SDCC 2022: Mondo Toys Talks MOTU, X-Men, and The Thing

Newly acquired by Funko, Mondo is blazing ahead on some fan favorite toy licenses while casting aside some others that have proven too ambitious in a post-pandemic, supply chain price raise world. When last we spoke with the company at SDCC 2019, they had plans for 12-inch G.I. Joe and Transformers figures. Those are no longer in the works. But expect much more from Masters of the Universe, X-Men animated, and some newer, screen-accurate and realistic 12-inch movie figures in cloth costumes. The first of these? Kurt Russell’s R.J. MacReady from The Thing.

Superhero Hype spoke with Hector Arce, senior director of creative for toys and collectibles at Mondo to learn more. Here’s what we found out:

MacReady is “our first step into that higher end, higher likeness. It’s our way of showing that we can do it too.” But it shouldn’t necessitate a higher price point. MacReady should come in at around $200, which is cheaper than the average Hot Toys figure. The underlying body will be fully articulated; X-Men animated figures were less so because of “a few stylistic choices we made. In order to capture, for us, the aesthetic of the show, we wanted to break it as [little] as possible, to keep the lines as clean as possible. So we did sacrifice a bit of articulation for the sake of aesthetic.” The MacReady body will be designed to always stay under clothes, and not be used for shirtless figures in the future. He’ll come with many more accessories than shown, including the spider-head monster, flamethrower, and different heads.

RELEASE: Mondo Toys She-Ra Figure Has the Power and Honor

The 24-hour window for pre-ordering figures, rather than limited runs which just sell out when they sell out, has been a big improvement for them, and we can expect to see it more. Response has been tremendous from fans. Especially with a figure like He-Man, you want every fan to have the chance to own the most iconic character in the collection. They may not do it for everything, but expect more 24-hour, 48-hour, even 7-day windows. “We wait pretty far into production to solicit, so what you’re seeing is what you’re going to get.” This also allows a quicker turnaround than competitors, closer to 6-8 months than a year.

For Masters of the Universe, the plan is to round out the main cast next year. “There’s a couple stragglers, but we’re gonna have some good supplies…One of them’s gonna be pretty epic, in the vein of Battle Cat.” It wasn’t clear if he meant the already-announced Panthor or another, but Arce does promise an epic Panthor, with all-new heads and accessories. The Battle Cat on display included bonus heads for Cringer, Pre-Filmation, and 2002 Battle Cat. A new deluxe Skeletor with Battle Armor and Dragon Blaster armor will be coming as well. They’d love to explore more Revelation variants, suggesting a Scare Glow vs. Orko battle pack as a fun possibility. Arce would love to do 1987 movie versions if they can figure out the rights issues. Battle Cat is his favorite figure so far. They should announce the price soon.

They would love to do Ninja Turtles again — this time, doing in-house redesigns like Masters where they combine elements from different versions over the years. Sidekick characters in Masters like Kowl are kept cartoony as a nod to the fact that they are not and never have been 100 percent serious. “There’s a part of us that really love those designs — and we do slightly update it…like subtle shading. But it’s all about, for those little mini-figures, keeping the spirit of the show, as a fun little nod to that time.” No plans for now to incorporate elements from the Netflix CG series.

More designer vinyl comic characters like Man-Thing are likely. New X-Men animated figures include Magneto, Gambit, and Jubilee.

Check out some of the new figures in our gallery below. Then let us know what you think in comments!

Recommended Reading: The Toys of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

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