Quick Thunderbunny Question

[dans]

Anyone know if Thunderbunny has a catch phrase, or something he says when he gets mad? 

[redsycorax]

That doesn't seem to be the case. He has no magical mnemonic trigger world- he just places his hands on a trigger device (a permeable box) which seems to be very much like the New Genesis Motherbox* from Jack Kirby's Fourth World series, thinks of a pink rabbit and metamorphoses into the large pink anthropomorphic lagomorph in question. Apparently, Bobby is embarrassed by the fact that he transforms into a large anthropomorphic superpowered lapin and doesn't do it very often. Moreover, when he tries to change back, he finds it increasingly difficult to recall his humanoid form.

*Which raises an interesting question- is it in fact a Motherbox from New Genesis, or a New Genesis analogue? Was Thunderbunny's ally Dr Barko actually from New Genesis-Four? Or are Apokolips and New Genesis situated within a higher dimension apart from the Multiverse?

[dans]

I know he doesn't need a magic word - once he gets transformed the first time, from then he needs to wish to be transformed - and he must form in his mind the image of his target. Over time, he finds it harder and harder to call up the image of Bobby and he becomes more and more scared of getting stuck in his rabbit form.

It just occurred to me to wonder if he might be able to alter the appearance of one or both of his forms if he can get a specific image in mind ? Bobby is an artist who wants to create comic books, so I wonder if he might somehow concentrate on an image of a hero he is creating and turn into that hero instead of the bunny? Of course, that would wreck his uniqueness But suppose it only worked for his human side?

Another thought - perhaps is because he is an aspiring comic book artist that it is easier for him to visualize Thunderbunny than Bobby. He has grown up drawing superheroes and probably wishing he could BE a superhero, but he's always been Bobby so he has never really visualized himself. I'll bet if he started to draw himself a lot, he would discover it was easier to change back...

Anyway, what I was wondering is is anyone remembered that he used a catch phrase / identifying expression such as 'Holy Moley!' or 'Great Caesar's Ghost!' or 'Great Krypton!' or 'Great Hera!' or 'Great Balls of Fire!' that I could use to link the Thunderbunny in my story more closely to the original (whichever one that is)? In this story he finally gets disgusted at the not-so-subtle bunny jokes, and I wondered if there was something he frequently said when he was mad, but I finally settled on 'Rats!' which is very generic.

Anyway, since I put the story in Elseworlds, it doesn't matter if the continuity is a little off... but I will try to go back over the TBunny stories anyway and see what I can find.

[dans]

Another question - does anyone know the last name of Gloria, the proprietor of The Cosmic Shop? I can't seem to find the Thunderbunny comics online anymore at a site where I can read them from free that doesn't also want to take over my computer...

I'm going to call her Gloria Silvermoon for now; if she is given a last name in any of the Thunderbunny appearances I'll change it.

Thanks!

[DocQuantum]

I believe Thunderbunny deliberately stayed away from typical super-hero exclamations like that. His speech always sounded more natural. He never said anything like comic-book kids would say, such as "Golly!" and all those older expressions, since he was an '80s kid and it would never make sense if he talked like someone from the '40s. Remember, he was a comic-book fan and read a lot of the same comic-books we would have at the time, so he would have thought it corny if he started copying typical cliches like you'd find in a comic-book. This heightened realism is a deliberate contrast to his ridiculous appearance and origin from a planet of inhabitants that all looked like "funny animals" from the comics.

Also, I don't think Gloria was never given a last name.

[dans]

I didn't see any oft-repeated phrases, so when he got really mad, I just had him say "Rats!" It makes sense that he would want to dissociate himself from funny book character since he hated to be reminded of being a rabbit, or people making fun of him for being a rabbit... actually, it DOES sound like something he could have fun with, if he were mellow about it...



You're nothin but a stinkin' wabbit!

I'm the one taking you to jail - what does that make you?

[dans]

Interesting speculation about the device Bar-Ko/Dr. Barko used to capture the essence of his world's greatest hero. The origin story suggests that Bar-Ko built the device himself, then captured the essence of Thunderbunny in the device, then launched the device into space in a rocket to escape the doom of his species. But it is Bar-Ko telling the story - perhaps he found a mother box and utilized it but then claimed that he built it? I hope not; I think it destroys some of the uniqueness of the character and the distinct differences between the universes. (Besides, I would argue that if Bar-Ko found a mother box, as the greatest genius of his species, he should have been able to use the powers of a mother box to reverse the ice age that was engulfing his planet...)

I have never noticed the echoes of the Superman origin story in the Thunderbunny story before; the Captain Marvel homage is more obvious.

If someone _were_ to write a prequel and have Bar-Ko using a mother box, it wouldn't violate our current continuity, I don't think. And the echoes of another superhero origin might even be added, by having someone in the Earth 1 universe decide that a mother box was too dangerous to leave lying around, so they shot it through a dimensional warp to the Earth 4 universe and it fell to Barko's planet like a flaming meteor thousands of years ago, and affected events two other times in recorded history... Perhaps the second time was when it bestowed great power on Thuderbunny long ago?

[dans]

Another Thunderbunny question. I think I found the name of Thunderbunny's original home planet in one of the TBunny comics the last time I was able to read the whole series, but I didn't capture it. In my current story, TBunny claims that the name of his native language is "Offorrernish!" I don't remember if I made that up or derived it from the name of the planet. Anyone else know?

[DocQuantum]

Wasn’t the name Offorer or similar to that? Pretty sure it was named in the first Thunderbunny story you wrote, the Halloween one. You got the name from the comics, because I saw it in the Thunderbunny ongoing series once.

[dans]

Yup, I called it Offorrer in that story, and I did get it from the comics. Thank you!