Lost Treasures: 7 ThunderCats Figures We Never Got to Buy

ThunderCats was created by American writer Theodore “Tobin” Wolf and produced by Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment in conjunction with Leisure Concepts. Even though the series was only 125 episodes spanning over four years, the toys inspired by the series are some of the most desirable on the market.

As the series dwindled, so did the volume of ThunderCats toys produced, making toys from the later runs rarer as a result. Not only this, but there were several figures and vehicles that were never even produced.

Some lucky individuals were lucky enough to get their hands on these one-of-a-kind gems, and generous enough to share pictures of them with the rest of us on the internet.

The produced toy line consisted of 37 different figures, six vehicles, six accessories, two playsets and two monsters. Other ThunderCats merchandise ranged anywhere from t-shirts to TV trays. It was clear that the franchise was wildly popular, so why did the cartoon – and subsequently, the toy line – get cancelled?

As a result, these unproduced figures appeared in catalogues, but never on the shelves:

Purple Mumm-Ra

This is essentially the same Mumm-Ra we have all come to know and love, with the exception of the red parts of his outfit being painted purple. He also wielded a weapon called the Luna Lasher, a weapon worn on the back that lashed a mace-like appendage forward when the lever on the back of the backpack was depressed.

Lizord

Large enough to be a mount for many action figures, this monster was originally meant to become a Bullette for the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons line that was produced by LJN. However, this overgrown lizard never got into any kid’s hands in either incarnation.

Mad Bubbler

The Mad Bubbler lived in a mountain and emitted gas that caused “mine madness,” a sickness that would bring the evil out of its victims and cause them to attack one another. The prototype for this toy is an impressive likeness of this mountain monster, except his color scheme was yellow instead of green for a reason none of us will likely ever know.

Red-Eye

Red-Eye, one of the Lunateks, possessed special abilities related to his vision, including night vision. The toy had a button on its back that would cause discs to shoot out of his chest cavity when depressed. However, since it never went into production, a whole generation of brothers missed out on yet another way to harass sisters with a missile-projecting toy.

Quick Jaws

Originally called Trap-Jaws, his name was changed to Quick-Jaws to avoid confusion with the Masters of the Universe character, Trapjaw. True to its name, the toy’s head would spring forward, and the jaws would snap when a level was depressed on the toy’s back. Since Quick-Jaws wasn’t even a character yet on the TV show, he was not missed when he went unproduced.

Cannon Blaster

Like Quick-Jaws, Cannon Blaster was another character who never got his collective 15 minutes of fame in the ThunderCats cartoon. This toy consisted of a robot that was piloted by a smaller dwarf character, which could be shot out of the robot’s cannon. If this toy had been produced, one can only imagine the value of the projectile dwarves that DIDN’T get lost in yards and under couches across the world in the 1980’s.

Red Lion-O

Very simply, Red Lion-O looked like his cartoon counterpart. On the box art, he is seen wearing the Thunderwings, but it unclear what actually made this Lion-O stand apart from past Lion-O’s, such as whether he had new play functions or accessories. And we will never know.

There were also a couple vehicles that never saw the light of day either, such as the cleverly named Feliner. Supposedly, the cancellation was due to slumping merchandise sales. This leads to the typical chicken-or-the-egg question: are ThunderCats toys rare because everyone bought them, or because no one bought them?

Whatever the case may be, the ultimate result is that most ThunderCats collectors of the world will never get their hands on the prototype toys – unless their owners are willing to sell, of course, and that price tag won’t be cheap.

Were you lucky enough to be able to snag one of these rare prototypes? Let us know in the comments below so the rest of us can envy you!