This paper details the profound impact of science fiction on NRMs, with a focus on the 1980s children’s cartoon Thundercats and how it has become fetishized, and even heralded, by NRMs based upon starseed ontology as a thinly disguised metaphor for an intergalactic feline race called the Lyrans. These starseed NRMs promote an intergalactic feline exogenesis, arguing that the Lyrans are the first bipedal beings, whom all sentient hominoid beings stem from. The more people start believing in Lyran starseeds the more they are acknowledging the uncanny similarities with their feline intergalactic ancestors and the Thundercats, questioning whether the cartoon was made consciously or subconsciously to mimic this Lyran ontology. In this paper I will analyze the specific correlation between fiction-based inspiration and these growing feline starseed NRMs, arguing that they offer an epistemological framework for a new creature theology, which promotes an intergalactic feline mysticism and ontology.
This work stands squarely on the shoulders of many postmodern critical theorists that have come before me, from Judith Butler and Rebecca Alpert to Clifford Geertz and David Chidester. Their work has demonstrated that all constructs are limited by presuppositions of what is considered to be the normative – for as Judith Butler argues, what has been deemed normal is merely a “historical configuration of a nameless” indisposition, in which many terms are no longer “stable notions.” I likewise assert in this study that our understanding of what constitutes the term "religion" is itself similarly unstable and bound in limited presumptions. I have therefore employed a more liberal approach in my definition of religion, further inspired by Clifford Geertz’s assertion that religion can refer to any beliefs or practices that “establish powerful, persuasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in people.” As such, as Rebecca Alpert argues, “religion does not stand apart from other aspects of society,” but instead is “intertwined with politics, economics, and aspects of popular culture, like sport,” I similarly argue that cartoons can also be deemed a form of religiosity. For what is religion and what is deemed sacred is relative to both the individual and the community that one seeks to identify with. In the same way that David Chidester argues that baseball and Coca-Cola are sacred features of “religion in American popular culture,” and can be identified as “religious institutions,” so can the same argument be made for obsessively watching and re-watching cartoons. Furthermore, such commitment can transform into a veneration of certain cartoon characters and mythologies, which I argue can inspire and support NRMs.
Likewise, my work has been significantly influenced by recent religious studies scholarship that has highlighted the influence of speculative fiction on the formation of NRMs. From Jennifer Porter and Darcee McLaren’s work on Star Trek as a form of religious expression (1999) to Markus Davidsen’s vanguard research on fiction-based religion with his analysis of Jediism from Star Wars (2017), and more recently Tolkienism Spirituality from Lord of the Rings (2024). In such a way, fandom can be interpreted as spawning its own fiction-based religious expression and movements, be it explicit or implicit. As Zoe Alderton further posits, with Harry Potter and Snapeism (2014), and as Bruno Lovric asserts with Pokemon fandom as religion (2020). My work adds to this scholarship, focusing on how formative cartoon watching has in particular shaped our interpretations of the holy, of the shamanic, and of the intergalactic, supporting NRMs which herald alien/starseed mysticism and ontology.
My research into the Thundercats franchise was initially inspired by an article written last year by Nathan Graziano called “Thundercats’ taught me everything I need to know about life,” in which he tongue-in-cheek highlights the influence of this 80s cartoon franchise on his understanding of sexuality, racism, and other forms of systemic discrimination. This article whet my appetite for all things Thundercats inspired, leading me down a very unexpected rabbit hole on Tik Tok, Reddit, You Tube, and X, of individuals citing Thundercats as an allegory for an intergalactic feline race called the Lyrans who originate from the Lyra constellation, and whom are identified as one of the many starseeds to which we are directly related to. Moreover, in the same way that the Thundercats are in a perpetual battle with reptilian hordes, the Lyrans have also been locked in a far-reaching intergalactic war with the Reptilians which has also reached our planet.
Many believers in this feline/reptilian starseed space opera question whether the cartoon was made consciously or subconsciously to mimic this Lyran Reptilian saga. According to SpiralCatSoul on his response to a Reddit post titled “Thundercats” initiated by r/starseeds, is that “one possible way to think about it is that the side of Light/Love wanted to help us remember our Galactic Soul History, and so to accomplish this over time, they provided the inspiration to creators of cartoons and other story giving sources, to be able to be viewed by many, so as to hopefully jog our memories about things.” Wordplay King, a representative for Holistic Remedies For Ascension is more convinced that the show is purposefully made to mimic this feline/reptilian starseed space opera – as he confidently states on his YouTube channel, “the cartoon Thundercats was actually based on an extra-terrestrial feline race called the Lyrans.”
What has become clear is that the more people start believing in Lyran Starseeds the more they are acknowledging the uncanny similarities with their interdimensional aliens and the Thundercats. It is also apparent that we are seeing a pattern form between UFO-inspired NRMs and their access to and influence by speculative fiction. Like Heaven’s Gate religiously watching Star Trek and adopting certain mannerisms and ideas, we can also make a similar assessment with new Lyran starseed cults and Thundercats. My research therefore has been two-fold: to compare the mythical narratives presented in the Thundercats and to analyze how they support, and even offer credence to, Lyran starseed ontology; and to gauge how much the Thundercats have influenced Lyran Starseed mystical practices, in which members seek to reconnect with their authentic feline intergalactic spiritual identities.
This paper details the profound impact of science fiction on NRMs, with a focus on the 1980s children’s cartoon Thundercats and how it has become fetishized, and even heralded, by NRMs based upon starseed ontology as a thinly disguised metaphor for an intergalactic feline race called the Lyrans. These starseed NRMs promote an intergalactic feline exogenesis, arguing that the Lyrans are the first bipedal beings, whom all sentient hominoid beings stem from. The more people start believing in Lyran starseeds the more they are acknowledging the uncanny similarities with their feline intergalactic ancestors and the Thundercats, questioning whether the cartoon was made consciously or subconsciously to mimic this Lyran ontology. In this paper I will analyze the specific correlation between fiction-based inspiration and these growing feline starseed NRMs, arguing that they offer an epistemological framework for a new creature theology, which promotes an intergalactic feline mysticism and ontology.