The good news is, I’m actually here on a Wednesday with some midweek content. The bad news is it’s a quick and dirty look at some packaged figures that I won’t be opening. For the record, I’m really enjoying lots of different licenses from Super7’s ReAction line, and they are to date the only figures I collect with the intent to keep them carded. I love some of these lines so much, I just want to share them even though I’m not playing around with them and delivering a full on review. At the same time, it’s frustrating because I want to tear them open and play with them. But ultimately, I think more than half the charm of these releases lie in the packaging and overall presentation. On the other hand, if Super7 wants to get me to buy doubles and open them, all they need to do is release a Cat’s Lair and some vehicles, and I’d have no choice! And then I’m reminded that I’m still making the toy equivalent of car payments on that Ultimate Thunder Tank.

Anywho, as you can tell by the title, this is the second wave of ThunderCats ReAction figures and I’m starting off with a shot of the back of the card’s “Collect Them All!” panel to show what figures were included in the previous wave. Or you can just check out my review for the complete rundown. For the uninitiated, ReAction figures are basically old school 5-Points of Articulation figures patterned after the old Kenner stuff. It’s basically a big What If? or What Could Have Been? Funko had the ReAction license for a while, and while some of them were decent, like the Universal Monsters, most were just crap. Super7 has been making out a lot better, and I own far more of these than I have shown off here. I really have to fix that!

The first assortment gave us Lion-O, Panthro, and Cheetara, and this one delivers on the final adult ThunderCat, Tygra. The character art for each of the previous ThunderCats has been nothing short of fantastic, and Tygra’s card isn’t going to upset that winning streak. I particularly love the way his bolo whip disappears behind the bubble, leaves the card, and reemerges. As with the previous wave, the figures are nested in trays inside the bubbles so they don’t rattle around in there. The body sculpt here is a bit soft, but that fits in with the animated look. The portrait, on the other hand is excellent. They really captured Tygra’s look perfectly, and all the paint is nice and clean. Tygra’s bolo whip is actually made of string and has a plastic handle and plastic balls on the end. Will Wilykit and Wilykat be a two-pack in the next wave? My guess is that they’ll be single-packed with their hoverboards. But what about faithful old Snarf? Will he get a card of his own? Only time will tell!

We got two Evil Mutants in the first wave, Slithe and Jackalman. This time, Monkian joins the team of baddies! I’m fine with that, but poor Vultureman seems to never get any love these days. Hopefully we’ll see him in Wave Three! Monkian is a solid figure, but his head sculpt isn’t quite all that I hoped it would be. I don’t think it’s bad for this style of figure, but I think Jackalman made out a lot better. I will say the detail in the mouth is pretty well done for the scale. The card art, on the other hand, is much better than we got for Jackalman. Monkian comes with his spiked flail, and the ball is actually connected to the handle with a chain, which is totally rad!

The first wave gave us powered up Mumm-Ra, so here we get withered old Mummy Mumm-Ra. This figure was probably a lot more difficult to do, because of the robes. Naturally, they took the old school Kenner route by sculpting the robes as part of each leg and it works well here. The bandages are a little too neatly sculpted, but I think they probably did the best they could given the scale and simple style of the figure. I do like the head sculpt and the way the hood hangs over the face a bit. Mumm-Ra comes with his staff and it looks pretty good. I started with these three figures, because I think they were all a given for this wave. The rest are surprises of varying degrees.

First up is Jaga, and I think this was the least surprising. Jaga is a pretty big deal in the cartoon and he appears in a lot of episodes, especially for someone who’s killed in the premier! I like this figure a lot. Once again the body is fairly simple but fits the animated look. The little studs on his wrist cuffs are a nice touch, as are the sculpted tops of his boots. The head sculpt is a great match for his cartoon counterpart as well. The cape is vinyl, but I thought it interesting that they didn’t go the Kenner route and attach it with shoulder loops. Instead it hangs around his neck. I’m not sure how the shape will hold up once he’s out of the package, and I may never know! Jaga comes with a pretty generic looking sword. I think it’s safe to say we’ll be seeing a translucent spirit version of Jaga in the near future. In fact, I’d bet a cartload of Thundrillium on it!

The penultimate figure here is Grune and he gets the dubious prize of being my least favorite figure in this assortment. I was just never a big fan of this character in the original series. I liked him a little better in the 2011 reboot, but still not a whole lot. I think this figure looks OK. The shoulder armor is well done, and I really dig his mace, but that’s about it. His portrait isn’t bad and certainly shows off some pretty good detail for the style and scale. I’m not a fan of the card art on this one, either. He looks goofy and deranged. Not a total dud, but definitely bottom of my list so far.

And that brings us to the biggest surprise of the assortment, both literally and figuratively. I would never have guessed we’d see Snowman of Hook Mountain so early in this line, and yet here he is. And he’s quite spectacular! He’s a chunky guy, and in that sense, he kind of mirrors Slithe from the first wave as being bigger proportioned than the rest. I think they absolutely nailed this figure. He looks great, the colors are perfect, and I really love the card art. He comes with a spear and even his helmet, which is suspended off to the side of the bubble. My only gripe here is that they missed an opportunity to release him with Snowmeow, similar to the He-Man/Skeletor with BattleCat/Panthor that they gave us in the Masters of the Universe ReAction line. Yeah, that might have been more than they wanted to invest in the character, but it would have been cool.

And there you have it. Another six figures, and I’m quite pleased with what we got. These are going in clamshell protectors and eventually they will be hung on my wall along with the first wave. It’s killing me not to open them, but every time I’ve opened ReAction figures in the past, I’ve regretted it. And unfortunately, the pricing on these, about $18 a pop, makes me unlikely to run out and pick up doubles. Unless of course those vehicles and playsets get announced. Then all bets are off. Will there be a third wave? God, I hope so! We definitely need Vultureman and the Thunder Kittens. We need Snarf in some form. And they need to start digging into the Berserkers. Let’s get Willa and some Warrior Maidens! Lets get Lynxana and Mandora! Oh, I could go on and on!