MUMM-RA THE EVER-LIVING

 Once upon a time, many years ago, Super 7 launched theyr Ultimate Thundercats line with the re-release of old Hasbro figures: Lion-O, Panthro, Mumm-Ra snd JackalMan with the release date of serires 2 - the true brand new figures never released by Hasbro - a month later. That month went by, then a new year started, many new action figures serires from Super 7 went by as well, a pandemic later and in a totally different world than that of the original release, Super 7 FINALLY delivered serires 2 of the Ultimate Thundercats. Many of those who pre-ordered the figures didnt survive to have them in theyr hands...

Its no secret who had me hyped for soo many years from this serires tough: Mumm-Ra The Ever-Living soo of course he was the very first one i got with no hestitation. The Mumm-Ra from the first serires was beyond perfect, was trully spectacular despite its small frame soo it was evident wath to expect from his super powered version, that came in a really huge box, the biggest box of the entire series.

The Ever-Living is of course the biggest figures of the entire collection soo he towers over the rest of the characters and most action figures from NECA and other brands, tough he is still not as big as a lay Arts Kai. He can stand on his own perfectly despite his size tough i really wish Super 7 gives him a base to levitate.

He is articulated on the neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrists, chest, waist, legs, knes and ankles, most of them are ball joints tough the few cut joints have a very good range of movement. I specially like the articulation on his feet since they cna move to the sides and help him balance perfectly, tough his legs articulations are kinda lose, and his shoulders ball joints are really stiff. Also, his head dress dosnt let him tilt his head up and down but thats to be expected.

All articulations are well hideen except the chest ones thats is incrediblly ugly and evident, just like Lion-o´s. This really puzzle me...this ugly gap on the half of his torso is tehre in propuse? To make him like "vintage"? I dont know, its almost like Super 7 try to make this figure looks similar to the Master of the Universe toys. Tough the range of movement is pretty high soo i cant complaing there.

Given this guy is almost nude, theres nothing that blocks his articualtions, since the wrapings and the skirt are made with very soft plastic, the only thing in the way os his head dress.

The sculpt is made by The Four Horsemen, soo is pretty spot on, with all the wrinkled and almost repitilian details on the skin on his face, huge eyes and inhuman shaped face since i dont remember no one saying Mumm-Ra was ever a human being. The hald smile looks very animalistic and the details on the snakes on his head dress is awesome, tough one of the snake horns is twisted since they are made with soft plastic.

His body have less details limiting the textire to his knes and elbows but the musculature and anatomy are perfect. Like i said, the bandages are made with a very soft plastic tugh they are a little too thick and dosnt have the aged texture the first Mumm-Ra had soo they looks kind aplastiquish....tough they are interconected with each other and with certain parts of Mumm-Ra soo they are fixed in theyr place.

Paint job is really good too, specially on the red tatto on his chest and the metalic paint on his leg armor and and nose piece. The eyebrows are painted in grey and the red eyes have a black line around them as well as around his lips, giving him a pretty refined and cool look tough aside of that there is no shadows or washes at all, his entire body is electric blue.

This is kind of simplistic, but given this is based on a cartoon, the clean look is understandable on his body and the red and black bandages on his head, but i wish they give some dark wash to the rest of the bandages on his body to makes them look a little more old and natural.

His wings/cape is made with real fabric and the material is of very high quality, with a black inside and red in the outide tough the stitches are pertty evident on the red side, they even aded some cuts here and there to make the cape looks ancient. With to holes on the sides and a big hole at the top center, the cap hangs from a big and ugly nail looking piece on Mumm-Ra´s neck (hidden under the head dress back side) and from the spikes on his wristsbands.

The cape is kinda anoying when posing and moving his arms tough thats to be expected, and it can be removed pretty easy. Also theres a whire in the sides and 3 inside wires soo the cape can be posed as well to flow with his movements. While the fabric is thick, this wire makes a big difference and gives a lot of dinamism to the figure.

As accesoryes he includes two sets of extra hands; one to hold his items and another one in claw shape and they can be changed pretty easy. He also have an extra head with an open roaring mouth and the effcet is really spectacular. This open moith head is my favorite and the sculpted fangs are terrific looking!!

He also have the sword of Plunn-Dar, a handle with two interwinded snakes and a huge blade coming out from both sides. This weapon is HUGE, even bigger than Mumm-Ra and is really epic looking, tough the paint is kinda boring since the snakes are not painted on metalic paint but just in yellow, and the blades are just....grey plastic, just like the sword of omen from Lion-O, why they didnt use metalic paint here???

There is also the Mighty Gyroscope Regulator an item that appeare in one of the last episodes and part of the Gyrosope that keeps Thundera toegether. Mumm-Ra wants to stole this piece tough i dont remember if he even touch it on the cartoon, soo this item is such an specific prop from an specific scene i am not sure it fits Mumm-Ra at all...is like they wanted to add something extra for the two years wait.

The Mighty Gyroscope regulator have a nice sculpy and a basic painting, looks good but is the less important part of the package.

Now the best part of the accesorys, an extra action figure: Ma-Mutt. This is the nicest detail of the pack, give Mumm-Ra his pet and he is even articulated on the four legs and head soo he is an action figure, tough he have cut joints,  and theres not much point on moving him at all.

Ma-Mutt sculpt is really good with his Yautja looking jaw and the spiked collar, the paint, this time, add a lot of shadows and washes to give to his body a lot of volume and highlight the wrinkles on his face. I specially love the big contrast with his tiny red eyes, looks really eveil but kinda cute too...and makes me wonder how Mumm-Ra is the most evil entity of the Third Planet and yet he can give love and care to a dog...

Overall, this is a beautifull and deffinetly the most amazing Mumm-Ra articulated figure, the soft fabric cape with wire, the Ma-Mutt, the scale, the screaming head, everthing here is stellar and this is most deffinetly the best piece of the whole Thundercats line since no other hero or villian can match this.

And still, despite how good this is, a two years delay and the astronomic pirce Super 7 ask for this makes me really question if hes worth it. The huge gap between serires 1 and 2 really hurt my hype for this serires to the point i am notr sure if i will gte more figures of this line. I mean this is the jewel of the crown after all and while i am very happy with this guy, i am not specially happy with Super 7.

MUMM-RA

 Five years ago, when Mattel owned the Thundercats license, they released a single serires of figures with an extra special figure exclusive to theyr collectors club. That figure was Mumm-Ra and i remember how much i wanted him but how fast his price sky rocketed. Because cartoons from the 80s not only did amazing and likeable heros, but they did fantastic and memorable villians as well and Mumm-Ra was always my favorite since he was a true monster.

And now, 35 years later, Mumm-Ra is still one of the most evil and twisted chaarcters to ever appeare on any animation and in an amazing twiwt of events, Super 7 relaunched him on theyr Ultimate Thundercats line with many enhancements and a beautifull box with artwork.

One thing modern figures have (mostly) is scale and here is no exeption since Mumm-Ra is much smaller than Lion-O and much more lighter as well. He can stand on his own (and thats a surprise given how thin are his limbs) and is articulated on the neck, waist, shoulders, elbows, wrists, legs, knes and ankles. All articulations are really sturdy and solid tough unlike Lion-O, this guy have ball jointed articulations. This mean his limbs can bend and rotate with total freedom and he dosnt have the ugly bolts Lion-O have.

The sculpt is.....glorious....really both the sculpt and paint in this figure complement each other perfectly. Each bandage on his body is totally independant to each other and have a soft grey wash to make them looks old and dated and the color contrast pretty nicelly with the soft blue of this monster. The sculpt of the face is, just like Lion-O, 100% accurate to the Ted Wolf 2D design to the last bit, from his non-human smile to his big creppy red eyes.

Also theres a lot of bandages here....obviouslly, but theres also independent extra bandages wrapped around his torso and arms soo theres a lot of hanging bandages here and there wich looks terrific, and since this bandages are made with soft plastic, they dont get in the way of articulations at all!!! Is weird how Mumm-Ra have more movility than Lion-O (tough theres not much sense on moving his legs). The hunched position and how he always have his legs open makes him feel really fragile. Is amazing how such delicate being is one of the most evil and dangerous from the serires.

His accesoryes consist in a pair of extra hands to hold objects. Only one pair unlike his rival and the change system works good tough i am really afraid to brike the peg on his hands or his arms given how thin they are. He also comes with an extra screaming head. The open mouth is really menacing and i am surprised the original Mattel release didnt include this.

Change the heads is kind of tricky tough since both heads have bandages hangig from the sides. The bandages are made with soft plastic and are really neccesary but they get in the way of the cape. Really, exchange head with the hood of his cape is really really tricky and demands extreme care to not brike his neck ball joint.

His other accesoryes are his staff and the sword of Plun-Darr. I dont remember see Mumm-Ra with a staff on the serires but the old LJN figure actually ahd this staff soo it is more like a easter egg for those who collected the original toys. The stass is totally back with the skull of an animal on top, with red eyes, fangs and horns and while it wasnt on screen never, it loosks really awesome on Mumm-Ra´s hand. The sword of Plun-Darr is the closed version soo it looks more like an amulet with two double head snakes tangled made of gold.

Super 7 also added an extra copy of the Book of Omen from Lion-O, i dont know why. Is the same sculpt but in dark brown color instead of gold. They also added a Thundranium Urn and the Rosenkrantz Medallion. The Medallion is very simple looking tough it can fit on Mumm-Ra´s neck perfectly and the paint is really good, with the dark blue jewel and the Z in the center. The Urn tough have a fantastic sculpt and color and is the most detailed accesory on the set.

Finally we gor Mumm-Ra´s cape and hood, made with soft crimson plastic. The sculpt is really good and even help Mumm-Ra to balance, the flow of the cape is perfect and the hood cover his head perfectly, unlike the original release that had the hood always moving upwaord over his head. The cape cover half of the mummy´s body soo he have only one single arm free.

And the second cape...Mattel did a totally open cape for fullposibility but Super 7 went beyond and removed this version and created a real fabric cape with wire all around it. The color of the fabric is a little bit stronger than the plastic cape but looks really amazing....it makes the change of ehad much more easy sicne the hood can be put down and the wire help a lot to open the cape and pose it in really dynamic ways. You want Mumm-Ra totally covered? It cna be done. You want him with the cape fliying over his back? It can be done too and without even losing his balance.

As much as i try really hard to find an issue here...i cant, i really cant find any flaw in this figure since it pretty much fixes my issues with Lion-O (dull accesoryes, imited articulations, ugly abs joint) and made me be glad i didnt spent money on the Matterl version since this was a huge upgrade thanks to the fabric cape.

This Super7 figures are really expensive, yet soo far they have been worth the price thanks to the perfect sculpt and color, the accesoryes and the beautifull presentation with the double box. The ast figure of the serires one was Jackalman but i didnt find too interesting at all, specially after this Mumm-Ra tough the next series will be brand new unreleased before characters and i will pick my favorite for sure.