These are in a 7" scale, styled after the `80s cartoon of the same name. Regular retail is $13-$15 depending on the retailer, and you should find them at specialty stores like Media Play, or your local comic book shop.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael's Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

"Thundarr the Barbarian, Princess Ariel and Ookla the Mok"

These were the three main characters from the old television show. If you're unfamiliar, the show was set in a future earth, where civilization has been devastated. Thundarr is human, working with the Princess Ariel to defeat the evil wizards. It had a weird combination of magic and high-tech gear, and is the only show where the hero does battle with the Statue of Liberty. Really.

If you're searching for general info on the show, I suggest starting at the Thundarr site. They have message boards and links that will help you find whatever you might be looking for - at least if it's Thundarr-related.

Packaging - ***

The packaging is pretty much the same as the earlier exclusive. It's a little large and difficult to store for the MOCers, but the graphics and text are great, and it stands up to shelf wear fairly good.

Sculpting - ***1/2
The sculpts maintain the look and style of the cartoon, which means they are basic and simple in design. That's not a bad thing, and Toynami has added detail where it fits, like Thundarr's fur outfit, or Ookla's face. Big fans of the show should be very happy with the care and attention they've been shown.

Paint - ***1/2
The paint ops are decent all the way around, although there are a few minor problems. My Ookla had some face issues, with a little slop around they eyes, and a few of the lines on Ariel could have been a tad cleaner. But overall the ops are good, and the colors bright and consistent. That's extremely important with figures like these, where a single color can cover up a large expanse of plastic. Inconsistencies are far more obvious, and there's no problem here at all.

The colors also match the source material well, just as the sculpts did. That combination gives you a set of figures that look like they just stepped off the television screen.

Articulation - Ariel **1/2; Ookla, Thundarr ****
Ookla and Thundarr can kick all kinds of wizard ass with their many points of articulation. Thundarr has neck, ball jointed shoulders, wrists, elbows, waist, ball jointed hips, knees and ankles. Ookla is similar, but because of his mane of hair, his neck articulation is non-existent, and his ball jointed shoulders are double sided - there's a joint at the shoulder and the bicep. That means these two figures look great in dozens of different poses, and stand terrific on their own in lots of ways.

Ariel is a slightly different story. She has neck, shoulder, forearm, wrist, hips, and shin articulation, but all of these are cut joints except the wrists. Her neck has a little more motion than either of the two boys, at least forward and backward, but the rest of the joints have less range of motion. She stands fine on her own though, and the articulation doesn't affect the appearance of the sculpt.

Ariel also had an issue with gaping on the joints, particularly her butt (although I had some trouble on her forearms too). That hurts the look of a figure far more than pin joints do, and while anyone who spends too much time staring at the ass of a plastic figure (including Pamela Anderson) has greater issues than we can deal with here, gaping still hurts the overall score in this category.

Accessories - ***1/2

Now here's a category that all three did great in. Thundarr comes with only one real accessory (although you might count his necklace), his sword. Normally getting only one accessory would hurt a figure in this category, but this sword is designed so that the blade is easy to remove the blade from the hilt, and a magnet in the hilt can then attach to a magnet in the forearm of Thundarr, just like on the show! Okay, so it wasn't magnets that did the work on the show, but you get my point.

Ookla has four accessories - a bow with an arrow that attaches, and an extra set of closed hands. The hands pop on and off just fine, and make for lots of different looks. The bow and arrow fit perfectly into the open set of hands, due to a well-placed hole in one palm and a matching post on the bow.

Ariel has two accessories, both of them 'magic' powers. One is a fiery ball, the other a powerful looking swirl of energy. The cool thing about both of these is how they've been designed to fit on Ariel's hands. The both open up, and then snap back over her hands, sculpted to fit tightly. The look great on her, and didn't send her tumbling over when they were on.

Value - **1/2
Unfortunately, prices on toys are getting out of hand these days. These will be $13 - $15 each at most retailers, which means to have the basic set of three will cost you around forty bucks or more. That's too much, at least for anyone outside the serious fan to pay. Try to find them for around $10 if you can, as that would add another half star to a star to the value.

Overall - Thundarr, Ookla ***1/2, Ariel ***
These are some great looking figures, hampered only by the high cost that seems to be hitting the market these days across the board. They look fantastic, with excellent sculpting, paint ops and accessories, and the articulation on Ookla and Thundarr is great. It's certainly a great time for people that are big fans of the `80s!

Where to Buy -
Most comic shops and specialty stores will have the regular series soon. On-line options include:

- Action Figure Express has the set in stock for $45. Search under the Toynami section.