"Designated victim"

Why is Tygra so often described as the "designated victim" of the Thundercats? Is it just because he got hooked on Silky fruit and the Keystone those times? Other Thundercats were the "victim" just as often - for example, Cheetara getting captured in Pumm-Ra, or having her sixth sense manipulated in The Telepathy Beam, so unless I've missed some episodes it seems a bit unfair that Tygra has this reputation.

We've had this discussion a zillion times LOL

I agree with you 100% in that it's really unfair to call Tygra the "designated victim", but to be honest, he used to get in trouble more than the other TCs. Not only the eps that you've mentioned ("Garden of Delights" and "Crystal Canyon"), but he was also the one to get trapped in the Cavern of Time in "Trouble with Time"; he was the one mesmerized by the vampire-mermaid in "Turmagar the Tuska"; he got imprisoned by the moss monster in "Mossland Monster"; and can't forget the one I think gave him that reputation over all, the infamous "Fireballs from Plun-Darr", where he got captured and bound eagle-spread like a real damsel in distress to the Four Winds.

Also, I think that, even when in some episodes the other TCs got captured as well by the same opponents (Mongor, Safari Joe), Tygra's fights and captures were the lamest ones, as if eh was the easiest one to go after; his battles were usually the shortest and he was also usually the first one to fall down. Also, Vultureman in "Superpower Potion" defeated him first and pretty fast, compared to how the fight against Panthro turned out.

And finally, unlike other TCs that usually got out of their predicaments all by themselves (due to their physycal or mental strenght), Tygra usually had to be rescued or helped by others, giving the impression he was the weak link of the team (even the kittens solved some problems on their own).

So I think it was the fact of being captured a lot, pretty easy and fast, combined with not being able to get free on his own, and being humiliated constantly (Safari Joe dismissed him and his bolowhip and then used him to threat Cheetara, saying he would turn Tygtra into a rug; Mongor called him a fool, Monkian stated Tygra failed "miserably" in "Fireballs form Plun-Darr", etc), that gave the idea of him being an easy prey, kind of weak and useless, thus turning him into the designated victim.

But again, I agree with you. Many people tend to forget his big accomplishments: risking his life by entering Cats Lair and then defeating Mumm-Ra all by himself in "Pumm-Ra"; saving Cheetara from a giant beehive in "Divide and Conquer"; turning all the TCs back to normal in "Wolfrat"; saving the day in "Out of Sight", etc.

So go tiger! :tygra:tygra:tygra

"Tygra_Rules, post: 121190, member: 9228" said:

We've had this discussion a zillion times LOL

I agree with you 100% in that it's really unfair to call Tygra the "designated victim", but to be honest, he used to get in trouble more than the other TCs. Not only the eps that you've mentioned ("Garden of Delights" and "Crystal Canyon"), but he was also the one to get trapped in the Cavern of Time in "Trouble with Time"; he was the one mesmerized by the vampire-mermaid in "Turmagar the Tuska"; he got imprisoned by the moss monster in "Mossland Monster"; and can't forget the one I think gave him that reputation over all, the infamous "Fireballs from Plun-Darr", where he got captured and bound eagle-spread like a real damsel in distress to the Four Winds.

Also, I think that, even when in some episodes the other TCs got captured as well by the same opponents (Mongor, Safari Joe), Tygra's fights and captures were the lamest ones, as if eh was the easiest one to go after; his battles were usually the shortest and he was also usually the first one to fall down. Also, Vultureman in "Superpower Potion" defeated him first and pretty fast, compared to how the fight against Panthro turned out.

And finally, unlike other TCs that usually got out of their predicaments all by themselves (due to their physycal or mental strenght), Tygra usually had to be rescued or helped by others, giving the impression he was the weak link of the team (even the kittens solved some problems on their own).

So I think it was the fact of being captured a lot, pretty easy and fast, combined with not being able to get free on his own, and being humiliated constantly (Safari Joe dismissed him and his bolowhip and then used him to threat Cheetara, saying he would turn Tygtra into a rug; Mongor called him a fool, Monkian stated Tygra failed "miserably" in "Fireballs form Plun-Darr", etc), that gave the idea of him being an easy prey, kind of weak and useless, thus turning him into the designated victim.

But again, I agree with you. Many people tend to forget his big accomplishments: risking his life by entering Cats Lair and then defeating Mumm-Ra all by himself in "Pumm-Ra"; saving Cheetara from a giant beehive in "Divide and Conquer"; turning all the TCs back to normal in "Wolfrat"; saving the day in "Out of Sight", etc.

So go tiger! :tygra:tygra:tygra

If you're all caught up on the recent He-Man/ThunderCats comic, you'll notice Tygra doing something pretty huge in issue 5 and getting congratulated for it.

"Daremonger, post: 121198, member: 25241" said:

If you're all caught up on the recent He-Man/ThunderCats comic, you'll notice Tygra doing something pretty huge in issue 5 and getting congratulated for it.

Could you please tell me about it? There are almost 0 chances I get to put my hands on those comics. What does he do? Who congratulates him?

"Tygra_Rules, post: 121200, member: 9228" said:

Could you please tell me about it? There are almost 0 chances I get to put my hands on those comics. What does he do? Who congratulates him?

If you're interested you can read them (as well as others) here
http://readcomiconline.to/

"adssse, post: 121201, member: 25051" said:

If you're interested you can read them (as well as others) here
http://readcomiconline.to/

Thank you!

Back to the topic, you'd think I'm crazy, but besides Tygra's design and writers "not knowing what to do with him", and besides having Pantrho/Cheetara/the kittens in trouble most of the time would be considered racist/sexist/child-abusive at the time, I always thought there was something in the open boots LOL

I always wondered if there weren't some pervert/kinki writer in the team who had a fetish on feet and thus made Tygra the designated victim because he liked to see barefoot white guys in trouble (a common pervetrtion btw), considering Tygra the "white man" of the team besides Lion-O. I mean, not only was he the "designated victim", but in so many episodes there seemed to be a focus on Tygra's toes and feet (I'm not sure if all of those eps, as well as the ones where Tygra was the victim, were written by a particular writer as I know nothing about it, but I'm sure you guys can find it out).

You might say Wilykit and Bengali had open boots as well, but Kit was a girl, so it could fit the character, and bengali was introduced when Tyra had already been designated victim of the month (or victim of the century for the matter LOL).

A far-fetched, crazy theory, but possible a one. So don't call me a weirdo! :barefoot ;)

"Tygra_Rules, post: 121262, member: 9228" said:

Back to the topic, you'd think I'm crazy, but besides Tygra's design and writers "not knowing what to do with him", and besides having Pantrho/Cheetara/the kittens in trouble most of the time would be considered racist/sexist/child-abusive at the time, I always thought there was something in the open boots LOL

I always wondered if there weren't some pervert/kinki writer in the team who had a fetish on feet and thus made Tygra the designated victim because he liked to see barefoot white guys in trouble (a common pervetrtion btw), considering Tygra the "white man" of the team besides Lion-O. I mean, not only was he the "designated victim", but in so many episodes there seemed to be a focus on Tygra's toes and feet (I'm not sure if all of those eps, as well as the ones where Tygra was the victim, were written by a particular writer as I know nothing about it, but I'm sure you guys can find it out).

You might say Wilykit and Bengali had open boots as well, but Kit was a girl, so it could fit the character, and bengali was introduced when Tyra had already been designated victim of the month (or victim of the century for the matter LOL).

A far-fetched, crazy theory, but possible a one. So don't call me a weirdo! :barefoot ;)

And his weapon was a whip. Which is kind of cool in a way. You would have to be a pretty awesome warrior to do into a big fight with a whip.

"Mark M, post: 121265, member: 5058" said:

And his weapon was a whip. Which is kind of cool in a way. You would have to be a pretty awesome warrior to do into a big fight with a whip.

I always liked the whip and found it pretty cool. Yes, you have to be a great warrior to fight with it.

And that's another element for the pervertion theory: white guy, bondage & humiliation, barefoot, whip... see the pattern? :eek:

This thread certainly took an odd turn haha

Oh my. I think we are overthinking this one now.

I do agree the whip is very cool. I used to take jump rope and try to make a bolo whip out of it when I was younger. Lookout neighborhood!

Maybe we're overthingking it... but I overthink every thing on Tygra lol

:tygra

"Cheetoro, post: 121279, member: 26134" said:

Oh my. I think we are overthinking this one now.

I do agree the whip is very cool. I used to take jump rope and try to make a bolo whip out of it when I was younger. Lookout neighborhood!

I used to own an actual whip when I was quite young. I got it in antique shop for £1 along with an old sword for £15. I was quite into Zorro, Indiana Jones and the Musketeers at the time.

"Cheetoro, post: 121279, member: 26134" said:

I used to take jump rope and try to make a bolo whip out of it when I was younger. Lookout neighborhood!

I did this exact thing when I was 8 or 9! I never successfully turned invisible, but I got pretty good at twirling it around myself. [emoji4]

Haha yes I did the twirls too. You had to yell at the other kids to stop looking at you because you were invisible! Good times.

Tygra's battles tended to be shorter if he was the last one to be captured - as in "The Mumm-Ra Berbil" and "Dream Master", but not if he was one of the earlier ones. I think he lasted longer in "Mongor" for instance, and indeed "The Super Power Potion".

But certainly, the writers didn't give him much credit even when he saved the day. He actually did more rescuing than anybody else in "Divide And Conquer". He escaped the Giantaur, he rescued Cheetara from the giant bee, and then everyone rescued Panthro at the end. And certainly in "The Wolfrat", he saved the day, which even as a kid I found to be a refreshing change - I was half expecting Lion-O to call out the catchphrase and that would magic them all back to normal size. "Pumm-Ra" too is one that doesn't get discussed as much, but again yes it's Tygra that does the most important job at the end there.

His invisibility was a cool power, and the whip an unusual weapon. The only other hero I can think of who wielded a whip was Leoric in Visionaries. Curiously it was Leoric who got turned into an old man in the episode "The Power Of The Wise", but this was nothing like "Trouble With Time" - whereas Tygra had to be carried out by a rapidly moving Cheetara, Leoric was able to crawl all the way up Shadow Mountain in his aged form.

Not only he entered Cats Lair in "Pumm-Ra", but he also defeated Mumm-Ra all by himself.

About his battles' time-span, they usually were shorter. I think "Mongor" was equally distributed among the 3 TCs, but in "Superpower Potion", his fight against Vultureman was slightly shorter than Panthro's, and a little lamer in my opinion. I think the exception might be "Monkian's Bargain", where Panthro and Cheetara were defeated pretty fast -which was more significtaive as they were two against one- while Tygra gave Monkian a bigger and longer fight.

Finally, when he was the first one to fall, the villain of the day would make a snarky remark (like, "If this is all a TC can do..." or "Let's hope the others represent a bigger challenge" or something in that style). I think that kind of stuff stuck in viewers' minds and related Tygra with the "easiest" one.

If Panthro lasts longer than Tygra in single combat, it's simply because he usually starts from the driving seat of the Thundertank, so has some extra protection at first.

There are so many times where if it wasn't for the demands of the Lion-O-centric format of the show, Tygra would have and should have been victorious in these skirmishes. Monkian's Bargain is a good example, so too is Safari Joe. Monkian's Bargain is a particularly good example in that it was actually a stalemate until the Kittens pulled the drawbridge in, thus distracting Tygra at a crucial moment.

I guess you're right about Panthro always starting his fights behind the ThunderTank's wheel.

I think a good example of Tygra displaying all his abilities is "Time Switch". As Lion-O becomes younger and younger, Tygra comes out with most of the plans and ideas, and even displays some leadership over Panthro and Cheetara.

Well, if you look at the early episodes, technically Tygra is second in command after Lion-O anyway. It was when Peter Lawrence started writing and giving more lines to Panthro . . .