#panthro

We're back babey! This time it's Panthro's turn, the scars and prosthetics are for backstory reasons as you may soon read. I always thought Thunderians being "bald" (presumably they've still got fur on their heads) wasn't rally my bag. I didn't wanna go with the way 2011 did it and wanted to reinforce the Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Carribean influences that partly inspired this redesign. The pants are Capoeira inspired and the top is loosely based on a sleeveless martial artist uniform top. I think the next time I draw him the fur and eye/mouth marking distinction will be a bit sharper but I'm otherwise pretty happy with how he turned out!

Panthro's Reborn Origin Story

Though Panthro was born during the Plundarrian occupation, his early childhood would be untouched by its horrors. Growing up on a small archipelago between the lands of the Jaguar & Leopard Clans. Born from a people gifted with shadow dappled fur otherwise a rarity to their ancestral clans. Panthro would spend much of his youth (when he wasn’t bringing wild animals home as “pets”) helping his parents’ in their repair shop.

His peaceful little island community was able to thrive thanks to sitting atop a rich deposit of Thundrillium, steadily and carefully extracted via bio-mining. Of course, when the Plundarrian war machine learned of this, the world Panthro had come to know would come to an end. As Ratar-O sent one of his favorite Generals, Pterror the Bat and his War Cauldron to conquer the islands.

It started with the raids, Pterror and his aerial units would distract the adults by snatching up cubs and dropping them into the ocean. Panthro being among the victims, with the scars to prove it from the times he fought back in midair. While the adults numbers thinned to retrieve their kin, Pterror’s ground and sea units would steal and destroy anything within claw’s reach. Again and again, stripping them of means of providing for, let alone protecting themselves. Poisoning their waters with more “efficient” means of extracting their precious livelihood.

(The rest of his origin and my art process photos are under the cut! Feel free to submit any questions you'd like!)

I know I wasn’t tagged… but it’s one of my fave tv shows so, I’d like to fill it out. Maybe even make some new friends? 👉🏻👈🏻 (I don’t bite)

The original is located here and I saw it on @northstarfan’s blog.

How old were you when you became a ThunderCats fan? (and/or) How long have you been in the fandom?

I think I started on the second run when it was in Cartoon Network? My first memory of it is hazy but I remember checking out VHS tapes.

Who is your favorite ThunderCat?

It’s always been Tygra.

As a young kid he was another father figure I could run to (my family wasn’t toxic and I loved my dad so whatever that means) and I looked up to him a lot. His voice was/is very comforting in a way I can’t explain. Like having a bad day? Go watch Thunder Cats and hear him talk and you’re relaxed.

When I got older that childhood reason turned into half crush and well o////o.

I still think it’s funny I became a Graphic Designer and he’s a “designer” in his own way. 😅😌

Who is your favorite reoccurring villain?

This one is hard. 😅 I think Jackal Man. The other mutant voices bother me and minus Mumm-ra …

Who is your favorite ThunderCat ally?

Willa (and her sister) and the Berbils. She cracks me up and I love how powerful she is without magic. And who doesn’t like robot teddy bears with candy fruit?

Who is your favorite one-off villain?

The driller!!! He used to terrify me as a kid. Kind of still does now.

What is your favorite episode?

I have several:

My original favorite episodes that I checked out at the movie store repeatedly: Pumm-ra, The Ghost Warrior, and Trouble with Time. (I still get that nostalgic feeling each time I watch them and it makes me feel like a kid again - it’s such a weird warm feeling that’s hard to explain)

My newer ones after I got the DVDs:

The Fireballs of Plundar (if I need a Tygra hit of dopamine I’ll put this one on 😅)

Silky

Keystone

The Dream Master

The Wolfrat

The Micrits

The Mumm-ra Berbil

Trapped (For that sweet Tygra and Kit moment at the end where she jumps in his arms)

Out of Sight (invisible Tygra being a polite ass hole - what isn’t to love?)

The Thunder Cubs Movie

The Chain of Loyalty

Return of Thunder Cubs

Locket of Lies

Bracelet of Power

The Wild Workout

And then the outlier of my usual preference in episodes:

The Totem of Dara

Mr - “Don’t Drink the water, Kit and Snarfer, it’s dangerous and poisoned” then proceeds to drink said water and passes out - Lion-O 🤨😭

The joke was: this is season one nonsense, Lion-O. Not season 3. You’ve moved past this or so we thought 🙃

What is your favorite canon character dynamic?

The adults taking care of the kittens.

My biggest head canon is that Tygra and Cheetara are the kittens adopted parents. And in so many episodes you can see it and I love it.

The other big one is Tygra becoming more confident.

After the keystone where he explains being nervous and stuff all the the time and noticing it in previous episodes- it’s cool watching him move on from that.

It was also an interesting character dynamic that you really don’t see until you’re older. I always thought he had it together and was the real leader of the Thunder Cats while Lion-O was the face of it until he was old enough to handle it.

The five of them being a “family”

Most of the episodes up there are where the five of them are co-existing in some way and just being themselves. I don’t like when they are separated in later seasons. It still wrecks me that Tygra stays on 3rd earth and Cheetara and the kittens go to new Thundera. I’ve written SEVERAL stories off this trying to fix it 🤪😅 (and yes I know my head canons aren’t real but watching them realistically 65% exist with them and then splitting up?? 😞🥲)

What is your favorite ship?

Tygra and Cheetara hands down.

I will admit though in a very far left (all the way over light years away to the original location of Thundera) alternate universe if Lion-O wasn’t aged up in an adult body that he and Kit would be cute together. Kit, Kat and Lion-O were around the same age and so it would make sense in a weird way.

Do you have a ThunderCats OC? If you do, give their name and a little backstory if you'd like!

I do. Her name is Emma/Snowy. I made her up as a kid and when I got back into TCats, I expanded on her, giving her a better back story.

She is Tygra’s daughter that he had with his first Wife (a blue tiger) Amara.

Amara was killed because of her magic that scared other cats in power. Emma was born a rare golden tiger because of her mother’s genes mixing with Tygra’s clan.

Her stripes aren’t always visible because she can’t control her magic very well. She has Tygra’s invisibility powers but she can’t control them. Her actual powers are the ability to control ice. (I made her up a decade before Frozen was even thought of) the way she meets the others is by freezing Lion-O solid when he scares her.

She was kidnapped as a cub but he thought she was dead. Tygra was so distraught and upset at the death of his family that Claudis and Jaga blocked his memory. So he only knew Cheetara after that. Panthro and Cheetara both knew the cub and the mom but were sworn to never speak of it.

Tygra’s memory block is removed by accident during Lion-O’s annoinment (sp) trials when he uses a lot of his mind power, and it all goes down hill from there.

Once she’s back, he’s super protective and helps train her magic.

What is your favorite Sword of Omens ability?

Sight Beyond Sight.

Tagging wise: @kibaweissvulf and I had a friend who had a lion-o icon also in the CATS fandom and I think they changed their icon - I can’t find them.

[Thank you @thepodofthundera2 for this!]

How old were you when you became a ThunderCats fan? (and/or) How long have you been in the fandom? I want to say I was about five or six years old when I first watched the show, then revisited it with a hungry obsession when I was about twelve. Unfortunately, I didn't have any knowledge of fandoms at the time and all I had was half of S1 on DVD as well as part of the 2011 reboot also on DVD. (I binged everything in three days.) Currenly, I've officially been in the fandom for a couple months now and I'm so exicted to (hopefully) watch this fandom grow!

Who is your favorite ThunderCat? Lion-O, and I don't really have a solid reason why. First off- lions are my favorite big cat. Second, I think he has a really cool voice. I think I was also really drawn to him because he was the first character I genuinely resonated with- I moved from my old home when I was young, I was twelve at the time I had my second obsession and loved being the same age as my favorite characters, and I also used to get in trouble a lot for acting without thinking. (Now I just overthink-)

Who is your favorite reoccurring villain? I'm a heroes girly and I rarely root for the villians let alone hope they show up after being defeated. But honestly- Vultureman. I like how he doesn't put up with the other Mutants' nonsense and how unique his character voice is. I also think he could be a more dangerous leader than Slithe, but it seems like he just doesn't want to and I think that's really funny.

Who is your favorite ThunderCat ally? I have several: Hachiman- I honestly thought it was so cute when he kept mistaking Nayda as Lion-O's little sister. (But I don't think she corrected him! Only Lion-O said they weren't related.) I also really love the Berbils. I find them a little difficult to understand, but I just think they're so cute but also a little confusing- why do they grow all those fruit plants if they're robots and technically don't eat? They don't really even have mouths. Lastly, I loved Mandora and just her general concept. I'm just slightly upset that nobody jumped at the chance to arrest the Mutants to hand over to Mandora

Who is your favorite one-off villain? I would say Queen Tartara for I, too, am a sucker for shiny and pretty things. I also really love the Russian/Slavic vibe to her. Just watching The Crystal Queen makes me feel cold even in the height of summer.

What is your favorite episode? There's a few, but I haven't seen everything yet so... - Exodus: I love introductions and entering a story in media res and it wasn't until way too late that I understood that Exodus means 'the end' or 'last' along with the irony of it being the first episode. - The Trial of Strength: There's so much worldbuilding in here and I haven't seen it until a couple months ago! I'm a little upset that the rest of the Trials didn't continue expanding on this worldbuilding, but I really liked getting to see not only more of Third Earth but also learning more about the TCs and that being a TC isn't just a race, but a title. - Excalibur: I didn't get to finish this one because my internet crapped out halfway through and I desperately need to finish it, but I freaking loved what I saw! I thought Lion-O was going to fight the knight at close-quarters combat, but I find it so hilarious that A) a whole JOUSTING arena was set up just for this fight and B) Lion-O comes in on a unicorn.

What is your favorite canon character dynamic? It wasn't until recently that I really started to appreciate Snarf and Lion-O's relationship. The closer I watch Snarf, the more I learn about Lion-O. I used to hate Snarf and think he was annoying, but now I see that he's a surrogate parent and the closest thing Lion-O has left of his family. Even though the adult TC are technically in charge, I just love how Snarf is a great reality check and is kind of like a parent to all of them. (I seriously should make some Snarf hcs now that I think about it-)

What is your favorite ship? Lion-O and Willa have to be my favorite. I love strong men with equally badass women. I saw someone gave them the shipname 'Liona'? Bro- 'Will-O' was right there and it's even a type of tree! I hope I get to see more interactions between them the further I watch.

Do you have a ThunderCats OC? If you do, give their name and a little backstory if you'd like! There's too many, but these are my favorites: - Lion-S: (I'm a little mad this is a real character in the 2018 reboot bc I made her before then, but I fully intend to ignore that.) She's Lion-O's younger sister who goes from being around six-ish to almost ten or eleven after the suspension pods (children grow fast-) and now has to navigate this even greater age distance from her brother. - Cali: A Calico apothecary who often works with Tygra. She has a sharp wit and is smaller compared to the others. She managed to sneak onto the Thunderian flagship and sleep in an extra suspension capsule tucked away in the depths of the ship's cargo.

What is your favorite Sword of Omens ability? I just like that it's a sword, special abilities or not. I collect all kinds of knives and swords and I think it would be so cool to get my hands on a (useable) replica of the Sword of Omens. Even though this isn't really an ability, but I never understood why there was a spade between the eyes for Sight Beyond Sight, but it allegedly represents intellect, power, and strategy and I think that's pretty cool. But if I had to pick a single ability, Sight Beyond Sight is probably my favorite.

One of the precious few times we see Panthro genuinely just sad/hurt without also being angry is when he’s worried he did actually hurt all those people while blacked out in Spitting Image.

He will throw away his pride, his temper, tradition, even his precious Thundertank, anything that on a superficial level makes Panthro Panthro the moment he believes it’ll put a vulnerable person in danger, or (accidentally) already has.

He’s unhesitatingly willing to sacrifice the thundertank to save a baby seahorse (don’t even get me STARTED about Panthro being a softie for animals). He literally goes “blast the Trials!” when he’s genuinely afraid Lion-O will be killed by an earthquake even though it’s technically against the rules to help him.

So it's the last day of Men's Mental Health Awareness Month (& Pride, but I already posted regarding that!) and I wanted to write a post concerning it somewhat. I'm not gonna rampage about looksmaxxing or the manosphere or the male loneliness epidemic or any number of other concerns that affect men these days. Instead, I'm going to talk about a diamond in the rough from cartoon history. As the title suggests, the incredibly wholesome and enjoyable male friendship between Tygra & Panthro from the original 1985 ThunderCats!

Now, to those not particularly well-versed in 80s cartoons, Panthro & Tygra's relationship could be hand-waved off as the ever underwritten "everyone is friends and never disagrees because we're all on the same team! If anybody disagrees or argues they're the butt of the joke, mind controlled, or we're spoon feeding some kind of moral." thing that was very common in 80s cartoons. However, like many many other things about the original ThunderCats, it's (perhaps sneakily) very well-written and interesting to the keen observer.

Obviously there's the surface level stuff. They both love science, they've got plenty of overlap in their interests and expertise in science (Tygra) and engineering (Panthro). It is both work and play for them, and there's more than one occasion where there's entire scenes devoted to the two them enjoying one another's company while putting together something cool and useful. They both also have the unspoken shared duty of being positive male role models and parents to Lion-O, Wilykat & Wilykit, and by extension the show's primary audience.

A hallmark of some of the most common gripes I have with a lot of male relationships in media for all ages is that it always feels as though the male characters are always (often unnecessarily) competing for something. Jealous of what the other has that they lack because this underlying desire to get the gold star sticker for being The Man In Charge in the context of an ensemble, undervaluing what traits the other male characters have that aren't something they share with them, however virtuous.

Especially when badly written, all these male characters come off as insecure and emotionally stunted. It is a particular kind of sexism especially hurts men and their friendships with other men. There's this constant need to win, to "win" conversations, win debates, win being the most useful/skilled at a task or mission, and most irritating of all winning the attention of a woman. ThunderCats in general seldom was written where male characters expressed these types of behaviors completely unexamined.

In Tygra & Panthro's dynamic lacks this pervasive issue. They appreciate one another's differences, in their expertise, their combat styles, and their approaches to solving problems. There's no bad faith competition in their friendship. Neither of them are trying to win Best At Science or Kill Most Bad Guys or force each other or Lion-O to only ever do things their way. Most pleasing of all, neither of them are competing for Cheetara or her affection, she's her own person and they both have good relationships with her without any possessiveness. Which was extremely feminist for the time and still is today.

Their relationship goes much deeper than merely being "science bros" too. They genuinely deeply care about one another, which is true for all the other ThunderCats too but it's easier to make the assumption that they might only express vulnerability and tenderness regarding the only female character or the kids. This however is not so! Neither of them have any qualms about genuinely expressing concern for each other's well-being without it being seen as mushy or embarrassing. Even beyond immediate physical injury or peril.

Some of the best and most endearing examples of this are in the first season of the show. For specifics I'm going to talk about The Trouble With Time and Spitting Image. In The Trouble With Time, Panthro is extra cautious in looking out for Tygra while he's vulnerable if not actively dying. He prevents Cheetara & Lion-O from drawing out a fight unnecessarily and physically helps Tygra get to the Geyser of Life. When Panthro goes missing, Tygra is the first one to reach Lion-O after being unable to find him anywhere, not Cheetara the known speedster, Tygra! When they learn that its Mumm-Ra whose abducted him, he insist they search everywhere "inch by inch" when they don't know where Mumm-Ra has taken him.

Beyond the obvious care for one another and their shared hobbies, they also ground and balance one another out. Panthro grounds Tygra by checking on him when he suffers in silence and avoids letting other people help him in episodes like The Garden of Delights. While Tygra on the flip side is able to redirect Panthro's anger and confrontational nature with pragmatism and focus in episodes like The Mountain.

In fact, they are so good at balancing one another out, that the biggest blunders that emerge from their individual shortcomings tend to occur when the two of them are separated. Tygra never asking for help and putting himself in self-imposed isolation that exacerbates the problem in episodes like The Crystal Canyon. While Panthro allows his temper and desire for a direct & simple end to a complicated threat rule him in episodes like The Mask of Gorgon. Which even in a series that isn't heavily serialized like the original ThunderCats, character relationships do genuinely matter that aren't just mentor & student, siblings, or lovers.

Behold the mighty Panthro, I was absolutely shocked and delighted by just how well he turned out! Happy last week of Pride Month everyone!

Bts on my process under the cut!

Now if you are a ThunderCats fan, you'll know his voice if not his name or face, he was the voice of Panthro in the original ThunderCats.

For those of you who may not know, Earle Hyman was a closeted gay black and indigenous man.

Born in Jim Crow era North Carolina, his family moved to NYC to seek better education and pursue his love of theater in a part of the country less hobbled by prejudice. Aside from his most famous TV roles, Panthro and Russel Huxtable on the Cosby Show (latter for which he was Emmy-nominated!) He had a long and prestigious career as a Shakespearean actor. Particularly playing Othello, self-reportedly hundreds of times, among many other Shakespearean roles.

Eventually his career took him to Norway, the country became his second home, his second (and third, having learned both dialects) language, and the home country of origin for his partner, Rolf Sirnes, meeting him for the first time not in Norway but the U.S. in 1954.

The two fell in love and moved in together shortly after meeting, Earle Hyman would come to Norway nearly a decade later in 1963, where he met international acclaim and stardom. He and Sirnes had a cabin in Skånevik, Sunnhordland, Norway. A town where Sirnes had spent many a summer holiday as a child.

However, for the majority of their lives together, Earle Hyman and Rolf Sirnes would settle into an apartment in Manhattan, where Sirnes spent his retirement working in Greenwich Village.

The pair would not make the news of their relationship public until 2000, in order to protect Hyman's acting career, which was already hard fought. As he spent no small portion of it smashing various racial barriers and making history by playing roles such as Caliban, Horatio, Macbeth, and King Lear.

"We met in a Manhattan company. We were young and poor and found out we were going to share an apartment, and we still do! Life with Earle has been amazing, but also a roller coaster. Actors are a separate breed and it's not far from top to bottom. Norway is my country, but my heart belongs to New York." - Rolf Sirnes in an interview with Margaret Haavik (translated from Norwegian)

They would also come out to the world on the Norwegian TV Show "God kveld Norge!" (Good Evening Norway).

"I could never live without Rolf. He's the best I could get." (quote from Good Evening Norway translated from Norwegian)

Their nearly 50 year relationship would sadly come to a close when Rolf Sirnes passed away in 2004. He was buried in Haugesund, Norway.

Hyman would outlive his partner for another 13 years, passing away in 2017, his ashes are still in the keeping of his family. The obituary written for him by The New York Times makes no mention of Hyman's queerness or of his life partner Rolf Sirnes at all.

So the complete picture of Hyman's legacy and identity nearly fell into obscurity in the English speaking world were it not for more recent articles and attempts at properly archiving Hyman's life via the Folger Shakespeare Library's "Earle Hyman Collection" and the Henry Giardina article on Queerty about the history of Sirnes & Hyman's love.

Hyman left a mark on ThunderCats through his excellent portrayal of Panthro. Who, I would say is known to be by most fans, especially by fans of color, black-coded. Though that is it's own whole other post (and/or possible video essay in the future). Neither the showrunners of ThunderCats nor Hyman himself allowed the character to be pigeon-holed.

Of all the fanart I’ve seen of Panthro, I never see one with hair. In true 80’s fashion, I gave him a Mohawk/mullet situation that I think really suits him. Personally, I wish they didn’t make him that grayish blue and the large ears make him more bat-like than cat. (Lowkey, I always thought it was weird that he basically looks bald lol) I also gave him a crooked nose because there’s no way that he’s a marshal artist and hasn’t lost his fair share of fights.

Fun fact: Panthers are actually jaguars/ leopards with melanism!

I also have some sketches of a younger Lion-O if anyone is interested ☺️