Exciting news on Prototypes

Guys, I wanted to share some news with you that I think will tickle your fancy till you squirm, especially those of you on the team who are toy nuts like me.

I've reached a deal to purchase an entire collection of ThunderCats prototypes and I have. It's not clear yet exactly which figures are in the collection but I'll be finding out in the coming few weeks. I'm investing a significant amount of my life savings and a not so small amount of borrowed money to make the purchase.

Obviously this is good news for the site because we'll have access to photos and stories that will be exclusive and amazingly interesting too. Expect to see some variations and early version prototypes that we've never seen before! I should be able to provide some first photos in a week or so of some of the first pieces I'm receiving.

To give you a sense of scale there may be as much as 25-40 individual prototypes, more than I ever thought could possibly still be in existence. This is THE collection of prototypes.

Now as you know there is always an element of "what can go wrong" finding its way into something like this. It is important for now that we keep this news strictly within the team and I'll explain why I believe this. For one thing I don't want other collectors to find out who I'm buying from in case it upsets the deal that I have in place right now. I'm receiving the collection in stages and I would hate it if somebody found out who i'm buying from and where the collection is and decided to:

a) break in and steal the collection
b) offer more money and upset the deal i have in place ,which right now is a solid agreement but nothing in life is 100%
c) scoop us on pictures of the toys before we have a chance to get a section ready for the refresh

Now the even more exciting part is that there are multiple copies of some of the figures (still prototypes) and that means that if you have some particular favourites that you'd like to include in your personal collection that I can hopefully get you one too. Make no mistake though the prices are very high and this is not a situation where there is an uneducated seller of collectibles. Given how much I'm paying I am going to have to strategically sell some pieces so that I can pull myself out of debt, anything sold to the team would be sold at the same price I buy it for so long as you agree to keep it in your collection and not resell it.

I want to keep at least one of each figure that I get in a single collection that will be kept together and included in the "ThunderCats Museum" that I've talked about in the past. My plan is to arrange for a display at the Toronto Action Figure Expo and Toronto Comic Con (hopefully at no cost) so that fans can come and see these for themselves in person. If there would be a way to raise enough funds to do so I'd like to take the collection on a roadshow to do the same thing in whichever states made the most sense.

I can't wait to share more updates with you all. I think this is going to be a massive boon to the site and will be incredibly thrilling for fans.

For now, please don't make any mention at all of this news in the public forums. Neil, Manny we should start talking about how to get the prototype section setup to include a LOT more content. Let me know when you could be available to chat on this. I can work with you guys and Manny F on putting the content together in the new site.

Chris here...

Mark, just to say that this sounds AMAZING - you are a legend amongst men, my friend!! :thumbsup:

At the moment I'm up to my neck in re-integrating all the Cartoon / Comic stuff into the new site design, but once all that's out the way (realistically not until the site relaunches in December) I'd also be happy to help out and flex my HTML muscles getting this content online in the new site if needed! :)

Take care... :)

Mark how in the hell did you pull this one off. The only guy I know who could be anywhere close to having such material is Jordan Hembrough of Hollywood Heroes. Matter of fact he mentioned to me a while back he was getting some prototypes consigned to him from a former LJN employee. At the time I was supposed to visit his HQs to see the items but it just never materialized.

My best advice is to wait until the new design is up and running and make a section within the toy area to be specifically an online version of the ThunderCats Museum. This would be an exclusive section separate from the regular toys.

I'd be open to have it laid out as you would see fit, and perhaps with the same layout as the sight beyond sight viewer, or go with the simple layout we currently use on the prototypes section. Im anxious to see some pictures

:thumbsup:

Hey Manny, it took a little bit of luck, little bit of charm and a whole helluva lot of hard work putting the deal together.

I agree with your suggestion that we build this as its own section because there will be a lot of material to put together.

As much as possible I am trying to learn what the "story" is behind each prototype. Sometimes an individual figure will have a lot more detail behind it than another, such as if a figure is an earlier concept of the final figure that we've seen in production. So I don't think a single format for each page will necessarily work - more thinking to be done on this.

Some of the prototypes were pictured in catalogues so I would like to gather all of the catalogue images so we can compare the figures to the images, and so we can include the catalogue photo on the page that the figure pictures show up on also.

I may have the first pics in a few days...
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"grizzlor, post: 29614" said:

Hey Manny, it took a little bit of luck, little bit of charm and a whole helluva lot of hard work putting the deal together.

I agree with your suggestion that we build this as its own section because there will be a lot of material to put together.

As much as possible I am trying to learn what the "story" is behind each prototype. Sometimes an individual figure will have a lot more detail behind it than another, such as if a figure is an earlier concept of the final figure that we've seen in production. So I don't think a single format for each page will necessarily work - more thinking to be done on this.

Some of the prototypes were pictured in catalogues so I would like to gather all of the catalogue images so we can compare the figures to the images, and so we can include the catalogue photo on the page that the figure pictures show up on also.

I may have the first pics in a few days...
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Looks like an early version of Ram Bam. Minus the action feature

Yup it's a resin prototype that was primed for painting but was never actually painted. The "wheel" is a part of the resin sculpting and so he doesn't move at all. I should be able to take some close up shots soon.

I'm planning to hire a professional product photographer and a studio for a day to take photos of the collection. It'll be cheaper than you'd think because I'll be using a friend's Dad to do this but there will still be a cost, worth it though I think.

Excellent stuff! Hopefully it will be a cool little investment for you Mark :) It will be so cool to have such exciting and intriquing history of the LJN toys as part of this site.

As for my personal collecting and taste, I'd only be interested in the very top end items such as Feliner, Thunderstrike, Mad Bubbler and Luna Tacker. I know exactly what these would go for so I think they would have to remain a pipe dream :D However I'd be inclined to assume your contact only has early prototypes of released characters (all extremely cool to finally see, but not the stuff I'd be wanting to collect)

I'd definately consider buying the Thunderstrike, even if it meant borrowing some money to afford it ;)

Oh and just to add I have all but one LJN/Rainbow Toys mini catalogues if you still need them (the files in the toy section were resized, not sure why i did that though...lol) You'd have to give me some time to scan them though........

Thanks Neil, if you could link me to those images from the catalogue that would be great content. If you'd like to e-mail it to me use: [email]grizzlor@thundercatslair.org[/email] please

Could I ask for an expert opinion from our toy gurus...

It looks like ... drum roll ...

I will be getting two Moat Monster prototypes... both hard copy resin fully painted. I've seen one in person and it is damned heavy the thing is like a bowling ball! Would you believe this is the first Moat Monster I've ever seen in person? I don't think they were ever carried in South Africa.

As I have an extra one I am going to look to sell one as a way to defray my costs for the overall purchase of the collection.

What would one of these possibly be worth? Which collectors that you guys know of do you think would be interested in buying one?

Please please please don't contact any other collectors, I'd like to do that myself. If you know who you think would ante up for one could you post here and let me know who I should approach?

"grizzlor, post: 29790" said:

Thanks Neil, if you could link me to those images from the catalogue that would be great content. If you'd like to e-mail it to me use: [EMAIL="grizzlor@thundercatslair.org"]grizzlor@thundercatslair.org[/EMAIL] please

Could I ask for an expert opinion from our toy gurus...

It looks like ... drum roll ...

I will be getting two Moat Monster prototypes... both hard copy resin fully painted. I've seen one in person and it is damned heavy the thing is like a bowling ball! Would you believe this is the first Moat Monster I've ever seen in person? I don't think they were ever carried in South Africa.

As I have an extra one I am going to look to sell one as a way to defray my costs for the overall purchase of the collection.

What would one of these possibly be worth? Which collectors that you guys know of do you think would be interested in buying one?

Please please please don't contact any other collectors, I'd like to do that myself. If you know who you think would ante up for one could you post here and let me know who I should approach?

First thought was member Wayne Thompson (username wthompson) he collects this very same type of materials. As far as price I once saw a clkay sculpt sell for about $250 so that should give you an idea of what to ask. At the time i thought it was cheap
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Hey Mark if you need to sell some items that you dont sell to team members I would like you to consider giving forum member LiarDice Films a heads up on the items. He is very much interested in acquiring unique items.

Thanks Manny, I'll contact those two guys you mentioned. Do you think you could PM me a list of other collectors who you think would open up their wallets somewhat to buy a few pieces?

By the way I've picked up one of the first prototypes and had a chance to snap a few pics. This is a larger scale Monkian before he was pantagraphed down to the production size that we're all familiar with. He's a giant compared to the production version. I think this may be called a 2-up though I'm not 100% sure.

Again, these pics are for internal team sharing only... I don't want to release these until the site redesign is launched.

Chris here...

Hey Mark, these pieces are freaking awesome!! :thumbsup:

I believe you'll find that "2-up" is the correct expression, if these are roughly twice the size of a regular Monkian (it would be awesome if you had a regular Monkian to do a size comparison) then "2-up" would be the correct term! Back in the day I saw a lot of photos of 2-ups from the 200X MOTU line sculpted by the Four Horsemen! :)

Take care... :)

Hey Chris, it isn't quite a 2-up but it is definitely significantly larger.

The toy on the left in most of the pics is the production toy. The one on the right is the prototype. Check the one of them back to back to best see the size difference. In every photo they're lined up together so the size difference is real, not a matte of perspective.

Hey Mark any more info on the prototypes. I got a certain somebody asking me if there is any updates on selling

I havent mentioned your name and Ive only mentioned that I have a contact who may be intersted in selling some protypes.

Hey Manny, should have a couple more pics ready tomorrow actually, could you PM me the person you're talking to? I can get in touch with them directly.

Thanks buddy!

"grizzlor, post: 30176" said:

Hey Manny, should have a couple more pics ready tomorrow actually, could you PM me the person you're talking to? I can get in touch with them directly.

Thanks buddy!

Im in contact with Jordan Hembrough from Hollywood Heroes...he was going to get me pictures of all he had but so far nothing, he may be in the process of it i dont know

Mark,

Just saw this post. I'd be interested in some of these as well. I haven't been around for a while and just got the collecting bug again a month or so ago. Do you happen to know what all else Jordan has as well or did this collection you are acquiring come from a different source than the one Jordan got his from. That monkian you have is sweet, id be interested in him if your selling and I can afford him. But as far as contacts go like Manny said Liardicefilms and whthompson would both be interested as well. Also would love to see more pics

I'm dealing with a different seller for my purchases but they know each other. I've been trying to get a hold of this collection that went to Jordan for about three months. Looks like that ship has sailed :(

"grizzlor, post: 30793" said:

I'm dealing with a different seller for my purchases but they know each other. I've been trying to get a hold of this collection that went to Jordan for about three months. Looks like that ship has sailed :(

Hey Mark...do you happen to actually have that huge Monkian you posteda while back? Wayne (LiarDiceFilms) may be interested in purchasing if you do have it