It’s been quite a few busy weeks in the ThunderCats world courtesy of Super7. Not only did we get Wave 8 shipped merely a month back, but Wave 9 shipped in June, with the preorder of Wave 11 going live and the news that there will be two SDCC exclusives for ThunderCats this year. Not to mention the two recolors in the ReAction line that also went on sale in May.
Wave 9 is the first wave that has a mixture of toon and toy versions of beloved characters. So far there hasn’t been a similar wave released, but there is always the possibility of more toy recolors released in the future. While the common response was that collectors applauded Chilla and WilyKat’s inclusion in the wave, it is the two toy recolors that has surprised collectors with the arrival of Jaga and Grune.
We know the story – a reuse of existing bucks, with new heads (and weapons where applicable) to mimic the vintage toy feeling. Even the art on the boxes are simply recolored versions of what we’ve seen with the toon side releases. What we tend to forget is that whenever these arrive in person, they secretly like to blow you away.
Now there’s no Grune without Jaga, that is to say if you’re familiar with ThunderCats lore. So it was a perfect match when they were sold together. I did my review of these two figures just like that – paired. It’s also fitting to review them separately from WilyKat and Chilla – just because they feel different and deserves their own time in the spotlight.
Of the two figures, Grune is probably the weakest or least impressive. And I do not mean that in any negative way. This is a very good figure and a great interpretation of the vintage toy. I love the head, and seeing him in these iconic toy colors is really something special. The only reason he comes second is because Jaga is so much stronger in terms of tugging at the heart strings – or rather the hues coming from him are way more striking. Nonetheless, I’m very happy to get Grune in this form.
There’s nothing new in terms of articulation this time round. And for those still concerned about the ball joints at the hips/legs – you’ll remain unhappy. This has not been updated. I’m not too bothered by this. A fellow fan pointed out to me that the Pumm-Ra pants fits the Grune figure to such an extent that it covers these. That may have been an easy way around this to solve it, but again, I’ve realized if you pose the figure just right, you don’t see them anyway. Plus they’re black in color so they don’t really show and look more like shadows.
His armor is still a separate piece, but mine seems to be glued down. I get why they didn’t include a second one with a ThunderCats logo on it. I would have liked it though because of the second head that comes with the Super Pack. He has the same club and brass knuckles as before, this time though only one set of the knuckles. They’re shiny and silver just like the toy. In terms of accessories he feels a bit short changed, with only an alt head as part of the offering. There are no extra hands, while the original release had a few sets and much more. That’s the only down side for me.
Mine had a tiny bit of silver paint that rubbed off onto the shoulder from the chest plate, so I’m assuming it was still wet when it was put together. It’s no matter, I’ve managed to scrape off such spills in the past with a very sharp knife.
I’ll mention the bonus Super Pack item at the end when I discuss Jaga’s extra head. So read on!
Jaga for the win! Jaga for President! This colorful figure is really so great. I don’t know what it is about him that makes him pop. He is so tricky to photograph, but I have to say that his colors are superb. This is the vintage toy updated. It can’t get better than this.
He is very much the same as the original release. I wonder if we’ll ever get a ghost version of this character. That would be cool – a what-could-have-been Toy Color Ghost Jaga! Hint hint. The articulation is the same as before with minor issues in terms of movement at the waist and the ab crunch because of his leotard. Still, this is a very good figure.
Tiny changes I have noticed in the cloak is that it is not only shorter, but the way it plugs into his leotard seems to have been upgraded. The button on the inside is bigger so it does not fall out so easy. That’s a warranted change because my other Jagas do suffer from this problem when I move them.
The sword is as advertised, but I only realized when reviewing it that it is not the same as with the toy version of Lion-O. Even if the vintage toy came out with that type of sword, this version did not have it. I wonder why?
He has several hands here, so that’s good. You can recreate the vintage Jaga with the right hand changed with the longer hand, or even the more expressive hand if you want.
The alt head is lovely – not only does he have a more aggressive look, the hair on the sides of the head stand out like the character’s hair did in the toon. The down side is that the helmet doesn’t fit on that head, but no matter, because the main head was designed to have the helmet fit. It’s that very action of removing the helmet that takes me back to the old toy. Man it feels good doing that. Like Mumm-Ra’s helmet, it is very similar to the original, but a bit thinner.
I am really pleased with the memories evoked by Jaga. I really am. This is the sleeper hit I never expected to own.
This brings us to the Super Pack. If you bought the full wave from Super7, you got these bonus heads for all the characters. Jaga’s alt head is the same as his standard head – you can place the helmet on him. But, and this is the nice part – it has glow in the dark eyes. I love that. I really wish toy color Lion-O had them. Maybe one day!
The second head I’m focusing on is the alt Grune head. I was most excited for this head in the Super Pack because it gave me the opportunity to also create a good version of Grune. The head is beautiful. It is funnily enough just a repaint of the two teethed Grune version from the toon release. So there is no new sculpt to the hair to keep it toy accurate or inspired. I’m quite ok with that. Unfortunately, my head simply doesn’t fit. Or rather, it fits, but it doesn’t stay on. It is a loose head – there is no pop when you push it down. It looks like whatever happened on the inside of the head doesn’t match that of the other heads. So good Grune will have some sticky tack to keep the head on the neck when I finally get him. That’s my biggest disappointment of this release, but it doesn’t make me like the figure any less. I am not sure if this is common or only limited to some heads. Guess we’ll see!
Stay tuned for the second part of this review when I focus on the two new toon characters. Seeing as it is winter where I live, Chilla is clearly going to love it here when she escapes from her box.
For more information and future ThunderCats releases, click here.