So I suppose this might be a confession time, I never really have been a HUGE fan of Thundercats.  I watched the old cartoon and enjoyed what I saw of it, but I never bought any of the toys and didn't go out of my way to watch the cartoon, only caught it when it was on while I was flipping channels.  A major reason I never go into Thundercats was the toy line itself.  First, it was a scale that didn't mesh with my primary collection (1:18th/3 & 3/4 inch scale).  While I did collect outside the scale on occasion, those are few and far between and never got my full attention (i.e. Marvel Secret Wars, Masters of the Universe, Transformers, DC Superpowers, ect).  To be honest I felt back then the toys were kind of cheaply made.  Low articulation and low muscle definition on the figures made them look kind of cheap to me, granted most toy lines looked cheaply made in comparison to today's standards, but I honestly felt they looked cheap my 1980's standards (especially when compared to He-Man with highly detailed muscles, granted they did reuse molds a lot, or even GI Joe which had great little details to add to the line).  All of this combined to really kind of keep me away from Thundercats the toy line as a whole.  I still watched the cartoon, enough at least to know who the characters were.

I think also that the cartoon had somewhat of a sexual undertone that kind of made me avoid the toys.  Some are obvious ("Thundercats HOOOO!" and "Thundercats are loose" right as Cheetara jumped across screen).  There is of course the "growing" sword as well that I remember me and friends of mine laughing about when we were hitting our formative teenage years.  I remember one friend of mine joking that the Thundercat chant was also Lion-O's mating ritual.  However, I think those were accidental, but as a teenager when EVERYTHING was innuendo it just added fuel to the fire.  

  So when recently we were told Bandai was giving us not one, but two scales of Thundercats, I admit I ear tweaked up to the idea.  Lion-O in scale with Snake Eyes and Darth Vader?  I must admit the idea had some interesting prospects.  So finally I found some of the toys this week, I won't say I had high expectations (in fact I had no expectations to be honest) and I won't say I was flipping over myself in excitement to get at them.  I was interested however, at least on a curiosity level.  

After getting the few I have found, I can't say with any degree of certainty if I will get more.  I know that Deluxe Mumm-Ra will be a lock, just cause he is the main baddie, but the rest I admit I am not in a rush to get.  Money is a bit tight right now and I have to pace out what I chose to purchase.  I will admit Panthro and Tygra are two that are on my "will get when money is better" list.  However, I am not going to go out of my way for them.  

Overall of the three I got (even with no expectations) I am a bit disappointed in them.  There are various reasons for that which I will get to with each figure, but I have to say that I don't hate them, but I don't love them either.  They appear to be done in the style of the new cartoon which suits me fine, while there is something to be said for older designs I do have to be honest and say I have never been a huge fan of Lion-O's blue leotard.  Cheetara maybe, but not Lion-O (LOL).  

On to the figures.

Up front I will say Lion-O is probably the best of the bunch I have seen so far.  His articulation is pretty great, while I am not overly an articulation hound there is a certain level I expect in a modern figure line and any extra is like icing on the cake.  Lion-O has plenty of icing LOL.  I have a few knocks to the figure though, first is the face.  While I realize it is taken from the new cartoon show I just feel it is a bit too cartoony.  Eyes, hair ect all have too strong an anime influence.  I think if Bandai had scaled this back a bit the figure would have been superb.  Also the armor on the shoulder limits the arm articulation too much.  This wouldn't be bad except it's on the arm that is supposed to wield the Sword of Omens.  Thus Lion-O can't hold the sword straight up like he should (and you get an "off to the side holding sword aloft" pose).  Also his accessories are one step above pure rubber (as are the accessories for all the Thundercats figures I have gotten) which in turn makes them easy to bend right in the package.  

When you compare him with other lines he fits in quite well with many toy lines.  He is a bit tall for classic GI Joe, but one could argue Thundercats are taller if they wanted to include them (Not that big a stretch since we are talking about anthropomorphic cats here).  Lines like Marvel Universe and Modern Star Wars they fit in a bit better though.  

The armor for Lion-O is pretty cool and doesn't take away from the figure in any way.  Also the side bits of armor on the hips move to allow hip motion.  The thighs also have swivels that are well hidden and the forearms also swivel at the cuff (thus being well hidden and simulating wrist articulation).  The ankles are also articulated, but they can be hard to get in the right position to allow the figure to stand.  

As I said, this is the best of the bunch so far in the ones I have picked up.  Granted he is the title character too, but this one despite some knocks is worth picking up in my opinion.  There are ways to improve but he pretty well fits the bill.  

After Lion-O though, the next figure is a bit of a disappointment:

In my opinion, I think Cheetara might have started the whole "furry" phenomenon, I'm not positive on that, but it is an odd thing to realize now and to look back noticing she was kind of drawn alluring and, well, hot back in the day.  I can't prove this claim, but I also can't disprove it either so there you go.  

So after Lion-O I had developed some expectations with these figures and as I began opening Cheetara I noticed even more articulation points which made me a bit happy (specifically arm and thigh swivels).  However, in hand I came to realize she is a major step backwards in terms of an action figure.  I have several knocks to this figure so I may as well get started.

The first is the lack of wrist and ankle articulation.  While I generally don't get too uptight about such things another factor that gets at me about action figures is consistency, especially in the same line.  It really bugs me when figure A has one level of articulation and figure B doesn't.  Add to this the fact that Cheetara actually needs the wrist articulation for her staff and you have a problem.  Granted some will say you can use the arm swivels to simulate a pose, and you can, but it is not as dynamic nor realistic as if you could just use the wrists.  I am sure someone will make an excuse about money in the line ect.  A more sound business reasoning would be if you can't afford it, don't do it, especially when the next bit is such a huge design flaw.

The biggest knock I can see is the fact that (although the POA is there) the neck cannot move.  Yes, there is a joint on the neck, but the hair drapes down around the stupid magnet on her back thus eliminating the ability of her head to turn side to side.  This is annoying as it gets because (as I stated) I am not an articulation hound but there is a certain level I expect and neck is one of the biggest (even Green Lantern got that one, ok except Hannu, and they are probably some of the worst made figures in the modern era).  

Granted the neck appears to have that POA, and it appears that the head might move if you were to pry off the hair from around the magnet, but I haven't tried this yet and probably won't (I hate trying to fix figures that I recently bought).  Also the swivel joints are very loose and look like they will break every time you move them (especially the arms).  

She had a ton of potential and Ironically is one of the harder to find figures, but I wouldn't pay exuberant Ebay prices for her as she is just a disappointment.  Only grab her if you are trying to get the majority of the team or something.

Now on to the major baddie of the line: Mumm-Ra.

I often used to joke that Mumm-Ra was a chimpanzee version of the Emperor in Mummy form.  Still he is a character I kind of liked, in fact I often found I liked a good number of the bad guys in Thundercats more than the good guys just because they were weird and interesting.  I am sure there is an explanation somewhere (and I am sure someone will tell me) but I never got why Mumm-Ra had this form rather than his super-duper bad arse form.  I mean he is frail and appears weak versus the super form where he looks like he would eat all the Thundercats for lunch.  Like I said I only watched the old cartoon here and there so I am sure the explanation is in an episode I missed.  Still this form of Mumm-Ra is interesting just because he looks almost exactly like I remember him in the old cartoon.  I looked up his Mummy form figure and was surprised cause it looked nothing like my memories of the character.  However in looking up images from the cartoon I found none of them looked this hunched over and frail either.  Interesting how the mind works.  Still he is a decent enough likeness and I am less apt to point out lacking articulation since Mumm-Ra isn't about to do flips or make huge moves (although I will reiterate that Cheetara does, quite often).  Still I think some form of elbow and hip articulation were necessary for this figure, thus I didn't give him as many stars as I would have if that articulation had been included.  

Mumm-Ra also looks a bit naked without his cloak, which is funny since he doesn't have it on in the box either.  As you can see his articulation isn't stellar, but it doesn't need to be. However it could and should be better than this for the main bad guy even with the idea he is a bit frail.  Just my opinion.  Overall though he isn't terrible, just not great.  Also, in my research I found the original fig came with a staff but this one doesn't include one, which I think, despite the rubbery accessories, would have been a good addition.  Not sure if the gauntlet he has with him is something from the new cartoon or whatever as I haven't had a chance to look the new toon over, still it's not a terrible accessory but one that does seem out of place (as does the Sword of Omens that seems more appropriate to Lion-O).  

This is a hard figure to call as he isn't bad but he isn't great either.  Still he is a necessary part of the line and some of his knocks are forgivable.  So I guess I will call it as if you are a big fan, grab him, if not pass and get the deluxe Mumm-Ra (who appears to be more attuned to the line).  

So far the Thundercats have been a very mixed bag, but nothing fantastic on any front to say the least.  Still it is cool to get Thundercats in the 3 & 3/4 inch scale at last.  It gives me hope for the possibility of a He-Man line in the scale (but I am not holding my breath).