It feels like the Thunderian rollercoaster hasn’t stopped long enough for anyone to get off just yet. SDCC may be just behind us, but the world of ThunderCats X Super7 is still going ahead full speed. Now the second part of my Wave 9 review has been somewhat delayed, in part due to shipping delays, holidays and so on, but the time has finally come for more ThunderTalk!
Collectors were in agreement (or so I read) that Chilla and WilyKat were both superb. There hasn’t been any major issues that I saw in discussions. So my “complaints” are really going to sound like nitpicking. Let’s kickstart this review with the hazardous Chilla and see who will be defeated at Sky-Tomb!
After getting Alluro, that very first itch for an actual Lunatak got scratched. But you know how it goes – when you start scratching, it itches more, and you end up with an uncontrollable desire for more scratching. In this case, more Lunataks!!!! Yay for Chilla. She’s your expected female figure height. If you have Cheetara, Mandora and Willa, you’d be familiar with the buck. This is also a milestone for ThunderCats ULTIMATES! Chilla is the first ever female villain in the line. Of course there are many other characters, but hers is a welcome debut. Luna will be the second to add to the roster. Here’s hoping we get others like the Nether Witch, Ta-She, the tiny Diamond Fly and maybe even Queen Tartara.
Chilla has a plethora of accessories. Many are episode specific. I just watched the Mad Bubbler episode the other day, and recognized her grenade accessory from there. It’s really done well in the clear blue plastic and paint highlights. That ice collar is probably the most instantly recognizable of all of her extras – when she froze Vultureman’s neck after his wise cracking and snide remarks. She took no prisoners.
One thing that I love is her heat ray. The solicitations looked as if the shooting / pointing piece was clear orange, but this is painted. I’m not too bothered, but find it strange since the ball where her finger goes into is clear orange. The reason I do like this accessory so much is because it is finally one that works. Remember Club Grayskull Shadow Weaver? Now that was a fantastic figure. Her spell blast I eventually learnt years later was supposed to be like this. So to have it working with Chilla is great. (Not that I wasn’t expecting it to not work, I’m just glad it does.)
I’m very pleased with Chilla’s soft goods cape. I was wondering how they’d get it on without a piece going around the front of her neck. Well, it’s glued to her back. The shoulders is a pliable piece of plastic, while the cape is snug behind it and glued to her back. No horrid pins or anything. Chilla’s cape is there to stay. The nice print on the fabric mirrors the actual look of the show too, so that’s worth noting. Super7 doesn’t miss a thing.
She has your standard articulation. Mine is a bit stiff here and there. I needed to heat up her feet and legs a bit as it felt like some of the paint dried in place and “glued” the joints together. Her hands change easily, and she has all the options you would need for any kind of display. The skirt part of her dress is a harder type of plastic and not as pliable as say Pumyra’s skirt. The icicles part of her gloves are very rigid too. Be careful when you change her heads out. They might scratch you.
Head wise she has one alt head with red eyes of fire, and an open mouth where you plug in her icy breath. That’s a really cool way to pose her for all your action shots. I think the windswept hair adds to the intensity of her horridness and it creates an instant flashback to the toon where she never hesitated to freeze whomever was in her way. If you bought the full wave from Super7, then you’d have gotten the complimentary Super Pack too. Here you get the bonus smirking head. Mine has an unfortunate dash of paint on the upper lip that makes it look like a lipstick smudge haha! It’s a good head to have. Chilla did have her moments of extreme sarcasm expressed so vividly. That head captures it just right.
If there’s one thing I always learn with these figures – you never know everything. I was today years old when I realized Chilla’s legs were actually purple! Now I’ve seen the cartoon so many times, but I never noticed that. I went back to the show to confirm. Of course it’s right. What else can you expect from Super7’s team of talented artists. The art for Chilla was also the tease for the wave back in the day. It looks even better in hand. Now can we please get a ReAction figure for her?
The other accessories all fit in her open / expressive hands. It’s clever that the spray can can actually nudge itself in there to make it look like she’s holding it ready for spraying. Even her purse fits just right. With so many options to pose her, it is difficult to choose which one is the best for your display. I’ll be swapping things around on my end, that’s for sure. I had too much fun with these pictures posing her. And she does look fantastic with Alluro. Bring on Wave 11!!!
It feels strange to review WilyKat. I’ve had the Mattel version for 8 years already. To finally get a correct version of this character is surreal. I’m sure it will still sink in. It’s been a joy seeing collectors posting the twins together on socials. It looked unreal because he was finally correct. Improved. Perfected. This figure is damn near perfect, just like his sister.
He comes with what you’d expected – lots of extra hands, one with a large round blue pellet, two with pellets being thrown, and many other expressive hand options. The lassos are duplicates of WilyKit’s. They do look a bit weird not being painted, so it may be the plastic used here. But they have so many cool extras to keep their hands busy, and I much prefer plugging the shorter lasso into the back of the figures. When you do that here, take care. Use a sharp and thin instrument to lift his clothing away from his body, then plug in the lasso, and release. It stays put.
He has the blue hoverboard here. Mirrored from WilyKit’s of course in shape and size. The same cloud-like stand is here too. I do like it. The kittens just look so good standing on these. I can never not pose them on these. If we do ever get LJN versions of them, I hope we get these in red – or even remade ones like the vintage toys. We’ll see I suppose.
He has two heads in this release – the standard and the smiling one. That’s a really fun head. His expression is captured just right. I adore both smiling / winking heads of the twins, but in WilyKat’s case it is really tough to choose as both are perfect. I’m trying out the smiling one first. We’ll see if it stays on my display. It might just.
Then there is the case of the Super Pack head with GITD eyes. That’s a good head if you want to display him with it. Sadly Kit doesn’t have one. So far only Panthro and Cheetara has it, not accounting for LJN Jaga and Mongor. Maybe we’ll get them all one day in a pack. We’ve just had the LED Eyed versions of Lion-O and Mumm-Ra, so maybe that could be an option? They do glow nice and bright.
When you compare him to the Mattel version, he is smaller, has a completely different (and corrected) color scheme, and the sides of the skirt is open all the way to the belt. It does allow for better movement, but I would’ve preferred it not cut as high. This is really just nitpicking like I said above. His articulation is great because of the cut. He doesn’t have the same range of movement in the middle like WilyKit has, but there is still some. I cannot wait for young Lion-O to arrive in a few months because these two figures have proven Super7 are great at creating these kid-like characters.
WilyKat and Chilla are superb additions to the ULTIMATES! line by Super7. For all of the above reasons, and many more I’m sure. They’re fun to pose, fun to play with, fun to photograph and fun to stare at. As I wrote this review I found myself staring at them many times. They both bring back cartoon memories that have come to life on my shelf. That’s a neat feat I would say. While their LJN siblings in this wave brought back memories from yesteryear’s toys, these two convert 2D memories into 3D glory.
WilyKat, like his sister, seems to have been sold out everywhere. When he reappeared in mid July on Entertainment Earth, he was gone in a few hours. Will we ever get another chance at seeing them again? Who knows. But while Chilla is still available at EE and BBTS, don’t let that make you think she’s unworthy of your well earned money. She’s terrific. They both are.
The next arrival later this month is Ghost Grune, and then, depending on many factors, we’ll either see the two LED Eyes SDCC exclusives, Cats Lair or Wave 10 in October and November. Let the race begin. All I know is it’s going to be a fantastic end to 2024.
For more information and future ThunderCats releases, click here.