Combiner Wars Thundercracker

Coming along with Wave 3 is our retool of Leader Jetfire, Thundercracker! A very proud moment for him, having Starscream be his repaint for once.



Thundercracker is a heavy retool of the Jetfire mode. The new tooling gives him a new chest, new shoulders, new head and new wings. He comes rather packed with accessories too, in lieu of Jetfire's booster pack and mask, Thundercracker comes with a (rather large) set of null rays, bringing his gun-toting total to 7, featuring 2 leg cannons, 2 smaller cannons, 2 null rays and 1 spring-loaded hand-held gun.



He has 5mm ports all over his body, so there's quite a few display options with his cannons. One may prefer the smaller arm cannons of Jetfire, still included, over the massive null rays.



The figure is based on Guido Guidi's designs for the Seekers that were most prominently featured during the Ongoing Era of IDW comics. Due to the nature of the retool, quite a few features are lost, such as the shoulder vents, but all in all I think it is a very impressive attempt at bringing one of the best G1 Seeker designs ever to a big figure. However, I really dislike his head-sculpt. I don't find it particularly accurate to either the design, comic or G1 Thundercracker in general and his face just looks bizarre and awkward. Considering how fantastic all the rest of the new tooling was, its a bit of a disappointment. Another minus is the lack of red on the wings when seen from the front in robot mode. Its a shame that the transformation leaves the detail on the back, making his wings look a bit dull.



Legends Thundercracker is a notable comparison to this figure, as he is a toy based entirely on the same Guido Guidi design, albeit at a small scale. Thanks to not being a retool, he is far more accurate to the design, but I don't fault Hasbro in trying to use the design twice, as I really do love it.



A simple yet satisfying transformation turns Thundercracker into a jet, which far more closely resembles the original design. In jet mode Thundercracker looks perfect, with the wings better resembling the dog-loving robot we know and love and giving a great scale to a character that is usually delegated to Deluxes.



The guns all have storage in jet-mode, albeit the hand-held gun's storage is a little awkward. Like in robot-mode, the amount of 5mm ports all over Thundercracker give a variety of options for display.



In comparison to Legends Thundercracker, Leader Thundercracker looks much closer to the design then his robot mode does. The new wings really pull off the look and the colors are quite fantastic.

All in all, Thundercracker is fairly cool addition to the Combiner Wars line. Its really nice to finally get the Seekers in a larger scale and I think that the new tooling really shows how a few changes can really breathe new life into a figure. I do recommend him, although I don't think this guy or the upcoming Starscream will be for everyone, considering their rather large size. I'll finish it off with some comparison photos! Sorry my lightbox is tiny, so a lot of the pictures aren't perfect due to fitting a Leader in with others isn't easy for it!









Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the rest of Wave 3 of Combiner Wars!

 

might paint a red face on mine... looks great.

 

I love your reviews. Shame about the face on this one. I agree that it's a real oversight.

 

WHOA!!

much..MUCH better than I anticipated...dammit...I dont want to buy these seekers..but I might.

I really like that blue. Nice head...LOVE the wing..

And the null ray weapons...WOW..yea..Ill get this

He looks like a thug. PERFECT. The shoulders really do alot there.

 

excited for this and starscream... they'll be nice additions to the collection.... maybe even further repaints for acid storm and sunstorm??? as well as skywarp. The face kinda bothers me..... its like they tried... but got lazy towards the end...

 

I really don't get what's wrong with the head.

Otherwise, I think he looks amazing in both modes! I'd be all over him if I had the money or space for Leader-class figures...

 

Just not a fan of the face-sculpt, to be honest. Its a personal thing more then anything I can definitely understand why people might like it, though.

 

Bought on sight.

And every single one of those guns except for the null rays are getting chucked into a bin.

 

You guys are crazy. The face might be the best part!

 

Looks super sharp! I'll pick this guy up, though I may do some weapons re-allocating after that.

 

Best review and pics I've seen for this thing so far, thanks for posting! When I get mine I might keep the small black guns on the forearms in jet mode and put the big hand held gun under the wings, with Jetfire's handheld gun on the other side.

 

Starscream Gaga, thank you for your reviews - clear and to the point information accompanied with beautiful pictures   thoroughly enjoying them!


By the way, I don't own either version of this mold, but I think you can pull out his feet a bit further, making them less stumpy-looking. I remember this was a pet peeve for me when I first saw the Jetfire figure, but later found out that you can do this.  

 

The feet can indeed be pulled further forward as they're on 2 joints.
Not the best pic but it's the only one I've done so far.

 

You are both very nice! Thank you!

And no I didn't know that! Jeez I've had Jetfire for ever and had no idea! Thanks for the correction, I might go back and redo the photos when I've finished the others.

 

Looks good but I guess I'll wait for Starscream (maybe).

 

Thanks so much for this review! If you don't mind me asking, how does this mold compare to Leader Jetfire?

 

I think the biggest, and really the only, failings of this toy are the complete lack of red on the front of the bot mode and the glaring omission of the shoulder vents. Those could have easily been designed to snap into the depressions on either side of the head, and I'm hoping a third party comes along to save the mold, as I'd love to have even more Seekers to add to my collection. Reprolabels can fix the red problem with some labels for the wings and shoulders. But look at the group pic of all the Thundercrackers. This guy is the only one lacking red of some kind as well as shoulder vents, which I feel are pretty characteristic of every incarnation of the Seeker including the design this remold is meant to homage.

 

The initial pics of the figure made him look like he had an eye of knowledge. The scale for the robot mode is bonkers. Seekers should be smaller than Prime.

 

Some easy 3rd party upgrades kit can make some side vents for this guy.

 

Because jets are smaller than cab over trucks...

Anyway, the jet nozzles behind his head do a fair impression of the seeker shoulder thingies. The last thing I would want is additional partsforming kibble.