SDCC ’25: Mondo talks stunning Mumm-Ra figure and upcoming Ninja Turtles figures

This SDCC, I had the opportunity to speak with Peter Santa Maria (Senior Creative Director) and Hector Arce (Senior Director of Creative and Product Development) again at Mondo to learn more about their recently released ThunderCats: Mumm-Ra 1/6 Scale Figure, part of their ThunderCats line. Then we got into their newly revealed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle line, starting with Donatello. The two explain the ideas behind their Mondoverse concept and the design ideas behind designing these collectible figures.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Julian Lytle: Good to see you guys again. I saw you last October at New York Comic Con. We initially were in contact about talking about your really kick-ass Mumm-Ra figure. What went into making this insanely detailed Mumm-Ra figure? It captures, I feel, the entirety of Mumm-Ra in the original ThunderCats animated series. Even stuff that I didn’t remember. Also, what went into deciding to make Mumm-Ra after doing Lion-O?

Hector Arce: Yeah, so with Mumm-Ra, it was just like the same approach with Lion-O. We wanted it to be a celebration of the character, right? And whether that’s for us, that, you know, we all grew up with the show. The show was like the thing. And at Mondo, we have this thing called Mondoverse, which is similar to what we’ve been doing with Masters of the Universe, where we’ve been celebrating those characters, but doing something unique that only Mondo can do and giving it its own identity when it comes to Mondo and us being a very design-focused, very artist-driven company.

So when it came to Mumm-Ra, it was the same philosophy. Let’s make Mumm-Ra look badass. Let’s update some things. Let’s give them great sculptural detail, great paint application. And let’s pull accessories from the show that are like deep, deep cuts. You know, like a bunch of things. Like the little mask that he only wears it for like five minutes in the show. We just dug really deep and want to just pay homage and honor that show and say, hey, we’re fans too, you know, we love all this stuff.

Peter Santa Maria: At the end of the day, our Mondoverse lines are us reinterpreting the character through our points of view, keeping in mind the character’s iconography, history, and always trying to design something that feels like it’s for fans. You love this character so much; we want to imbue it with that love and give him the moment he deserves as a figure.

THUNDERCATS: Mumm-Ra 1/6 Scale Figure

Lytle: Do you have any future plans to make a figure of old, decrepit Mumm-Ra?

Santa Maria: Oh, you have to. We were even considering packing them in at one point, but it was way too much. But we definitely want to do that. To me, that’s the Mumm-Ra I think of so often. So he’s two sides of a coin; you’ve got to have it.

Lytle: Ma-Mutt! What? Like, that was a great bonus when I saw it the first time. I was like, “Oh, you got Ma-Mutt in there.” What went into making the pet in terms of sculpting that out? And I haven’t seen the packaging. I’m guessing it looks great to have Ma-Mutt on there. What went into deciding to throw that in instead of maybe, like, the set decoration of the dark pool or the sarcophagus?

Arce: Well, we have something called–we termed it internally and people now call it that externally too–but we got Mondo Buddies. Basically, every piece we love includes some sort of side character or character that’s important to the main figure. And again, a little bit of storytelling, you know, like, hey, if you know, and you watch the show, you know the IP, you’re going to get this. It’s also fan-forward; it’s for fans. So, it’s like a no-brainer. It was an instant right away. Ma-Mutt’s coming

Santa Maria: It’s just like, why not have a second toy in your toy? At the end of the day, Lion-O came with Snarf, and we have Cheetara here debuting at Comic-Con. She’s coming with Ro-Bear packed in with her. At the end of those three figures, you have six characters.

Mondo’s THUNDERCATS Mondoverse figures with debuting Cheetara and Ro-Bear

Arce: As we continue doing the Thundercats line, you’re going to see that. Everyone’s going to come with a small character [or] something.

Lytle: What are the different lines you have coming out of the Mondoverse? I see you have Thundercats.

Santa Maria: We got Master of the Universe, and we unveiled Ninja Turtles for the first time. It’s going to be in Mondoverse. So, 1/6 scale, Mondo’s interpretation, Mondo’s take on the Turtles, and our point of view. What we want to do with this line is pick up where our imaginations left off when those first ’90s movies ended, so the grit, the tone, the lived-in feel of those first three movies are so special.

I think our imaginations as children, thinking of what would come next, what would Bebop and Rocksteady look like? What if Krang were in this universe, right? We want these figures to be that, so what are the rules that we put on ourselves? We’ve been writing; we’ve written like essays for our concept artists. This is what we envisioned for this line. These are the parameters. You can only draw inspiration from ’90s aesthetics for accessories. Anything that Donnie comes with has to be something that he could have found. They have no money to buy stuff. So they have to be able to find it in the sewer.

And then Paramount blessed us with the ability to explore this crazy idea to the point where, speaking of Mondo Buddies, Donatello comes with two Mousers – we’re calling them the Mouse Bros. They have just encountered the new foot soldier technology, the collaboration between the new Shredder and Krang. Shredder’s got his ass whooped enough times with the street-level stuff, and so now you know he’s found Krang and Krang has made a deal with them, and he’s gonna give them that tech.

Mondo Mondoverse Donatello 1/6 Scale prototype figure

Arce: Krang was like, “Hey, stop abducting children.” Here are some robots. You don’t need me stealing TVs, man. Think bigger. Think bigger. You know, world domination.

Santa Maria: Exactly. So the idea is in our line, this first figure starts, and they’ve just faced off against those tech enemies for the first time. So he took two mousers and rebuilt them to be assistants. The one on his left has arms that were attached and flashlight eyes. We envision being like Donnie’s little assistant on the workbench, grabbing tools, shining a light in the dark sewer while he works, and then this one is like a little reconnaissance drone that he can pilot with a controller on his wrist. He’s got one of those scientific calculators attached here, a calculator watch, and a fanny pack. We’re like, this is still the ’90s.

These are essentially two original characters that Paramount allowed us to create and reintroduce into our lore.

Lytle:  So you have Metalhead.

Santa Maria: Yeah, so he’s working on Metalhead. He’s like, “Geez, we’re going to need some help if they’re going to have tech.” So in our universe, he’s building Metalhead. That accessory is a cool thing to have in your display, and we also see it as a teaser for the future. And so, all these figures will have something that comes with them, pointing forward. You know, Shredder, we showcased a holographic projection puck with Krang at the panel yesterday, which he’s using to communicate with. That’s just something we’re able to do, and it feels like we’re doing the “and one more thing” with every figure, pointing it forward, little by little. So it’s really exciting.

Mondo Mondoverse 1/6 Scale Donatello figure prototype with accessories and Mondo Buddies the Mouse Bros.

Lytle: So why Donatello first?

Arce: He’s the best turtle. We just love Donatello.

Lytle: Spicy take.

Arce: I love Leo also. That’s why he’s second.

Santa Maria: I’m a big Michelangelo fan, but we just felt Donnie allowed us to show off the world out of the gate and kind of set the stage. The other reason Donatello comes first is because every other turtle is going to come with a little piece of tech that Donnie made just for them. So, Leo, we showed off at the panel yesterday. He has a full ninja stealth outfit.

Arce: Shinobi style, so he can kind of be more stealth, and he actually follows Master Splinter’s teachings. He takes them very seriously and we imagine Leo being very into ninja movies come through movies from the ’90s. He’s watching Kickboxer; he’s watching all the martial arts movies like that.

Santa Maria: So Donnie’s gonna create something for him that’s going to help him be mobile and get around, so he’ll have traditional weapons and tools, but he’s also going to have an upgrade from Donnie. It makes more sense to have Donnie come out first.

Lytle: I like that you guys are building your own narrative for the Turtles with all the different versions of Ninja Turtles out there.

Santa Maria: Well, that’s the thing, currently that’s the thing we talk about all the time. There is no shortage of incredible Turtles figures. NECA has just done the Lord’s work with Turtles, and so if we were going to get into the Turtle game, we thought there was a responsibility to add to the community and do something that hasn’t been done. Something that only we can do because it’s a product of our imagination. Anybody else would interpret it their own way, and this is our interpretation.

Stay tuned to The Beat for more coverage from SDCC ’25.