It's still pretty early in the year but I think I can safely say Thundarr the Barbarian from Dynamite is my most anticipated comic of the year!
As far as Saturday morning cartoons go, Thundarr is at the top of my
list and was likely a factor in my picking up the D&D Basic rule set
at that age. If, for some reason, Thundarr isn't known to you, check out the show's intro. A post-apocalyptic world combining sci-fi and fanatasy? Doesn't get much better than that!
Like many comics these days, Thundarr has multiple cover variants. The above one is my favorite since Jack Kirby himself worked on the show's production design including most of the villains, which are all memorable in their own way. Not only is in done in a very Kirdy-esque style but there's a not so subtle Kirby tribute on the cover.
The comic hooked me from the first few pages. Obviously, I'm an easy mark but even in the opening scene, they bring back a few of the bad guys Thundarr crossed paths with in the show. Being an 80s Saturday morning show, Thundarr was pretty episodic and usually dealt with a new threat each week. To see some of them pop up from the get go, told me these folks are really paying attention to the source.
If you watched the intro, you might recognize the guy on the left that appears for maybe 2 seconds.
The comic tells two stories simultaneously: The main story takes place in the present of 3994 and has Thundarr going under cover to break up a human trafficking/slavery ring. The other story is told through flashback and follows Thundarr's life as a gladiator slave leading up to him meeting Ookla and Ariel.
Despite how much I was looking forward to this, the first issue snuck by me and I only found the second issue just released a few weeks ago. This issue spends a little more time in the flashback, you get to see how Ariel ties into things, and Thundarr faces his toughest arena fight yet: Ookla the Mok!
Meanwhile,
in the present day, the gang confront the Council of Wizards who are
involved in the human slave trade. In classic comic tradition, these
wizards have all been bested by Thundarr over the show's run and are now
gathered together to bring him down! One of them activates a time
portal and sends our heroes back to 1994 just moments before the runaway
planet passes between the Earth and the moon, kick starting the global apocalypse from the intro!
Another thing I love about the series so far is they perfectly capture the characters, including Ariel's commentary on Thundarr's recklessness.
If you're a fan of sci-fi/fantasy that's just being introduced to Thundarr from this post, you'd probably enjoy the comic. But if you're someone that's been craving more Thundarr adventures since the 80s, I think you'll absolutely love this and find it a worthy successor to the show.
Shortly after Funko started cranking out Pop figures, I had my heart set on ones based on my favorite Saturday morning cartoon, Thundarr the Barbarian. While I kept it in mind that they may never happen, over the years I figured they'd start running out of things people were nostalgic for and eventually they would come and they finally have...sort of.
Back in February, Funko announced all the exclusives for their Spring 2021 VirtualCon and among them were these three I had been waiting on for years. Yes, my most wanted Pops were coming but they were going to be an online exclusive. In the span of a few seconds I went from elation to presuming I'd never actually see these at a decent price.
A couple weeks later, I saw something about being able to register ahead of time to order the figures. The only catch was you had to have been signed up two weeks before I found this info. Like Thundarr, I was going to fight on ignoring any obstacles in my way!
For quite awhile I'd been seeing posts on Instagram of the Battle Tribes figures by Spy Monkey Creations. Usually by the time I saw the post, it was long after a new wave dropped and I missed out. Then, I finally decided to get my act together and tune in and they may be a new minor obsession of mine.
One of the reasons I love these figures is they take me back to the 80s. They combine the best of Battle Beasts, action figures, and have swapable parts. Plus, they're fantasy themed so that doesn't hurt either!The figures are 3" tall and are are fully compatible with other Glyos figures like the sci-fi themed ones from Onell Design.
Here is the Bone Shadow Demon from two waves ago.
In this set is: a body, cape, two weapons, wings, six heads, and two pairs of feet (booted and taloned). This give you a crazy amount of options for displaying your figure! One of the great things about this line is that they frequently release a figure that very closely resembles another figure or character.
For example, you can make the Remco Skullman.
Na-na-na-na-na-na-NA!
Bat Guy!
This is one of my favorite setups.
Or you can go full on horned demon lord with battle axe.
The real reason I decided to post about these figures (not that I need a reason, I mean, they are pretty great) is the DX Primitive Adventurer. I about lost my mind when I saw it go up for order and you'll see why shortly.
The figures seem to lean toward one of two general types: monster or humanoid. Monsters get the wicked wings and taloned feet while humanoids get a few more weapon choices and a different head mix. Here, we've got a body, six heads, three weapons, a shield, and a fashionable battle vest.
The triceratops head is cool but looks a little weird to me in a human flesh tone.
This one is a little dark on purpose but makes it hard to see the head. It's sort of like a wolf head mask with green eyes. He could almost pass for a primitive Batman.
But this...this right here is what made this a must buy when I saw it.
You make a figure that resembles one of my all time favorite Saturday morning shows and I am there! I'm just hoping they'll get around to making Ariel and Ookla. I think it'd be great if they introduced a female figure to the line for more variety.
I hope everyone had a great holiday season! I took a week off to celebrate. Some of that time was spent scouring local stores for any new Force Awakens figures after seeing the movie because nothing puts me in a toy buying mood than seeing a new movie!
And Hasbro failed yet again. Seriously, why was there not a big event on opening day to launch the toys we know are only going to get released when the movie comes out? I know they exist and I've spent the last few months seeing the same few figures in almost every store. Oh well.
Anyway, enough griping!
I want to show off some of the amazing gifts I got this year so here we go!
There was a time when your loved ones would be hard pressed to find you some bit of new Star Wars to put under your tree. Man am I glad those days are behind us!
The big thing in the back and the box on the left with Vader peeking out are calendars. I don't think the desk calendar has anything from The Force Awakens in it so it will be interesting to see what's in there every day.
The four rectangular boxes scattered around is the complete set of Star Wars Google cardboard VR goggles. Hehe, Google goggles. If you haven't seen Google cardboard, it's incredible! It's made of cardboard (surprise!) and you fold it to create a sort of ViewMaster that you insert your phone into to view 3D VR things. The Star Wars app has a few little movies to use with BB-8. It's neat-o to "stand" inside of a Star Wars scene!
Speaking of BB-8, that's one of the Sphero ones on the right! I was like a little kid with a new toy playing with him. He's a lot of fun.
The Vader head is a watch box...
I'm not really a watch guy but maybe the next time (ha, get it?) I have to dress up for an event, I'll break it out. I also got the Topps Star Wars book of original A New Hope cards which
I'll review some time. It's so cool it needs its very own post.
Oh yeah, we also got a Death Star waffle iron!
There was quite a bit of Haunted Mansion goodness to be found, Jack Skellington would be proud! (Not to mention the Halloween table cloth is still on the kitchen table.) On the left is a pair of reversible place-mats. One side has the Mansion wallpaper design and the other has various residents of the Mansion. On the right is a pair of dish towels (the second is folded in the top right) and a pair of coasters (lower right).
You guys...this book is totally amazing! And it's huuuuge!
There's SO much more to the book than the few pages I'm showing off.
If you're a fan of cartoons, I highly recommend this book.
There's so much nostalgia, I can't even.
I can't wait to get into these! And there are two more books in the series so plenty of phun with Phibes to come! Phibes is one of my favorite Vincent Price characters so I'm sure delving into the off screen adventures will be a treat.
Among the rest of the goodies not pictured are: complete Gatchaman series on BluRay (squee!!), some new PJs (Star Wars and Nightmare Before Christmas), Doctor Who bedding, and a handful of new rides for the Halloween Garage which will be featured at some point in the future.
What are some of the favorite things you got this year?
The September Loot Crate theme was recently announced as "Animate" so we can be sure they'll deliver some cartoon related goodies this month. It might be too much to hope to get a little something from all the franchises on the TV screens above but if it's as good as the Arcade Crate from April, I'll be a happy camper.
Other members in the community are doing "Top 5 Animated" lists so I thought I'd join in with my own spin. Doing a general Top 5 animated series of all time would be a daunting task to say the least so I narrowed the focus to sci-fi toons from my childhood.
The assignment from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers this week are the three words that strike mortal dread in the very souls of children everywhere:
Back to School
While I'm sure that was true for a lot of kids, to me the phrase meant two awesome things: school supply Shopping and new cartoons! When I say "school supplies" I'm not talking about the everyday boring stuff like your writing implements. I'm a hardcore mechanical pencil .5mm lead user. Screw that .7mm noise! But the cool stuff, the stuff you walked around the halls with that showed how high your geek flag was flying.
I don't know about you, but shopping for a new lunchbox back in the day was like early Christmas, only you got to pick what you wanted! I
know I must have had more than two lunchboxes through grade school, but these I remember best:
I mean what better way to transport your food than in a non-rust proof
container that you could use to brutally beat someone over the head? And
then there was that one day in the cafeteria/auditorium when that one
kid dropped his Thermos and we learned there was glass inside that
plastic shell. We wouldn't know about the vacuum sealing/danger of
implosion until much later. Science! And how about those folding lunch
tables that had the sliding lock of death where you could pinch the
finger of the careless person sitting across from you? Good times!
When it came to more practical supplies, I never got very fancy. In
middle school I had a green Trapper Keeper and a few folders of
assorted colors. I think we all did the paper grocery bag book covers?
The ultimate in customization!
Now that I think about it, how weird is it that
they made you cover the books?
I still have my high school notebook and in the interest of minor shame, here it is:
Bonus points if you know the other band name the GPK is spray painting!
I have no shame from the bands that I liked then (I still enjoy most of
them now) but more the "artistry" used to etch their names. Ugh, moving
on...
If you're old enough, you may recall a time when Saturday morning was a
blurry haze of sugar induced channel flipping, back when there were only
three channels that had anything worth watching. I don't think I was
really aware of the concept of regular shows (Ooooooo! Oops, wrong Regular
Show) having seasons. But damn skippy I knew the coming of school
meant new cartoons!
The Saturday morning preview specials were absolutely something I looked
forward to every year. (There's a bunch on YouTube!) Even with a TV Guide it could be difficult to
decide what to watch in any given time slot in the pre-VCR days. Heck,
even after we got a VCR it could still only record the channel the TV
was on! These preview specials were often the major factor in choosing
one toon over another. In Fall of 1981, you had to choose between
Thundarr and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, for the love of Glob!
Why would you force this kind of choice on a child?!
Honorable Mentions
Book Fairs & Scholastic catalogs (Book Nerd 4 Life yo!)
Vists from the Candy Man (sell candy bars, earn prizes!)
I'm very happy to have some free time to jump back into the League of
Extraordinary Bloggers this week. The topic:
Bring it back! What product or media property would you like to see revived, and how would you imagine it being different today.
Two properties immediately jumped to mind right away, both Saturday morning favorites of mine. The first was Thundarr the Barbarian but I didn't think it would be much of an interesting post. Beyond updating the animation, giving it an overall story arc, and on-going plot threads (much like the latest incarnation of Scooby-Doo), there isn't much I'd change.
These topics get more difficult every week, forcing me to choose favorite things over one another and inevitably toss something beloved by the wayside. It's like having to choose which of your zombified children to shoot first.
You’ve been hired to program the ultimate Saturday morning experience for kids across the nation–create your own ideal Saturday morning cartoon schedule.
I still remember the excitement of watching the network's Sneak Peek shows that showed off what was coming Saturdays in the fall. I realize the traditional heavily promoted time slots didn't start til 8 am but I had to squeeze all this in one morning! So rub that sleep out of your eyes and grab a giant bowl of sugary cereal!
6:00 am - 7:00 am WB Power Hour
Start your morning off right with classic Looney Tunes. Not this newer stuff, not even the '80s stuff. I'm talkin good ol fashioned, cross dressing, lipstick wearing, Elmer Fudd kissing, Bugs Bunny! I'm sure these must still be in rotation on cable somewhere but I feel today's kids are missing out on them. I can't tell you the number of times in my life these have been quoted.
Followed by a half hour of Animaniacs and Freakazoid shorts. They were both ahead of their time in terms of writing and gone too soon.
7:00 am - 8:00 am Hero Time
Challenge of the Superfriends
Arguably the best incarnation of the Superfriends, the episodes featuring the Legion of Doom are certainly among my favorites of the series. Unfortunately, they wouldn't introduce one of my favorite DC heroes, Firestorm, until the Super Powers toy commercials...er, episodes.
Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends
It was a tough call between these two, so I included both. Spidey introduced Firestar to the Marvel Universe and had a lot of great guest star episodes. I nearly lost my mind during 7 Little Superheroes when Dr. Strange showed up.
8:00 am - 9:00 am Fantasy Land
Dungeons & Dragons
I had just started exploring D&D around the time this started airing so this was extra special for me. Hank's bow is awesome but I really wanted Sheila's cloak. Just about everytime I play a computer RPG I'm some kind of thief. This is one of those shows that really needed a toy line. While there was a D&D toy line, they never made action figures of the kids.
Thundarr the Barbarian
One of my absolute favorite cartoons. Magic, super-science and sorcery in a post apocalyptic setting. What's not to love? Also sorely needed a toy line during its original run.
9:00 am - 10:00 am Super SciFi Slot
Space Stars
Honestly, this slot was originally going to Space Ghost. I totally forgot about Space Stars until I started poking around Wikipedia's Saturday Morning schedules. Space Ghost AND Herculoids? I'm in!! I kind of liked Teen Force too. It didn't hurt that they had an occasional crossover episode.
Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
There will always be a place in my heart for Battle of the Planets, which was something I played with my friends a lot. But since being exposed to the original, unedited, not cutsified for round eye kids version, there's really no going back. The original would never fly on Saturday morning in the '70s/'80s due to its violence, mild profanity and transgenderism.
10:00 am - 11:00 am G-G-G-GHOSTS!
Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated
The modern day version of those meddling kids has elevated the series beyond the monster of the week formula. Not only is there an over-arching plot to the series, but the main characters actually have personal lives and are growing and changing. There's also plenty of pop culture references and the occasional cameo of characters from other toons. I never would have imagined anyone could take the Scooby gang in this direction.
The Real Ghostbusters
What better companion to Scooby-Doo than the Real GBs?
They came, they saw, they rocked our Saturday morning.
11:00 am - 12:00 pm Monster Hour
Land of the Lost
Wow I forgot there was even a '90s version on Nick. As dated as this looks now, it was some of the best writing on Saturday mornings. It was like Lost of kids! I think the time is right for this to make its way back to TV. Kids always love dinosaurs and Sleestaks. And I'm going to go right on pretending the movie was a drug induced hallucination.
The Aquabats Supershow
Originally, this slot was going to be Krofft Superstars featuring rotating sci-fi shows like Electra-Woman & Dyna-Girl, Wildboy & Bigfoot, Dr Shrinker, Far-Out Spacenuts and the Lost Saucer. Then I remembered this show. It sort of encapsulates all that plus some Power Ranger crazy-ass-ness. Why not combine the original idea and put Land of the Lost in the rotation? Because it's just that important to me.
12:00 pm - 12:30 pm The "Aww, I Don't Wanna Go Outside Yet" Slot
Starcade
Nothing to do with wrestling or the CBS cartoon block.This..is..STARCADE! If you're around my age, this was the game show you wanted to be on. Playing arcade games for achance to take one home? Yes, please! Unless it was one of the crappy non-A list games.
Well, there you have it! I think I did my inner kid proud by including the Saturday morning staples: classics, superheroes, fantasy, sci-fi, ghosts, monsters and video games. Now if we can get smash those all together, we can run that show all morning long.
Of course there's still hours upon hours of stuff I didn't touch on: Trans-Formers, GI Joe, all the relatively recent DC animated shows, HB greats like Yogi Bear, the Banana Splits Show, live action like Isis and Ark II, any of the Force Five...Oy!
Here's what other Leaguers posted
That Figures has a few of the things I dropped from my line-up
I wrote a little piece about one of my favorite cartoons of all time: Thundarr the Barbarian. Please visit Strange Kids Club to read it. And poke around while you're there, it's a pretty cool site!
And welcome to our 4th follower: Brenda! Thanks for the tweet-out!
