does anybody have any idea what kind of lizard he’s supposed to be?
Don’t know for sure, but maybe his look was inspired from the Plumed Basilisk, this guy:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hGUY-boxV1U/TmGh0PX4tlI/AAAAAAAAAN8/-T3VfqC9uHQ/s1600/Plumed+Basilisk1.jpg
or maybe this fellow, whose species I don’t know:
http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/close-up-of-scaly-green-lizard-with-long-fingers-and-spikes-along-of-picture-id565271233?s=170667a
Those guys look pretty cute. 
I’m seriously wondering because of those ears of his.
I doubt if the animators relied on one creature. They probably added parts from other animals that they thought would make the character visually interesting. Slithe’s ears look more like a dragon’s ears.
Lizards in general don’t have external ear flaps (Pinnae) like mammals.
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or they took some inspiration from the creature from the black lagoon or the original LOZ Zoras.
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Slithe always seemed to me to be a mixture of influences of lizards. Slithe’s ears remind me a bit of Merman from MOTU. The cartoon and package art of Merman…the toy looked quite different.
Slithe was one of my favourite villains and one of the best sculpted LJN figures. :slithe
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I think so too! 
thumbsup:thumbsup
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Yesssssss, Slithe was very nicely done in the LJN line. He was well sculpted, solid and stood well.
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Well it helps that he’s so fat. XD
Come to think of it Slithe’s ears also reminds me of the Marvel character, Abomination.
That’s true as well. It’s strange how much they changed the look of Abomination in “The Incredible Hulk” movie. He didn’t have any ears at all in that! 
Coming back to LJN, they usually nailed the likenesses in the more “bulky” characters like Slithe and the Berserkers.
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I always felt like Topspinner and Rambam were too bulky compared to their cartoon counterparts.
They definitely were. It was probably done in order for there to be enough room inside the figure to house the mechanics of their Battle-Matic actions. I was referring more their faces, in that LJN captured their facial likeness quite well.
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I wonder if the Berserkers toys were made first and the animation based on them or the other way around. Much like Transformers I can imagine the toys being done first then the animation designs being simplified to work better on screen.
A bit like Ratchet, Ironhide and some other Transformers had more normal proportions in the cartoon compared tot he toys which were made before the cartoon.
an example of that kind of is the original cyclonus toy. That thing is AWFUL!
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I think you may be right in that LJN had a strong influence in the Berserkers redesign.
I believe that is exactly what happened. The original Berserkers (the ones that appeared in “Terror of Hammerhand”) were created by writers of that episode. But the newly resurrected Berserkers that appeared in “ThunderCats Ho!” were definitely based on the toys.
Usually the LJN TCats toys were based on the characters from the cartoons. But on many occasions it was the other way around, with LJN suggesting toy designs which would then be incorporated into the show. I remember the head of LJN saying in an interview that his team was always looking for new and interesting “action features” to build toys around, like the spinning drill, blowing bubbles, flapping wings etc. Thus figures like the Mad Bubbler, Tongue-A-Saurus, the new Berserkers, Stinger (and I think Driller too) as well as most of the vehicles were designed by LJN and then adapted into the cartoon. Stinger unfortunately never made it to the big screen. 
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It’s odd that Cyclonus…along with he majority of the movie and 86 toyline were not that good. As they were the first actual Transformers designs that were not used from the pre-existing Diaclone, Microman and Kronoform toys.
Overall I don’t think LJN’s action features were as well integrated into the action figure designs as Mattel’s MOTU figures. Having said that, even though the MOTU figures all retained the standard figure aesthetic, it allowed LJN to give the Thundercats figures a more varied and unique looking cast of characters.
I think the “new” Berserkers were definitely initially produced by LJN. Its sorta interesting, though, when you look back at “Terror of Hammerhand” you can see the influences for Top-Spinner, Cruncher and Ram-Bam amongst Hammerhand’s more normal looking crew. I’d even bet that LJN used the concept art from that episode as a starting point for the figures.
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k279/ButterflyBoy_2006/berserkers.jpg
In my opinion, the crew there are clear counterparts to the post-first season crew.
While we’re on the subject, ya’ll ever notice how “Thundercats Ho!” doesn’t seem to feature a single character that didn’t have an LJN action figure that was either out or slated to come out in Series 3? Its pretty clear that Leonard Starr must have just been given a laundry list of characters that he had to include, especially since those 5 episodes would be the only ones produced that year.
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Very well said. I agree about the Berserkers and the fact that the Ho series was a long toy commercial (although some of my favorite episodes).