The second novel set in the War for Cybertron/Transformers Prime Aligned universe introduced a third faction of Transformers, pirates named Star Seekers, who roamed the universe angry that the Autobot/Decepticon war had ruined their homeworld. Seems pretty fair. The book strangely goes out of its way to avoid naming the leader of the pirate faction for the longest time, dropping familiar names for his crew, only to finally reveal the name of the pirate leader guy at the very end, super dramatically. …it’s Thundertron, a completely new guy with an underwhelming name. Weird implementation of subterfuge.
Hasbro seemed pretty super-excited about Thundertron and the Star Seekers. At the subsequent BotCon, they revealed designs for all of the Star Seekers and implied that these pirate guys would figure big in the future. So far, that’s only manifested in this toy for Thundertron.
It’s not a great toy.
I was excited for it because it was an animal. I love beast toys, and new ones come along so seldom. Plus, hey, a pirate, why not. But sadly, he’s kind of a mess. His robot mode is okay-ish with annoying shoulderpad things and his lion mode is pretty awful. There are some good ideas here, but they’re outweighed by the not-so-good ones. It’s neat and interesting that his robot arms double up on themselves to form only the biceps of his beast forelimbs. However, this means his lower arms and claws, which become his annoying shoulder pads in robot mode, are attached to the body separately. Pegging all this together results in stubby, immobile forelimbs.
Hey, remember the original Cheetor’s back legs, which looked amazingly awful? Well, this guy’s got the same legs. It’s one of those things I took for granted we’d never seen in a Transformers beast toy again, and certainly not on a Voyager Class toy, but here they are. The lion mode tries to obscure this arrangement with a pair of wings.
But the weirdest part is how the lion mode’s tail attaches in the middle of his back. Not from the top of his butt, but practically up at his shoulders. Do not understand.
At least since he’s a pirate, one of his robot feet is removable so he can have a peg-leg. The robot foot can peg onto his robot arm like a claw weapon. His primary weapon is just like the others from his size-class, a two-moded weapon that’s spring-loaded to stay in one mode. So if you want him to have a sword, you have to hold his weapon open in place. Unlike Magnus, there’s no tab to keep it in the second mode.
Yeah, I don’t really like this guy. I like that he’s a pirate lion and he’s a prose-only character, but he’s an awkward robot who transforms into a bad-looking, immobile beast-thing. I had the Japanese version, Leo Prime, on preorder, but I canceled that ‘cuz I don’t think I want two of this guy.
Is it just me or does the lion mode look a little like a Liger from Zoids? I think it;s the tail, wings, gold claws and color choice that are making me think of a Blade Liger toy I once had.
not just you. Definitely see Blade Liger.
LATE POST!
He should team up with Classics Grimlock.
Bleh, well glad I read this. I was lookin’ forward to ‘em and I so rarely read transformer reviews anymore. Seemed like Hasbro pretty much had these suckers down pat, but I was kinda burned with Knock Out’s disappointing figure, and now this one seemed like a sure winner….perhaps I’ll get back to reading reviews first before buying.
Unless it’s a Shockwave toy. Then I’ll just stick to my usual “buy the robot with the mono eye” tactics.
BUY THE ROBOT IF YOU WANT TO LIVE
Dang I wanted to like this one too. What’s with Hasbro and dubious design choices recently? Airachnid sacrificing actual arms and head movement for an opening cockpit, and Thundertron not having decent legs?
I also agree with the confusing concept of revealing Thundertron’s name all dramatically when it’s a new name and not all that impressive one at that. The novels are kind of a mess at times aren’t they? Who does the editing on those?
But I like the concept of the Star Seekers and hope to see more of them in the future.
It’s a bummer to hear this guy’s sub-par; in addition to the “reasons to want to like him” already listed, I find his color scheme appealing.
Maybe if he gets super cheap like that ’09-ish target-exclusive redeco of Cybertron Leobreaker did, I’ll snag ‘im. I got Airachnid for $3.70 due to some random sale at Walgreens last week, and for the price I don’t regret her.
Wait, does he have feathers? And what’s with the triangles?
All transformation issues aside, I don’t understand the design of this toy.
All things considered, I really like him. The beast mode is kind of mediocre, but the robot mode has quickly made itself one of my favorites. He can achieve some really nice poses, and the kibble doesn’t really get in the way of that. It might need to be moved a little, but nothing hindering or obnoxious in my opinion.
If only I had a proper cutlass-looking weapon and pistol for him…