Awesome Toy Blog

Icon Heroes sent over news that their Thundercats Lair environment statue will be made available exclusively through on-line retailer Action Figures XPress.  This huge polyresin piece measurs in at almost 8″ wide, 11″ deep and 9.5″ tall.  Limited to a total run of 600 pieces, each is individually numbered.  Check out the images of this sharp looking item below and keep reading to see the entire press release! Icon Heroes is doing some really great stuff with the Thundercats liscense!

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As I warm up from a few days off for Thanksgiving, lets get caught up on the latest Thundercats news!  Bandai sent over another batch of new images, this time focusing on a new basic vehicle – the Tiger Flyer and new roleplay toys!

The Tiger Flyer, which includes the Tygus figure is the first flying vehicle in the Thundercats line.  The vehicle incorporates the ThunderLynx magnet system where a figure can activate an LED light on the flyer.  The suggested price for the basic vehicle is $14.99.

In the role play space there are two new entries this spring – Panthro’s nunchucks, and Lion-O’s Claw Shield.  The nun-chucks feature foam ‘claws’ so that the less co-ordinated and ninja-like of us can play safely.  These have a suggested price of $9.99.  Lion-O’s Claw Shield features lights and action sounds and is fully compatible with the basic Sword of Omens, which is available now. The suggested price on the Claw Shield is $19.99.  Check out all these new items in the gallery below.  Thundercats Hooooo!

Three Thundercats posts in a week?  Yep – its true.  Today I recieved an update regarding new additions to both the 4″ basic and deluxe lines and a boxed set of super deformed toys.  In the 4″ basic segment four new figures are being introduced in the spring: Panthro, Claudius, and a new Lion-O and Mumm-Ra.  The incorporation of the magnet driven ThunderLynx system continues with this new wave.  In the deluxe segment there are two new characters coming.  Panthro swings his nunchucks and Slithe the lizard swings his arms, smashing barrels.

Also coming this spring is a 6-pack of stylized, super-deformed figures.  Based on the new Thundercats cartoon, the 6-pack includes Lion-O, Mumm-Ra, Tygra, Panthro, Cheetara and Slithe all packaged in a diorama style box.  This set has a suggested price of $24.99.  Check out pictures of these figures and everything else new in the gallery below.

Bandai is on a roll this week with the Thundercats news! Today they revealed more of their 2012 plans including details of the new 12″ Armor of Omens figure and Mumm-Ra’s Storm Charger vehicles.  These are both additions to the line, supporting the top notch animated series airing on Cartoon Network Fridays at 8:30 PM!

The Armor of Omens 12″ figure can only be worn by those who have mastered the Sword of Omens and serves as both a powerful weapon and protection from deadly attacks.  The 12″ figure includes an exclusive 4″ Lion-O that fits inside the armor.  Placing Lion-O in the armor unlocks special features, such as LED light-up eyes.  The Armor of Omens has a suggested retail price of $24.99.

While Lion-O gets a new suit, Mumm-Ra picks up a sweet new ride.  The Storm Charger features lights and battery powered motion that come to life when the exclusive 4″ Mumm-Ra figure is placed into the cockpit.  The ThunderLynx system of embedded magnets unlocks other features in the vehicle.  Mumm-Ra’s Storm Charger has a suggested price of $29.99.  You can see both the Armor of Omens and the Storm Charger in the gallery below.

Bandai’s Thundercats range is expanding to include 6″ scale collector figures featuring characters from both the new (and quite good) Cartoon Network series as well as figures from the classic cartoon.  As part of their Spring line up – the first 6″ figures from the new series will be Tygra with his whip and gun and Cheetara with her battle staff.  One the classics side the first figures will be Lion-O and Mumm-Ra.  All these figures are collector targeted and feature both detailed sculpts and articulation and have a suggested retail price of $14.99.  Pictures of these new figures are in the gallery below.

Fans of the current 8″ scale collector figures needn’t worry about this change – 8″ figures will continue to be made available (exclusives and such, I imagine) with more details on the way soon.  For general information about Bandai’s Thundercats toy line; check out their website – www.bandai.com/thundercats.

Name: Mumm-Ra
Series: Thundercats
Released: August 2011

In the past year Thundercats have become hot, hot, hot.  With their new TV animated series having launched a few weeks ago, a new toy line from Bandai is popping into stores across the country.  The toy lines include a 4 inch line with figures and vehicles, a 6 inch line and a 8 inch Thundercats Classics collectors line.  Bandai’s PR company was kind enough to send AwesomeToyBlog a sample of the 4″ line, so keep reading to see what I thought of the villainous Mumm-Ra.

The demon-sorcerer Mumm-Ra (suggested price $7.99) is the self-proclaimed “ever-living source of evil” and serves as the chief antagonist of the Thundercats.  In toy form he stands right around 4 inches tall despite his hunched over posture and features thin and lanky limbs; as one would expect an ancient evil mummy to have.  Shrouded in his red cloak, the figure looks great – very similar to the on-screen model.  The cloak is removable, but the figure looks much better with it on.  Mumm-Ra’s articulation is on the low side for a modern 4″ figure with him featuring joints at the waist, neck, shoulders and wrists.  Due to the thinness of the limbs, I can understand why there aren’t a ton of joints – but articulated elbows would have been nice to have. The figure’s deco is spot on – its not a complicated paint scheme but its clean, well done and works.

The final thing to note is the incorporated “ThunderLynx” magnet embedded in his back which allows him to interact with and unlock special features in compatible Thundercats toys.  By hiding the magnet under the cloak, the action figure is included but also enhances the appearance of the figure – giving Mumm-Ra a bit of a hunch back look.  Personally I love when an action feature is included in a figure, particularly when it doesn’t inhibit either the appearance or the articulation.

After seeing the line at SDCC, I had pretty high expectations of the figures.  Mumm-Ra didn’t disappoint as he definitely looks nice, with a great sculpt and aesthetic. I’m looking forward to picking up a few of the other figures in the line to see how the others fair in comparison.  If you haven’t seen the figures in a local retail store, check them out at Entertainment Earth or Amazon.

The Mumm-Ra figure was kindly provided by Weber Shandwick for Bandai America.

This week Entertainment Earth unleashes a new sale on all in-stock Thundercats items.  Buy one item and get the 2nd 30% off.  They have some of the Bandai toys from the brand new cartoon in-stock, so this is a great opportunity to pick those up…or the Mezco 14″ Lion-O, or the Icon Heroes Lion-O.  Check out all the Thundercats merchandise over at Entertainment Earth.