Review: #128
Name: Thundertron
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Prime
Year of Release: 2012
Size Class: Voyager (Wave 4)
Variations: repainted in the Japanese Prime (Arms Micron) line as Leo Prime
BEAST MODE:
Thundertron transforms into a blue lion type beast. It's notably a robotic lion (there's barely any organic elements).
The tail is weirdly situated in the middle of the torso, and it's made of a soft rubbery plastic.
The area around the head feels like a mess with the panels (and it doesn't completely obscure the head). However, the beast head is nicely sculpted and painted, it looks very good.
The beast mode is static, there's no real poseability. The forelegs are fixed, and while the rear legs can be moved around, it doesn't add anything.
The 'wings' serve to cover the insubstantial torso. While some people will find this to be cheaty, I thought it was okay and Thundertron looks great anyway. He features a variation of the Decepticon insignia, since he is part of the Star Seeker faction first seen in the Exiles book.
For a Voyager, he is a tad bit tiny. It's evident he has more mass than a Deluxe sized toy, but maybe it's because he has a beast mode, which just doesn't convey the illusion of a large size as well as vehicular modes do.
Finally, you can also store his gigantic weapon on his back, yeah... it looks ridiculous there but at least you can peg it somewhere on the figure. I think it's a good beast mode, it looks cool and it's solid, it just lacks in some play value.
TRANSFORMATION:
It's likely that a lot of people would not like Thundertron's transformation. At it's core, it's the dreaded "stand him up and fiddle around with the beast legs to become robot legs and beast arms to become robot arms". However, the designer has tried to spice things up, the legs are still as uninteresting as ever, but the way the arms form is unexpected and more complex than you'd expect. The downside is that transforming back to beast mode can be confusing since the arms twist in ways that you don't expect. Surprisingly, there's also a number of panels around the beast's head that you have to manipulate in order to form the robot chest and get the head out.
ROBOT MODE:
I'm going to say it, Thundertron's robot mode looks really awesome. I just love his waist skirt and the beast head that forms his chest and the way the beast claws form shoulder pads.
He's relatively kibble free, just the panels that act as skirt armor. He's also got the beast forearms hanging on either side of his head.
The head is odd, it's extremely long, and it features a beard. The crest folds down for transformation, and I find that it covers his already small eyes. I guess it fits the pirate theme.
Let's have a look at his huge gimmicky weapon. It has a bronze claw on one end and a clear blue sword on the other.
He's got peg holes on each forearm to place the weapon in. The claws don't extend out too much to look natural or formidable.
The gimmick of the weapon (and the reason why it's so large) is that you can morph it into a sword but pressing the blue piece. It also features a led light but it's not strong enough to illuminate the sword. This is also the reason he has clear blue forearms, it's so when you activate the gimmick, it illuminates his forearms as well.
What I like to do is just to rotate the weapon around so that the sword faces the front (instead of taking the spring out like so many other people do).
You can also store the weapon on his back, it uses the same peg hole as the beast mode.
The leg sculpting is amazing but you might have noticed that the sculpting is a little bit different for each leg (as well as the paint application is different).
The reason is that you can detach his right foot! Thus he now has a peg leg, just like a typical pirate. Personally, I think it's taking it a bit too far having a robot have such a leg but I'm sure many others out there think it's a novel idea.
Balancing becomes more of an issue but surprisingly, it's not too bad. He won't tip over that easily but precarious action poses are out of the question.
So... the foot looks like this... what to do with it? (Hint: it's already in one of the pictures above)
Turns out the foot contains a peg hole which you can plug into one of his forearms as a claw weapon (and a better looking claw weapon than the big electronic weapon).
Thundertron has an athletic robot mode. While it's less bulky than most Voyagers, it's still a decent size.
Poseability is quite good, he has excellent articulation and is sturdy on his feet. The only complaint I have is how restricted his head is, if it had the ability to look up, then it'll be perfect. Of note, the waist skirts are on balljoints, so it can be positioned to your liking.
A good robot mode. Initially, I was a bit worried about the shade of blue used, making him brighter/lighter than necessary, but I had no problems once I got him in hand. Oh, and the beast's tail just hands from his back which is a bit awkward.
OVERALL:
I love this toy, for some reason, it appeals to me, from the beast mode to the robot mode. I admit that he has some flaws, the transformation can be unnecessary tricky with the arms (but overall, is very simple in concept). I just think he looks great, and I heartily recommend the figure.
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