Post by CkRtech on Feb 14, 2005 1:18:17 GMT -5
Veteran Decepticon?
As I sat down down and starting thinking about Thundercracker, I realized "Wow. This guy actually had a pretty harsh voice." Could he be considered the grizzled veteran of the Decepticons? If he was - he wasn't really played up as a major soldier. Then again, John Stephenson (voice of Thundercracker) would later provide vocals for Kup after the movie. So perhaps they waited for his veteranesque voice to hit with the Autobots after ushering out his first character in Transformers: The movie. Thundercracker quickly lost "talking time" on screen after the short first season. He was often seen with Skywarp - the two of them shared many a (small, minor, not very noteworthy) mission together.
Side shoot -
It is hard to read a tec spec and say "this is how <Transformer name here> was." Many times, the tec spec has nothing to do with the actual character in the cartoon. It might closely resemble the comic, it might resemble the cartoon, or it might not resemble anything at all. This is a major point that goes for all Transformers of the G1 time period and possibly beyond. I decided to touch on this in the Thundercracker review because his review marks somewhat of a "G1 Transformers Reviews: Season 2" for me. Thundercracker's tec spec describes him as:
"Not totally convinced of the Decepticon's cause." But I don't recall him shying away from a battle in the G1 cartoon.
There are many incarnations of character creation for Transformers - Tec Specs, cartoon, and comics. I mostly relate to the cartoon. However, sometimes it is easier to relate a comic representation or a tec spec description to a non-living toy. I think the magic that G1 Transformers created for me mostly came from the cartoon & that is why G1 is the primary thing that I collect in the wonderful, wide world of toys. Playing
with toys back in the day was fun because it used and developed your imagination. If you knew what a character was like from the cartoon, you essentially had a "base mold" to work off of as you brought them to life.
Back to Thundercracker -
He rounds out the original big three of the seeker jets. Of course, if you try to create a parallel of "big three" for this trio, you get the three stooges. Nothing really worked very well for the seekers when they tried to work together, but the difference in personalities helped lay a firm foundation for the internal Decepticon conflicts created from the start of the series. Thundercracker tended to have a slow (that's ironic...), delibrate "matter of fact" approach to things.
I didn't have Thundercracker as a kid. I probably didn't think much of him as he was almost a background character in the show. (Especially in the second season) If I wanted a jet, it was going to have to be Starscream. Twenty years later I figured out how hard it is to obtain a Thundercracker in the exact shape you want ...because there are so many variations!
Toy Facts
(First a side note - Did you notice that the 1984 catalog picture of the seeker jets actually removes the wings and puts them on the other side of the fuselage for robot mode? Look. They are upside down.)
Thundercracker rounds out the last of the "straight repaint," first year seekers. He had many variants across the world. Almost too many to keep up with without a guide. (More on that later) He is a nice shade of blue (well...depending on which one you get) & the stickers give him more of a grey tone.
Disappointments
Again - aside from the toy itself, it would have been nice if Thundercracker had seen more screen time in the show (just like SKywarp should have). As for the toy, the “eye stickers” would have to be traded in for painted eyes & the wings would have to sit higher on the back so Skywarp would look more like he did in the
cartoon.
Collecting Thundercracker: (modified from Starscream)
All those pieces that make up the toy make it look really neat, but also make it hard to complete! Other than actually having all of the pieces for the Thundercracker toy, there are many other small facts which hurt you when trying to piece together a Thundercracker (And more so than most other seekers!). The molds were changed quite a bit as time passed, and a piece from an early mold might not work with a later mold.
For example, the pegs on the wings changed in size and therefore don’t fit properly into the fuselage. The peg size of the horizontal stabilizers and vertical fins also changed. This makes things really hard as the body, horizontal stabilizer and vertical fin all have to be from the same mold to fit together correctly. Usually, the vertical fin and body don’t have trouble connecting together. There are countless other variants, but no other changes should affect him much.
A specific thing about Thundercracker were all the different shades of blue out there for him. Trying to piece one together with photographs off of ebay is futile. You are pretty much better-off buying him "all
together" the way you want with one purchase. Have a look at this page: www.geocities.com/futuristgroup/vquanda.html It is a VERY good page for breaking down Thundercracker variants.
One of the most important things to check when buying a seeker is swinging belly syndrome. Transform Thundercracker into robot mode and see if his head/cockpit piece stays in its resting place. Make sure it doesn’t try to fall backwards - leaving his stomach sticking out in mid air and his head thrown back.
Look for stress marks or breaks on the long missiles. Check paint on the metal piece of the body. There is quite a bit of surface area to cover on that section. Make sure there aren’t any chips or other dings in it. Thundercracker's metal piece is harder to notice dings on then Starscream because of the neutral gray color as compared to Starscream’s red color.
Also – give him a little shake. See if any pieces fall out. With all those different peg sizes, you want to make sure somebody hasn’t mismatched parts on him.
There is no G2 version of Thundercracker.
The copyright for Thundercracker should be located on the outside of his left leg. The rubsign is located behind the cockpit on the left side of the plane.
Accessories – the landing gear will probably cost you the most money. The long missiles go for about the same. It is hard to order parts online because you have to make sure you know which peg size to order (for wings, stabilizers, etc), and the seller has to know what you are talking about. This makes it kinda tough.
No chrome involved with Thundercracker, but there are some fake chrome laser guns that can be attached to his arm. They look pretty cool, but are indeed fake.
Thundercracker is a must own. The original three seekers has great historical significance to the Transformers toy line as well as the original cartoon. Round out your collection with a Thundercracker.