Lynx-O

Well, this has been a long wait! The oldest of the Thundercats, Lynx-O lost his sight in a fiery explosion preceding Thundera's destruction. He attempted to join the other Thundercats when they left, but was too late. Later, Lynx-O and his companions were saved by a Berbil ship and joined the Thundercats on Third-Earth. Although blind, he developed his other senses to an almost preternatural degree, and can sense things that others cannot. A skilled fighter, he directs his attacks and enemies' pressue points. In Series 1, Super7's Thundercats Ultimates just did re-releases of the Lion-O and Panthro Mattel put out; Series 2 would have introduced Tygra, but it got delayed; Series 3 had non-ghost-form Jaga, who I skipped, and Cheetara, who also got delayed; so it took until Seres 4 for the Thundercats' ranks to get bolstered. Upon opening the figure, Lynx-O feels weirdly short - he's not, he's the same size as the rest of the line - but when he's standing by himself he seems little. He's 6⅝" tall, right on target for this line and all the ones it blends with, and has that same chunky style. He wears a black, one-sleeved unitard beneath a red singlet, with a yellow belt around his waist and yellow wraps around his shins. Since the pattern is so simple, with no real add-ons or 3D pieces, you might expect it to just be painted, but no: the edges are sculpted. His skin is pale beige and a darker splash of orange on the wrists and hands. Most of the initial Thundercats were pretty obvious with their animal inspiration, but not Lynx-O. Yes, his name makes it clear what he's supposed to be [some sort of civet or caracal, right? --ed.], but without that you'd never guess. The only particularly lynxine thing abot him is his facial hair: lynxes tend to have those tufts of fur on their cheeks, and Lynx-O has a beard with similar growth? Lynx-O is bald, and wears a red bandana tied around his brow - they were really going for an Asian theme with him, and the headband is part of it. The figure includes two heads: one calm, one with the right side of his mouth pulled back in a snarl. Both have their eyes closed, though, because like the bio said, he was blinded while Thundera was exploding. If you don't know that, though, you might wonder why he has bright orange eyes (those are his eyelids). With our first new Thundercat, it's good to see Super7 is keeping all the articulation Matty's figures had: a 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. The ankles were fairly stiff on my figure, but knowing the joints were there made me willing to push them to prove it. Having swivels at both the top and bottom of the biceps is superfluous, especially since the pegs from the shoulder and elbow apparently touch in the middle, meaning it's possible to turn the bicep without moving any other part of the arm at the same time. The toy's proportions seem to be what created the feeling of smallness: the shoulders stick out fairly far from the torso, and the head is a little larger than you'd expect; together, those two features make the upper body look bigger, and the lower body look stunted. Super7 gives their Ultimates more accessories than Mattel gave their Classics. Lynx-O has his Light Shield, the mirror-like device he can use to reflect energy attacks or temporarily blind his enemies; the Braille Board, that he uses to interface with technology and fly their ship; and the Tile from the Fountain, which is an unremarkable square of plastic, but was one of four artifacts needed to prevent New Thundera from blowing up like old Thundera did. He's also got extra pairs of hands designed to grip the accessories. The original plan for Lion-O was for him to be named "Lion-El," judging by the name shown on the early model sheets. If that had been the case, what would Lynx-O have been named when he was eventually introduced? Lynx-El doesn't make any sense. This figure's proportions are screwy, but it's good to finally get some backup for all the good guys Mattel released half a decade ago. -- 07/28/22

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