Review: #644
Name: Thunderhowl
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Cyberverse
Year of Release: 2020
Size Class: Deluxe (Wave 4)
Mold Status: new
ALTERNATE MODE:
Thunderhowl transforms into a mechanical wolf, although the color scheme is noticeably different to his appearance in the cartoon, and this difference extends to the design in general.
This is a pretty bad alternate mode, you'll instantly see the robot fists behind his front claws. The figure itself is very hollow, all the limbs have obvious hollow points.
The proportions are off and it's very obviously a robot on all fours. Anyway, in terms of size, thanks to having a beast mode, Thunderhowl appears bigger than Deluxes that transform into vehicles, although he is very light overall.
As part of the first eight figures in the Cyberverse Deluxe line, he comes with a piece of Maccadam. He actually comes with the eighth and final piece, the head, which means you can now finally complete Maccadam!!
The mouth can open, and the head can lift up and down.
Thunderhowl also comes with an effects part, simulating blue lightning.
One cool aspect is that the effect piece can attach to his mouth, making it seem like he is breathing fire. Thanks to his beast limbs being also robot limbs, he's fairly poseable in this mode.
An average alternate mode. It just barely works but it is definitely a weak beast mode.
TRANSFORMATION:
For something that looks like the robot lying on all fours, transformation from beast to robot is a tad bit more involved than expected. Granted, the rear legs form the robot legs, and the front legs form the robot arms. However, the back of the beast is a shield which detaches. What remains of the back then splits in half to form the robot's "cape". In order to do this, there are several tabs and hinges, making it more complicated than it should.
ROBOT MODE:
Thunderhowl's robot mode has a knight theme and at first glance, looks pretty good.
There is an attempt to replicate the cape he had in the cartoon via splitting the wolf's back in half, but it fails quite a bit, and further more, it is situated too close to the body so it gets in the way of his legs.
The headsculpt feels very flat but it is a unique design.
In terms of size, Thunderhowl is approximately the height of a normal Deluxe these days, which is to say, fairly short and small, as well as hollow.
Articulation is fairly good, he has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles.
The feet on rotating swivels so it'll be rare to have both his feet flat on the surface in poses. He has wolverine styled claws as default weapons.
He comes with three accessories, the effect part, a sword and a shield.
Naturally, he can hold both his sword and shield, and this completes the knight theme and truth be told, looks pretty good overall.
Unfortunately, in order to have him angle the shield the right way, you need to fold the fist down. It's a bit annoying and a bit of a flaw, since the designer could have easily molded the peg of the shield to accommodate for this.
The shield can peg on his back for storage when not in use.
The effect part slots on top of the sword, which looks amazing. The effect part is made of a softer plastic.
His shins have joints in the middle for transformation and they are a bit annoying since they like to bend forward when position his legs, which you then need to straighten back up.
A good robot mode, it's not amazing, but not quite the disaster that he might have looked at first glance.
OVERALL:
Thunderhowl is not a great figure, and he is one of the weaker Deluxes in the Cyberverse line. However, he has a unique design, something we haven't really seen for a long time and that gives him a lot of novelty. Furthermore, he's required to complete Maccadam so on that basis, Thunderhowl is worth the purchase, even if only barely.
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