This guy saddened me. I was really hoping I was being too hard on the Cybertron line but after the first two, I don’t think I’ll be getting anymore. They don’t even come with cool comics anymore… just a crappy excuse of a map.
Vehicle mode:
Thundercracker is probably the best-looking fighter jet to come around in a long time. Aside from a few minor details this looks like a real jet you’d see at your local air show. It’s not a real jet however, just a hybrid of a few different jets. It has two rudders on the tail and 6 horizontal wings, yes, I said six. The front two are superfluous and made of soft rubber. A waste of effort. The only obvious robot parts are the arms on the bottom side. They are situated between the thrusters, which are the best-hidden legs ever on a non-diaclone jet. The paintjob is a little… I don’t know. I guess they had to do something and since jets are usually gray they might as well show off the seams with orange… black or silver would’ve just looked like ass. The missiles attached to the wing are a nice touch; two tone detailing was a surprise. Some of the joints don’t line up well, like where the legs attach to the underside of the wing and the spring-loaded missile launcher.
The key:
Crap… need I say more? O.k., I will. Total crap. This thing is gonna get lost faster than any other non-transforming accessory (missiles for gen. 1 guns) ever has, at least they’re universal so all you have to do is keep one to work them all.
On Thundercracker the key pops open the compartment that houses the only functional missile. The section opens like the canopy where the pilot would sit. It messes up the whole aerodynamics of the jet. Go mach 3 and pop in the key and you’re gonna see some damage. In robot mode it does the same thing except now the missile launcher is his arm so opening it is unnecessary.
Transformation:
Harder than Vector Prime, a 3, but not as hard as an Alternator. Designers used several good ideas but the transformation is also the main reason why the robot mode sucks so much.
Robot mode:
Nice legs, nice feet, nice head, nice right arm, and nice coloration… BAD BAD BAD BAD left arm. I don’t even care that it’s so big and awkward… it just sucks! We’ve dealt with big arms before, Shockblast and Bonecrusher, we’ve dealt with arms that pop loose, Bulkhead and Slugslinger, but damn, putting both on one figure... if I were Thundercracker I’d say “Whut the $#@ is up?”
Overall:
It’s a shame that the vehicle mode is so good. There are those that say, “display only in vehicle mode,” if I wanted to do that I’d buy a cheap ass jet! It’s a transformer! I think of this guy as the RID Smokejumper to Energon Starscream. The next robot that uses a similar transformation should be good but skip this one.
Reviewer | slugpitcher |
Date | July 27th 2005 |
Score | (5 out of 10) |
Reads | 6695 |
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