Hey! I know we are all excited to be adding new additions to the ThunderCats ULTIMATES! ranks, but you must be careful! Do not forget that evil is always lurking, and the bad guys will take any chance they can to infiltrate to Cat’s Lair. Such is the case with the latest offering: Pumm-Ra. Don’t be fooled, ThunderCats fans, not all feline warriors are what they seem.
Now, I am sure you know that Pumm-Ra is just a disguise of the evil Mumm-Ra. Taken from a very early episode of the cartoon series, Lion-O was quick to trust the apparent Thundarian refugee after he “saved” Cheetara from the Mutants. Of course things go bad quickly and Pumm-Ra begins to sabotage the Cat’s Lair, the Thunder Tank, and weaponry as he searches out for the Sword of Omens, Claw Shield, and other treasures of Thundera. Of course, the Cats eventually see through the plot and defeat Pumm-Ra, but valuable lessons are learned through the trial, and the threat of Mumm-Ra remains.
When this series was announced, Pumm-Ra was the most surprising choice for me. I had given some thought to this (technically) variant of Mumm-Ra being added eventually, but it is the surprise characters that keep this line fresh, especially when they have not had figure representation before. Sure, this was a one-shot look, but very memorable, and the episode is definitely solid, so Pumm-Ra is a cool addition for sure. Much like Lynx-O, this figure has snuck up on me with how much I like it, so I am already thinking about some “head canon” for how to update the Pumm-Ra story to make him even more revenant in the display.
The figure does a great job representing the character, and it is immediately unique to the series in that it features a significant amount of soft-goods. Pumm-Ra’s costume is fairly simple in the cartoon, but the flowing robes design was always going to be a bit of challenge in figure form. While I am not the biggest proponent of soft goods, Super7 and the Four Horsemen made the right choice in making the robes out of cloth, and I have to say, I am very impressed. The different materials used from the beige to the brown make for interesting textural changes, and the wire frame around the collar and sleeves works remarkably well. The waist is kept cinched by a velcro piece on the left side of the belt (the belt is a separate piece), and everything works together VERY well to keep the robes flowing and natural on the figure, while allowing for some great posing. I have come to expect fantastic sculpting and paint work in this line, but the success of the soft goods here adds another layer, and I think a lot of people will be impressed by the work here.
Now, if you want to get fresh, or you are just interested in seeing the construction of the actual figure, Pumm-Ra’s robes are fully removable. When exposed (oh my!), the figure consists of a fairly standard ULTIMATES! base body, and it retains all of the articulation you would expect. I appreciate the airbrushing of the colors used on the chest/torso of the figure, and Mumm-Ra was sure be wearing some short shorts under those robes. The boots/feet design from the cartoon is a bit odd in that it looks like he has boots, but they are more like tall brown socks/hosiery as you can still see all of the details of his feet; this has been accurately retained here.
Pumm-Ra features some great accessories, and some of my favorite of the entire wave. When Mumm-Ra was creeping around the Lair, the Sword of Omens knew something was up, and the Eye of Thundera was about to call him out. He was quick to wrap the sword in cloth, and that has been represented well. We also get the Claw Shield in a closed fist form. Now, this does not include a peg that can be plugged into Lion-O’s forearm, BUT it absolutely can slide into place (with the hand removed) and stay snuggly on the arm. That is a cool little addition of the accessory, so you can have more display options.
We also get the communicator Pumm-Ra uses to keep in touch with Slithe and Mutants to plot the Lair raid, as well as three sets of swappable hands (open, grip with side to side, and grip with up and down). Now, there three portraits included, with two of them being meant to swap out for the Pumm-Ra figure. There is a growling/open mouth/evil portrait, as well as a more calm and stoic version. Again, I am partial to the angry head, but if you are posing with Pumm-Ra still fooling the Cats.
The final head is a an upscaled version of the angry version, and it is meant to be able to be swapped on the upcoming Mumm-Ra The Ever Living head. Obviously, it was not in the cards for this figure to be released ahead of that one, so I cannot show it off now, but series two will be landing soon, so we will know how it works shortly. It is a cool idea that just fell victim to the delays, so I am glad it is included. All of the heads are molded in two parts, and while the faces are more standard PVC plastic, the hair portions are much softer, so swapping and movement is much easier on the neck peg. That is a very appreciated detail and something that should be the case for all long-haired action figures.
Don’t be fooled: Pumm-Ra is not a nice dude, but he gets a pretty fantastic action figure. I hope that as we continue through the line, one slot will be dedicated to more obscure characters/variations like this because they bring a lot of depth to the collection. As mentioned before, Pumm-Ra joins Monkian, Snowman, and Lynx-O in series four, and they should be arriving very VERY soon, with series two right behind it. ThunderCats fans, we are moving now, and I cannot wait to continue the adventure of building up that collection we have dreamed about for YEARS!
If you missed any of these, you can still order them from BBTS:
*Thanks again to Super7 for sending long this figure for a First Look, we really appreciate it.
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Source: The Fwoosh
