Hoooooo! At C2E2 this weekend, Mondo Toys announced that ThunderCats will be joining their 12-inch figure lineup, fit to stand beside their ’80s toy brethren from the company’s existing Masters of the Universe toys. Naturally, the lion-up, er, line-up will begin with Lion-O, who will come packaged with his eternally whining mentor/companion Snarf.
Third Earth Rise!
ThunderCats and Masters of the Universe were the top fantasy and sci-fi hybrid toy lines of the ’80s, but the toys were never initially exactly compatible, with LJN’s Cats and Mutants standing slightly taller than Mattel’s Heroic and Evil Warriors. They finally coexisted in the same scale when Mattel obtained the rights to ThunderCats Classics, only to have both that line and the similar Masters of the Universe Classics get outsourced to Super7. Super7 still makes ThunderCats; Mattel reclaimed Masters and made them in new and different styles.
Now that Mondo has both and will make them in similar styles, the collector figure shelf can pit He-Man against Lion-O on an even playing field once more. When it comes to their comedy sidekicks, however, it’s notable that Orko got his own separate figure, while Snarf is an accessory.
All that remains now for the ThunderCats license is for Mattel to somehow get the rights to make vintage-style Origins and modern style Thunderverse figures. We’re not sure what legal hurdles need to be cleared there, but they got Sun-Man and Ninja Turtle crossovers, so anything seems possible in that arena. One thing we do know is that fans of ’80s toy properties are going to want to dig deep in their pockets for everything on the way.
Lion-O should go up for preorder “in the coming months,” per the Mondo blog. Start saving as soon as you can. The extra tall, ever-living Mumm-Ra, sure to be next, is likely to cost even more.
