Masters of the Universe X Thundercats

Stumbled on Lion-O and Cheetara today at Target! They are a lot of fun. They come packed in their Eternian armor, with their Thunderian parts in the tray. They also come with a mini-comic, which I wasn't expecting. Cross-sell shows Battle Cat along with these two, but I didn't find him. These were the only two on the pegs.

They look fine in the Eternian armor. Lion-O comes with his standard Sword of Omens, but a modified claw shield that seems more like a gauntlet, sculpted in a fist. His Thunderian belt has a hole on the left side to plug the gauntlet onto, but it looks too Eternian, so I'll leave it off.

You definitely have to pull these figures apart to remove and replace armor. I had to take Lion-O apart at the waist, Cheetara had to come apart at the waist and arms. They look awesome in their Thunderian looks. Exactly what I want from this line. And they scale well to previous figures. Lion-O stands as tall as Cartoon Collection He-Man. Cheetara is actually quite a bit taller than the standard CC female. I compared her to She-Ra, and her eyes line up to Cheetara's chin! There's about a quarter inch difference there, mostly in the thighs, but that's how tall the MotU CC girls SHOULD have been. Cheetara as a result looks a bit more lithe. Comparing her to other lines, she's eye to eye with Jada Chun Li, but smaller than most ML. But in general, her proportions lean way more towards the 5.5" scale.

The one thing I'm surprised they made swappable are the boots. They could have just done overlays, but they instead went with full sculpt fur boots and their standard cuffed boots. So you also have to swap the feet. I'm not too concerned with losing parts, but if a kid had to do this, I'd be worried about their dexterity, and parts flying off as they're pulled. Those definitely could have just been fur overlays like the rest of the Eternian gear.

So far I'm quite pleased with these two. Skell-Ra is processing at BBTS, but I'm considering keeping my second preorder at Target to have both looks. The Cats look really good, and seeing these two licenses in compatible, affordable figures really gets me going. Can't wait for Panthro and Tygra.
 
NORM said:
The one thing I'm surprised they made swappable are the boots. They could have just done overlays, but they instead went with full sculpt fur boots and their standard cuffed boots. So you also have to swap the feet. I'm not too concerned with losing parts, but if a kid had to do this, I'd be worried about their dexterity, and parts flying off as they're pulled. Those definitely could have just been fur overlays like the rest of the Eternian gear.
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Hard disagree (respectfully) on the overlays. If you're trying to make a toy that is ostensibly for children to play with, it's not something I would be supportive of. Overlays are almost always finicky and either too loose to stay in place or too tight to get on. And really, I'd argue that my son is way more likely to lose an overlay piece than an entire boot assembly.

And Origins figures already have plenty of swappable parts in the library that kids (supposedly) are supposed to use and keep track of, so doing the same thing with Lion-O isn't a departure for these types of figures.


I wonder if wave 3 is a positive response to wave 1? Maybe they saw that Lion-O was already pre-selling out in a lot of places and decided to push him out sooner than later because he's obviously going to be the most popular character they could do. Just like how we got a full second set of Turtles in that crossover pretty quickly.
 
@Damien my concern is that kid will lose the feet. They’re really small. It takes a significant amount of pulling and pressure to remove and replace them on the ankle pegs. That’s where stuff can go awry. I’d rather see fur overlays to fit around the boot cuffs. They’re also more expendable if they get lost than a foot is.
 
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NORM said:
@Damien my concern is that kid will lose the feet. They’re really small.
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I understand. But Origins already has, for example, alternate hands. Which aren't exactly bigger than the feet. And a removable fur overlay piece for the top of the boot would likewise be just as small as a foot. Also, I'd be willing to bet, for a line like this, playability is more important. The idea of loose secondaries jangling around the figure definitely would make a figure less playable than lost accessories, for example.
But also, realistically, kids aren't buying these so maybe it's all moot.
 
Yeah, I look at some of my old figures and wonder why did I need to take off and lose Obi-Wan and Leia's capes or the boots off a Mego, for example. Losing a piece that was part of the play value is a little more understandable.
 
Yeah - ultimately, toys usually come with small parts that are easy to lose. Look back to when we were kids. How many G.I. Joes came with fucking TINY knives or little hoses/wires going to their helmets or guns, or those little microphone pieces that plugged into the helmets and stuff. I definitely lost some of that stuff as a kid. But again, whether they did removable lower legs or removable secondary pieces, there was going to be small pieces involved.

And again.. are kids even buying these anymore? Which parents are buying a MOTU x ThunderCats crossover figure for their kids unless it's really secretly (or not so secretly) for themselves?
 
When I was a kid, if I lost a weapon, I would still play with the figure. But if I lost part of its body, that figure was now broken and not played with again.
 
I lose accessories as much as an adult as I did a kid and I'm being much more careful now. My greatest loss was MOTUC Kobra Khan's little shoulder lizard who isn't even that tiny but somehow has been lost to time.
 
NORM said:
When I was a kid, if I lost a weapon, I would still play with the figure. But if I lost part of its body, that figure was now broken and not played with again.
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But how many figures did you own that had multiple interchangeable parts of their body? I mean, if you lose one of Lion-O's lower legs, he still has his other lower leg. Unless you somehow manage to lose the whole assembly while changing it out. That'd be weird, though.


Justice said:
I lose accessories as much as an adult as I did a kid and I'm being much more careful now. My greatest loss was MOTUC Kobra Khan's little shoulder lizard who isn't even that tiny but somehow has been lost to time.
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I feel like this is a skill issue, dude. You're losing large items. Maybe you need someone to keep an eye on you.
 
MotU figures had arms that came off easily. That wasn't breakage either, they were kinda meant to pop off. And if I lost an arm from someone, that was it. That figure was trash. My parents did not buy be seconds of figures I couldn't keep track of. I had the plastic Voltron that could fit pilots inside. Panache Place? All of the cockpit covers came off (either broke at the hinge or removed entirely) except for Black Lion's chest piece, and I played with them way less once that happened. The following was a breakage issue, but GIJoes had that fragile pelvis where the dicks broke off, and those figures were never the same again, even if their O-rings were intact.

Obviously as an adult, I'm more careful. If I lose one of Lion-O's lower legs, yes, I still have the spare. BUT if I lose one of Lion-O's feet, that's irreplaceable without buying a new figure or tapping into fodder. Cheetara's feet are even smaller. I don't plan to swap out the Eternian/Thunderan parts anymore, in big part because I don't care to lose the pieces.
 
Found Battle Cat-Man this morning. He's pretty sweet. In package, he looks huge. His legs are bent, seemingly to get him to fit in the package. Out of package, he feels big too. I was convinced he was bigger than the standard body, but having him stand next to Lion-O, there seem to be a lot of shared parts, and he's not that much taller. I believe he has a larger torso, longer upper legs, definitely longer forearms. His proportions are more ape-like. (I should note that Lion-O himself doesn't seem to be the exact same body as Cartoon Collection He-Man, they definitely have differently shaped thighs, and L's torso may be a bit thinner than H's.)

Battle Cat-Man comes with a removable helmet, armor for his shoulder, forearms, large claws that clip onto his hands. He also comes with removable armor belt and fur over black trunks, and fur boot sculpt though he has bare clawed feet. He has a silver harness that for some reason has two sockets on the back, but nothing to plug into them. I thought maybe his armor claws could, but there's no peg on either of them.

So far, he as a character makes the most sense for a Thundercats crossover. The lore presented in the comic seems to be outside of canon for both properties. The armor the Thundercats wear is their own, not from Eternia. Battle Cat and He-Man are from Third Eternia. Seems like a fun take, but what's important to me is that the Thundercats can appear in their classic looks.
 
Already seeing restocks but Battle Cat-Man seems to be the one that’s going quick. Only spotted him once, the time I bought him.
 
Lemme ask you something, Dan; can I call you "Dan"?

Would you care so much if it weren't your precious MotU?

If I watch this video, are you gonna address Playmates' TMNTxStreet Fighter/Stranger Things, or Hasbro's Street FighterxTransformers/Power Rangers?

Because I feel like you're only going to whine about the Mattel MotU stuff...

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