Despite the ThunderCats main license passing from BanDai to Mattel and now to Super7, Funko’s weird He-man styled Savage World series continues to be our best bet for collecting a line of heroic kitties and evil mutant action figures. The first wave consisted of Lion-O, Mumm-Ra, Ssslithe, and Panthro who shipping about a month or so later for no discernible reason. Well, the same thing is happening again with the second wave consisting Tygra, Monkian, Jackalman, and Cheetara now shipping about a month later. Again, I’m not sure what the deal is with the logistics here, but because I don’t yet have a complete second wave, I thought I’d just go ahead and open the two Mutants and then check out Tygra later when Cheetara finally shows up.

The packaging is the same as the first wave with the cards featuring some individual character art on the front and the familiar Collect-Them-All layout on the back. The figures themselves are sealed into their bubbles, so this is definitely not a collector friendly line. And maybe that’s for the best, because in my experience it’s really tough to find these cards that aren’t bend or creased in some way. Mine aren’t too bad, but I’m still going to tear them open. If you look back at my review of the first Wave, you’ll see that I was extremely happy with those figures, and I’m pleased to say that trend continues with this pair. The Savage World style doesn’t work for everything, but I think it fits the ThunderCats in general quite well, and that goes double for these Mutants. Let’s start with Monkian!

Monkian has a clean, animated look about him and despite the stylized proportions, he’s still the spitting image of the character as he appeared in the cartoon, more so than the old LJN figure. Details in the sculpt include the brown straps on his legs and arms, as well as a couple of spikes jutting out from the leg wraps. His mutant monkey unmentionables are covered up by a sculpted brown skirt and simple black belt. There are also tufts of plastic fur on his shoulders and a bit down his back. But c’mon, Funko. Did you really need to print letters and numbers across his back?

The head sculpts in this line have been excellent and that’s still the case with Monkian. Again, it’s clearly a cartoon portrait, complete with his white plastic “beard” and skull-cap style helmet. The coloring here is great as well, with clean paint lines all around. They used two different shades of metallic paint for the helmet, and his deep set eyes are perfectly printed.

Monkian comes with a single weapon, and that’s his spiked flail, which is a lovely little accessory. The handle has brown sculpted wrappings, and the silver ball is placed on a bendy black tether. It can be held in either of his hands.

I’ve got all the same praise for Jackalman, and he shows off how adept Funko is in re-sculpting parts for this line. For example, the feet are identical, and the legs would be too, but Jackalman has ankle cuffs instead of the straps. The right arm is the same right down to the tufted hair on the shoulder, but Jackalman has a wrist cuff instead of the wraps. Likewise, the chest is the same, but with the three-point chest harness added. Jackalman’s left arm features a prominent piece of armor with silver studs running around the edge and a leopard-print bracer sculpted onto his forearm. He also has a plastic furry diaper very much like what we see on the He-Man figures. As with Monkian, all the correct nods to the original LJN figure are here, but this one is clearly based more on the cartoon look.

The head sculpt is wonderfully detailed, although I will concede I don’t like it quite as much as Monkian’s. I don’t dislike it, but I’m just not in love with it.

Jackalman comes with one weapon, and it is indeed his battleaxe. It’s a great looking piece, but it fits rather loosely in his hand.

I think I even surprised myself with how excited I was that we got a second wave of this line. No, the He-Man style isn’t necessarily optimal for these figures, but I still think it works well and this is a case of something being better than nothing. It’s been a long struggle just to get a collection of three Evil Mutants to stand beside Mumm-Ra and I think these figurs look great together. While Super7 is still pressing on with the Classics line that they won back from Mattel, I still think Savage World is our best bet for an extensive line, and I’m anxiously awaiting word of a possible Wave 3. And at about $13 a pop, these aren’t exactly breaking my bank account. I’ll be back to wrap up the rest of this wave as soon as Cheetara shows up!