Weak or Strong Characters

Cartoons ThunderCats (1985)
1

Somebody’s comment in another thread made me think of this as I was working out this evening. (Yeah, kinda weird time to think of it, I know.)

Anyway, the comment that was made was regarding a character as weak.

So I am just curious, in the original series, what characters in the show would you consider to be strong characters and what characters would you consider to be weak and please explain why you feel that way about the character. :smiley:

My thoughts (always subject to change based on insight given by others):

Strong Characters: Lion-O, Tygra, Wilykit & Wilykat

I think these four are strong characters because we’ve seen complexities with each of them, an inner struggle at times to do the right thing.

Lion-O was a learning experience, a boy trapped in a man’s body trying to understand how to be grown up when he never had those crucial years.

Tygra demonstrated complexity several times. When he was under the influence of various things, a darker side of his personality would imerge giving up some glimpse into an inner struggle and conflict he faces. He always seemed the most secretive yet highly respected and not to be crossed.

Wilykit & Wilykat demonstrated complexity with their desire to be treated like adult ThunderCats. In one episode, stealing the older ThunderCats weapons (why in the world would they have left Cats Lair without them?) to try and practice with them, in another episode running away and Wilykat wanting to make the older ThunderCats sorry for not treating them as they thought they should be treated, and often times finding themselves in trouble for not following the rules.

Consequently, I’ve always found myself more intrigued in episodes that focus on any of these four characters, especially when they demonstrate that they’re not perfect.

Weak Characters: Panthro & Cheetara

I never felt much depth from them, their characters always seemed a little flat to me and I’d find myself bored more when they were the focal point of an episode.

I haven’t seen as many of the newer ThunderCat episodes recently, but I know Lynx-O and Bengali have me engaged and I feel they are stronger characters. Bengali’s youth adds for an interesting dynamic, definitely the youngest of the Thundercats save for the kittens being younger than him. And Lynx-O being blind but being acute in other senses (very earth benderish for those who have seen The Last Airbender). I’d have to see more episodes though to have a better handle on their characters.

I’m not sure how to classify Snarf. Not really that much depth to him. He’s pretty much altogether good and fiercly loyal and protective. Which makes him a good pet but makes him harder to classify on the character level with the ThunderCats.

I’m not really interested in analyzing mutants, lunatacs, or other characters at the moment. :slythe:

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Wilykit & Wilykat demonstrated complexity with their desire to be treated like adult ThunderCats. In one episode, stealing the older ThunderCats weapons (why in the world would they have left Cats Lair without them?) to try and practice with them, in another episode running away and Wilykat wanting to make the older ThunderCats sorry for not treating them as they thought they should be treated, and often times finding themselves in trouble for not following the rules.

From a parental PoV, this is typical teen behavior, in some cases a little more extreme than usual, but pretty stereotypical. The only unusual thing I noticed with them was an almost complete absence of sibling rivalry. Maybe a twin thing? I enjoyed their adventures mostly because they were the closest to my age when I was watching it, but I do echo my daughter’s question in almost every ep: “Where are the twins and who’s watching them?”

Mumm-Ra always annoyed me as the over-the-top villian as much as Skeletor and Hardok did. Geeze, if I was kicking around for 1k years I’d at least install some electricity and put together a nice library to keep me entertained, maybe travel some, whatever. Not spend it wrapped in rotten cloth sleeping away the ages.

Snarf had some poor lines, but his overall character was one of loyalty, intelligence, and protectiveness. He struck me as under appreciated even if he did gripe like a grandma at times, and was often poorly treated by Lion-O.

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I always thought of Panthro as a weak character, in the sense that he was flat, no interesting angle on him, always making bad jokes, playung the rude guy, and… afraid of bats?

And I too got bored in the eps where he was the main focus (like when Hammerhand possessed his body and… was there any other?); even his trial was the most boring one.

4

I agree on Panthro being flat. He was supposed to be the smart tech guy, but his lines were more brawn than brains. And what’s with the bats thing? It wasn’t but a few eps before that they showed him to be scared of spiders. Poor little Bushy, it was so cute! Another case of inconsistent writing.

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I sensed some sibling rivalry. Wilykit did tease Wilykat a bit. Wilykat seemed to just take it though and not really respond much to it.

That is a good question.

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I’m going to disagree with you about Panthro because I’ve seen him as a warrior who shows both ingenuity and compassion. As for the bat phobia, ah well no one’s perfect. :panthro:

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Bat and spider. I’m guessing the phobias were more to help him relate some to the kids watching. Funny thing is, I have adult friends who are like that. I know a guy scared to death of spiders. Always fascinates me to find adults like that. Now I’m hesitant around snakes. Fortunately I don’t normally encounter them, I do feel a little more edgy if I go camping or hiking in wilderness though.

Anyway…

I like Panthro now more than I did as a kid. I still don’t feel he’s that strong a character though. I do like his compassion. :slight_smile:

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I knew a guy that was deathly afraid of snakes and spiders. Then he told me he wants to move to Florida one day. I LMAO’d. That’s my home state, and I have a good notion he wouldn’t stay there long!

9

He could move to Destin. :cool:

10

I’m deathly scared of spiders (I’m 34)… and still not like Panthro, sympathize with him, or identify to him at all :smiley:

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McGuire’s! Okay, I only went to the Pensacola one, but still.

Snakes make great pets. Minimal maintenance, maximum scare the neighbors.

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Hmm.. There’s a question. Is there any character in the show you can identify with? I think I identify with the kittens the most, always feeling left out of the action but wanting to be a part. However, as a kid, I was never in a hurry to grow up.
Merged Post:

McGuire’s is an irish pub, right? I think I visited there. Can’t beat white sand beaches, though I heard they weren’t so pretty after the oil spill.

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Again, maybe another reason Tygra was my favorite, I could relate more. Minus the clean freak thing.

McGuire’s is great food and very entertaining. Always ask for a seat with a view of the bathrooms. You’ll understand later. And yes, the Irish pub.

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Well, I think I have always liked Tygra because some way or another I always identified myself with him: the quiet guy, not interested in calling attention, kind of the underdog who people hardly get to get.

15

Hmm… I think I can identify with him a little. However, I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve. He’s better at hiding his. Would like to be more like him in that.

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I’m fairly outspoken, but most people don’t “get me” so I learned to be a loner and enjoy it more than the company of most people. I have some suspicions on why, but until I can get the testing done, it’s speculation based on observation of the mini-me.

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Do I want to know? I think it was full when I went and we got a table wherever they could fit us. My friends were more impressed with it than I was. I was more fascinated by all the dollar bills everywhere.

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It’s in the way their bathrooms are set up. Women’s door reads “Men’s -->” and the Men’s door reads “Women’s <–”. Add the funhouse mirrors that are the first things you see when you walk in, plus the people that are drinking things like the Irish Wake (limit of 2 per night, you can take the jar home) or the Emery Chenoweth (also a 2 drink max, you get a t-shirt for drinking that one) and things get interesting.

It’s also safer than sitting near the guy who will make you participate in the Hokey Pokey or make you kiss the moose, the yak, or the a$$ for not joining in.

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Strongest Characters:

Lion-o : They kinda wrote him that way so its hard for him not to be a strong character. At times he has blonde moments, and you just want to smack him for being so stupid but, he is the kid in a mans body. Creepy as that is.

Tygra: Despite his easily addicted personality, and his constantly messing up and getting caught or being feebish, I think he is the one who holds to the Code the most out of all the characters. He has a harder time then the rest given his personality, but he works through it.

Mumm-ra: Necromancer evil mummy who can never die. Sure he is repulsed by his own reflection but if I looked that icky I’d be a bit repulsed too. Gota love his constant devoting to bringing down the Thundercats.

Weakest:

Pumyra: Seemed like they just threw her in to take some of the load off Cheetara. She does nothing for me really.

Panthr-o: Sorry big guy, love you n’ all but you were just muscles with a mouth alot of the time. His additude changed as quick as the weather, and he was just very flat.

Character I identified most with?:

I wish I could say Tygra, but sadly I was outspoke, crazy, and always getting into trouble. Kit was the character I most reflect even to this day. Minus the bad hair…

20

I agree, and have said this before, that Tygra is the one that holds the code the most.

I dion’t think though that he got captured much more than the others. He got captured in “Fireballs of Plundarr”, but so did Cheetara and Panthro in “Tigh Squeeze”… all the other eps, all the TCs (minus Lion-O) got captured the same.