I was into Thundercats as a child, but it wasn’t an obsession. I mean, I remember the theme song, and I remember that one episode where Lion-O taught viewers to stay away from tall trees during thunderstorms by way of WilyKit and WilyKat, and I remember Cheetara delivering my first onscreen tit shot in the pilot, and…I guess I remember more than I thought I remembered.
But what I really remember is that cold day in ‘86 when I seethed with rage as my friend from across the street knocked on my door with a new treasure in hand: A Mumm-Ra action figure. Mumm-Ra, if you’ll recall, was the lead villain of the series — a demon mummy priest dude who lurked about his dank pad in tattered robes until the situation called for him to transform into an eight foot musclebound blue dude. It was this blue dude who received the primary action figure treatment, but my friend wasn’t holding the blue dude. He was holding the far gnarlier mummified version of Mumm-Ra. How the hell did he swing that?
See, whereas I always seemed to be a hundred times more passionate about every toy, cartoon and kiddy thing than this particular friend, I couldn’t deny that he was more of a Thundercats fan than I was. So, as he was collecting the figures, he couldn’t help noticing the big, colorful offer on the back of all of the toy packages, telling him that the mummified Mumm-Ra could be won for a mere 1.25 and a few proof-of-purchase cutouts.
I begrudgingly congratulated him on his score and made up some excuse as to why I couldn’t hang out, because by that point, the only thing on my mind was convicing someone to take me to a toy store to buy me the three figures’ worth of proof-of-purchase seals necessary to procure my very own mummified Mumm-Ra.
Pickings were slim: I left with Ratar-O, S-S-Slithe and Panthro. In terms of obtaining Thundercats figures that anyone cared about, I was batting .333. But no bother: I had my cutout seals, and Mom wasn’t too opposed to writing a check for such a small amount. Several weeks later, I had my own mummy Mumm-Ra.
The art of the mail-away action figure offer still lives today, but certainly not at the same level of awesomeness of the mail-away offers I grew up with. Some of my all-time favorite action figures were made available in his fashion, running the gamut from the “hooded” Cobra Commander to Emperor Palpatine, who at that point hadn’t yet informed us that he was actually named “Palpatine.”
These mail-away figures always seemed to reflect characters that nobody wanted to be without, but even in the rare cases when they were total duds, what kid would pass on the opportunity to get a neat little box in the mail with his name on it?
Mumm-Ra arrived in the exact box shown above, albeit one with a stick-on address label. I remember being a bit miffed that the figure wasn’t shipped in the traditional Thundercats packaging, but all misgivings were quickly forgotten once I tore that cardboard fucker apart and bore witness to the action figure who would rule my playtime adventure roost for the next several years. The blue demon version of Mumm-Ra was a frightening sight, but this guy? In terms of ’80s action figures, mummified Mumm-Ra was the freakin’ Godfather.
I’ve spoken about this in past articles, but I had a bunch of villain action figures that served as a sort of “leader council” to everyone else. (I didn’t separate my toys into hero/villain squads, nor did I mind meshing toys from one franchise with another. They were all one big, happy family.) Mummified Mumm-Ra immediately rose to the very top of this council, answering only to Jabba the Hutt, and for some godforsaken reason, Louie the Plumber from that C.O.P.S. series.
The mummified Mumm-Ra figure was built to give orders. After all, it’s pretty obvious that he wasn’t built to battle: He looked old and frail, his legs weren’t posable, and his included staff accessory looked more akin to a Lord of the Flies conch than something a person would use to bash another person’s brains in.
Though it was far more commonplace to obtain the figure by mail, mummy Mumm-Ra was also included with the “Mumm-Ra’s Tomb Fortress” playset. Not many people had it, because if you were going to blow a birthday wish on a big Thundercats toy, there was no way you were going to take that cheap gothic tomb over the Cats’ Lair or Thundertank.
As an extra bonus, the figure arrived with a neat fold-out catalog, promoting other Thundercats toys with well-shot color photos. It’s this catalog that has allowed me to spend the last twenty years peppering the term “Astral Moat Monster” into casual conversation with total confidence that it’s more than mere gibberish.
I’m thankful for that, but I’m more thankful for the action figure: Mummified Mumm-Ra served as the grouchy grandpa to every other action figure I’ve ever owned.
Posted by Matt. E-mail me!
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The only thing I remember about Thundercats is the episode were Lion-o beats Cheetara in a race. After that I couldn’t take it seriously.