Guest Review: Voyager Wave 4 Thundercracker (guest review by Justin Anderson) Rescue Ratchet Permalink: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Movie/Voyager4 CAPSULES: Thundercracker: Part of a redeco wave along with the G1-inspired Rescue Ratchet. A blue deco with a more G1-ish head while retail-friendly redeco Skywarp is absent this time around. Recommendations factor in previous mold ownership and color preference here as we're on the 3rd version of this toy. Rescue Ratchet: A generally less nasty color scheme on a good mold. Recommended if you don't have one already, mildly recommended otherwise. $15.99 on sale at Target. Previous Mold reviews: http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Movie/Voyager1 - Starscream and Ratchet http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Movie/VoyagerT2 - Starscream remold GUEST RANT: Thundercracker is Hasbro's concession for releasing Classics Thundercracker as a Botcon exclusive, apparently. Though in many areas, the G1 Starscream deco came out first, much in the same way that DC Superheroes Clark Kent was released before Two-Face, despite the body being meant for Two-Face. Packaging: Same as the other Starscream boxes, same inner tray. Co-sell is Rescue Ratchet. No motto or function, so supplied by reviewer. DECEPTICON: THUNDERCRACKER Function: Aerial Warrior Altmode: F-22 Raptor Licensor: Lockheed Martin Previous Name Use: G1, MW, Armada, Cybertron, Robot Heroes Previous Mold Use: Movie (non-G1 Starscream) Package Call-Outs: "Missile launchers attach to arms!" "6 firing missiles!" Motto: "Guns don't kill fleshlings, I DO!" THUNDERCRACKER lives on fear. Special materials in his vehicle body allow him to emit controlled sonic detonations that can be heard 200 miles away. Cruising along at Mach 6, he wants his enemies to hear him before they see him. He wants them to know he's coming, and cower in fear at their impending doom. Not as devoted to the recovery of the AllSpark as the other DECEPTICONS, he stays with MEGATRON because the evil leader allows him to indulge his chaotic tendencies. STR 9 INT 4 SPD 9 END 5 RNK 5 COUR 7 FRB 9 SKL 6 Avg 6.75 His bio follows more on the cartoon than the original tech specs, which portrayed him as a doubtful Decepticon. Here he's not interested in the AllSpark, but likes blowing stuff up. He also has a fuction to direct sound in any direction he pleases, but rather than using it as a distraction, he uses it as a personal fanfare to let people know he's coming. He's insane. All comparisons are against the first Starscream. Color Swaps: The launchers remain black, all other black bits become light gray. The outer shoulders, kneecaps and feet become black. The upper arms, elbows, missiles, arm rods, and upper leg assemblies become light gray. Everything else is a medium blue with metal glitter flakes. The translucent plastic is orange. The rubber finger bits are blue and the rubber nose tip is black. Paint Apps: The jet mode has a red trim with red and silver G1-ish stripes on the wings. Silver movie Decep emblems are on the tailfins. The kneecaps and ankles have gunmetal details, as does the tech stuff on the chest. Slver cockpit trim. The shoulders have a black/blue zigzag pattern along the molded lines. Black paint on the bottom halves of the inner shoulders, blue paint of a fairly decent plastic match on the outer shoulders. The shine on the head makes me think this is also painted over in black with a gunmetal face. Remolds: Same as Target G1 Starscream. NON-GUEST RANT: As usual, I fill in the gaps in the bio note. AUTOBOT: RESCUE RATCHET Function: Rescue and Recovery Altmode: Modified Hummer H2 Licensor: GM Previous Name Use: None by this specific name Previous Mold Use: Movie Package Call-Outs: "AUTOMORPH forearm cannon!" "Hidden axe!" "Roof rack converts to shield or combat stretcher!" [Aside: it's not a cannon, guys, it's a clamp weapon.] Motto: "It wasn't easy being green." Vanity is not a fault from which AUTOBOT RATCHET typically suffers. He is more concerned with saving the lives of his fallow AUTOBOTS than with what they think about him. He's never paid much attention to the decorations adorning his vehicle mode. However, after discovering the tendency for human rescue vehicles to be decorated in certain ways, he started paying more attention to his appearance. His new paint job helps him fit in, and allows him to help more humans and AUTOBOTS than ever before. Plus, these new decorations just seem more natural, somehow. STR 4 INT 9 SPD 6 END 9 RNK 5 COUR 10 FRB 3 SKL 10 Avg 7 Mind you, Ratchet's previous deco was perfectly legit for modern rescue vehicles, it's why they picked it in the first place. But the last line is, obviously, a callback to his G1 colors. Same packaging tricks as the original. Color Swaps: Clear blue replaced with a slightly darker clear blue. Tires, including spare, are still black, but all other black plastic has been replaced by medium gray. The lighter yellow-green plastic is replaced by a dark red, the darker yellow-green plastic is now white. Paint Apps: In vehicle mode, a red stripe runs from hood to fenders along the sides of the vehicle and then conents up in back. It has a white stripe long its center that goes into an EKG trace pattern. "AMBULANCE" is left white on the hood and doors (although they should have mirror-flopped the one on the hood). The clear blue plastic pieces are mostly painted over in white, okay color match. The headlights and lightbar are metallic blue, but the roof and rack lights are unpainted. Turn signals in front are orange. The toolracks on the sides of the roof are painted gunmetal, and the hubcaps are medium gray. The hoodtop grill is still black, and the windshield wiper well is also black now. There are no Autobot symbols visible in this mode. In robot mode, the face is gunmetal framed by red, leaving the "topknot" unpainted white. Still looks like a sumo pig. He has Autobot symbols in red on a gunmetal cross on each shoulder. There's no paint on the forearms or axe. The pelvis has gunmetal stripes across the top and red on the lower section. There's no other robot-specific paint apps. Other Notes: Well, this is the inevitable recolor mentioned in the previous review. :) No mold differences that I noticed. Overall: A decent G1-inspired recolor, although it could have used a little more paint in robot mode, and a mirrored "AMBULANCE" on the hood would have been nice. If you can find this on sale or clearance, or if you passed on the original, it's worth picking up. Dave Van Domelen, now to decide whether to just replace Autobot Ratchet with Rescue Ratchet and put AR in storage, or find room with G1 Starscream and Jazz on the other shelf.