M.A.S.K., Thundercats, and Silverhawks Toy Lines Discussion

Cliffjumper! Commence countdown! Five! Four!

Three! Two! TfG1 Mike and Spada! Happy 2012 everyone!

This marks the return of Toycast! I am one of

your hosts, TfG1 Mike, and joining me is Spada

the Ball Matrix! Hello, sir! Happy New Year to

you, sir! Yes, how are you? I'm doing well and

yourself! Yeah, I'm doing pretty good. We're

bringing Toycast back for probably one year only.

This isn't something I want to go too too deep

in on because it's... kind of emotional. I don't

want this to turn into an emotional show this

episode, but um... There are reasons. Yes, yes.

Toycast will be back from January to December

2012. After that, I'm not sure if the show's

gonna come back on a... Permanent basis we may

have we will still do like the BotCon recaps

or the BotCon previews or the TF con roundups

with protoman We will still do the Puggle former

Christmas thing with Kali will have special episodes

here and there But after 23rd after 2013 Jesus

Christ, we're not even there yet. Yeah After

2012 it's the end of the world already After

2012 toycast will probably be going away and

there's one simple reason Optimus Scourge Gary

Clark last year had passed away and He was one

of our good friends and he was actually One of

the first people that helped me put toy cast

together Way back in its infancy when he myself

and Pia Ben was on the first episode and I just

don't I just Don't feel right keeping the show

going without him here And that's that's pretty

much as much as it's That's pretty much all that

needs to be said with it, but we will be doing

episodes every couple weeks throughout 2012 We'll

be talking about a whole bunch of toys and it'll

be awesome Alright so today Continuing our themes

that we were supposed to get out last year in

episode 85, Spada and I are going to talk about

Thundercats, Silverhawks, and Mask, mobile armored

strike command. And all of these are classic

80 toy franchises that Have had um Well, let's

put it this way they some of them have come back

successfully some of them and not so much so

much Yes, and the way that we're going to do

this is we're going to give each toy line franchise

its own segment So where do you want to go first?

Well, why don't we start off with why don't we

start off with masks? And the reason I say that

is because for those of you who don't know Thundercats

and Silverhawks were produced by the same Animation

studio they were voiced by the same voice actors

and they were produced by the same production

company So they oh and the toy lines were also

designed by the same folks So no LGN LJN had

Thundercats and Kenner had Silverhawks because

LJN passed Yes The production was changed, but

they were designed by the same individual people.

I gotcha. So we might want to cover Mask first

since it's a completely different beast. Good

deal. So we'll be back after this. I remembered

something correctly. You're not as old as you

feel. True in some respect. So as you can tell

by that awesome, awesome theme music, we're talking

about 1985's Mask toy line. And wow, what a toy

line it was. You know, it was one of those interesting

things because Mask came out around the same

time as Transformers and it was... I really like

to look at it as kind of a harbinger of, like,

what was to come with the Transformers lines,

where you had Power Masters and Headmasters and

Target Masters and all that, but it was kind

of like, okay, you have these vehicles and they

sort of transform into completely ridiculous

things that would possibly never work, but it

was still a lot of fun. Yes, it was. Except T

-Bob. Oh. Did you have to bring that up? Oh,

the memories. Ow. I remember having the Venom

Copter slash Venom Jet. I don't remember the...

Miles Mayhem's vehicle. The Switchblade? I think

it's... Switchblade. Yep. Remember having Switchblade.

Yep. I remember... What? Yep. I had that exact

same vehicle. Now, for those of you who don't

know, a mask toy line was, it came with, how

tall were those figures, Mike? Do you remember?

I know that they weren't three and three quarter

inch. Two and a half maybe? Yeah. They were small,

semi, fairly well detailed, two and a half inch

figures that each came with their signature mask.

uh which each mask had a different power and

then the vehicles they came with had normal vehicle

mode and then i don't even know what the word

for it was uh was it like a fighting mode or

i don't remember what it was off the toy line

i mean i i would say that It's just an alternate

form. I mean, I guess you could say a fighting

mode for, like, Rhino because it turns into this

huge whole weapons thing, but... I mean, specifically

with Switchblade, it's a helicopter that turns

into a jet. I mean, that really isn't... Right,

right. Well, what do you call that? Maybe just

a conversion, and then we're getting into the

go -bot territory. It transformed! It... looks

slightly different! And it was a series that

was known for just completely off -the -wall

conversions too. Because you had the main hero,

Matt Tracker, had a vehicle called Thunderhawk,

which was a Chevy Camaro, that would turn into

a quote -unquote jet fighter mode by lifting

up going doors and having thrusters come out

of the back and then guns coming out of the air

scoop. So it's pretty much the DeLorean. Yeah,

you could think of it like the DeLorean except

the wheels didn't fold up. Right, yeah. And even

as a kid I remember looking at going, that would

never work. The funny thing is, and I don't know

if this is correct or not, I'm old, my memory

sucks, I remember having a black and red car

that was masked, it came with a figure. I believe

it was a repaint of Thunderhawk. I don't know

if the mask line did repaints, but it did the

exact same thing. that Thunderhawk did the doors

opened up and it you know you could you know

hold it in your hand and fly it around the room

like a little kid would did did the front of

the vehicle spin 180 degrees where the wheels

would be pointing up because there was one of

the last toys that was released had something

very similar to Thunderhawk but it was a Corvette

instead of a Camaro Yeah, I don't know what it

actually did I know it was black and red and

it the doors popped up like Thunder Hawks did

Trying to think because really all I remember,

you know, I'm sure there were I'm sure that actually

did exist But I can't think of it for the life

of me and as we're talking I'm trying to do a

quick a quick Google search now there was a In

the show there was a deep dark purple version

that It showed up in the show and I think that

was more of a just a miscoloration But nothing

nothing is showing up on on to Google I think

one of my crowning achievements for mask with

me and my friends was I was the only one of my

friends that had Boulder Hill. I have that exact

memory. I had Boulder Hill. Boulder Hill was

awesome. Now for those who don't know, Boulder

Hill was the mask headquarters and it was a gas

station volcano in the middle of nowhere. and

the toy set boulder hill would transform or reconfigure

and the gas station would become a battle station

where all the gas pumps would become cannons

and the gas the sign for the gas station became

like a missile launcher and then bolt the boulder

hill itself this giant boulder would pop off

the top and i don't remember what was inside

i don't either And it's one of the, it's just,

I think it was just a, like, an encampment, I

wanna say. Um, yeah, I'm trying to find out.

I've got a Google Image search up, so... It was,

yes, it was like a machine gun post or something.

Yeah. And the garage where the, uh, next to the

gas station would fold out and become like an

armored barrier. Yeah, and it was very very cool

and to this day the only part of boulder hill

I have left is the boulder I still have that

thing 20 some years I Mean it was just such an

awesome awesome, you know, that was the thing

about the 80s Not only did you have the action

figures? You had the play sets to go along with

them. I mean, I you know, I know we're not talking

about this but I still have the Castle Grayskull,

the original Castle Grayskull. It's not in the

best shape, but I still have my original Castle

Grayskull that I got for a Christmas or a birthday

in 1983. I know Grayskull came out in 82, but

I've had this thing for almost 25, 26 years.

And the play sets were just so awesome. And Twin

Lines today, you don't get that anymore. And

I think that has to do with cost primarily. I

really do. Simply because Things like that back

then were a lot cheaper to produce. I mean, let's

face it, the oil in the plastics back then was

cheaper. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was. But yeah,

Boulder Hill was amazing. I had... Had the switchblade

and I had that that repaint of Thunderhawk if

it was a repaint I don't know I'm gonna have

to do more research on that later, but I also

had Bruce Sato and Rhino Rhino was masks version

of an armored up Optimus Prime and it was awesome

And it was it was not the cab over engine like

Optimus Prime was it was What we now know is

Optimus Prime from the movies. Yep. And it split

in half. The rear section became this ATV vehicle.

And then the front part where the cab was became

this battle station slash science station slash

missile launcher. Yeah. And it was very, very

cool. It was very, very awesome. And it was so

well done. You know, even though those figures,

even though the toy, the the two inch or two

and a quarter inch, even though they were really

small, really for mask what it was all about

was the vehicles for the toy line I thought.

It wasn't about having a three and three quarter

inch or six inch action figure to play around

with. You can go to He -Man or Thunder Cats or

Transformers for that. I mean, mask was all about

the vehicles and it was so awesome. And growing,

when I was a little kid, the ones that I loved

were, um, I believe it was Gator was the, was

the, uh, it was a, like, um, what do you call

it? A Jeep Wrangler that opened up and shot out

a boat. Yep. And the other one was... It was

all the stuff from the original, from the first

releases. The Switchblade was the helicopter

that turned into a jet. Then the other one was

called... No, not Stiletto, Piranha. That's what

it was. The motorcycle that... And to this day,

I think this is absolutely ridiculous. It was

a motorcycle with a sidecar. and then the bad

guy would jump off the motorcycle into the sidecar

and the sidecar would become a submarine. But

then he's got the... the motorcycle is left somewhere.

It's a big mystery like Optimus Prime's trailer,

where'd it go? And then my other favorite was

Jack Hammer which was this... a Ford Bronco that...

transformed into this this four -wheeled tank

that the front grill would fold down and pop

out laser guns then the hood would come up above

the the front windshield to form a shield and

then the back bed would lift up to be this cannon

embankment I was love that one yeah yeah it was

so so cool and It was so funny because I could

take like Blaster or Optimus Prime or someone

like that and I could have them pointing their

gun at Matt Tracker and like we are giant robots.

We will squish you And it was really interesting

because you had these human built pseudo -transformers,

and then you had transformers and go -bots. And

the one thing I always loved was the transformers

were almost exactly in scale with Mask. That

was something I always loved. Yeah. And the thing

about, for me with Mask is, which not a lot of

us are either or, or not a lot of us aren't fans

of this, but... If you weren't a fan of Transformers

or if you weren't a fan of G .I. Joe, go to M

.A .S .K. It's the best of both of those worlds.

I mean, it's basically Transformers meets G .I.

Joe. And then there was also, there was also

GoBots. I mean, GoBots were kind of like a G

.I. Joe combined with Transformers, except you

have not the vehicles of G .I. Joe, you have

the three and a half inch figures of G .I. Joe

in Robot. Yeah, go monster transformers Kmart

knockoffs. That's all they are Well, sorry, I

mean that is true But it's very you are you are

I'm not denying that now now mask was released

by Kenner here in the US and I don't and Hasbro

released transformers And who released GoBots?

Was it Takara? Or Tonka? It was Tonka. Tonka

originally and then Hasbro bought them out. Oh,

right, right, right. Later. Yeah. The saddest

thing for me in the Mask franchise is this bit

of information that happened. In 2008, 22 years

after Mask's cancellation, a Matt Tracker figure

was released as part of the G .I. Joe toyline

with the... Codename specialist tracker his file

card states that venom was created by Cobra instead

of the comic series Contra world the release

of specialist tracker has caused speculation

of a mask revival I absolutely hated this There

was an original Kenner comic book right and when

they and that was really freaking dark And the

reason that they brought that up was because

in actuality one of the last comics to be released

had this character in the shadows. And everyone

at the time said, oh my god, it's Cobra Commander

because the guy was wearing a helmet and the

outline of the helmet was Cobra Commander. That's

where this came from. And for Hasbro in the long

run, it actually makes a little bit of sense

if you start to think about it. Oh, don't get

me wrong. It's absolutely bananas and silly to

the point of really, really. But for me, it actually

is kind of cool, I think. My problem is... You

know, here's Hasbro dangling a giant ball of

yarn in front of a cat and then yanking it right

back because hey kids Here's a mat tracker that's

in the GI Joe line, but oh no, we're not doing

a mass revival heaven forbid Why didn't they

like I know it's all cost and it's all logistics

and whatever else There's enough of a fan base

from most of the people that I know probably

some of the people a lot of people that you know

there's enough mask fan base to justify a toy

line specifically for mask oh absolutely and

you and I I mean yeah and you know me pretty

well I would be all over that oh yeah you would

spend like $700 on every figure And some of our

other friends would probably be spending quite

a bit on it. Yeah. In all honesty, I wouldn't

be surprised if we see something like that in

2013. Because I don't think there's going to

be a Transformers movie in 2013. I wouldn't be

willing to bet they'll push it to 2014. The hub

needs more shows. Yeah, so if they're not going

to be doing another for those who don't know

the hub is the partnership channel television

channel between Discovery Kids and Hasbro, right?

My little pony huge success. Yeah Transformers

huge success GI Joe renegades huge success success

amongst the fans, but they've indefinitely cancelled

it Yeah, I'm willing to get a reboot But I would

be willing to bet you that if they bring G .I.

Joe back, I wonder if they're going to bring

it back as G .I. Joe like special ops and have

a mask twist to it. I don't know. I don't know

if a lot of the G .I. Joe fans would like that.

I'm not exactly sure. What I find really weird

is... Just have Robert Orsi and Kurtzman write

it. Good Lord. Know that Hasbro has the rights

to mask Why aren't and and shout factory just

released the complete series that this past year

Why isn't mask reruns on the hub? I don't get

that Like you have my little pony you have You

know the new little my little pony French was

magic you have they don't have the original.

I don't think I don't think Hasbro has the rights

to the original show. Because the original show

was by Dick Entertainment, and Dick Entertainment

is owned by somebody else now, I think. Or, I'm

sorry, not Dick Entertainment, DEEK. I guess

you could call them dicks because they put out

some really, really bad shit. Well, what's really

bad is their official... um company name is the

incredible world of deke yeah uh they're in they're

owned by uh in april 2007 deke entertainment

uh yep they still own the rights and they are

co they are uh they are in partnership with nbc

and cbs that's why oh jesus And you and I both

know how wonderful NBC treats its shows. Let's

not go there. Alright, so back to the toys. Overall,

for Mass to kind of close this out, great, great,

amazing toy line. I would love to see a really,

truly awesome update of the toy line if it was

done right. But if they're just going to throw

it in with GI Joe and not make it its own toy

line, I'm probably not going to care about it.

Now, one thing I think we really need to mention

is the toy line remained consistent for several

years. I mean, from the time they came out in

85 and 86, and even into 87, they were fairly

consistent. They had different themes throughout

each year. The first season was more military.

It was more Consumer vehicles that turned into

military grade vehicles and that was kind of

done the same in the second series Then in season

3 we had racing and then season 4 or series 4

is where it starts to get a little it started

to get Weird yeah, and that's kind of where the

toy line jump the proverbial shark oh yes because

they started doing those split seconds vehicles

where and these split second vehicles where the

vehicle would split in half and you'd have one

figure with the mask and then a translucent version

of that figure or ghost version i think is what

they called it yeah oh my god that's the original

Sixty -five episodes of the cartoon is really

where it's at. The second season, the racing

season was... It was alright. I don't remember

that season at all. Well, you'll have to look

it up. I know all ten episodes of that. Because

that was the one thing that was so stupid to

me. You know, back in the 80s, everything was...

every syndicated cartoon was sixty -five that

you know look at him and he man has a hundred

thirty episodes that's two seasons of sixty -five

half hours uh... you know same thing with uh...

with trend will transform only in ninety eight

episodes but i mean it's the same thing where

mask had the first season had sixty -five episodes

and i guess by the end of that it was starting

to kind of fate or something so like here what's

what's turning into a racing thing and only do

ten episodes there's only seventy five episodes

of the entire series which is so silly uh...

and it just ended right it did there wasn't any

as far as i know there will mean back then there

was no real car is like today where you have

cartoons that actually have a story and continuity

it was you know back then it was the one of the

week you know episode of the week whatever uh...

As far as I remember, it just kind of ended.

There was no real send -off, but I'll be finding

that out once I start Mast Mayhem in April. And

then in 1996, the toy line appeared, and it was

kind of a discount toy line, and it was called

Vortec. Oh my god. And there was also a show,

and it was on syndicated. It went straight to

syndication. I apologize. It was produced by

Fox, and then later aired on ABC's Power Block.

So that does not count as syndication. No, it

does not count as syndication. syndication is

when it shows up everywhere yeah and this was

a line toy line that was uh produced by kenner

as well and i actually bought one of these things

and i took it out of the box or the blister pack

and the dang thing fell apart i mean it was it

was pathetic it was that super cheap mid -90s

plastic that like happy meals were ashamed of

being oh wow wow it's just yeah it didn't it

didn't last too long no not really so with that

we are going to move on to the next toy line

The Thundercats. I know a lot of people nowadays

say the Thundercats cartoon sucks. I still love

it. I can still watch episodes of Thundercats

and still really enjoy it. Well, the thing that's

kind of ruined the show for me is there have

been some outtakes floating around on the internet

for the past couple of years and I've seen those

episodes where those outtakes are supposedly

done and It doesn't ruin it for me, but I just

kind of snicker Well people are like you know

Every time I see someone talking about thundercats

on the internet They're like oh this show sucks

because the writing is stupid and blah blah blah

It was the 80s the writing is not supposed to

make look at every single 80s cartoon I guarantee

you there's not a single story in any 80s cartoon

that makes sense like I can't remember who it

was but the writing team for He -Man... I'm sorry?

David Wise was a writer over there. Larry DiTillio

was one of the main staff writers. They created

the 80s serial cartoon where something would

happen that week in that episode and then in

the next episode everybody resets. The other

one that was a staff writer over there was JMS,

J. Michael Straczynski. OK. And that was the

thing that was done in the 80s. I mean, you look

at Transformers, G .I. Joe, He -Man, Thundercats,

Silverhawks, everybody had. Story of the week.

Yes, story of the week or event of the week.

Because that's what it was back then. It wasn't

about, you know, starting a season with a story

and continuing. It's not like today's style of

writing where people expect continuity in cartoons.

And it wasn't just, it wasn't just cartoons.

I mean, everything had that. You look at... Go

back and look at a old Cosby show episodes, which

is still considered one of the greatest family

comedies of all time. Same thing. I mean, you

look at you look at just about everything from

the 80s. I mean, even Law and Order when it first

started and you look at Law and Order today,

it always starts. Yes, it always starts with

the body, I will admit that. But you think about

it, it's always a fresh start or a reset. Right.

Yes, back then it was. Today there are continuing

side stories, but we won't get into that. My

point here is, even though we kind of deviated

a little bit, is that the original 80s cartoon,

I loved it as a kid. I can still go back and

watch episodes of it. Hell, when I was doing

Tooncast Classic a week before we were going

to do our Thundercats episode talking about the

show in retrospective, I actually sat down with

all four DVD sets, because it came out in season

one, volume one, season one, volume two, and

then vice versa with season two. I sat down and

I watched every single episode within the span

of a week. Wow. Yeah. Now, we're not saying that

every single episode was an award winner by any

means. Right. No, no, no. There are episodes

that are just... off -the -wall bat shit insane,

but the cartoon overall is not as bad as some

of the people that I've seen on the internet

say that it is. It just isn't. But the toy line!

I loved the toy line, as much as it frightens

me now. It was definitely interesting, because

if you look at it today, you can see the parallels

between the original Thundercats toy line and

He -Man. and the original He -Man toy line, there

is a lot of similarities there. Yeah. Now, I

had Lion -O, I think I had both versions of Mum

-Ra, the mummified version and the super I'm

going to kill you with evil version that's kind

of like a mint green color. I had Tygra, I had

the kitten cat figures, I had the thunder tank,

I believe I had cat slayer, but I'm going off

memory here. I don't remember. I might be romanticizing

that I had cat slayer, but it could be just that

I wanted the cat slayer from the cartoon. But

I had a number of these toys and I loved them

and they were great. Now, I honestly cannot remember.

having any of these toys other than one of the

Berserkers, Rambam. He's the only one that I

remember distinctly having. I do remember my

friends at the time. One of my friends had everything.

Like, I was the Transformers guy. I think he

was the the Thundercats guy. And he had not one,

but two Thunder tanks. Yeah, I think just it

ended up happening that way with gifts or whatnot.

Yeah, but I also remember I Seem to remember

having and I don't know if you remember these

things Mike they were They were toys that were

like water -based They had water in them and

you would push this button to shoot these rings

up into the enclosure and Try to get them like

stuck on Puzzle pieces. Oh, yeah, I remember

them vaguely but I had a thundercats version

of one of them. Oh sweet and I just I remember

it because you could push the button and it had

batteries and if you push the button it would

make sounds like ho yeah oh yeah yeah for a second

there i thought you were going to go into a uh

battle beasts discussion no no no no that's for

another another episode of toy cast we only have

97 days to find that out but little inside joke

there folks But the Thundercats line was so awesome.

The vehicles were awesome. The play sets were

awesome. Looking back at it now, I remember Mumrob

being a more blue figure than what the images

that we're actually looking at are, because he

looks more tealish green in these images. He's

the color of mint. Ugh. I did s - and I'll -

I'll obviously put all these links in the show

I scrolled down the page and I saw that they

did a Groon figure in the old line, and I remember

having Groon, but I don't think they ever did

a Jaga, did they? I don't think they did. I don't

think there was ever a Jaga figure. That's kind

of disappointing. especially with that whole

you know I think it might have just been one

episode it might have been two episodes might

have been a two -parter but that whole Jaga versus

Grun saga that they had back in the day now there

is a six -inch statue that has been recently

released in the past few years it is of Jaga

yeah no I I was looking for and I could have

sworn they had an original You know original

ljn figure of him, but I don't think that ljn

ever made one uh that is entire possible, but

ah No, there was a jogger figure in the season

three or series three and A good good website

for all for fans of for old toys is toy archive

calm They've been I've been going to the site

for years. I don't know how often they update,

but they have a lot of old, a lot, a lot of old

series. And going there, I found a Jugga figure.

I don't remember ever seeing a Jugga figure.

I don't remember this either. So I'm wondering

if that was a Canada or a European only release.

Yeah, I don't remember that at all Okay, and

you would and I'm not insane because I knew I

figured I remember there being multiple multiple

Burberry burbles. Oh, yes, and there were there

were multiple toys Yes, there were The one thing

that I'm really sad about when it comes to the

LJN line of thundercats is the sort of omens

because I as a five six year old I wanted to

reach into the TV and I wanted to pull the sword

from I wanted the sword from the cartoon and

they give us these little plastic flimsy swords

to go with the figures and I'm like No, this

is not what I want. I mean at least kids today

have the Play action play action stuff. Yeah,

we did not have that stuff Well, no because the

80s is all about oh my god, it's too violent

We're going to turn our children into violent

murderers with swords well you and you also have

to realize it wasn't until 1983 when you could

have Toy based shows to begin with yeah, that's

true and which he man was the first one yep Yeah

looking at Rover bill or whatever the heck isn't

it yeah those They look like this This verbal

image, it looks like it's Teddy Ruxman gone wrong.

Cyber Ruxpin. Yeah. Pretty much. Now, Thundercats

was, I always found Thundercats interesting because

they always had interesting vehicles. Like you

had the mutant fist pounder and then you had

the thunder claw and the thunder tank. Then the

original the original toys had these weird backpacks

that were that shot little toy little love foam

balls and You know growing up. I never remembered

that Yeah, no the only vehicle I had from this

line was the thunder tank I never, never had

the Nose Diver. I never had any of the other

Mutant Vehicles. I would have loved to have had

those. I think that would have been awesome.

One of the things that this show specifically

did for me when it came to the vehicles was each,

well specifically to the Thunder Tank. The Thunder

Tank had its own theme song and it was so awesome.

It was just so, so awesome. Oh, man. Now, I still

love Thundercats. It's got a wonderful place

in my heart, but I think even as a kid, I was

a very weird child because I would look at things

and go, that just doesn't work. He turned into

a very weird adult, too. Well, yes, but hey,

I will have you know I'm a fully functioning

member of society. Right. Well, wasn't there

a playset? Wasn't there a Mumrah playset? Yes.

I seem to remember a playset that had a... You

could do the transformation for Mumrah where

you would just literally spin a dial and the

figures would switch place. Yeah. It's kind of

like Indian Dr. Jones in the Nazi castle with

the fire where you just hit a switch and it switches

you around to it Yeah, they did have a play set

for Mumra's tomb And and they had a play set

for um cats lair cats lair. Did they have any

others? I believe they had the Tower of Omens

as well. Okay Other than that, I'm not exactly

sure what other ones they had. I don't think

they made a Castle Plundar. The Mutants Castle

thing. I don't think they did either. I don't

remember. Folks if we're you know remembering

stuff wrong, or if we're you know we might remember

stuff that doesn't exist It's because it's been

a long road since the 80s. Yeah and It yeah Here

we go, here's old man Spada coming at you. What's

up Venus? Okay, so yes, there was the Thundercats

playset which looks disturbingly like a Castle

Grey skull. There was the Mumrah Crypt, which

is just a snake skull head and his tombstone.

And they apparently had a weapons pack. Figure

that one out. I guess we should talk a little

bit about the 2011 series with the new series

and the new toys before we kind of move off of

this, but Yeah, I'm not thrilled with what Bandai

has done Specifically to the fact that oh hey

guess what we're gonna start with eight inches

of Lionel and Tigra that don't fit in with any

of your other, you know, they're gonna tower

over all your other toys. And those were the

classics figures. That was very strange. And

I have the San Diego Comic -Con Classics Lionel.

And that is a terrible figure. That is an awful,

awful figure. Especially for a convention exclusive.

It's bad. So I avoided those classic figures

like a plague now I picked up the six inch version

of the new mum rah and the new Lionel and both

of those are very good figures There are some

problems with them, but overall they're really

really nice And these play sets for the old ones

they just they're scary yeah But the new line

is obviously so, you know, kids today can get

into the cartoon and can get into the toys. And

they do have, they have a four inch line for

the new series and a six inch line for the new

series. The four inch line, if you buy the vehicles

and all that stuff, they come with gimmicks,

which obviously, you know, every toy line nowadays

has gimmicks. Or else, you know, people wouldn't

be buying them for their children. And what really

surprised me that I really loved out of the new

toy line was how badass the new Thunder Tank

was. The new Thunder Tank is very, very cool.

Yes, it is. I like it a lot. It's not perfect.

No, it's not perfect, but it's awesome. It is

very, very cool. And the thing I think I love

about the new Thundercats more than anything

is actually Snarf. Because he doesn't talk, but

he gets more character than the original Snarf

did with just whining. Yeah. I mean, you know,

the original Snarf... That's what it was at the

time. It was the... I hate to keep saying this,

but it was the 80s. Right. You know, it was the

80s and having Bob McFadden do the voice for

Snarf and having him be Lionel's nursemaid, that's

what the story was at the time. One of the reasons

why I'm glad the way Snarf is in the new series

is because of the fact that Sadly Bob McFadden

is no longer with us and I you know no disrespect

to any voice actor today I don't think any voice

actor today could Replicate if they if they went

in the direction of hey, let's revive snarf the

way he was I don't think any voice actor working

today could do what Bob McFadden did was snarf

not not to be As good as it was back then and

I'm glad that they made him more of a pet Yes,

I agree And he's just kind of funny that way.

I mean because Yeah, it was the first episode

the first two -part episode of the series where

he looks into a giant gem And he and he just

puts this cheeseball grin on and it's his giant

head reflecting in this gem And I thought that

was so hilarious. Yeah, and he's kind of he is

right now kind of a Comedy character, but at

the same time he he has a personality. Oh, yes

So oh, oh my I found a site that has some prototype

unreleased prototypes of a of thundercat figures

and apparently in there was supposed to be something

called the Luna Tacker and I don't remember this

from the show but it it makes me think of go

-bots Zod from go -bots Yeah That's yep Anyway,

sorry to derail us Wow You know it just depends

on what they're going to do with the classics

and what they're going to be doing with The the

new line as far as how well it will go now. We're

getting I think we're getting We're getting more

figures But Bandai of America's who's currently

producing them has been very caddy I hate to

say About what they're releasing. Yeah and The

and Cartoon Network has stopped airing new episodes

now, I don't know when those are going to pick

back up Yeah, you know that's but that's with

any cartoon on that network is You know you have

all this stuff that happens but yet You know,

oh well, let's you know we have to put more of

a focus on this show So let's put this one on

the back burner until we can get back to it And

that just kind of what it's not really the show

The show runners people's fault. It's not the

people that work on the show. It's the network

that it's on sadly um i don't know i believe

i see i thought originally oh my geez fart much

um i thought originally that the first season

was supposed to be 26 episodes like transformers

prime was but apparently It's only 13. Yeah,

the last episode was called Between Brothers

and it aired November 25th, 2010, 2011. Now,

according to the Thundercats Wiki, they've got

episode titles for 14 to 26. Yeah. But nobody

knows when it's going to be airing. So when are

they airing versus when are the new figures coming

out? Nobody has any idea. Yeah, and see that's

the funny thing like I'm not on the thundercats

wiki, but it says here that On the actual you

know Wikipedia org series overview season one

26 episodes season premiere July 29 2011 season

finale to be announced so season one isn't over

between brothers is I Don't know if it's if it's

kind of like what TNT in USA does where they'll

be like hey Here's a summer premiere and we're

gonna show this many episodes and then we're

gonna leave you with a cliffhanger and then we're

gonna come back in the winter and do a winter

premiere and show off the last five episodes

or six or episodes or how many episodes are gonna

be in that season so I don't know I honestly

don't I mean with You know I can see going on

a holiday break I can see that, but it's January,

it's New Year, maybe they're gonna wait till

February sweeps to start bringing the episodes

back, I'm not sure. That's entirely possible

because that's what the hub is doing with Transformers

Rescue Bots and Transformers Prime. Yeah, yeah.

And apparently, I think Cartoon Network is bringing

back Star Wars, the Clone Wars, in February as

well. Yeah, yeah. So hopefully we'll see more

of the Thundercats episodes. And more of the

toys, because the toys are actually pretty good.

Yeah, the toys are pretty awesome. They're not

really my thing, because there's just some things

where I like the cartoon more than the toys,

and vice versa. G .I. Joe is that way for me.

You know, I love the cartoon. I can't, you know,

there are a couple episodes that I'm not really

thrilled about, but I can't wait to see what

they do in the future. The toy line, you know,

I hope that we're getting, you know, as they

introduce more characters, I hope that the toy

line will also produce those characters. That'd

be nice. I don't, I don't think to this point

Bandai has not, has not. Released any mutants

have they oh yes slide was in the only one released

Yeah, oh, it was a released in the four inch

line with the weird little vehicle thingy oh

Yeah, that's right. That's right So I guess you

know we'll have to see what the future holds

for thundercats with that unless you have any

other thoughts Yeah, I think it's time. We've

talked to we've talked enough about the kitties.

Let's talk about the birds It's all your fault

that I'm addicted to Angry Birds. It's all your

damn fault, dude. Yeah, you're welcome. We'll

be back after this. Things that are partly metal

and partly real the silver hawks toy line from

1986 I have to admit in my personal opinion.

I think this is the weakest of the toy lines.

We're talking about today I Okay, I have to disagree

Okay, but I'm only disagreeing between this and

Thundercats. Just looking at the Silverhawks

figures compared to the Thundercats figures,

the Silverhawks figures remain as I remember

them, whereas the Thundercats figures, like,

I remember Lionel for what he is, but that Mumra

was not what I remembered at all. Rather terrifying.

Yes. Yes, you know now now for me growing up

this was one of those toy lines that I only had

a few figures from I specifically remember having

Just some of the villains Yeah, I think I had

the main villain monster I know I had the one

villain named molecular and I know I had the

other the robotic villain named buzzsaw right,

but I personally do not remember having any of

the Silverhawks. I, now see I'm slightly different.

I don't, I think the only one of the heroes out

of the main original Silverhawks, not the inclusions

like Hotwing and all that, the original ones

I don't remember having Stargazer. I do remember

having all of the original team members though.

Quicksilver, Steelheart, Steel, Will. uh... bluegrass

and copper kid uh... i do remember having all

of those as a child and i do remember having

monstar past that i don't think i had anything

else well there were only two series of toys

and the first series had pretty much all the

main characters uh... it also contained the Uh,

what do you call it? The Mirage, which was the

Silverhawks' plane. Yep. And I think it also

had Sky Shadow, which was Monstar's giant bat

plane. Yeah. And then Series 2. Oh, no, the other

one I had was the bull guy. Because I remember

having, I still to this day have his bird that

turns into a hammer. Series 2 was... Couple more

of the villains and then a black version of Quicksilver

Called ultra with an in an something called an

ultrasonic suit So they were variants Yeah Well,

it is the 80s and repaints are inevitable. Well

At least it, I don't know if it suffered from

the same thing that killed the He -Man line of

uh, what was it, all the He -Man figures and

Skeletor figures and then the, practically everything

else was a chase figure. Yeah, pretty much. Now,

also - What are those things? Oh, I'm sorry,

go ahead. No, go ahead. Well, I was going to

say this line was produced by Kenner as well.

Yeah. And it aired from, or it was in stores

from 87 into 88. The show was only around from

what 86 to 88 no 86 87. I really only had one

season I think Which was a shame because it was

a good show. Yeah It had 65 no, it only didn't

eat no it started September September of 86 and

September of 86 December of it Wait, I don't

last wait one there. Yeah One year. That's it.

We're looking at the I'm looking we're both looking

at the Wikipedia article list of episodes 65

episodes September to December of 1986. Yep,

so it aired every single day almost. Yep For

three months. Yep Wow, I never knew that yeah,

that is weird. Yeah, I mean that Talk about a

midseason replacement Actually, no, I think this

was That doesn't even make any sense Well Okay,

it was the 80s. I'm just gonna leave it at that

Yeah, but I want to double -check so give your

thoughts on some of the figures and stuff because

I'm gonna double -check with IMDB just to make

sure cuz some of the figures were the I always

found the Silver Hawk villain figures to be more

interesting than the hero figures. And the reason

for that is the hero figures are all practically

the same. You have a very, very poorly poseable

figure that had an action of you squeeze the

legs together and then it deploys their wings.

And their wings were made of shiny mylar, which

if I remember correctly had a really bad habit

of uh of getting torn and getting caught on things

yeah now their other uh their other gimmick was

each silver hawk figure bad guy or good guy came

with a flying animal of some sort mostly birds

mostly birds uh i i want to say months monster

came with a bat which was pretty And each one

of those birds could do something, like the character

Bluegrass, his bird turns into a wicked guitar.

And it looks like some of them have, I'm not

sure what kind of action they had, like Steelheart

comes with Razor, and I think her bird had a

pecking action, and then the wings would act

like saw blades. It was a little weird, but...

It was interesting. It was definitely an interesting

gimmick. Yeah, I didn't really care for the like,

the birds were just accessories to me. I like

bluegrass is the only one that really makes any

sense because it's his guitar. Oh, hey, kids,

look, it's a laser beam that turns into a guitar.

Oh, wait, no, that's that's 30 years later that

that happened. But the yeah, you're right the

mylar You know soft fair and see that's the thing

though these figures they felt the figures themselves

felt metallic I mean, it wasn't like your average,

you know, it wasn't like your average like Thundercats

figure a mass figure It was a weird it was a

weird process where they can make the plastic

feel like plate Like a metal plate. Yep And that's

what I love. I think one of the reasons why I

love this toy line so much is that because, ooh,

shiny. You know? But yeah, you're right. The

wings. God, I remember so many times my steel

wheel and my Quicksilver and Copper Kid, the

wings would break off so many times. And I swear

I remember The the mylar would flake. Oh, yeah,

and I think I'm really trying to think about

it and I think maybe It at one point I had one

of those figures and it was just flaking all

over the place and my mom threw it out Yeah Looking

at the villains. I like well, like I said, I

only remember having monster out of the villains

I don't even remember having molecular But I

had all the heroes and really where it's kind

of sad I would usually have my silverhawks teaming

up at the thundercats to go against mumra and

monster at the same time I always thought it

monster was was a little weird because he really

was He was kind of another Mumrah. Yeah. But

he wasn't nearly as capable as Mumrah. Oh, no.

Well, that's because Monstar had the worst henchmen

as far as being competent. I mean, the mutants

had their own agenda. They would still serve

Mumrah and they were still, you know, monkey

and was still very incompetent. But. Monstars

goons just... The thundercat villains were actually

able to get something done. Yeah. The Silverheart

ones, not so much. And with Monstars, something

else that I think we need to mention is the Monstar

toy... was really the first time I ever remember

seeing the head switching gimmick. If you look

at some of the Power Ranger figures, they have

the auto -morphing gimmick, where their human

head, or their person head, will flip around

and you'll have a morphed head. They did that

exact same thing with the original Momra figure.

I'm sorry, Momstar, not Momra. Momra, Momstar.

had a few of them and of course we're deviating

here I had a few of those Ranger I think I had

all the original five Ranger ones that are the

automorphs and I never liked them I just rather

have a Ranger with the helmet than than the automorph

but but Monstars automorph was interesting because

you have this pretty much you know nondescript

face And then you enact the automorph and it

has this huge -ass star -like helmet and it's

just so much more awesome. It was very weird.

Yeah. And then he had the, what was the name

of his? Sky Runner. Sky Runner, yep. I never

knew a toy of this until we started talking about

doing the show. I never knew a toy of that existed.

Yep. And apparently it exists, but I don't remember

ever seeing one. I think the only thing this

line is missing is Monstar's Fortress and Steel

Haven. If we had play sets of either one of those

or both of them, I mean, yeah, sure, the Mirage

is great because that was their ship and you

could, I believe, I could be wrong, but you could

fit Silverhawks in it, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah,

you could put all the Silverhawks in it. Yeah

You know the Mirage was great, but I think if

we had had Hawk Haven or If we had the monster

fortress or what I forget what it's called As

I think that's where they really dropped the

ball with this line was there were no play sets

And I did double check with IMDB so between IMDB

and Wikipedia They both list September 8th to

december 5th of 86 so it ran within three four

months wow yeah and then it probably went right

into syndication after that oh that was syndication

for it and then it it would just rerun itself

after that i mean there were no new episodes

after december 86 and it was probably in syndication

until 90 91 maybe when it disappeared pretty

much yeah man You know, I think it's time to

bring it back but it has to be done right both

both a new cartoon and a new toy line have to

be done right you have to have You know what

honestly cuz I'm looking at this figure as I'm

looking over here. There's a Masters of the Universe

classics Repaint that they did called Hurricane

Hordak and he has a vac metal armor plating where

his horde symbol is it's a gold vac metal plating

piece of armor and I think if they did a new

Silverox toy line with this style that hopefully

wouldn't flake the toy a new toy line would be

great the cartoon for me it would depend on Who

they got to do the voices even if they want it

to be a new incarnation like the Thundercats

is a new incarnation It's not you know it's not

just reviving the old series They would have

to find really good voice actors for the casting

and they would have to find Really good it the

animation style is really where it's gonna come

down to being awesome or being just playing yeah

But yeah, I I do agree as much as I you know

argue with my buddy optimus solo about how thundercats

is so much better than silverhawks i do agree

it's time for silverhawks to come back i would

like to see i would like to at least see you

know what would be nice if they made like a silverhawks

like one -shot movie that would be awesome that

would be cool um i really don't think i really

don't think we need a green lantern series i

think they could we're getting one i know I would

rather see effort be put into something like

silver hawks that I think would I think they

could do this, right? Yeah If they if the same

production or the same animation studio that's

doing thundercats did silver hawks, that'd be

pretty cool Yeah, it would be pretty cool Now

toy wise I still think the silver hawks out of

the three that we've talked about is the weakest

as far as construction and durability i will

agree yes but you can't help but be mesmerized

by the shiny factor of those figures i mean you

know it's kind of looking like it you know bright

neon light it's blinding come on dude at our

age anything that shiny is going to be really

expensive yeah true true um so i think uh do

you have anything else I can't think of anything.

I still think Mask, out of the three that we

talked about, was my favorite toy line. So we're

going to take a quick commercial break, and we're

going to come back to close the show, and then

that'll be it. We'll be back after this. Welcome

to a collaboration between the GeekCast Radio

Network and the Pop Culture Network. This is

From the Command Center, the podcast. I am your

host, TFG1 Mike from the GCRN, and joining me

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culture network and today we're introducing you

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when you register. So there you have it, folks.

There is episode 85 of Toycast. We are back.

We're going to be hitting it all year long here

in 2012. What do you got coming up on your YouTube

channel, sir? Oh, I just finished putting up

some robot masters of figures. Next week, I will

be delving into the brand new toy line, SH Monster

Arts, which is kind of like SH Figure Arts, but

we're talking Godzilla. this week, next week.

And I've been bringing up a bunch of Beast Machines,

Beast Wars, and Gen 2 figures that I'm going

to be getting into, and I'm eagerly awaiting

my Transformers Prime Viacom to show up. I'm

waiting for that guy to show up from Robot Kingdom.

It's stuck in customs. No, it's on its way, it's

in the U .S., it's in transit, of course. Who

knows when I'll actually get it? It said United

States in transit. That's all I know Wow Alright,

so thank you for joining us here on toycasters

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for listening, until next time. Good night everybody!