (preventing them to get capttured as well), go to help Tygra, who would have warned them about Mongor and his powers, and they would ahve been more rpepared and attack Mongor with all they have?[/li][/ul]
I’d take away the “Come to my hand” thing and the Eye fixing every thing, from broken chains to pressing buttons, to eclipses.
The laser-blasting could stay, as all the other weapons were able to do it.
I agree. Keeping Sight Beyond Sight, Summoning the Thundercats and Warning Lion-O would be enough power for the sword.
‘‘Excalibur’’ is a prime example of an episode that show how weak the SoO made the Thundercats look…and the sword itself since Excalibur beats it.
I never got why Excalibur fought with the SoO in the first place since it cannot be used for evil. Surely it must have been smart enough to figure out who was evil and who was not. Even the “Thunder-Cutter” was more intelligent as it refuse to duel with the SoO.
I was thinking the same thing. Same with the SoO. It knew not be used against good or for evil.
Nobody here is hating the sword. the sword is cool I like the design but the problem is it was god-modded so much. I mean why even have the other thundercats around if it could solve everything? I’m not even a fan of he-man or she-ra so I’m not going to say anything about it. The sword of omens kind of went from having some normal powers to some really OP abilities and a lot of them only exist in one episode. When the sword actually eclipsed the sun I could only sit there and face palm because good lord was that over doing it. Also when the sword repaired mumm-rana’s pyramid! wtf man.
I would expect it from a japanese anime but even anime doesn’t seem to OP a weapon that much. It’s just being critical of something that became an annoying constant.
In the comics which I’m not much of a fan over the sword didn’t have godlike powers.
It should have done this more often. XD
I would rewrite “The Thunder-Cutter” so that, when Lion-O and Hachiman meet, Lion-O wouldn’t be goaded by the samurai, instead using brains to best the samurai. The Sword of Omens responded to Lion-O when he and Hachiman were cutting the bark that served as a bridge across the Four-Day Drop, but neither that sword nor the Thunder-Cutter would respond when their masters were about to battle each other after Nayda saved them.
A bit like He-Man and She-Ra’s physical powers. In some episode He-Man is shown to have so much strength that he can push a planet and lift a mountain!
it must be an 80s thing.
Well at least the SoO had magical powers…which isn’t as hard to believe as He-Man’s abilities. Lifting mountains, lifting castle greyskull, moving a planet, spinning his body fast enough to drill through solid rock, spinning his sword fast enough to create tornado’s then in some episode he is barely able to over power Skeletor…
As many people here, I’d have changed the characters’ names.
Even MOTU (He-Man and She-Ra, the first one a little better) made a better job there as they named some characters under a trait that characterized them, like Mec-A-Neck (a game word for Mechanic), Two-Bad (Too Bad), Stratos, Clawful (Awful?)… and even the more animal-related anmes were a little better (Webstor rather than Spidero, Kobra Khan, Rattlor, etc). Of course, there were also Beast-Man, Mer-Man, Ram-Man…
He-man lol like he-man woman haters?
Well the naming thing was a problem for the mutants too. Slithe seemed to be the only mutant with a name that didn’t make any mention of what he was. It makes him stand out though my favorite mutant is Jackalman.
Back on topic with rewrites. You know the episode with the key stone? sorry i can’t remember it’s name. It would have been better if Tygra had beat Alurro with his wit and the sword didn’t give him a steroid injection.
I’d love to rewrite “The Sound Stones” so that, instead of him striking out on his own like he usually does, I’d have the Mutants throw Vultureman out of Castle Plun-Darr and have him side with the Lunataks as a means to get back at his fellows. He’d use one of the Sound Stones to attack the ThunderCats and the Mutants, forcing both sides to team up and put an end to his antics.
I think the process of naming the characters, aside from laziness, was due to the success of comic characters like Spider-Man, Batman, Hawkman etc.
Yes let Tygra beat him with his own skills. 