Toy Review - THUNDERCRACKER (Retro Reissue)
THUNDERCRACKER
Series - Retro
Sub-line - The Transformers The Movie
New/remould/redeco - Reissue of 1984-86 Thundercracker
Wave - N/A
Released here - Yes (Big W online exclusive)
Approximate Retail Price - $69
Approximate Size - 14cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle jet fighter
Main Features/Gimmicks - cartoon-inspired deco
Main Colours - see above
Main Accessories - Left & right fists, x2 missile launchers, x2 incendiary gun missiles, x2 rocket missiles, left & right wings, left & right vertical stabilisers, left & right horizontal stabilisers, x1 landing gear, x1 two-piece Megatron gun
This toy is a reissue/redeco of 1984 Thundercracker. Refer to cliffbee.com's G1 Thundercracker review if you've been living on Gobotron for the last 39 years. This thread will focus on changes made.
Pros
+ Cartoon-inspired colours (if that appeals to you)
+ Painted face and eyes > unpainted face with sticker. Even as a kid, I always felt that it was a shame to cover up the beautifully sculpted eyes on the G1 Seekers with that black and gold blindfold of a sticker. Having the eyes being separately painted is so much better. The tampographed insignia and wing stripes also look so much better than stickers. Stickers suck!
+ Missile launchers retain firing gimmick (if that appeals to you)
+ Fists can hold any 5mm post weapon/accessory.
Cons
- Stupid oversized stupid missilesThey just look absolutely awful. Yes, yes, we know that it's for child safety compliance reasons, but we also know that this could've been easily done by just disabling the launchers and giving us original sized missiles. Retro Hound comes with small G1-accurately sized missiles because his launcher has been nerfed. It just reeks of just even laziness but also inattentiveness that they haven't been bothered to give us G1-accurate missiles. Thanks, I hate it.
- The sky blue just doesn't look nearly as good as the dark metallic blue on my 1986 mail-away Thundercracker (shown here in jet mode). Although my Encore Thundercracker (shown here in robot mode) bares the non-metallic dark blue from the original 1984-85 Thundercracker that was sold in stores. My childhood Thundercracker was acquired in '86 with Robot Points, and I've always loved that dark blue plastic with the metallic flaking.
- I understand why they painted the nosecone grills on the sides of the head black; to emulate the cartoon, but it blends too much with the black helmet (above the face). It stands out better in blue. It also looks weird when you're not looking at Thundercracker's face from directly in front.
- The wings and accessories all attach loosely on my Thundercracker and are prone to easily falling off. This was the same with both Retro Thundercrackers that I handled when we were making the promotional video for Big W; so this is the third Retro Thundercracker toy that I've handled, and all three of them have had loose fitting parts. I suspect that it may be mould degradation given how many times that the G1 Seeker mould has been reissued in the past 20+ years.
Overall
Deco-wise, this toy is gorgeous. But I just cannot get over those ridiculously oversized missiles! As you can see in the last photo, I've stuck a spare pair of G1 (actually Encore) Thundercracker missiles into my Retro Thundercracker's launchers; and that's how I'm going to display the toy. Sure, it's a different shade of blue, but I'd much rather G1-accurately sized mismatching blue missiles over matching blue crutches. Recommended only if you really love this deco and either don't mind the cruch missiles or have some work-around for them.
Reply With Quote
