Bandai's reply to me.
 

We'll start with my semi educated email. I wanted to really show them I knew what was up and see what their plans were.

ahem ---

Subject: Thundercats product question

Hello, and thank you for your time reading this.

As a consumer of Thundercats products, I have recently read through numerous websites that the figure line, both new and classic are being discontinued by bandai. All stores near me in NY have put all merchandise on clearance and shrunk the space for the figures or replaced them. I do understand that the Spring line is coming out/ as some e-tailers have been selling cases wich is how Ive purchased said items. Toys R Us has told me they will not be recieving any further product from thundercats and has removed most SKU's from their inventory.

Officially are there plan's to continue this toy line after the Spring asst for the modern or classic series? Or are there plans to announce something at Sandeigo Comicon? Hope you have some answers for me as I am a huge fan and have purchased every single product to date, it would be a shame as there are so many figures left to even flesh out a complete set. Thanks again.

Kreg

------------------ pretty good right? I thought so. Now before we get to the reply, Bandai have always been good to me during the power rangers years and hooked me up with freebies and replacements, and always direct answers so I actually expected something, to wich we get...


"Kreg:

Bandai America appreciates your interest in ThunderCats.

ThunderCats shipments go to retailers’ distribution centers who in turn allocate to their individual stores so we are unable to tell exactly when to expect certain products in a location near you or online. Please do encourage major retailers to continue purchasing assortments of ThunderCats products so that we may continually add new products to the line.

Sincerely,

Bandai America
Customer Service"


Doesnt really scream yes, no or maybe. In my eyes it just says "We shipped the shit out, find it or dont." I wasnt expecting a love letter, or even a free ticket to a glory hole with Cheetara and Pumyra at the ends, just a simple We have X planned, hope it comes out.

With the vibe I got, im gunna say without a doubt they have no plans or clue what to do with the line unless a major outlet says to ship more. Fact is, they wont. I know alot of you want to believe wave's 3-100 are coming out, and id sell my first born for a few more goodies, but come on now. Toys R Us with a line thats almost fully MIA from the store isnt gunna call them and be like "Holy shit we need more broski!!!". Not gunna happen.

Just wanted to share my Mister Negitive news with you all. Excuse me while I go stand in the rain.:cool:

Damn it! I always remain positive, but that just does not sound good at all. Oh well, I guess time will tell where everything stands.

Truth. Im giving it till SanDeigo. I think their lack of new stuff at Toyfair was the last step in "well.. buy it if ya want." lol

If they were to make more here's what the fans forget....

It takes quite a while to sculpt and mold/produce a figure. If nothing is out by SDCC, nothing is coming. The show would be long canceled by then. Hiatus doesnt mean forever sadly. :(

No I agree it does not sound good especially the part I quoted. That right there sounds like they're saying "there has to be a demand in order for us to create a supply, and right now that demand is not there".

If you think about it, it just didn't make any business sense to have not had a new wave of shipments out the door in time for the move to Sat mornings. Something big had to have happened during the hiatus that made them pull back and not try to push the line with the Sat move. It sadly may have all simply come down to numbers.

As much as I love the Thundercats, the reality of the situation is that even on clearance, much of wave 1 is still dangling on the pegs. Wave 2 would "appear" to have sold well, but that's just because of the tiny amount of product that actually made it on to the store shelves.

Here's hoping something happens and we start to get better news.

I agree with you reading between the lines its what I understand also. Another minor detail is the comics. They launched that sample 2 months ago and since then nothing meanwhile UK Comics are on issue 2 and heading to issue 3 already. Off course the UK one is under Panini. Which means they don't care much about this line anymore sold some right to Panini in UK and wouldn't be surprised if we don't see any US comic coming out in the end.

In my experience replies like that mean the line is dead, just not officially yet.

The line is dead, but It's supposed to be picked up by another company Spring next year

Do you have a source on that? Even if this is just rumor material.

Why would they do that if the show MIGHT not continue..... ;)

Could just be that they're bidding their time for contracts to expire and new ones to be signed.

Well, maybe Hasbro will pick it up. They're really good with advertising, and their figures are good. They wouldn't have to fear picking it up if it didn't go well, since they have the MLP things to fall back on.

If it were done properly, I wouldn't mind a figure each month. And just to reiterate...if it were done properly

Scroll down to "Animate Ted" (page 1/2) he called Bandai getting the toy license well before it was offically announced back in Jan. 2010.

He mentioned Hasbro and Mattel didn't get the license due to lack of interest in Classics line!

Action Figure Insider • View topic - Mattel & Thundercats

I get a blank page with that link?

It's there! Refresh the link

I still hope they release the kittens at least that I want my team complete. A more articulated Snarf would be cool also but I can live with the one from the thundertank.

I guess putting Snarf in the same kitten package would make some sense. As for the other figures I would pass but I can understand the frustration from some fans.

But 6'' main team should be complete at least.

what relavence does this have? Its over two and a half years old.

If the Tcat license is being shopped again...we know Hasbro/Mattel won't pick it up at least!

not necessarily....that was over 2 years ago.

Yeah, it seems like the line sold really well. If there were better waves of figures released within 6 months of the first wave, I think the line would still be going strong. Another toy company might see potential in the license even though they didn't wanted to gamble on before...

^^True!

Mattel is a big no in my book...they overprice their figures, which leads to nobody buying them = cancelled line.

And if cases were assorted better so stores weren't left with 50 unsellable Mumm-Ra's hanging on pegs...

Hope it's Hasbro hope it's Hasbro hope it's Hasbro...

Especially if they keep using Joe scale stuff, oh man my toy boner.

They make pretty awesome stuff but I wonder if they would take this line seriously and promote it accordingly, considering they have other properties to make such as: Star Wars,Transformers and GI Joe.

Seems to me that they're more into making money with every franchise they have than anyone else.

EDIT: I would also think that ThunderCats was also a more successful franchise on the science-fantasy front in comparison to Hasbro's own Visionaries, so that might be another thing going for them on picking up the toyline.

I'm sure a lot of big name toy companies might touch this line if available. Here is my list I want to make them!

Hasbro-Most popular brand/trying to monopolized the toy industry(LOL),will they pass on the license again?

Spin Masters-Very innovative company made cool Tron figures.

Playmates Toys-Could you imagine them doing TMNT/ThunderCats?!

Jakks Pacific-Founded by LJN currently makes awesome wrestling figures.

Mattel-Great figures but NO, after they failed with many recent lines!

:cool:

To be honest, I can see Playmates. Well, no, I take that back as I type. I guess that's what my gut inclination says, but I could honestly see any of these companies taking the line. If Hasbro had it, they would dominate the industry. Not to slight any other property from the 80's, but the big 4 were always MOTU, ThunderCats, G.I. Joe and Transformers. Hasbro would be rocking 3 of the four...and I don't think they would disappoint either. That being said, I just don't feel Mattel in general would have a successful 'Cats line. He-Man is their baby, while Hot-Wheels, DC, and WWE to name a few are their red-headed step children. Maybe it's just my observation, but I guess that I just can't see them giving the line equal attention unless it were on matty collector or something. But who knows. It's all just speculation. Bandai could announce a killer wave 3 tomorrow, lol.