Official 30-minute Toy Commercials thread

[Zorak Masaki]

According to the episode "Take Two", the Ghostbusters movie (and I assume the sequels) that we know of was a fictional version of the actual story of the Ghostbusters, which means the show is the true canon.

 

[The Overlord]

I think there's a lot of that in Hollywood, too many egos. Don't want to give credit. Others don't care.

I think it is a shame Aykroyd and Ramis were not paying attention to just how cultish and big this franchise was. They and Murray were also too busy on other things. There could've been a universe out there where Ramis himself directed a film. Oh well.

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The thing is the first Ghostbusters film was not a kids film perse, it was more a of general comedy in the mold of Caddyshack with some super natural elements to it, the movie has a few jokes that are not appropriate for kids. However, kids loved the film and Colombia studio decided to cater to kids by making the Real Ghostbusters cartoon. Ghostbusters II seems to have been created to profit off the success of the cartoon series. The humor in Ghostbusters II is less inappropriate than the humor in Ghostbusters I. The first Ghostbusters movie was not meant to create a franchise, but the cartoon series and the second film kinda turned it into that. Really its easier to make Ghostbusters suitable for kids than it is for Robocop or Terminator or any other R-rated sci-fi movie in the 80s.

 

[the greenman]

Really its easier to make Ghostbusters suitable for kids than it is for Robocop or Terminator or any other R-rated sci-fi movie in the 80s.

I have some opinions on that, at a later date. . .

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[harry580]

According to the episode "Take Two", the Ghostbusters movie (and I assume the sequels) that we know of was a fictional version of the actual story of the Ghostbusters, which means the show is the true canon.

so, the the ghostbusters movies are the reserve live action remake of the cartoon?

 

[Zorak Masaki]

so, the the ghostbusters movies are the reserve live action remake of the cartoon?

Yeah, they even mention the actors in said episode

"Murray, Ramis, and Aykroyd? Sounds like a law firm"

 

[the greenman]

Thundercats (1985-1989)

Thunder!
Thunder!
Thunder!
Thunder Cats; Hoooooo!

So went the rally call from the Lord of the Thundercats; Lion-O. Any kid of the 1980's era, knows of that one (that and of course; Yo Joe!). Created by writer/inventor Ted 'Tobin' Wolf (RIP 1922-1999) as well as Stanley Weston (developer of the original G.I.JOE) and artist Mike Germakian at Leisure Concepts in 1984, the series explored a sci-fi/fantasy and adventure storyline akin to the popular films of the day. Borrowing heavily from #1 Star Wars and a little from Conan the Barbarian, Superman (1978), Raiders of the Lost Ark, et al.

This show delivered to us an alien race of humanoid cats who derive from a planet called Thundera. During the escape from their dying planet; they encountered the "mutants" (probably my first introduction to that word, outside of Marvel Comics). The "mutants" came from a neighboring planet called Plun-Darr. These "mutants" included humanoid versions of a snake, hyena, vulture, and monkey. In my naive youth, I wondered how an Earthling mummy was on another planet (this one called Third Earth). Until I was older, upon rewatching the DVD sets released around the 2000's, it dawned on me Third Earth was Earth, just in far future generation.

Anyways, Lion-O was Lord of the Thundercats because he was the last living descendant of the king Claudus. The whole wearing shorts and a midriff shirt didn't age well, and let's not mention the whole "Captain Marvel"-esque trope of being a child in an adult body due to a broken escape pod. Though suspension of disbelief was certainly required.

Similar to most anime groups, Thundercats didn't deviate too much, but being American made having its own stamp:
Hero= Lion-O
Smarty pants= Tygra
Muscle= Panthro
Kid= Wily Kit/Wily Kat
Female= Cheetara
Wise Elder= Jaga

All was missing was a rogue antihero 2nd in command. Though other 2nd Wave characters will come later. Also, in the grand tradition of annoying cartoon sidekicks such as Orkin and Slimer, Snarf is along for the ride; probably somewhere in the middle for me. Only because he is essentially meant to be Lion-O's babysitter, so he at least serves a purpose. Also, he actually had some redeeming qualities throughout the series. Apparently he was specifically the creation of Jules Bass.

IMHO, the toyline was pretty good, with the normal 5 points of articulation. Though they were a little larger than I would prefer. To start they did start with a complete set of the regular cast of characters (heroes and villains), I just didn't like they paired up characters likes Wily Kit and Wily Kat with Cheetara and Tigra (though I believe Lion-O was sometimes paired with Snarf). Both Lion-O and Mumm-Ra featured light up eyes by way of a battery pack plug similar to a cigarette lighter, which made their eyes light up and a 'Battle-matic' feature with a small lever on the back to give a kinda chop action to one arm. I know I had a Lion-O figure and one other of the villains (I think Slithe), but can't really recall any others. I think I was too into multiple stuff at the time.

Other than, artist Mike Germakian, Actor/Impressionist Jim Meskimen was the chief character designer for the line on not only the original series, some Silver hawks stuff, the 2011 reboot, and the much dubious Thundercats Roar. I listened to a podcast where he revealed he also did voice work on The Comic Strip show that featured Tiger Sharks.

Other than main writer on the series Leonard Starr (who basically wrote the series Bible); the writing staff was compromised of Bob Haney (1926-2004) (practically the 3rd or 4th MVP of DC Comics), writer/cartoonist William Overgard, Peter Lawrence, Marv Wolfman, Romeo Muller (the only major holdover from Rankin-Bass holiday specials), Howard Post, Chris Trengove, and Stephen Perry RIP (1954-2010).

The animation was the closest you could get to real American-made anime, predating Bionic Six and of course Avatar: the Last Airbender. This happened about because they used artists from Pacific Animation Corporation (who were filling in from Studio Ghibli) Rankin Bass really did an excellent job. In hindsight, it's pretty clear the same people who did The Last Unicorn and the animated The Hobbit worked on Thundercats. You could even look at S-S-Slithe (as he's described on his box) and Gollum and see the similarities of the artists.

I am always impressed with V.A.'s who can tackle a truckload of characters on a project and can deftly navigate whoever they're doing with such distinction, you'd be hard pressed to think it was only a select few actors. This team stuck with a core group for the first few years, who IMHO felt so much like radio performances. Larry Kenny and some of the others seemed to have taken the William Shatner school for stacatto voice acting. Lynne Lipton was Cheetara & Wily Kit, and many other female characters. She channeled her warrior woman with a little Hepburn, but her space cop with a little John Wayne. Earl Hammond did Mumm-Ra very well; talking about keeping spittle in his mouth in accordance to the depiction of him in the series. Earle Hyman (Grandpa Huxtable from the Cosby Show) voiced Panthro perfectly.

Larry Kenney/LION-O:

Kenney on Earl Hammond/Mumm-Ra:

The 2 Earls at work (NSFW):

3 original actors and 1 from 2011 reboot:

Mumm-Ra is probably my favorite villain of the cartoons I grew up on. He was simply spooky in his decrepit form, and he was not to be fooled with at all. Even though his minion mutants often tried to outsmart him, (particularly Slithe being practically his 2nd in command), on occasion Mumm-Ra would put them in their place. He was mostly calculating and almost seemed unstoppable, but of course the writers couldn't allow that.

Much like HASBRO did, LJN planned a new wave of characters after the initial successful launch in 1985. On the cartoon front, after already hitting the 65 episode mark, they planned for more with not one, but two, major miniseries akin to what HASBRO did with Transformers and G.I.Joe by producing films. Both aired as tv movies, and later consisting of 5 Parts each. "ThunderCats Ho!" aired October of 1986 and "Mumm-Ra Lives!" September of 1987 kicking off season 2. Though they would repeat the trope of the miniseries two more times before series end.

The difference with this series and other shows of the era, they let the writers have a little extra power than the actual Toy Company.

To keep up with the times, LJN did collaborate with MARVEL comics for a comic run, this one under the Star Comics imprint. The series lasted 23 issues from 1985-1988, and the UK version lasted even longer. I do remember partaking in skimming through some of those comics; once again, I couldn't tell you much about them at this age.

BTW, on the realism note, interestingly Tobin "Ted" Wolf invented something of a night light and combat action figures. On another note Wolf was a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge. This is particularly notable because in that war fought an Black American Army Tank Battalion dubbed the Black Panthers. Probably purely coincidentally he named the character Panthro voiced by a Black actor and happened to be the mechanic to build the 'Thundertank'. Also, on researching this I just remembered my mom took me to Thundercats Live, she got me a cheap plastic sword of omens, I think they gave them away to all the kids.

Co-composer Bernard Hoffer on Theme:

Original storyboard artist drops OG storyboards for anyone interested:
Thundercats "Lion-O" & "Mumm-Ra" commercial (1985)
ThunderCats LIVE at Madison Square Garden AD - 1987
For those interested additional concept art is here: https://characterdesignreferences.com/art-of-animation-1/art-of-thundercats-1985

WRITING: Probably one of best writing staffs of the era. Nice mix of some often literary talent, folks that made the rounds of television, and theatrical animation, to comic book writers. They didn't rely on just the same villains, and when they did they developed them.
ANIMATION: Not necessarily the greatest, but no complaints whatsoever. I think because I am to familiar with the style, but in the time of airing as a child found it incredible. For the time period, it was excellent to say the least.
CONTINUITY: Excellent. They often brought back characters and they used devices to setup in later episodes. For instance the Time Capsule setup a time travel experience.

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[Fone Bone]

LJN's toyline was truly amazing. One for the ages (okay maybe not Stinger). The merch complimented the show but rarely did inserted merch feel forced. Some vehicles sure. But most of the other non-Mutant villains felt very organic. I would argue Safari Joe is one of the greatest villains of the 1980's simply because he's so memorable despite only appearing a couple of times. On some level he's as great as Mumm-Ra.

 

[the greenman]

LJN's toyline was truly amazing. One for the ages (okay maybe not Stinger). The merch complimented the show but rarely did inserted merch feel forced. Some vehicles sure. But most of the other non-Mutant villains felt very organic. I would argue Safari Joe is one of the greatest villains of the 1980's simply because he's so memorable despite only appearing a couple of times. On some level he's as great as Mumm-Ra.

I'm completely unfamiliar with that one. Any references to stuff?

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[Fone Bone]

I'm completely unfamiliar with that one. Any references to stuff?

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Safari Joe does it again!

Safari Joe

Safari Joe is a ruthless intergalactic bounty hunter. He is a malicious gamesman who scours the galaxies in search for formidable preys to hunt. After successfully hunting Big Cats, Sky Cats and Aqua Cats, he came to Third Earth to hunt the most dangerous prey of all; the ThunderCats . He...

thundercats-ho.fandom.com

 

[the greenman]

Safari Joe does it again!

Safari Joe

Safari Joe is a ruthless intergalactic bounty hunter. He is a malicious gamesman who scours the galaxies in search for formidable preys to hunt. After successfully hunting Big Cats, Sky Cats and Aqua Cats, he came to Third Earth to hunt the most dangerous prey of all; the ThunderCats . He...

thundercats-ho.fandom.com

No, I remember that Kraven ripoff. I was referring to Stinger toy line

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[Fone Bone]

No, I remember that Kraven ripoff. I was referring to Stinger toy line

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Stinger was a ThunderCats figure not based on a character from the show. The toy was notoriously poorly made. As far as I know you cannot find the figure loose with its wings intact. Every single figure in existence had them snap off at one point.

If Super7 is smart, they'll put Stinger on the Ultimates. With rubber wings.

 

[the greenman]

Stinger was a ThunderCats figure not based on a character from the show. The toy was notoriously poorly made. As far as I know you cannot find the figure loose with its wings intact. Every single figure in existence had them snap off at one point.

If Super7 is smart, they'll put Stinger on the Ultimates. With rubber wings.

Oh, now I know. Yeah well, we are gracious in these days, that McFarlane toys, Neca, and Super 7 are at least doing a second go around on these figures. I don't remember which figure it was, but my buddy brought one of the Wily Kit or Wily Kat figures. Not really all that mobile.

EDIT: This here

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