I like Bengali concept #3. young, hot-headed, and focused, yet good-natured and kind-hearted.
In my concept, Bengali is a young, hot-tempered white, Bengal tiger that’s about a year younger than Lion-O with a Romanian-Spanish accent. He’s from a village filled with survivors of the Tiger clan who left after during the plague but due to being the only white tiger in his village, he had been bullied for all his life until the ThunderCats arrived. He’s also a skilled blacksmith-in-training but while he forges weapons for his village, he, also, forges masterpieces to satisfy his artistic vision in his spare time.
As I was drawing I found a few problems with Bengali being a hot headed 15 years old…
Tygra will feel like he technically got his start-of-the-series little brother back. Except he is even younger, he is only 15!
He might try to hit on Cheetara because she is the first girl who actually gives a damn.
He cannot do childish things because that is reserved to Wilykit and Wilykat.
They wanted Wilykit and Wilykat to be older but the voiceactors did such a good job they made the kits younger.
Lion-O would go good with him as in the sense of experiencing what kind of person he was and how far he has gotten and matured, but being hot headed… Pumyra was also hot headed, beating up slave keeper rats for example.
I am not sure if a 15 years old cat fits the group.
I know that is how Bengali originally was, but Originally (as much as I have heard) Tygra was quite different. He was the calm one wasn’t he?
Good point, the hot-headedness is too much. How about he just be kind-hearted, outgoing, and childish, but I still think he should have an accent.Also, he wouldn’t get along with Tygra because their personalities would clash and Lion-O would be the person he would befriend.
I like this one too!
It is closer to the main characters in age.
but… why is he the only one?
Anyone ever thought about that maybe he actually has both his parents (as in the whole village is full of white tigers?) and he is fine? Like in.. has a sis too and the Thundercats are welcomed for dinner? Yes, the kits have a Mom but they were in a sad situation.
And he just wishes to be a famous blacksmith? Maybe his father cannot continue blacksmithing because of an injury… or his grandfather is the blacksmith in the family?
It would be BIG change compared to the rest of the Thundercats that there are actually happy places like the Berbill village out there?
Most of the cats: Lion-O, Tygra and Cheetara have lost basically everything, Kit and Kat gave up everything to help their mother and siblings to survive, while Bengali has so many things he wants to save.
Out of the second batch, I’d say I like 3 the most. The hair is the way I imagined it and I like the face pattern.
As for the age and personality, you bring up some good points cofie. I still would like him to be about 15 since I’d like there to be a character more within the mid-teens range.
As for being hot headed, he wouldn’t be the sort of violent angry hot head like Pumyra was, but more of a, as tvtropes would out it, boistrous bruiser. He generally a very upbeat guy, not full of anger. If I had to give an example of the kind of personality I have in mind, I might say Toph or Korra from the Avatar series, just male instead.
However, you are right, the new Tygra is very different from the old Tygra. Our new Bengali could instead be rather shy and much more reluctant to fight, but he still wants to help make a difference and join the ThunderCats, and maybe learn to be a little more assertive. Maybe THAT can be his character development.
If you decide to do a full body sketch of him, I was thinking his height would be about the same as Lion-O’s, maybe even just a smidge shorter. I also keep imagining him wearing a blacksmith’s apron, with the red ThunderCats jewel/logo on the chest. But you’re free to think of whatever sort of costume you want for him. I also imagine he’d be a bit more buff than Lion-O.
We may just have to wait until we learn from the original crew what Bengali would have been like.
Well, in my concept of Bengali, the reason why he’s the only white tiger because being a white tiger is more of a genetic disorder because his mother and father are normal and it would be shown that he has an ancestor who was a white tiger. He has a little sister who’s normal too but, instead of teasing him about his appearance, she admires him to the point of being too clingy, i.e. brother complex.
He leaves his village and join the ThunderCats in hopes of becoming the most famous blacsmith in all of Third-Earth and bring honor to his family and, also, have cool adventures like fighting monsters and villains, saving damsels in distress, and protecting the weak like a hero.
After some more thought, I think I actually do like shy and quiet Bengali more. He could even be a bit cowardly. Maybe he could have lived in a peaceful, secluded village of white tigers for his whole life, or something like that.
I do wonder how I could fit Lynx-O into that, since I sort of want him and Bengali to be introduced together. Maybe Lynx-O escaped the attack on Thundera and was taken in by the White Tigers for a while. I do also like the idea that Lynx-O was among the slaves and has been helping them while Lion-O’s been gone, but I also feel that if Lynx-O was there we would have seen him.
I like those ideas too. Bengali dreams of being heroic, but didn’t have much motivation until he met the ThunderCats and joins them. I wonder what it would be like if he met Hattanzo, another great blacksmith.
Okay, so, I have some more thoughts on Bengali’s village. I’m imagining it as a sort of refuge for both white tigers and their relatives that were shunned by the main tiger clan. Considering that the tigers were probably even more prejudiced than Thundera was, they probably did look down on those who were different. White tigers and their families may have been banished in the past, but they found a place to settle down and start a new life. Maybe the lack of genetic variation is what caused the tigers to be vulnerable to the plague that killed them.
Bengali would have been born here in the village, a few generations after it had first been founded. There’s a good mix of both normal and white tigers too. The people are overall very polite, but are very wary of outsiders and value their privacy. They are afraid that any outside cats might lead to their home being conquered or destroyed because of past prejudices, maybe there could have even been a myth that white tigers are cursed.
Granted, this is all highly subject to change once we learn more about the Bengali that would have been.
I remember Panthro once mentioned a “Great Sky Cat,” so they have some kind of religion.
Another idea; The possible reason that there are white tigers may not be because of any genetic disorder, but because many are descended from some of the white haired cougar blacksmiths in the ancient past who had children with tigers, and that white coloring sometimes pops up when a new baby is born. it would also help explain why Bengali could have that hammer and blacksmith skills passed down through his family.
I don’t know. The Queen says: “It seems the Gods have delivered us a son.” when she picks baby Tygra out from the cradle.
The good spirits might have gotten Gods title while the evils stayed Spirits? I don’t know xD;;; I’m just guessing here.
btw I also like the shy Bengali. But it’s 1 am here so I will go to sleep soon ^^;
