Last minute Christmas shopping, even if it is literally for yourself, can often result in surprises. Take Thundercracker here for an example - I was at a local Pawn Shop for a MP Rodimus Prime that was cheap, but ended up being too broken for me to consider, even if it was only $80. Turns out at said Pawn Store, there was not only a 25% off sale, but there was also a very well priced figure. Walked out of there with a brand spanking new MP 52+ for $160 CAD.
So the new Thundercracker is built on the MP52 figure, which was of course used for the third kick at the can for Starscream. Not surprising, considering the origin of the toy to begin with. I was quite excited to add this to the collection, as I completely skipped the MP11, which itself was a notable upgrade over the original MP Starscream.
It's amazing when you consider that there have been as many Starscreams as there have been Optimus Primes, but there have only been two Megatrons.
Here it is in all its glory. The set is basically the same as Starscream, except it has fewer accessories. I believe the MSRP reflects this as well. What is interesting is that the MP52 series, along with MP Dinobot, came with a simple, but effective stand because they were basically needed for display purposes.
But the moment it's optional, it's not included. Even if it is the most expensive MP figure made to date - the Convoy 3.0 figure. It's kind of a slap to the face when when the manual refers you to use a part from another figure.
A licensed Boeing F15 alt mode, I don't think any of the MP Seekers have had bad alt modes. They've always been quite good, though to be fair they do have one of the larger vehicles to work with (by surface area). Like its predecessors, there are various "functional" parts, though I have no idea what that golden thing inside the nosecone is.
A pair of effects parts are included for use with the thrusters, which are simple, but effective..
Now I don't know about the 2.0 Seekers, but this new Seeker definitely has a messier undercarriage compared to the 1.0.I mean, it's not horrible, but it certainly very obvious which parts make up bot mode components..
Somewhere along the odyssey from Jet to Robot mode, you have Gerwalk mode. Now, while this is neat and at the very least is an homage to what Jetfire can do, I cannot recall this mode ever being used in the cartoons, and the G1 toys can't exactly pull this off either. So it's neat, but.. I got nothing.
When you're finally finished, you will end up with an admittedly very clean robot mode. As with most recent MPs, this is G1 cartoon inspired, and the lack of mechanical detailing on the bod is pretty good. As always, every twist and turn of this puzzle box has a reason behind it, so there's definitely some good conceptual work that goes on behind the scenes.
Face sculpts look great. Unfortunately, I can't unsee Starscream and to be completely honest I don't really recall Thundercrack exhibiting the wide range of expressions that Starscream did.
Articulation is where things start to fall apart. You'll notice that all the photos have Thundercracker facing one way torso wise. Did I forget to use a joint? No - if you haven't heard, this is the one of the few (if any) MPs that does not have a waist joint. They gave the guy a freaking ab crunch, but didn't give it a waist swivel. Considering what kind of crazy voodoo the engineers pulled to get Convoy 3.0 and Megatron 2.0 into existence, you figure giving this guy a waist shouldn't really be a problem.
It's disappointing, really, because the steps to convert from Jet mode are very ingenious. It's just that the ultimate payoff isn't that great, especially when the expectation isn't even anything that out of this world. On the plus side, arm articulation is quite good, and the head can actually tilt, but you will need to press the two spring mounted sections on the side of the head to allow this to happen.
Of course, you can attach the various energy blast effects to the figure to simulate gun fire, but as exciting as that seems, you're still basically only facing one direction with the body in all your shots.
Like Articulation, Paint and Build Quality JUST miss the expected mark for a MP level transformer. Most of the paint work is fairly basic, requiring basically a steady hand. It's only the stripes on the wings that are somewhat complicated, and of course, there's some visible blemishes there - no show stoppers, thank goodness.
Build Quality wise, it's again generally a good product. Panels fit together, thing slot and tab nicely. Paint rub was generally taken into consideration (there's one tab that I'm not sure about). There's not much die cast, but what else is new. But for whatever reason, the ankles and knee joints on my figure are really loose, so balancing the figure in dynamic poses can be somewhat of a chore/challenge.
So there you have it - the figure overall would have been pretty good, joints aside, if it wasn't for that one critical design flaw. I mean, they figured out a way to work in an ab crunch despite being basically one solid torso, but they can't work in a waist? In what world is that a good trade off? I mean, if you can only have one, at least have the one that every other figure has.
*Sigh*.
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