Sometimes old friends stay friends. Sometimes old friends do not stay friends. Once Jaga’s closest ally, Grune the Destroyer turned to would-be conquerer before the wise champion of the ThunderCats defeated him in a tragic turn of Thunderian lore. Now, Jaga can enter battle for eternity as Grune join’s Super7’s ULTIMATES! line.
Grune is another one of those figures that has a long history with the modern ThunderCats line, even though this is his first action released under the ULTIMATES! banner. Like his former pal Jaga, Grune was set to debut way back during the Mattel days, so to say he has been waiting his turn is an understatement. However, much like the seal being broken on his prison cell on Third Earth, this former good cat is out of the bag and will start shipping very soon alongside the rest of the fateful series two.
Grune the Destroyer debuts as one of the tallest figures in the line (he is beaten by series mate Mumm-Ra the Ever Living, and the upcoming Snowman of Hook Mountain), and is an imposing form right from the get-go. While he will likely not get as much focus as Mumm-Ra or Tygra here, he is a pretty sharp figure all on his own. He instantly makes the current Jaga figure even more relevant as they fit the timeline together, so while Grune has managed to make himself a threat to the current team, his historic battles are just a well-represented by this figure.
Like I said, Grune is a very tall figure compared to most of the rest of the TCats ULTIMATES!, and he has been rendered faithfully here. He comes with a bevy of accessories (the most of this wave’s figures) and some of the crucial items give you the ability to swap between his villainous and heroic looks. So, you get the standard chest armor and head with one fang for the bad guy look, but you also get an alternate armor set with the ThunderCats emblem and a head with both fangs for his historical heroic look. I appreciate that both version are able to be created here, and if you have an expansive ThunderCats display, you might be going for two of these to represent both looks/eras.
Grune also gets his patented mace, along with two spiked knuckledusters, which might be my favorite accessories of the set. Thanks to the alternate hands, he can hold everything correctly, and there are options for up and down, and side to side movement. His hand pegs are a bit loose in the sockets if you do not plug them all the way in, so be mindful when you make any swaps. You also get the important broken hilt of the Sword of Omens, as well as his prison seal in both standard and broken looks.
For the most part, Grune’s production quality is pretty good, but there are few things that are unique to him, as well as some quibbles that are common to the wave. Again, his paint applications are solid overall, but like his series mates, just not as crisp and we saw in series 3 and 4 from the current factory. Also, his hips are a little loose and not as well obscured by the trunks as we saw in previous steps of production. This last part isn’t horrible, and with the darker color of the trunks it all kind of blends in, but as a general rule, the ThunderCats ULTIMATES! figure have better-fitting trunks/hip coverings. I am not sure if this change causes the hips to not be as tight as the rest of the series two figures either, but precise posing will take a little more work. Also, I have seen people comment on the knees not aligning or being assembled incorrectly, but that is not the case, you just have to make sure the pinless joints are correctly aligned.
All that said, I think this is a good figure of Grune, and I am enjoying having him do battle with the noble Jaga. It is hard for any of the other figures to keep pace with the very impressive Mumm-Ra, but Grune is a solid effort overall. I wish the hips were a little stronger/better covered and the hand pegs with tighter, but other than that, this is a good representation of The Destroyer and I glad to have him in my collection now. He is shipping very soon alongside the rest of series 2, so be ready for the seal to be broken!
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: Fwoosh
