Thundercats
Meet the person who hears that theme tune and immediately pauses whatever they’re doing. Age and life practicalities be damned. Thunder, thunder, Thundercats and something just clicks over. We know that person because we are that person. And buying them a gift is either terrifyingly easy or catastrophically awful. For anyone who doesn’t fall into either of those categories, listen up…
The catastrophically awful tends to populate thrift stores. Cheap crap with the logo wheeled on at the last minute. Stuff no-one in their right mind would think to purchase unless they heard the name recognised but never bothered to watch the series. None of that sh*t here. What we wanted were pieces that treat Lion O and Snarf and Mumm Ra like the serious hero, villain and villain-with-a-heart-of-gold they are to the people who sat through dozens of episodes as kids. Toys and gadgets and games where the maker cared enough to get it right.
It’s hard to buy for Thundercats fans because said fans are not kids. They’re educated adults with strong feelings about crap vs quality. And like any good adult who spent their childhood appreciating one of the best animated series of all time, they know the Sword of Omens down to its etchings. They can tell you about Third Earth. They will shit you up and down about that stupid 2011 reboot. So the threshold for what’s actually worthy of their shelf or home collection is higher than most people giving gifts understand, and that’s where things start to go wrong.
Don’t worry, everything we’re linking to here is above that threshold. We considered quality. We considered if the thing properly paid homage to Thundercats or just used the license as an excuse to slap it on a thing. And most importantly, we considered if a TRUE fan would be happy with it, or if they’d just give you a ‘thanks’ because they don’t want to be rude. Being polite wasn’t good enough for these gifts. We wanted to see that reaction that happens when someone opens a present and you know, without them having to say anything, that you picked something that showed you understand how much it means to them. No.just how important it is.
Thundercats wasn’t a fleeting childhood show. Despite only airing for two seasons in the mid eighties it dug its claws into a generation and refused to leave. So dig out your pockets and get these for the people who didn’t want it to.