Today we wrap up our Thunderweek reveals of Bandai’s “lost year” of ThunderCats product. For our final installment we will look at what would have been the next/last wave of basic 4″ figures.
If you are just joining us, former Bandai line manager, and old friend of AFi, Amanda W was gracious enough to pass along the proposed 2012 line of Bandai’s ThunderCats action figure line. If you missed any of the previous installments you can go back and check out the Day 0 Preview, the Day 1 reveals the Day 2 reveals, the Day 3 reveals, the Day 4 reveals and the Day 5 reveals. This will also help you get caught up with the story of what happened and why the line was canceled.
Before we get to the last entry in THUNDERWEEK I have to once again say a HUGE “thank you” to Amanda W for allowing us to post this. Without her sharing this information the news of all of these great figures, vehicles, playsets and role-play items would be lost to toy history.
On this last day of Thunderweek we will look at the basic 4″ action figure line. The 4″ line was the main thread of the line. These are the figures that all of the playsets and vehicles supported.
The line up for this wave of figures was to have been:
Tygra (second outfit) – About mid way thought the first season Tygra changed outfits. This new figure reflects that costume change.
Translucent Cheetara – With the other vehicles we would have gotten most of the team in translucent plastic. The Cheetarin the assortment would have rounded out that version of the team.
Jaga – The old cleric that trained Cheetara and ultimately sacrificed himself to save the team.
Kaynar – Another villain for the line and another of Mum-Ra’s generals. Kaynar was the 2011 version of the ThunderCats Classics character Jackelman.
And finally the 2-pack I think most folks were looking forward to- the Bearbils, specifically Ro-Bear Bill and Ro-Bear Beebo.
There you have it. Over these past 6 days we have shown you the “lost year” of Bandai’s ThunderCats line, the figures, the vehicles, the playsets, the role play items and more. I hope you enjoyed this week of reveals.
But wait… there’s more….
I mentioned in an earlier post that Bandai had a 3 year plan for ThunderCats. While there wasn’t any product created for 2013, Amanda was kind enough to send over the spreadsheet that showed the 2013 proposed line!
Let’s ride off into the sunset with a list of what was proposed for the 2013 line.
You know that plush Snarf that Mezco Toyz is doing next month as a San Diego Comic Con exclusive? Well, Bandai had the idea first. It’s on the list.
On the list there were 2 more figures listed for the tail end of 2012 that weren’t in the materials I had: Claudus and Lizardman. They only name 3 figures for the basic 4″ line on this list, most likely they were waiting on the outline for the 3rd season and the new characters that would have been involved to fill it out, but the threethat were proposed were Vultureman, “Chase Figure” and a Classic Lion-O. The other slots are the generically named place holders “Spring 13 Character” and “Fall 13 Character.”
There were plans for 2 more 2-packs of the 2″ stylized figures. For Classics 2-packs it would have been: Jackleman & WilyKat and WilyKit & Jaga. For Modern 2″ 2-packs it would have been: Lizzardman & Panthro V2, Lion-O & Berbil, Mumm-Ra V2 & Tygra V2 and Claudus & Lion-O V3.
Also on the list were a proposed line of 3″ Die-Cast Vehicles w/ base including: the ThunderTank, ThunderClaw, HoverCat, Mutant Fist Pounder and Mutant Nose Diver.
New Roleplay items would have included Tygras whip/gun, Cheetara’s staff and a Deluxe Claw Gauntlet.
There is a placeholder for a new playset in 2013 as well as 4 new vehicles (2 basic and 2 deluxe).
The bulk of the 2013 list was made up of new releases in the 6″ ThunderCats line both modern and Classic. Had it lasted until 2013 we would have likely gotten:
MODERN: Lizardman, Tygra V2, Panthro V2, Mumm-Ra V2, Claudius and Jackalman.
CLASSICS: Jackalmen, Jaga and Snarf, Slithe, Claudius, Wilykit & WilyKat, VultureMan, Mumm-Ra Mummy and a SDCC 2013 figure.
As you can see, by Cartoon Network moving, hiding and then cancelling the show we missed out on a lot of really great product. Now the work on the 2012 line has been revealed to the world and is no longer lost to the ages.
Thank you to everyone for following, sharing and reading THUNDERWEEK and again a BIG thank you to Amanda for sharing it with us!
THUNDERCATS, HOoooooooooo!
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