Thundercats 2011 / Tropes P to S

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Thunder Cats 2011 provides examples of the following tropes:

• Panthera Awesome: Lions and tigers and plenty of other big cats, oh my!
• Parental Favoritism: Played with:
  • To Tygra, Lion-O is the favorite, due being a less able warrior, immature and irresponsible, yet getting every advantage due to bloodlines.
  • However, in Lion-O's eyes, Tygra is the favorite, being seen better than him at pretty much everything and more like the heir Claudus truly wanted.
• Pendulum War: Battles between Cats and Lizards are usually shown with the odds heavily weighted in favor of one side, only for the tide to turn dramatically in favor of the other.
• Perfect Pacifist People: Deconstructed with the Ro-Bear Berbils. A race of Cute Machines programmed as builders and helpers, their villagers are regularly abducted and enslaved by The Conquedor due to their inability to fight back. Panthro must train them to build a village defense system.
• Pig Man: Encountered in the Swordsmans' Town, one a miserable failure at a sword contest, the other a crony of the Duelist.
• Planet Baron: Mumm-Ra compliments Lion-O's ancestor Leo on his skills in finding the Power Stones, musing that when he rules the universe Leo will be given his own planet to rule.
  Mumm-Ra:...supervised, of course.
• Plant Aliens: The Petalars.
• Please Spare Him, My Liege!: Reconstructed when Lion-O doesn't so much plead for as demand the release of two stockaded Lizard prisoners whose lynching was narrowly avoided by Claudus' timely arrival. Though skeptical, Claudus takes Lion-O's Sudden Principled Stand as an illustration of Lion-O's leadership, and pardons the Lizards.(Besides, he still has plenty in the dungeons.)
• Plot Tailored to the Party: Features in "Journey to the Tower of Omens". To whit, Snarf discovers the entrance to the dungeon by trying to eat some fruit from a tree. Getting past the first trap requires the Thunderkittens' lockpicking skills, the second, Cheetara's super-speed and extendable staff. Panthro's Super Drowning Skills in a water trap leads him to find a way out and save the others, Lion-O is able to use Sight Beyond Sight to find a switch in a cliffside, which Tygra activates by hitting with his whip, thus opening the way to the Tower.
• Plunder:
  • The Lizards loot Thundera, and the Thunderkittens, in turn, help themselves to their takings to acquire new clothes.
  • Captain Tygus procures the Warstone for his Commander as spoils of war.
• Pointy Ears: The Cats, many of whom have ear placement and shape that is more Elfin than purely animal.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: The Cats of Thundera. Alley Cats like beating and mugging hapless Dogs, and festival goers like yelling at beggar children and tormenting and lynching stockaded Lizards.
• Portal Cut: Panthro loses both arms when the portal to the Astral Plane collapses while he's holding Grune on the other side.
• Powderkeg Crowd: At a festival, one of these merrily harasses and physically threatens a pair of stockaded Lizards, until Lion-O attempts to shame them out of doing so. Things go rapidly downhill from there.
• The Power of Love: Explored from several angles in "The Curse of Ratilla."
• The Power of Friendship: How loyal the Cats are to Lion-O influences if their eyes flash when he calls them. Only Cheetara's glow so far.
• Power of Trust: Lion-O wins over Viragor in "Forest of Magi Oar" by trusting in the Sword of Omen's judgement and tosses away his weapons as Viragor charges him.
• Power Trio: Lion-O, Tygra, and Cheetara are the base trio of The Team.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child:
  • The Sword of Plun-Darr and its gauntlet were forged by the blood of a star which had three planets filled with billions of people.
  • In a surprising twist, The Sword of Omens had this origin too, as the remnants of the material from that star.
• Praetorian Guard: Jaga's Clerics are referred to as the Guardians of the Crown.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: The two-part "The Trials of Lion-O" adapts the original series' five-episode Anointment Trials arc, where Lion-O earns the right to lead the ThunderCats by defeating each of them at what they're best at. Since the reboot's twenty-four episode order and Stern Chase plot don't allow for the other Cats to challenge him, Lion-O's trials are incorporated as Spirit Stone-induced Adventures in Comaland where he's challenged by spirits in the forms of his friends, for the right to come Back from the Dead.
• Prisoner's Last Meal: A tribe of birds sentence Addicus to death. He is offered a last meal, but when he says, essentially, that he wants to eat the birds, they skip straight to the execution—plummeting him from a cliff. However, Addicus survives when he lands on Slithe's flying ship, which rises above the cliff. Addicus says, "I believe I am owed a last meal," at which point we cut away to the distant sounds of many birds screaming in terror.
• Produce Pelting:
  • In "Omens Part 1" Some boys do this to stockaded Lizards, only for Lion-O to shoo them away.
  • In "Song of the Petalars" the Thunderkittens do this to defeat Khamai's Invisibility Cloak.
• The Promised Land: The Garden is the ancestral home of the Petalars, which they've been separated from for generations, ever since a great wind blew them into the Briar Woods. They travel in search of The Cliff of Winds, a location in the woods that will mark the way back to the Garden.
• Prophecies Are Always Right: So far, Jaga's allusions to to prophecy in the Book of Omens have been correct. It's misremembering the past that gives the Cats trouble.
• Prophecy Twist: Ahmet warns Lion-O that he will feel betrayed by his brother as the evening bell tolls. In the Astral Plane, Tygra almost but not quite betrays Lion-O, seemingly proving the vision wrong. Then, just as the evening bell tolls... Lion-O catches Tygra kissing Cheetara.
• Proud Warrior Race: The Cats... much too proud.
  • Particular emphasis goes to the Tiger Clan, who refused to ask anyone for help curing a plague. As a result, everyone died, and only a deal with demons made it possible for them to "Live"... but at the cost of turning into monsters every night, and technically being locked in a state between life and death.
• Psychic Powers: The Sword of Omens grants its user the power of "Sight Beyond Sight", a.k.a being a Seer.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  • In "Omens Part 1" During Lion-O's Rite of Passage, Claudus delivers the bulk of his Lecture as Exposition with the bellowing emphasis of a Drill Sergeant Nasty.
  • "Thunder... THUNDER... THUNDERCATS, HOOOOOOO!!!"
• Punctuated Pounding: "These bears *clang* are not *clang* your property!" (Cuts Conqedor's weapon in half)
  • Claudus continues his lecture while sparring with Lion-O.
• Puppy Love: Invoked in-universe with Tygra's quasi-courtship of Cheetara when they first meet as children.
• Put Down Your Gun and Step Away: In "Into the Astral Plane", Grune orders the ThunderCats to drop their weapons, or his troops will open fire on their Elephant hostages.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Leo's rebellion against his Commander freed the enslaved Animals, but at the cost of the loss of their homes and great loss of life as their ship crashes into Third Earth.
  • Referenced as exact words in "What Lies Above: Part 2" by Mumm-Ra: Lion-O, the other cats, and all his allies have defeated him, Panthro manages to land the falling city mostly safely, and Lion-O has seen how many he has helped and how this inspires hope that all the races of Third Earth can finally unite to stop Mumm-Ra...but he escapes with the Tech Stone, and Pumyra is revealed as a traitor and goes off with him.
• The Quest: Find MacGuffins to facilitate Big Bad Mumm-Ra's defeat.
• The Quisling: Pumyra is happy to sell out her entire race just to get petty revenge against Lion-O for letting her die without even knowing it.
  • Vultaire, the leader of the birds allies with Mumm-Ra despite it being in the absolute worst interests of his city and his people.
• Ragnarök Proofing: If Lost Technology is so lost, why does it look so brand spanking new?
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Discussed. Panthro views the ThunderCats as being this, and wonders how they got as far as they did without him.
• Rain of Arrows: The Cats employ this tactic during The siege of Thundera.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Mercifully confined to the latter two, this being a children's show, the Lizards are shown sacking Thundera's smouldering ruins.
• Rapid Aging: Inverted: The Petalars have incredibly brief lifespans compared to the Cats, only living for about a day before they wither away, but Cheetara points out that this is relative. To a Petalar, that day is an incredibly rich, full lifetime.
• Rat Men: Among the many animal races are sapient rats and mice.
• Rearrange the Song: Though lyricless and heavily truncated, what remains of the Thunder Cats theme (including its Fanfare and Epic Riff) has been given a dramatic Orchestral Version, with an Ethereal Choir voicing.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Panthro delivers one to Grune in "Old Friends" that points out that Grune's treachery hasn't gotten him any closer to being king.
• Recycled In Space: "Ramlak Rising" is Moby-Dick... ON THIRD EARTH!
• Recycled Title: Over 25 years later, it's still just ThunderCats.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: In their better days, Grune is the deeply motivated, ambitious go-getter to Panthro's levelheaded, rational loyalist.
• Red Sky, Take Warning: Red swirling clouds and lightning mark Mumm-Ra's Big Entrance as he gears up for his first attack.
• Reimagining the Artifact: So, the enemies of the original Thunder Cats were called "Mutants". That's surprisingly demonizing, actually, since they look beastly too, moreso than the heroes. The whole thing smacks of some kind of Internalized Categorism or caste system, Fantastic Racism, even. Aren't they all just Animals? Well, yes. And so the worldbuilding begins...
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Justified, while the Lizards are violent and aggressive, they're responding to generations of marginalization, oppression and enslavement fueled by the Cats' Fantastic Racism.
  • Later, many are shown to honestly not care at all about Mumm-Ra, and are willing to take up Lion-O's offer and simply leave his forces and return to their families.
• La Résistance: The Cats turned on their former commander Mumm-Ra, striking up an alliance with the slave races they ruled over to mount a successful rebellion.
• The Reveal:
  • Nobody can say they were not at least a little impressed by Mumm-Ra's entrance(s).
  • The legitimately surprising Meta Twist Jaga's survival of his Heroic Sacrifice in "Omens Part 2"
  • The ThunderCats and Mumm-Ra had an ancient connection that led to their current rivalry. The twist? The space-faring ThunderCats were working for him. Until they turned on him, anyway.
  • Pumyra was both Dead and Evil All Along, and is a traitor serving Mumm-Ra out of Revenge.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter:
  • The little Petalars
  • The Robear-Berbils, which Panthro explicitly notes as a reason to distrust them.
    • Later, during a hunting trip, he dismisses Wilykit's claims that they can't kill an animal because it's cute, because "Those taste best."
  • Baby Tygra. Sweet mother of cute, Baby Tygra.
• Riding into the Sunset: The Drifter gets to do this, finally becoming his archetype as he sets off to travel from place to place returning all the swords the Duelist took as trophies.
• Ring Out: In Thundera's Fictional Gladiator Games, it serves as a Visual Pun, as the tree that serves as the arena is surrounded by water... fairly humiliating, for a Cat.
• Right Makes Might: This is essentially how the stones of power work. The more righteous the wielder, the more power the stones will grant them. Lion-O and Leo are able to use their full power because they fight for the good of all the races. Claudus is able to use a lot of the sword's power because he fights to protect his people despite being a Noble Bigot, but not to its full extent. The sword stays in its dagger form in Grune and Slithe's hands, and it outright electrocutes Mumm-Ra, who is evil to the core and believes Might Makes Right. Possibly subverted though, and Mumm-Ra believes he can force the stones' full power with his own immense magical strength.
  • In "The Trials of Lion-O Part 2," Lion-O has to get spirit!Panthro out of a ring within a time limit. Panthro's much too strong to be forced out, but Lion-O eventually realizes that as his king, he can order Panthro to step out of the ring.
• Rite of Passage:
  • Lion-O "fails" his test of kingship when he hides the fact that he's seen a vision in the Sword of Omens.
  • The Petalars have one where they gather and sing when one of their number is born, or dies.
• Roar Before Beating:
  • A lion's roar concludes the Theme Tune.
  • Lion-O and Claudus tend to do this when angered, regardless of whether or not they manage to beat their attackers.
• Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Claudus elects to Ditch the Bodyguards to pursue Grune into The Thunderdome, where he holds a hostage Claudus' friend, Panthro.
• Robo Speak: As before, the Berbils.
• Rock Beats Laser: Oh my, no... Magic does considerably better than medieval weapons mind, but that just doesn't cut it against the full extent of the Lizards' Lost Technology Superweapon Surprise. The Cats lack of technology proves to be their downfall as when the Lizards invade Thundera using laser weapons, tanks, and rockets, and as the cats live in Medieval Stasis armed with swords, shields and arrows, which leads to the entire kingdom to be slaughtered.
• Rocket Punch: The Berbil-upgraded Thundertank is armed with a pair.
• Roof Hopping: Or rather, tree hopping, which Cats do for sport (to a fantastic degree) in Thundera's Gladiator Games.
• Room Full of Crazy: Downplayed. Lion-O covers the walls of his room with diagrams of his Black Box acquisitions, much to Tygra's irritation.
• Rousing Speech:
  • In "Omens Part 2" Claudus performs one to psych up his troops during The Siege.
  • In "Song of the Petalars" Lion-O performs one for the ThunderCats when he's decided to face down the entire Lizard army.
• Rubber-Forehead Aliens: A few are scattered among the crowds of Humanoid Aliens and Beast Men in the Swordsmans' Town, the most notable being the Duelist.
• Rummage Fail: Artful Dodger Wilykat has to try a few times before fishing coins out of a Lower-Class Lout's pocket, "Ewww, what does he keep in here?"
• Run or Die:
  • In "Omens Part 2" this prompts the ThunderCats' escape from The Siege of Thundera, as Mumm-Ra, Grune and the Lizards' Lost Technology-fueled military might is too much for the city to withstand, much less a few protagonists.
  • In "Song of the Petalars" Lion-O first wisely elects to retreat from the pursuing Lizard army, only to later confront them head on in a grief-fueled fit of Honor Before Reason.
• Running on All Fours: Cat competitors run up a tree this way in Thundera's Gladiator Games.
• Samurai: The Wood Forgers.
• Sand Is Water: The Sand Sea in "Ramlak Rising," a literal sand ocean with waves, storms, sea monsters and pirate ships, that has islands of water. Landlubbers are screwed either way.
• Scenery Gorn: "Ramlak Rising"'s opening scene, a leisurely look at the ruins of Thundera.
• Scenery Porn: Lots of it! Detailed (and spoiled) here.
• Schematized Prop:
  • Seen in the show's model sheets here, for example.
  • In-universe, Lion-O actually makes an effort to diagram the Black Box he purchased from his Friend in the Black Market.
• Schizo Tech: Once technology's reality is established, it's a total free-for-all based on Rule of Cool. Standard Ray Guns? Got 'em. Flying Steampunk pirate ships? Fair game. Futuristic Pyramids with Tron Lines? Fits right in.
• Schmuck Bait:
  • "Ramlak Rising" The ThunderCats find food. Just floating on the surface of the Sand Sea. They're really hungry.
  • "Journey To the Tower of Omens" The Thunderkittens see gold in a Temple of Doom!
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The Lizard army has so little loyalty to Mumm-Ra — not that he deserves any since he doesn't care one bit for them — that squads are all too willing to accept Lion-O's offer of co-existence and abandon Mumm-Ra to go back to their homes.
  • Later, in "The Curse of Ratilla," Ratar-O's servant Mordrax gets rather fed up with his master's frequent abuse, and turns on him at the episode's climax by giving an unarmed Lion-O his weapons.
• Screw You, Elves!:
  • In "What Lies Above, Part 1," Tygra doesn't take kindly to bird prefect Vultaire's haughty air of superiority. Rather than argue with Vultaire, Tygra tells Vultaire to shut up and tries to take him down a peg in a air race.
  • In the first two episodes, the Lizards get a pretty good one in on the cats, who kept them as slaves, by utterly obliterating Thundera with mecha-tanks, missiles, and projectile weapons... while the cats, who were so convinced of their superiority, only have small amounts of magic, physical strength, and medieval-era weapons. As one lizard put it, they (the cats) went from the dominant race to an endangered species in a single day.
• Sealed Cast in a Multipack: This is how the Cats arrive on Earth.
• Secret Test of Character: Turns out the final test in Lion-O’s trials was this.
• See the Invisible: In "Song of the Petalars," Khamai's Invisibility Cloak is thwarted by the Thunderkittens' Produce Pelting.
• Set Bonus: The ThunderCats and their Arch-Enemy Mumm-Ra hunt for various Power Crystals, one of which is the Cats' own Amulet of Concentrated Awesome, the Eye of Thundera in the Sword of Omens' hilt. If the others are placed in an accompanying gauntlet, their shared wielder will be rendered nigh omnipotent.
• Shades of Conflict: White and Grey vs. Grey and Black. Well-intentioned ThunderCats Lion-O, Cheetara and Jaga work with grey-shaded pickpockets the Thunderkittens, hardened cynic Panthro, and Noble Bigots Claudus and Tygra; and all come from a classist, racist culture. Evil Overlord Mumm-Ra has Selfish Evil Dragon Grune, while the Lizard army is reacting to generations of the Cats' oppression, and its General Slithe has internalized the Cycle of Revenge.
• Shaming the Mob: Inverted. Lion-O attempts this with a Powderkeg Crowd harassing stockaded Lizard scavengers, but his assertion that "they don't deserve this" is interpreted as a call for a Vigilante Execution, creating an Angry Mob. Lion-O's left with no choice but to demand they Go Through Me.
• Shining City: Thundera, in the Epic Tracking Shot and the subsequent Establishing Shot... until the downward tilt reveals the slums below.
• Ship Tease:
  • Lion-O has had several with Cheetara, but now there's the matter of Tygra's attraction...
  • Ship Sinking: Though it keeps to the mythos with Cheetara ending up with Tygra.
  • As of her second episode Pumyra starts flirting with Lion-O, who is just plain confused. And the episodes following it throw in a lovely dose of Belligerent Sexual Tension, culminating in a Smooch of Victory in "Recipe for Disaster."
    • Ship Sinking: Yes, again. She's actually a Sixth Ranger Traitor loyal to Mumm-ra.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: In the "Curse of Ratilla" which dealt with slavery and many deaths of the slaves, Kit and Kat were not to be found.
• Shoot the Rope: Tygra uses his new Ray Gun to shoot the wrappings binding Jaga.
• Short-Lived Organism: The Petalars live their entire lives in a single day. Lion-O befriends a young Petalar named Emrick, who over the course of hours grows from child to teenager to adult, and then finally dies of old age.
• Short Run in Peru: Ireland began airing new episodes while the series was still on hiatus in America.
• Shoulders of Doom: All Clerics wear huge, white, rounded pauldrons on their All Encompassing Mantles.
• Shout-Out:
  • When Wilykit and Kat eat dinner they loudly munch "OM NOM NOM NOM!"
  • The Thundertank looks an awful lot like the Batmobile.
  • Tygra kicks Lion-O into a seemingly bottomless well.
  • Tygra saying "What's a samoflange?" is something that was said in the Hilarious Outtakes of the original series.
  • Mumm-Ra's Electric Torture of Lion-O is straight out of Return of the Jedi.
  • Tygus is wearing a Dragon Ball Z-style scouter.
  • Leo's mane heavily resembles the hairstyle of one Asch the Bloody himself a The Mole.
  • While Mumm-Ra observes the assault for the Stone, one of his monitors briefly displays an image of Mon*star.
  • A suit of armor appears that strongly resembles the gold cloth of lion of Saint Seiya
  • The sword competition Lion-O participates in is suspiciously like the Trial By Stone
  • "Come on beast! For Hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee!"
  • Per Word of God, Mumm-Ra's gauntlet is a nod to The Infinity Gauntlet.
  • The motorcycles in "Sight Beyond Sight" look suspiciously similar to the original TRON lightcycles.
  • The magic words to use the forever bag seem to be Rankin-Bass.
  • In "Recipe for Disaster", when fighting Mumm-Ra's giant dragon beast, Lion-O does the classic somersault animation sequence showcased at the end of the 1980s intro.
  • In "Recipe for Disaster" Mumm-Ra manages to transform himself into a giant energy blasting lizard that is defeated by a giant benevolent butterfly with magic wings.
  • In "Recipe for Disaster" Mumm-Ra uses the bones of a Sycorax, an ancient powerful being. Is the creature a beast of another powerful magic user or another alien entity? Knowing the crew in charge it's entirely possible that it's both.
  • In "The Soul Sever", Tygra's robotic body looks suspiciously like a certain Autobot leader. And its final form is basically a mechanical version of Jeff Goldblum's Brundlefly in his final form.
  • In the same episode, Soul Sever himself is trying to revive his dead family's souls in mechanical bodies like his. This is all fine and dandy until you realize he's voiced by Jeffrey Combs of Re-Animator fame.
  • Another reference has Soul Sever briefly turn on a vision mode that scans body heat with a blue background, as well including faint sound resembling a heartbeat when it is on,very similar to The Predator's mask vision.
  • In "What Lies Above", the scene where the Cats first enter Avista City is higly reminiscant of the Millenium Falcon's arrival in Cloud City. Including the music during their first walk through this City in the Clouds.
  • "Native Son" is centered around people who refused to side with the good guys during an ancient war, were exiled into a remote place, and died out with a dark curse hanging over them. Well, let's hope they come back, swarming over the enemy as ghosts
  • Cheetara says "Gotta go fast!" before dashing through a hall of blades.
• Shrine to the Fallen: During Grune's homecoming festival, Panthro's painted portrait and a stand holding his nunchucks receive a place of honor at the royal family's banquet table in their amphitheatre.
  • Wilykit and Wilykat's father gets a portrait drawn by his children hung up in the family home after his death.
• Sibling Rivalry: Lion-O suffered from cultural ostracism and is jealous of the success and favoritism adoptive older brother Tygra enjoyed both with their people and their father. Tygra sees Lion-O as a Cloudcuckoolander and Just a Kid and resents Lion-O's right of succession by bloodline. Then there's the fact that they both like the same woman...
• Sibling Team: There are two sets in the series: brothers Lion-O and Tygra and the twins Wilykit and Wilykat.
• Sibling Triangle: About the only interest Lion-O and Tygra share is their attraction to Cheetara. Foreshadowing implies that Tygra may betray him because of it.
  • Subverted. Tygra doesn't necessarily betray Lion-O but he DOES end up with Cheetara, which, for Lion-O, is probably just as bad.
• The Siege: In "Omens Part 2" Slithe and the Lizards launch a devastating attack against Thundera, breaking out multiple Forgotten Superweapon Surprises as a Higher-Tech Species with a Turncoat Grune and The Dreaded Mumm-Ra bolstering their ranks and spearheading the final stages. It's a Curb-Stomp Battle. Thundera doesn't even stand a chance.
• Slave Collar: Present on the chain gang of Lizard slaves forced to haul Grune and his giant geode since he's Too Important to Walk.
• Slave Liberation:
  • In "Omens Part 1," Lion-O successfully pulls a Please Spare Him, My Liege!, securing the release of two Lizard scavengers.
  • In "Legacy," La Résistance allies with the slaves under their command to rebel against Mumm-Ra.
  • In "The Curse of Ratilla," the heroes go after Ratar-O's mining operation to free his Thunderan prisoners.
• Slave Race:
  • In "Omens Part 1" any Lizard scavengers caught by the Cats are taken as prisoners of war and Made a Slave. Dozens of these arrive chained and hauling Grune and his geode. No one sees anything wrong with this.
  • In "Legacy" which reveals the historical context of Mumm-Ra's vendetta against the Cats, we see Mumm-Ra has made slaves out of all Animals except the Cats, who are "loyal" servants under his command.
• Sleep Cute: Tygra and Cheetara in "Berbils", much to Lion-O's annoyance.
• Sliding Scale of Anthropomorphism: The Cats fall into Beast Man. This relative variance is itself the basis of their Fantastic Caste System, with tailless Beast Folk as nobles. Most other races on Third Earth are Beast Man or lower, which also serves as a pretext for the Cats' Fantastic Racism.
• Slow-Motion Fall: After his stabbing, Claudus falls from the top of the The Thunderdome's tree into the water below.
• Small, Secluded World: Thundera, thanks to its cultural dominance, insular nature and Wall Around the World.
• Smooch of Victory: Cheetara's First Kiss with Tygra, is this, a thank you and reward for his help as well as a Relationship Upgrade.
  • In "Recipe for Disaster," Lion-O gets one of these courtesy of Pumyra, whom he just saved from Mumm-Ra.
• Soft Water: The water surrounding the tree in Thundera's amphitheatre is a very long drop from the tree's apex, yet the fall itself doesn't kill any competitors or Claudus.
• Soiled City on a Hill: Thundera, corrupted by the Cats' own bigotry and Pride, and destroyed by the Lizards in retaliation for generations of oppression.
• Someday This Will Come in Handy: Discussed. After discovering the purpose and interface of his Black Box, Lion-O reflects that the effort he put in and all he's gone through for the sake of his Chekhov's Hobby "is finally going to pay off."
• Soul Jar: Mumm-Ra imprisons Jaga inside a magical lantern that forces him to serve as a beacon to the Book of Omens. Afterwards, Jaga's soul takes residence in the Book itself.
• Space Amish: Deconstructed. The Cats fancy themselves the keepers of a "fragile peace" in a "world of warring Animals" but their lack of technology utterly undoes them.
• Space Elves: The Cats: Type 1: Elves in Space.
• Space Romans: The Cats wear no togas, but they are a Proud Warrior Race that has lavish Blood Sport spectacles and extravagant feasts in a huge amphitheatre and take conquered races as slaves. And of course, they do love themselves some Lions... Everyone's armor even has a six-pack like the articulated armor of Roman Legionnaires.
• Speed Blitz: A tactic of the Clerics, who have the gift of Super-Speed.
• Spikes of Doom: In a Temple of Doom, they sit below a narrow walkway that ends in a Lock and Key Puzzle with hundreds of keys suspended from the ceiling. If the wrong key is used...
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Lion-O has received the lion's share of Character Development so far.
• Sssssnake Talk: Present with the Lizards, but comparatively underplayed. They stress their sibilants (the "s" sounds), but don't heavily prolong them.
• Stab the Sky: Done during Lion-O's Battle Cry.
• Stairwell Chase: In "Journey to the Tower of Omens" the Cats and Mumm-Ra race to the tower's top to get the Book of Omens.
• Starfish Aliens: In "Journey To the Tower of Omens" Captain Tygus is shown stealing the Warstone from a red planet populated with these.
• Starts with Their Funeral: "Ramlak Rising" opens with Claudus Viking Funeral.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Lock and Key Puzzle with hundreds of keys in a Temple of Doom? "Leave this to the masters!"
  Wilykit: Why waste time picking out a key?
  Wilykat: When you could just pick the lock?
• Stern Chase: The ThunderCats are always pursued to some degree, but the Lizards are hot on their heels in "Song of the Petalars," prompting Lion-O to order his followers to flee into the Briar Woods.
• Sticky Bomb: What Lion-O's Black Box turns out to be, a real Grail in the Garbage, which he uses to save Claudus and Tygra during The Siege.
• Stock Footage: During The Siege of Thundera, the same "arrows fly, Lizards shot at, Lizards run" sequence was used at least twice, quite close together, which is particularly jarring. The Internal Homage to "ThunderCats HO!" has already been reused, even in an area with no cliff.
  • Mostly averted with Mumm-Ra's Transformation Sequence, however: as of May 12, 2012, Mumm-Ra has transformed four times on-screen, and three different sequences have been used.
• Stock Punishment: Played for Drama. Two Lizard scavengers are stuck in stockades, and they don't just suffer Produce Pelting from those who have Come to Gawk, but physical threats by a Powderkeg Crowd, who rapidly get out the Torches and Pitchforks and demand a Vigilante Execution.
• Stock Scream: One of the sailors in "Ramlak Rising" does a Wilhelm scream when dragged overboard by the Ramlak.
• Stock Sound Effects:
  • The Berbils make little squeaky toy sounds when they bounce.
  • Eating Candyfruit causes Wilykit and Kat to go hyperactive with a little video game power-up sound.
• Sudden Principled Stand: Lion-O makes one when he tries Shaming the Mob harassing the stockaded Lizards and demands his father Please Spare Him, My Liege!. It pays off when his father grants them pardons, though his people brand him a Category Traitor and a Zombie Advocate, and his father considers him an Unwitting Instigator of Doom when the Lizards invade the next day.
• Sugar Bowl: The Ro-Bear Berbil tribe initially seem to live in one, complete with color-saturated pastoral scenery and ultra-cute inhabitants. Then the slavers turn up...
• Superweapon Surprise: Bigger Brothers subtype. The Lizards, a newly Higher-Tech Species, have Lost Technology galore and conceal their benefactors, Turncoat General Grune and Mumm-Ra, The Dreaded ancient enemy of the ThunderCats, within their ranks to spearhead the final stages of The Siege of Thundera.
• Survival Through Self-Sacrifice: After Lion-O dies and fails his tests to earn resurrection, he is told he can be brought back to save his friends one last time, in return for Cessation of Existence. He agrees, saves them, and remains alive.
• Swirling Dust: This effect is the first indicator of Jaga's Clerics' Speed Blitz of a Dynamic Entry.
• Sword Almighty: Even given the prevalence of Lost Technology, the Sword of Omens is a legendary weapon.
• Sword Beam: The Sword of Omens can shoot an energy bolt for its chosen wielder, by pointing it at the intended target and screaming "Hooo!"
• Sword Fight: Several, naturally.
  • In "Omens Part One" King Claudus has a sword fight with Lion-O to show off the Sword of Omens' power.
  • In "Legacy", Leo has a sword fight against his commander, both using their respective Cool Swords.
  • In "The Duelist and the Drifter" there are multiple fights against Master Swordsman The Duelist.
  • In "Between Brothers" Lion-O and Tygra have a sword fight both using the Sword of Omens, one the real version, one created in the astral plane.
  • In "Birth of the Blades," Lion-O and Mumm-Ra engage in a brief duel between the latter's use of Sword Beams via his evil magic.
  • In "What Lies Above: Part 2," Lion-O and Mumm-Ra have another duel before Pumyra betrays them and Mumm-Ra is driven off by the arrival of The Cavalry.
• Sword Sparks: Frequent, lightning-like arcing and sparking when the Sword of Omens strikes a target.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Lion-O finds himself affected by a Lizard prisoner's Screw You, Elves! speech, enough to make a Sudden Principled Stand, and try Shaming the Mob harassing them, successfully arguing with his father for their pardon and release.

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