Review: #843
Name: Thundertron
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Star Seeker
Line: Generations - Legacy: United
Year of Release: 2024
Size Class: Voyager
Mold Status: retool of Legacy United Thundertron
BEAST MODE:
Thundertron, based upon his Prime incarnation, transforms into a white and blue robotic lion.
Compared to the original Prime figure, he looks proportionally better, sleeker and more agile.
As a beast-former, he has the advantage of appearing to be larger than typical Voyager figures, although the mass is about the same.
The robot sword stores by pegging onto his back.
From the back, you can see how the rear legs (which become the robot legs) are completely hollow. It's a bit disappointing that this happens, and probably the weakest part of the figure.
He's very static too, there's no meaningful articulation in beast mode. The front legs are fixed into place. The mouth can at least open and close.
Nevertheless, he looks good even in this neutral pose, as he has very good proportions.
At the back, there is a Star Seeker insignia.
This version of Thundertron is part of the Star Raider set, and comes in a three-pack with Nightstrike and Calcitron.
A strong beast mode, one that looks very good.
TRANSFORMATION:
He transforms a little bit differently to your typical four-legged Transformer. At the very least, he isn't one where you just stand them up and straighten them. The rear legs do straighten into the robot legs. However, the front legs fold up into the shoulder pads, you then unfold the arms out from underneath the beast mode. Fold down the beast head to form the torso and pop out the robot head.
ROBOT MODE:
Thundertron has a good robot mode too. There are massive improvements over the original figure, including a much nicer darker shade of blue.
He doesn't have much kibble, mainly the huge shoulder pads as they needed to double up to hide the beast mode's front legs. As a consequence, he loses the wickedly nice clawed shoulder pads of the original though.
The head sculpt is one of two retools of the figure, and it is retooled to more closely look like his head from Prime. He even has an eyepatch here.
Size-wise, he's decently tall for a Voyager.
The other retool is that his right hand is replaced with a hook.
Just like the original, the right foot can detach and you give him a peg leg.
Surprisingly, giving him the peg leg improves his stability, and he keeps balances very easily.
Articulation is excellent, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrist, waist, hips, knees and one ankle.
For weaponry, he has a dark grey sword. It's thin looking... until you combine it with the detached right foot as a hilt guard, and it looks awesome.
Don't be fooled by the hook, it has a 5mm slot and he can hold the sword in his hook!
But more conventionally, he'll hold it in his left hand.
When not in use, it can store at the back of his waist guards.
He comes with Nightstrike, which is a redeco of Siege Ratbat, and he has two slots on his shoulder that allows you to perch him on Thundertron. It looks super awesome, and a great robotic equivalent of a pirate's parrot.
Despite the hollow legs, he feels substantial and solid.
A fantastic robot mode that has a lot of character.
OVERALL:
Thundertron, as a mold, is awesome. He has a sweet beast mode, and a unique and charismatic robot mode that embraces the pirate theme without going overboard. As a retool, if you already have the original, there isn't too many changes that would make him as worthwhile. Coming with Nightstrike is pretty cool though, and pairs up with him nicely.
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