MOTU and ThunderCats Crossover Figures

Unfortunately, or not, they're Origins-style

It’s been something of a dream for ‘80s kids to have compatible Masters of the Universe and ThunderCats action figures. Back in the day, they were just slightly different in scale. Since then, Mattel briefly made “Classics” figures using He-Man bodies, then promptly outsourced that line to Super7, and Funko made ThuderCats in a vintage Masters style. Mondo’s 12-inch ThunderCats look to be compatible enough with their MOTU, but they claim will use all-new parts.

Now, though, with the Turtles of Grayskull TMNT crossover promotion seemingly wrapping up, it looks like ThunderCats and MOTU will be Mattel’s next big subline, kicking off with straightforward versions of Cheetara and Lion-O, along with a “Skell-Ra” hybrid villain, who can display as a a regular Mumm-Ra or a Skeletor hybrid.

And then there’s…Battle Cat Man.

Various fans have customized similar characters, but in a world of anthropomorphic cats, this makes more of a kind of sense. It’s also, let’s be honest, going to appeal to Furries everywhere for all the wrong reasons, but then, so did ThunderCats anyway. I was too young to have an adolescent awakening via Cheetara, but from what I’ve gathered, I might be the only one.

Fortunately for my wallet, these are in the Origins style that I don’t collect. In other words, they’re made to look like ‘80s toys with more articulation, rather than the best that modern sculpting and design can do. They’re $19.99 each, except for Skell-ra at $29.99. In the case of Cheetara and Lion-O, it looks like they feature parts to make them look like their classic cartoon selves, or newly armored-up versions.

Since Turtles of Grayskull hasn’t come to any style but Origins, I doubt this will either — licenses are usually pretty specific about that. So I’ll enjoy these from afar, including whatever other crazy mashups the line might come up with. They’d need entirely new body types for classic Wilykit, WilyKat, and Snarf, so, just spitballing…will we get a ‘roided up, mutant Snarf, and grownup Thunderkittens?

My guess is probably better than yours, but let’s see what happens after this bunch arrives in stores come April June.

All images courtesy of Mattel.