Teen Titans Roar!

Teen Titans Roar! is the fifty-second episode in Season 5 of Teen Titans Go!, and the two-hundred-sixty-first overall episode of the series.

Summary []

The Titans (except Starfire) become outraged when their favorite childhood cartoon is rebooted, so they come up with a plan to get this new show off the air.

Plot[]

Starfire is reading inside the Tower on a perfectly calm day. Suddenly, she hears multiple voices saying "Thundercats". Sure enough, the others pop out of the blue, dressed up like the Thundercats. In a parody of the intro to the original 80s cartoon, the Titans sing the Thundercats theme song before they all sit together on the couch. Starfire learns that the new Thundercats Roar! reboot is about to air, and the others are excited. They reminisce on the joy that the original Thundercats brought them, accompanied by stills from the 80s series in the background.

Robin switches on the TV, and the intro to the reboot finally airs. However, the Titans are all taken aback by the art style of the reboot. Beast Boy thinks that maybe they were watching the wrong channel, and begs Robin to change it, but Robin disparagingly tells him that this is the reboot to put up with. The other Titans offer up harsh critiques on the reboot; Beast Boy questions why the character's mouths are shaped like beans, while Raven believes it was drawn by vegans. While the others are arguing, Starfire ends up enjoying the reboot much to her friends' horror. The other Titans lose trust in Starfire, with Robin voicing his disgust that the "greatest show of all time was turned into a comedy", and they leave the room while Star continues watching the show.

Later, Starfire meets the others in the kitchen, furiously eating cereal. Concerned, she asks them why they're so angrier than usual. Robin stops eating and yells at Starfire that they hate the new reboot, before the others join in and continuously roast the show. Star tries to get her friends to calm down, but in his hysteria, Robin says this isn't about himself and the others, but about the show being made in a way that didn't fit his personal tastes. In any case, Star manages to convince her friends to watch Thundercats Roar! with her, hoping that if they give the show a second chance, they might understand her opinion on the show. Everyone reluctantly agrees, believing that they overreacted, and they all go to the living room, and sit on the couch.

At the living room, Starfire is happy that her friends were willing to watch. But the peace doesn't last for long as the others immediately start giving the same angry comments and smashing the TV, regretting having given the show a second chance. Starfire begs the others to watch it, but they disagree, stating they don't need a second chance to see why they find it awful; Cyborg adds on that they find everything about the show awful. The Titans all leave once again, while Star continues to watch.

Later, in Robin's room, he discusses his plan to get Thundercats Roar! off the air for good; a petition. Raven likes the idea very much, and the others agree with it. Robin declares that they'll need 500 angry signatures to justify the petition, and will send the petition to Warner Bros. Animation to give them a piece of their mind. Everyone is excited, until Starfire comes and asks whether or not 500 signatures will even be enough to convince Warner Bros. that the show isn't worth airing. To which Beast Boy asks if Starfire has ever been in a room filled with 500 people; she has, but she is promptly ignored in the other Titans' efforts to get the show cancelled. As the Titans sign the petition, they justify their hate, claiming that the vegan animators who work on the show only know how to draw poop, that they find the show to be garbage, and they want the old Thundercats back. When Robin asks Starfire to sign the petition, she refuses for good reason, only for Beast Boy to call her a vegan.

The others head downtown, finding random people off the streets to sign the petition. Hundreds of angry signatures later, the others head back to the tower, excited to have gotten 500 signatures. Everyone cheers, except Star, who believes that their efforts were a waste of time, but they continue to demean her. Cyborg puts the petition inside of his arm cannon, and fires it through the window. The paper soon drifts into the compound of Warner Bros. Animation and lands on a scanner. Another cannon fires the reply back to the tower, which knocks Robin flat. The Titans are delighted that Warner Bros. got back to them, and Raven states that they "can't ignore the voice of the people". They open the envelope, only to find a thank-you note in it, along with a picture of Bugs Bunny, much to Beast Boy's annoyance. Cyborg wonders why it didn't work, even with their petition. Irritated, Raven comes nearly close to realizing that they have to live with the new reboot for life. Hearing this, Starfire is delighted, believing her friends have finally given up on their caper of madness. But Robin, still upset from the lack of a response from Warner Bros., yells at Starfire that they will never give up on trying to cancel the show, and they will do whatever it takes, stating that if she thinks they'll give up, then she doesn't know the Titans. As a last ditch effort, Raven transports all the Titans into the show to try and fight the Thundercats in hopes of getting their show cancelled.

The Thundercats are in the middle of one of their many fights against Mumm-Ra, their main antagonist. The Titans watch as Panthro draws out his giant metal fists, and punch Mumm-Ra, knocking him over. The others are amused and laugh a little, which Starfire points out, but the others continue to tease her and claim they didn't laugh. Lion-O spots the Titans, attempting to greet them in a friendly manner, but Robin attacks, only for Lion-O to retaliate. The other Titans similarly get destroyed by the Thundercats; Beast Boy is flailed out of the way by Tygra with his bolo, Raven is run over by Cheetara, and Cyborg is knocked out by Panthro. In the meantime, Starfire plays with Snarf as the fight rages on. Robin tries to deliver the final blow on Lion-O, by making his staff bigger, only for Lion-O to make his sword bigger. Eventually, Robin's staff gets so big, he can't hold it and falls over, and Lion-O delivers the final blow to him. Robin and his friends are defeated, and Cyborg realizes that for every step the Thundercats take towards comedy, they take two more towards action.

As the Thundercats close in to destroy the Titans, Starfire gets in the way, and asks mercy for her friends. She claims that they might be immature, but mean no harm. Lion-O agrees, stating that the Titans are fine, but he thinks that they could work on prioritizing other aspects of their life rather than spending so much time criticizing them. Suddenly, a bright light shines from the heavens, which is revealed to be the original 80s Lion-O. He introduces himself, stating that he's been watching their argument from the cartoon afterlife, before expressing that he thinks Thundercats Roar! has the capability to carry on his legacy, and anyone who says otherwise is a poop mouth with poop opinions. He thanks his friends for everything they've done, and tells the new Thundercats to keep trying their best, to which the Roar Lion-O thanks his original counterpart for the "totally unforced endorsement". Finally, the original Lion-O shows off his 'big guns', and impresses the others. As the episode ends, the scene zooms out into a cave, in which 80's Snarf feels neglected, and is shown alongside 2011 Lion-O, and a skeleton of 80's Panthro.

Characters[]

Lion-O (2011)

Song[]

Thundercats (song)

Trivia[]

This is the final episode in airdate order of Season 5.
- However, "The Viewers Decide" was the last episode to air in production order. This episode was put on hiatus until Thundercats Roar aired in 2020, but was finished in 2019.
This episode had no involvement from the crew of Thundercats Roar outside of the voice cast (Max Mittleman reprises his role as Roar Lion-O, and Larry Kenney voices the 80s Lion-O as he did in the original show) and Michael Jelenic having written the episode, who also wrote the two-part episode "Omens" for the 2011 Thundercats series. A majority of the animation on the Thundercats in this episode was borrowed from the episode "Exodus, Part 2".
The episode is a satire of how frustrated and upset fans of a franchise might be when their franchise is rebooted or gains a spin-off, particularly on social media.
- It is also ironic because the same scenario happened to the Titans; the 2003 Teen Titans was more of an action-comedy hybrid, but Teen Titans Go!'s genre-defying comedy is much different, which upset many fans of the 2003 series.
This is the third crossover episode. The first two are "TTG v PPG" and "Cartoon Feud".
The TTG crew were able to be scheduled with the voice actors from Thundercats Roar! to record lines for this episode since they both work at the same studio.
This episode was released internationally before premiering in the United States.
This is one of the few episodes of Teen Titans Go! to have been written as a single draft. When Thundercats Roar released its first sneak peak trailer in May 2018, writer Michael Jelenic found the outrage to be rather disproportionate and silly, so he instantly wrote the whole script. He simply asked Warner Bros. Animation if he could do a Thundercats Roar crossover episode, and promised that it would be funny.
- The scene towards the end of the episode with 80s Lion-O claiming the people who don't believe Thundercats Roar can carry on the legacy of the series preceding it are "poop mouths with poop opinions" calls back to earlier in the episode, when the Titans are claiming that the vegan animators of the show can only draw poop, and also references the much harsher controversy that Thundercats Roar received on social media, with many harassing people involved with the show and calling them far worse terms than what 80s Lion-O called them.
This is the only episode not to be released on the Season 5 DVD, the reason is unknown. It is also the first episode overall not to be released on DVD.

Continuity[]

This is the sixth "hater" episode. The others are "Let's Get Serious", "The Return of Slade", "Wally T", "The Fourth Wall" and "The Chaff".
When Raven, Beast Boy, Robin, and Cyborg dance, they did the same moves as they did in "Quantum Fun".
The Titans cosplaying as the Thundercats is a callback to "Halloween".
The goth-like phubber from "The Self-Indulgent 200th Episode Spectacular!" returned, phubbing in the dumpster.
Robin's shocked face in this episode is similar to the one he made in "Kabooms".

References[]

Each Titan's costume in the parody of the 80s Thundercats intro (except Starfire) takes the place of one of the characters in the intro:
- Robin is Lion-O
- Raven is Mumm-Ra
- Beast Boy is Tygra
- Cyborg is Panthro
- Silkie is Snarf
A picture of Bugs Bunny, the main mascot of Warner Bros, appears on the "thank you" letter from Warner Bros. Animation.
- Beast Boy refers to Bugs as "that wascally wabbit", a phrase that Elmer Fudd frequently uses when referring to Bugs.
Beast Boy noticing bean-shaped mouths on the characters is referencing the fact that Teen Titans Go! is one of the only shows on Cartoon Network that does not feature any characters with a consistently-rounded mouth.
- Cartoon Network generally draws character's mouths this way to give the characters a slightly wacky, silly, and cute effect.

Errors[]

Surprisingly enough, Beast Boy isn't offended by the claim that the reboot was drawn by "vegan" animators. He also has no qualms in calling Starfire a "dirty little vegan".

Running Gags[]

The Titans (except Starfire) showing their hatred towards the new Thundercats reboot.
- Beast Boy commenting that the mouths of the characters are shaped like beans.
- The Titans making fun of Starfire because she likes the new reboot.
Starfire trying to get her friends to see the reboot from a new perspective.
The Titans (except Starfire) bringing out roasts.