When it rains it pours, or should we say when it snows? Summer ’22 in the Northern Hemisphere brought a delightful escape from the sweltering heat in the guise of Lion-O, albeit a bit blue, and aptly subtitled “Hook Mountain Ice”. Yes, Super7 surprised us with the first exclusive for this line since the appearance of Glow-Ra back in the day. So here we have Froz-O! Or Blue Lion-O. Or any of the other quirky names you wish to call it. It’s an exclusive and its in our collections without the delay of a preorder waiting period.
Since our exclusive interview with Brian Flynn back in May this year, we got the very first confirmation of an exclusive for SDCC. Talk about a scoop. We also got confirmation of a second exclusive, which we’ll get to a bit later. The news was thrilling: an in stock item that will be available at their pop up store during SDCC, and also availble on their website the Monday thereafter to purchase for non-attendees. You got to hand it to Super7; exclusives in this game has been a battle to the death (and sometimes still is with other brands), but they understand it all too well and give the global audience the opportunity to also get their hands on the oft elusive and unatainable item desperately needed for your collection. We’re looking at you Mattel SDCC 2016 WilyKit & WilyKat!!!
There was a lot of chatter about what this exclusive could be. Variant? Non-essential? GITD? (If you don’t know that abbreviation yet, Auntie Google is always to your rescue!) The majority of voices clamored for Spirit Jaga. A while back it was confirmed that when we do get to Spirit Jaga that he’ll be GITD but with paint features. It sounded like the perfect time to release him. BUT – listening back to the interview in hindsight, Brian Flynn gave clues that it might not be him. Let’s break that down.
When Brian was asked about the remaining dwindling number of actual yet-to-be-made ThunderCats, the nobles if you will, we wondered will they deepdive and give us characters like WilyCub from the comics, or Jagara from season 2 of the toon. Brian mentioned that a character like Spirit Jaga, although the ideal candidate for an exclusive, may work in a normal wave because a lot of people wanted it. We’re paraphrasing, of course. Still, it sounded like maybe blue Jaga would not be an exclusive after all. But you know Super7, they keep their cards close to the chest.
In another round of questions about Lion-O’s new sculpt, we asked how many different variants one could get out of him. It is at this point that you need to watch the interview again closely. Brian hesitated for just a second, and it is obvious that at that point he knew what was coming for SDCC, and had to properly word it without giving it away. He mentioned clothes and color in the same sentence. Nobody picked up on the fact that he just revealed Froz-O very cryptically!!!! Well, we didn’t. And just like that, the red flag that should’ve stood out disappeared again very cleverly with teases of all kinds of other ThunderCats goodness. Next time he is interviewed, pay close attention. We will!
Now just a few weeks later, the surprise came at the start of July and we saw the grand reveal. Nobody expected it. Nobody shouted “I called it!” on any forum or comments section. Talk about your curveball, right. And in that reveal Super7 once again declared themselves master of the surprise. We’re often surprised by their selection of characters when they reveal a wave of figures. The “excuse” is always that they talk about what’s cool and what they’d like. Granted, it is cool. But let’s not get into conspiracy theories about how they try and trick us into buying factions by releasing odd characters we never knew we wanted so badly!!
Froz-O was a great choice for an exclusive. It is the perfect love or don’t need character choice. It is not essential to your collection if you only focus on the characters themselves. If you are into fun stuff however then this is for you. And talking about fun, the expected GITD feature was replaced by something even cooler!!! The color changing, UV-reacting blue toned skin meant that Lion-O could go from blue to normal skin tone (and also very orange if exposed longer!). This was not expected WHATSOEVER. This gimmick really sold it. They could’ve just gone with a plain blue skin tone. But no, this is Super7, and they like to surprise us. Boy oh boy, they did.
The figure came with another new head – a sleeping one. What would you expect if you were covered in snow. As Snowman said – “wrong color!” The only likely missed opportunity here is the flask of mountain medicine. But it’s so small, and a blink and you’ll miss it moment, that it wasn’t too much of an issue. Of course if you want to go big, then SnowMeow could’ve worked here too. Or perhaps a cut out diorama of Lion-O in the snow. Nonetheless, keeping it at $55 is perfect for this kind of event, and anybody who is a fan can fork out a few bucks to get it.
Accessory wise, the three claw shields (clip on belt, fist and clawing pose) are here with a covering of snow and frosting. This sets the accessories apart just enough to warrant their inclusion here. The Sword of Omens (in both scales) has the same treatment. And like with Mirror Lion-O, it too is bright silver. Brilliant!!!
He is pinless, of course, which is just what we love in the line. And the standard head, when exposed to the sun, will give you your first look at what a pinless normal colored Lion-O could look like. However you display your Froz-O, including both options was a good call. His uniform and boots are a slightly different shade of blue to add to his frozen look, so it’s not entirely 100% a normal Lion-O. It works however with this figure.
Talking about what works with this figure: the packaging. A la Glow-Ra box, this exclusive also has the shiny foil. It’s blue this time round, and the Cats symbol on the front has a layer of snow on it. There are also snowflakes and frosting on the box and display window. Stunning!!! They know how to delight with packaging, don’t they? We also get the ReAction art but with a nice hint of Hook Mountain on the back. And if you don’t know the story of how Lion-O ended up this way, read the bio on the back. Smells like Penny Dreadful’s writing, right? We may be wrong.
In the end, having a figure like this added to your shelf makes for great conversation. Who wouldn’t pull it from the display and show it to your other half, kids, parents and friends? The many videos and reels on social media proves that people love playing with this. If making this line fun was Super7’s objective, we’d say mission accomplished.
Now this may very well be the final figure released this year, and Mandora and her bike may only come at the start of 2023, but that’s not the last release we’ll get in hand if all goes to plan. The mighty ThunderTank is in production right now and should be shipping in Q4 if all goes well. That is exciting. And with Wave 6 out now for preorder, and the third exclusive (this one is through BBTS) being up for preorder too, there is no stopping this line. November we’ll see Wave 7. Lots of ThunderCats a’coming at the tail end of this year. Now if you haven’t ordered this in stock figure now, you can get it at www.super7.com. It ships out quickly and before you know it, it will be on your doorstep. BBTS also recently revealed that it will be carrying this figure, so you can also preorder it there. Don’t miss out on it. The first exclusive Glow-Ra recently popped up on BBTS for $85, then disappeared again. You don’t want to be left in the snow and feeling blue when this one sells out. And it may very well do so soon.
This product was provided by Super7 for review purposes.