With Lion-O’s delayed-yet-impending arrival (at some point …) drawing near, it seems we’re in yet another time of uncertain futures for a Thundercats toy line. I’ve previously written about the frustration and heartbreak around the previous attempt at bringing an updated Thundercats line to our greedy hands. Once Mattel’s intentions were announced, I figured it would be the balm to soothe the wounds caused by the premature end of Bandai’s attempt.
Well, it was … for a while.
With Mattycollector closing up shop, the Thundercats have an even more uncertain future than the Masters of the Universe. At least we know that Super7 will somehow be taking over on that end. While interest has been expressed with Thundercats, we don’t know anything concrete yet. As Mattel doesn’t own the Thundercats brand like it does with MOTU, the rights are a bit tricker. Will the upcoming NYCC bring with it brand new news?
Who knows. I guess anything’s possible.
When people first learned that Matty wouldn’t be continuing with the Thundercats, people began tossing out the women and children and leaping off what they considered a sinking ship as fast as they could. Within seconds, anybody holding a Thundercats subscription began cancelling things left and right. A few people cancelled their life insurance just by accident. One person quit his job, tied a balloon to his butt and just decided to float away. It was manic. It was chaotic. It was toys.
I can kind of see where that instinct is coming from: it’s a bit of glass-half-full prognostication based around Thundercats track records. People don’t want incomplete lines. People don’t want to commit to uncertainty. I kind of see that … but that’s not me. I just don’t think that yet another attempt at the Thundercats wll yield only a handful of characters and then die out. While that’s the big boogieman hovering over the line right now, I think everyone should just be patient. Hopefully those that life-rafted their way off the Mattytanic will be able to pick up the figures they missed out on once the line resumes, because that would suck otherwise.
Right now, as of this writing, I’ve got a set of really nice Thunderkittens. By the end of the year, I’ll have Lion-O, Pumyra, Panthro, Jackalman and Mumm-ra’s mummy form. That … is a fraction of the potential this line holds. If that was all I’d ever get from this version of the Thundercats, it would be a toyragedy, but I’d survive. Maybe I’d customize the rest. Maybe I’d just sit them on a shelf and stare at them while The Cure played in the background and rain beat against my window like the tears streaming down my wistful face.
But let’s say super7 got the rights to Thundercats like they have MOTUC, and we could expect to get the rest of the lineup.
I think I speak for everyone and even if I don’t, I don’t care, I’m just going to put it out there anyway: I’m a little tired of being patient. They (whoever they are) say it’s a virtue. Well, while I’m sure that’s a fantastic notion and building character is good, but I’ve basically used up all the patience that I keep in a small jug in the basement.
This once a month thing … it is a drag. It’s killing me, man. The Thundercats are a finite property. There just weren’t as many toys as MotU, there weren’t as many other media tie-ins that continually produced more and more characters like MotUC had. There wasn’t a spin-off featuring a female version of Lion-O with a whole host of new characters piggybacking along. While MotUC has a huge well of characters to draw from, Thundercats is much more focused. There’s a point where in order to have more figures, you’ll actually have to create them out of thin air.
In other words, there’s potentially a stopping point where we have that fabled thing in toyland: a complete collection. That means down to every damn named Snarf and maybe a generic army-builder pack of Snarfs.
As far as that patience thing goes, I have a request for Super7 or whatever entity decides to continue the line. If the line were to be taken over and started up again after a brief recess following 2016’s offerings … could we maybe change the conventional way of doing these things? Thundercats is starting off the way MotUc has been handled: one figure a month, wait wait wait, next figure the next month. While this was good for MOTUC at the time — and I know MotUC sped it up to two a month or even three on some months–and while it was nice to get a non-stop stream of toys month after month over the course of the past 8 years, I kind of want Thundercats to try something different.
Instead of the long, drawn-out figure figure figure figure process, let’s get them out in sets. Why not try hero/villain packs? Instead of getting Cheetara one month and then getting Vultureman the next, why not just double them up, and have a Cheetara/Vultureman set? I mean, it doesn’t necessarily have to be those two together; you can put anybody with anyone, but it would be great to get sets of characters. If the hero/villain pack didn’t always work out mathematically, then maybe we could get sets of Lunataks. Luna and Amok would practically have to be sold together in a deluxe set anyway, so just continue along that theme for the rest.
We could get something like a corporeal Jaga with a young Lion-O, which would open the door for a ghost Jaga to be released later with someone else. Just … sets. Multiple figures, paired in logical ways, either hero/villain or themed in some way. One month we could get a Snarf/Snarfer/Ma-Mutt 3-pack.
And I don’t want to hear one word against Snarfer, he was the funniest character on the cartoon!
This method would allow some of what may be lesser-desired characters (if that’s a thing, I want everyone) to be paired with someone that people might be a bit more enthusiastic about. Maybe you’re not a Screwloose fan, so Bengali would soothe that sting. Although how anybody could hate a robot in a bow tie I can’t fathom.
I think at this point I’m paranoid that if the Thundercats don’t get a swift release period that we could end up with yet another incomplete run at them. Imagine getting all but one actual Thundercat. Imagine not getting Sssssssssssllllllliiiiiithe. Ok, I think I added too many letters there …
Thundercats as a brand is extremely strong and just as deserving as any other, and I truly want them to get all the love and attention that Masters of the Universe has received over the past near-decade. I think it has the potential to be a strong, fun, and awesome-looking collection. But this current non-start feels like we’re going to have a clock hanging over the line at all times. And I just can’t stands no mo!