Hard Hero's Thundercats Lion-O Statue
I'm a huge Thundercats fan so the moment I read Hard Hero acquired the rights to make Thundercats, I squealed with excitement just as I did as a kid in Toysrus. Imaginations were running wild and the build up of expectations had begun! Naturally Lion-O would be the debut statue. Would it be a museum piece? Action shot? Would he be calling on the rest of the Thundercats with the Sword of Omens raised over his head!?!? There was a lot of buzz from eager and starved fans begging for a glimpse of the return of the Thundercats!
1) Pose - 4.5/5
Some fans were a bit disappointed regarding Lion-O's pose. I honestly think this pose works better in capturing the essence of Lion-O as well as keeping a consistent action-esque feel to the line. After all Thundercats was a very action oriented cartoon and given that it was taken from the cartoons intro, I believe it was the right choice and has an iconic feel that brings it full circle. Now, Hard Hero is notorious for placing most of their characters on a rock/earth base but in this case I would have it no other way. Throughout the intro the cats are presented through this rocky terrain so having the Lord of the Thundercats tower above makes perfect sense and adds to his importance and the statues dramatic effect. You have a clear shot of Lion-O's face as well as the mystical Sword of Omens in all its might! His claw shield is beautifully represented as Lion-O shows his fierceness defending and protecting the laws of Thundera and his fellow Thundercats! I mean, you can't get any more basic and complicated than that.
2) Sculpt - 4/5
The size of this statue is in 1/7 scale. Noticeably smaller than Hard Hero's past works but the detail holds up just as well. If anything, I think I prefer this size only because it does make it easier to display especially if it interlocks with the other Thundercat statues. Now, one of the elements in the sculpt that stirred some controversy was the addition of "fur" to the felines. I know cats do indeed have fur but I never thought of the Thundercats as having it all over their body when I watched it as a kid or even as an adult. It was never animated that way even though it could have so I didn't quite know how I felt about it. Rest assured, the fur detail treatment is very fine and subtle yet makes the statue that much more interesting and appealing. One of things I would have greatly appreciated, and I'm sure most fans would agree was if the Sword of Omens was a separate piece. Unfortunately it's not and because of it I feel the quality and detail suffer. The loss of the red jewel at the bottom of the swords handle is also a disappointment because it would have been more accurate and simply easy to include. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a jewel but a simple representation. I noticed the detail of the sword is also bit sloppy and lost in the molding process which is unfortunate because it is such a beautiful sword and plays such a significant role in the Thundercats story. One last thing I feel I need to put out is the sculpt of Lion-O's chin. I don't know if this was just with my statue or not but given that its an AP #1 I though it deserves some attention. When I received my Lion-O statue the one thing I noticed right away was the lopsidedness of his chin. It drooped to the left a bit. I contacted Hard Hero about this and was told this was the natural sculpt. Being the perfectionist that I am, I carefully filed it down and repainted it thus correcting what I thought was a mistake on Hard Hero's AP policy of approval. I also included a before and after at the bottom of the screen.
3) Paint Color - 2.5/5
Alright, this is one of those parts of the review that can go either way for me. Sometimes I'm OK with it, sometimes I'm not. Thundercats was a very colorful cartoon with characters that had a very unique color palette distinguishing each character and his/her personality. As far as Lion-O is concerned, I remember him having red hair and a light creamy orange skin tone. The statue on the other hand has orange hair and a somewhat dark yellowish skin tone. Whether its a nod to the 80's Orange hair Lion-O toy variant or not, I think they missed the mark a bit with this one. It might have been a good idea to advertise it as an exclusive or something but the color decisions were definitely a concern to fans. The statue still looks great but with a light directly above it. Without it, it look a few shades too dark and muddy. The blues in his costume are a bit too close and need more of a contrast especially given that you don't see that much of it unless your looking at him from the back. The stripes in Lion-O' s costume around the belt and his boots was also changed to silver. Now, I don't know if this was to compliment the Sword of Omens or simply to add a more interesting look but I think I would have kept it a simple white for accuracy/reference purposes. The claw shield was another concern because like the skin color, it's also dark and blends in too much to the over all color scheme. I would have left the claws on the claw shield a white/beige and not colored it a dark brown. A lighter and more accurate color palette would have been much more successful in achieving and convincing fans that this indeed was based off the 80's Thundercats cartoon.
4) Conclusion - 4/5
As much as I'd like to change a few things about this statue cough, colors, cough! Its still a beautiful piece to own and a must have for any Thundercats fan. Whether a toy line or cartoon is in our near future, the 25th anniversary of the Thundercats is here and these statues are ideal for the celebration! There is lots of promise from this line and Hard Hero continues to amaze us with upcoming characters such as the beautiful and bold Cheetara a well as the evil, ever-living Mumm-ra! I for one cannot wait to get my hands on all the other Thundercats statues Hard Hero has planned and from the looks of it, they keep getting better and better. So I hope you enjoyed my review and I'm looking forward to your thought and opinions. Until next time, Thunder-Thunder-Thunder-THUNDERCATS! HOOOOOOO!!!
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