Thundercracker Retrospective 

IDW Thundercracker was great, because he wasn't just a recolored Seeker, he had his own personality

I wish some of the personality traits of Thundercracker and Skywarp transferred to Scourge and Cyclonus. Like being best friends.

I definitely think that the possibility of Thundercracker or Starscream becoming good is far more believable than the idea of Megatron doing so. It's also proven to have far more interesting Character-Ark Potential as well.

Prime Skyquake was originally meant as Skywarp. His olive green comes from early G1 designs, which is a deep cut. In Prime, Skyquake and Dreadwing could've been Skywarp and Thundercracker. They both resemble Bayverse Seekers while Prime Starscream is slender and slimier, kinda like Skyquake and Dreadwing are actual Seeker elite while Starscream only thinks of himself that way. Of course, this contradicts the Covenant, where he was already a Seeker elite before landing on Earth, but it worked well for the show. Starscream getting both of them killed, directly or indirectly, and becoming a Seeker captain is one of my favourite arcs in the show and makes me wish even more that they were Skywarp and Thundercracker.

My very first Transformer. On a weekend in 1986 my mom took me to Fisher Big-Wheel, a department store back in Pennsylvania, and I picked him out. I Took him home and opened him and my dad help me figure him out and put the stickers on. Thundercracker from an aesthetic perspective is amazing.

Definitely my favorite seeker out of the trio.

TC: “What’s the matter Skywarp? Afraid? SW: “At least I’M not ugly.” TC: “Ugly? YOU AND I LOOK THE SAME!”

Thundercracker is one of my favorite decepticons. In my transformers series, thundercracker is a typical goon just like skywarp and sometimes but head with starscream’s authority. He believes he’s a better a second command than starscream, he also has an obnoxious ego that’s worst than starscream. Later on in the series he’s starting to think that the war is pointless and becomes a spy for the autobots for leaking decepticon Intel to them and the human resistance. He found new love for the human television and film industry wanted to be involved in that world. The voice actor for thundercracker will be Wally wingert, Diedrich Bader, or James Arnold Taylor.

The seekers were great. G1 should have done way more of them, especially since the cartoon featured so many variants like the Rain Makers and all the unnamed, odd colored versions in the first season.

11:12 A love that little banter there lol. Skywarp calling him ugly even though they look the same.

A rivalry between a space-jet Aussie and larry the cable space-jet is something that I surprisingly enjoy in TF Cybertron lol. It's such a shame that Bob's G1 Thundercracker bio was never truly explored during it's og run except for that one instance in that episode. Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker were always my favorite seeker trine. I hope that Slipstream can someday be just as recognized as they are.

He didn't show up in IDW2 because IDW knew they couldn't top perfection

Like he say. 0:48 Good big brain by Thundercracker. 4:54 I like that part. 8:12 Long named idk if can beat a Falcon Punch. 9:01 If funny he is drunk. 18:20 I think there of him then meets the eye. IDW comic, G1, Cybertron and video game Thundercracker is my favorite. I am so happy that Thundercracker got his Bumblebee Toy I will get him and even Skywarp in that model too. Nice work.

Thundercracker is one of the best seekers really awesome 🤣🤣👍👍🙂🙂😃😃

I always thought Thundercracker was cool & had one of the best names of any of the Transformers. I never really viewed him as a grunt, maybe just as like a lower level lieutenant, because along with Skywarp they were clearly more skilled than most other Decepticons. I do find his "sonic boom" ability funny though, because wouldn't all of the seekers have been able to fly that fast to generate a sonic boom, or if not was Thundercracker the fastest out of all the seekers or even Decepticon plane types? Unless his "sonic boom" ability is something different entirely from him just flying really fast. Either way, Thundercracker is still cool.

Voiced in G1 by Kenosha's very own, John Stephenson.

Thundercracker has been expanded upon quite a bit over the years, and, really, he deserves it.

I never expected Thundercracker to be the series’ first morally gray character. It’s heartwarming to see such a trait explored and rewarded in the IDW comics.

Wow, the memories! 00:07 I remember drooling over this exact image when I was a kid. I remember getting sunstreaker from a macys or sears. My brother got thundercracker.

I grew up with TC as a blue jet in G1. Thundercracker is my favourite Decepticon ever!

I really like when they make him not dumb and super loyal to Decepticons The idea of a Decepticon really thinking what he's doing is right or wrong is cool as hell in my opinion, I like the IDW version, that's my favourite version with no doubt

While I didn't like a lot of what IDW came up with, there were some things that I really appreciated and hope to continue in the next comics. E.g. Thundercracker's personality. I also liked his friendship with Buster and Marissa Fairborn and the hinted (but complicated) camaraderie/friendship between the Seekers (TC, Skywarp AND Starscream). And I definitelly would love to read more about that in the next comic run.

I have a special place in my heart for Thundercracker, mostly down to the fact that he was my very first Transformer toy when I was 8. I wish he was better utilized in both the comics and the G1 cartoons. But I love the guy!

Thundercracker has a thunderous personality

Scourge and the Sweeps ain't nothing compared to the old Decepticon jets

I dunno if it’s the color blue on him, but those jets look absolutely amazing! That toy line at around the 65-70% mark of the video, the 3rd,4th, second to last and last of the top row were killer. Would love to get just 1 of that selection. As a kid, my uncle took me to Sears, and I chose Skywarp. But never found Starscream or Thundercracker in Sears, Kay Bee Toys, Jitty’s Toys, or Toys R Us, EVER. And back in the day, Puerto Rico toy stores were packed with Gijoe & Transformers toys. I miss being a kid. But nowadays I meet people like this gentleman in conventions, and talk about those toys.

Reminds me. I still think Skywarp became Cyclonus and was the first instance of a Transformer undergoing a personality change (Update. I wonder if there's enough to say about Transformers undergoing personality changes that it could get its own discussion video)

He was my first seeker figure, i love thundercracker!

I have pretty vivid memories of the 80s, (most are a blur, but for some things they are vivid. So though I was a toddler during G1, . I just knew either the seekers toys were always sold out at toys r us and local general stores, or overpriced for my parents to afford and they only got me toys when it was a holiday or birthday. My schoolmates and neighbors would have all 3 seekers and I'd play with them, good times lol. I remember the kids inc myself, always thought Thundercracker or any seeker were cool. I'm going to get the masterpiece and 3rd party seekers as my next goal lol.

7:49 "smoking pile of ash... working to gain attention of Megatron...one risk too many." Wait a minute... this unintentionally foreshadowed armada Starscream's sacrifice...

He was my favorite Seeker besides Starscream & Skywarp

Thundercracker will always be my favorite decepticon seeker.

Awesome retrospect as usual! I loved G1 Thundercracker and all the layers of his personality. He always reminded me of a no nonsense type of warrior!

G1 thundercracker was the closest Decepticon to being an Autobot. Kind of how Brawn was the closest Autobot to being a decepticon. I always imagine Thundercracker one some days miss the days of peace before the war even though he clearly enjoy fighting because he's good at it. kind of how people in the military don't want there to be a war but if there is a war they want to prove that they can do it. Thundercracker is not a good buy but if Megatron is Chaotic Evil Thundercracker might be Lawful Evil.

I always thought that Dreadwing was meant to be Thundercracker in Prime. Escpecially when it was mentioned that Skyquake was meant to be Skywarp.

IDW1 Thundercracker is the best. I can't believe how that continuity made some characters like him, characters I'd never much thought about, who were rarely spotlighted otherwise, into my absolute favorites! I still think about him and his dog 🙂

1:05 -Likewise, RodimusPrimal!😄

Little detail I noticed that no version of Thundercracker seemed to take from his toy bio is that he finds a life without meaning to be excruciating. A version of him that wants to be convinced of the Decepticon cause while strongly believing they're too superior to anyone they're fighting for the conquest to have any meaning would be something to watch. It may even repaint his friendship with Skywarp as using his comrade to get some enjoyment from the warfare and distract him from his doubts.

Thundercracker in G1 is always fun as a brute that is harsh to everyone, especially picking on the little autobots, but whenever he and Skywarp were working together in battle against the autobots, it was always fun!

The orginal is ... just still the best.

Hi Rodimus,great video and retrospective about Thundercracker keep them coming, also my favorite Decepticon Jet and Seeker is Thundercracker or should I say The G1 Cartoon Version of Thundercracker who is not only a member of The Decepticons under the Leadership of Megatron and one of Megatron's and later as Scourge Galvatron's Warrior/Tracker not only as a Seeker under Starscream's leadership but also currently(as of 2023):As Scourge Leader of The Sweeps,also Thundercracker gazes with scorn on the creatures below.he is utterly contemptuous of anything that cannot lift itself off the ground and calm the sky. also Thundercracker is persuaded because he wants to be persuaded, also the following information is from both Transformers Universe(limited, mini-series)#4(of)4(March,1986,1987),& Transformers More Than Meets The Eye(limited, maxi-series)#7(of)8(March ,2003), but also from The Transformers Filecard,Bio/Profile:Allegiance:(as of 2023): Decepticon,Function/Primary Function:(as of 2023):Warrior Transformation:(as of 2023):Jet, Abilities/Weapons and Abilities (as of 2023): Thundercracker possesses above-average strength and intelligence.in jet mode and robot mode,he can create controlled sonic booms that can heard for 200 miles. This ability is much more powerful in his jet mode. He is armed in this mode with two drone cruise missiles that can fly for 500 miles and explode with a force of 3'000 ibs. Of TNT. in robot mode. he is armed with two shoulder-mounted cannons that fire several hundred rounds per breem of heat-resistant ceramic bullets; the bullets contain a highly flammable material that explodes on contact.also Thundercracker has a shoulder-mounted automatic incendiary gun that shoots at 100 rounds per minute heat-resistant ceramic bullets containing a highly explosive Flammable material that ignites on impact.also Thundercracker is one of my favorite Decepticons but also one of my favorite Decepticon Seekers ever,also your latest Video was outstanding, also thank you for sharing Rodimus keep up the good work stay safe out there have a great day and until next time TILL ALL ARE ONE.🙂🟢💪🦸👍🏋️🇺🇸❤️🏃✊🔴🔵😂🌎

It's a shame I've noticed that the seekers, despite how many there are off, really don't have much presence anywhere.

TC settling down on Earth with a dog should be canon everywhere

One of my favorite Seekers alongside slipstream, starscream, and thrust and I wouldn't mind hasbro making Thundercracker a cowboy again. Also does jetfire count as a seeker when he was with the Decepticons?

Thinking about it, it would've been interesting if there was an episode or story revolving around Thundercracker and Mirage's doubts about their respective factions; though I'd doubt the the two would get along since Mirage is of high-class and Thundercracker would look down at him for being ground-based.

Another fantastic retrospective!

Fun fact: Thundercracker in the WFC game also voices Old Joseph joestar in JOJO pt3

Thundercracker is the best Artwork Model

great rectrospective as usual

Nice! I’ve definitely been looking forward for this one!

6:46 Buzzsaw, Thundercracker and Skywarp's names are blanked out in the UK reprint and Long Haul's final line is altered to "We have a lot more work to do." to fit in with UK continuity .

11:55 A Thundercracker that turns into a car? Preposterous!

My favorite thundercracker is g1

Great video as usual! Thundercracker was one of my favorite Decepticons! It was truly sad that by the middle of Season 2 that he was a phased out and was pretty much a voiceless character whenever he appeared. 😔 I'm guessing that John Stephenson had other projects. Because I know that the producers were trying to promote the newer lineup of Thrust, Dirge, Ramjet, Blitzwing and Astrotrain. But at least Skywarp still had a personality in season 2 And ofcourse the Air Commander was a main character remained villainous as ever. But Thundercracker was pretty much a complete mute. Even being voiced by the voice director on the episode War Dawn. In all. Keep up the great videos!

Thundercracker was the only Seeker toy I had

Just in time this morning my area I heard thunder rumble and I was gonna be taking photos of TC Infront of lightning. So far none.

In Transformers Cybertron, Thundercracker and his Autobot rival Jetfire have alt modes of Russian aircraft, The Sukhoi Su-37 fighter jet and Antonov An-225 super transport aircraft.

My favourite seeker. Glad his unique personality was brought to life by IDW's first take on the Transformers from 2005 to 2018.

I remember during one of the gi joe/transformers crossovers in the comics, there was mention of humans using the transforming technology with *_unfortunate_* results. And then when the decepticons were free of their inhibitor chip (or whatever it was called), TC unapologetically transformed while a human was still in his cockpit. 😖 Cruel & ruthless.

My favorite version of Thundercracker, is the IDW version and the Cybertron Version! The last one was funny!

G1 Thundercracker was my first ever Decepticon.

Thank you for the video!

16:00 ...when you get a leg up in getting a job working on Transformers because your last name is "Bot".

I love Macross. So when I saw thundercracker, I want one so bad as a kid. I love blue. He reminded me of Maximilian Jenius' custom mech, the VF-1J Valkyrie Maximilian Jenius Custom. Of course Jetfire is also cool. His original design was basically a veritech fighter. I just don't like big jets.

I tend to see Thundercracker as a moderate amongst the Decepticons as well as somewhat of a peacemaker given how aggressive they can be even to each other. Sure, he'll smash up Autobots and Human soldiers without hesitation as they'll try to kill him and the other Decepticons but he isn't so keen on killing defenceless Human civilians as like one comic had him say, Decepticon warriors are forged in battle against WORTHY foes, NOT against helpless beings like Human civilians.

Thundercracker is my favorite seeker

As a kid, I thought Thundercracker was the coolest looking Transformer from the 1984 line.

8:35 *emulating Larry the cable guy* this was before cars right?

funny thing in the german dub of armada when starscream turns blue he says i look like a surprise egg :D you know those chocolate eggs from kinder XD

I was wondering, because Thundercracker betrayed the Decepticons in The IDW comic, the DJD should have been on His tail, but they weren’t. So why didn’t the DJD ever go after him? Is it because the died before they could get to him? Or did they not even bother to notice him?

I have his Studio series Nitro repaint. Looks great but the feet don’t want to hook up in vehicle mode so it stays stuck in robot mode.

And years later autobots started having objects and air vehicles while the decepticons have land vehicles

IF there was another season before the movie, I can see Thundercracker jumping ship.

3:47 -John Stephenson (Also voice of Dr. Benton C. Quest from *_#JonnyQuest_* [TV Series]), RodimusPrimal!

In the Bayverse comics, Thundercracker didn't injure Arcee for her to have two other bodies. He brought Arcee to Flatline to experiment on her, which would result in the resurrection of Chromia and Elita-One!

Thundercracker is my most favourite seeker, he is smarter than Starscream and Skywarp, he has sonic booming abilities and he is not fully convinced of the rightness of the Decepticon cause.

I believe he's the toughest seeker of all despite his attitude and abilities thats what I view him

Acid storm retrospective when ?

Interesting. Thanks.

9:06 all that for a punch?

Personally I would use the Donkey as the symbol for the Deceptions 🥸😇😗

Which version of thundercracker is your favorite.

Question: What(and how much you think) it would take to get a fully animated G1 cartoon, with the “Dreamwave” comic look? I just wish someone would try to make something ridiculously complicated like that.

6:20 😔 RIP

Do you think we will ever get a retro cartoon accurate Thundercracker toy similar to the recent Starscream that was recently released? I really hope they will finally release one.

5:19 I'd really like to know what the initial draft of Thundercracker's lines before they were crossed out with revisions inserted. Transformers did do some offensive stuff back then that wouldn't fly today.

I'm a fan of the G 1 version

Thunder Thunder Thunder Thunder Thundercracker roar

Personally I love thundercracker he's my favorite despticon. Recently in this new transformers stop motion series done bye riley productions I am the voice of Thundercracker

Rodimus primal did you know that thundercracker also appeared in the transformers human alliance arcade action game as a boss battle with the ability to teleport

The one thing I don’t understand is why the heck Hasbro didn’t make a shattered glass thunder cracker toy it when they started shattered glass toys again, or create more shattered glass versions of the seekers since everyone knows that the easiest toy, to make new characters of I think it’s version of the seeker has been re-colored at least once

Anti hero thundercracker

I don't know much about the comic book version of thundercracker. And as far as the animation goes those two are the only two I've seen. That is why they are my favorites. I will say that the transformers Cybertron version has a more personality then the gen 1 version. So the transformers Cybertron barely beats the Gen 1 as my absolute favorite thundercracker.

sad that cybertron thundercracler had to be stuck on mars with the other decepticons that didn't want to be autobots thundercracker was gonna appear in dotm after he got a studio series toy

ThundercrCracker? More like ByebyeCracker!

Reformed IDW version with his Dog.

Garish Neon? I think you mean beauty without Peer!

Thindercracker didn't do too much in the comics just a goon following whoever lead then all.of a sudden he died brought back and killed again Cartoon he was just one of Megatron's goons he was there but he was just there doing his dirty work Thindercracker wasn't a traitor in fire in the mountain he just wanted to get back at screamer for blaming him for his failure Yc never used his sonic boom on the cartoon while skywarp only teleported about three or four times in the whole series

From what comic is 12:46?

Funny thing about the sonic ability, Soundwave has a similar power. Could have actually been Soundwave's power Megatron was using, but Starscream assumed it was Thundercracker's. Megatron did use something similar to Thundercracker's incendiary blast during that battle, though.