Thundercats Exposed

I gotta say, considering how strict the censor board for children's shows was back then, I'm surprised how these guys were able to get away with "naked" humanoids. :confused: I doubt if even today's animated shows could pull off something like that.

Yes, even when I agree with Sebastian in that they were supposed to be covered in fur, they were still naked. And that's how they looked to the naked (LOL) eye.

The 2011 series made a better job in the "fur" department.

"Tygra_Rules, post: 122321, member: 9228" said:

Yes, even when I agree with Sebastian in that they were supposed to be covered in fur, they were still naked. And that's how they looked to the naked (LOL) eye.

The 2011 series made a better job in the "fur" department.

I was never a big fan of the whole furry look that the 2011 Cats had. It just didn't look right to me. Yes, real life cats (lions, tigers etc) all have fur all over their bodies. BUT it is quite short and not so obvious from a distance. That is something that cannot be correctly shown in animated form. Which is why the random tufts of hair that sprout out of the shoulders, elbows and legs of the 2011 characters just seem odd to me, especially when it is drawn next to defined muscles. Just my personal opinion.

"Wilycub, post: 122322, member: 25043" said:

I was never a big fan of the whole furry look that the 2011 Cats had. It just didn't look right to me. Yes, real life cats (lions, tigers etc) all have fur all over their bodies. BUT it is quite short and not so obvious from a distance. That is something that cannot be correctly shown in animated form. Which is why the random tufts of hair that sprout out of the shoulders, elbows and legs of the 2011 characters just seem odd to me, especially when it is drawn next to defined muscles. Just my personal opinion.

Not a huge fan of the 2011 series but in some ways I preferred the fur and body proportions of the 2011 series. They looked more feline with the fur and it was nice that there was variations in the body types.

There's one thing I never got. Cheetara's clothes were supposed to be not only the red bathsuit, but also the orange sleeves on her left arm and legs (in Exodus, both arms and legs are the same color as her right arm). But in one episode ("Dimension Doom"? I think not but can't remember the one), where it is shown that she has many similar changes of clothes and boots, I found two weird things:

• It looked like the outfit was only the red body, without the red sleeves.
• How and when did she get the otehr sets (Jaga gave them only on set; if they got more each, why not they exchanged among them, specially the guys).

"Tygra_Rules, post: 122367, member: 9228" said:

There's one thing I never got. Cheetara's clothes were supposed to be not only the red bathsuit, but also the orange sleeves on her left arm and legs (in Exodus, both arms and legs are the same color as her right arm). But in one episode ("Dimension Doom"? I think not but can't remember the one), where it is shown that she has many similar changes of clothes and boots, I found two weird things:

• It looked like the outfit was only the red body, without the red sleeves.
• How and when did she get the otehr sets (Jaga gave them only on set; if they got more each, why not they exchanged among them, specially the guys).

If you look closely in many of the episodes, there are often issues with colouring. In ThunderCats Ho! episodes, Pumyra has white boots if I remember correctly, but then before she becomes a ThunderCat she has red boots too in one scene. I noticed some other episodes too where the colour was wrong or absent, not just on the TC but also on the mutants. But it was literally just a mini frame here and there. I think its either the way the file was transferred to digital or the artists responsible for those frames that had the colour wrong. I guess it was easy for them to slip up or do it intentionally.

"Tygra_Rules, post: 122290, member: 9228" said:

Yes he has. Just a white "body" over his chest, not overing hisa rms and legs though.

I saw the episode again this weekend and noticed although he looked naked it also looked like he had some kind of vest on - but then again, the one side was blue and the other white, so just like Panthro's chest beneath his armor is dark grey/blue and light grey/blue, this could just as well have been the same for Bengali. But then again, those lines really make it look like a tight fit shirt or vest. I guess they tried to downplay the nakedness and have it look more clothing like with those lines. Clever and confusing as it can be either or.

"Sebastiaan, post: 122418, member: 25673" said:

I saw the episode again this weekend and noticed although he looked naked it also looked like he had some kind of vest on - but then again, the one side was blue and the other white, so just like Panthro's chest beneath his armor is dark grey/blue and light grey/blue, this could just as well have been the same for Bengali. But then again, those lines really make it look like a tight fit shirt or vest. I guess they tried to downplay the nakedness and have it look more clothing like with those lines. Clever and confusing as it can be either or.

I honestly don't think that they are wearing some kind of vest or body-tight costume. They are naked. Period. The dark/light color variation is just their skin color. The artists tried to implement the look of real cats who have lighter colored fur on their bellies, soles of their feet and around their mouth. So the artists gave these characters different colors over their naked bodies. That is why even the palms of Panthro's hands are light grey. It's not like he is wearing half gloves. :confused:

"KosmoKat, post: 122429, member: 25717" said:

I honestly don't think that they are wearing some kind of vest or body-tight costume. They are naked. Period. The dark/light color variation is just their skin color. The artists tried to implement the look of real cats who have lighter colored fur on their bellies, soles of their feet and around their mouth. So the artists gave these characters different colors over their naked bodies. That is why even the palms of Panthro's hands are light grey. It's not like he is wearing half gloves. :confused:

Agreed, in my mind they're naked. :) Now that didn't come out right.

They are definitely naked in the episode.

Yes they were. Jaga hismelf says they needed so clothes till then.

It was one of the most shocking aspects of the pilot. When you consider how much parents paid attention to monitor what their children watched (I've heard countless tales of parents getting upset over Lord Zedd from Power Rangers and complaining about violence in Masters of the Universe of all things), I'm a little surprised they got away with it.

I mean 4 year old me looking at a naked big breasted Cheetara definitely raised some questions in my young mind, lol.

It is made even weirder by the fact that other Thundarians wear clothes (Watch Return to Thundera), and future episodes like Thundercats Ho! and the New Thundera episodes depict Thundarians as wearing clothes.

Also, its weird that Jaga states they never needed protective gear or weaponry, but then immediately after that, they talk about the constant threat of The PlunDarrians. And then when we get a look back at Thundarrian history, we see threats like Grune and Ratilla, and it gets to the point where I think that there was pretty much always a need for protection of some kind.

I chalk those kind of inconsistencies up to communication breakdown between the writers. I would see things like that in 80s cartoons. I mean the Constructicons in Transformers had two or three different origins in Transformers. I think Leonard Starr had an idea of how he wanted the story of the Thundercats to begin and evolve, and writers that tackled future episodes either weren't aware of those aspects or chose to ignore them. Its also possible that parents did complain after the pilot and they just slowly phased that aspect of the origin out as the series progressed.

Then let's remember pummyra, lynx-o, and bengali all wore clothing in the movie they appeared in. Maybe only thunderians were allowed to be naked if they became thundercats since all the other cats from their planet wore clothing.

"PKELL, post: 122964, member: 1000" said:

It was one of the most shocking aspects of the pilot. When you consider how much parents paid attention to monitor what their children watched (I've heard countless tales of parents getting upset over Lord Zedd from Power Rangers and complaining about violence in Masters of the Universe of all things), I'm a little surprised they got away with it.

I mean 4 year old me looking at a naked big breasted Cheetara definitely raised some questions in my young mind, lol.

It is made even weirder by the fact that other Thundarians wear clothes (Watch Return to Thundera), and future episodes like Thundercats Ho! and the New Thundera episodes depict Thundarians as wearing clothes.

Also, its weird that Jaga states they never needed protective gear or weaponry, but then immediately after that, they talk about the constant threat of The PlunDarrians. And then when we get a look back at Thundarrian history, we see threats like Grune and Ratilla, and it gets to the point where I think that there was pretty much always a need for protection of some kind.

I chalk those kind of inconsistencies up to communication breakdown between the writers. I would see things like that in 80s cartoons. I mean the Constructicons in Transformers had two or three different origins in Transformers. I think Leonard Starr had an idea of how he wanted the story of the Thundercats to begin and evolve, and writers that tackled future episodes either weren't aware of those aspects or chose to ignore them. Its also possible that parents did complain after the pilot and they just slowly phased that aspect of the origin out as the series progressed.

I think it's just a case on inconsistent writing. Which in my opinion worked out for the better in the long run. For anyone who hadn't been watching from the start might have found it a bit odd in the episodes like The Ghost Warrior, Return to Thundera, Thundercats Ho etc if the Thundercats had been naked.
Although having said that even in Thundercats Ho Lion-O etc were still shown to not be wearing clothes yet Lynxo and Pumyra were wearing clothes. Bengali is debatable.

Only Thundercats are allowed to go all natural.

I think it was "The Mumm-Ra Berbil" where Cheetara's wardrobe was seen to be full of matching orange swimsuits.