Thunderwing (G1)

This article is about . For other uses of "Thunderwing", see Thunderwing (disambiguation)|The name or term "Thunderwing" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Thunderwing (disambiguation).}}


This article is a featured article, and considered to be one of the most informative on this wiki.

Thunderwing is a Decepticon from the Generation 1 continuity family.
And we are dutifully impressed.

In a better world, Thunderwing would be the ideal Decepticon leader. He's fearless, ruthless, and immensely powerful, while uncommonly concerned about the welfare of his fellow Decepticons. For this mindset, Thunderwing gets a high approval rating from his peers, but, sadly, this is not the whole story.

Thunderwing's vice is, simply, obsession. When his mind sets its sights on a who or what that furthers his goals, he will stop at nothing to achieve victory. Slowly but surely, his esteem for his colleagues is replaced by single-mindedness, until finally Thunderwing awakens from his haze, potentially victorious, but either abandoned or surrounded by the bodies of the few friends who tried valiantly to snap him out of it. In these dark moments, the usually noble Thunderwing is as deceitful and two-faced as any halfwit Decepticon.

But what truly separates Thunderwing from the rest is his sheer power. His Pretender shell is likely the most powerful ever built, and it forms impenetrable armor around his robot body. Every inch is covered in weaponry, from the electrostatic guns in his shoulders, to the hoses in his chest that emit dangerous gases, to even the rarely-used metal-eating laser beam that fires out of his forehead. In addition to this built-in arsenal, he carries around his signature cyclone cannon, the power of which is increased 50% by the powerpack his shell houses on its back. In jet mode, Thunderwing can unleash a never-ending torrent of plasma charges.

Because of all this, Thunderwing is almost always successful in hunting down his obsessions, though at regrettable costs.

Fiction

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Marvel Comics continuity

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Marvel The Transformers comics

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Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.
No, my visual appearance is not a continuity error. Why do you ask?

A handful of Transformers are born with a natural affinity to the Creation Matrix. Though these special few are usually Autobots, Thunderwing was an exception. Thunderwing felt that the Matrix called to him, and believed that he would become the first Decepticon to possess it. Deadly Obsession

Thunderwing is a Pretender? The hell you say!

Early on in the war, he served at Fort Scyk. He became a protege of Fort commander Megadeath, who saw and encouraged the burning ambition within the lad, grooming Thunderwing as an asset and potential general for when he'd make a bid for leadership. For his part, Thunderwing thought Megadeath was utterly mental but also that he'd be his ticket to the top. When the Magnificent Six were holed up in the neutral town of Yuss, it was Thunderwing who broke the siege by destroying the town's Ampodrome with a thermo-charge, which was instrumental in turning the neutralists against their would-be saviours. He later soured on Megadeath when he viciously tortured the Magnificent Six, which Thunderwing felt was ill-fitting for such valiant enemies, and then Megadeath let himself and the whole of Stanix get nuked to slag anyway. The Magnificent Six!

Four million years later, a vacuum in Decepticon High Command allowed a driven Thunderwing to rise quickly from relative obscurity to a command position in the ranks. Thunderwing oversaw an operation that lured the Battle Patrol into a Decepticon facility in order to capture them and steal Micromaster technology from the Autobots. The Race Car and Off Road Patrols staged a successful rescue operation but failed to stop the Decepticons from making their own Micromasters. A Small War!

Fourteen months later, to test of his readiness to takeover leadership of the Decepticons, Thunderwing was given a hunting mission: Three Autobot prisoners were released on Earth, and Thunderwing was charged with chasing down and executing them on his own. While Playback and Horsepower did fall before his cyclone cannon, the last runner, Hosehead, was saved by his fellow Autobots Nightbeat and Siren. The Headmasters exploded the fuel core in Playback's corpse at close range to Thunderwing, nearly cooking him alive inside his own impenetrable Pretender shell. Shrieking in agony, Thunderwing plunged into the nearby surf. The Big Shutdown!

This is exactly how cable news pundits are hired.

Thunderwing eventually rose from the waters, his still-cooling shell juxtaposed with the growing intensity of his rage at being beaten. Thunderwing lashed out at everything around him and very nearly destroyed a ship of his fellow Decepticons who had been sent to find him. As a duly appointed officer of the Decepticon High Council, Ruckus was sent to inform Thunderwing that his bid for leadership was not being rejected outright, but was still under review, and the Councilors had asked that he return to Cybertron. Instead, Thunderwing violently conscripted Ruckus and his team into joining him for an assault on the Ark in order to get revenge on Hosehead and his ilk. Rage! Thunderwing single-handedly blasted his way into the Ark and confronted Optimus Prime directly before Ruckus convinced him to save the fight for another day. Returning to Cybertron, Thunderwing was surprised to learn that the Decepticon High Council was impressed by his initiative and the strength of his vendetta, and so granted him full leadership of the Decepticons of Cybertron. Assault on the Ark!

One of Thunderwing's first actions on taking over Decepticon leadership was to abolish neutral territories, making places such as Maccadam's Old Oil House Decepticon-only establishments. Out to Lunch! Despite these movements, Lord Thunderwing became displeased with the growing success of the newly rebuilt Jazz, Grimlock, and Bumblebee and their raiding of Decepticon fuel and ammunition depositories. Fearing the Autobot resistance movement was gaining momentum, he ordered Bludgeon, Octopunch, and Stranglehold, the Mayhem Attack Squad, to find and kill the Autobot Pretenders. Yesterday's Heroes!

This is probably the closest look we'll get at Thunderwing's unpublished character model. José Delbo was a copier.

When the Mayhem Attack Squad failed, Thunderwing became curious when teams of Autobots were subsequently ordered to search an area of space. Trailing a team on Pz-Zazz which included (again) Nightbeat, Hosehead, and Siren, he waited until the right moment to blast and capture them. Bird of Prey! As Thunderwing's Decepticons began trailing another team of Autobots on Cheyne (Backstreet, Dogfight, and Override), he subjected the captured first group to his Mind Leech machine. He learned from these torture sessions that the Autobots were scouring the universe for the lost Creation Matrix. Unfortunately, the second group was no closer to finding the Matrix either, and he left them to their own devices. Kings of the Wild Frontier. His obsession with finding the Creation Matrix caused some concerns for the Decepticons under his command, and he even began attacking his own troops when accused of taking his personal quest too far. These outbursts began coming to a head when he found traces of Matrix energy in a sea monster on Pequod. Ruckus made the mistake of questioning his leader's growing obsession, and Thunderwing backhanded him into some equipment (unknowingly shorting out the Mind Leech which held their captive Autobots immobile). While his troops battled the Autobots searching there, he used his affinity for the Matrix to mind-link with the sea monster. Discovering that the Matrix was on Cameron's third moon, VsQs, he abandoned the battle, much to the growing frustration of his troops. Deadly Obsession

We are power incarnate! We are unstoppable! We are a really short Deluxe Class toy!

As it happened, between the revival of the Klud and the arrival of Thunderwing, the Creation Matrix had become warped. Thunderwing fought intensely with Bumblebee, Jazz, and Grimlock on VsQs, and they were overwhelmed not only by his vastly superior might, but by the strength of his desire to possess the Matrix. However, he and his troops were subdued by a Matrixspawn, a darkly-evolved creature contaminated by the Matrix, allowing Bumblebee and the other Autobots to grab the Matrix and head for their ship. Dark Creation The Autobots were low on fuel however, and struggling against the moon's high gravity. Thunderwing overtook them with ease, snatched away the Matrix, and stole their shuttle. All Fall Down Thus, when the Autobots allowed their shuttlecraft to board the Ark, it was Thunderwing who emerged, in full possession of the Creation Matrix, enshrouded in its energies. Dark Creation

On board the Ark, Thunderwing savagely beat Optimus Prime, the latter of whom was afraid to return the violence in kind, in fear that the Matrix would be destroyed and their race would be doomed against Unicron. Waves of Autobots stormed against Thunderwing, ending in Landmine and others being killed or critically wounded. Quickly, the increasingly-evil Matrix took over Thunderwing, overpowering his thoughts and controlling his actions. After turning his power on his own troops, he had one final moment of clarity at what he had become, but it was too late. He was consumed. Nightbeat, Siren, and Hosehead, who Thunderwing had captured earlier, had escaped their constraints, and after releasing the bay doors, harpooned Thunderwing to the shuttlecraft. The shuttle self-destructed and Thunderwing and the Creation Matrix were seemingly lost, out in the void of space. All Fall Down

Optimus Prime would later refer to Thunderwing (and the lost Matrix) in his pitch to Scorponok for an alliance against Unicron. Surrender!

Thunderwing displays that, yes, he has an alternate mode just before showing up to die again.

The Matrix, however, was made of sterner stuff, and after some time reactivated alongside Thunderwing's body and the Autobot shuttlecraft on the surface of a planet. Out of Time! As time passed, and though only the "barest spark of life remained", it healed Thunderwing's body, eventually allowing it to transform and escape. It (they) now hungered for revenge! The Void!

Thunderwing, completely controlled by the Creation Matrix, arrived on Cybertron just as Unicron had attacked. Through Thunderwing, the Matrix continued to manifest as a frightening demon, which blasted Unicron and buried its tendrils within him. Though Unicron was momentarily stunned, once the Matrix revealed that it was now attempting to be a force of Evil, Unicron ripped the manifestation apart. Unicron has no equal in the arena of evil. Thunderwing's body fell in tatters, and the Matrix casing dropped to the planet below. On the Edge of Extinction!

Transformers Comic-Magazin

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Emerging from a dimensional bridge that linked Earth to parallel worlds and times, Thunderwing attacked Vroom and Crossblades. Headmaster of the Dimensions Later, this Thunderwing or another Thunderwing trailed a nuclear submarine in preparation for the Decepticons stealing its plutonium rods. The Energon Trap

United

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Thunderwing was so disappointed he later painted his arms gray.

Thunderwing originated from another universe, where he was said to have possessed the Matrix and nearly defeated the Autobots. United Thunderwing bio

As Decepticon leader, Thunderwing had a nano-virus released that afflicted most Autobots save those with Nebulan partners, tricking them to go to Nebulos for an anti-virus so they could be ambushed and their partners taken! His minion Straxus botched the mission though. Thunderwing chewed him out and decided he needed to take a more active role... The Fierce Fighting on Planet Nebulos

Transformers '84

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After Megatron was lost aboard the Ark, Thunderwing, Straxus, and Scorponok formed an alliance to wipe out the remaining Autobots on Cybertron. There was a degree of contentiousness between the three about divvying up personal territories, and Thunderwing raised the question of what would happen if Megatron were to return—a possibility that Straxus readily dismissed. Secrets & Lies #3

Regeneration One

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Regeneration One continues from the Marvel US series, and does not include the UK stories or any subsequently published stories.

At some point following the battle with Unicron, Thunderwing's remains were recovered and interred in the Hall of Silence on Cybertron. Twenty-one years later, Optimus Prime departed Cybertron, bound for Earth to end the threat of Megatron. Loose Ends, Part 3 Soundwave seized this opportunity to attack the Hall of Silence to steal what was left of Thunderwing for Bludgeon, and to gain control of the residual Matrix energy stored in his corpse. Loose Ends, Part 4 Soundwave reached the remains, and used the emergency destruct charges triggered by Hot Rod in the event of a break-in to cover his teleportation escape. Natural Selection, Part One

Rendezvousing at Bludgeon's Warworld, Soundwave provided the Pretender what he needed to augment his Blitz Engines before the attack on Cybertron. Destiny, Part One When the Autobots fought back, that last remnants of Thunderwing and the Matrix energy were seemingly lost with the Warworld. Destiny, Part Five

Dreamwave Armada continuity

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They weren't even trying to color me right!

Ask Vector Prime

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Thunderwing was the most recent addition to a crew of dimension-traveling Heralds of Unicron. He was addicted to Dark Energon, and the prospect of an endless supply of angolmois energy was enough to convince him to join. He went to Aurex 402.24 Gamma with the other heralds when his home universe was destroyed. Ask Vector Prime, 19/09/2015

Dreamwave Armada comic

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Thunderwing, along with Scourge, Bludgeon, Dirge, and Galvatron, was sent to prepare another universe for Unicron's arrival. Porting into Decepticon Command Headquarters on Cybertron, Galvatron left Thunderwing and the others on Cybertron to accomplish their task. Worlds Collide, Part 1 of 4 Though they destroyed all of the Decepticons in their headquarters and established a network of space bridge portals, this universe's Megatron was not amongst their victims. Worlds Collide, Part 2 of 4

Traveling to Earth's Decepticon headquarters (but leaving Bludgeon behind on Cybertron to guard the portal), they found it momentarily abandoned, so Thunderwing suggested they hunt down this universe's Thrust to learn Megatron's location. Worlds Collide, Part 3 of 4 However, Thrust knew nothing, and they quickly returned to Decepticon Earth headquarters when Thunderwing detected that their space bridge nexus on Cybertron had been breached. Ultimately, Thunderwing and the other servants of Unicron were destroyed when this universe's Jetfire detonated a bomb in Cybertron's Decepticon Command Headquarters, incinerating them all. Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 4

2005 IDW continuity

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First appearance: Transformers: Stormbringer #1
Moral of Stormbringer: Pretenders ruined Transformers.

Before the war, Thunderwing, being both a flyer and a scientist, was an inspiration to a young Jetfire. After Jetfire joined the Decepticons and actually MET Thunderwing in person, he realized the guy was a nut. What It's Really Like

During the height of the Autobot-Decepticon war, Thunderwing alerted both sides to the damage that the ongoing conflict was doing to Cybertron and the resultant danger of an impending catastrophic event. According to Bludgeon, his warnings were ignored, even by Jetfire.

Y'know, Thunderwing, Al Gore was content with just making a slide show.

Subsequently, Thunderwing took action on his own, subjecting himself to a "polydermal grafting" process of his own design, one that had previously been summarily rejected by Megatron as "unnatural" and "ill-conceived". This process of grafting tissue culled from living subjects onto a Transformer to create an armored symbiotic carapace made him nearly invulnerable but drove him insane. Thunderwing's subsequent rampage inadvertently made him the avatar of the very apocalypse he had warned against and the combined might of the Autobots and Decepticons couldn't stop him. In the end, he was seemingly swallowed whole by Cybertron itself, leaving the planet completely uninhabitable in the aftermath. Stormbringer #1

An indeterminate time later, Bludgeon—who had been assigned by Megatron to dig into the missing Shockwave's research—discovered Thunderwing's resting place. Bludgeon and the Decepticons serving under him decided to continue where Thunderwing left off, Spotlight: Soundwave and in the present day completed their project using a combination of "Ultra-Energon" (culled from Shockwave's research) and a set of imprinted commands. Stormbringer #2 Thunderwing was thus resurrected and immediately departed for Nebulos, following Bludgeon's plans to sacrifice that world to somehow restore Cybertron. There, Thunderwing was engaged by the local Decepticon Infiltration team, which did not want to see Nebulos completely destroyed. Thunderwing totaled Crankcase, Ruckus, Skullcruncher, and Roadgrabber, and the survivors (Dreadwind, Darkwing, and Thrust) abandoned the planet. However, after the destruction of Bludgeon's axis cradle, Thunderwing changed course—back towards Cybertron. Stormbringer #3

There, he was attacked by Optimus Prime, the Wreckers, the Predacons, and reprogrammed Centurion drones. Jetfire revealed that enough punishment would eventually cause Thunderwing to drain most of his energon reserves. However, Thunderwing revealed a third "Ultra" robot configuration. Thanks to the Wreckers, the Decepticons, the instability of Ultra Energon, and a speech/salvo combination from Optimus Prime, he was stopped dead in his tracks. His inanimate form was taken into custody by the Autobots. Stormbringer #4

"Ultra mode" puts all that wing kibble to use!

Galvatron would later steal Thunderwing's body from Hound's detail of Autobots, in service of his master in the Dead Universe. Spotlight: Galvatron Since the Dead Universe Transformers can only spend a limited amount of time in the land of the living, they programmed Thunderwing to guard the cave entrance to the Nega-Core on planet Corata-Vaz. He easily batted away Hound's crew and Ultra Magnus, but did not pursue them, as his programming seemed to keep him on a leash that only included the cave entrance. It did, however, allow Cyclonus the time he needed to escape. Spotlight: Cyclonus

The Wreckers later attempted to penetrate Thunderwing's defenses and reach the Nega-Core, but apparently had no more success than Ultra Magnus and company. Spotlight: Hardhead Jetfire came up with the idea to try and take control of Thunderwing using Bludgeon's (apparently repaired) control harness. This alerted Jhiaxus, who activated Bludgeon (now under his control) to put a stop to it. Spotlight: Doubledealer While Jetfire managed to halt Thunderwing in his tracks for a brief time, a visit from the Jhiaxus-controlled Bludgeon forced Jetfire to focus on other, more pressing issues. While the Wreckers were successful in disabling the Nega-Core, Thunderwing once again began to advance on them. All of the Wreckers survived the experience, so Thunderwing was presumably disabled along with the other guardians when Jhiaxus was defeated. Spotlight: Sideswipe

Thunderwing's attacks had left Crankcase with a notable head wound. Rules of Disengagement The Decepticon often spoke about Thunderwing on The Big Conversation which caused some confusion (and a healthy dose of panic) when the Dire Wraith known as "CONS4EVA" adopted Thunderwing's form to meet Crankcase. Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again!

Wings Universe

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Thunderwing was captured by the Combaticons after being cornered and making an unsuccessful attempt to defend himself with what turned out to be a dud bomb. The Coming Storm: Part 3

Kre-O online comic

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Thunderwing was among the Decepticons that invaded Metroplex. Two Giant Bases! Everybody Getting Along, Come On, Fight!

Of Masters and Mayhem

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Seeking ultimate power, Thunderwing experimented on himself, managing to turn his spark green. Shockwave learned of this, had Thunderwing imprisoned and removed the spark, placing it in a special container and creating the Matrix of Malice. The Matrix of Malice became the core of Thunder Mayhem, a monstrously powerful combiner formed from the Mayhem Attack Squad that wore Thunderwing's visage. Thunder Mayhem rampaged across the universe, proving near-unstoppable and reducing the Cybertronian race to only a handful of survivors. Deadly Aim

Legends World

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During his stay in the Legends World, Armada Megatron's plans escalated from stealing Mini-Cons to stealing rare toys, the original Thunderwing among them. LG18 Armada Starscream Super Mode

Beast Wars: Uprising

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Some time after the Scouring of Nebulos saw the Great War restricted to a handful of planets, Thunderwing succeeded Overlord as Decepticon leader, becoming known to future generations as the Last Decepticon Emperor. Not All Megatrons Derailment He led an expedition to Artemis in search of the Underbase. His quest proved successful–thus empowered by the artifact, he fused his sparks with those of the Mayhem Attack Squad and wreaked havoc across Cybertron, killing the Wreckers. Not All Megatrons Around this time, he oversaw advances in military science, developing the Micromaster upgrade on Cyberdroid volunteers such as Caliburn Derailment as well as a method of weaponizing Targetmasters' links with their partners' sparks to drain Cybertronians of life merely through presence. Trigger Warnings Thunderwing eventually uploaded himself into the Grand Mal; the floating fortress was only brought down after the Autobots and Decepticons teamed up to bring down their mutual enemy. Thunderwing died when the battle station crash-landed, but the Autobot-Decepticon alliance paved the way for the rise of the pan-factional Builder Assembly. Not All Megatrons

Prime Wars Trilogy marketing material

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The Autobots had their chance and failed. Now the power of the Matrix of Leadership will be mine to hold, and yours to behold!{{#if:|{{{quote2}}}}}{{#if:|{{{2}}}{{#if:|, {{{3}}}|}}|}}

The Titan Master Thunderwing granted those he bonded with the ability of ultimate power boost. Trypticon's Titan Master Crunch Thunderwing participated in a Decepticon mission on Cybertron alongside Pounce and Tidal Wave. Siege on Cybertron

Thunderwing was a potential bearer of the Matrix of Leadership. As a force for chaos, Thunderwing planned to unleash the unknown powers within the Matrix using its connection to his unique spark. Instead, the Matrix went to Optimus Primal. Power of the Primes fan poll

Precursor World

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A Warrior of the Seven Lights resembling Thunderwing<ref>This character probably had a name and title structured like that of White Gallant Convoy or Blue Brightes Convoy, but whatever it was remains speculation.</ref> was a leader of the White Order of the Primus Vanguard. He passed away and was memorialized with a hologram at the Ivory Towers. Finale Prelude

A Specter would later take on his visage. Blue Big Convoy comic

2019 IDW continuity

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Can't figure out how to do the Vulcan salute.

During the era of Expansion, Thunderwing was a famed fleet commander and at the forefront of the movement, gathering resources to fuel the ever-growing Cybertronian race. After the Expansion had been halted, Thunderwing was consigned to the distant asteroid colony Hexagon as its administrator. Stewing in his perceived "retirement" and the Senate's curtailing of his lofty ambitions, Thunderwing waited for the day he could again ascend to prominence. Upon receiving word of the rise of the Decepticon movement on Cybertron, he began hiring various mercenaries and malcontents like Bludgeon, Ramjet, Dirge, and Thrust under the pretense of increasing security for Hexagon. Thunderwing also secretly sheltered and allowed Airachnid's unholy experiments in creating synthetic versions of the Artifacts of the Primes.

When Vigilem docked at Hexagon and Thunderwing heard of the Senate's dissolution, he saw an opportunity to ingratiate himself with the new Decepticon regime by repairing the fugitive Titan. The Technobots soon arrived at Hexagon aboard Lodestar, seeking to apprehend Vigilem in the name of Colonial Security. Thunderwing held an audience with them and played dumb in regards to the Titan's crimes and what was occurring on Cybertron. The Technobots' suspicions were sparked by Thunderwing's choice in employees and his attempts to divert them, and a battle soon broke out on Hexagon. Intending to have the intruders killed, Thunderwing revealed the full scope of his plans, but the Technobots accidentally fell into Airachnid's experimental Combination Core, which forcibly merged them into Computron. Furious at this turn of events, Thunderwing jettisoned the entire section of Hexagon that Computron was in out into space. Vigilem was soon thereafter destroyed by Lodestar, further stymying Thunderwing's ambitions. Light/Star

Games

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Transformers Legends

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During the Great War, Thunderwing almost destroyed Cybertron, but was defeated and placed in a state of dormancy. Years later, Bludgeon came up with a plan to revive Thunderwing and destroy the Autobots once and for all. The Wreckers traveled to Cybertron in an attempt to stop Bludgeon and Darkwing, but failed. Both the Autobots and Decepticons were forced to cooperate as Thunderwing proved uncontrollable, and they eventually wore him down until he ran out of Ultra Energon. Stormbringer

Sometime later, Thunderwing had become more amenable. He, Axer, and Straxus accompanied Nemesis Prime on a mission to defeat Nemesis's former self, Nova Prime. Prime Evil He led a team of Decepticons including Banzai-Tron and Bludgeon in a raid on an Autobot Sun-Farming facility. Despite the Autobots putting up more resistance than expected, Thunderwing and his men triumphed, conquering the facility and sending the Autobots packing. Revelation

Transformers: Battle Tactics

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Not so menacing when you are a super deformer, uh?

Thunderwing participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of him! He was an Uncommon character who could be recruited after collecting 120 units of Cybermetal, and 56 units of Transmetal. Transformers: Battle Tactics

Toys

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The Transformers

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You passed this up when you saw it in the stores. Then Furman had to come along.
Thunderwing's inner robot transforms into a rather simple Cybertronic shuttlecraft. His Pretender shell also transforms into a starship mode of its own. The inner vehicle can be attached underneath the nose of the larger vehicle to create a combined starship mode. The inner robot is relatively generic in appearance (as with most Pretenders) while his outer Pretender shell resembles an alien warrior with Japanese oni influences. The inner robot carries a small "cyclone cannon" laser, while the shell is armed with two large laser blasters. All three of his guns can be mounted on his shell's vehicle mode. The large laser blasters can be mounted on the jet two different ways, either perpendicular or parallel to the wing undersides.
Unlike fellow Mega Pretenders Crossblades or Vroom, parts do not need to be removed and rearranged in order for Thunderwing to achieve any of his modes.
As the caption at right wryly notes, the prices for Thunderwing on the secondary market increased due to his use in fiction, as a result of something this wiki terms the "Bludgeon effect".
This mold was retooled to make Black Shadow.

Generations

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Matrix obsession sold separately.
  • Thunderwing (Deluxe Class, 2010)
Part of the fifth wave of Generations Deluxe Class toys, Thunderwing's alternate mode is a fighter jet loosely based on an F-22 Raptor, with different wings but retaining the F-22's characteristic zigzag patterns sculpted on the hull. He transforms into a robot that looks like the original Thunderwing toy's Pretender shell. The nose of the jet can detach and become a separate aerial drone, an homage to the vehicle mode of the original toy's inner robot. The two missile launchers can detach from the wings and become handheld weapons or clip together into one massive gun. The middle section of the sculpted missiles on the sides of the guns are also compatible with C joint accessories. Thunderwing's colors seem to be inspired by his color scheme in the latter end of the Marvel run, considering his green arms. There is also an homage to Don Figueroa's design in Stormbringer with Thunderwing's face and feet.
At BotCon 2010, the Hasbro design team noted that they had wanted to make the aerial drone unit transform into a robot but were unable to do so (presumably for budget reasons).
The toy is slightly mistransformed in packaging, with the chest section that conceals his head in jet mode in its robot mode position.
This sculpt was retooled to make Generations Sky Shadow and Adventure Black Shadow as well as BotCon 2012 Metalhawk. Thunderwing's instructions initially depicted him with Sky Shadow's head and chest. A running change version of the instructions depicts Thunderwing's own head, but keeps Sky Shadow's chest unchanged.

United

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Sometimes Hasbro beats Takara to media accuracy.
  • ID number: UN-26
  • Accessories: 2 missile launchers, 2 missiles, recon drone
The United release of Thunderwing decos his robot mode to approximate the colors of the original toy rather than his Marvel appearances. It achieves this by changing the green plastic on his arms for gray and the green plastic on his thighs and waist side armor for black plastic. The clear orange plastic is now a clear cherry red, the light green and dark green paint is a hi-gloss forest green, and the blue paint is slightly darker. His light gray plastic is now a cream color. Last but not least the purple plastic is a very light purple on this release.
The soft-plastic spikes on United Thunderwing's arms are much softer than either his Generations counterpart or Sky Shadow's.
Like the 5th and 6th wave figures, Thunderwing's package feature a sticker that said "limited quantity (数量限定)", indicating that this figure is released in limited numbers after its first and only shipment.

Titans Return

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Evil cute little robot but still dangerous.
  • Siege on Cybertron (Multi-pack, 2017)
Titans Return Thunderwing is a retool of Titan Master Fangry, with a new die-cast metal head mode face based on Thunderwing's Pretender Shell face, and a torso shared with Titan Master Rodimus Prime. The robot mode face is based on Don Figueroa's Stormbringer design.
Thunderwing was only available as part of the "Siege on Cybertron" set, which also includes Magnus Prime & Ginrai, Fathom & Tidal Wave, Professor Go & Metalhawk, and Decepticon Pounce. In the United States, this set was exclusive to BigBadToyStore, but it saw a wider release in Canada where it was available at Toys"R"Us, Amazon, the Canadian Walmart online store, book store chain Indigo and several PC retailers (seriously!). Additionally, it was also available at retail in Hong Kong and Singapore and even saw an official in the Netherlands, where it was exclusively available from BOL.
This sculpt was also used to make Ultra Magnus and Scorponok.
{{#if:Titans Return|Titans Return mold:|}} Fangry

{{#if:Titan Master:

Accessory:

  • TakaraTomy: Legends LG63 Noble||-
 style="text-align:{{{align}}};"|}}|

Titan Master:

Accessory:

  • TakaraTomy: Legends LG63 Noble|}}

{{#if:||-

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Merchandise

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Transformers Character Card

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  • Crossblades & Thunderwing Set (August 29, 2022)
    • ID number: 23 & 24
Released as part of the fourth wave of the e-HOBBY exclusive Transformers Character Card series, this pair of holographic trading cards depict super-deformed art of Thunderwing and Crossblades along with character profiles and tech specs.

Rubber strap series

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  • Vroom & Crossblades & Thunderwing Set (June 2023)
Released as part of the second wave of an e-HOBBY exclusive series, this trio of rubber keychains depict super-deformed art of Vroom, Crossblades, and Thunderwing.

Notes

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Like that cannon he always carries around? Too bad, the toy ain't got it.
Also available in Violent Violet.
  • According to the Marvel UK story, "The Big Shutdown!", Thunderwing stands at 40 feet (12.2 metres) tall while in his Pretender shell.
  • Thunderwing only transformed out of his humanoid shell mode once in the entire United States run of the Marvel Comics series. Even then, it was into his non-combined shell-only jet mode, leaving no hint that he had an inner robot mode at all. The only time we see his inner robot mode is in his first appearance, the Marvel United Kingdom story, "The Big Shutdown!".
  • Thunderwing's Marvel Comics appearances give him a four-barreled hand weapon that's completely fabricated, as it's not based on any of the toy's three guns. As with the melee weapons Bludgeon, Stranglehold, and Octopunch use in the comic, his four-barreled cannon likely originated from his unpublished character model.
  • A phenomenon seen often in the Marvel United States material, Thunderwing suffered from color scheme shift. At first, he appears in colors that approximate his toy's layout as best as the printing process allowed. Suddenly, in his biggest, most memorable appearances in #65 and #66, much of his blacks, grays, and blues were replaced by light greens. As a side effect of this phenomenon, since covers are colored in advance of the interiors, #66's cover featured a blue-armed Thunderwing with a green-armed Thunderwing inside.
  • Hasbro photography of Thunderwing shows some plastic color differences from the final product. His shell's arms are the same purple as his guns instead of gray, and his inner robot's thighs are that purple as well, instead of the final toy's black. Black paint is applied to the shell's thighs differently, and the inner robot's forearms seem to be painted light gray. Additionally, the smaller robot is incapable of toting either of the larger guns in jet mode, as the peghole isn't large enough.
  • Speaking of pegholes, both of Thunderwing's large guns have 5 mm posts with holes in the center that can function very much like Powerlinxable pegs, which means one can store Mini-Cons on them, if one so desires.
  • Fitting with Don Figueroa's method of making all of his robot designs able to be easily turned into toys, IDW Thunderwing's Ultra Mode is telegraphed by his kibble. An image in the Stormbringer trade paperback's sketch section shows exactly how he transforms into it.
  • Kreon Thunderwing's appearance in the comic is extremely small, making it difficult to tell what Kre-O parts he's made out of. He does seem to have the clip-on wings on his arms, but what his helmet is we couldn't tell you.

Foreign names

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  • Japanese: Thunderwing (サンダーウイング Sandāuingu; サンダーウィング<ref>Japanese translation of The Transformers: All Hail Megatron</ref> Sandāwingu)
  • French: Aérofoudre (Canada, "Aerolightning"), Foudre (France, "Lightning")
  • Mandarin: Léi Yì (Taiwan, 雷翼, "Thunder Wing"), Léi Yì (China, 雷翼, "Thunder Wing")
  • Hungarian: Mennydörgés ("Thunder")
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  • 2006 IDW robot, vehicle, and Pretender modes
    2006 IDW robot, vehicle, and Pretender modes
  • 2021 IDW robot mode
    2021 IDW robot mode
  • 2021 IDW vehicle mode
    2021 IDW vehicle mode

References

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