I was kicking myself for years after passing on the 07 Botcon exclusive set, so imagine my relief after Hasbro start releasing all the seekers from that set, such as Dirge, Thrust, and now finally TC. I'd love to get Darkwind someday but hey, I don't want to sound greedy.

 

I'm only slightly kicking myself for dropping $120 bucks on Henkei Thundercracker last summer. If I had known I could wait a year and get either (A.) the identical quality KO version or (B.) a Generations version, I probably wouldn't have spent it then. As it was, I was getting Gen. Thrust and Dirge and wanted to complete the core six seekers.

But I don't regret having Henkei TC, and I have a feeling that I will be picking up and enjoying Gen. TC too. No hard feelings.

 

Sooo.... What would happen if Thundercracker was the first figure using a completely new seeker mold? One that was better then the classics.

 

Then begins the long wait to complete a new Seeker set.

 

Thundercracker is the Classics seeker mold. Pics can be seen on the front page.

 

I think display wise It's a bit odd as Ramjet really does not match at all now as G2 Ramjet has been ruined buy his Botconification and silly faux labels he won't match anything other than the defunct Botcon Thrust & Dirge & Thundercracker now - they are going to get their own "I'm at the back of the shelf" - shelf now I suppose; and Thundercracker will only work with his metal flake deco if they do a brand new Skywarp & Starscream to match - otherwise only the Henkei ones will match properly as a set of 6.

Hasbro will always have a Skywarp, Ramjet & Starcream that don't match the other 3 Thrust Dirge & Thundercracker. unless they have another go at them. They should have released Dirge 1st anyway then Thrust and then Thundercracker so they don't have two blue jets sharing shelves like they may do ; And for all I know Hasbro might decide to make another colour of Starscream (black or clear or G2) and a Universe Ramjet. and then there still won't be a matching set.

Which will probably bug me if I didn't have the Henkei ones as well.
I know only having Cybertron mode Starscream, Thrust & Dirge as Voyager bugs me still. - I'd be more forgiving if the mould still worked and they made Sunstorm and Ramjet though. I am also missing the lack of a War Within Ramjet & Dirge too.
Non matching or incomplete sets bug me - and Thundercracker is fine in theory but on closer examination he's not a match, as a true match would be something that didn't quite ape G1 in it's wing deco - then it would match the Classics ones a bit more as they don't exactly copy the 1980's sticker patterns.

Taken as a stand alone toy though Thundercracker is very nice. I actually like the shinyness and if he gets his F-15 wingmates remade then i'd be even more happy to have him. I notice he still isn't actually the same colour as the original G1 toy (or Micron Legend Starscream Supermode) or as pale as the original cartoon version either.

I suppose the lightish blue is a compromise and at least he'd not be to similar to Dirge or G2 Ramjet then that way.

I suppose the "set" that many people will default with is : Universe Starscream, (not Classics), Classics Sky Warp, & Generations Thundercracker, But Ramjet seems the weak link to me in a potential set of 6 as he's not shiny and he's not got an exact G1 deco and he can't blag it a bit like Skywarp can more easily.

Ironically this Thundercracker just makes me want an Actionmaster colored one.

 

That is some intense nitpicking.

 

You know what that would be? Awesome!

I've really enjoyed the seeker mold and I'll gladly add Thundercracker to replace the one I painted myself, but the figures have gotten so much better since those early Classics days. It just seems like some of those early figures need to be updated to bring them up to the higher standard Hasbro has accomplished since then.

 

The only one in my house who will be angry (IF she finds out) is my wife. After Car Robots came to the U.S. as RiD and she had already let me buy most of the Car Robots stuff, she was pretty upset that we paid twice the U.S. retail price. Now that I'll be able to drop a 10-spot on a new Thundercracker, she's going to be pissed at having spent $70 on the Henkei version.

That being said, if I can get my hands on the new TC, I'll totally get it. I hate that TC is the only one of my seekers with chrome missile launchers. I could probably get at least part of my $70 back if I sold Henkei TC on ebay. Maybe all of it, if there is a hardcore Henkei fan out there who wants him.

 

OR you can use your Henkei TC as "Generic Decepticon Jet" from the G1 series