Thundercats Classics, hopes and speculation

Collecting Mattel ThunderCats Toys
1

Greetings all, so after thinking about how Mattel was going to release the new figures. I came up with a wish-list of sorts, and a release schedule based on the six figure a year plan they have now. Im sure I am not the only one who has been thinking about it, so I decided to start a thread for us to post the dream.

Year One

Lion-o
Jackleman
Mumm-Ra (the ever living)
Panthro
Vultureman
Mandora, (To tease fans with a first time character)

Mumm-Ra (mummy form) - sub only

Jaga (spirit form) - Con Exclusive

Thundertank - Christmas out of sub

Year Two
Cheetara
SSSlithe
Luna & Amok
Tygra
Monkian
Hatchiman

Snarf & Ma-Mutt 2 pack - Sub only

Wizz-Ra - Con Exclusive

Sky Cutter - Christmas Out of sub

Year Three
Wileykit
Ratar-O
Chilla
Wileykat
Grune
Snowman

Belle & Bill Ro-Bear 2 Pack - Sub only

Hammerhand - Con Exclusive

Snowmeow - Christmas out of Sub

Year Four

Ben-Gali
Alluro
Safari Joe / Mule
Lynx-O
Top Spinner
Mongor

Willa - Sub only

Captain Shiner - Con Exclusive

Mutant Fist Pounder - Christmas out of Sub

Year Five

Jaga - Escape from Thundera
Red Eye
Ram Bam
Pumyra
Tug Mug
Cruncher

Captian Cracker - Sub Only

Turmagar - Con Exclusive

Mutant Nose diver - Christmas out of sub

Cats Lair - Done as a kickstarter-esque fundraiser at some point.

Characters such as the Driller, Stinger, Astral Moat Monster and the Mad Bubbler could be added as quarterly figures or special out of sub items if the line garners enough support. Remember, MOTUC has been the main support for Mattycollector and that line is winding down to half of what it was. This is Matty’s chance to develop a new meal ticket and give fans the figures we have wanted for over 30 years. If we play our cards right we could end up with a seriously large and comprehensive collection of Thundercats.

2

I would hope con exclusives would be limited to alternate versions of characters. Like maybe a clear version of Jaga as a con exclusive, but still being able to get a normal Jaga in the sub. I’d be kinda P.O.ed if Hammerhand was a con exclusive. I mean he’s the leader of a whole group of villains.

3

Have to disagree…I firmly believe that we will see the core cats first. Though, like you, not all at once. Since Panthro rode backseat to Lion-O and Tygra since forever, I think they will and should put someone like Panthro, or Cheetara, in year one. And a con exclusive is very doable at Power Con or Toy fair. Motu started that way with a King Grayskull prior to the lines official launch.
As for Hammer Hand, no offence to his fans, but he will be viewed as a 3rd stringer and could be put anywhere in the release schedule. And I would be shocked if there wasn’t a mock up of a Thundertank and concept drawings of the Lair.
So come on, post what you think the line will look like.

4

Based roughly on the MOTUC releases I would safely say year on will have:
Lion-O
Cheetara
Panthro
Mumm-Ra the Ever Living
Jackalman
I am not to sure on who the 6th would be. In some ways I think it could be another core character but since MOTUC had some odd choices in its first year the 6th figure could be anyone.

I highly doubt we will get a vehicle in the first year but how cool would an in scale Thundertank be. :cool:

Hopefully a Snowmeow and Snowman boxset could fill that space.

5

I’ve been looking at some of the more unique sculpts that the Four Horsemen have done for the MOTUC line and wanted to share images here. These give me the sense that we will see some LJN-esque unique work from some of the more extreme characters in the line. If you look at the LJN line pretty much every figure was an entirely new mold.

I read that Eric Treadaway (one of the Four Horsemen) has said that S-S-Slythe will have his own unique sculpt.

http://www.motuportugal.com/motucv/Mantennaloose.jpg Mantenna
http://collecting.mattycollector.com/CmsData/MuseumItem/574/Images/img.png Shadowbeast
http://www.itsalltrue.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/gran1.jpg Granamyr
http://generalsjoes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/200x-Masters-of-the-universe-king-chooblah.jpg King Chooblah

6

I really want to see these as cartoon accurate as possible so I am really hoping they go all out and create new bucks when they can (of course reuse if it doesn’t hinder the look). I would even be willing to pay a bit more in that case (and I consider myself fairly frugal).

7

As I said in another thread. I spoke to one of the 4 Horsemen and he said he's pretty sure Mattel only have the license to produce toys of characters that appeared in the original cartoon.

Who (if any) of the LJN line didn't appear in the cartoon?

8

Only The Stinger never made an appearance in the cartoon (It did show up in one of the UK Marvel comics). Half of the characters from the cartoon [that ended up having a figure] were designed by LJN.

9

The only LJN produced items I found that I don’t remember from the cartoon were the Stinger and tongue-a-saurus.
As for the cartoon likeness goes, I’m expecting them to keep pretty close to the show, but to also tweak some of the features to fit a modern aesthetic.
Take a look around the web at the MOTUC figures, and compare them to the originals from the 80’s. You can see where the inspiration came from, but it has been brought In line with modern collector toys. To get back to the releases…
Trust me here, this first year is an acid test. With MOTU, they had a fan base who was slavering for new material so they had no issues meeting the magic dollar amount the bean counters wanted to keep doing the line. We have a smaller community, so we get the minisub at the start of our line to see if it’s a viable product. If we exceed the number they expect by a wide margin, not only will we get a full 12 month sub for 2017, but we could also see a Thundertank at the end of next year. They will probably open the subscriptions when Power-Con happens, that’s plenty of time to finialize the plans I am sure already exists for it.
So sub, if you can, sub twice. I’m going to try and do multiple subs myself.

10

As much as I love these figures I honestly do not now if I could justify two subs myself. Granted it would be great to have a set to keep mint and one to open and maybe even one to customise etc but from a finance point I don’t know if I could honestly afford it.

11

Ya, I wont be able to afford 2 subs. I will have to set a little aside for 1, but I definitely will subscribe. If money was no object I would get several and give them as gifts to others haha!

12

Well, to be honest, I can barely afford to do it. But I’m not going to keep them all.
Just like everything else, there will be people who can’t get them or only want certin figures, they cherry pick. Well I’m going to sell the second set at cost to those people, thereby adding a sub to help the line, and recouping my costs. The key here, is my battle cry at this point…subscribe and tell others to subscribe. Mattel is counting on many MOTUC subscribers to just carry on their purchases and support the line. Its kinda the reason I suspect the July start-up. The animated He-Man sub ends in June, so for those folks, its really just the full sub they are already used to. But, I’m not counting on that.
So go forth my brothers and sisters…shout it from the rooftops…tell your friends, neighbors and co-workers, heck…tell your Mama this is what you want Santa to bring you this year. HO!

13

The 4H have built up quite a fan base and since they are sculpting these I am sure a lot of fans of their other products will subscribe.

Of course being in the MOTUC/7" scale means that MOTU, Marvel and DC fans will also subscribe or cherry pick various figures for their collections.

14

Thats very true, the other org has a thread going filled with many excited subscribers planning the rearrangement of shelves and lamenting their ever thinning wallets.
I cant wait, I’ve been watching the show since I read the news, two episodes a day.

15

Well, I’m in for at LEAST one sub. I also just bought the full series boxed set to watch leading up to the release.

16

I hope if they do make the likes of Lynxana that they make Wilycat and Wilycub too. And a young Lion-O. What was Wilykit’s boyfriend’s name in the comics?

17

I hope they also do the swapple head thing with some characters. Like Grune, Jaga (helmeted and non helmeted) and Maybe even Tygra ( a ljn one and a cartoon one).

18

I suspect that they will, but Jaga may be a stretch. Young / old Tygra I can see being one of the first they offer. Remember, extra parts, mean extra cost. Would an un-helmeted Jaga be worth more paint apps on his cape? And yes they do think this way. However, they do have a history of releasing extras for characters with other characters to please fans if they ask enough.
They released a battle damaged Faker head with a Skeletor variant to please fans for example.

So if you don’t see something in a figure’s release, you may be able to get it later on.

19

Was it Bobcat? I would be thrilled to see a figure of him!

20

Yes, I think you’re right. Almost certain it was Bobcat. Just couldn’t get the name. Would you want an adult Kit&Kat then too? It might come much later in the line though, but it would be awesome!