Hasbro designer Sam Smith continues treating us with his “behind the scenes” Instagram posts about Studio Series toys. Today it’s turn of the new SS-89 Bumblebee Movie Thundercracker.
While Thundercracker had just a brief participation in the movie, there were some subtle differences in his design compared to Starscream and other Seekers.
As usual, tons of information, trivia, images and even turnaround videos of both modes! Read all Sam’s comments and new development material after the jump and let us know your impressions on the 2005 Boards!
SS-89 Bumblebee Movie Thundercracker
“…”
Another round at the Bumblebee Movie open sequence results in another seeker! Let’s take a look at the breakdown for SS-89 Thundercracker.
Thundercracker had always been my favorite core seeker growing up. Likely because he was clad in full blue, it was always the design and color variant that I gravitated towards. Naturally when the opportunity came up to redeco a seeker, Thundercracker was my first choice. With the tooling for these variations having been established, it was a great opportunity to start knocking these background characters out.
Different from Starscream and Thrust, we see Thundercracker in a non cone head form, with a face covering, wings in a downward position, and more uniquely with his null rays facing upwards.I love that the studio took the time to incorporate subtle unique details to help differentiate each of these characters, vs simply adjusting the color slider.
Speaking of color, there was a lot of newness going on for Thundercracker’s deco. once again, different from Starscream and Thrust who were primary molded in cool grays, Thundercrack’s base colors are a vibrant metallic blue. Paired with some deeper silver and gray metallics for the rest of the body, and some unique livery treatments to the wings, Thundercracker breaths a bit of new life into these molds. There were a number of alternative paint operations to the windshield surround, as well as to the exposed chest plate to further differentiate the character.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Will you be adding Thundercracker to your collection? And which seeker do you want to see made next?
Prime customs
I added a bit .ore paint to mine
Jorts
Everytime this thread gets bumped I misread it and think it's armada thundercracker and galvatron
Prime customs
I just picked galvatron up today love the robot mode but wish the arm blads were a bit bigger.
truck mode from the front looks good but when you turn to the side robot mode feet stand out like a black dot on a white bit of paper.
Evad
I always find this figure too small. Never a fan of SS Optimus' small size, and the fact that SS Galvatron is scaled to Optimus doesn't help either.
Starpilot949
Oooooooooh. That's why.
IronWaveJRG
Thundercracker was only packed once in the assortment, whereas Galvatron was packed twice in the same wave. Galvatron was also repacked once in 86 Ironhide's assortment
Starpilot949
Is it just me, or is TC getting pick up way faster than Galvatron? I've seen Galvatron twice but never with TC.
Shmoptimus Prime
Looks great!
idkwdya
Thanks! And here’s the exact kit I bought from the same seller! Based in the US which is super nice.
View attachment 29929669
TheDude810
Wow, that looks awesome. What kit is this?
idkwdya
Fun little upgrade kit arrived today!
View attachment 29929355 View attachment 29929357
TFW2023
I don't think so
TF Hot Rod
And from memory the tone of the voice during both was different.
It's very unfortunate, feels like a parody film to an extent but it isn't.
VVa
Despite how much of a mess it is, I still get enjoyment out of it.
Watched it again today. I still very much enjoy it. But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's good. What I like and what is "good" are rarely connected. Lol
Shmoptimus Prime
That “movie” is such a mess. It’s like bay forgot how to make a film, honestly. It’s such a shame cause aoe included some really cool setup.
VVa
Yeah so I looked into it and apparently there are two different versions of the films release that had different lines of dialogue for NZ, but also one had him voiced by another person entirely, being Steven Barr. But the official digital release had a mix of both John DiMaggio and Steven Barr's voice lines.
Preeeetty fookin strange, that.
Pterodactyl with a Pee
Oh I was thinking about the part where he says “Say hello to your wife for me” and the dude flips him off. You do learn something new everyday
VVa
Yeah.
In one version he says "I've kicked more ass in prison!"
And in another he says "Unfortunate. Because I was looking to knock some heads!"
Pterodactyl with a Pee
Didn’t they change Nitro’s line as well in TLK?
TFW2023
We all have those days