By Rob Bricken in
Daily Lists, Toys
Thursday, Jul. 2 2009 @ 7:55AM
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The greatest action figures of the 1980s never really went away. G.I. Joe, Transformers and Masters of the Universe have persisted in some form in the toy aisles during the last 25 years. Even Voltron continues to get new toys on occasion, but there is one big '80s toy-based property that has yet to get its due -- Thundercats.
Thundercats was perhaps not quite popular enough to be among the upper pantheon of 1980s action figures, but it was certainly close and is fondly remembered today by 30+-year-olds. Sure, Thundercats lives on in the kind of nostalgia-based t-shirts and bumper stickers that one would find at Hot Topic, while a CGI movie is reported to be in development. But given the amount of relaunched '80s toys in '00s-era toy stores, it's insane that there have not been new Thundercats figures in stores! It's hard to believe that no toy company has obtained the rights to produce more Thundercats toys, be they reissues of the originals or, better yet, new figures of the characters made to today's higher standards. Mattel's Masters of the Universe Classics series has proven that a direct-to-collector toyline with smaller runs can be successful. Let's hope that happens for Thundercats, or that perhaps we'll get an excellent wide-release toyline when and if the new film happens. Until then, here are the 12 best Thundercats figures from the original LJN series.
12) Pumyra
Cross "Love is a Battlefield"-era Pat Benatar with a puma and an Indian mystic and you'd have Pumyra. This talented healer who had impressive leaping ability was one of the later ThunderCats discovered on Third Earth. She's a cool figure, although she was somewhat rare to begin with and can now be a real bitch to find. Many examples of the toy have developed plastic discoloration, too.
11) Ratar-O
Kind of the Genghis Khan of the Mutants, Ratar-O is a fat rat wearing samurai-like space armor and wielding two mystical daggers. He would have fit in well with the Ninja Turtles!
10) Jaga
Jaga was Lion-O's predecessor who didn't survive the long trip to Third Earth but showed up as a specter to dispel wisdom, anyway. His action figure perfect captured his regal status, and he came with the Sword of Omens (which he used to wield) and a spiffy blue cape. Strangely, there were two similar but distinct versions of the figure released around the same time.
9) Monkian
Monkian may not have been the bravest or the brainiest Mutant, but it didn't matter since he was an albino ape wearing a helmet and wielding a morning star on a chain! Monkeys are awesome.
8) Hammerhand
Hammerhand was the robo-viking who led the troublesome Berserkers. And he had one of the coolest action features ever -- a HUGE robot hand which kids could operate to pick up ThunderCats and shake 'em around until their hairballs popped out!
7) Cheetara
Cheetara, the sexy female Thundercat (although much more sexier in the cartoon than in action figure form), caused many of us to entertain our first mental arguments on the ethics of bestiality. She came with Battle-Matic action to swing around her staff, and some versions of her came with a PVC WilyKit to match the WilyKat that came with Tygra.
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Tags: Thundercats
34 comments
Comments
Greyjoy said:
Remember Hatchi-man(sp?) I wanna say 3rd wave of figures...
cartoonopia said:
ahh, cheetara...was she my first cartoon crush or was it the sorceress? barely hit puberty and looking for cartoon cameltoe...fine times.
J.H. said:
Bengali didn't come with an axe, it was a hammer as Bengali was a blacksmith and the only Thundercat that could re-forge the Sowrd Of Omens.
I'm surprised that none of th Lunataks made the list.
elDuendeVerde said:
Thundercats was one of my favorite cartoon/toylines from the '80's. I'm glad to see it get some lovin'. It's overlooked far too often in the annals of cartoon nostalgia.
Of course, if that means that they get to be spared the horror of a live-action movie a la "revenge of the fallen" or "rise of cobra," then I guess I'm ok with people not remembering them as well...
terebi-kun said:
The sculpts of this toyline hold up real nice. They were pretty accurate in the depiction of the character designs, and the figures were of a nice size.
Great toyline.
Kevin said:
Sorry about my mental axe/hammer glitch.
Killjoy was here said:
So Jaga was this wise old guru type who was struck down and then was able to come back as a translucent, blue-tinted ghost to dispense advice to the young hero of the story... Kind of reminds me of someone but I can't quite put my finger on it...
Hammerhand was the shit!
Hugo said:
There's a family guy spoof that has Lion-o using the supervision feature of his sword to peep at cheetara doing her girly things in the toilet. It's probably on youtube.
Robert said:
I've just relived a year and half of my childhood I thought I'd lost. I remember sending away for Mumm Ra and getting it in the mail.
TrapJaw said:
I'm surprised that the more articulated Wilykat, Wilykit, Snarf, and Ma-Mutt figure didn't make it. I thought it was cool that LJN went back and made actual figures of those characters rather than just forcing kids to live with having little PVC statues to represent them.
And was I the only kid that was kind of freaked out about the possibility that Panthro had apparently traveled to circa 1930's Earth and fathered TV's Heathcliff Huxtable?
Liter One said:
Truly a toy line that needs to be relaunched with today's production tools.
J.H. said:
I think the best Thundercats toy was actually the mini-PVC line complete with a Cat's Lair playset. Sure there was no articulation due ot every character being PVC figures but it was still kinda cool and everyone at least came with a weapon accessory just like the full sized figures.
If I ever had a complaint about the cartoon it was the voice acting for almost eery female character sounded like they were trying to be Katherine Hepburn, even Cheetara had it sometimes and Willa and all of the Amazons in every episode. Was the only movie that survived into Third Earth a copy pf "The Lion n Winter"?
Bingo said:
Cheetara is my favorite, when I was a child I wanted to be like she, she is hot!
Rickious said:
I loved the Thundercats! And the Silverhawks as well!
I thought the Blackstar action figures were cool also.
DeRoc said:
Here in Britain Thundercats is well remembered and still loved by us twenty-somethings.
I got the Lion-O figure for Christmas as a kid and it still ranks as one of the best presents I ever got.
I still remember the shock I shared with my brother as we saw the Thundercats naked in the first episode.
Albo said:
I have a collection of "Mutantes" from Brazil that were never opened.
They're smaller and the paint is dull by now, but it's fun picking out the cognates on the origin story in Portuguese on the back of the box.
Also, I had a bunch of these figures, excluding the Thunderians, though.
'Stater Nuts said:
I always wanted Snowman and Snow-Meow when I was little.
On a different subject, I have really fond memories of Buzz-Saw from Silverhawks.
j.g. said:
i unfortunately grew up in a Thundercats-less era, but nonetheless i have a Hammerhead toy.
I actually found it in a small toy shop in Shanghai while visiting China. Even without knowing what the f*ck he was from, something about "viking with a GIANT ROBOT FIST" spoke to me, and i had to have it.
When I got back to the states my older brother promptly told me who it was. And then got pissed when I wouldn't sell him the figure.
Geoff said:
"was the voice acting for almost eery female character sounded like they were trying to be Katherine Hepburn, even Cheetara had it sometimes and Willa and all of the Amazons in every episode."
If memory serves, they only had one female VA, so that makes sense.
Hachiman was my favourite guest star, but I have no idea if he made a good figure or not.
chad said:
nice list. another reason pumara is considered rare is that she was the only other female figure in the line. and i would put jaga and all his versions in the rare to hard to find. and still surprised Tygra got replaced by Bengalie. as for new toys given that Warner brothers has the thundercats right now there are hints that they are looking at all avenues of use for the thundercats again which no doubt includes toys.
fishman2020 said:
You ding dongs forgot about the Mum-Ra figure when he's an old shriveled up sack... He was part of some transformation playset where you put the old shriveled sack Mum-Ra figure into a cave and pressed or turned something and presto-chango he transformed into Lex Luger Mum-Ra.
Mark said:
I loved Thundercats. Every Thndercats figure was great. LJN was a great company, even by todays standards they had some excellent sculpts and great accessories.
Also there is a few seconds cut from the dvd release of the first episode as they thought there was to much nudity and also a phrase WilyKat says to WilyKit whilst being put in the suspension capsules.
Over here in the UK the Thundercats toys hung about till the early 90's and the how was regularly repeated on the BBC. I love Thundercats, one of my top 4 toy lines/ cartoons.
Wonder if this movie in the works will be any good or a butchered piece of lazy crap animation like Transformers Animated with awful hyper exadurated toys. I hope Mattel gets the rights and makes cool figures in the same style and cale as MOTUC.
Jeremy said:
Ah, the Driller. The source of a self-gratification joke I made about my g/f that got me slapped.
Bill said:
I always watched the Thundercats every day after school, but I never got any of the figures. They always seemed hard to find around me. I collected the Silverhakes instead (let's face it, they were the Thundercats of space).
Cool list! I didn't even know that they made figures beyond the first wave. Discover something new every day...
Victor Delacroix said:
The humor in this article was far below the usual standards. What happened?
deadbug said:
Thundercats have such a place in my heart. I have a plastic Sword of Omens, prolly still lurking in my garage. I also have a Thundercats 'movie' it might have been just a bunch of episodes linked together to make it feature lengh. That was the grand day I leaned to operate the big 40 pound VCR without my parents knowledge. I still have the tape.
Anonymous said:
where the fuck is the iceman????
nunya said:
ummm what's up with leaving Hachiman out? http://www.atlanticgamesandtoys.com/catalog/Hachiman816.jpg
Jason Allen said:
Grune the Destroyer was one bad ass figure, too. You could make him fight Jaga, just like the (crappy) cartoon!
pumpkinguts said:
Looking back at the figures I have to say they are pretty good, my personal favorite was Shemp, I mean Vultureman. He came with a cool trident type weapon and besides hes the only one that had a brain on the mutant side.
the other robot said:
cool crap!my first and only thundercats was lion-o & sword of omens..anybody knows,where can i get these other than E-bay?
LBD "Nytetrayn" said:
Killjoy> Technically, he was not struck down, but yeah, the comparison is clear.
And it's too bad about LJN going into video games, sucking at it, and getting scooped up by Acclaim. I wish they'd stuck with toys.
We need a list for the Thundercats playsets and vehicles. And maybe Silverhawks, too.
Cats Lair was awesome, but poorly constructed for what they wanted it to do: Act as a laser tag-like battle between kids.
Erik said:
Panthro was never very well done ... they should have had an alternate version (fighting stance) for a major character like that.
Anonymous said:
Those aren't as bad as I expected. I watched Thundercats some as a kid but never owned the toys (I was a Transformers-GI Joe-Voltron gal myself). Interesting you mention Mattel -- they expressed interest in obtaining the TCats license during the San Diego ComicCon. I haven't seen their MoTU stuff, but their DC figures are among the best.
