Over the past decade or so, I’ve seen toys from my childhood resurface. Pound Puppies made a comeback for a short time. I was walking through Toys R Us one day a few years ago and saw Teddy Ruxpin’s for sale. And I think I was in Hot Topic one time and saw the original Rainbow Brite dolls for sale.
With a new ThunderCats series out on tv with a new toy line, what do you think the chances are for the original toys to show up for sale once again? A retro bring-back of the original toys that were sold in the 1980’s?
I believe this comes back to the fact LJN no longer exists. Would be super-tough for this to happen. Since WB owns the license and Bandai has exlcusive rights to produce toys, both would probably have to sign off on it and/or Bandai would be the ones to make the figures.
Plus would need the original molds or make new ones.
I made this exact posting back in February, but [I]blackiecats[/I] Site Admin quickly shut me down…if u look back at the thread under “2011 toys: commemorative”, u can see the responses i received, 5 were against it and 1 for it, despite that i dont know who those 5 negatives are trying to deceive. if there was a commemorative line released we all know it would be sell out, weather they like it or not
original posting “I was thinking about the great job MOTU and Mattel did with the franchise as far as action figures. Then I began to compare it to what BANDAI is now doing with the Thundercats franchise. Suddenly it hit me, they both released the toy line for their new series, then apparently just like Mattel released a “Classics” series so is BANDAI (Lion-o and Tigra), but they I realized Mattel also released a commemorative series of the original toys…exact same action figures as far as the models go and same packaging. So I thought Id start this and ask fans if they would like a commemorative series, I know I would, maybe start a poll and get something started…”
This basically can’t happen. Nearly all of the pre-production items needed to re-cast the old figures exactly are in the hands of private collectors. I can tell you that my mold set is not leaving my safe :eek:
well im no connoisseur of molding and producing toys, but why cant they just take and old action figure and mold some new toys after it (split a lion-o figure down the middle pour some melted plastic, get the impression and make some new ones) , i bought plenty of bootleg mexican toys in the 90s and except for the color and the actual material the mold looked exactly the same as the original. im pretty sure the people selling it the streets of mexico didnt purchase original molds…
The Commemorative Masters of the Universe toyline was released exactly like that
Mattel just purchased loose figures on eBay to do new molds after them.
Now all is easy to do with a 3D modeling software on a computer, a lot a molds are released by this way today and the results are perfect, nothing is impossible.
I am working personally on something concerning an old TC Ljn item, when my job will be finished I will show you the result.
thats what i thought, how many times have i seen the history channel find a dinosaur tooth, scan it with a super computer, and recreate the entire thing…
Unfortunately due to issues today, my original reply got lost. Anyway I didn’t shut you down. I just gave my honest opinion that I wouldn’t want it to happen. I also set out the issues such a venture would entail for Bandai. In all honesty, Bandai would be very unlikely to go to those efforts, to market a toy line that only die hard adult fans would buy. The current Classics line is much more modern looking with the articulation. The LJN toys are very dated and a re-release would not appeal to all toy buyers.
With Mattel owning the 80’s He-man toys outright, it was a much easier undertaking for them to do.
What I’m saying is, it’s probably possible with the $'s and effort, but very unlikely to happen.
I’m against a commemorative Thundercats reissue line. I collected transformers, Motu and TMNT reissues and I still prefer the originals in my collection. I just dont find them worth anything sentimentally or money wise. I would rather spend the money and get the real thing that existed when I was growing up, not somethiny that is mass produced all over. It cheapens the line and it looses Its charm to collectors.
Even if they could get the original molds, the reissues would never truly be “original”, and therefor never have the appeal and charm that the true original line has. This is the very reason why collecting Thundercats is such an enjoyment.
Exact copies of the originals released as reissues would negatively affect the line as others have already said. We already have fake knock off weapons out there to worry about like Pumyra’s sling. Imagine being so excited about having picked up a Loose Complete Pumyra, only to find out you’ve been scammed and the weapon is a near original look alike fake. We don’t need more of that stuff out there.
I think the new Bandai Classics are just fine for getting that “old school” feeling of buying the original Thundercats. Hopefully they do the rest of the cast.
