I visited Larry Kenney's official website a while back and saw a number of Lion-O pictures there. I decided to draw one matching their quality. When I draw the Cats, I always do it in the Pacific Animation style because that's how I think they should be done. But then that's just me.

Lion-O is the only son of Claudus, Lord of Thundera, and Lionara, Claudus's wife, who lives just long enough to see her infant son proclaimed the new hereditary Lord of Thundera/Supreme Lord of the ThunderCats. When Thundera explodes some 11 years later, the young Lion-O, along with Jaga and the other remaining ThunderCats, escape in the royal flagship, while Claudus remains on the dying world to help guide them to safety. The flagship makes a 10-year journey to Third Earth while the ThunderCats are in suspension capsules; Jaga stays at the controls and manually pilots the ship to its new home, dying just before it arrives. After they set foot on their adopted planet, the surviving Cats find that Lion-O has somehow aged 10 years in his capsule; he is now nearly 21 years old with the mind and emotions of an 11-year-old boy. But under their mentorship, the brave young prince grows in experience and wisdom to become a superb leader.

When Lion-O reaches his 21st birthday, he must do what prior ThunderCat leaders, male and female, have done: Pass the Anointment Trials unarmed to prove himself worthy of his title. He faces numerous obstacles during the Trials of Strength, Speed, Cunning, Mind Power, and Evil. Yet he triumphs, and in a regal ceremony he is officially crowned and proclaimed "truly the Lord of the ThunderCats". He wields the two symbols of his authority: The Sword of Omens and the Claw Shield.

A few years later, Lion-O is staggered to learn that he isn't his father's only heir.