Warner Bros. Animation is betting audiences still have an appetite for 80’s cartoon revivals as the Thundercats returns in 2011 to Cartoon Network in a new animated show. The humanoid cat-like aliens are being groomed to attract tween to young teen audiences with a more mature anime-style design.
Thundercats has fleetingly appeared in media in the past years aside from the occasional t-shirt and tweens are unlikely to have even seen the original series. Do the Thundercats contain the power to capture the hotly-contested attention of young audiences or will they fall to the legion of live-action tween sitcoms-stay tuned!
Using E-Score Character Kids we looked at how 6-12 years olds perceive Thundercats. 71% see the Thundercats as ”a hero” 36 points higher than the animated character average (71% vs. 35%). Thundercats were seen 10 percentage points higher than average for ”cool” (44% vs. 34%) and 15 points higher than average in ”exciting” (39% vs. 24%). Also, Thundercats earned a ”brave” score more than double the average for animated characters (58% vs. 27%). Thundercats awareness among boys is 20%, 18 points lower than animated character average but substantial despite limited use.
Looking at the attribute scores we can see a strong moralistic component to how current younger audiences view Thundercats. In the original show each episode would focus on a value or moral that allowed for their victory against the evil Mumm-Ra. Thundercats virtuous characteristics have carried to current young audiences and carved out an identity despite limited exposure. E-Score Character Kids has the ability to measure characters despite any lapsed exposure or obscurity.
Source: E-Score Character Kids 6-12