The Energon Pub

News Credits: 14 · Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:50 pm

According to Powet.tv, Cartoon Network has confirmed the Production of a new Thundercats cartoon.

and also confirmed is a new toy line. It appears Bandai will be in charge of the toys.

I'm really really looking forward to this line. I never had any Thundercat toys as a kid, even though I loved the show. So a new line would be awesome. I'd love a new updated Thundertank.

My only Thundercats item as a kid was a role play Sword of Omens. It had a dormant Eye of Thundera on one side, and a Thundercats Logo on the other that would light up at the press of a button. Also had the yellow Lion Claw. Sadly it had no features.

News Credits: 3 · Thu Jun 03, 2010 6:59 pm

Overcracker wrote:According to Powet.tv, Cartoon Network has confirmed the Production of a new Thundercats cartoon.

and also confirmed is a new toy line. It appears Bandai will be in charge of the toys.

I'm really really looking forward to this line. I never had any Thundercat toys as a kid, even though I loved the show. So a new line would be awesome. I'd love a new updated Thundertank.

My only Thundercats item as a kid was a role play Sword of Omens. It had a dormant Eye of Thundera on one side, and a Thundercats Logo on the other that would light up at the press of a button. Also had the yellow Lion Claw. Sadly it had no features.

cartoon sounds like it has potential. Toys tho.... Bandai doesnt make the awesomest toys...

I had that RP swor of omens + claw. and the Big o'l light up sword with sound effects. and the mail order mum-ra... and a handful of others..

i miss the ring batteries that you pushed into their backs to light up their eyes.. sooo good

News Credits: 14 · Thu Jun 03, 2010 7:38 pm

The only thing Bandai has going for them is they have a lot of practice in action figures with vehicles. Even if they aren't Particularly poseable.

I just hope they don't come up with a Thunder.....Zooord.
5 thunder vehicles combine to form one powerful... Yaga? Cat's Lair?

News Credits: 2 · Thu Jun 03, 2010 8:06 pm

I remember watching Thundercats, but I can't seem to get excited for this like I am for, say, the new Futurama eps that start soon, or when Family Guy came back, or T:P, for that matter. Maybe once I see something from it.

News Credits: 2 · Fri Jun 04, 2010 4:16 am

Name_Violation wrote:Toys tho.... Bandai doesnt make the awesomest toys...

Overcracker wrote:The only thing Bandai has going for them is they have a lot of practice in action figures with vehicles. Even if they aren't Particularly poseable.

I beg to differ. You guys might want to look into S.H. Figuarts, S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii, and Robot Damashii action figures. Those Bandai products outclass any other action figure I've come across with respect to range of articulation, sculpting, paint application(especially the S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii figures), and accessories.

Fri Jun 04, 2010 4:28 am

They banned it here half way through the first season, because of the violence apparently.

Thank God for the internet, hehe.

But this might be cool. I was always a fan.

News Credits: 14 · Fri Jun 04, 2010 11:37 am

Convotron wrote:
Name_Violation wrote:Toys tho.... Bandai doesnt make the awesomest toys...

Overcracker wrote:The only thing Bandai has going for them is they have a lot of practice in action figures with vehicles. Even if they aren't Particularly poseable.

I beg to differ. You guys might want to look into S.H. Figuarts, S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii, and Robot Damashii action figures. Those Bandai products outclass any other action figure I've come across with respect to range of articulation, sculpting, paint application(especially the S.I.C. Kiwami Tamashii figures), and accessories.

S.H. Figuarts, Robot Damashi are collector aimed lines. You are comparing apples to pears.

I don't expect to see that type of figure for an American based cartoon. Look at Power Rangers for a closer approximation of what the line is probably going to be like.

They may of course put out some Thundercats Figuarts versions also. But we'll likely see less figures than say Kamen Rider. Simply because Kamen rider uses the same base body and they just sculpt things on to it. With Thundercats body types are clearly different. Meaning they'd need to design a different body pretty much for every character. Probably the most use of a body would be the Panthro, Lion-o and Tigra body. Other than that the bodies are just too different.

Still if they did decide to do a line in Figuarts style I'd be all for it. But I'm expecting lots of accessories and alternate hands.

News Credits: 2 · Fri Jun 04, 2010 1:18 pm

Overcracker wrote:S.H. Figuarts, Robot Damashi are collector aimed lines. You are comparing apples to pears.

I don't expect to see that type of figure for an American based cartoon. Look at Power Rangers for a closer approximation of what the line is probably going to be like.

They may of course put out some Thundercats Figuarts versions also. But we'll likely see less figures than say Kamen Rider. Simply because Kamen rider uses the same base body and they just sculpt things on to it. With Thundercats body types are clearly different. Meaning they'd need to design a different body pretty much for every character. Probably the most use of a body would be the Panthro, Lion-o and Tigra body. Other than that the bodies are just too different.

Still if they did decide to do a line in Figuarts style I'd be all for it. But I'm expecting lots of accessories and alternate hands.

Collector aimed lines or not, they're still toys, they're still action figures. My point is that Bandai is capable of producing action figures with a great range of articulation, which is counter to the statement that the company simply has experience with making action figures with vehicles that aren't particularly poseable.

I don't expect high end figures for Thundercats but the McFarlane Toys Halo figures, especially the Spartan variations and figures from Series 7, show that affordable action figures can offer good sculpting and articulation.

The Kamen Rider SHF figures use base bodies but there are numerous base molds used. Also, there are SHF figures of Dragonball, Futari wa Pretty Cure, and Kakugo no Susume characters. Each branch of figures have different body types. There's also a Luffy SHF figure coming out in the near future.

At any rate, I think Bandai would create a new line specifically for Thundercats, even if they used engineering from SHF. SHF is mainly devoted to Kamen Rider and other Japanese entertainment properties.

I don't know much about the Power Rangers/Super Sentai toys except Bandai normally makes vinyl figures and smaller scale figures for the Sentai franchise and doesn't normally make action figures with a lot of articulation. However, I've seen figures for the later PR shows(I don't know if Bandai produced them) and while they are missing some key points of articulation(in my opinion) like the wrists, waist, and ankles, the joints that are there have a good range of articulation.

I don't expect SHF level toys for Thundercats but I would like to see toys that are at least equivalent to the current Marvel and DC figures.

News Credits: 14 · Sat Jun 05, 2010 10:34 am

O.k so Bandai can make poseable, acessory laden, awesome looking figures. Will they do it? I certainly hope we get a high caliber figure don't get me wrong. I'm just not sure Bandai America/International, will actually tap that potential for this line.

Hope they do though.

News Credits: 2 · Sat Jun 05, 2010 1:42 pm

Overcracker wrote:O.k so Bandai can make poseable, acessory laden, awesome looking figures. Will they do it? I certainly hope we get a high caliber figure don't get me wrong. I'm just not sure Bandai America/International, will actually tap that potential for this line.

Hope they do though.

I'm assuming from the original post that Bandai is in charge of the toyline but Cartoon Network is producing the show so I imagine Bandai will do whatever Cartoon Network signs them on to do.

I doubt we'd get SHF level figures as it wouldn't be in high demand in North America's market. However, I think the smart thing to do would be to do what's becoming the standard for toylines these days for cartoon properties, which is to offer a range of toys from the cheaper low end to higher quality toys for a higher price. The bulk of their line could be the $5 to $10 figures(ie. current equivalents of 3.75" and 5-6" figures or Scout and Deluxe class figures if we want to use TFs for comparison) and then offer a few higher end figures for say $15 to $20 that are 7" or larger and have more accessories, perhaps similar to NECA's Player Select figures.

News Credits: 3 · Sat Jun 05, 2010 2:00 pm

i actually kind of dread this. Solely based on the style of animation CN has been using for the last few years. I would love to hope for similar to the original style. But in all actuallity it'll most likely be Ben 10 style at best. Lets just hope they dont make it CN originals (slap jack, chowder, Power puff girls) style

News Credits: 104 · Sat Jun 05, 2010 2:44 pm

I told my wife about this and she went *sqeee*!!

She is a huge TC fan from long ago.

Sat Jun 05, 2010 3:46 pm

I loved Thundercats, I would always watch it in the early years of Toonami. My favorite guy was always the tiger man (Tygra?). It was an awesome show, I'm looking forward to the new show, as long as it doesn't have Snarf. He was the JarJar Binks of his time, imho.

I once heard a rumor of a live action Thundercats, but I can't find anything online, anyone else hear about that?

News Credits: 767 · Sun Jun 06, 2010 7:37 am

Armorock wrote:I loved Thundercats, I would always watch it in the early years of Toonami. My favorite guy was always the tiger man (Tygra?). It was an awesome show, I'm looking forward to the new show, as long as it doesn't have Snarf. He was the JarJar Binks of his time, imho.

I once heard a rumor of a live action Thundercats, but I can't find anything online, anyone else hear about that?

Cancelled.

Thundercats is back, pretty cool and I do hope Banday releases at least a figuards or SIC Mummrah.

News Credits: 2 · Sun Jun 06, 2010 10:41 am

Dead Metal wrote:Thundercats is back, pretty cool and I do hope Banday releases at least a figuards or SIC Mummrah.

S.I.C. versions of Thundercats characters would be very cool, though unlikely as the S.I.C. line focuses on tokusatsu characters. However, the Manga Realization and Movie Realization lines are similar to S.I.C. and is less of a remote chance for Bandai to do something with Thundercats in a "Realization" styled figure line.

News Credits: 767 · Mon Jun 07, 2010 9:31 am

Convotron wrote:
Dead Metal wrote:Thundercats is back, pretty cool and I do hope Banday releases at least a figuards or SIC Mummrah.

S.I.C. versions of Thundercats characters would be very cool, though unlikely as the S.I.C. line focuses on tokusatsu characters. However, the Manga Realization and Movie Realization lines are similar to S.I.C. and is less of a remote chance for Bandai to do something with Thundercats in a "Realization" styled figure line.

As long as it looks kick-ass and has lots of articulation I'll be happy.

Check this out:
http://scifiwire.com/2010/06/8-things-w ... v-show.php
Lion-Oh looks awesome!

Edit:
This however sounds horrible:
http://www.fanpop.com/external/5997 :SICK:

Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:59 am

thundercats return heck yeah im all for the animation to be like gi joe resolute now thats cool it better not be some lame animation like ben 10

Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:09 am

um i beg to differ the animation wont be like batman brave and the bold because mattel owns batman rights and bandai has the rights to thundercats so if this was to happen mattel would sue bandai and it would be a big disaster so the 8 things im not believing one bit thank you have a nice day

News Credits: 14 · Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:13 am

Dead Metal wrote:
Convotron wrote:
Dead Metal wrote:Thundercats is back, pretty cool and I do hope Banday releases at least a figuards or SIC Mummrah.

S.I.C. versions of Thundercats characters would be very cool, though unlikely as the S.I.C. line focuses on tokusatsu characters. However, the Manga Realization and Movie Realization lines are similar to S.I.C. and is less of a remote chance for Bandai to do something with Thundercats in a "Realization" styled figure line.

As long as it looks kick-ass and has lots of articulation I'll be happy.

Check this out:
http://scifiwire.com/2010/06/8-things-w ... v-show.php
Lion-Oh looks awesome!

Edit:
This however sounds horrible:
http://www.fanpop.com/external/5997

Its just too bad to be true. Though I do like the "Each Thundercat has a weapon with transformative powers" angle.

But Snarf as a three eyed mystic please, that has to be someone's attempt at a lame joke.

However now that I think about it, If Bandai where to do something like Mattel's MOTUC only easier to acquire it would be quite interesting. They can make whatever figures they like for the show, and give collectors a shot at some classic looking Thundercats figures with decent articulation and accessories. Heck they could be online only if they wanted to, as long as production is large enough.

um i beg to differ the animation wont be like batman brave and the bold because mattel owns batman rights and bandai has the rights to thundercats so if this was to happen mattel would sue bandai and it would be a big disaster so the 8 things im not believing one bit thank you have a nice day

WB owns the animation, not Mattel they just make the toys. So if WB wants to make the animation like Batman:TBATB they sure as hell can. Toy Licenses and Animation style are 2 different things.

Mon Jun 07, 2010 11:29 am

im all for the return of the thundercats but kids today i think look forward more to new video games and systems they want wii xbox360 ps3 so gearing a new thundercats for them not likely to succeed

Mon Jun 07, 2010 1:49 pm

Dead Metal wrote:
Edit:
This however sounds horrible:
http://www.fanpop.com/external/5997

That actually is from one or two years ago as a proposal of a Thundercats' show that did not air.

News Credits: 767 · Mon Jun 07, 2010 2:05 pm

Predaprince wrote:
Dead Metal wrote:
Edit:
This however sounds horrible:
http://www.fanpop.com/external/5997

That actually is from one or two years ago as a proposal of a Thundercats' show that did not air.

God I'm relieved, go dark and gritty ThunderCats then!

Mon Jun 07, 2010 10:02 pm

Looking forward to the show, but not so much to the toy line. In all the years I've been collecting Power Rangers, I've discovered one thing that Bandai does consistently, which is to use the cheapest, crappiest PVC possible in their figures. I have Ranger figs that aren't even five years old whose legs have broken off because the pvc split around the joint pins. On others the plasticizers have seeped to the surface rendering the figures either sticky or powdery.
And heaven help us if they use chrome! Cracking, blistering mess, anyone?
And Bandai America is notorious for taking the absolutely cheapest route possible, not just being cost effective but downright chintzy. I don't see this toy line as being done the credit it deserves. Hopefully I will be proven wrong, but I doubt it.

Tue Jun 08, 2010 10:45 am

I too am looking forward to the show, but am not sure what to think on the toyline just yet. I mean, I'm excited to finally see new Thundercats toys, but hopefully they'll come out ok.