First time poster here and huge fan of the original show when I was a kid, and now re-discovering my love of TC through the amazing new show!
One of the things I am most excited to see in the new show is watching Lion-O mature and develop his powers, especially in the context of this new, “darker” show. Specifically, how his character further evolves through the use of the Sword of Omens.
Understandably in these first episodes, they are playing up Lion-O’s youth and relative lack of combat experience. He is obviously a well-trained fighter/swordsman, having been trained together with Tygra since they could probably walk. But, currently, it almost appears that Lion-O is the weakest fighter of the bunch (Tygra, Cheetara, Panthro). I am eager to see this change:), which we are starting to hopefully see.
I am actually really curious and interested in how this relates to the new show’s take on the Sword of Omens. My memory is a little fuzzy on the specifics of the original Sword’s powers so forgive me. But, what I am really liking so far with the new Sword of Omens is an apparent linking of one’s ability to effectively use the Sword with one’s power of will, one’s mental and spiritual power. This really came through in the premiere with Lion-O wielding the Sword for the first time with Claudus watching.
I am curious to see if the Sword of Omens itself, as it’s power and link with Lion-O grows, plays a significant role in developing and “molding” Lion-O if you will. For example, I wonder if somehow the strength, power and skill of the Sword and/or perhaps the cumulative skills of all who have wielded the Sword before get somehow transferred and fused into Lion-O through their bond…
This to me would make alot of sense and be extremely cool. Lion-O or any King of the TC (as we saw with Claudus) should be a clear step above others in sheer power and skill. How does this develop? It would seem to me that the Sword plays a key role in conjunction with the inherent strength of spirit and will found in Lion-O/the royal line.
I actually really dig how this Lion-O is almost a polar opposite to the TOS Lion-O. He’s petulant at times and demands loyalty from his fellow TCs whereas the old Lion-O knew he was young and inexperienced and mostly deferred to his elders/Jaga.
When they reviewed the new Mumm-Ra Action figure it contained a dagger sized Sword of Omens. In the episode ‘Old Friends’ Mumm-Ra states that Grune is going to help him get back something that was once taken from him long ago. This leads me to believe that either the Sword of Omens once belonged to Mumm-Ra or that the Dark Sword of Plundarr and the Sword of Omens are one in the same or nearly identical in appearance with differing power sets.
In the pilot Mumm-Ra clearly states that the stone in the sword once belonged to him, so it isn’t the sword itself that he wants. The Sword of Omens and Dark Sword of Plundarr are similar in that they both house one of the Stones of Power.
Here’s some new elements I’ve noticed about the Sword of Omens in this series…
When the sword is not in use, the Eye of Thundera is blank. It’s just a solid red circle.
[ul]
[li]When “ThunderCats Ho!” is shouted, the sword lengthens but the circle stays blank.[/li][li]When “Thunder, Thunder, ThunderCats Ho!” is shouted, the sword lengthens and the closed Eye of Thundera appears.[/li][li]When “Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, ThunderCats Ho!” is shouted, the sword lengthens and the Eye is opened.[/li][/ul]In the original, the closed Eye of Thundera was always present. Simply shouting “Ho” would lengthen the sword and the full “Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, ThunderCats Ho!” would lengthen the sword as well as open the Eye. The keeping of the Eye as a solid red circle is new, as is the “Thunder, Thunder, ThunderCats Ho” only calling upon the Thunder twice instead of 3 times.
The other new elements I’ve noticed…
[ul]
[li]Lion-O must grow and mature more for the Sword of Omens to more fully respond to him.[/li][li]Mumm-Ra and any evil being, can not even touch the Sword of Omens.[/li][/ul]
So, bottom line, there will hopefully be alot more detail to come on the nuances of the Sword of Omens’ power (differing degrees of awakening) and how Lion-O taps into it, etc… Those were great observations on what we have seen so far CoT, thanks!
Just a quick response to the comment on this new Lion-O being “petulant”. I actually have not interpreted it that way personally. I see Lion-O currently exhibiting alot of faults (like the other characters too), namely being naive/inexperienced, a tad arrogant and making some pretty stupid calls at times. But, I think he is starting to try and find his feet in the new King role in a good way—specifically, his character is hardening a bit more now and being firm on some things with the others (aka, no more discussion, this is the decision I am making). I think it is good he is becoming more firm at times and asserting himself.
You could argue that Lion-o, who is only 15, just lost a close family member and is grieving too. The writers really are hitting him right on the mark for a grieving teenager. Including the questioning of life and the mood swings.
As I was reading the list on how teenagers cope with death I was pretty impressed the writers really did do their homework.
So what about these stones? They all belong to Mumm-ra? Might there be more weapons with a similar stone? So there might not even be a “eye of thundera” as they all might be the same and the thunderians only named it that way?
I’d say the Sword of Omens ‘stone’ has the power of ‘Sight Beyond Sight’. However I agree about the power of fire with the Sword of Plun-Darr (with the original series in mind)
Well I never said it’s power was completely limited to lightning. The way I was thinking was that Sight Beyond Sight seems to be exclusive to Lion-O, but Lion-O and Claudis both were able to draw lightning out of the sword. And it fits with the “Thunder” theme.
Merged Post:
They just played a mini-feature about the Sword of Omens on CN.
Apparently he’ll add the stones to the Sword somehow to power it up.
I’m also guessing that the sword is able to summon any Thundercats to his location like in the original series but it’s gotta be something like they have to be loyal to him without any doubt. I.E. it looked like Cheetara was summoned from the bottom of the tower to help Lion-O at the top of the tower in that last episode (Episode 6).
I hope they cut down on the Sword’s powers actually.
In the old show, it got RIDICULOUS the kind of jams the Sword of Omens could bail them out of.
The most absurd was when Lion-O used it to rebuild the Gyroscope of New Thundera from scratch. That’s just cheating! lol.
So yeah, keep it simple. Call the T-Cats with the signal, Sight Beyond Sight, Protective Magic Shield, Enhanced magic strikes, Can’t be used by enemies, etc.
