Leaked Images of new Thundercats toys!

**UPDATE**
Official images of new animation released!

It's been awhile now since I first heard the news that one of my favorite properties from my childhood was going to be given a modern update.  I've seen pictures and pre-orders of new Thundercats statues and such, but nothing in the form of action figures yet.  Well that all changed today when I dropped in on the Toyark today.

Click HERE for the pictures courtesy of Toyark.com

Leaked from the 2011 UK Toy Fair are some blurry pictures of the new action figures!  This time around they'll come in two sizes apparently - 3 3/4" and 8".

Towards the bottom of the picture you can see a loose Thundertank along with a few boxed vehicles.  I know many fans will are delighted to see that the Thundercats are getting a 2nd chance.  Hopefully more information and better pictures will be released soon.

Canceled Target Exclusive G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra Sand Serpent jet w/ Star-Viper

Sorry everyone - this post is just a shameless plug for a eBay auction of mine.  You may or may not have heard that Ross stores have picked up the Rise of Cobra toys that were slated as Target Exclusives.  For some reason (sales?) Target canceled these toys.  Now they have found their way into Ross stores unexpectedly!  Not every area in the U.S. has Ross stores so I picked one up today and placed it on eBay for those of you who may be interested.  I started the bidding @ $9.99 - less than what I paid for it.

The toy itself is a repaint of the earlier released Cobra Night Raven.  It's a fantastic update to the original A Real American Hero Night Raven jet.  If you decide to open the toy (gasp!) it's quite fun too as it has some great play features.  The main draw for a lot of collector's I'd imagine is the new pilot figure, the Star-Viper.  Star-Viper you may wonder.  Last time I remember seeing the Star-Viper was when he came packaged with the old Cobra Stilleto vehicle!

I find it very interesting that Ross is carrying these toys.  First it was the "new" Pursuit of Cobra Rage and the black version of the Pursuit of Cobra H.I.S.S. tank and now these canceled store exclusives.  If you are curious or if you don't have a Ross store in your area check out the auction.  Who knows how many of these were produced and are floating around out there.

Beastformers (Battle Beasts) Tech Spec Cards

Takara of Japan incorporated Hasbro's small Battle Beasts PVC figures into the Transformers mythos in Japan.  One of the things about the toys that appealed to me was the inclusion of small tech spec cards.  I can remember finding these Beastformers in Generation One style Transformer packaging was somewhat easy and they were fairly cheap.  Now days however it's a completely different story.  Here are a few of the cards I have:

I love the artwork used for the cards.  It's a shame that Hasbro never did anything like this for us kids in the U.S. back in the day.  I'm still looking for these toys and or the cards so if you have any or know where I can find some I'd appreciate it if you'd let me know.

Bone Age: T-Rex

I vaguely remember these toys from my childhood, but when I had a chance to pick up a large bag of parts I couldn't resist. I took a gamble on the purchase and it paid off to some extent. Since I don't have much information on these toys nor do I have the instructions this won't be a very in depth review...sorry.

From what I remember these toys were basically large building sets...kind of. Each dinosaur came with a caveman type figure about the size of the figures that came with M.A.S.K. toys. The figure's accessories were very simple - ranging from clubs, small bones to spears. Additional figures were also sold separately. Each dinosaur could be broken down into bones and the rebuilt as some sort of vehicle...and I use that term loosely. There were also smaller sets that were weapons or small vehicles.

I had enough parts in the bag to construct what I think is a complete T-Rex. I gotta say that for a toy from the mid to late 80's I was impressed with the overall quality. The bones were cast in sturdy plastic and for the most part were still white. Old white toys don't usually stay very white. The connector points are cast in clear plastic. The set holds together fairly well. The T-Rex is a little top heavy making it hard to stand up on it's own without some sort of support, but not impossible for it to stand. I think the caveman figure was supposed to "ride" in the skull as the mouth is articulated enough to let it open and close. There isn't really any other articulation to speak of.

The back spine pieces are a different shade of white and I'm not sure if that was meant to be or if the plastic has started to yellow. I wish I had remembered to pull out my measuring tape as this toy stands fairly tall. I don't own the toy anymore, but my best guess from memory would say the toy stood about 2 feet tall.

You would have thought that these toys would have sold well. 1) they are dinosaurs and what little boy doesn't like dinosaurs? and 2) they are a building set of sorts. A lot of the toys I grew up with had some sort of accompanying cartoon show on TV or at least a comic book. Bone Age from what I understand didn't have either so there wasn't an outside force that helped draw kids (and their parent's wallets) in. It's a shame too because when I tried to research these toys after I bought the bag I found some rather nice sets. They don't seem to be all that common on the secondary market either, but that doesn't surprise me if they didn't sell well to begin with. I wish I had more information about these toys to share with you, but for now that is all.