Transformers One Mans Obsession: Hasbro Transformers Generations Thundercracker Review for my Wife and Momma !!

Ahh memories of the past..... With Mother's day just passing it brings back the memories of all the idiosyncrasies that my mom drilled or "Lovingly Placed" into my mind as a child. It was Christmas of 1980 something when my Mommy Dearest created the love for my favorite decepticon of all time, Thundercracker. It was a cold 85 degree Texas Christmas day and I had opened the gifts of shirts and corduroy pants and a pink sweater that was 2 sizes too big that my Grandma gave me. And lets be honest here, my gorgeous young face showed the sadness I felt in my hearts of hearts..... I really wanted that pink sweater to fit ... J/K. I wanted TOYS damn it!!

Or was I?!?!

When suddenly, my mom pulled out that gift wrapped box in the Christmas wrap she bought on clearance the week before at Winns. "Look son, Santa bought you this!!" To which my Dad replied, "Who let that fat Bastard into my house???"

I ran to tear the box open. Rainbow Bright wrapping paper and parts of the action figure's box went flying all around the room. And then I saw it, Decepticon FREAKING Warrior Thundercracker !!!!!! I shrieked like a fat girl getting a triple chocolate cake with extra frosting!!

And from that day on Thundercracker became the one Decepticon I MUST always get. Great memory. Much better than the raisin bread one where I was told the raisins were actually flies. I have never eaten raisin bread again.........

When I met my lovely wife I had stopped collecting transformers for a long time already. Heck I sold all my beast wars toys to by diapers for my daughter. One day I told her I wanted to collect again and to my surprise she said ok. I told her the story of my mom's gift and how it meant so much to me. She smiled with it and called me a dork while punching my arm. A few weeks later she handed me a package that had arrived in the mail. I opened it and inside was a Generation 1 in the box Thundercracker she had bought off the ebay. A smile formed on my face from ear to ear and a tear in my eye. It was beautiful. I thanked God then as I do now for the two beautiful women he placed in my life that found it ok to allow me to be a dork.

So today in the honor of Mothers Day, we are going to review Generations Thundercracker. Generations Thundercracker is an updated release of the character from Hasbro / Takara. He was the last of the original 3 seekers released. At first it was doubted he would be released at retail as a slightly different version had been released in the botcon Timelines set in 2007. I was beside myself at the thought of having to pay $90 for a $10 figure. Yes folks the deluxe classics used to cost $10. Then a henkei release in in 2008. Hasbro 4 years later finally threw a raspberry towards Botcon in 2011 and released the retail version. I rushed out to buy him.

Vehicle Mode

Thundercracker is a F-15 dark blue fighter jet that looks aesthetically the closest of this mold run to the G1 predecessor it is based off. The color looks right no blue green color or sparkle plastic on this one folks. This jet looks sleek and fast. One of the best things about it is the fact that just about everything that would be considered "ROBOT" is hidden. No head showing on this one folks. Yes you can see the chest and waist but it doesn't really scream out robot. His rocket launchers do look over-sized for his jet mode. But overall win on this vehicle mode.

What I'm a Blue Angel dammit!!

Too Sexy!

Robot Mode

This robot mode screams out THUNDERCRACKER. He has all the right visual points. I just wish he had all the right articulation points. A mushroom caped shoulder joint would have done wonders for this guy. At the least it may have added some length to his arms that looked a little too small. The bot's hands also seem to swivel up into the empty arm on their own. It makes you wish for some type of closing hatch that would have been added to lock them into place. I know that's a lot to ask for a $10 toy but to be honest one of the 3rd party vendors should have fixed this already. Again the launchers are too big for this figure. They get in the way when you move the arms up. And yes I know they made 3rd party "Null rays" for him but I was never able to get them. Wish I could find them now. Even with the little nitpicks this action figure still works.

Kneel Before me!! Starscream!!

Yah, You Better Run!!

Freeze Turkey!!

The knees bend and the head does turn but it is hindered by the plane nose connected to the back of the robot head.

Overall

I love this figure. Even though it can be better it still works. I still consider it one of the best molds out there. If anything I do wish it was larger maybe voyager sized. Now this mold has been overused since it's release but it still works even 14 years later. I would love to get the 4 other releases of Thundercracker in this mold but at last I cannot afford them all. I can happily recommend this figure to anyone. Even if you aren't a Thundercracker lover.