Thundercats Tower of Omens Gate

Standing in front of the Tower of Omens, is the Gate of the Tower of Omens. It is not connected, so it gives you a chance at building a larger set location. It looks pretty royal, with a large Cat Head Door and Columned Sides. You can adjust the columns slightly so they are straight or angled inward slightly. It makes for another great display back, or Fish Tank ornament. 

To open the door, simply defeat Lion-O and place his Thunder Lynx back onto the nose of the Great Cats Head. A ingenious system of magnets release the doors. Once inside Mumm-Ra can play with the Thunder Kittens sized catapult.

The Gate is my favorite of the Tower of Omens display-set as it is the most practical in display uses.

Thundercats Tower of Omens

One of my fondest original Thundercats memories is when they introduced/built the remote Tower of Omens base. The idea was so cool to me, for a light house style building with the Eye of Thundera symbol beaming up top. That, or I fell victim to season two marketing of new characters, new vehicles, and new products. The new Thundercats reboot used the Tower of Omens as the mystical location of the Book of Omens. The episode did not disappoint, with Mumm-Ra finally doing a full transform. The play-set toy, again, is more of a display-set. It is so vary large and tall, it performs better as something high on a shelf.

The main action feature is an elevator, that you slide up from behind. When the figure reaches the top, the half bubble dome springs opens up, and Lion-o yells his line, "Thundercats Hooo!" By the way, this will not activate, and yell at 3 in the morning, scaring the crap out of you! The legs that protrude from the side have pegs for figure display, which is pretty spiffy that they included (although the posts are a little wobbly). There is a front piece that hides the elevator too, and functions as a side slide, but it is so silly unnecessary, I omitted it from photos. One thing missing is the Book of Omens on top. It is kind of a key element to the new story.

With the price red-tagged so low, this display set is worth it, in my Book of Omens. Not full price though. There is also a front gate deal I should show too some time.

Thundercats Tower of Omens Cat's Lair Racer

Is this how the rebooted Thundercats cartoon will be remembered?

I just love this vehicle, it is So So Silly! IDStormtroopers and I took advantage of some major deal breaking on Ebay and got two Tower of Omens play-sets for the price of half of one. The play set is more like a display set, featuring a tall fancy Tower of Omens, A royal Cats Head Gate, a small catapult and a clear Tygra figure(more on the set later I guess).  The Cats Lair Racer vehicle that comes along too, is the best part though. Had the Thundercats cartoon reboot been successful and spawned years of toy releases, this vehicle would have been lost in the waves. But since we only got a couple waves of toys this vehicle stands out as "What the...?" Now to be fair, I only got through half a season of the new Thundercats so far (I was waiting for a full season box set), so I am not sure if this was featured, but I highly doubt it?  Its a nice throw back to the original Lair, but also who on Thundera would drive this??? If you look at it closely, in terms of a Cat Giant, what exactly is the figure riding on anyways?

If you are wondering, the blue cats head on the back flips down into the back. When a Thunder lynx figure is seated, the head flips up. Kind of a strange action feature that feels useless when actually playing with. The spear on the front pressure shoots a few inches too.

Thundercats Berserkers Cruncher!

Re-Rebuilding IDstormtroopers Thundercats collection, got me the chance at looking at a Berserkers Cruncher figure for the first time. Berserkers were a little too hard to find in my neighborhood as a youngling, so this was a lot of fun to check out. Cruncher first appeared in season 2, or that first of two miniseries where a bunch of new stuff was introduced to sell. The Berserkers were shipmates retooled around the Pirate Hammer Hand. Cruncher is the better of the other three ship mates, as he is pretty big. His action feature is pretty cool, maybe a little creepy, and still functions well with this figure...

The old toy scales pretty well to the smaller Lion-O from newish BanDai classics stuff too...

A pretty spiffy toy from 1986. The old Thundercats line has got some fantastic figures for sure.

Thundercats Armor of Omens with Golden Lion-O

Happy New Year from the Armor of Omens, the now defunct and obscure mechanized suit! I have been eyeing this guy for months, watching and waiting for a clearance event. Usually this time year is "gold," as all the stores try to offload a stockpile of highly unsuccessful toys, in hopes for room for more lesser than highly unsuccessful toys. I was surprised to see my Local Walmart so cleared out already. Luckily I found the Armor of Omens in a random place, and it was actually priced at $11.00 instead of what was marked. Of course there was some "slight" shelf wear...

I find it a pretty fun mid sized action figure. Interesting shape, pretty shiny gold, and a few tricks.

Deep inside the chest, sits golden Lion-O. It's too bad they were lazy and made him only gold, a little more detail would have been nice. He fits nicely in my collection of strange golden artifacts. 

I will give points for not only snapping in mechanically, but also magnetically with the Thunderlynx tech. The front panels also snap well back into place. toys like this, its typical for the flaps to flop off easily, but not this guy, its solid. Armor of Omens comes with a neat large scale Sword of Omens. With a press of a button on his back AoO makes a sword slicing sound, while his eyes glow red. It would have been nice for maybe a second sound effect. His arms have elbow joints that bend and rotate.

AoO reminds me of Power Rangers stuff, maybe because its Bandai made. AoO also reminds me of Goldar, which I can put to good use quickly...

I would give this toy a pretty good score. Its simple yet fun. Just grab a good grip to AoO solid non moving torso and legs, and just start pounding your opponent.

And with that TheToyMuseum begins its ninth year of blogging! On the 20th anniversary of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, if that means anything. Lots of the same stuff in store for this year. Enjoy.

Thundercats Classics Minimates Series 2 The Mutants

Thundercats Minimates Series 2 The Mutants are out and about checking on the grounds of castle Plun-Darr!

New Thundercats Grune the Warrior!

Back in my day, we called him Grune the Destroyer! And he was huge! I picked up the new version of Grune the Warrior as I had only poor Mumm-Ra for the new Thundercats to versus against. Mostly off the shelves now, I picked him up at a reseller. Grune has some extra weapons, so he was a little more than the basic assortment. So do the larger added weapons make the difference?

Sort of. The monster mace here is really quite impressive for the size of figure. The mace does some spring extensions, that works fairly well. It also has a built inside magnet for attaching to Grune's back (took too much time to figure that out). 

Grune also comes with a bow staff and bent arrow, thanks to the packaging. There is also a small tube launcher (darn, what is that called?) that doesn't shoot anything.

Grune is invited to the thick guys club in newer Thundercats figures. He has some weight, but also stumpy legs, which I just now noticed Panthro has too.

He is an okay figure, but not for the extra price. They kind of went on a stretch to call him deluxe in my book of Omens. Good to have though, as there was a big mistake on enough villains to good guys ratio in the whole collection.

Thundercats Classic Minimates Wave 1

Thundercats Classic Minimates might just be the best Thundercats product to be released this past year. With wave one, five iconic figures are out the gates, and wave two coming with five more. They may be small, but the detail is appreciated. Just the metal chain alone on Panthro's nunchucks makes this set. This first wave is still pretty easy to obtain through Ebay, for a price thats very reasonable. I can't wait to set up some sort of mini adventure and I am working on my Thundercats impressions. Anyone do a good Tygra?

Thundercats Thundertank and Snarf Ban-Dai

Thundertank! Thanks to the new show's hiatus (or cancellation), the new Thundertank is pretty much everywhere on reduced price. I have been eyeing one at Walmart all summer at $23.50, but yesterday it finally made the real plunge to $14.50 (about half its original value). For a price like that, a toy like this is amazing!

I had low expectations about this toy, from photos and other reviews, but I am finding it better than expected, with yes, a few issues. The overall appearance is very nice. The Thundertank sports a spiffy blue and gray color scheme, and has a very layered dimension to it. Under the canopy and at the drive station, there is just enough room for Panthro to squeeze into. Notice how his hands fit smugly into the dash. On Panthro, Snarf, and other Thuder-lynx figure's backs, are blocks that fit into the tank seat and helps make some sound commands. They are not very inspiring; "Thunder Tank Activate" and "Thunder Tank Fire!" Those red eyes up front light up red. The canopy has some slight issues of staying on at its hinge point, not too big of a deal.

The back end features a small compartment. I would say you could fit Snarf and another Thundercat figure in, or two Thunder-Kittens, Or Cheetara and Lion-o, but probably not Panthro. It is disappointing that this was not an upper hatch with a cannon, as that would have made the toy epic.

The front end action feature is where things go a little askew. There are the two classic Thundertank Claws, mounted to wheel sleds, attached to the tank. Then there are two more wheel sleds attached to that. You can interchange the outside slides with sold separately figure sleds. There are hidden buttons on the back top flaps that launch the outside sleds, flipping the claws up, with the "Thunder Tank Fire!" sound effect. It works and looks pretty cool, but in doing so makes the front end kind of fragile. If you were to do some ramming with a Mutant Fist Pounder, things might start flying off!

I think the weakness lies in the attachment of the Claw Wheel assembly to the tank, That could have been more solid. On another  side note, the claws could have been stronger and extended more. They have like half an inch extension to them, thats it! The claw is also a bit fragile, it pops off really easy. Even though I complain a little, its still fun, and would make some good play.

For being a smaller scale toy line, its size is pretty large compared to the Original Thundertank. I should add, as dorky as all the features of the new tank are, the old tank had just as many. How goes those stiff moving treads that melt in a few years? Or that weakened spring assembly that shoots Panthro out the top back hatch from time to time.

 

The two tanks then, of course, immediately dueled on the padded coffee table.

So yes there are a few issues, but really, its just a toy, and a kick-ass playable toy it is! It's too bad that the show is on shaky if not sunk ground, as maybe there would have been other tanks, or add ons. For now, and the next twenty years, this is the New Thundertank!

New Thundercats 4" Tygra, Wave 2, Part 2

How did Tygra integrate himself into the other new Thundercats group?

He first took liking to Wiley Kat, as they have similar hair features.

The Lion-O encounter did not go so well...

Once Lion-O was out of the way, Tygra went for Cheetara. He looped his whip around her, made her disappear, and now I can't find her.

Tygra was then able to strengthen his bounds with his Step-Dad Claudus, or whatever they are in relation to.

And finally, shockingly graphic for the second time in one week, Tygra takes down Mumm-Ra in a really inappropriate manner.

New Thundercats 4" Tygra, Wave 2

I was hesitant to buy a Tygra, as with his Militarized look, I didn't care too much for him. But the other day when I had several of the other figures fighting on the kitchen table, I realized I needed another lead character in the fight. I found this one left on the shelf, and he is apart of the second main wave of figures. I am not really sure, what they changed, except that his blue whip is ...better? Its really rubbery and flexible, really nice, as I was worried it was going to be rigid.

I am pleasantly surprised with Tygra. He is a solid Thundercat figure. Maybe more so than the others, as he is balanced, non restricted by armor, and painted pretty well. I am not too in love with his plastic gun on the toy or show, but you can take it off and huck if you wish.

So now this leaves the problem, I have just enough new Thundercats to warrant buying the rest. Darn, I was really trying to just buy a select few. At least they are a fun, colorful, playable toy line that works well.

Stay tuned to see how Tygra fits in with the other cats...

New 2012 Thundercats 4" Claudus the Action Figure

Back when I watched Thundercats in the 80's my family had a cat named Claude. That was pure coincidence to Old King Claudus here. Showing up on shelves about now is the second wave of figures for the New Thundercats show. I spotted the 4" Mumm-Ra, Panthro with Metal glove things, and Lion-o with slightly altered things. I wish the line would concentrate on some more villains. Back in the day they made a figure for any old bad guy. Safari Joe anyone, anyone? There have already been plenty of one episode villains, so come on Ban-Dai, get these a making.

In an ultra stab of laziness, I haven't opened Claudus yet. But at least I posted something tonight right?

Thundercats Ban-Dai 6 Inch Classic Mumm-Ra

Yeah... That comic pretty much sums it up. Great figure, shorter, missing a sword. I'm actually okay with them shrinking the classics line now, instead of half way through the line later. I just wish they did 8" Mumm-Ra instead of Tygra. Oh well, that is the beast of toy collecting.