| 11.11.2012 – The Thundercats series might no longer be on-air after that cliff hanger that ended in cancellation. But that doesn’t mean the toy line will immediately cease to exist. In reality there still have more Thundercats to go around until supply last.
For those who haven’t caught the attention of the series and those never grew up with the classics that only knew Lion-O there are also other supporting characters. Panthro comes to mind as the mechanic of the team but in the new series he’s more than that. |
Panthro in the original was not only a muscle bound nunchuk swinging member of the Thundercats. He’s also the mechanic that drives the ThunderTank and created the other interesting vehicles in the original series.
In the series Panthro is one of Claudus’ loyal soldiers with his friend Grune (who eventually betraying Panthro when they accidentally freed Mumm-Ra). Eventually create the ThunderTank and would save Lion-O‘s group from Slythe’s platoon in Song of Petalars. Towards the series he would loose the lower parts of his arms and will be replaced with robotic ones built by the Burbles.
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Panthro in Action
Bandai produced two versions of the Panthro figure for the 4” inch and the 6” inch scales. Unfortunately after the cancellation of the TV series a classic Panthro was never produced, which would eventually be 8” inch talk to compliment the original Lion-O, Tigra and Cheetarah.
The new version of Panthro is more muscular than his classic counterpart. Like the other Thundercats characters he gets re-designed with a modern look. He appears more of a muscular bouncer with battle scares on both of his arms.
Just like the original he carries a nunchuk, but this time its not colored in red & blue but in silver. Plus! He has an extra non-functioning nunchuk to appear that you have stored the handheld weapon, which could have been better if they have built a clip to put the ‘working’ nunchuk on Panthro’s back.
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ThunderTank Driver
Since Bandai produced a 4” inch scale line of figures its means that they can manufacture playsets and vehicles. Just like Lion-O and the rest of the figures Panthro has a built-in magnet on his back to unlock the play gimmick they have made for each figure of the Thundercats.
Panthro was not packed with the ThunderTank, which is good since it would be redundant to own an extra unless Bandai have included the version where he lost his arms and already appears as a cyborg. Instead in Panthro’s place to be included in the ThunderTank they have Snarf packed in with the vehicle.
Besides that this figure will be able to drive the ThunderTank this can also interact with the other playsets that Bandai released for the 4” inch scale. But for a long time Thundercats who cares? All you need is Panthro driving the ThunderTank and mowing down the bad guys while his ‘thunder stereo’ is playing loud rock music.
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A True Blue Thundercat
Overall Panthro appears bulky and slightly bigger than Lion-O with muscular arms like that you need all the help you can get to take down Mumm-Ra and his minions. This is actually one of the coolest figures in the 4” inch line next to the balster shooting Tigra and his amazing whip.
This version could be the best Panthro alternative from the original since the cyborg version did not reach Philippine retail and was only seen on display during Toy Kingdom’s Toy Expo 2012 a few months back.
Panthro was originally retailed at PhP 499.75 pesos ($14.00 US) and manufactured by Bandai, which was locally distributed by Ban Kee Trading. This was acquired in the US where it started to be sold on clearance.
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