I prefer a shot of “Ancient Spirits of Evil”.
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The only parts the Batman TAS figures might share are some hands, feet and batarangs at most.
Regardless of who made Thundercats Classics at $60-$80 there is no way I would be collecting them at that price. But I highly doubt they would be that price considering what other companies are charging for unique obscure character figures.
:roflmao:roflmao:roflmao:roflmao
This is the type of fun we should be having here!!
It’s easy to get caught up in heated discussion and there is nothing wrong with that as long as it’s respectful. I admit that I can get passionate about the things I like and get a little over the top in my discussions. In the end we are all fans of T-cats and all want the franchise treated well. Right now is a great opportunity for that because the 2 main points of criticism for the classics lines overall were Mattel and Digital river. Both of which will be removed from the equation on January 1st 2017. Brian Flynn even talks about working with his factory in China for production of Classics. All huge changes that can hopefully calm people’s fears of the lines moving forward.
:mummra
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Hey Brian and the friendly folk at Super 7, take note:
http://www.egmond.co.za/thundercatsgirlpower.jpg
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No I do not have that idea. I have watched more than my fair share of the Discovery Channel to know exactly how action figures are made. Sure some parts are often shared between figures, but not all parts between all figures.
Let’s take the Mattel Lion-O and Jackalman. Apart from the hands, I don’t believe any other part has been reused between the two, would you agree? So apart from the hands, every other part of Lion-O and Jackalman had a separate mold. So why didn’t the 4H slim down Jackalman’s arms and legs to better resemble his cartoon incarnation?
Apparently not, as I explained above. And I see that you are slightly changing your stance. Firstly you defended Mattel’s use of the same buck for cost-cutting purposes. Now you are saying that they did that intentionally so that the TC toys fit in with the MOTUC toys.
If Mattel’s intent was to make a Thundercats toyline that fit in perfectly with the MOTUC line, then they succeeded at that. For collectors who wanted exactly that, they got that. But does it do justice to the TC itself? Does it give the only-TC fans what they want? I don’t think so. One could say that the TC line is for MOTUC fans who also happen to like TC. I for one am not a fan of MOTU, so I expected a toyline more accurate and loyal to the cartoon show. Not a toyline that is “distorted” to fit in with an existing toyline of a different franchise.
Also I would like to point out that re-tooling the same basic buck and turning them into different figures works for MOTU because the characters in the cartoon were exactly that. Many characters in the cartoon were pretty much drawn on a one basic body. So He-Man, Skeletor, Man-At-Arms and Teela, Sorceress, Evil Lynn, all had the same male and female “templates”. Their movements were also identical in the cartoon. So it is only logical to have the action figures be made on the same buck.
Thundercats figures were not like that. Most of them had very varied body types. Jaga and Jackalman were nowhere near as buff as Lion-O and Panthro.
This is a forum and people are allowed to express their opinions, even nit-pick things. There isn’t a single toy, movie, song, book that has a 100% approval from every single person. Just as people are allowed to defend Mattel religiously, people are also allowed to provide constructive criticism, aren’t they? Yet some people here seem to blame the critics for the cancellation of the line. Do you honestly believe that Mattel took the decision that they did because a few people were nit-picking or weren’t “grateful” enough???
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This sums up my problem with the look of the Mattel Thundercats. 
Of all the Mattel figures the Lion-O looks the worst. He looks too squat and broad.
If Mattel had wanted to be really cost effective they could have used the WWE figure bodies which there is tons of variety of builds. The WWE Elite figures articulation is vastly superior to the MOTUC buck. In the last 15+ years WWE is the only line they are actually handling well and doing a really good job with. I don’t collect them . I had a few when they started but stopped. But credit were credit is due they have made a massive collection of characters, especially the legends from the 80’s and 90’s.
Or at worst used the DCUC buck which has better proportions than the MOTUC buck..
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:roflmao:roflmao:roflmao
Both of these reasons are why Mattel was able to do Thundercats. The cost cutting from the reused parts and the fact that that they fit with the MOTU Classics line and will appeal to a wider audience. As much as we all hate to admit it, Thundercats toy lines just don’t do well on their own.
I don’t think anyone here said that there cannot be differing opinions. Discussion is great, it makes things interesting! If the Classics approach is not for you then that’s fine with me. Not every fan is going to be happy about it, but that is the decision Mattel has made and it seems to be going in that direction for now. I do however think that a big reason Mattel is washing their hands of Matty collector in general is all the negative backlash from the fans. Some of the things fans have done and said is beyond over the top and out of line. In 2009 I remember going on Matty’s Facebook page after a MOTU figure sold out and reading the hateful comments and death threats…yes death threats, they posted. People calling the BBB and bitching out Scott and harassing him constantly. I’m all for criticism and fan response to change things, but it got way too personal for some fans. Hopefully removing mattel and DR from the equation will really make things a lot easier. I do want MOTU and T-cats Classics to continue for as long as possible. It’s important for the cats to not fade into 80’s cartoon obscurity.
Sebastian LOL…arguments between us fans is one thing…but you went too far. There is no reason for posting anything to do with the Spice Girls. Someone get the moderators LOL.
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After watching the video it is clear as day that super 7 is fighting for the thundercats licence. If you listen, Brian even said he wanted to do 3.75" line. I am not sure who started this rumer about it being cancelled. Brian seems incredibly passionate and upfront with his answers. I am glad I grabbed a kit and kat exclusive and I have no plans on cancelling my sub. I think super 7 is going to do a great job and by the sounds of it, we might get a few unexpected surprises.
:tygra:
Not really a rumour. They gave no info so people came to the conclusion the line was canned. We’ve found that the line has the possibility of continuing later, but the subscription we signed up to in its original form is gone. Hopefully everything comes together and we get a continuation without too much of a wait between waves.
Brian seems like a nice bloke, I hope we continue to have this level of communication in the future. Had matty done the same thing when the announced the closure of matty collector, I bet a few subs would have been saved from cancellation.
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Nothing against Brian or Super 7 but I am not a fan of the MOTUC buck or S7’s retro style figures…at least for Thundercats.
I will continue hoping that NECA, DC Collectibles, Diamond Select, Hasbro or even Playmates gets the licence eventually and makes some cartoon accurate Thundercats figures the fans deserve.
Now now don’t be sexist. I’m sure Cheetara would have been all for GIRL POWER. And I bet Wilykit and Pumyra are desperate not to be left standing as the only females on the shelf of many collectors…
All made on a much smaller production (likely reflective of the license they have from WB)
Yes the subscription line usually gives us at least 8-9 figures per year. ThunderCats in 2016 got 7 figures and IF Mattel had continued we’d have likely got another 8-9 including Convention/Chase figures in 2017. Subscriptions guarantee future years where as retail you’d be waiting on a wave to sell out before the next one even gets considered.
mmm… I think your the one who doesn’t understand how it works 
Yes new parts are tooled, but existing parts untilize the already tooled steel molds. That’s why there are so many MOTUC figures produced and why we have so many 100% new tooled figures in that line. The shared parts helped pay for new molds for figures like Ram Man, Shadow Weaver, Madame Razz etc…
Some parts yes, obviously the new parts will come from a new tool. Do you know how much the steel molds actually cost?
You are completely wrong. I’ve been collecting the MOTUC line since it began and I am friends with people who are in close contact with the 4H. You don’t know what your talking about 
I’m far from happy with what Mattel has done, but this is the best representation of the classic cartoon versions of the characters we have to date and probably ever will have! So I’m grateful to be getting them. The Classic Bandai figures were AWFUL.
Again you don’t know what you are talking about. Back in 2011 Mattel produced high amounts of MOTUC stock to sell OUTSIDE the subscription and it tanked! They ended up selling it to Big Lots who were then selling figures at $10 each. The subscription model helps to get a good idea of overall demand. If you watched the Pixel Dan Super7 interview Bryan actually stated 90% of Matty sales were from subs. Folks would sooner support a complete wave of figures so less demanded characters get made. A majority of the fan base want to see characters like Willa and Mandora finally be made, but they would not sell as well as Cheetara for example. If you only want the main team your not in it for the long haul so either sub and sell the ones you don’t want or pay aftermarket prices on the ones you do. Simple and everyone wins
Well yes! It’s a no brainer for a business to do that. They are usually in it to make money you know
Not really. We’ve been through this before on he-man.org but I’ll explain it here too. For every one who just want Lion-O and Mumm-Ra, a company could sell a subscription of 6 characters. That’s a revenue of $150 vs $50. If you just sell Lion-O and Mumm-Ra, then Panthro and Tygra, your sales will start going down by the time you get to lower tier characters until you have stock sitting. You will eventually have sales stall on less popular characters and the line will be over. A company would want to keep a line going as long as possible given the licensing cost and doing every figure day of sales only would mean you’d release 4-6 figures in total and the line would be over.
Well yes you must be a big fan to collect in the first place and collector lines cater to those who want multiple waves of characters. Those who only want Lion-O and Mumm-Ra aren’t the target audience because once they have them they won’t come back for more. As for the second comment I disagree. The subscription figures are CHEAPER than buying them day of sale and it’s not like you have anything obscure in the 2016 line up anyway. Maybe Pumyra since she didn’t appear until season two, but she’s hardly as obscure as someone like the Unicorn Keepers! So I’d assume a collector would buy all the 2016 wave anyway so why would you pay more for them at day of sales when you can subscribe? It’s not like you have to pay for all the figures up front anyway so I don’t see why you need ‘bigger pockets than the average Joe’?
It’s just certain fans complaining who don’t want to support a line and want things made to suit their own collecting habits. Hopefully if Super7 get the license they will make all figures sub only so we can get a robust collection
What people? Can’t say I’ve seen anyone blame any other fan for the Mattel line ending. The line is ending because Mattel is closing MattyCollector and no longer dealing with direct to consumer sales. Unfortunately ThunderCats is a casualty of Matty closing and not because of poor sales or fan critiscism
Is this what you do with all collector lines? Cherry pick then move on? No wonder you hate subscriptions! :laugh You can get the few figures you want then bail on a collector line before it even gets going. Collectors like that don’t give us a robust line I’m afraid and that’s why those habits aren’t catered for.
No. I had a HUGE toy collection of a couple thousand figures from multiple toy lines. Thundercats, TMNT, MOTU, G.I. Joe, Transformers, WWE/F & WCW, Voltron, Gobots, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, M.A.S.K., DC, Marvel and Starcom and a few other bits and pieces.
I reluctantly had a big sale as I just did not have the room to store it all anymore.
I have downsized my collection now to less than 5% of what it was. 
When I say I had a few that was a bit of an understatement. 
I had around 50+ LOL of the Mattel WWE figures. Including the Jakks and some of the older figures altogether I think I had around 300 wrestling figures.
Believe it or not I am actually considering starting to collect the Mattel WWE figures again. Just the legends from the 80’s and 90’s though…well maybe a few present day stars.
Also in the case of WWE would you honestly expect anyone to collect the entire line. The amount of outfit variations for each character would leave a person bankrupt. I just collected the different characters. There was a couple though I did have two outfit variations for like Randy Savage as I couldn’t pick a favourite at the time. If I start again it will have to be mandatory of just one figure per character regardless of the outfit.
Yup.
Quite a lot of money. Starting at thousands of dollars for simplistic designs, and easily going up to five figures for more complex ones. The reason mass-produced toys can be sold cheaper is that the cost of molds is distributed across a higher volume of sales. A company that goes to a factory and says, “I need 500,000 copies of ____ toy to sell to kids” will also get a better deal than a company that says, “I’m making 500 copies of _____ adult collector toy.”
There’s a lot of misinformation/misunderstanding about how toy design/manufacturing works. And it’s hard to know exactly how many parts are reused without the toys in hand. For example, over in the Transformers world, the new Fortress Maximus figure uses a surprising number of parts from the already released Metroplex. And a lot of it isn’t easily apparent–we’re talking about parts that are assembled backwards (intentionally), half of a specific part (with the other half newly molded), remolded parts being partially obscured by newer parts, etc.
Also, calling a sculptor/designer “lazy” also is reductive/simplistic, in the sense that sculptors/designers are often under financial constraints (boss telling them what they can/can’t incorporate into the toy design).
I’m too lazy to re-write a completely new message so I’m reposting the message I just posted on the Matty forums.
I have some news…
Looks like there’s a little more than hope for the continuation of our ThunderCats line. I spoke with someone at Super7 directly, and was told very clearly that they have every intention to continue the line.
It’s just that right now they’re working out the licensing arrangement and can’t say anything definite until it’s finalized.
Lastly, I was told they’ll announce the details as soon as they can, ‘and look forward to continuing this line for all of the fans!’
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good to hear thanks for sharing :thumbsup
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The Generations, Combiner Wars and Titans Return toys are really getting the most they can out of the moulds. I don’t really have a problem with Transformers re-using moulds so much. But I do have a big problem with how cheap and hollow they have become and the plastic they are using for them.