The Ultimate Thundercracker Review!
The jumplinks for each review! Or you can just scroll...
|Diaclone Acrobat vs Rubsign Thundercracker|
|Diaclone Acrobat vs TraSformer Acrobat vs TF Rubsign Thundercracker|
|American Thundercracker vs Mexican Thundercracker|
(see also: Mexican Skywarp)
For the purposes of these reviews, It's probably best to list all the
relevant types of Thundercracker:
Japanese Diaclone
Italian Diaclone (called 'TraSformer')
Early Pre-rub US
Pre-rub US
Rubsign US
Mexican
Special thanks to Maz, who put together this absolutely huge review.
It's split into three parts for convenience. Enjoy the read.
And get some popcorn and soda before you start. You'll be here awhile :-)
PART 1
Diaclone Acrobat F15 vs Rubsign Thundercracker.
I recently got in a Japanese Acrobat F15, the first boxed Diaclone i've
seen in person and got a chance to inspect and it's so cool I just
want to talk about it anyway =)
Here are some introductory pics =)
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/TCCBox.jpg
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/TCCMain1.jpg
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/TCCMain2.jpg
Now, i would have much preferred to compare it to a pre-rub and
Japanese and Mexican boxed TF Thundercracker but none of those are
available to me.
Also, the pictures have not come out as well as i wanted so the
difference in colour between the two may not be as clear as i wanted
it to be.
Anyway =)
Diaclone Thundercracker. Wow. Absolutely awesome piece. The Japanese
styro layout of the jet is waaaaaaaaaay superior to the bubble
packaging. As Devvi has said in the past, the boxart on this toy is
lovely. A true display piece. Here's a pic of the insert:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/DTCInsert.jpg
This is only the second Diaclone driver i've seen, and the other one
i have has long since lost its magnetism. So this was a real novelty
=) I left the guy hanging to the side of my computer for ages! Also,
red is a particularly nice colour for a Diaclone pilot.
The jet itself is stunning. The colour is different from TF Thundercracker.
It has a...sort of...green tint to it. And it's a little more sparkly.
It is of course closer to a pre-rub jet than the rubsign jet I'm
comparing it with in the pictures. It has a totally smooth canopy
which I personally think is more pleasing to the eye, and it has
single-tabbed fists.
Something unique to pre-tf jets and Mexican jets, the nosecone is hard
plastic, not rubber. And in the case of this particular toy, it causes some
problems. The added weight of the
nosecone makes it hard for me to pose it in robot mode without the
chest swinging back. Also in jet mode, the nose doesn't always
stay up.
Something to note. This toy has no copyright markings whatsoever.
That'll interest some of you i know =)
The Japanese Diaclone Starscream has no copyright markings either.
The launchers......fire. MAN do they fire. Although nothing I've seen
yet beats the Stingray launchers I have. Probably because the
stingray missiles are smaller and lighter than all the others I've
had.
Now onto some accessory comparision pics. Diaclone on the left, TF on
the right.
The main wings:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/TCCWings1.jpg
A few clear differences here. Unfortunatley, again, the difference in
colour hasn't really come through in my picture, but the extra
sparkles do.
First thing of note that caught my eye only when i lined the 2 wings
up for the picture: The Diaclone wing (from top of pic to bottom) is
longer. For lack of better terms, the pointy bit is pointier.
The peg on the Rubsign TF wing is longer. Pre-rub TF wingpegs would be
similar to the Diaclone.
The decals on the TF wing are...solid? The Diaclone ones are
transparent and a good deal thinner. I don't really need to over-
explain this, the differences in the pic are clear enough i think.
On to the tailfins:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/TCCFins.jpg
Again, the differences here are pretty obvious. Mainly the material
and content of the decals differ here. The Diaclone ones are like a
thin film on the surface of the plastic whereas the TF ones are
thicker and more 'solid'.
The rudders:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/TCCRudders.jpg
This picture is of the underside of the rudders. Difference in peg
size (again the Diaclone peg is smaller) and difference in molding
seen in the bottom left corner of each rudder. The Diaclone has the 'solid'
variety of rudder and the rubsign TF has the 'hollow' rudders (Most pre-rubs
have solid rudders but hollow variants exist also with small pegs).
The launchers:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/TCCLaunchers.jpg
Ah. A pic where the colour difference is a little clearer. Of course,
the main thing here is that the Diaclone launchers really do launch
the missiles.
The missiles:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/TCCLmiss.jpg
In this pic better than most can the difference in colour of the two
toys be seen. When a TF accessory is placed with the Diaclone, the
difference stands out quite a bit more. See here:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/DTCRobot1.jpg
Can you spot the odd accessory out? ;)
Here is a scan of the Acrobat F15 stickersheet courtesy of Himawari:
http://www.legendsofcybertron.net/diaclone/Japanese/F15Acro/stickers.htm
Some closing thoughts. The Diaclone version to me is a very different
toy. It comes with more gadgets and bits, it looks nicer, the boxart
is superior, and it has a certain prestige about it. Plus it's the
original, and therefore...the daddy ;)
The TF Thundercracker however has a personality all its own. He has a
techspec, he's sentient, his whole existence is coloured by our TF
memories, childhood links and bonds to TFs and sheer love for the
whole Transformers...thing. He's Thundercracker, and everybody loves
Thundercracker right?
But all in all, i'd have to cast my vote with the Diaclone F15. It's
just a really really special toy presented in an excellent fashion.
At least, that's my opinion =)
Hope you managed to stay with me this far, and i'll leave you with a
nice pic =)
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/DTCPlane.jpg
PART 2
Diaclone F15 Acrobat vs TraSformer F15 Acrobat vs TF Rubsign
Thundercracker
The info is limited due to the Italian TraSformer jet being very
incomplete.
Ok, first some comparisons between the Japanese Diaclone Acrobat and
the Italian one.
Individual pic of Jap Diaclone (stickers unapplied):
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/DTCPlane.jpg
Individual pic of Italian jet (stickers applied):
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/TraSAcro1.jpg
Here's a picture of the two together:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/DTCvsTraS1.jpg
The colour difference is clear(for once!). The Japanese Diaclone
(left), as mentioned before, has a green tint to it and appears a
shade darker. The Italian TraS (right) is sporting rubsign-version
Thundercracker rear horizontal tailfins because this one didn't come with
any of its own. Which is fine I guess because the rubsign TC and this
Italian Pre-TF are identical in colour and sparkliness. Although the
rubsign version's peg is a bit too big and so doesn't stay on too
well. The hunt for small-peg/hollow Thundercracker tailfins
continues....
Some quickfire differences:
Jap jet: Solid plastic nosecone, long wings, very sparkly
Ita. Jet: Rubber nosecone, 'clipped' wings, not as sparkly and a
different shade of blue.
Both have smooth canopies and firing missiles, however the Italian
jet would have come with those orange and black ball/bopper missiles
originally. Also i assume both would have single-tabbed black fists.
They'd better have! ;)
The Japanese Diaclone jet has no copyright. The Italian one has the same
copyright as later pre-rub Thundercrackers:
*japanese writing*
(c) TAKARA. CO. LTD, 1980, 1983, JAPAN
There are some very early pre-rub Thundercrackers with no copyrights,
colours closer to the Japanese jet and they have the longer wings which
instead of being molded shorter were just 'hacked' and sanded (The pointy
bit anyway). Thanks to Himawari for this info.
Now, back to the main wings. Diaclone on the left, TraS right.
Here's a pic:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/DTCvsTraSmw.jpg
As you can see, just like with the Transformers Thundercracker wing,
the Japanese Diaclone wing is longer than the Italian wing. The
Italians made a number of changes due to safety issues. Missiles were
replaced with boppers, solid nosecone was made to flexible rubber,
and the pointy bit on the wings was shortened and rounded as with TFs.
As mentioned above, there are some Pre-rub Thundercrackers which have those
pointy bits
looking as if they've been 'hacked' and sanded .
This particular TraS wing appears too neat for that and so i'd say it
was molded this way.
Also, unlike the TF stickers, both these jets have the transparent
thin film-like decals.
An interesting fact: on both these jets, the "F15 EAGLE" white
lettering on the wings is brighter on the left wing as opposed to the
right wing. Most likely becuse the box window for both only exposes
the right wing, and so fading may have been experienced on both these
jets.
Both have short pegs on the wings (and have trouble staying on the
jet!).
Apart from the blue plastic colour differences, the launchers are the
same (i think the Italian one fires further)and the rear black
tailfins are the same. Pics of all later on...
Due to the distinct lack of accessories, I now move on to the
Diaclone vs TraS vs Rubsign TF comparisons.
The rubsign Thundercracker by itself:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/Thunder8.jpg
A picture of all 3 together (with TF TC sporting his own
tailwings/rudders/horiz...oh you know the ones..):
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/AllTC.jpg
Jap. Diaclone far left, then TraS, then TF. The colour difference
between the Japanese Diaclone and the other two remains clear I
should hope =)
A closer pic of the 3 jet bodies lined up:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/AllTCbody1.jpg
Main thing here which unfortunately isn't clear are the differences
in decals between the Diaclones and the Transformer. Obviously the
Japanese one has only factory decals there so nevermind that. On the
stickers eitherside of the canopy there is a red rectangle. Within it
there is "F15" on the Italian Diaclone but not on the TF. The
Individual pictures above will show the main sticker variations.
Underside of the 3 bodies:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/AllTCbody2.jpg
The same colour difference is in evidence, also the knee decals show
a small colour variation (between traS and TF). On the knee decal,
the rectangle at the top of the TraS decal is silver not red and
contains "84413".
Now, all 3 wings together, same order as before:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/AllTCmw.jpg
Not much to comment on that I haven't done before. The Japanese
Diaclone wing is indeed unique and to me, more pleasing (and
dangerous!) to the eye. Of course, that big honkin' TF insignia may
have something to say about THAT ;)
Longer wing peg on rubsign TF wing that helps keep it attached to the main
jet body better.
The differences in decals can again be seen. Both pre-Tf wings have
transparent thin film stickers and the TF sticker is solid and thick.
Same difference/similarity on the black tailfin stickers. But
unfortunately i forgot to take a pic comparing all 3 on the tailfins,
but since the TraS and Jap are the same, here's a relevant pic from
the previous review:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/TCCFins.jpg
All 3 launchers:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/AllTClaunch.jpg
Same order as before, mainly a pic for colour comparisons.
Now some fun facts.
It appears that other Japanese Diaclones have the same problems as
mine, which I had previously attributed to non-mintiness of my
specimen. EvilGrin's dead mint Diaclone jet also has a drooping
nosecone and the wings don't stay in too well on his either. Also,
due to the weight of the hard nosecone on the Japanese Diaclone, the
robot chest rolls backwards and doesn't stay down too well. Possibly
a design flaw?
Something of note, the Italian pre-TF comes with a pilot (same as Jap
one, red) which is something of a rarity for Italian Pre-TFs.
Another thing, the Japanese jet just feels a bit heavier overall. And
I like it =)
Conclusion
Jap: Beautifully unique, my favourite.
Ita: Basically a pre-rub Thundercracker with Diaclone decals and
possibly small peg/hollow rudders unlike Jap or TF.
TF: No need to say much, we all know this guy inside out =)
Well that concludes my review of these toys. It's just a crying shame
that the TraS was incomplete, and therefore so is my review.
If i ever get my hands on a complete TraS or complete pre-rub or
Mexican Thundercracker, I'll bore you all some more =)
Thanks to Himawari and The Weeter for some of the info.
Hope you enjoyed reading it
All the best
Maz, loves Thundercracker.
PART 3
American Thundercracker vs Mexican Thundercracker
The pics for the Mexican Thundercracker and the comparison pics are
finally ready so without further delay....
First, the Mexican Thundercracker by itself. We'll start with
packaging...
Here are pics of the front and back of the box respectively:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCboxfront1.jpg
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCboxback.jpg
The obvious first. Despite having the same name as the US, the
writing on the box is almost entirely in Spanish. The box colour is a
little different from US boxes too as will be seen in the later
comparison pics.
Looking at the boxback, there are no robot points (as with all Mex
TFs, instead replaced by a big purple block). Since Thundercracker is
a first series TF there is no "graph" on the Techspecs. These were
only introduced on Mexican TF packaging for the second series TFs and
3rd series minis.
The Mex TC's Insert:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCinsert.jpg
Could have been removed a little more neatly but hey =)
The main differences on the toy between US and Mex TC should be
becoming clearer as we go along.
Mexican Thundercracker in jet mode:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCjet1.jpg
The colour. Much much less sparkliness than any of the previous
Thundercrackers. The Diaclones were the most sparkly, followed by the
US TFs, and the Mexican has the least amount of sparkly. It gives it
a duller blue look and the blue is a tiny amount darker than US
Thundercracker although this may not always be visible in my pics.
Ok. It has no rubsign, no Mexican transformers do. The canopy has
rubsign TC characteristics in that is not the smooth type.
The wheels on the jet are not silver die cast as they are on Diaclone
and US jets, but instead they are black plastic. Something that's
unique to Mexican jets.
The main wings are the shorter type and instead of the hacked/sanded
look of some very early pre-rub jets, they appear molded shorter just
like rubsign TCs and Italian Pre-TF TCs. In the US and Italy this was
done for safety reasons, but in Mexico I don't think that was why it
was done...I'll come to that later.
Still on the main wings, look at the red factory labels. The US and
Pre-TF versions have a thick red stripe on the wings accompanied by a
thinner white stripe. Not so on Mex TC. The same thing applies to the
red factory labels on the tailfins. They're almost neon red. The
factory stickers also have a more paper-like quality to them.
The pegs on the main wings are very long, so in conclusion, the main
wings are closer to rubsign Thundercracker than any other version,
with the exception of the stickers. Or are they? Well, Diaclone main
wings are "solid" underneath but most TF wings are hollow (except for
the Skywarp wings Freds Workshop has). This Mex jet has solid wings
too. This point will become clearer in the later comparison pics also.
Onto the small horizontal tailwings (or rudders). These are the
solid/small peg variety which is a Diaclone and pre-rub
characteristic. Strange that this Mexican jet should have them.
The nosecone is hard plastic. And not molded perfectly.
Here's a closer look at it:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCnose.jpg
The tip of it has a little ball-like thing on the end which is sort
of off-centre.
Hard plastic nosecones are reminiscent only of Japanese Diaclones and
Kingdam knockoffs (of Japanese Diaclone jets). In Italy and the US,
the nosecones were of course rubber for child safety reasons.
The launchers on this toy don't work perfectly, but when they do
fire, they fire very far. A Diaclone characteristic.
here's the copyright:
(c) HASBRO 1980,1983.
japanese writing
(c) TAKARA.CO.LTD 1980,1983. *BLOCK*
The Block covers the "Japan" section as Mexican toys were
manufactured and assembled in Mexico.
Apart from the block, it would be a typical rubsign Thundercracker
copyright
Mexican Thundercracker in robot mode:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCrobot1.jpg
The lack of sparkly can be seen quite clearly in this pic.
The fists don't fit onto the arms too well. Especially the left fist
which had a tendency to slip off. These fists seem molded quite
badly. There are blemishes and extra bits hanging off them. Not large
bits but it looks like the bits on the excess plastic on the end of
the missiles when they've been seperated from the sprue.
Incidentally, the fists from my US Thundercracker fit perfectly on
the Mexican jet. The fault is with the fists. The fists are double-
tabbed. Another rubsign characteristic.
Now onto the comparison pictures. Some of the links you may have to
copy/paste into your browser
First the packaging.
Here's a pic of the rubsign US TF(left) and Mex box (right):
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCboxfront.jpg
The difference in colour between the boxes is clear here, and
obviously the US box has the Hasbro logo in the bottom left corner
whereas the Mex box has the Iga logo.
A boxback comparison between the above two:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCboxback.jpg
The techspec variation I mentioned above should be clear in this
picture. No graph on first year Mex toys and no robot points.
Just for fun, a pic of Diaclone TC box (top), US (middle) and Mex
(bottom):
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCvsDTCboxfront.jpg
Differences are obvious here. I don't believe that any of these boxes
have suffered sunfading, so the colour differences on the character's
boxart should be genuine.
Mex (left)vs US rubsign(right) in jet mode and robot mode
respectively:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCjet.jpg
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCrobot.jpg
The darker less sparkly Mex colour can be seen here.
Mex (left) vs US rubsign(right) main wing comparison:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCmwings.jpg
Here clearly the difference between the factory stickers on the wings
can be seen, the Mex has no white stripe accompanying the red stripe.
Both have long pegs. The Mex wing looks lighter here, but it isn't.
Fist comparison of the above two jets, mex top, rubsign US bottom:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCfists.jpg
Maybe you can see the more....messy Mex fist molding. Maybe not.
Rudder comparison:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCrudder.jpg
The Mexican rudder on the left as mentioned before is the solid/small
peg type and the rubsign is the hollow/long peg type. Lack of Mex
sparkly in evidence again here. The rudder is definitely a
Diaclone/Pre-rub TF type.
Tailfin comparison:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCtailfin.jpg
As with the main wings, you can again spot the difference in factory
labels between the Mexican and US jet. No white stripe on Mex.
Landing gear comparison:
http://cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTClgear.jpg
The Mex. jet is the only Thundercracker incarnation with plastic
wheels as the rest have die cast shiny wheels. The above pic
illustrates this point nicely =)
Launcher and Missile (Mex on left) comparisons respectively:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTClaunch.jpg
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTClongmiss.jpg
I have to say that the Mexican long missiles don't look very
straight. I was pretty sure mine were a little...bent? The second pic
supports this to a small degree.
Now some comparison pics including the two Diaclone jets.
Here's a pic with four main wings. From left to right: Japanese
Diaclone, Italian Diaclone, rubsign US and Mexican:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCvsDTCmwing.jpg
The two Diaclones have the clear thin film-like factory labels with
the "F-15 Eagle" lettering whereas the TFs have the solid-looking
factory labels. Again, only Mex has no white stripe. The Diaclones
(and pre rub Thundercracker not pictured cause i don't have one ;) )
have small pegs, but the rubsign and Mexican jet have long pegs.
Colour differences in evidence too.
A pic of the underside of all the four aforementioned main wings
(same order as above):
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCvsDTCmwingunder.jpg
Now you can see that only the Japanese Diaclone and Mexican
Thundercrackers have the solid section on the part nearest the peg
and the Italian Diaclone and rubsign TF have the hollow section. The
difference in sparkliness is also clear in this pic.
A tailfin comparison between all 4 jets:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCvsDTCtailfin.jpg
Again, the difference in factory labels is the main thing here. Thin
film-like Diaclone stickers with "F-15", solid TF stickers, Mex
without white stripe.
So here is a summary of the Mexican Thundercracker's characteristics
and what jet it has that characteristic in common with:
Hard Nosecone (Jap Diaclone)
Short mainwings (Italian Diaclone, US TF)
Small peg/solid rudders (Jap Diaclone, pre-rub TF)
Firing missiles (Jap and Italian Diaclone)
Solid main wings (Jap Diaclone)
Long mainwing peg (Rubsign TF)
Striped canopy (Rubsign TF)
Double-tab fists (Rubsign TF)
Copyright (Rubsign with exception of block so unique to Mex)
Plastic wheels (unique to Mex)
Factory labels (unique to Mex)
Colour/Sparkliness (unique to Mex)
As you can see, trying to figure out exactly which model of
Thundercracker the Mexicans based their toy on is no easy task!
Speaking to Morg recently, he reckoned that Iga received the molds
etc directly from Takara. Now, I don't think safety was ever an issue
for the Mexican toys especially when considering the firing missiles,
hard plastic nosecone and high lead content in the paint (obviously
not intentional). This makes the fact that this toy has the shorter
non-pointy US TF-like main wings very odd. And the Diaclone like
solid section underneath the main wing is even more confusing. Only
one TF wing has so far been found like that, and it was a Skywarp
wing. It could WELL have been a Mexican Skywarp wing then...
Other than the shorter non-pointy main wings and the double-tabbed
fists, this jet is quite close to the Japanese Diaclone.
The fact that the wheels are plastic is typical of the Mexican
factories cutting corners and costs (as seen in other Mex toys).
But what ABOUT the double-tabbed fists and the striped canopy?
They're rubsign TF characteristics, not Diaclone. Well, I remember
hearing that TFs first came out in Mexico in 85, and if that's the
case then these characteristics were no doubt copied from the rubsign
versions that were on sale in the neighbouring US at that time in
1985.
It appears that Iga took characteristics for this toy from all over
the place and not exclusively from Japan or the US. Plus they added a
few twists of their own.
In conclusion, an extremely nice-looking, mysterious, hybrid of a toy
with unclear origins.
And seeing as it's Thundercracker, I love it =)
As always, I like to close any review with a nice picture, so here
are all 4 Thundercrackers in one pic:
http://www.cheesygrin.homestead.com/files/MTCvsTCvsDTCjet.jpg
Hope you're still awake.
All the best
Maz
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(see also: Pre-tf jets
