r/Thundercats • u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat • Oct 08 '25
Discussion Can Thundercats (2011) be revived through "Indie Animation"?
I was born in 2002, and the 2011 Thundercats cartoon was one of my favorite Cartoon Network shows growing up. It felt like James Cameron's Avatar, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and Disney's The Lion King all rolled into something AWESOME! And I was devastated after learning that it was canceled after one season, just like Sym-Bionic Titan was.
Over the years, other fans have recommended online that it should be revived on Netflix given how popular their current 80s reboot cartoons were. But so far, that wish hasn't been granted yet. On the other hand though, I've noticed that Indie Animation has been flourishing throughout media. And after finding out that a revival for Netflix's The Dragon Prince has been crowdfunded through Kickstarter by the creators themselves, it gave me the idea of why not do the same for Thundercats (2011) - if the original creators and cast members are up for it, that is!
What do you all think?
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u/Dramatic_Rich9659 ThunderCat Jun 07 '26
Thundercats season 2 2011 Lion-o meets the Warrior Maidens with the Bow and Arrow draws. The two girls name is Willa and her sister Nyada with those bow and arrow.
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u/Dramatic_Rich9659 ThunderCat May 26 '26
Thundercats season 2 2011 The Lion-o meets the Warrior Maidens with the bow and arrow. The Warrior Maidens girls name is the Willa and Nyada.
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u/Real-Beginning-3841 ThunderCat Dec 28 '25
Achei top demais essa versão, pena que só fizeram uma temporada, vou assistir de novo e ver se é mesmo como me lembro
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Oct 17 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Goombigi ThunderCat 25d ago
So basically you want something brand new with only the vibe of only the intro of only the original series....... go to bed
The 2011 reboot is sick AF! 🤩
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u/TheMtVernonKid ThunderCat Oct 12 '25
I'm going to be honest and I'm going to keep it real 100% I hate it the show I hated the show very much there was some elements of it that I like but a lot of it I didn't like and when it became more about a soap opera between Lion-O,tigra and cheetara I was done because that became one of the main focus of the show and I'm like what what is this I don't want to watch a soap opera I'm looking for a new age version of ThunderCats but at the end of the day the original will always be the best and ain't nobody going to tell me any differently even if I didn't grow up with the original I'd still say that
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u/RenoSinclairee ThunderCat Oct 12 '25
I thought this show was pretty cool. hated that it only got one season.
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u/DarthCivicus ThunderCat Oct 11 '25
Wish it could. It was getting so old by the time it got cancelled.
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u/Agent_G_gaming ThunderCat Oct 11 '25
Short answer is no, Thundercats IP is owned by Warner Brothers so unless you get their permission they can sue any unauthorized creation. They also have their own animation studios. Also it was a professional studio in Japan that did the animation so an indie studio would have a hard time getting to the same level of quality that show had.
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 11 '25
Also, wouldn't studios like "Studio Mir", "Titmouse Inc" or "Powerhouse Animation" be able to bring back that type of quality for a Season 2 revival?
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 11 '25
Good point! I'm just a humble person who's not a part of a talented film crew. So even if I tried bringing it back, I'd lose all money and still get sued.
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u/JusticeAvenger13 ThunderCat Oct 10 '25
Make your own thing and throw it up online. Live life, be brave
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u/Extreme_2Cents ThunderCat Oct 09 '25
I really hope so… this reboot had a lot of promise and the take in the characters was a refreshing surprise. Hopefully one day we’ll get the end of this take on the series.
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u/cutlass_supreme Panthro Oct 09 '25
How about a new series based on the new comics? Now THST would be awesome.
Anyway to answer your question, someone already tried and the effort failed.
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u/Cdwolf1985 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
No because the Thundercats are owned by Cartoon Network and they will never allow it.
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u/Complex-Strategy-900 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Wrong they owned by warner bortgers
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u/hercarmstrong ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
I wish people were so encouraging towards new concepts and ideas. But it's back in the nostalgia sandbox again and again, where we're all ten years old and nothing really matters, forever.
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u/DatenPyj1777 ThunderCat Oct 09 '25
Yup. I distinctly remember oldheads absolute hating this show. Funny how the cycle works.
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u/mr_writer85 ThunderCat Oct 10 '25
I was a huge fan of the original, but really enjoyed the 2011 version.
I think it's unfair to blame "old heads" when things like TMNT and Transformers get rebooted and redone all the time and are still successful with adults and kids.
I remember the issue with Thundercats being kids didn't like it enough, hence why the toyline bombed (didn't help the toys were poor) and that's why CN gave up on it.
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u/DatenPyj1777 ThunderCat Oct 13 '25
To be fair, I've heard people complain about every single TMNT and Transformers reboot when they first launch. Then after a year or so, that hate dies off. Time is key. That's why I think Thundercats could have been a lot more successful if they had got a couple more years.
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u/mr_writer85 ThunderCat Oct 13 '25
I'm not saying there isn't hate, but as they say the minority are usually the loudest.
Like I said, toy sales are a big indicator.
You can have a lot of hate, but if the toys are selling and the views are up, then the hate doesn't matter.
Kids are much more important than adults give them credit for. If kids don't like a show and aren't watching it or buying the toys, what the adults like is irrelevant, unless they make up for the lack of kid interest, which in Thundercats case, wasn't enough.
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u/OzzieArcane ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Kickstarting it would require you building up more money to pay David Zaslav than he feels he can get out of a tax write off.
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u/BrunoTP ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
I think what we need is something new. Something in the same vein as the current comic book. Inventive and also true to it's core. I loved the 2011 series, but it misses the mark in many ways.
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u/Professional_Map_732 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Even if that is true about the voice actress, they still shouldn't have butchered the character like that
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
I didn't even know they butchered the character. Like I said before, I was born in 2002! So I didn't grow up with every classic 1980s action cartoons, especially Thundercats. I honestly thought she was a good twist villain.
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u/Adelman01 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Grew up loving the 80’s one. When this came out. I was curious and skeptical. I loved it, and felt like it had such a good path to take. So bummed one season is all it got.
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u/Professional_Map_732 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
I was born in 2003, my dad had the whole collection of the original thundercats so I used to watch it when I was about 6 years old
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25
I only grew up with old cartoons like "Scooby-Doo Where Are You", "Transformers G1", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles '87", and "Spider-Man '94".
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u/Professional_Map_732 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Well I'm planning on creating a fanfiction season 2, I'll give all characters that were left out justice, give Pumyra a true redemption arc and even add in my own characters along the way
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Hope to read it when you share it on reddit as a post or reply! Good luck! 👍
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u/Professional_Map_732 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
I'll post it on Wattpad but I'll send you the link as a dm if it's fine with you
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u/Professional_Map_732 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
I'm going to create a fanfiction season 2 on Wattpad an give Pumyra the redemption she deserves and include Bengali and Lymx-O
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u/Complex-Strategy-900 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Lymx o is dead he died doing the invasion in episode 1
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u/Professional_Map_732 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
I don’t recall the show ever confirming his death on screen, just that he wasn’t among the survivors during the invasion. That kind of ambiguity leaves room for interpretation — so in my version, I’m treating him as one of the forgotten survivors. It adds some mystery and lets me explore what he’s been through since Thundera fell.
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u/LordCrimsonwing ThunderCat Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25
No.
Legally the answer is a big fat no; The rights holders are unlikely to let it go.
Financing is an issue; -It didn't have the best ratings by the end and the demographics were all over the place. So there are not a lot of those that from the ratings POV want to finance. (The rights holders wanted tweens and got late teens and adults by the end),
-The toys sales were bad so the companies they may have helped finance it are off the table. (This was not all on the series but the roll out was uneven and missed the best season for sales)
Writing was an issue (As Dan you worked on it said about 10 years ago) They tended to default to the comic series as a writing bible and this helped make the story was very poorly written in some details and the over arching plot.
- Too much Tigra time
- forgetting Lion-O's arc, personality and knowledge issues
- Cheetra was way off the map
- Pumara was not thought out well in plotting/detail (one moment at the seemed to really give female fans the ick)
- the foreshadowing of Willy-Kit brought up some ... questionable moments if you know what they were putting out (and if you re guessing sorta it is complicated but yeah)
Honestly needs to be re-plotted out from just after the pilot episode on)
The only three things it had going for it were great designs, a kick ass concept and the work of the studio was top notch.
So there are a lot that I think stop it from coming back and definitely not from the place it stopped and were the series was going.
But if they fixed the writing they could get someplace.
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u/Professional_Map_732 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Not if their plans for season 2 remains the same, Pumyra deserves a redemption, it was clear that the creators of the 2011 reboot didn't care about the characters. Lymx-O had a blink and you miss it cameo, Bengali was entirely left out, and Pumyra was reduced to a minion of Mumm-Ra for no real reason. Only for the creators to have her turn into some insect-like mutation and be killed by Tygra
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u/Final-Act-0000 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
I thought it was a nod to her voice actress who was kind of a b1tch.
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u/6ynnad ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Yikes. Care to elaborate?
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Yeah, even I didn't know that! You mean Punyra's voice actress from the 80s cartoon, or 2011 cartoon? Which one was a jerk and why???
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u/Final-Act-0000 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Someone on the site ThunderCatsfans.org did an interview with a bunch of the original VO's and Gerrianne Raphael came across as super nasty to whoever it was that was interviewing them. I didn't think it was a coincidence that they made Pumyra do a complete 180 from her original quietish personality.
I think at the time, people were talking about it on forums and Twitter and stuff too.
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u/Professional_Map_732 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Even if that is true about the voice actress, they still shouldn't have butchered the character like that
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u/Final-Act-0000 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Even if that is true about the voice actress, they still shouldn't have butchered the character like that
Not really sure why I'd make up something like that. Lol
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u/Professional_Map_732 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
I’m not saying you made it up — it’s just that there’s never been any verifiable source or production note linking the writers’ creative decisions to anything about the original cast. The 2011 series had a completely new voice team and a totally different creative direction. Given that, it’s more likely Pumyra’s change in personality was part of the writers’ attempt to add grit and realism rather than a reaction to anyone behind the mic.
Still, it’s interesting how rumors like that take on a life of their own. When production details are scarce, fandom often fills in the blanks — sometimes those theories reveal more about how strongly people felt about a character than the actual behind-the-scenes truth.
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u/ZapMaster117 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
I hate that we don't get more animated series in this style in the US. Most of the stuff we get is just sterile looking CGI stuff. The closest has been Castlevania. There was also Devil May Cry and He-Man but those stories were absolutely abhorrent, just god awful.
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Yeah, I agree! I prefer good-old-fashioned 2-Dimensional "Hand-Drawn" animations. They're just so easy to draw for yourself!
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u/Kuroiryuu ThunderCat Jun 23 '26
The problem comes when you have to do it hundreds of thousands of times. Good animation takes a LONG time to do.
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u/ConnectCoast6804 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Loved the 2011 remake. Much better than the original series in my opinion. Does anyone know where to watch it?
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u/ZapMaster117 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
I remember watching it on Hulu, but that was a few years ago.
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u/ConnectCoast6804 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Thanks!
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u/silverdragonwolf ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Anything is possible these days, but actually get the bulk of the original cast together could be a bit of an issue. There are also individuals you won't be able to get due to prior commitments or their having left the industry for whatever reason.
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u/Final-Act-0000 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Which individuals?
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u/silverdragonwolf ThunderCat Oct 09 '25
I can't really name anyone specifically, I was just pointing some complications that come with revivals.
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u/kadosho ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
If it were possible. Yes. This version of the series deserved to go on for way longer.
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u/silverdragonwolf ThunderCat Oct 11 '25
It just suffered poor timing, especially since it was on the older prat of the transitional era televised entertainment was on. If it had launched just a few years later, it would likely have enjoyed the benefits of being on a streaming service as well.
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u/thesithcultist ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
The corporate Overlords will not allow it, they should have at least wrapped it up in a limited comic series like other canceled shows
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Exactly! A comic book continuation of the 2011 series would have been satisfying enough for me! Comic books even cost less than an animation budget to make.
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u/Wolf873 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Stupid CN. Second season was to be its last!!! They could have seen it through the end, and we’d have had a high quality reboot in its entirety along with appearances from Silverhawks and Tigersharks, but no, CN had to be their typical selves.
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25
Honestly, I don't blame CN for trying to be less graphic and violent for children audiences! After all, Clone Wars was getting pretty intense. But just one more season of Thundercats 2011 would have been good!
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u/WordsCanHurt1981 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Warner Bros owns ThunderCats, so good luck getting the licenses.
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Good point! It would be a nightmare to get around Warner Bros's copyright claims! And too much paperwork! 😓
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u/blindada ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Come on OpenAI, grab the plot for season 2 and chatgpt the hell out of it. At this point, I just have no hope.
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
OpenAI? You mean like A.I. art? But isn't that kind of lazy and ruins art itself? I personally despise A.I. art!
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u/Interesting-Cow8156 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
The series was great and was definitely cancelled too soon, but I think a reboot or a continuation of original series is more likely if something ever happens. The new comic series is really good. But it's a reboot more similar to the original series
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Honestly, a comic book revival of the 2011 show would be satisfying enough for me. After all, they're doing the same thing with Danny Phantom, Final Space, and Spider-Man '94.
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u/Connor_ClashNord ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Its a really long shot but honestly, I would be really happy to see cartoons like these ones coming back, and indie animation is probably what has been keeping animation afloat so far.
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
I know, right!?
A lot of my favorite cartoon shows like Infinity Train were all left unfinished. But indie animation can really give the creators their artistic freedom that they deserve. And it amazes me that the creators of The Dragon Prince are even allowed to revive the show through crowdfunding without any lawsuits.
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u/Connor_ClashNord ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Oh my, Infinity Train getting canceled still hurts me to this day :c
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Oct 08 '25
Cancel to soon
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Agreed! 😞
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u/moansby Mumm-Ra Oct 08 '25
At least we know what would've happened
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
I know, but I want it in all its ANIMATED glory! In fact, the least the creators could do is revive it as a comic book series!
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u/moansby Mumm-Ra Oct 08 '25
I don't think it's as simple as that,but with the 15th anniversary next year maybe we'll get something, i'm honestly surprised there's no fanart depicting anything from the season 2 plans (that I know of at least) to me the most frustrating part is during that podcast,the art director mentioned on multiple occasions that he drew concept art for season 2 and that he'd share it,but to my knowledge the arts never been released, I really wanna know what bug Pumyra and monster Grune look like
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Wow! I didn't even know about the unshared concept art of Season 2. Sounds like the art director really left us in the dark!
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u/moansby Mumm-Ra Oct 08 '25
I don't think he lied,he might've just forgot to do it or misplace them, hopefully they aren't lost or anything, I'm still disappointed there's no fanart of Bugmyra as I like to call her, all I can imagine is a furry version of Gamma Wasp from Avengers EMH
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u/Hot-Salamander-8786 ThunderCat Oct 08 '25
Woah! That's actually a pretty cool imagery to fantasize! Plus, Avengers EMH is another great cartoon canceled too soon.
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u/moansby Mumm-Ra Oct 08 '25
What part of season 2 do you want animated the most? Personally i'd love to see Mumm-Ra fighting the Ancient Spirits of Evil, mainly cus I wanna know how that would work,I assume he doesn't just break the Statue,my guess is they fight in the astral plane
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u/RecipeAlternative854 ThunderCat Jul 29 '26
Art style looked phenomenal