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.

I swear I saw a mouse!!

Boom, Shaka Laca

Look in my eyes man u can't touch this

Seriously you didn't see that wall there!!

Again!!! Yah Damn Alcoholic get out of my cockpit.

Fans Project Cubrar and Tekour not Transformers generation 1 Dinobot Slag review

  As transformers fans, we all have those certain characters that we love and become a "MUST HAVE" no matter how crappily awesome they are. For me they are Huffer, Optimus Primal, Hound, Slag, and Thundercracker. So whenever a new toy released of them, I try my hardest to snatch them up. Be it knocking over an old lady to get to the toy isle at Walmart or taking the figure away from a kid at Kmart that figure will be mine. When I saw a picture of Fans Toy's version of dinobot Slag named Scoria I was pretty excited.

YAY!! Slag!!

 So after I changed my shorts. I saw the price and took a double take as reality came crashing down on my hopes and dreams!! No!!! Why does it cost the same as a good Ford Festiva or a mint condition Yugo???!!!!

Does that say $200?!? 

A Pinto with spinners is cheaper!!

 There was no way in Hades I could afford to pay that much all at once, especially since the plasma place put a ban on me when I went in those 8 times in a row that 1 week to get the cash for that MP-10 reissue! And my stock of dvd rewinders are just sitting there dammit. I guess no one rewinds their dvds anymore? So on to saving the cash I went. Like all great stories the plot only thickened when the 3rd Party GODS decided to SELL us MORE!! Dinobots started popping out of every 3rd party manufacturer's orifices like they were pimples on a horny teenager going through puberty. 57,000 Dinobots were all coming out at the same time!! 57 FREAKING THOUSAND! Then I saw HIM on the corner of some online retailers webpage! Fans Project's Cubrar !! And AGAIN I rejoiced like a little fat girl getting her first Eazy Bake oven to make her own dang snack cakes.....

Look its the 1257th Slag!!

 So my Scoria fund took a hit to the gut and took a dive ,like Manny Pacquiao will on Saturday, to buy Cubrar. Moltar of course got mad and screamed profanities at me but hey what the heck. I didn't feel so bad about doing so after I heard of all the issues the first run of Scoria had to be honest. Limp arm anyone? Hey it happens to every guy. Probably best to get a fixed 2nd run release anyhow. So here we go folks lets check out Cubrar and see if it was money well spent.

Beast Mode

"This ain't your Daddy's dinobot.  Seriously!  That cheap bastitch needs to buy his own and quit trying to steal mine!!!"

 Cubrar is a grey Triceratops with gold, red, and silver metallic highlights which really pop on this mold. This dinobot looks way better than Hasbro's Age of Extinction failed attempt for sure. This figure also seems to have more heft to him unlike the first release of this line Columpio. It only weighed 2 1/2 ounces more a small weight difference that gave it some oomph . See guys weight does matter!! Now it does have some changes that differentiate it from it's Autobot predecessor. First off Cubrar's head frill is not a complete frill. The empty space looks odd and gives the figure an incomplete feel. Something they could have covered with his targetmaster companion in some way if they had tried. Or should I call the guy a Weapon Master since he does change into an ax.

The fin was made this way for the robot's transformation so it is understandable. But couldn't they make a full fin split in half as well? A nice added feature is the flame thrower in Slag's mouth to match the Transformer's cartoon portrayal of the character.

"You SURE you want me to give you a light?"

“You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: 

Those with flame throwers, and those who burn. You burn.”

 Cubrar's tail has ball joints which enable it to swing from left to right.  One issue my figure seems to have is that in dino mode the back hips won't close properly, and as I would gather; all copies seem to have this issue due to a design flaw in the mold itself.  I suppose a dinosaur with a butt crack might be amusing, though, right?  FansProject was aware of the issue as they included a black and white addendum to the instructions to explain how to push the legs back to get that area to close. Unfortunately I couldn't understand it, so the hips stayed apart on my figure.  This seems to have been an issue with their previous release Columpio as well.  But hey, dinosaurs had butt cracks. Right?! How else would they fart? Right?

Heck when in doubt blame Obama

Yes Barry. Yes you did...

I did eventually figure out how to close the toys hips 2 weeks later with a combination of watching a video on Youtube, advice on facebook, and following the black and white paper included with the toy. Not 1 thing worked by itself mind you but a combination of all the 3 things got it to fit. I still can't explain how they worked per say, but hey it worked. Which will all go out the window when I transform him back to robot mode for this review. As for articulation this dino can actually move all over the place. It's head can move from side to side, up and down E t cetera Etc. It's beast legs are on ball joints so it can look like it's walking or running or stomping on Megatrons' head. Very freaking cool if you ask me. You can tell they really put the effort to make this a dinosaur that can actually move and not just a statue. Good Job 3rd world sweat shop workers!!

You Put your right foot in and you shake it all about!

Robot Mode

“Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while 

you shouldn't have messed with? That’s me.”

 Cubrar's robot mode rocks like a free Ultimate Cheese Burger with BACON!!! He has a strong visual connection to G1 Slag body wise. But still different enough to be his own bot. Face wise though not so much. His mug reminds me more of Snarl than Slag for some reason. Play wise this guy has all the right parts. Ball jointed arms and hips, swivels on his arms upper thighs and hands. This is almost to be expected on a lot of these 3rd party figures to be honest. Now one thing that has become a bad standard lately on Fansproject's figures is having to bend some of the parts on the figure to get it transformed. Folks say it won't break but I still get worried when I have to bend the plastic back to transform a $100 plus non-action figure. Just saying....

Weapons

Cubrar comes with 2 guns, a sword, and his ax Targetmaster/Weapons Master companion.

"Any one of you lilly livered, bow legged varmints

 care to slap leathers with ME?!?"

 I really like the 2 guns. they look bulky and tough. They look just like what a beefy character like Slag would carry. The red sorta translucent sword looks dangerous and bears the fear of the decepticon armada when it comes into the peripherals of any decepticon unlucky enough to toss it with this dinobot. Uhhh it lops heads off good....

No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. 

Why we fought, or why we died. 

All that matters is that two stood against many. That's what's important! 

Heck even the ax mode of the Weapon master looks good. Unfortunately Once transformed into robot mode though ........

That which does not kill us makes us stronger

 The target master really starts to suffer. From the front he looks really good. But once turned
baby got....... uhhh stick

Time to Flamenco! Aribba!

Help me!!! There is a triceratops following me!!

What the hell is sticking out of your back robo dude? Oh wait it's something that's wrong with all your peoples.

So we have sticks off our backs like Quazidodo. 

Deal with it

Yes folks that is a power ranger staff sticking out of their backs. And no it can't be pushed down any further. I don't know who designed these guys but they bit the pooch on these. They just seem lazily unfinished. Is one more joint really that hard to add, Fans Project?  Really?  REALLY?!?

Overall

 Ok, I really wanted to give Cubrar aka Slag a great sparkling awesome review. I tried to find no faults in him BECAUSE he is SLAG damn it. The best dang Dinobot EVER!! But at last my integrity got the best of me and I must be honest. Cubrar has issues...... Enough issues that Fan's project added an addendum to the instructions to rectify said issues. Sure it was black and white.... and you couldn't understand what the heck they were trying to show you. But hey they tried right? Shouldn't that weak attempt be more important than actual product testing? Or maybe hiring someone who can translate instructions into English?  Hmmmmm.... And what's up with the whole stick thing with the Weapon's Masters. Did the designer of those guys actually think that those would be a good idea? I can imagine a decepticon grabbing those handles while the little dude frantically tries to run for his freaking life. Wait..... Challenge Accepted!!!

Please stare into the circle!!

------ Challenge Completed!!-----------

Run Bob!! Run.

I got this one Fred!! Get closer for I can kick your Decepticon Butt!

 So I have to ask are they testing us to see exactly how much crap we will be willing to accept? Is that it? It sure feels like it with Cubrar and Columpio. Fans Project used to be on the top of the 3rd party food chain but these clearly show they are falling. I can't honestly say I can recommend Cubrar at full price. Wait till they hit the clearance sales folks. Lets hope their next attempt at a Dinobot ,Swoop , will be better. Now let's all go watch the Draft. Hopefully the Panthers don't choose some no name Lb named after Shaquille O'neal !!

You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around

That's what its all about!

"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful

This Slags good Side!! "

“It’s a hell of a thing, killin’ a bot. 

You take away everything he’s got, and all he’s ever gonna have.”

This town ain't big enough for the both of us, stranger!  

Hell, it's barely big enough for me!

Hell. I make technicolor look good!

So does the sepia make us look less lame?

Who turned off all the lights?

Anyone want to buy a DVD Rewinder?!?

This Review is Finally Over!!

Cubex Huff Not Hasbro Huffer or Takara/ Tomy Drag Review

Oh, the holidays!!  The time when people sell stuff to buy their loved ones stuff they should have bought weeks in advance.  Up for review today is a figure that, when first seen, made me very giddy.  I yelled onto the skies , "Finally!!"  Heck, I even danced the jig, and everyone joined in and rejoiced.

We Got a Huffer!! We got a Huffer.... We Got a Huffer!!

The figure was Cubex's Huff, an updated unofficial masterpiece style Huffer!!  Finally, a toy maker answered my constant posts of

" Why hasn't anyone made a Freaking Masterpiece Huffer !!??" 

See, writing 12 million English emails to Chinese manufacturers works. The Decepticons had failed in their evil plot to rid the transformer world of the heroic majestic Huffer!! I waited a while to get him because this company was "new."  Usually the first production run is chock full of issues on new company products.  I waited and waited, but last week I could wait no more.  A guy on Facebook offered one for sale at a lower price that had paint issues so I took the plunge.

 First off, I want to say Huffer is my favorite Transformer EVER made, so take that into account while reading this review.  Huff arrived in a sturdy orange and purple box.  Nothing too fancy, but hey, it's cool.  I collect Transformers, not boxes.  As I pulled Huff out of his box, I noticed his weight right away. He is a very light action figure, weighing less than 4 ounces.  3.65 ounces, actually.  The box and plastic tray he comes in weigh a combined total of 5 ounces. The light weight makes this figure feel very hollow and KOish overall. Was this a sign of things to come?  Let's see if this robot gets any better from here.

VEHICLE MODE

This figure is visually spot on to his G1 Autobot predecessor. If anything, he is missing the M on his door from his Microman toy line roots and his chromed arms.

Nothing like an Original!!

This is fixable with a set of $15.00 stickers, $18 if you include shipping, from Reprolabels.  Not sure I want to pay that much but hey, it's an option, right? Huff has see-through plastic windows.  It was made in this manner so that you can see Spike driving, although truthfully, Spike just looks stupid in Huff's cab.

Uhhhh.. We are in the USA Dimbo!!

Upon further inspection, a few issues came up.  The panel on the passenger's side of the cab has a gap that I later found out is quite an issue.

Is that why the rain keeps getting in?

Schtinkin tab never stays in place!!

The figure's legs that become the truck's hitch also fail to tab together properly.  When I attempted my "roll out" test, the tires bowed outward.  This is due to having no tab to lock the tires in place. The wheel problem caused the truck to pull left or right instead of going straight, so it only went a straight maybe a foot before ramming into the TV stand.  Huff also comes with an option that allows you to connect MP-10's trailer onto his hitch, but the raised hitch just looks off and strange and unsafe.

Are you sure this is structurally sound Wheeljack? 

Why did you move way back there for Wheeljack?

ROBOT MODE

OK here is where that open panel creates problems. Transforming Huff requires that you untab his hands from some hanging covers. Those covers are connected to a panel that has a small tab that connects to the side panel/doors of the truck. You can see it on the right here:

If only they were made of sterner stuff!!

Due to the opened gap, this doesn't hold the back panel properly and it pops right off. I later found out that the black panel near the middle of the vehicle must be pushed forward for the gap to lessen. The covers that hides this figure's hands are really thin and flimsy which feel like they will eventually crack.The front tires of this figure rotate into the cab section.  Unfortunately, the clearance is not wide enough, so the tires scrape against the top of the figure's chest. Due to the cheaper plastic that is used this is a very scary transformation point.

Dang it Ratchet my tire is stuck yet AGAIN!!

Locking the figure's arms into place is odd.  You have to move one piece up while holding another one down.  After 3 attempts, I finally got it right. 

As for the legs, my copy of this action figure has a pin that is protruding just enough that it scrapes against the inside of the figure's leg.  The paint on the toy's thighs have also scraped off which I was told is an issue with this toy in general.  I guess the manufacturer failed to seal these?

That's not a bad paint job! 

That's BATTLE Damage Noob!!

 I may just remove the paint from that area completely.  On the lower legs there is a panel on the inside that opens up to hide the back wheels of the truck.  These panels have a few issues as well.  There is a tab on these panels that have a clearance issue and hit the tires.  They must be slightly lifted to clear the tires which made me fear breakage.  Once they are folded down they also fail to tab in correctly and tend to pop back out.

I told you stop eating in my CAB!!

 Articulation wise this figure is really good.  His head, that is crooked, mind you, swivels a full 360 degrees and a pin on his neck allows the figure to look up.  The arms turn a full 360 degrees and an extra joint allows them to go out.  The bot has a double jointed elbow that is hindered by the mold of the upper shoulders that stop it from being fully utilized.  His hands open, close, and rotate, but when you do this it splits apart the lower arms.

I cracked me Arm!!

The figure turns at the waist and has hips that rotate a full circle in and out.  The minibot also has an upper thigh swivel and knee joints.  The knee joints are a bit back due to the transformation joint being a little difficult to set right.  The engineer's feet also swivel in and out.

Look Ma! I'm Dancing... Break Dancing!!

WEAPONS AND SUCH....

 Huffer comes with a few extras. A gun that is formed with the truck's hitch that slides into a silver gun/engine block piece.

Slide part A.2 into Part ZFXY-zer

 The silver gun piece has a tendency to come apart at the seems.  I may super glue that later, but hey, it looks cool.

Someone hand me the Super glue!!

Look at me Gun!! I said Look at it!!

 Also included is a second face that can be exchanged with the current one.  My copy has a piece of plastic flashing on top that I will eventually shave off with an Xacto blade.  Huff comes complete with  static hands that do not open.  He is what you might call a Kung-Fu grip Autobot.  I doubt I will ever use them.

"IIIIIIII ain't god no body!  Nobody cares for me....!"

 Wait what's that thing on the top of my head!! 

Wheeljack!!

OVERALL

Okay, as a Huffer fan, I may have been expecting too much, but this figure has made me sad. 

Yes, even men cry

Heck even Tobey Cried and cried and cried and cried....

Heck the cost of him made me cry.  Yes, it's that bad.  The flashy plastic pieces among the other flaws and issues make this figure very irksome.  I've had to shave plastic connector pieces from this figure like you would on a build-up model.  I can deal with the paint issues. I was made aware of them. But....this is a $75.00 figure ,$85 if you takes shipping in mind, that shouldn't have so many dang issues.  Is there no Q.C. done on these?  What makes it even worse is the fact that I saw several reviews of this figure where the reviewer stated this thing was the bee's knees or the best thing since sliced bread.  How can my lone figure be the only one with so many issues while theirs are "perfect"?  I know, I expect a lot for my money, but am I really the only one who has that expectation?  I really hope not. Okay, can I recommend it?  No, not at $75.00. Heck, I got mine for $65.00 shipped and even then I feel like I paid too much after playing with it. I am truly disappointed with this figure.  A figure I really wanted to love. Heck, even Oprah Winfrey is disappointed with it!

Yes, it's that bad.

Shoot that Decepticreep

What the heck another Crack!!

You step on the weirdest things on this planet.

I swear you eat in my cab again and I will shoot you!

Don't Cry Little one I'm sure he's not as bad as he seems!!

I could be sexy!

Kick the Human is my favorite game!!

Dang it Tobey the Review is over Stop Freaking Crying!! 

#Transformers