Thundercracker

Thundercracker (Decepticon Jet, 1984/1985/1986)

Japanese ID number: 24

Accessories: Left & right fists, 2 missile launchers, 2 incendiary guns, 2 rockets, left & right wings, left & right tail fins, left & right tail wings, landing gear

Originally a Diaclone ”Jet Robo Acrobat-Type”, Thundercracker transforms into a metallic blue F-15 Eagle fighter jet. His transformation essentially involves removing and reattaching most of his plane parts, though it is possible to do so without removing all of them, the way the instructions tell you to. As a result of his rather piecemeal design and the fact that neither mode uses all his parts, it can be quite difficult to find an intact original Thundercracker on the secondary market.
Thundercracker is armed with a pair of missile launchers that mount on his arms in robot mode, and under his wings in jet mode, with a pair of specialized projectiles for each. In jet mode, two short rockets are fitted into the launchers to make them resemble the drop tanks a real F-15 carries, while in robot mode, they are replaced with the long barrels of Thundercracker’s incendiary guns. The original Diaclone version of the mold featured spring-loaded firing mechanisms in these launchers; while this feature was removed for the Hasbro release of the toy, it was left intact for the Takara version, and all subsequent reissues.
While the earliest releases of Thundercracker were basically identical to its Diaclone predecessor, some small modifications were soon made to the figure which became the standard for all subsequent reissues of the mold. These included the hollowing out of the inner edges of his wings and the tips of his tail-wings, the lengthening of the pegs on his wings, and the addition of extra clips on the inner sides of his fist-gauntlets, allowing them to grip his arms better but creating a visible slit on them. Like all his 1984 brethren, Thundercracker gained a factory-applied rubsign in 1985, which was added to the left side of his fuselage.
Thundercracker ceased to be shipped to toy stores in 1986, but continued to be available as a mail-away item in the ”Digital Doom on the Highway to Destruction” flier packed with most boxed Transformers toys. He cost $10 and two robot points. He has been reissued several further times down through the years; this article strives to list each separate release under its own header.
The Milton Bradley release of Thundercracker in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain was bizarrely enough sold in Starscream boxes, with factory-applied Starscream stickers. Your guess is as good as ours. Meanwhile, the Italian release of Thundercracker (as ”Vampiro”) by GiG put him in a generic ”Distructor Planes” box, featuring names and tech specs for all three planes in the assortment.
Thundercracker shares his mold with his simultaneously-released teammates Starscream and Skywarp, and was later redecoed into Sunstorm. This mold was also retooled into Dirge, Ramjet, and Thrust.

Transformers - Generation 1

Hasbro

038976057827

1984

United States

5 in

G1

Blue Plane

2021-02-18 11:06:51

~$7.95

2026-01-09

2021-02-18 11:06:51