ThunderCats Roar

Some old school ‘ThunderCats’ fans are absolutely NOT feeling the magic and have no interest in hearing the roar of the newly announced Cartoon Network reboot of the ’80s cartoon/toy franchise, ‘ThunderCats Roar’ which was announced on Friday with a new poster and a behind-the-scenes video.  To call this a radical change would be an understatement.  Gone is the sleek anime-inspired art of the first series, not to mention the sophisticated 2011 reboot… which by the way, flopped.  Now these long-dormant feline champs have been redesigned in an art style that looks a lot like current hits like ‘Steven Universe’ and ‘The Amazing World of Gumball’.

Fans made their displeasure with this series known immediately and loudly.  One creator didn’t let this hate get to him, though.  Director Jeremy Polgar (‘Teen Titans GO!’, ‘OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes’) swiftly clapped back on Twitter:

It’s very unusual for internet users to judge something without having seen it in its completed form.  Oh wait, no it’s not.

Internet fans are very protective of the properties they grew up with, but often fail to realize that these modern shows aren’t made for them.  The ’80s and 2011 versions of ‘ThunderCats’ happened.  They still exist.  Fans can watch them anytime they want.  But for starters, like many 1980s cartoons, ‘ThuderCats’ has become idealized in older fans heads.  But seriously, head over to Youtube and try watching some clips from it.  It’s… not as good as you think it was.

Coincidentally, the announcement of ‘ThuderCats Roar’ coincided with a separate announcement of Netflix and Dreamworks’ reboot of ‘She-Ra’, which has gotten a similar reaction from original fans.

The fact of the matter is, in 2011, Cartoon Network launched an older-skewing, intelligent remake of ‘ThunderCats’ which was planned to run for 52 episodes, but it failed and was cancelled after the first season because kids didn’t like it.  And if kids don’t like something, they certainly don’t buy the toys.  And without the revenue from the toys, the network couldn’t afford to keep the show going just to appease older people that were, quite frankly, not their target demographic.  (The same thing happened with ‘Young Justice’.)

We haven’t seen the finished product of ‘ThunderCats Roar’.  Looks can be deceiving.  Fans hated the first look at ‘Teen Titans’ but that show went on to be a hit with viewers of all ages.

If fans of the older iterations of ‘ThunderCats’ don’t want to watch ‘ThunderCats Roar’, they don’t have to.  But let today’s kids have their own ‘ThunderCats’.  They obviously don’t want yours.

‘ThunderCats Roar’ will premier next year sometime.