This week we pit two cartoons that shaped the mind of young people in my generation -- He Man versus the Thundercats! I loved both of these shows as a kid, and I wondered what would happen if they went up against each other. Also, I would pay cash money to see the initial confrontation, when the Thundercats realize that He-Man is riding one of their relatives like a pony. I can't imagine that would end well. At least, that was the case at my last family reunion. Not fun.
So sound off in the comments and lay it out for us! Who would win, and why? I'll post my reasoning after the jump so I don't unduly influence anyone.
To be clear, this is the entire He-Man cast vs. the entire Thundercats team. I'll run them down one by one.
- He-Man vs. Lion-O: Both have swords, but He-Man has steroids. Advantage, He-Man.
- Teela vs. Cheetara: Both are masters of martial arts, but Cheetara has legions of adoring fans who like to not only dress like a furry, but get implants and tattoos to make it even more realistic. Advantage, Cheetara.
- Panthro vs. Man-at-Arms: Two beefy brawlers with years of fighting experience, but Man-at-Arms has Seventies Porn Mustache. Advantage, Man-at-Arms.
- Tygra vs. Stratos: Martial artist vs. flying energy projector is tough. However, Stratos' entire flight power is based on wristband-mounted feather dusters, and therefore he is invalid. Advantage: Tygra.
Which leaves us at a 2-2 tie, meaning we have to go to the tiebreaker -- sidekicks. It's hard to tell who's a sidekick in the He-Man universe because come on, they're all slightly ridiculous. Fisto? Seriously?! But I chose Orko to be their rep, because come on, he flies around in a purple Gandalf hat and a towel. If that's not sidekick material, I don't know what is.
For the Thundercats, I'm going with WilyKit and WilyKat, because stupidly-dressed siblings are always sidekicks. It's in the Comic Book and Cartoon Handbook, you can look it up*.
Orko can do magic, but WilyKit and WilyKat have a collective name, like Brangelina, and that's automatically cool. Furthermore, that collective name is "ThunderKittens" which, come on, is like the most awesome name ever. Advantage: Thundercats.
So there's your winner! At least, in the opinion of this humble blogger. I can't wait to see how you all break it down!
* Not actually in the handbook, which doesn't actually exists. But it would totally be there if there were a there to be!
As I recall, the membership of the Thundercats was fixed, while He-Man’s posse expanded every time the toy manufacturer’s kids wanted a new pony. He-Man’s crew would win by sheer weight of numbers.
Wait–your family reunion went nuts because one of your relatives was riding another like a pony?
Don’t pretend it’s never happened to you.
The He-Man crew is very, very large… in the ’80s I was one of the major (fanatical) collector of Masters of The Universe in my city [I think not only in my city, but in the whole italy] and every years the Mattel produce at least 4-6 new Good Guy friends of He-Man! So I’m withDr. Shrinker!
But also… He-Man alone was more or less a Golden-Age Superman! He can create hurricane with his breath, wreac meteors with fist and coil daimond from sand simply pressing them with bare hands!
He-Man alone can fight the whole Thundercats team!
Got to vote He-Man just because he was so insanely overpowered. And, though it could be hard to tell, he was the only one on all of Eternia with a fully functioning brain.
Had a weird moment earlier this year. Home sick from work at about eleven at night, I stumbled across a channel running old cartoons. I saw a Paul Dini writing credit on an episode of He-Man. I guess everybody has to start somewhere, right?
Thundercats. All the way. Besides fighting, they were mor than willing to think their way out of a situation.
Besides, the Thundercats were cooler! 😛
Thundercats, ’cause Lion-O’s magic sword has a cooler name than He-Man’s magic sword. C’mon, I know I’m grasping at straws. He-Man would make a rug out of Lion-O, but I was always more of a Thundercats guy, so I gotta throw my support that way.
OK, for the sake of argument, let’s say the two sides are limited to the same number of combatants. So we’re not getting every hero in the Masters of the Universe line, just the same count as the Thundercats bring to the table.
Gotta go with He-Man. As has been stated by others, everything about He-Man was cranked up to eleven. The dude actually picked up Castle Grayskull and threw it once. Could Lion-O lift The Cat’s Lair? Doubt it. Also magic. While Lynxo used some low-level Eastern Mysticism from time to time, and Jaga rocked the “Obi-Wan Kenobi” Ghost Body thing, He-Man has The Sorceress as his backup.
So, wait, let me get this straight. He-Man is what happened to Samson after his comic series ran its course? Well, I gotta go with He-Man now!
Yes… Thundercats are way cooler, but He-Man is… Well, insane.
The fact that, surpringly, he’s far from dumb only adds to the thundercats problems.
Oh man, I remember He-Man! I used to love that series! And the companion series about his sister She-Ra, who lived in an alternate universe…that was cool too. 😀
So yeah, vote going to He-Man cause I’ve actually encountered it. 😀
I am cat fan. Thats my only reason i take the Thundercats, but i like more the new version.
Ok he-men is strong, he can pull a planet with his rope… oh no that was she-ra. Ok, she-ra wins against he-men and thundercats wins against he-men. So he lose in two ways.
This fight comes down to speed vs strength. Everyone underestimates speed. I have seen a lot of bar fights in my time (don’t ask 🙂 ), and to me it seems strength means nothing if a stronger guy can’t hit his target. That is why I’m going with Thundercats. He-man, and his muscle-bound dweebs tire out after Cheetarah and that then leads them to an ambush, after which Panthro shoots them with the Thundertank.
I voted He-Man, simply because I would always watch this and Wacky Racers when I was sick, and in my semi-delerious state, made those shows magical. In fact, I have never seen either of those two shows at anytime latter than 8:00 A.M. This may be because I could only watch it on Hanna Barbara growing up…
It comes down to who i like least, but I say, They start fighting when Orgazmo shows up…BWAHA
I think the thundercats would have a intellectual advantage over He-man and his barbarian horde, but the brute strengh of He-man would still crush em into the dirt. He-man beats thunderkittens. Thunderkittens…lol. He-man just got some nice new animal skin rugs to decorate the lair.
Heyla!
I voted He-Man, only for the fact that since they would mostly be evenly matched. (Hide the Sword that creates He-Man and we have no He-Man). I went with Which would have the least Annoying sidekicks or animals…Orko, though was annoyingly inept at his magicks…and other things….Snarf…was thoroughly annoying with his whimpering, whining and scolding. So, with that thought…I went with He-Man. Besides, the Sorceress was Awesome! And the villains were Cooler in He-Man than the Thundercats villains.
Au contraire! I think a versus poll match-up between Skeletor and Mumm-Ra would be interesting and compelling.
Lion-O outranks He-Man in the royal category. Mumm-Ra has to pump magic ions to be effective, whilst Skeletor embodies those two aspects and saves time to kill. Snarf can beat up Cringer/Battle-Cat by comedic consequence. Cats win.
Oh man, I totally forgot about Snarf!
I generally dig the Thundercats more…..But I have to go with the Masters of the Universe. Their title alone says who they are. As stated above, He-Man could take on all the Thundercats alone much less having Man-at-Arms or Battlecat or any one else from the crew.
Lion-O would do best to consult the Sword of Omens to forsee the @$$ kicking and just avoid the whole situation.
SNARF DOES NOT BEAT BATTLECAT!!! He doesn’t even beat Orko.
NO kidding. Snarf couldn’t even beat a Burble. No way is he taking on Battlecat, even as Cringer. At most the two of them would go hide in a corner.
I decided for the heck of it to redo the title image, using an Image from the New Thundercats cartoon, and the “newer” ( in relation to the original series ) 2002-2007 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon.
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll49/Kaldath/ThundercatsvsHe-Man.png
How come everyone always skips over The New Adventures Of He-Man? Oh right, because it sucked!!
Ok, I know the majority is against me here but I’m going with Thundercats. One big reason is once Battle-cat sees he’s about to fight his own kind and tired of being ridden like a pony, he’s gonna switch sides. Another reason is even a blind Thudercat took down their worst enemy. All of them together are unstoppable. Yes, I like He-man as a kid (grew up in same era) but I don’t think he’d stand a chance against the sword of omens.
the 2003 he-man cartoon is badass.
*cheesy GI Joe after episode music*
I’m of the opinion that no matter which one you choose, the real winner is the kid who got to grow up with these cartoons.
Agreed, Just Joe!
Ditto, agreed cartoons these days can’t compare
I’d like to see next weeks poll as Thundercats vs SilverHawks, as they were both from the same creators
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUe5Ugg6Iks
Wow seeing that link really brought me back. Had to watch the ones on M.A.S.K. and COPS and all the rest of the cartoons of my era lol
Tough call. On the one hand, my biggest regret in life is I’ve never had the chance to stand before a castle with a giant skull for a drawbridge and hold a glowing sword above my head while declaring “I-HAVE-THE-POWER!” On the other hand, Lion-O killed Ronald McDonald and wears his scalp like a wig. That’s hard core.
I find it far more likely that Mumm-Ra and Skeletor would team up to terrorize both worlds, forcing the two teams to unite, in order to stop them (at least, until the 2 villains turn on each other).
Off-topic, but:
Er, have you actually watched any of the old cartoons lately, or are you going off your rosy childhood memories of them?
My brother and I have been working our way through GI Joe since it came out on DVD. Having watched the original series (and the abysmal second series, in which a drug dealer overdoses on-screen to make the point that drugs kill, which is followed by a black screen with a red-font DRUGS KILL just in case you missed the point) we’ve moved on to GI Joe Resolute and GI Joe Renegades. They’re…quite a lot better. I still love the old cartoons, mind you, but they’re definitely getting a boost from simple nostalgia, and most of the fun is in cracking jokes about them.
Totally agree. I attempted to watch some childhood cartoons the other day… (Go Bots, Conan, M.A.S.K., Visionaries, Voltron [both series] and a few others) Man , they’re horrible. I had done this to myself some years ago trying to watch the movies I thought were great when I was a teen… Very few of them ever hold up to the sweet childhood memory.
And just in case you were wondering my cartoon watching days were the 80’s so I know all about the “great” cartoons.
BTW, has anyone actually watched the new Thundercats? I actually like it.
Yes, I have watched the New Thundercat’s and like it very much!! I love how they re-designed the ThunderKitten’s and Snarf. I also love the direction they are taking Pumayra’s character! Hope when they start showing new episodes again that we see Bengali and Lynx-O join the team, though there was a Brief Cameo of Lynx-O in the first episode.
Totally agreed, X-Stacy. I tried going back and watching the old Transformers cartoons. I was saddened.
Oh good, it’s not just me that wants to commit that sacrilege. I couldn’t get through more than the first three episodes of the old Transformers series without concluding that the dialog was pretty bad. The whole thing was corny, and most certainly didn’t live up to my childhood remembrance of it.
“Nobody ever remembers old Snarf. Snarf, snarf.”