Kidworks was a toy company that produced a line of Miniature ThunderCats figures in the 1980s. Many of these figures were similar in appearance to their LJN Toyline counterparts and often came with their weapons and/or accessories. However, these figures did not have articulation or movable parts.
Kidworks ( H.K. ) LTD would later start being distributed by Butterfly Originals. At that point the back card would be reduced to only copyright text on black background. The Kidworks logo also changed on the packages from orange text accented in purple on a pink crescent background shape to yellow text accented in red on a black crescent background shape outlined in white. Butterfly Originals also would distribute the Kidworks miniatures in France later on with the logo CosmoCats logo and the copyright information translated to french.
List[]
Kidworks Figure card back
This list is for the America releases and the one for France. For figures there are four releases covered: white design on black front Kidworks logo orange/purple/pink are (kw), Black solid front Kidworks logo orange/purple/pink are labeled (kb), Black solid front Kidworks logo yellow/redf/black are labeled (bb), and french "CosmoCats" labeled (fr). Note that each one labeled was confirmed. Other than figures, the rest of the line had only one known release under Kidworks logo orange/purple/pink. The french releases are somewhat rare, so not much has been documented about them.
Thundercats Miniatures Figures
- (kw) (bb) Lion-O
- (kw) (bb) Panthro
- (kw) (bb) Tygra
- (kw) (bb) Hatchiman (sic)
- (kw) (kb) (bb) (fr) Tuska
- (kw) Cheetara
Mutants Miniatures Figures
- (kw) (bb) Reptilian
- (kw) (fr) Vultureman
- (kw) (bb) Ratar-O
- (kw) (kb) (bb) Mumm-Ra
- (kw) (kb) (bb) S-S-Slithe
- (kw) (bb) Monkian
- (kw) (kb) (bb) Jackalman
- (kw) (kb) Grune
Vehicles, Playsets, Accessories & Multi-Figure Packs
- Lion-O Transport Belt
- Cat's Lair Play Set
- Mumm-Ra's Crypt
- Snowman With Snowmeow
- Eye Of Thundera Play Set
- Weapon Pack for Miniatures
- Miniatures (4 Pack)
- Evil Mutant (4 Pack)
Foreign Market Exclusives[]
- Wilykit
- Wilykat
- Snarf
Distribution[]
- America "Kidworks" made the original line of the plastic statue figurines. The figure's packing cards had a white splash design or plain black on the front and pictures of other toys in the Miniature line on the back. This is the assumed default line.
- America also had some of the plain cardboard back version which on the back notes Butterfly Original (assuming to be the manufacturer) with distribution being handled by Kidworks. It's unknown why the two different release types were done.
- Canada the figures were also made by Kidworks, but distributed by Charan Toy. The figure's packing cards had a plain black background on the front and nothing printed on the back.
- Mexico's distribution was handled by "Plasticos IGA". They seem to be slightly different from the American, but overall are the same, except about all information on the card/packaging has been translated to Spanish. It seems to be the most straight forward translated of the releases in Spanish speaking countries.
- Colombia's distribution was handled by "Toysa". The toys seem a bit off in design in places. Some of them appear imported to Germany out of all places.
- Venezuela they licensed the figures to a company called "Unitoys". There tended to be a standard version of the figures and a minimalistic version of the figures in the line. The line also did WilyKit, WilyKat, and Snarf.
- Peru had toys distributed by "BASA", and the figures were paired up in two pack sets.
- Brazil they licensed the figures to a company called "Glasslite". They featured different casts of some characters and a limited selection of eight figures.
- Argentina they licensed the figures to a company called "Papeleria Francesa S.A." which has a PF logo on its items. They appear to be the same as Glasslite's releases. They featured different casts of some characters and a limited selection of eight figures.
- Much of Europe was had distribution handled by English importer "Acamas Toy", and other than a label or sticker, there seems to be no differences between their releases on the American counterparts.
- "Cosmocats", which is the French translated title for Thundercats, is pretty much the same as the American line that once again credits Butterfly Original and distribution of Kidworks. Figures likewise I assumed to be the same as the American releases.
- Italy's distribution was handled by "Litardi". They mostly follow the American releases, however the backs of the single figure releases are completely blank cardboard. They don't include bar codes.
Gallery[]
