I am sure we are all hoping for the same thing but I honestly feel this year will see the return of Thundercats as action figures
There are always fans asking for the return of Thundercats. I feel the fan base is smaller than MOTU but much larger than Ghostbusters, as far as action figures are concerned
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Thundercats so basically it is the perfect time for the return of the toyline
Obviously, Mattel is the best candidate to release a toyline and sell it as an Adult Collectable through mattycollector.com. They have also stated they are actively trying to acquire the license
I am going to go out on a limb and state we will see an announcement and possibly a figure or two at either this years Toyfair or SDCC
I just hope you’re right. Your reasoning for it makes perfect sense. This year will mark a big anniversary, and something should be done to commemorate it. The statues are a step in the right direction.
I wonder if anything could be announced during that big toy fair…
Personally i wouldn’t mind if statues are solely produced because the figures have given away their place to superbly detailed sculptured replicas and stunning represantations such as statues and busts. Above all, the toyline history has proved that it is impossible to produce new figures if they are not supported by a relative source material. In order to make new Thundercats figures there has to be a new cartoon so as to be based upon otherwise out of the blue is very difficult. The companies aim for the profit and that means promotion. The figures of Thundercats if they were to be made now they wouldn’t have a main and present material to rely upon. It is preety obvious that kids nowdays wouldn’t buy thundercats as we did 20 years ago unless there is something to trigger their interest like brand new episodes and series.
The MOTU Classics line isn’t based on anything new, just the classic figures. The recent Transformers 25th and Universe lines the same way, they were styled after the vintage toys. I agree I can’t imagine Thundercats hitting retail stores in the circulation of hundreds of thousands, but a a 10-15k a figure run at the $20 each pricepoint would probably sell well enough in a medium like Mattycollector.com I would pledge to buy every character like a membership if there was a fan-club or whatever. But I’m not buying the statues, too much money and I don’t have enough space for the whole line
I agree that a Thundercats classic line is the most feasible plan right now resembling to the MOTU classic idea but don’t forget that Mattel’s revival of the Masters of the Universe franchise was succesfull because of the 2002 modern remake of the 1980 series which run for two years and managed to gain ground with some new enthusiasts. This was very important for the classic line to follow up otherwise i don’t believe mattel would have produced them. As far as Transformers are concerned,regardless the quality, every 2 years there is a new cartoon,video game,comics,movies,books,clothing,even kids underwear! So i am not surprised by the countless figures we see coming out. Honestly, i don’t thing even for a small amount,as you mentioned, a toy company will try to produce them just to please some grown-ups mid 30 years old fans! This is the reason statues with limited editions exist. Also the figures are wholesale and kid-oriented items produced in mass numbers. I don’t wanna sound pessimist, i love and collect my figures wholeheartedly and are a part of something special but i believe this is how things work in the market.
I was just wondering would you like guys here to see a Thundercats remake cartoon in the concept and lines of the old one? maybe the old one with modern animation.:lionomad: In my opinion it is too risky.
I would certainly be interested in some new material. It would be fun to see the kids interested in it. As a father of 3 boys myself, I know my kids would be pretty psyched.
I like the statues, but for me it’s a price issue. Hard to drop $150-$200 on a single statue, when I can get multiple figures for that same amount.
I could see the Thundercats line being resurrected, but not to its glory days. For me, I would expect it to follow in the footsteps of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They were very popular back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, then disappeared until recently when the TMNT animated movie came out and relaunched the series. But after just a couple years that line does not appear to be anything like it once was.
As for Masters of the Universe, they didn’t do much better. They had 3 seasons of episodes, a batch of figures, and then they dropped off the radar completely. Unless you order online, there is not MoTU items out there anymore.
I hope I am wrong, but I just don’t see Thundercats coming back any better than MoTU or TMNT. But there are so many directions the Thundercats story could go to/from. 3rd Earth, New Thundera, Thunderian refugees trying to come home, tagging along with Mandora the Evil Chaser, etc. So who knows maybe they will make a comeback…
Nice point and undoubtedly the money is a main issue with the statues but the figures even in modern day standards lack in quality and overview representation as compared to statues or busts. The LJN Thundercats figures back in the 80’s had statue-like features and unprecedented authentic resemblance to the main source material, the episodes. I believe this answers the question of their longevity! We shouldn’t forget, at that time there weren’t any Polystone statues,highly-detailed figures such as Mcfarlane’s,scaled down replicas,handcrafted stunning products or to further extent life-size statues! Action figures were the only outlet for a fan, kid or prospective collector.
I have a 9 years old brother who belongs to the generation of kids growing up without an animated television series good enough and a cartoon of the magnitude of Thundercats or a few other. Most likely japanese anime like Naruto attract their attention. The last perfect example of cartoon supremacy of that kind i look back to is Batman:the animated series,the wonderfull 85 episodes. Whenever i put on Thundercats,without mentioning anything, i see him getting really excited with the content and starts asking me about them, additionally and here is the fun part of it, when i first gave him one Lion-o LJN for a present he became so much excited and caught his eye more than any generic and usual action figures like TMNT, Transformers,Spiderman,Batman, and these stuff.It is unbelievably impressive how contemporary Thundercats are in animation as well as figures.
In all due respect to everyone here, I’d prefer not to get any Thundercats toys. I’ll gladly take the statues due to it being the 25th Anniversary but honestly, action figs are not what they were 20+ years ago and neither are we. I don’t think I can ever recapture my childhood by buying new Thundrcats toys or even want to. I tried with the revamped Transformers, TMNT and MOTU and its just not the same. When you hold an original Thundercats figure, it has history and substance. That toy, be it sealed or loose existed in that precise magical moment we all cherish so very much. To me that is so much more intriguing and remarkably special than anything they can now crank out for us. Vintage toys will always have a very personal, sentimental and Nostalgic value to them but most importantly its our physical connection to our childhood past.
Maybe I am just different because every new vision of my childhood toys has so far exceded my expectations. Be it Transformers Classics, GI Joe 25th anniversary, MOTUC.
Thundercats could not survive in todays mass market world. Making Thundercats toys for retail is destined to fail no matter how much we love the property. That is why the only way for this to happen is for Mattel to get the license and release them solely as an Adult Collectable, exclusively sold on mattycollector.com
Hoping for a new animated show and mass market toyline is wishful thinking and is exactly what MOTUC fans are asking for
Regardless what people may think, Mattel’s online store, mattycollector.com, is a perfect avenue to release figures.
As I said in my first post, Thundercats is not as popular as MOTU but I have to think it would be more popular than Ghostbusters (which is exclusively sold on mattycollector). An online exclusive toyline has proven to be successful and I think it would be perfect for Thundercats
As for those that love the statues, I am sure they would still be available for you. I personally don’t like them as they are not my thing. I like to display my figures the way I want. I also don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on something then hope it makes it here to Australia safely
If they were to be released theres no way i would want them sold through mattycollector.com because they sell out within hours and the prices are too expensive. What would be a much better idea is if mattel sold them normally through retail like the 2002 motu figures which were awesome. Id advise anyone to not buy through mattycollector its a disgrace imo.
I have to say that, after today’s events, I think there will be many ThunderCats fans who are also He-Man fans that will be praying for Mattel Toys not to get the ThunderCats license.
Mattel are the most incompetent toy company ever and, whilst I’d love to see new ThunderCats toys, I’d almost rather go without the temptation of them than risk having to order yet another thing off MattyCollector’s appalling website on the 15th of each month. :mad:
After having a bad experience myself today I agree with you.
And Lord LionO, there are those of us who want action figures that aren’t trying to recapture our childhood. Some of us just like to play with them and display them in different poses. You can’t change the pose of a statue when you want to, and so figures are preferable to us.
I’m guessing they couldn’t buy Trap-Jaw and Battle Cat from the Matty collectors site. I was thinking about picking up BattleCat but completely forgot. I heard the site servers went down and lots of fans missed out, very frustrating stuff :-/
Yeah, that really does suck. You would think with Battlecats popularity and matty’s on-line history with the line, they would of handled everything better. I’m kinda glad I decided not to collect the line, lots of white hairs.
As a fan from Holland, I hope that IF a new line of figures is made they will be sold through retail. A $20 MOTUC figure is almost 40 euro’s! Shipped that is… so please no on-line exclusive bs…:liono
