I’ve been getting this same question over & over this weekend: are you going to do a ThunderCats Classic checklist? And I gotta tell ya – I’m not a big ThunderCats fan. I know Lion-O. I know there’s Tygra, who’s not the girl, and Cheetara, who is. There’s a ghost. And they fight a mummy. That about sums it up, right?
So why would I even be interested? Well, they are Four Horsemen sculpted, Masters of the Universe compatible figures. I feel like, at this point, I’d buy anything in that scale & style. I love the Batman and still want Superman (& Warlord) and a lot of the 80s properties would look great all matched up with MOTU. This could be interesting?
Pop Critica has coverage of the panel and the booth. We don’t know a ton just yet, but we do have a ways to go get there. Lion-O will kick the line off NEXT July, that’s 2016, and be part of a subscription including the already revealed Jackalman with a powered down Mumm-Ra as the subscription exclusive. It’s likely they’ll be four more figures, probably revealed at Toy Fair next year and the subscription will go on sale around that time.
It could be interesting times over at Mattycollector, where the new folks in charge seem to have finally realized it could be a useful outlet. Many other possible licenses were shown at the beginning of the panel as a huge “what could be”. Fingers crossed
After the new cartoon came & went, I was hoping Thundercats would get another shot at being represented properly as a full 80’s homage toy line. I was never a huge Thundercats fan growing up either, the only action figures I had was Ssslithe, 8 Miniture figurines and the Minitures Cat’s Lair. The show I liked the intro as a kid and I would always get me jazzed up, but I never sought the toys out.
Now, with “Thundercats Classics” coming out, there are 3 things that have me intrigued:
• 1) The Scale: Not only are these MotUC compatible, but as the original 1980’s toy line was a 6-7″ toy line, odds are all your old vehicles and play sets will work with these new figures. That’s something that was lacking with MotUC; the old vehicles were not cross-compatible. This does make me annoyed that I sold my old Mutants Fist Pounder though.
• 2) Tons of Unique New-to-You Characters: The old Thundercats line and show had a bevy of unique characters that really only had figures on e in the 1980’s LJN line OR were not even made into toys (the Lunatikks were never made into plastic and a few Berzerkers pirates never got made) so this line has tremendous potential for cool never-before-made products to be available.
• 3) The Lack of Action Features won’t be missed: Unlike MotU figures that in the 80’s were typically just a gimmick that Mattel had the patent for and wanted to create a character that revolved around that. Most Thundercats figures did not do anything more then having a arm chopping action, so no action features will be missed when their new toys are made.
If I have the funds, this may actually be a subscription I sign up for, cause lets be honest: when will the last time we see a Thundercats line of this scale?
I’m wondering if they’re developing a ‘buck’ system to keep costs down or if they’re going to go original sculpt for every figure. What I recall of the original show, there really wasn’t a whole lot of potential re-use that makes a buck system work.
Tygra and Bengali, maybe? For the rest, you’re right, they weren’t made out of mixing and matching stock pieces like MOTU or GI Joe.
I would say they will be able to use the standard MOTUC body arms and legs for the majority of the humanlike characters like Lion-O, Tygra, Panthro and Jaga etc. Same for the females like Cheetara, Pumyra and Chilla etc. They can use Battlecat for simple Snowmeow recolour.
I like these figures a lot but feel burned by Mattel’s high cost subscription… My DCUC subs were clocking in at $29 / figure after postage. Granted, that was before Mattel let you group the figures into 4 mailings per year.
And, yeah, show me Cheetarah. Jackal Man isn’t exactly a must-have.
Checked out the full photo gallery. Yeah, I’m having flashbacks to how Mattel also can’t even reveal the concepts until after you subscribe (and wait until SDCC 2016).
Unlikely that Mattel doesn’t know what figures it will produce until 3 months prior. Unless in this case Mattel hesitates to spend money commissioning the design concepts until it confirms the subscription will fly. But, still, give us a list of names.
In the unlikely event there is no Cheetara or Panthro, I’d like to know. I do prefer the new animated version of the Thundercats, but I follow that Mattel targets the 1980s with its adult collections. Still, though, new Cheetara is much cooler than the much simpler bathing suit version.
obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb50GMmY5nk
it makes me wonder how much of the new toon and this were kickstarted by Wormy’s video?
I have wanted these for so long I will definitely get them and some MOTUC to display with them. I will say though the Lion-O head sculpt needs a few tweaks to be perfect and the claw shield made smaller.
I want these so badly but I will not join any subscription service. If these are not available day of sale individually then, once again, Mattel has chosen not to take my money.
Dont force me to be an all in collector. Let me make that decision on my own.
Cheetara, girl? She’s definitely a woman. And responsible for an important development in my tender formative years – unrelenting hatred of v-crotch articulation. She’s a speedster, but her 80s figure could only manage a weird, legs akimbo lollop that looked like a mix of Penelope Pitstop and Phoebe Buffay…
Anyhoo, I’m all-in for a 4H Thundercats line, no hesitation. Woo!