NYCC 2014 Coverage - Hasbro Press Party: Combiner Wars, Leader Thundercracker

Thundercracker... That surprisingly works!

Is that Huffer in the corner?

While Thundercracker works well enough, I'm slightly disappointed. I would've liked to see a character who hasn't been in the Generations line yet.

Maybe Hooligan.

Thundercracker's a bit dumb. Though i'm liking dem aerialbots, the bucket headed one would look a great machine wars megatron/megaplex repaint

This does not fit in with who Thundercracker is as a character!

i just want that thunder cracker recolored as skywarp and ill be good lol

That Motormaster is incredible, what a perfect robot mode!

Huffer's kinda cute, but I have the Botcon one, so I don't need this one. Thundercrasker isn't all that appealing to me, and I'm still holding out hope for Superion.

Thundercracker almost looks like the legends class starscream blown WAY up! And I was really hoping for huffer to have his own mold... oh crap never mind about thundercracker I didn't read the description.

padfoo wrote:This does not fit in with who Thundercracker is as a character!

Ok, after looking at a larger image I change my mind. Its not bad looking!

Superion is shaping up really well, and that motormaster is amazing. Prime looks a little better in the box though what to do about his combining feature...can't let it go to waste after all. Now thundercracker...that is a really bce remold but the big question is, does it come with little doggy buster and his screenplays?

I am excited for 2015. Some really nice stuff coming. Which is good to make up for the atrocity that has been AOE. Other then getting 1 or two more that stuff cant get off the shelves fast enough for me. And I am sure many of you.

So much money saved !!!

I might consider Superion and Menasor providing 3rd parties fix all the Has-flaws. That new Belzeboss Slingshot is a good start.

I knew that Prime would turn out ok once we saw "Live" images and no the usual photo shopped crap. I can't remember the last time I said this but those boxes look really good. That might be the best packaging I've seen in awhile, maybe since Cybertron.

Poor Huffer, I really don't think that Prime mold needed another redo. The chest gimmick just doesn't work. Maybe if this came before Nemesis Prime.

I can't believe I'm going to say this but no, just no to Thundercracker. I'm still not 100$ on Jetfire but even with all the retooling that just doesn't work. I can't believe I'm saying that. First it should be Starscream and second is this the third seeker? Starscream, and Skywarp are sharing that Legends mold so this is how they're doing Thundercracker? The null/whatever rays aren't even in the right position on his arms, they should be higher.

I look forward to Funpub finishing up the set of Leader seekers. I can see it now:

2015 - Hasbro releases Thundercracker, redecos it as $tarscream. Takara follows suit but does Starscream and Skywarp in overly metallic decos.

2016 - Hasbro releases Ramjet as end of line filler for RiD. Takara does as well, but also gives us Dirge.

Botcon 2017 - The first ever Leader figure in Funpub's history is released: Thrust. No one else ever releases the mold again.

It's a shame that out of all the awesomeness the new Legends line has produced they skimped on Huffer and in turn, Pipes. Maybe they'll make up for it with a Brawn/Outback or better yet, Salvo/Barrage and Zaptrap/Chop Shop repaints of Bombshell and Shrapnel.

Kinda shocked that we're getting Thundercracker first instead of Starscream (again). Had this been Starscream, would've absolutely flipped.

Totally down for Huffer. But we desperately need more Decepticon Legends dudes.

Packaging for Combiner Wars is looking purty. Looking forward to more sneak-peaks!

AW MAN. I was hoping Huffer (and by way Pipes) would have gotten their own original mode for a Legends toy. Funny too ,how someone on a podcast joked about turning Jetfire into a decepticon and boom.

i wonder if Thunder cracker is able to "super link" with others?! wait if it is able to "super link" the first ever combiner made out of Screamer, sunny, thunder cracker, sky-warp, acid rain and maybe the cone heads will be Born

Ebonyleopard wrote:AW MAN. I was hoping Huffer (and by way Pipes) would have gotten their own original mode for a Legends toy. Funny too ,how someone on a podcast joked about turning Jetfire into a decepticon and boom.

If you listen carefully, we accidentally predict lots of outrageous stuff. I think on 102 which was recorded before the RID cartoon to CN news, Jon predicts exactly that event. I swear we don't have inside info (98% of the time).

Slightly back on topic - Huffer has had the worst luck with getting his own mold:

2007: Repaint of a Cybertron toy
2010: His own mold! But it's yellow, looks nothing like the original character, and by a technicality PCC is in the movie-verse.
2011: Pitched Takara MP Huffer to be included with MP-10 is canned.
2012: Redeco of a retool
2015: Redeco of another Optimus toy

TC, my favorite Seeker! This is awesome! Might he have folding landing gear? Skipping the big thruster pack might give them headroom to make such an addition.

Edit: Upon closed inspection, looks like the same exposed gear setup. Bummer.

The Optimus version doesn't look all that bad. I misjudged it based on the original pics released. Will wait for the Tomy releases though............

strange...

I don't like Cracker being that big at all.. I am loving the Aerialbots, Stunticons and Prime though.

After seeing so many people complain about how OP was going to be such a hot mess, it is nice to see a few people admitting they were wrong. It's not very often that you see people being that humble on this website.

EDIT - At the same time, I guess I should apologize for assuming that OP and Motormaster were just going to be headswapped repaints. The entire upperbodies look retooled - chest, abs, shoulders, and biceps. Sorry for thinking you just were going to take the lazy route, Hasbro.

bring it

I swear one of the early photos I saw of CW Motormaster was a re-tool/re-paint of Classics Voyager Optimus Prime. Am I just high? This looks remarkably different!

ZeroWolf wrote:Superion is shaping up really well, and that motormaster is amazing. Prime looks a little better in the box though what to do about his combining feature...can't let it go to waste after all. Now thundercracker...that is a really bce remold but the big question is, does it come with little doggy buster and his screenplays?

I can only hope his bio describes him as "hansome like an F-22 fighter jet".

I've dreamed of an Optimus combiner since I was a wee little lad. (long ago)
Why not? He IS the boss. Almost got there with Energon (Voltron) Prime.
Then can we have Bee, Prowl, Ironhide, and Sideswipe as appendages?
But really, who cares, slap some aerialbots on him and call it a day.
A day of victory for the Autobots!

Thundercracker is cool, He can hang out with the Masterpieces since I slept on getting the TRU TC MP.

Really sad that Huffer can't get his own mold, but I'm a sucker for orange. What does his head look like?

So excited for Combiner Wars. Its not that the 3rd party stuff isn't cool, I just can't get approved for a loan to finance them.

Mindmaster wrote:Kinda shocked that we're getting Thundercracker first instead of Starscream (again). Had this been Starscream, would've absolutely flipped.

Guess they didn't want to follow white-and-red jet with another white-and-red jet.
Wait, refresh my memory, "again"?

I'm kinda disappointed it wasn't something wilder (and maybe more in-scale-ish), like MW Starscream. But I suppose they want to reuse the crap out of that mold.

Agamemnon wrote:I swear one of the early photos I saw of CW Motormaster was a re-tool/re-paint of Classics Voyager Optimus Prime. Am I just high? This looks remarkably different!

You might just be high, but don't be alarmed. It's a heavy retool of CW Prime, which looks like an impressive reuse of the mold. I'd wager they came up with MM first then retooled him into OP.

I'm excited. I didn't expect anything out of New York for another day or so!

Thundercracker is a totally unexpected revelation. The mould is great as Jetfire, and it's somehow great retooled into a Seeker! Not sure if I can justify getting one myself, though. If they redecoed it with Jetfire's fastpack as Skyquake, then maybe...

Love the Combiner Wars figs, I think I'll have to get the lot (apart from Optimus - I want an MP-10). The boxes look excellent, and is it just me or does Motormaster look not-much-shorter than Thundercracker? Considering the DOTM Downsize it's excellent to see decent-sized Voyagers again.

It's just a shame some of them are mistransformed (I'm looking at you, Skydive and Firefly!) but it's great to see the combiner hand/foot/guns with them too. Glad to see they have some play value outside of the combined forms.

Bring on release, baby!!!!! I hope we get to see more before Monday.

I haven't seen the back of Motormaster or Optimus Prime yet. Who wants to bet that the front of one is the back of the other? I'm not willing to bet a Metroplex...Burn.

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Motormaster looks uber cool
The Aerialbots are also cool.I cannot choose which I like better,Aerialbots or Stunticons. Maybe I'll buy them both.I hope Hasbro will release a Combiner Wars Bruticus Maximus. Is Huffer a retool of the Legion Optimus and Roller and if so, will he have a targetmaster partner like Roller or something ????????

Also hope to see a Combiner wars abominus

WAIT! I got it. We are on the train to Repaintsville, next stop Headresculptopolis, right?
Breakdown - Sideswipe
Dragstrip - Mirage
Offroad - Ironhide OK. He can be a pick'm up truck.
Deadend - Jazz? Wheeljack? Tracks?? maybe Prowl?

Well, box 'em up. Call it exclusive. Jack up the price. Shake Target's hand. Merry X-mas$
Send me one for thinking of it.

I'm all over all of this (minus Huffer). A couple things on Thundercracker:

-I do wish they had been able to engineer the nullrays to attach to the upper instead of lower arms.
-If there's a way to remove the backpack in bot mode, that silhouette would be near perfect.

Convoy wrote:I haven't seen the back of Motormaster or Optimus Prime yet. Who wants to bet that the front of one is the back of the other?

Look at the flaps on the top of their shoulders. They're facing opposite directions.
You might be on to something, Convoy.
Works for me!

Check the art on the side of Prime's box. Is that his Combiner head?

Excuse me if I missed out on something but did Hasbro just ruin the Aerialbot set by making Silverbolt a Helicopter?

No. There's a Silverbolt.
Check, Events - SDCC2014

Darkman20xx wrote:Excuse me if I missed out on something but did Hasbro just ruin the Aerialbot set by making Silverbolt a Helicopter?

Slingshot, and it's an explanation that applies if you read the IDW comics (which as a side note, you really should).

As for an industry explanation, Hasbro seems to be planning ahead by making specific molds that can be applied to more than one bot/combiner team. Alpha Bravo (helicopter) can become Vortex (Combaticons) or Blades (Protectobots). Same way Offroad (the Wildrider truck replacement) could be repurposed as Swindle.

It's not going to be the quintessential Aerialbots or Stunticons, but they are planning for the future. Worse comes to worse, you can always get a spare of the other three to make Slingshot.

And in case Darkman or others who missed the earlier announcements get worried: Silverbolt is still the torso, it's just that he and Air Raid aren't in the display we've seen today.

ScottyP wrote:Slightly back on topic - Huffer has had the worst luck with getting his own mold:

2012: Redeco of a retool

That was actually 2013, and technically that Huffer was in the Aligned/Prime continuity.

NYCC is in full swing and Seibertron.com's troops are on the ground getting you the best shots of the hottest and newest Transformers, and we've already reported on Hasbro's display at NYCC, which you can read here, and now we have official images from Hasbro, courtesy of their Facebook page, which you can see here.

Since these are remolds and redecos, we know you'll want to see the originals these figures are based off of, and you can see the origin molds in all their glory in our galleries, located here for Jetfire (Thundercracker) and Optimus (Huffer).

We've mirrored the images below:









Keep your optics tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest in news and updates, plus the best galleries around!

Wouldn't surprise me in the least if we see a Takara (or maybe even Hasbro, if they feel like it) retool of Fireflight as Slingshot and Dead End as Wildrider, just to cater to the G1 team fans.

I'm only interested in Thundercracker if he comes with Buster.

Man!
I think I like the Gen Prime mold better as Huffer than Prime.

Kinda wish we got a G1 Skyquake from that mold instead of Thindercracker. But oh well.

Combiner Wars is looking solid. Can't wait for Superion and hoping we get a stronger Bruticus

Thundercracker looks amazing, but is this really a character that should be in leader the class size/scale?

As someone who does not read the comics, please tell me; is this a comic accurate depiction of the character? I just don't think of him as towering over his fellow cons.

What about the other seekers? I really do not want to drop the cash on a full set of leader class seekers. (because seeker molds always get repainted)

dedcat wrote:Thundercracker looks amazing, but is this really a character that should be in leader the class size/scale?

As someone who does not read the comics, please tell me; is this a comic accurate depiction of the character? I just don't think of him as towering over his fellow cons.

What about the other seekers? I really do not want to drop the cash on a full set of leader class seekers. (because seeker molds always get repainted)

In terms of design, it's pretty close to the current IDW design, minus the air scoop shoulders:



Size-wise, the Seekers aren't really bigger than the average (deluxe) size. You might argue a voyager, but not a Leader.

Still, it's kind of cool to have Seekers of appropriate size for a jet.

thundercracker... wow, that is a *heavy* remold. Really he'd be better as a voyager, and I would have loved to have this version of the seekers in voyager clas, but I love thundercracker so I might end up with this figure. I'm not sure however that I would buy three of this remold however, because 50$ each is steep candy for the seeker trio, so it'll be awkward if that's in their planning. I'd ditch the leg guns though, and maybe mold 5mm ports onto the upper arms.

Huffer is an unfortunate victim of mold overuse and it's just the wrong mold. Alt mode isn't bad but altogether it's still a bit too optimus. could do without the roof scoop/shoulderpads altogether, and maybe retool the legs but you're pretty much stuck with that opening/closing chest that just doesn't cut the gravy.