I read your post so fast never clicked you talked about the proportions, sorry!
Frankly, I don’t get the big issue with the proportions. Not saying it is 100% right as I know many pointed out a leaner look would be more cartoon accurate etc, but it is 100% right for me. And I’m happy with what they delivered. But we’re gettting a bit off-topic here so we can talk more on Jaga in the W3 thread or you’re welcome to create a separate one for it too
Back on topic, what is everyone’s favourite figure from this wave and why? You can also add your second favourite one if you like.
I think since the forum is sooo painfully empty these days I might as well respond here and not start another thread. Just to say you are still not getting my point. The proportions have nothing to do with the amount of muscle. yes Jaga is too buff for my liking but that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about his body proportion. You could apply this to Bengali also since this will be the same with him too.
You may be right on that. Then again the LJN figures were out of proportion even more so but I still wouldn’t change a thing. I think these guys are doing brilliantly capturing the essence of the figures within the style they’ve chosen to present the line in. For some it works better than for others.
Quick question - would you customize any of the released figures to have a better appearance as per your preference?
I am right. :biggrin The LJN figures had their shortcomings, but you’re talking about a 35 year old mass produced toy and comparing it to a boutique line made with todays technology and expectations, that’s touted as “Ultimate”. What is their style by the way? It’s not animation accurate, it’s not based on the LJN toys. The colours look to be based off google image searches. I already repainted Slithe to get him looking like the cartoon. Why should I have to customise these figures to get them how they should have been released in the first place? When Tygra comes out he’s going to be completely inaccurate to Super 7’s own pre order image, let alone the cartoon itself. It appears that there is a clear plan for Silverhawks (show accurate) and TMNT (playmates inspired), Thundercats is more vague, its show based but don’t expect all the details to be right, the colours will be off, the scale doesn’t match from figure to figure and any figure using the old buck will have janky proportions, so all the male core team unfortunatley. Capturing the essence of a character is so vague to actually mean nothing. I have Neca TMTN figures that look like they just walked out of the cartoon. Super 7’s Muckman is just like the old toy but a clear improvent. If there is a clear goal for the outcome we can critique based on that. If there is only this muddy, subjective, essence capture as a bench mark for success, they can basically give us anything remotely resembling the character and we can’t say it doesn’t fit the bill.
In your next interview with Brian you should bring up scale and proportions and how awful and inaccurate the proportions are on the MOTUC buck.
When they can sculpt new buck for the vast majority of their other “Ultimates” figures they should be able to do the same for Thundercats.
Maybe you could even bring the subject up if you interview one of the 4 Horsemen sculpters or designers at Super 7. Interviewing either of them would be better than those pointless hype pieces with ToyBro…like interviewing a Youtube reviewer is pointless enough but interviewing someone with a proven biased opinion who has been given the figures to review for free and promote is even more pointless.
Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll keep that in mind :thumbsup
I am sorry though you don’t like the ToyBro interviews. Since he is a well known and knowledgeable gent that is always happy to share in our love for the brand he looked like a good fit. We also time it to go live at the same time as his reviews hit the air to build on the buzz of new figures and remain a source of info on the line. But I respect if it isn’t your cup of tea
Thank you, it would be great to hear what Brain has to say on that as in most interviews Brain does seem a very cool guy to talk to about toys. As @Booshman has said the constant reuse of the MOTUC buck on the humanoid characters, basically all male heroes, is really spoiling the look of what could be really great figures…especially when compared to the more unique looking figures in the line like Mumm-Ra, Snowman, Slithe and Captain Cracker etc.
Ask him questions about the glossy plastic, the waxy unpainted plastic, the loose joints, the inaccurate colours etc.
Even ask him questions about other Ultimates lines.
Questions like that would make for a far more interesting interview.
I get you are trying to build buzz and hype the Thundercats toys but it you are just interviewing a reviewer who was specifically given free toys to promote for Super 7. It would be a lot more interesting to interview someone that is a Thundercats fan that not interested in continuing to receive free toys and get their opinions on the figures.
One issue is that the review cycle happens before orders have shipped. This happens in every industry—toys, TV and movies, consumer electronics, cars. The odd aspect here is that the reviewers are allowed to keep the product, which is naturally going to set off bias alarm bells. I get it. Even so, I don’t think it’s fair to basically label reviewers like Toy Bro as Super7 shills and discount their reviews entirely. From what I’ve watched and read, Toy Bro seems very levelheaded and forthcoming with the things he thinks could be improved. As a collector looking back with my figures in hand, I tend to agree with his past reviews pretty consistently. And even if I didn’t agree with him, his reviews would still be a valuable look at what I should except to receive myself.
But back to timing. The reviewers are the only ones with early access to the figures, and online conversations naturally start once their reviews publish. If we, as a site, want to be engaged in those conversations and add to them in real time, interviewing a reviewer is the best way. We can ask questions that weren’t covered in the review, seek out more detail, go off on tangents, zoom out and discuss the future of the line, etc. There’s value in having those conversations with someone who actually has the figures in hand while discussion is actively happening across the internet. But I agree—gathering and publishing thoughts and photos from other collectors once we all have the figures in hand is also valuable. With Waves 2 and 4 shipping soon, maybe now’s the time.
As for wonky proportions and the standard bucks, they’re not my favorite either, and it’s frustrating when some figures turn out looking so much more cartoon-accurate than others. I forget who said it or where, but I suspect that, had this line not started with Mattel, Lion-O and Jackalman would have looked quite different, and we might have found ourselves with better proportions across the board. That pivot from a Mattel MOTUC look to a more cartoon-accurate look is, I suspect, at the core of why there doesn’t seem to be a clear style or vision. It’s a weird and inconsistent hybrid of styles that’s shooting for cartoon accuracy while trying not to make Lion-O look even more wrong.
This is a given, and we know the reason for the pivot and not starting over was not wanting to redo a bunch the tooling they inherited from Mattel. The option was there, start over on the male figures or sabotage the future figures by having them stay consistent with this copromised aesthetic. I still don’t know why it’s so hard to get the colours right in these things, they’re not even consistent with the reaction line they do. :speechless
Regarding Toybro being classed as a shill for Super 7 by a lot of people was caused by the situation surrounding him being provided with the TMNT and Thundercats wave 1 figures after a Chinese reviewer called Dragon Soul reviewed the TMNT figures.
Dragon Soul gave his honest opinions on the figures after he bought them in the Polyphony shop, the official Chinese distributor of Super 7 products.
Dragon soul mentioned the glossy plastic, the gummy weapons and the loose joints which some people were not pleased about. So much so that Brian Flynn himself commented saying there was no way he could have those products legally and they weren’t official products, yet said reviewer took a video showing the Polyphony shop selling the Super Ultimates TMNT figures. That video has since mysteriously been taken down… He proved that they were official products yet no appolgy was ever posted.
Yet Toybro upon getting his free figures did not mention any of these issues with the figures. Granted he is entitles to his opinion, but glossy plastic has been present on almost every Super 7 product and it was a fact that some f the weapons were gummy and loose joints have been present on lots of the Ultimates figures, especially the hip joints on the actual Turtles figures like Dargon Soul mentioned.
Then in Toybros wave 1 Thundercats review specifically with the Lion-O figure he did not mention QC issues that were present on the figures.
That is why some people have classed Toybro as a shill for Super 7.
That incident with the wave 1 figures really did not do his credability any favours which is a shame as for the most part he does seem pretty cool and knowledgable about various toys.
While I understand it’s nice to get an early look at the figures maybe a better suggestion instead of an “interview” on each figure, it would be better to actually have him write an actual review of the product for the site much like how the Fwoosh post reviews of figures.
Maybe they are also made at a different factory.
Ironically they have the tooling from Panthro to use his feet for Lynxo yet the still managed to give him the wrong type of feet.
I think also for interviews with Brian going forward, as well as looking at what’s coming up, there should be a real reflection on how the previous releases have come out. Praise where it’s due and a discussion on what could have been improved or was failed to be addressed despite previously being brought up multiple times.
It’s quite frustrating to be looking at my midget Lion-O and calf-confused Jackalman to read an interview that is full of fluff and only concerned with more new product. “Hey Jaga is coming up, any chance of an Astral variant?” Like they’re not going to do one.
I’m not talking about holding Brian’s feet to the fire or anything, but he’s the license holder for Thundercats figures and you run the main Thundercats website. He should be trying to stay in your good books, not the other way around. If you can offer honest critique that helps them improve, using our combined knowledge of the property he should be jumping at the chance to come back and get some free advice, not a back rub as it is.
Maybe we could have a questions for Brian thread that could be used to help form an interview and allow all to get some answers to the questions we have. Brian seems keen to do interviews for channels with very few subscribers and likes to get out there. I cant imagine he’d be averse to a few well worded, polite questions from the fan base.
Just my 2 pence - I truly believe Super7 has the best intentions with their figures, I think they pride themselves on turning out top notch stuff. On the other hand - and I get this from Brian’s reply about Cheetara’s hips - that they’re willing to take suggestions, but they will do whatever they think is acceptable. Their idea of a top notch figure is not up to snuff for some of us. I think they take suggestions and commit to them to be nice, but ultimately it’s their call, and sometimes i think they decide it’s just not worth the effort because enough get sold and a few “really picky” people (in their perception) are always going to be “too” critical. He said Cheetara’s hips were a matter of opinion and too many male collectors have presumptive ideas about what a female body should look like. I don’t know if he intended that as a drag on those criticizing, but that’s certainly what it seemed like.
They’ve redone stuff that has come out looking very poopy, and that’s admirable. It’s their company, and they have every right to decide how hard they’re willing to try/how much development and management expenses they want to/can afford, for how good of a product. It’s a balancing act.
Again, just my opinion, my personal hypothesis on Super7 suggestions. Asking never hurt anything, though.
Besides our expectations, maybe.
This has nothing to do with presumptive ideas. Before making statements and excuses like that, Brian Flynn and the designers and 4 Horsemen should remeber there are things called animation guide sheets/model sheets which are a perfect reference for using to create accurate sculpts and correct colours. Some are even on this very site. http://thundercats.org/original-series/animation-art/production-materials/guide-sheets/
Some people really like things to look like and be accurate to the source material.
I personally disagree with a lot of your comments Booshman and Mark M, not because you are wrong, but because I feel after all these years you still do not get what Super7 is trying to do with their line of Ultimates. I don’t need to justify why as I’m confident this matter has been covered over and over again by many interviewers (not just me) in the past on various platforms. You have your own preferences with how you’d like the line to be, ranging from proportions to cartoon accuracy etc. Nothing wrong with that. This line though is not that and will never be that. It may touch on that here and there with how some characters turn out. It will also be “vastly” different to your preferences. And that’s ok. You’re welcome to your opinions and fan input does help at times because Super7 does pop in here from time to time.
I do like your suggestions for questions to Brian and will create a thread for this once an interview is confirmed.
Irrelevent whether there is a lot of activity on here, there are still browsers who lurk and read, so I’m asking again to get back on topic. Any further discussions not relating to Wave 5 specifically belongs in its own thread.
As for my favourite(s), it is tough especially because there are three that I’m very pleased with. But Bengali is likely my top choice because he is just so perfect! If Lynx-O came out so great then I’m looking forward to seeing him in plastic too. Mirror Lion-O is in 2nd place - he is just such a cool looking figure. I’ve wanted one in this scale for years. Vultureman is third mostly because he is a main mutant and looks so wonderfully sculpted. I do like Hammerhand, don’t get me wrong. He looks superb.
I guess Bengali is my favourite from this wave. Bengali isn’t really a favourite character for me, but the look of this figure is good and I like the blacksmith equipment he comes with.
After that it would be Vultureman - with a decent looking figure on a character I’m interested in adding.
I think Hammerhand has a chance to be an unexpectedly good figure. I was surprised how much I liked Captain Crackers from Wave 3 and I think Hammerhand has a chance to be the same sort of pleasant surprise - a non-main character that is just done well when you get it in hand.
Mirror Lion-O is a bit of a let down for me; although it looks cool in the red colour, I think that I would have preferred if they made a different character.
On your advisement I’m going to start a new thread on how we, as a community, can be more proactive and communicate our thoughts more directly to Brian and the guys at Super 7.
I have one more thing to ask though, just based on what you said. Could you direct me to any interview, article or video, that clearly states the MO for this line. I’m not talking about what Mattel said it was going to be before the canned it, but specifically Super 7. I’ve read and watched a lot of their output and I don’t remember anyone there ever saying. You have my thanks.
