Cheetara Vintage LJN Thundercats1985 Review
Cheetara first appeared in 1985 in the animated TV show The Thundercats, which ran for 130 episodes until cancelled in1989. She belonged to an ancient team of cat-like characters from the planet Thundera known as the Thundercats.
She, along with other members of the Thundercats, barely escaped Thundera before its complete destruction in an enormous volcanic explosion, making their way to a distant planet only known as Third Earth, where they settled.
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Cheetara was the mother-figure of the team, taking up the duty of protecting the other members and most importantly, the Eye of Thundera which was the source of their powers.
She had a rather masculine physique which really suited the character she portrayed. She was a very skilled fighter with a super-speed of well over 120mph which she could maintain for about 2 miles before getting tired. She also had a sixth sense which enabled her to see past and future events.
One of the most spectacular features of Cheetara was her staff, which could extend to really long lengths and also produce powerful beams of energy.
LJN Cheetara S1 Review 1986
The LJN Thundercats line of action figures was released in 1986 on 8-back cards with a black background, however in France the line was packaged and known as the “Cosmocats”.
The 6-inch Cheetara figure was attached to the front of the card in a bubble with her elbows at almost 90 degrees to her body, with her right palm facing downwards and her left palm facing upwards. The card itself had flames printed on it giving the impression that she was standing in front of a fire. Directly above the bubble was the Thundercats logo.
Next to her, on her right side, was her staff, which a bulging middle section apparently to enhance her ability to grip and hold it. On her right hand she had a pair of bracelets and a red amulet on her left hand.
The back of the card was divided into two sections: the upper section had a purple background and a picture of Mumm-Ra, the evil sorcerer, and the lower section had a black background and images of the other Thundercats in this series.
Sculpting
The sculpting was almost a perfect likeness of the TV character, even to the folding at the top and her hair, which was beautifully sculpted to depict the heavy hairstyle that was common in the 80s and
Her knees and nose were very well-sculpted with just the right amount of bulge which becomes noticeable on close observation and particularly well sculpted boots.
One minor flaw with this figure is that her staff was made a little bit too tall as it rose well above her head. However, overall, the figure itself was beautifully sculpted keeping faithfully to the characters look in the cartoon, so that any disproportion between staff and figure could easily be overlooked.
Paintwork
The paintwork on Cheetara was also on point, from her red boots to her light orange legs, yellow torso, and hair. As with her name’s sake, Cheetara had dark spots on her hair, neck, and right shoulder.
There was a great deal of detail on her face, especially around her eyes which stood out with red paintwork covering them. The colors were perfectly blended to produce a beautiful and eye-pleasing figure, although some might find the painting too shiny.
Articulation & Features
The only accessory Cheetara had was her yellow staff which was almost a part of her. On the middle section of her back, there was a lever which when pressed, caused her arms to move upwards and downwards in a Battle-Matic action; this looked even way cooler with the staff in her hand.
Cheetara had 5 points of articulation; on the neck, shoulders, and the hips, which was pretty standard in the eighties.
Her head joint was a pivot which allowed her to turn her head from left to right, but it could not make a complete rotation. Her hips and shoulders were a ball and socket joint, mimicking real joints. These were very flexible, and it was possible for her to be posed in many different positions.
The original line of the LJN ThunderCats toys, including Cheetara, had a lever on its back which when pushed down with the forefinger would make both the figure's arms move up and down in the same direction.
Cheetara Variant Figures
Cheetara Two-skin tones
Cheetara Two-skin tones
Rainbow Cheetara
Glasslite Cheetara• Some of the Series 1 and Series 2 Cheetara figures came with a PVC Wilykit figure. This figure had no articulation or features. When LJN released its second wave of ThunderCats toys, a much larger and fully articulated Wilykit figure was released as a separate toy.
• There were two different skin variations of the Cheetera figure, one with a dark yellow tone and one with a pale cream tone, these were known as the Yellow and Flesh tone Cheetara’s respectively.
• There were also variations of her boot color, a light orange, and a dark orange and brown, also her Bo staff was either yellow or orange.
• As well as these variants there were a few foreign variants of the figure”
• Childbro and Rainbow Toys produced their own figures which were in no way different from the original LJN figure.
• In France the line was called the Cosmocats, so while the figure itself remained the same, the packaging was slightly different to reflect their French name.
• In Brazil, the Glasslite Cheetara figure, as with many of their figures, had three screws on the back. This was because instead of joining the two halves of the moulds with glue, as with the LJN figures, they opted to use screws. The Bo staff was also slightly different in color and design.
• In Argentina Playful’s version of Cheetara had a dark orange staff, whereas the LJN Staff was a light Orange/yellow.
Glasslite
LJN, Playful & Unitoys COO
Glasslite & Unitoys Cheetara
Glasslite & Unitoys CheetaraValues as of Aug 2022
MOC w/Wilycat $650
MOC $70-$100
MLC w/Wilycat $70-$125
MLC $40-$60
Loose $40-$50
*there were very few of these figures available so the loose and MLC are selling roughly for the same price. The MOC Cheetara with Wilycat is extremely hard to find MOC and I found a few samples selling for up to $1300.
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PLEASE NOTE: All prices and values quoted on this site were correct at the time of publication based on the average value across several online and offline auction sites etc. The prices quoted ARE NOT an offer or solicitation to buy any figures at these prices.