Anyone who knows me knows how much I like
ThunderCats. Having watched the show
growing up in the 80s,
ThunderCats
has to be one of my favorite animated shows, right up there with
Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles and the 90s
X-Men cartoon. So when I heard about the new cartoon
showing on Cartoon Network, I was all over it.
OK. I understand that the new ThunderCats is old news by
now, having been on the air for a couple of months right now. But honestly, I
can’t get over how good it is. This past Friday, the show featured the Berbils,
the robot-bear race of creatures from the ThunderCats, and the episode was
fantastic. Though it did nothing to add to the characterization of the main
cast, and probably only marginally added to the overall plot of the story
(though I wouldn’t put it past the writers to make the Berbils a major
plot-point in the resolution of the season) the episode was just downright fun
to watch.
It also gets to me every time I walk into a
Toys R Us, or
saunter down the toy aisle at
Wal-Mart. I already had a Lion-O, but I was lucky
enough to snag a Panthro and Cheetara for my collection wall, being completely
shocked to see more than Lion-O, Mumm-Ra, and Tygra on the pegs. (They also had
Wilykit and Wilykat, but I didn’t have enough cash on hand to pick them up.
Hopefully, I’ll see them again eventually so that I don’t wind up regretting not
getting them when I have the chance.)
What I really want, though, is the
Sword of Omens. Being
comprised on multiple gimmicks popularized by a variety of toys, the Sword of
Omens features a telescoping blade, a la the
Star Wars lightsabers, to recreate
the blade enhancing feature of the cartoon. The sword and has flip-up blades on
the side and a light-up feature in the center jewel, mimicking Lion-O’s “sight
beyond sight”. Add to the mix sword-clashing sound effects and you got the
makings of a great child’s toy (shut up, don’t judge me).
I’m really hoping that Bandai doesn’t miss the boat and not
make a Snarf plush toy. Having been the worst part of the ThunderCats from the
80s, Snarf’s updated personality as a cognizant pet makes the character much
more enjoyable. He tends to do some adorable things in the show, so a plush toy
would certainly be a draw. I don’t personally know if I’d buy a plushie, but I’ve
no doubt that it would be a cash-cow for Bandai. (I did search for one online
before typing this up, but this was all I could find. At $150, I doubt it’s
officially licensed, though.) I mean, come on. You can’t look at
this Snarf plush and tell me a new one wouldn’t be a good idea.
As I was looking for information concerning a plush Snarf
(to guarantee I wasn’t hoping for something that wasn’t already a reality. I did find
this, but at $150, I doubt it's officially licensed.), I
came across these awesome character spec sheets. These images show the
ThunderCats in a variety of poses and are used by the animators to work out
different details of the characters. While these have probably been posted all
over the place already, they’re still pretty cool.
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