Sharpen your teeth fellow ThunderCats fans – we’ve got Hard Candy Grune in the house!!! It’s a very exciting time on this side of the world. For the last 3 weeks I’ve watched as Ghost Grune arrived with collectors in the USA and UK (can you believe it took only 3 days to ship from the US to the UK!?) and in other parts of the world. So I’ve been ready to receive this bad boy even if I purchased it the moment the preorder went live. Sucks living so far away from the Super7 warehouse…
But the time for Grune’s spirit to be set free has come and he is just as pleased as I am to escape from his box prison. Of all the variants this is a version I never expected, but Brian Flynn used to say that there are surprises coming we never would’ve thought of and when we see them they’d make sense. This was one of them. I mean DUH! How can we not get a Ghost Grune – after we’ve already gotten Ghost Jaga, Dream Master Mumm-Ra and Invisible Tygra. Plus Ghost Grune is a ThunderCats staple so it’s a given considering that Jaga had the same journey from physical form released first to ghost version released later.
Ghost Grune comes in your standard ULTIMATES! box. There is no sleeve as is the new norm. The art on the back of the box is the same as the regular release, but “ghostly”. If that makes sense. For those curious about the bio, it is different than the standard release and describes in more detail about his ghost form. The packaging is also different than the regular black and red, but this fits nicely with this theme. It seems to have the same interior art as Ghost Jaga had, but just a different hue of purple.
I like the accessories with this version of Grune. The broken seal here is a different blueish / purplish color than that of the standard release. There is no unbroken version included in here. His Thundranium Mace is nice and clear with blueish spikes. There’s also a clear Sword of Omens. Now unlike Ghost Jaga’s Sword of Omens, this one is see-through, and I like this a bit more so I’ll be displaying that sword with my Ghost Jaga.
There is also another set of hands included here – and these are the power hands that he used to destroy the computers of Cats Lair with. Amongst other things. The rest of Grune is exactly as you’d expect from the standard version. The only difference here, like the toy recolor, is that the armor is glued together, so you can’t take it off.
I like the eyes on this figure better than the standard version. It brings more life to the character. He has the regular articulation too. We’re now three Grunes deep (4 if you count the Good Grune variant you can create from the Wave 2 extras). I doubt we’ll see any other versions of Grune again, unless we get a giant Grune from later in the toon. I’m pleased with what we got from this buck, and Ghost Grune is certainly worth having.
A while back photos of this Ghost Grune was leaked, and the art had him displayed with a head that had two teeth like the good version has. Fortunately that was wrong and not what was released. I doubt this version would’ve required that alt head, so I’m not too phased by its exclusion here.
Now I teased his “hard candy” look at the start, and I’ve read comments saying he looks like Root Beer and not as different in color as the solicitations. So I recommend you take the figure and actually spin it around a little bit in your hands, and let the light catch it from different angles. I finally saw clear parts on his boots properly, the blue parts on his shoes, and even the purple on his open hands. I realized that because this entire figure is clear plastic, that these colors mix right in front of your eyes when the light shines through. But do yourself a favor and just play with it in hand and you’ll see how these parts match what was advertised. Here and there I’d say there is a different shade of Cola (or Pepsi if you will!) but overall this is a delicious figure to own, and yes, he does get me in the mood for some sweets.
Ghost Grune sold out a few days after he went on sale to the public, but it seems that Super7 has found a few more and as of today there still are some available for purchase online. But don’t wait too long. Once he’s gone, he’ll be gone for good.
For more information and future ThunderCats releases, click here.