It felt like forever to get to this point, not just because I’ve been longing for new ThunderCats to grace my shelves, but this wave has two characters I’ve been extremely eager to own. And I’ve also been very nervous to actually get them. When there are such high expectations for one’s favorite character it makes the anticipation even more difficult. Plus the anxiety surrounding the first ever Lunatak did not really help the nerves. I honestly don’t know why I bothered. We’re dealing with pros here people. Actual pros! Enter Super7.
We’ve seen the prototypes at cons and we’ve seen photographs of them shared by other collectors. But nothing, and I repeat, nothing(!!) ever compares to holding these in hand. Even the photos I’ve taken do not do them any justice. It’s as if the wonder of natural light just delivers a gorgeous product so much better than what a screen does. Brian Flynn has said it before, and I’ll repeat it, although I may be paraphrasing – wait until you have an item in hand because there are so many factors that can make a figure appear differently, one of them being the culprit light!
This is our first full wave (not counting the Reptilians) that has no slip covers or boxes. I gotta say it wasn’t an issue at all. Sure that feeling of pulling back the slip cover has always been exciting, but not only did I save time in unboxing these, I immediately managed to dive right in. If you bought these from Super7, you won’t have to worry about how secure these figures are. They are packed real proper with additional protection in between. It crossed the globe and still arrived without any dents or damage. So if I say it’s not a big deal, it really isn’t.
All four figures come in the same sized box, so although Alluro is the tallest of the bunch, these boxes are all alike. I feel kinda sad throwing these out, as I eventually after 7 waves decided to chuck the boxes and keep the accessories in a plastic tub, while I cut out the art on the back for safekeeping in a binder. (Can we please get a book one day?)
Alluro is really a stunner. Super7 captured his portrait perfect in both heads. You know those characters that you can hear by just looking at them? Well this wave has two and Alluro is one of them.
I’ll start right away by addressing his height. I fear that the cartoon’s different iterations of his size, as well as that of the vintage art pieces, have us all wondering just exactly how tall he should be. And with certain characters having massive manes on their heads, figuring out how tall he is is a tough one. He is a teensy bit shorter than Ratar-O, who in himself is a portly fellow. He is also a little shorter than Grune. But he still towers over most of the group, not accounting for hairdos. Would I have wanted him taller? I’m not really bothered by that. He looks fantastic, and he feels so much like the Alluro I’ve always wanted. I’m sure he will still tower over his team mates when they arrive, although I have to add in here – there are certain scenes where Red Eye is way bigger than him! Just goes to show.
Articulation with this fellow is what you’d expect. While he doesn’t have an ab crunch, he does have some movement in his torso. His belt and skirt is soft so it doesn’t hinder movement. Even with his long basketball player arms he still has great range. The sculpt on his pants are very detailed, and I was surprised mostly because it’s something I’d never pay attention to. It really does look great.
Accessory wise he has a nice selection of bits and bobs. The map is done on cardboard, but it has a nice plastic type laminate on it so it doesn’t feel cheap. The Agora Talisman and the chest are excellent pieces, more so because the chest opens up and the talisman can fit inside it. His Psych Club is straight from the toon, and the two colored orbs are marble sized pieces that fit snug onto the hooks. It is a bit difficult to get it on, but you’ll figure it out.
Alluro’s hair is another soft plastic, so it’s easy to switch heads and move it to the sides, although it doesn’t go very far but it does fit onto his shoulder. Clever design there I’d say! With the extra hands you also have display choices for your posing of this figure. My go to hand is the pointing figure. He wants to lure you into a false sense of self! So you best be ready to run when he targets you….
I’m so excited about Alluro, and I am very satisfied with the end product. He opened the doors to the vile villains from the moons of Plun-Darr, and Chilla is around the corner. I’m hoping we see another one in Wave 11. Tug Mug maybe?
The samurai Hachiman has never been a favorite of mine. Not that I had anything against him, there has just always been more exciting characters I could relate to. But he plays a vital role in the ThunderCats storyline and has popped up a few times to help save the day, even if he was at fault for starting the day on the wrong foot.
Talking about feet, this is something I’ve heard rumblings about – why is it like this? I know the vintage toy had similar feet. And for the love of me I simply cannot find a scene of his feet. My vague knowledge of samurais does hint at the feet looking like this, so I’m not even concerned about it. I’ve come to learn that the toymakers behind this line has a wealth of knowledge that they dig from, not only in terms of making toys, but also life experiences from all walks of life. It is that combination that makes them a driving force to be reckoned with, so I bet that is applied here. You have to remember, there are gaps and inaccuracies in the toon that we look over without knowing it, and sometimes it is important that the places where the sun doesn’t shine gets some light. Sounds like I’m blabbing, but this might just be it. Or I’m completely wrong, which is also possible!
Back to Hachiman, I had the vintage toy and really liked it. That helped me appreciate him a lot more, especially when I started rewatching the toon. So when he came up as one of the good guys in Wave 8, my re-appreciation commenced. He is, as I’ve said, a very important character. His design is spot on! I know of a very proud designer on Instagram who was super chuffed when the first pictures of the final product appeared online. And he is right to be. He stepped out of the screen! Big round of applause!!!
Hachiman has good articulation, considering that the skirt- armor appears to be hindering leg movement. It doesn’t. He can kick out almost all the way, courtesy of the soft pliable plastic. He also doesn’t have an ab crunch, but I get why. His waist doesn’t have a lot of movement to the front and back, which is understandable given the armor. The shoulder pads are cleverly designed as attachments that can move separate from the arms. This helps with dynamic posing. It also helps make him look more dangerous!
This is something that I completely overlooked back in the day – he has a swappable chest plate. This is ingenious. You can give him two different looks by replacing the chunk of plastic on his chest. It fits nice and tight, and is easy enough to replace. That in itself makes me realize why it doesn’t have an ab crunch.
Hachiman’s sword is famous! It even made it into the new ThunderCats comic books (although it is not affiliated with him there.) The Thunder-cutter has two versions here – one with and one without lightning effects. Upon taking it out I thought that the lightning effects were not removable, but by happy accident I found out a day later that it was! So you can try and switch it up with other figures’ swords if it fits. There is a little hole in the effect where you can plug his pointed finger into to recreate that scene from the toon. If you don’t know it, go watch his episodes again.
Hachiman’s many hands makes for great poses. His articulation therefore helps that you can pose him holding his sword in different ways, so there are hand options for all of these. With his helmeted head you can make him into the perfect warrior on your shelf. I secretly wish we got his helmet loose, but I also understand that this is not always possible. The helmet design is on point, but I’m not too fond of the aggressive teeth behind them. Don’t get me wrong, he does have that expression somewhere in the show.
Talking about expressions, his stoic head is actually one of those that gives you different expressions depending on how you pose it! A friend of mine did get a factory fault with the eyes, which has them positioned a little bit higher to make it seem that he is rolling his eyes. That is a treasured mistake, and with his face already being so interesting, it makes it even cooler that this slipped through. His head has lots of motion on the peg, so you can have Hachiman look in all directions – even up! So now that we have him, we need three other characters linked to his appearances: his little sister Nayda, the Automaton he fought, and his mechanical steed Doji-Kage. Of course I also want to see the Jade Dragon somewhere in the future.
The second character in this wave that I can hear by just looking at him is the mysterious Captain Shiner. This mercenary has no time to waste, and he is always ready to take on a job that pays. We therefore see the Sword of Omens here with the cloth that obscured the Eye of Thundera as it was in the first episode we met him. I don’t care how many versions of the Sword of Omens we get, it is always cool to get some that is from a specific episode. Captain Shiner’s other accessories are also from his different appearances, and I’m glad we finally have his blaster which we never did as a kid. That futuristic red and silver gun cost me a pretty penny on eBay long ago, and I’m not at all upset that we didn’t get that here. We can always get an LJN version of him with that if we must.
So allow me to share some thoughts on that here. He will be an easy repaint, and his head alone will set him apart if it is done with that wart-like skin. Another use of this very same body is his crew members. A quick repaint without the armor and we’ll have a couple of his loyal henchmen. Would you like them somewhere down the line?
Now the captain does have an ab crunch, and for this figure it works great. His articulation is standard for this line. He is a short character too, and I’ve had to scratch my head a few times and took the perfect screenshot of him next to Lion-O and Panthro inside N.E.P.T.U.N.E. that proved he was the right height. It’s no use arguing about height since we know that the toon has it all over the place sometimes. But I could finally justify it, so there it is.
The shackles with real chains are nice and they remind me of the set that protruded from Snake Mountain. The many hands also allows for posing options, but I’m one who likes to display my figures with weapons aloft, so it is very tough for me to NOT display him with his iconic folder arms. Super7 really did a magnificent job here giving us the option to remove his arms and plug this pose in instead. It is easy to swap out and there’s no worry of it breaking.
He has three portraits, all of them brilliant. That monocle is truly what makes his face so cartoon accurate. I’ve had my worries about how it would turn out, but what do I know about toy making. This was done so well. It plugs into his uniform so you can easily change the heads out and still have the monocle in all the poses you choose. This character may annoy some casual viewers, but Captain Shiner is a great part of ThunderCats lore. And I’m so happy we got him.
I left WilyKit for last. On purpose. She was my very first ThunderCat alongside Cheetara. And that PVC vintage toy really captured her look for me a lot better than the latter poseable version we got from LJN. So when Matty Collector released her back in the day I was over the moon. She was cool. But she wasn’t cartoon accurate – or rather, not 100% there yet. Super7’s solicitations do not even come close to how she turned out. Or rather, they don’t really give you that depth that you get when you hold the figure in your hand. She blew me away!
Like I said at the start, I was very worried about how she would turn out. I really wanted an improvement of the 2016 version. And yes, you didn’t have to rebuy her if you already owned that version. I still have mine. And will keep her on the shelf always. But I didn’t expect her to be SO fantastic. I honestly don’t know how Super7 did it. There are several things here that stands out for me, so allow me to list them.
First thing – she’s not a figure you’d have to be careful with. She may be tiny, but she’s not fragile. She’s a really sturdy toy. She feels great in hand. Second thing I noticed is she’s resculpted. I mean of course she is, but she is not the same as the Mattel one. She is very different. She finally matches her cartoon counterpart. In every way. The colors, the shape, the portraits; they’re all WilyKit. And I’m so glad. To me she has the most beautiful face Super7 has ever done. This is pure perfection. The hair is so awesome – it makes my mind jump to the toon and the vintage toy with every glance. I never realized how wrong the Mattel one’s hair color was until I saw this one. I also couldn’t believe how different her face looked with the paint being correct. And of course the head is in scale this time. Which is probably why she’s so amazing.
The alt head has her winking like in the toon, and I understand why people have difficulty choosing between them. Back to an earlier statement about how light affects what we see online, you need not worry about her teeth. The camera doesn’t capture the different tones in her smile. The heads have great movement too, so you can have your mischievous kitten looking any way you want.
Talking about articulation, another stand out is the torso’s movement. The ball joint here is so good that you can have her arch back a bit to make it look like she’s flying on her hoverboard. No vintage poses in just one position. You can really have her pose ready for flight! While I’m on that topic, she has a cartoon accurate hoverboard too. It feels solid in hand, and the peg on it fits great with her tiny feet. The smoke effect at the bottom is clever too.
For such a tiny figure you’d expect the hands to not have any movement; much like the Matty Collector ones. But these actually do!! I would however say that you have to be careful here. These are really small pieces of plastic. Heat them up before you do that if they feel stuck. While the paint may chip there (which is what usually happens to these connections), these tiny hands have lots to say. And my favorite is that pellet holding hand. It is so small but it is so well done. The two lassos she has are just plain pieces of plastic. I would’ve liked to have the longer lasso with bendy wire in, but it is so light it will stay in the air when you pose it that way. The smaller lasso fits into the side of her skirt, but the plug point is so tiny it is fairly difficult to get in when you have big fingers. I’m glad that it is done like this because you can’t really see a big hole on her back if you don’t pose her with it.
I’m loving the pink and blue on her this time round. The shades are correct and that makes all the difference for me. I never thought that I would be so happy a figure had been redone. When it is done like this I can only but applaud Super7 for the brilliant figure. And she’s definitely the best figure of the line so far. For such a tiny gal she packs one hell of a punch. I’ve been fortunate to already see Wave 9’s WilyKat, and he is set to be another winner. More on that later!
We are treated to more incredible art on the back of the boxes, and if you’re like me, these are worth cutting out and keeping. I’ve said it earlier – I do hope we get to see these art pieces in some kind of release in the future. That would be a hot item to own.
The bios are once again cleverly written to capture the essence of this quartet’s toon history. When there is so much story to tell, I always find it interesting to see what is chosen by the writer for the bio. And I’m always pleasantly surprised.
It’s been 15 months since we first saw this wave, and I’m glad that time has flown by so quickly. We have Wave 9 showing up here and there already, and before we know it Wave 11 will be up for preorder, a certain SDCC item will also make its way up as a preorder, and then begins the final mile until we reach the mighty Cats Lair. Lots to happen in the next six months.
In conclusion, this wave has so many surprises that I’m still finding myself picking these figures up and discovering more. I am elated by how much I’m still in awe with this winning wave. It feels like Super7 is improving with every wave. I don’t know how else to put it. These figures just keep getting better and better. ThunderCats is in the best hands. And I’m loving my shelf even more today.
Provided for review by Super7. For more information and future ThunderCats releases, click here.