Thunderwing

Height: 12.5cm tall in Robot Mode, 17cm long in Vehicle Mode.

Articulation: 17 points in all- ball-joint head; 4 points each arm: ball joint shoulder, upper arm swivel, hinged elbow, swivel wrist; 4 points each leg: ball joint hips, thigh swivel, hinge knee, ball-joint ankle.

Colors: Molded off-white, dark green, purple, black and transparent orange. Painted metallic green, gold, black, blue and dark green.

Accessory: Drone, Missile Launchers with missiles x2.

Release Data: Released late 2010 at an MSRP of $11.99.

Author: RAC

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Thunderwing is so single-minded and powerful that even Megatron hesitates to get in his way. He is loyal to the Decepticon commander, but once he is given an order, nothing stops him until the mission is complete. All too often, that mission is the annihilation of a world that has defied the will of Megatron — a task at which Thunderwing excels.

The Marvel era of Transformers comics has a lot of things going for it that haven't really been tried since- leaders who are not some form of Megatron, f'rinstance. We've gone over the wonders of Darkmount/Straxus recently, and now Generations adds another Marvel Decepticon leader to the mix in the form of Thunderwing. Counting Bludgeon, who came out in early 2010, that makes three in a single year. (Yeah, he was an ROTF toy, but he was originally intended for Classics/Universe, so I have no problems using him there.) Maybe this year we can get Ratbat, Shockwave, and Scorponok.

Unfortunately I missed Thunderwing's stint as leader, short-but-memorable though it was. I came to the Matrix Quest storyline relatively recently, having been not buying TF comics when it originally came out. #74 was the only issue I owned that he was featured in, and it's not much of an appearance at that- though he does at least stop being dead therein, which is nice for him. In hindsight, I would have liked to see Galvatron fight Thunderwing since Furman likes to present both as vicious, nigh-unstoppable, and unhinged. In his IDW comics incarnation, Thunderwing was some kind of nigh-unkillable McGuffin that renders Cybertron uninhabitable. He's also gigantic, which means you'll need to break out the Legends or Smallest Transforming Transformers if you want him to be in (ha ha) scale.


Vehicle Mode

To begin with, he's not fully transformed in-package- there's a block in the center of the torso that swings up to cover his face, but they chose not to do that here. Thunderwing becomes what the package describes as a stealth jet, which comes with a small drone to approximate the original toy's combined Vehicle Mode form. It's a neat-looking jet, and in a toyline which has always been chock full of jets I can't think of anyone that quite looks like him. I know there are plenty other jet-TFs with cockpit details, but he somehow stands out to me, I think because his cockpit dome is particularly clear.

There's a zigzag motif across the back of the jet, and though this is most easily seen in the jagged edges of the rear of the jet it's pretty much everywhere. The folded-up feet remind me of Energon Starscream, but that's the only point of resemblence I'm seeing to any other toy. (Well, the Robot Mode hanging off of the bottom of the plane reminds me of Universe Silverbolt, but that's a not-exactly-uncommon Transformers aircraft affliction anyway.) There are landing gears on the bottom: two fold out of the shins and one out of the jet's nose, where it helps to hold the drone down when not in use.

The drone isn't quite a seamless part of the nose of the plane- which is to say, you can easily tell where the drone begins and ends. But on the other hand, the nose of the jet looks markedly incomplete when it's not there. The smaller wings on the nose of the jet belong to the drone- I want to liken it to a Komusai, for all the good that will do non-Gundam fans. There's even a small hatch on the bottom that has some of the main jet's zigzag panel lines. The missile launchers attach to the wings pretty close to the edge, but they pop off far too easily- the pegs are a bit shallow. With the launchers attached, he reminds me of the ship from Galaga. (I swear I've said that in a review before, but I can't think of which one.)


Transformation

In terms of transformation, Thunderwing is a really badass-looking Aerialbot, right down to the mini-plane backpack he ends up with in Robot Mode. There are a few surprises, like having to pull up the robot torso and swing down the hip joints to complete the transformation, but in the end he's very simple. Not quite Silverbolt/Darkwind simple, but simple. One touch I appreciate is how the nose assembly for the jet covers up its own hinge in Vehicle Mode.


Robot Mode

Thunderwing is of course based on his Pretender shell, because that's a much more interesting design and it's what he always used in the comics. But more specifically I believe that he's largely based on the comic version of that shell. Most of the artists who drew Thunderwing- Geoff Senior in particular -tended to even out the lumpy, organic aspects of Thunderwing's design. The exception was usually the face, which tended to remain pretty organic and ugly to reflect the Oni influences of the original toy. Here the face is a lot smoother, and the mouth picks up the zigzag theme from the jet, as do the black areas of the chest and much of the lower legs. The new face is from Don Figueroa's Thunderwing design for IDW's Stormbringer series- as are the wings on his back. However, the bulk of the other details are closer to the Marvel comic and original toy. The arms and legs are definitely G1 Thunderwing and not Don's design. He definitely looks different from most Transformers, though he no longer looks organic to me.

The head is a balljoint techically, a swivel functionally. Heck, I've probably had loose swivel joints that did more. The shoulder armor has the Gabthley Guns of the original, which makes forward movement of the joints a real pain. If you want to try anything like a brandishing-the-Matrix-over-your-head pose for him, you have to fold down his back kibble first. This is a serious oversight for a character who is probably best known for such a pose. Lateral arm movement is better, as the arms get level with the shoulders. There's an upper-arm swivel that functions as well as the kibble will let it, and the elbow is a single hinge that gets just a touch better than 90 degrees. There's also a wrist swivel that is unimpeded. As is the style currently, he has open hands with just a hint of the clawed fingers he was often drawn with.

No waist joint, but there's no way to really add one with this transformation and the way the torso is designed. The side skirt plates are hinged to get out of his way, and he can do a side-split without any serious trouble. The hip range is quite good in all directions and there are thigh-swivels right where the gold paint on his thigh-cables ends. (I guess the hip joints are unpaintable plastic?) The knees are roughly equal to the elbows, and he does have an ankle joint, though it really only repositions his feet ever so slightly. Still useful, but not by much. His feet are V-shaped, and can be a little trickier to balance him on than they might look at first glace. This also makes him half a hair taller, which is a plus since he's kinda short.


Accessories

-Drone

There's a nice level of molded detail here- the nose of the drone has a sensor panel or main camera in orange plastic, a series of intakes, some small guns, and the engine has a shape similar to the missile launchers' barrels. One of the things I'm most impressed with on Thunderwing is how he has a really strong design motif, and it's carried over to all his accessories. I only wish it did more- there's no real way to display it on its own, and it just sort of hangs out on Thunderwing's back in Robot Mode. I know there's no way it could transform at this size/budget, but combining with the missile launchers could've been neat.

-Launchers

I have been getting Hasbro missile launchers on various toys since 1992. They really haven't changed a lot. But of those launchers these are some of the more interesting. They continue the zigzags of the main jet, and there are a pair of static missiles molded onto the side of each. They can fit in Thunderwing's hands or on the wings to his Jet Mode, and can also be combined into a single weapon that looks pretty imposing. The pegs are a bit shallow for my tastes- it's too easy for me to pop the launchers out of the hands or off the wings.

One piece of advice: mind the triggers. I managed to fire one of these off and lose it so badly I had to go buy a second Thunderwing. This is due both to the launchers being decently powerful, and the fact that my home is a mess.


Closing Remarks

Even though Thunderwing is another jet with a robot folded up underneath, I'm willing to give it more of a pass than the Silverbolt mold on a couple points: it's not the absolute bloody simplest way to execute that idea, it's a neat rendition of the character, and it's not $30. It's a fun toy and a good looking toy, and except for the frustration of the missile I'm well-pleased with it. If it were some other character and so much care were not put into the styling and the likeness, it might rate lower, but being Thunderwing as it is, the figure is Very Good.

-RAC