Never in all my collecting life have I heard a knock at the door, discovered it was UPS, been handed a box from Big Bad Toy Store, and not known what in the friggin’ Hell it was. Seriously, this was a first. There was this real moment of anticipation as I cut open the package to see what was inside. It was like Christmas. But, you know, a good Christmas, back when I got toys instead of underwear. (I have to admit this is mostly my own fault. I would probably still get toys for Christmas if everyone I knew weren’t aware that I’ve already bought everything I want.)
But it was Prime Thundercracker! I didn’t even realize he was out. He’s a Japanese exclusive of some sort. So I guess whatever event he was attached to happened, and I didn’t check my Hotmail account for a shipping notice during the few days that it took for the package to arrive here.
I don’t know how keen I am on Skywarp and Thundercracker being exact duplicates of Starscream in the Primeverse. Starscream’s design is pretty individualized, unlike how it is in most other continuities. But at least Starscream’s “First Edition” Deluxe Class toy is pretty damn awesome, so that mitigates this unease somewhat.
Thundercracker has the same stickers as Skywarp, but in different colors. Thundercracker’s Mini-Con’s stickers, however, are different. Which is neat! What isn’t neat is that this chrome version of Balo is just an upgraded form of Bulo. I kinda wish he were a second guy. Instead, he just replaces a guy I already have. I’ve probably whined about this phenomenon before. Let me also whine about “Silver Metal” Balo’s chrome plating. It keeps mine from coming together well. His legs like to pop off because the chrome adds just enough extra coating to keep his parts from meshing properly. Bummer.
Now I’m excitedly waiting for Slipstream to arrive next year. The Transformers Prime cartoon is pretty light on worldbuilding, so I have to depend on the toylines to make me feel like this is a massive universe.
You could get one of the single release microns and give a different partner to Thundercracker to give him a bit more individuality?
Nice! I kind of have an… affinity… for Thundercracker. Guess that’s because he was the first Seeker I had as a 6 year old child, followed by Dirge years later. I’d love to get this version, but, it’s an import? And an exclusive to BBTS? Don’t know if I want to spend that kind of cash to add one more figure to my collection of “All Things Thundercracker.” And I dig the micron being a bull (since I’m a Taurus)!
Are ya adventurous enough to try a bit of paint stripper to get the joints loosened up? I’ve heard that the Micron’s limbs are fitted fairly tight and that taking them off is a chore/not highly recommended, but perhaps there’s a way to sneak some Klean Strip mineral spirit into the creases and not ruin the chroming? I know you’ve mentioned your not steady when it comes to fine detailed painting, so this may be in that sort of range and daunting, so just take my suggestion with a grain (or two) of salt…
Is there any word of TC being released in Cyberverse Commander size? That might sate my need of getting a figure from this line of him.
- a_o_t_8.
P.S. Yes, the addition of Slipstream would certainly end the “sauage-fest” of the current Seeker’s team. Lol!
and on the other side of the caring coin, is this Balo/Bulo thing more like Brutus/Bluto, or Darrin/Darrin?
It’s a shortening of the Japanese rendition of “buffalo” (“bafaroo”). I prefer “Bulo”, but the wiki is going with what it sounds in Japanese (it’s an , not the in the English word, which doesn’t exist in Japanese). I think it’s silly and inconsistent with the “l” and other name Romanizations on the wiki, but whatever.
Whoops, that wasn’t meant to be HTML.
*(it’s an “a”, not the “ʌ” sound in the English word, which doesn’t exist in Japanese)
Kind of surprised by the lack of World Building, especially with the Skywarp/Thundercracker toys. Take the extant Starscream, dump paint on him, new Seekers. Mind you, I understand more characters can be more complicated with the CGI (Beast Wars.)
You would think repainting Starscream into Thundercracker and Skywarp would be an easy way to add characters to the show since they would be basically just reusing Starscream’s animation model (maybe with an altered face). But I guess they like to keep the character count to a minimal and just kill more Vehicons.
Well, its not like they haven’t had their fair share of characters killed so far. I think, though, that this might be leading into a large number of new characters with the season 3 primer/season 2 end. Perhaps multiple Pirates trying to hunt down Cybertronians?
God I would go NUTS if Thundertron and the Star Seeker showed up! Especially if they had Wreck-Gar and his Junkions AND the Requiem Blaster still in their posessions. Too bad we haven’t seen anything about new Star Seeker characters in the toyline ><
Also they only killed the cool Decepticons. Didn't have the gall to kill any Autobot since Cliffjumper, totally played us for chumps with Bulkhead. And kept Airachnid in the freezer in case they would want to try to sell her HORRIBLE toy again. They went to the trouble of modding Cylas and Breakdown into one new animation model and didn't get more than one episode out of him. I'm still waiting for that disection to come up as some new human mind controlling tech. Then again we're still waiting for Knock Out to pull out some Synth En -.-
That’s it! It’s the lack of worldbuilding. That’s why I don’t care much for Prime. I’ve been trying to put my finger on it.