Thunda PAWNCH (Apr. '12)

The original Falcon Punch.  Sometimes a figure's vintage presence is so strong that you gotta post the old commercial to really understand its magnificence:

Thunder Punch He-Man was my holy grail, back in the day.  I never had him, and I only held 'em once at an office of a friend of my Dad's.  Eventually I found out what building I had been in when that happened, and even to this day I think about Thunder Punch He-Man when I pass it.  Not like "OH MAN I WISH I HAD THAT" but it's just a passing thought. 

Anyway, as you can see from the commercial, you hear it here, but feel it there.  I'm talkin' caps.  Like the kind you put in a cap gun.  That's right!  An action figure incorporated caps!  The red ring kind, not the paper kind that the Robocop toys would eventually use.  'Course it's possible that He-Man wasn't the first figure to use caps, but at the time I thought that was friggin' top-o-the-line toy technology there.  I mean, in guns?  Sure.  But in a He-Man figure?  Friggin' crazy.

So he used caps to make a sound, and the story for the toy is that the punch is actually felt far away.  Like a damned GUN PUNCH.  Rocket punch without the fist, if you will.  Funny thing is that the part that really grabbed me was his translucent gold Power Sword.  I thought something like "MAN that must be important!"  Of course it wasn't; I mean, it's not even mentioned.  They change the color of that Sword faster than a jawbreaker in your mouth, but my imagination was already off on it's own and thinking of reasons for a golden Power Sword.

So I didn't get my hands on any Thunder Punch He-Man until April of this year!  He of course does not use caps (nor would I want him to) but they did a fantastic job carrying over the ideas of the figure.

This is my favorite part here: the caps would have gone in the backpack on the original figure, so the new one's backpack opens and you actually have a little fake cap in there!  I love that kind of attention to detail.  Technically it's pointless, but we're already talkin' about a toy here, so i'll take anything that puts a smile on my face.  The extra caps originally stored in his shield, so you can take the cap out and put is there as well.

The band on the front of the shield also allows the sword to be stored there, since you can't slide it in his harness and only one of his hands are open for holding things.

I always thought that was clever.  Even if it looks more like an energy sword this time around, and because of that, he may very well conjure it rather than store it.

Anyway, to replicate the technical "power" of the punch, they cleverly added a tranlucent, pale yellow "thunder punch" for his meaty fist!

This is the best addition to the figure, because without it he would be kinda boring.  This should be the basic idea for any figure with an action feature that would either get in the way or not be viable for the new line: find a way to replicate it like this!  He simply wouldn't be Thunder Punch without some sorta thunder punch, so if there aren't noises, then this punch effect is the absolute most perfect alternative!

Finally, of course, I got my sword!  Just as cool as I was hoping it would be.  I love the pale yellow; not sure why.  I imagine He-Man is using the pure power of the Sword now; it's so full of energy.  He's just stomping through the battlefield like a badass and punching people into space like Team Rocket blasting off again, and cutting down towers miles away from where he's just swinging his sword at enemies in front of him.  The badguys in the tower are like "AHHH OH GOD he's like five miles away, why is the tower falling?!"  and they go running, but are totally hit by someone falling out of orbit.

Anyway, this figure is awesome.  Favorite He-Man of the bunch.  Everything I was waiting for, but better 'cause now he's all articulated 'n such, and I'm at the right age for articulation to impress me and not just get in the way.

So those pics were new (hadn't taken any at the time) but I did do one thing...

Man, FISTO even steals the show in someone else's post!