Transformers Cyberverse: Thundercracker

While the Transformers Cyberverse series may not be my favorite line, I have found myself purchasing more of it than I originally thought I would partially due to the selection of characters and lower price point. I'm a sucker for the Thundercracker character so this was an easy purchase for me. Finding it at a local Ollie's discount store for $5 was the icing on the cake.

Thundercracker is part of the Warrior class of toys...basically a deluxe. It's the same mold as the original Starscream as well as the Acid Storm figure. As far as I can tell there are no changes made to the mold for this release. That said if you didn't like those toys, then I don't think you'll care for Thundercracker.

The mold itself isn't that bad. While we have seen better versions of the classic Decepticon seekers, this mold looks OK. Yes, it's a simple design with a simple transformation. Yes, there are parts of the toy that are hollow. What hinders this mold however in my opinion is the action feature. Dubbed "Lightning Slash", the top half of the body can spin around in a full 360 motion. This makes it hard at times to line up the torso straight as the top wants to drift to the left or right at times.

My only dislike of the vehicle mode are the tiny rear vertical fins. They are there, but they are so small that it's easy to miss them. This to me throws off the look of the jet mode a little. I'm fine with the colors used. Some may not like the brighter shade of blue, but if you've been buying Transformers for a while then you'll know that Thundercracker has been just about every hue of blue over the years.

If I weren't a Thundercracker completionist this would have been an easy pass, especially since there are so many better versions of the character out there. The Siege toy was a pain in the butt to transform, but is the far superior toy...then again the market these two toys are aimed at are not one in the same.

Transformers Arms Micron: Thundercracker (exclusive)

If you haven't figured out by now, every time Hasbro or Takara Tomy release a new Starscream toy it's inevitable that we'll get a repaint out it. Sometimes it seems they like to make us collectors frustrated as they'll release Skywarp and Thundercracker to different markets. Being a fan of Thundercracker more than the seekers in general, this can be really frustrating. Over the last few years I've been lucky as it seems Hasbro has released the various Thundercrackers here Stateside, while Skywarp was exclusive to the land of the Rising Sun. Not the case for the Prime First Edition mold used for Starscream.

Skywarp was released as part of the main Arms Micron series in Japan, but Thundercracker was the limited exclusive this time around. Only available at a few shops (Yodobashi Camera & Yamada Electronics), Thundercracker underwent some slight mold changes and was given his own Micron, a silver chromed version of Balo. You may remember that Balo originally came packaged with Skywarp. The box used for Thundercracker is very similar to the rest of the Arms Micron series for this size toy. The red stripe down the side of the box however was done in red foil and looks really sharp in person. I've always been a fan of Takara Tomy's packaging and this one doesn't disappoint.

As with other Arms Micron releases, the back of the box has an action shot of the figure and his Micron along with a "table of contents". If you are wondering, yes, Thundercracker comes with stickers you must apply if you want him to resemble his G1 style look.

I took the liberty of applying most of Thundercracker's stickers before I taking pictures for the post. Most of the stickers are rather easy to apply and look great...especially the red chrome wing stickers. The blue plastic used has a slight metallic look and is quite beautiful in hand.

The toy itself is basically the same as the First Edition Starscream, but does feature some new tooling underneath the wings. Gone are Screamer's missiles and replaced with some sort of pods...or are they bombs? Whatever you want to call them, they have Micron ports to hold Balo or any other Micron figure.

It took me a while to warm up to this mold, but now it's one of my favorite Prime toys. Overall Thundercracker has a great looking robot mode, however I wish the jet's gold canopy was better hidden. I'm guessing that is why Starscream's canopy was painted black.

While I like the look of the bombs in jet mode, I kinda miss having the missiles attached to the forearms like Starscream has. True, you can attach some Microns to the arms, but it just doesn't have the same effect.

I don't think of Thundercracker being the same sly and conniving robot that Starscream is, so the smirk on the face just doesn't fit the toy. It would've been nice to have received a new head, but it's not a huge issue I suppose.

 

I'm not sure what animal Balo is supposed to be. Is he a one eyed buffalo or is it a bull? Whatever the case Balo now sports Lucky Draw-esque silver chrome. He does feature a few small purple stickers to help break up all the shiny. As far as his alternate mode, the instructions show him either as a shield or perhaps a type shuriken. Ironically enough the instructions don't ever show Balo transformed into a drill as Skywarp's instructions show. Odd.

This was a no brainer for me. I will buy just about any Thundercracker toy. I even bought the Dark of the Moon toy *shudders*. I don't normally buy non show characters, but I had to make an exception for Thundercracker and I'm glad I did. Fun mold, beautiful blue color and a shiny Micron make for a great release. If you missed out, he shouldn't be too hard to find or too expensive. In fact, my good friends at Captured Prey have in stock as of today, 09/13/13 for only $45.00!