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This Cat's TaleBorn in October of 1974, I was nearly 11 years old when ThunderCats made its US debut in the fall of 1985. Being a "hard core" tomboy, this show was right up my, er, alley. Though the toons of Voltron (both Lion and Vehicle versions) and He-Man completed my sacred trinity of 80s cartoon worship, I was most taken with ThunderCats. Perhaps this was due to the fact that a few years earlier, I had created my own world, through drawings, of a tribe of cat people from a distant planet. Whatever the reason, I begged my parents until they spent a small fortune on action figures and other show related memorabilia (most of which I still have today). I even went so far as to compose what I suppose you would call my first fan fiction and drawings concerning the ThunderCats. These early short stories involved an original character named Kana, who was the offspring of Lord Lion-O and Cheetara. Truthfully, this character was a Mary Sue that even hell didn't want (which explains why she burst from hell's flames and straight into my juvenile story, :-) ). Kana had all the classic hallmarks of a Mary Sue...she was faster than Cheetara, smarter than Lion-O (not hard, I know, but still...), stronger than Panthro and more clever than Kit and Kat. And all that swellness was bundled up in a smart ass little 11 year old Thunderian (gee, could she have been a projection of, er, me??). Her best friend was Willa's daughter, Shana. And they enjoyed nothing better than making the adults look like complete fools. Luckily for those of you reading my *current* fic, I've matured somewhat, haha. (For more on this early character, go here.) Slowly, the Tcats and their adventures faded from my mind as I came to confront the typical banes of teenage years... you know, the acne, the boyfriend dramas, the back-stabbing best friend sagas and other assorted general puky awkwardness. My obsession shifted from toons to music. And I didn't help my social standings in high school a bit by doing wacky stuff like shavin' every hair off of my head, etc etc. So, being pretty much out of any given clique's loop, I continued to amuse myself by drawing and writing short stories. When I finally graduated in '93, I jettisoned the small town life and headed to college in Grand Rapids, MI. I managed to complete one full year. Most of the memories are lost in an alcoholic haze, but I'm told I majored in art and photography. The following summer, I met my future husband. Being bitten by the love bug kinda made going to school 2 hours away seem oh so unattractive. So I quit and we married in July of '95. In early '96, I had a brief love affair with the Sailor Moon series. I never wrote fan fic for it, but I did have a helluva time drawing the sailor scouts. There's just something about anime I've always loved...(yeah I know, tcats isn't technically anime, but it was close. With Voltron as another long-time fave, there is a pattern here!) The moment came in '97, when I caught both Voltron and ThunderCats on reruns on Cartoon Network. Thus, the floodgates of nostalgia burst open, and I was lost in a deluge of memories. But yet again I was most taken with ThunderCats, and new adventures for them began to form in my mind. At first, I thought it was the pregnancy hormones affecting my sanity in general. But I just couldn't help myself. Because I felt somewhat ridiculous being a 23 year old woman enthralled with a kids cartoon, I would watch Tcat reruns in secret. When my son was finally born in March of '98, I dared to openly watch the show using the baby as an excuse (as if his newborn mind gave Rataro's ass what it was taking in). Finally, I got hooked on the internet in February of '01, and saw that I wasn't the only adult who holds the Tcats dear and writes about them. This inspired me to finally take a stab at committing my little story to pixels that I'd been toying with since the rerun of Tcats. This time around, my original character isn't such a flamin' Mary Sue. She started out being Katrina. Then she became Purrsia, until I finally settled on the most-uncreative moniker of Felina just before I started writing. I also managed to marry my two loves: Tcats and music. Each chapter of the story ends with a song lyric, cuz to me everything in life has a themesong, and my chapters are no exception. Having all the Tcat eppies on tape has helped keep my story somewhat on canon. And it has also helped son, Justice, become a total ThunderCat nut. He plays with my old action figures, decisively beating the snot out of them once and for all, haha. Oh well, Lion-O's a tough cat...he can take it! Btw, Justice has yet to have siblings Truth, Honor, and Loyalty join him ;-) (Note for the humor impaired: In case you can't tell by the winky there, that's a JOKE. m'k? thx. He wasn't REALLY named after the code) Since then, I've been steadily growing this place into a mammoth place full of unique memorabilia for fans to enjoy. It was never meant to be what it is today, but these things sometimes just happen. I've also enjoyed forming many friendships within the fandom that extended to real life kinds of bonds. Even though intitially weary of meeting anyone in person from the online world, I went ahead and met up with some fandom folks, including fellow site masters. A group of us went to Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH in the summer of 2003. The next spring, many of us met up again at the Empire Fan Fest in New Jersey where we got the pleasure of meeting four voice actors for the show. Larry Kenney (Lion-O), Lynne Lipton (Cheetara), Peter Newman (Tygra), and Gerianne Raphael (Pumyra) were all there. That was great and also my first time on the east coast. I'd share pics, but we were asked not to put them up on the Web, so... It was also a fantastic thrill to be asked to fly out to California this past March (05) to be a part of the special features on the upcoming DVD. Unfortunately, they gave just a few days notice and I have a crippling fear of flying (which was the only feasible option with me being based in Michigan, where I've lived all my life), so that didn't happen. You are spared my ugly mug on the DVD lol! However, it was really cool to be asked. At any rate, it's nice to know I made some life-long friends that'll be there long after my interest in Tcats and this site ends! If you're at all interested in my day to day babblings, check out my Live Journal. I often post about Thundercats related stuff or this site there, too. I also seriously took up with another fandom in 2004, and have a Voltron site to show for it. I also like MOTU quite a bit, especially the classic series, but don't have time to devote to fandom or sites right now (I am a stay-at-home mom, but I also homeschool my son, so freetime is becoming scarce). I know, it's not like I spread myself thin enough already, but Voltron was one of my other old favorites and I'd had a sub-section for it on this very site for a long time. Finally, my good friend Cheezey's rekindled interest in Voltron got me poking around the official site's message board, and I was sucked into fandom and getting more involved. Granted, my Voltron site is nothing compared to what this one is, but it's still quite a project. Let's just say, this housewife never lacks for something to do! TCATS STUFF I STILL OWN *Thundertank. Treads are a bit dryrotted, but otherwise, it's in good shape. *Lion-O. He's still got the Sword and the light up ring, but no claw shield. *Panthro, nun-chucks and all. *Tygra. Whip included. *WilyKat. The unposable one. *Snarf *Mumm-Ra in his everliving form. Headress and knives included. Ma-Mutt too. *A tuska warrior *Slithe and his ax. *The panini sticker book. Unfortunenately, I decided as a kid to write snide comments in the book, heh heh. A lot of it is bathroom humor written in Mystery Science style mockery. I have to admit, I cracked a grin re-reading it though. Actually, to see pics of my collection, go here - and feel free to join, snap pics, and upload your collection too! TCATS STUFF I RECENTLY ACQUIRED Basically, anything featured on this site that doesn't carry a credit to someone else, I scanned it in or took caps from it and I own a physical copy of it. I've turned into quite an ebay memorabilia collecting machine! I share what I can with other fans because there's no pleasure in hording great finds imho. However, there are a few items I haven't shared for specific reasons (either for legal reasons or a request to keep a lid on it), but still want to brag about owning them mwahahaha! *A dvd I bought from some of the voice actors at Empire Fan Fest (which was a con that took place in New Jersey) in April of 2004. We were sworn not to put any of it on the internet or sell bootlegged copies, so I'm honoring that request. It was a really neat behind-the-scenes look at the VA's back in the day, doing their thing. It also included appearances by two of the now-deceased VA's - Snarf's and Mumm-Ra's. A real item to treasure. *I've a signed Wizard poster from the same con, which all the VA's present marked. Very cool. I also have an issue of one of the Wildstorm comics that Larry Kenney signed free-of-charge for my son. Larry's a great guy like that ^_^ And it's true. His speaking voice is a lot like Lion-O...it kinda weirded me out to hear it in person! *Beautiful commissioned art of Cheetara and Tygra in a romantic pose courtesy of the talents of the site master of Thundercats Illustrated. Since the site is in hiatus, the link actually takes you to her DA account where you can view her other fabulous Tcats work. *Freakin' awesome painting that Lethy GNR sent to me. It's of Lion-O, my favorite character. You can see a snapshot of it here. People in this fandom are so generous and sweet! STALK PURRSIA Here are some links where other information about me or other internet ventures I'm involved in can be found:
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The Show
