Holy smoke! Grune and/or Pumm-Ra off the port bow! Can you image how fantastic Lion-O and the other Cats will look? I’m already in line at the toy store! 
That isn’t a new Thundercats figure. That is the September figure in the Masters of the Universe Classics line by Mattel, Chief Carnivus from the 200x Mike Young Production He-Man cartoon. Very much looks like a Lion-O/ Pumm-Ra ripoff. Anyhow, now don’t you wish Mattel had the license instead of Bandai?
I highly doubt you’ll be anywhere as near surprised in a good way with the Bandaicats. Just a hunch.
Bandai does have potential to make good, detailed quality action figures after all:
Now that is impressive I must say. I’d be happy w/ Thundercats figures of that detail. I don’t think that is what we are going to get though, but honestly I hadn’t seen that until you posted it. That does boost them up a notch in the high end collectible department. I still think their track record overall is pretty abysmal, but maybe this is a sign that they will do a highly articulated adult collectible line for the 80s license.
This is a pretty cool toy by Bandai that actually gives me hope they can do something cool with ThunderCats…
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41ciARmzRhL._SS400_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DRvyMEEJL._SS400_.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PET8d4pdL._SS400_.jpg
Well if Bandai can do Thundercats as well as that Batman then they have me
This is the work of Bandai Japan. The US arm of the company is geared towards the kids market. I hope Bandai US is smart enough to hire the Four Horsemen.
Someone on here earlier made a good point, I don’t know that that would be possible as I imagine they are under some exclusive contract with Mattel. I don’t think Mattel would let them develop competitive toys for a competitive toy company. Just speculating, don’t know this for a fact. I would fully support them doing Thundercats though. Also, it is entirely possible that Bandai Japan could take on development for the 80s property to do highly articulated adult collector figures and leave the new show to the U.S. arm. Just a thought, but I don’t see how figures, vehicles, and playsets ofthe old show can be catered to anybody but the now adult fans of that show. So I think their’s still some slight hope that we’ll see some cool figures of the 80’s show, which is the main one I care about anyways.
The Horsemen Sculpted the NECA TMNT figures a couple of years back while working for Mattel. So, yeah that’s an issue of contention what is allowed under their contract terms.
Do you think Bandai will release the classic ThunderCats toyline for the 25th year anniversary? I hoping to see a line of figures to be released this fall and a teaser for the new series @ the Comic-Con!
It would be cool to get classic Lion-O and Mumm-Ra figures for late autumn based on the 80’s series marked with 25th anniversary for sure! Be a great way to kick start their Thundercats toys and apparel!
I know I’m in the minority here but I’m very pleased to see Bandai get the license because. As far as toys go my nephews love to play with their Power Rangers and Ben 10 action figures. I’m sure they’ll love the new Thundercats too. For me as a collector, I don’t buy action figures anyway as I’m more of a statue guy since I don’t play with the toys anyway.
Better hope these are already in the works or we see something at SDCC. I imagine if this is the case we’ll see/hear something by then. If not, probably not going to happen in time for the 25th anniversary as, if they haven’t produced them now (based on Mattel’s production window of MOTUC) we won’t see them before 2011. But it is def. possible and would be the most proper use of the classics line for the time being
I know that Bandai acquired the license for producing toys for the classic cartoon as well but i think it will solely focus on the 2011 series. Otherwise, what is the point of having a fourth company making Thundercats at the same time after HH,Pop Culture and Icon Heroes and as we know the three of them are using as a model the old show. Add to that, the recent resurgence for LJN’s Thundecats at the e-bay, more and more high-priced “precious” treasures are resurfacing over the last few weeks after the announcement of the New series.
Bandai Japan did a nice job on this Gundam Kamen Rider figure, makes me think of what they could pull off on a nice Mandora figure.
http://cdn.hlj.com/images/ban/ban962338_4.jpg
One of the things we’ll need to know sooner rather than later is whether they’ll have the Japanese arm of the company handle the ThunderCats.
Grizzlor, I think the answer is pretty obvious and also a little disheartening. If you pay attention to the official Bandai press release it says “Thundercats roars back into mainstream with fresh toys from Bandai America” Doesn’t sound like the Japanese arm is involved there. Also the link on Bandai’s Official blog, is the “Official blog for Bandai America”. So I think more or less, without saying as much, the writing’s on the wall as to which arm is handling this.
That, to me leaves only one question left unanswered: how long is the license grant for? 2 years, 4 years, 5 years? I think we can only hope for really great Thundercats figures if this is a short term offering and WB becomes unhappy with Bandai’s products and decides to move the license to another company. That or they go bankrupt which I don’t see happening. At this point my optimism has dropped significantly, down to the level it was when Bandai was first announced as the company to release the figures, now that it appears the Japanese arm isn’t going to have anything to do with either line.
I’ll give you that they probably will focus mostly on the 2011 line (especially if each property is handled by the same arm of the company, Japanese or American), but a couple of things make it very obvious that they WILL be releasing figures for the 80s property
First, WB granted them the master license. Meaning that they granted them both the rights to do figures for the 80s property and to do figures for the new show. They wouldn’t have done this if Bandai’s intention was to just sit on the 80s property and do nothing with it. Both companies would lose money for this (Bandai isn’t going to pay for the rights to be able to release figures for something, and just not release them). If they had no intention of releasing figures for the 80s property, WB could easily have only granted them rights to do the new show, and granted the 80s property to Mattel or a company like Hot Toys (which I really really really really wish had happened).
Also,Bandai explicitly stated in their press release on their website that they were going to “create and distribute products worldwide that will complement both the classic brand property, as well as Cartoon Network’s fresh take on the animated series, with new television episodes set to air in 2011.”
So we are getting classic 80s figures (you can interpret products as figures since the license is a master toy license) for sure. Don’t know when, but some sort of figures based on the 80s property will be released.
I would love to see MOTUC style ThunderCats figs.
Anyone entertained the idea that Bandai may have the figures designed by their Japanese team and then manufactured in the US? I don’t see why they couldn’t do this. At least let the Japanese team create / develop the prototype which the American team would only then have to replicate.
I just don’t see Bandai handling this license with a relaxed attitude. I imagine they will want to score some major points with WB.
Is that even possible? (Then YES!!) It really makes us wonder as fans why do Bandai keep putting out these silly look action figures on the market, when they can do much better! I just hope they look at the feedback on these forums and put out some decent ThunderCats figures.
Why not? Seriously. All they would have to do is ship over the prototype and schematics / info to the production team and let them go to work. Plenty of products are produced in a different country then where they were originally designed.