#thundera

[newblvotg]

[thepodofthundera2]

ThunderCats as a Refugee & Immigrant Allegory

I just saw an absolute L of a take on Instagram (against my will, I was just trying to browse the tag to signal boost fan art and conventions and things) that was one of those "Mumm-Ra is actually the good guy/has a point because the ThunderCats are colonizers actually-" takes that are usually just rage bait and it's not the first time I've seen this incredibly unpolished and borderline insidious take on Instagram and YouTube thumbnails. I'm sure I'm not the only one who disagrees with this interpretation and I'm gonna dig into why.

I don't think it's crazy to say that the ThunderCats are NOT colonizers in the strictest sense. While some of the writing of the original show may carry some baggage from having been written in a colonialist culture on some fronts like Lion-O talking about building "a mighty new empire" in the first episode (then proceeding to not do that at all). The ThunderCats being exceptional even among other heroes on Third Earth is (mostly) a symptom of the show being about them. Otherwise it would've been called ThunderCats & Friends or The Warrior Maidens or something to that effect. Colonialism being good is actually the opposite messaging of the show!

Colonialism by it's strictest definition on Merriam-Webster "domination of a people or area by a foreign state or nation : the practice of extending and maintaining a nation's political and economic control over another people or area." the ThunderCats and the Thunderian refugees do not do ANY conquering or domination.

They defend themselves only those who threaten them and do not take more than what is given by others, they only extract resources they need. They are strangers on Third Earth yes, but they're not out here forcing Berbils and Bolkins to their ways of life or chopping down the Treetop Kingdom to sell it's timber on other worlds. They're not taking land and sending their scattered progeny to "settle" it at the expense of the people already living there.

In fact, when Lion-O finds out that they have built their home close to/on the land of the Micrits (in the episode, unsurprisingly called, Micrits) without knowing, he makes sure that their lands are respected and blocked off so that at least his own people (he obviously can't control what Mutants do) won't step on them by accident or otherwise disrespect their territory. They're not trying to boss anyone around or take things that aren't theirs, they protect themselves and their allies, with force IF necessary.

The only reason they "cause" trouble at all is because of the powers that want all that remains of Thundera absolutely wiped out of existence (the Mutants & the Lunataks) or someone wishes to exploit what little remaining power they have (Mumm-Ra). It isn't the ThunderCats fault that the Mutants want them extinct or that Mumm-Ra & the Ancient Spirits of Evil want the Sword of Omens, it is happening TO them, not BECAUSE of them. The Mutants & Mumm-Ra are the cause, not the ThunderCats, that is textbook victim blaming.

The ThunderCats aren't colonizers, they are refugees fleeing from natural disaster and genocide. They had absolutely no choice whatsoever but to live somewhere else because, I cannot stress this enough, they have NO homeland to return to. Up until the final season of the series where both they and the audience learn of the many survivors of Thundera's destruction, they were inevitably going to go extinct. Even if they survived all attacks and died peacefully of old age, to their knowledge there were only six, later ten, of them left. If you can count the number of specimens of a species on two hands and no more, the outlook is not good!

As soon as the ThunderCats DO have a chance when New Thundera miraculously reassembles, they are more than happy to return to it without taking anything other than what they'd need to get home from Third Earth. The only things they leave behind are measures to protect their allies from the threats they are indirectly responsible for because they unintentionally dragged Third Earth into this conflict because they had no choice but to land there.

In this context, the real colonizers are the Mutants, they bully and conquer and steal and enslave, their main goal is to commit genocide against the ThunderCats. Mumm-Ra, in this same allegory, is emblematic of powers that are hostile and have no compassion for immigrants and refugees, regardless of the circumstances that brought them to live on his self-proclaimed territory.

Mumm-Ra and other evil forces were already doing awful stuff to the indigenous peoples (and fellow immigrants like Berbils) of Third Earth before the ThunderCats ever even arrived. The ThunderCats had nothing, they had no one but each other and a culturally significant weapon. Everything else they had to build, often with help from those they had earned the trust of. Anything that anyone else decided to pick up from them was their own choice, not the ThunderCats insisting their allies only do things their way.

Mumm-Ra decided that because they were challenging his dominion, and that the Sword was powerful, that they should be dead and their sacred weapon should be his. He is so devoted to his vendetta that the Ancient Spirits of Evil essentially have him sent to New Thundera to try and dominate and destroy the planet and it's people for their personal gain, which IS colonizer behavior.

The ThunderCats weren't the only ones challenging the evils on Third Earth either! Third Earth had other forces protecting it like the Snowman & Snowmeow, the Warrior Maidens, Wizz-Ra, the Tuska, Hachiman and Mumm-Rana. The ThunderCats joined a fight that was already occurring against evils that would have existed whether they'd arrived there or not, ending up on the right side of history because of their beliefs and the better elements of their culture.

This is the biggest part of why I haven't been a big fan of any official reimagining of ThunderCats because the majority of them seem to land on the Mumm-Ra side of this argument, much to my disdain.

You run into the same issue with Superman, if you make Krypton an evil colonizing force and Superman a Jesus allegory instead of a Moses one, you erase the marginalized Jewish-American immigrant roots of the character. Which has a ripple effect that damages what I've often found to be the core appeal of Superman stories.

If you make Thundera and it's people on the whole more bad than good you fail to see the point. I'm not saying Thundera in any series, including the original, is perfect. To continue the Superman allegory a General Zod vs. Grune the Destroyer comparison could be made. Still, if you justify the actions of the Mutants and Mumm-Ra because of some sordid past with Thundera, you erase the allegory the original ThunderCats represent. They are refugees, immigrants who are doing their best to make their second home that they did not choose better and safer for themselves and their friends.

[patriciooliver]

Thundercats Lost

[fernandocarvalho]

My 3rd fanart for Thundercats, Lion-O with the thunderbrats.

Art by me, photoshop, 2025

[minyboy]

Jackalman after betraying everyone for five minutes of power: "This time I’m the main character!"

[k3mamiart]

[aliceleclert]

My original "Thundercats : Pumyra" pages are now up for sale on my shop!

[swordsup99]

Thundercats Lion-O Omens Sword Replica: A Hero’s Treasure!