Thunderstorm (Euro Republics)

Thunderstorm is a program block on Spark 2 in the Euro Republics. It airs on Thursday and Friday nights from 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM.

Thunderstorm has a more technological and edgy presentation in an effort to appeal to a teenage and older audience, not unlike Adult Swim & it's own block, Toonami in the US.

Thunderstorm is a big part of the Euroish edgelord culture, airing shows typically associated with the community, such as Rick and Morty. Despite garnering a cult following, Thunderstorm had previously been criticised when it was airing on 3C for being "unsuited" for a children's channel.

The programming is animated with series intended for older audiences, with a fair portion being anime, which thanks to Thunderstorm, has developed a cult following.

Before Thunderstorm
Between March 1996-January 2000, the Club3 channel ran a strand known as 'Mission Control', which was aimed at a 13-18 teenage audience, though had included teen sitcoms & soaps, like The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air & Home and Away, instead of action/anime shows. Mission Control ran twice a week, on Thursday & Saturday nights.

In late-January 2000, Mission Control was rebranded as Trouble, based on the UK brand of the same name. Most of the shows in the lineup stayed the same. The block was later expanded into it's own channel in 2005, though the block stayed as Trouble On C3, and later, Trouble On The Fix.

The Trouble brand was dropped from the strand in December 2008, though the channel survived. The strand was renamed as TeenFix in January 2009.

The launch of Thunderstorm
In September 2010, after Cartoon Network ER announced the discontinuation of it's Toonami strand, EuroMedia announced that it would overhaul TeenFix in Autumn 2011, and turn it into an action/anime strand aimed at a slightly older 16-25 male audience.

Although 3C had seen years of success with audiences under fifteen, they had done very little to appeal to the older teen audience. Thunderstorm was launched in September 2011 specifically for this older youth audience, with a disclaimer aired before all programming (even when it isn't actually necessary).

Thunderstorm was launched on 8th September 2011, after TeenFix ended on 3rd September. The night launched with Naruto: Shippuden, followed by Futurama.

There was initally backlash from TeenFix fans, especially female viewers, who were unhappy with the heavy rotation of anime. There was also concern from parents that children could be exposed to the many violent and sexually explicit anime series that were being broadcast as part of the new strand, with many campaigns to move the stand to another channel.

Consequently, the Saturday night edition of Thunderstorm was cut in February 2012, and the start time was moved from 20:00 to 22:00. Video game programmes were added alongside this.

Between 2013 & 2018, Thunderstorm, despite being once a week, would go off air in the school holidays to allow 3C to run 24 hours a day.

In November 2018, a second edition of Thunderstorm was added on Tuesday night, and the block began to run during school holidays once again, but would take a break twice a year, with two weeks off in August & a Christmas break from mid-December to early January.

On 1st April, 2021, as an April fools stunt, the channel broadcast Powerpuff Girls Z for the entire night.

A Friday night edition of Thunderstorm was launched in November 2022.

Rumours began to spread in February 2023 that the block would switch channels, probably to Spark 2.

Thunderstorm pulled another April Fools' prank in the early hours of 1st April 2023, handing over the evening's transmissions to 3C Gold in co-operation with 3C Playbox, who ran a preschool-themed night of classic programming.

It was officially announced on Friday 11th August 2023 that Thunderstorm would move to Spark 2 on 7th September, 2023. This was to allow 3C focus it's late night programmes towards nostalgic children's programmes. Animé would also become more prominent on TV4.

Programming
This is a list of series and movies that have aired on Thunderstorm, with their TV ratings.

Anime

 * .hack//Sign (16)
 * Bleach (16)
 * Blade Runner: Black Lotus (15A)
 * Blue Dragon (PG)
 * Case Closed (15A)
 * Death Note (16)
 * Dr Stone: Stone Wars (15A)
 * Eureka Seven (16)
 * Food Wars! (16)
 * Fullmetal Alchemist (16)
 * Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (18)
 * Inuyasha (16)
 * MÄR (PG)
 * Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (16)
 * Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny (18)
 * My Hero Academia (16)
 * Naruto (15A) (unedited version)
 * Pokémon (PG)
 * SSSS.Gridman (16)
 * Witch Hunter Robin (16)
 * Zatch Bell! (PG)

Western animation

 * Avatar: The Last Airbender (PG)
 * Beast Wars: Transformers   (PG)
 * Family Guy (16 or 18)
 * Futurama (PG)
 * Invader Zim   (PG)
 * Justice League Action (PG)
 * Justice League Unlimited (PG)
 * ReBoot   (PG)
 * Rick and Morty (16 or 18)
 * Samurai Jack   (16, formerly PG)
 * Shadow Raiders   (PG)
 * Teen Titans (PG)