Ghost Jaga

Come on, Super7, you couldn't have gotten the ghost out in time for Horror Month? Long ago, Jaga served Claudus, original Lord of the Thundercats. Charged with guarding the treasure of Thundera, he became a mentor to Claudus' Lion-O. During Thundera's destruction, Jaga led the exodus of refugees. He later sacrificed himself to pilot their flagship safely to the distant world of Third-Earth, yet his spirit continues to guide a now adult Lion-O, reaching out from the Spirit Realm in times of great need. That's the same bio that was on the normal Series 3 Jaga, which is good because that was before Super7, as a company, began plagiarising all their content like a bunch of plagiarists. Back in college, Cartoon Network started reshowing the original Thundercats cartoon, so all my friends got together to watch it. And we almost immediately realized that we collectively had no galdang memory of the show at all. They all start out naked? Weird! Jaga is literally just Obi-Wan Kenobi? Who knew! He's a beardy mentor, he's clear blue... he's a Force ghost! So original. As mentioned above, Jaga was included in Thundercats Ultimates Series 3, but for whatever unfathomable reason, Super7 opted to make the figure in his "living" colors, rather than as the ghost he was for most of the series. Why? How do you miss the mark that widely? It would be like Hasbro only ever making Spider-Man's homemade costume. The sculpt of the two is the same, but this one is molded from translucent blue plastic with some select areas painted. Since his hands and chest are generally lighter than the rest of his body, those are similarly decorated here. The boots are about the same tint as the hands, and the underwear-shirt blends in with the chest. The details on his wristbands are fully painted in shades of blue, while his hair is solid white. Showing his allegience even as a spirit, the Thunderctas clasp on his cape remains red and black, not translucent at all. Every Thundercat wears weird clothes, and even being dead doesn't change that for Jaga. He has a pair of boots with V-shaped tops, mismatched wristbands, and then a garment that appears to be underwear or trunks that stretch up in the front to connect with the clasp holding his wide cape in place. Is that weird or what! His helmet is round, with a tall, sharp spike on top and a cloth drape hanging from the back. It's kind of a "Ancient Middle East/Saracen" vibe. His eyebrows curl up over the front rim of the helmet, and his beard is actually done as a thick sideburns/mustache combo that is distinctly separate from the beard itself. The belt is new, not something the older figure had - he needed something to hang his scabbard from (not that this toy has one). Articulation is usual for this style: balljointed head, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, swivel/​hinged elbows, swivel/​hinge wrists, hinged torso, swivel waist, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, swivel/​hinged knees, and swivel/​hinge ankles. Hopefully all these joints will hold up over time; translucent plastic like this is notoriously brittle and prone to breaking (a phrase we surely won't be repeating any time soon), but for now everything is fine. Fingers crossed! This figure gets a lot fewer accessories than the original, which we do have to admit makes sense: ghosts don't change appearance. The Series 3 figure had three heads: this one, with a visible mouth, a second with a slightly different shape of beard (kind of pointless), and a third without his helmet on. That would have been a nice inclusion, but no, we don't get that. Nor do we get the the poseable softgoods cape that figure had, just this molded plastic one. Even though its blue color would have been fine! As it is, we get eight hands, a ghostly Sword of Omens (not the same mold Mattel made), and a second ghostly sword that is not the one he used to fight Grune in "The Ghost Warrior," despite what Super7's solicits said. Of course, that episode also saw Jaga's ghost appear in his original colors instead of the blue from every other episode, so they're incorrect on multiple counts. One of his hands has the fingertips painted yellow, like it's glowing (with the "Might of the Thundercats," apparently), and that doesn't happen in that episode, either. Series 3 Jaga was just a regular release, but this Jaga, the Jaga anyone would want, was an exclusive available only through Super7's own site, and only produced in numbers large enough to fulfill the preorders. Like Junkyard, he doesn't ship in an outer brown box, suggesting that's something Super7 is done with now. His packaging is the same style as the rest of the Ultimates, but done in tones of blue to match his astral form. The Thundercats team was already complete, but it's nice to get the right kind of Jaga to go with them. But really, this should have been the standard release, with the painted version held back for the hardcore completists who wanted him. -- 11/18/23

Tweet