Thundercracker (WFC)

The name or term "Thundercracker" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Thundercracker (disambiguation).

Thundercracker is a Decepticon from the War for Cybertron portion of the Aligned continuity family.

Someone told me I was meeting Mike Costa here.

A scientist by nature, with a more upperclass air, Thundercracker stands out among his fellow Decepticons in being a fairly calm and level-headed fellow. He believes in the cause, even if he's not enthusiastic about certain of Megatron's methods. Lacking the endless ambition of Starscream and the cruel thuggery of Skywarp, he displays little malice towards his enemies and takes no joy from battle. For Thundercracker, conflict is simply applied physics and chemistry, nothing more than the redirection of forces and energy towards the desired target... his foes.

My scans indicate that…His often-used phrase

Fiction

Aligned novels

When Decepticons bombed Altihex Casino, Starscream told Sentinel Prime that Thundercracker and Skywarp were his trusted lieutenants and that they would take him to safety. They actually took him to Kaon, from where he was then moved to Moon Base One and imprisoned. Exodus

He's not mentioned afterwards, but he could have been in every scene where the Seekers are present. He was most likely at the battle with Omega Supreme as only three of Starscream's Air Commanders survived.

ExilesRetribution

Prime cartoon continuity

Voice actor: James Horan

During the war for Cybertron, Thundercracker was stationed at a Decepticon science installation located in Ankmor. Thundercracker was aiding his fellow scientist Shockwave in extracting the Sparks of the Decepticons Rumble and Frenzy in order to put them in Laser core containment chambers, which would then allow them to permanently switch between different bodies. Thundercracker started the experiment, and, in a flash of light, Rumble and Frenzy were transferred into their new bodies.

As the two smaller 'cons bickered over whether Shockwave had gotten their colors right, two Autobots burst into the lab, one of them demanding that the Decepticons leave his lab. Thundercracker released Rumble and Frenzy to backup Shockwave and himself. However, the Autobot Wheeljack revealed that years ago he had lined his lab with explosives and unstable energon. Unable to use weapons, Thundercracker and his allies engaged their foes in hand-to-hand combat. After losing Rumble and Frenzy, Shockwave and Thundercracker decided to retreat instead of risking Wheeljack setting off the explosives he had rigged in his lab, never realizing that the Wrecker had been bluffing.

Thundercracker and Shockwave would reconvene with Rumble and Frenzy at Kaon, where Soundwave demanded that they return the two to their original bodies. Unreliable Narratives

Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe

Thundercracker followed Megatron to Earth in pursuit of the Allspark. His specialty amongst the Seekers is maneuverability. The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe

Games

Transformers: War for Cybertron (Xbox 360/PS3/PC)

Voice actor: Graham McTavish (English)

Thundercracker served with Skywarp, Jetfire, and the former Sky Commander Starscream on a dilapidated orbital research station that once experimented on the powerful, but highly dangerous Dark Energon. This made it a target for the leader of the Decepticons, Megatron, who wished to restart Dark Energon production in his plans to revitalise Cybertron. Megatron attacked the station and fought his way into the laboratory, and despite Starscream's attempts to destroy the remaining Dark Energon, Megatron withstood its destructive power and bent it to his will. His survival intrigued Starscream, who offered to serve Megatron in exchange for learning how to manipulate Dark Energon himself; Thundercracker and Skywarp fell into line. Jetfire declared them traitors and left to warn Zeta Prime. Thundercracker and Skywarp were prepared to give chase, but Megatron allowed the Autobot to leave, as he wished Zeta Prime to know his demise was coming. However, the Decepticon commander scoffed at the idea of being given what he could simply take from Starscream, until the one-time Sky Commander revealed that there was very little Dark Energon left on the research station, but he knew how to manufacture more, and that the ancient, long-forgotten Energon Bridge needed to be reactivated before they could do so.

Thundercracker, Starscream and Skywarp were sent the cliffs of Kaon, where they could make their way into the underground. Thundercracker commented with wonder that he had never travelled this far into Cybertron before, for which Skywarp labelled him as being boring as always. As they entered an underground energon reservoir, Thundercracker warned his teammates to avoid touching the flowing streams and waterfalls of crude energon, as in that state is was extremely volatile; Skywarp once again mocked his companion's thoughtfulness. Making their way out of the reservoir, the three fliers faced their first serious challenge when an Autobot cruiser appeared in a canyon they needed to travel through. The trio crippled the cruiser's weapons system, fought their way past the Aerialbot squadron it launched, and moved into the ship. Defeating the ship's defenders, they then destroyed it by placing a detpack on the ship's power core. While Starscream and Skywarp busied themselves with glory hogging and relishing the battle against the Autobots, Thundercracker tried to keep them alive, using his Energon repair ray to heal their wounds. Deeper in the core, they encountered strange creatures the likes of which Thundercracker had never seen before. Eventually, they found themselves before the mechanism needed to restart the Energon Bridge, but Thundercracker's scans detected something very unusual about the machine. Starscream, tired of Thundercracker's readings and sensors, pushed his way past and injected Dark Energon into it without waiting for more information. Perhaps he should have listened to Thundercracker, as the machine activated its defense systems, revealing itself to be the Energon Bridge Guardian. The three Decepticons were forced to fight a desperate battle where the Sentinel threw heat-seeking fireballs at them, activated powerful energy beams and turned the floor into lava. Exploiting the machine's cooling down period, they were eventually victorious, and barely escaped with their lives when the Dark Energon infected the facility and reactivated the Energon Bridge, which sent its energon bouncing along satellites to Megatron's Dark Energon facility. Thundercracker remarked his amazement at this...but not until after Skywarp did. Y'know, TC, it's all well and good for you to be thoughtful and careful, but when Skywarp beats you to the punch in stating the blindly obvious, you might want to speed it up.

Shortly after the defeat of Zeta Prime, Iacon's guardian Omega Supreme gave chase to Megatron, though based on Megatron's attitude it was hard to tell exactly who was chasing whom at times. At one point, Megatron even ordered Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker to attack the behemoth, if only to provide a distraction. The three apparently eluded him after drawing his fire, however, as after Omega had cornered Megatron's team at an Autobot anti-aircraft terrace (or, depending on who you talk to, when Megatron tricked him into attacking them there), Omega's armour was breached by Megatron using the heavy guns, and Starscream led Skywarp and Thundercracker in shooting down the mighty Autobot, forcing him to crash land in a sub-level below. After Megatron defeated Omega Supreme on the ground and forced him to open the Omega Gate, Thundercracker and the others watched as Megatron achieved his plan to infect Cybertron's core with Dark Energon. Transformers: War for Cybertron

Transformers: War for Cybertron (DS)

Voice actor: Graham McTavish (English)

Thundercracker is an unlockable character for the DS version of War for Cybertron. He is unlocked by finding a disc in the mission "Testing the Experiment" (His character disc is located in one of the prison cells). On the Decepticon version he can replace any of the other Decepticons in the campaign mode.

Thundercracker served under Megatron loyally during the final days of the war. He followed Megatron into battle against the titanic Autobot Omega Supreme, but not without expressing his numbing fear of the giant first. War for Cybertron - Autobots/Decepticons

Transformers: Cybertron Adventures

Voice actor: Graham McTavish (English) Thundercracker and Skywarp begin to taunt Barricade, due to his inability to fly. Later, Megatron watches three Autobot ships make their way to escape position, and orders Thundercracker and Skywarp to plant homing beacons on each one. Thundercracker rockets through the debris field, taking out Aerialbots and using the larger pieces of debris as landing points. Inside one, he is pinned down in a narrow tunnel by a gatling-Destroyer, giving him very little opportunity to gun the behemoth down between sweeps of blaster-fire. After a stern reminder from Megatron as to his mission, Thundercracker intercepts the first cruiser and plants the beacon on it. As he makes his escape he's pinned down by Autobots, but Skywarp arrives to draw their fire in a close-quarters shootout. Skywarp leaps into the open to draw the fire of a squad of Autobots, allowing Thundercracker to snipe them in peace. A short flight gets the second beacon planted, and a blast from Trypticon sends the second ship to its doom. Making his way through another large chunk of destroyed base, Thundercracker heads for the Council ship through heavy firepower. He plants the beacon, and watches as the blast from Trypticon punches through... but does not destroy the ship. The Autobots have weakened Trypticon again, and Megatron orders Thundercracker back to defend the superweapon. Transformers: Cybertron Adventures

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Thundercracker does not appear in the campaign of Fall of Cybertron, however his chassis is available in multiplayer.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

Console

Thundercracker was made a pre-order at Gamestop included in the "Weathered Warrior Pack". He was later made a DLC and can be downloaded for use in Escalation. His default ability is the Heal Beam, and his default weapon is the Neutron Assault Rifle.

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (console)

3DS

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (3DS)

Toys

Prime

• Thundercracker (Deluxe, 2012)
  • Accessories: Arms Micron "Silver Metal Balo"

A redeco of Skywarp, which is a slight retooling of the "First Edition" Deluxe Starscream toy, Thundercracker is exclusive to TakaraTomy markets, and further exclusively available at Yodobashi Camera, Yamada Electronics and EIDON group stores. He transforms into a jet resembling a General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. Like the other toys in the line, a lot of his detailing is done with customer-applied stickers rather than paint operations. He lacks Starscream's missile pods, instead featuring a pair of permanently-attached "bombs" on his wings. These bombs feature the hexagonal-shaped 5mm post-holes used in the line-wide "Arms Micron" play-pattern. He comes with his Arms Micron partner Silver Metal Balo, designed to form a star/shield that can be attached to Thundercracker's arms or store on his back.

The original version of this mold was differently retooled into Timelines Slipstream.

Generations

• Thundercracker (Deluxe, 2013)
  • Series / Number: 02 / #006
  • Accessories: Two assault cannons, tail-fin

Despite using a mold and deco matching Thundercracker's appearance in War for Cybertron, this toy technically represents G1 Thundercracker, thanks to his IDW pack-in fiction. Consequently, the toy is listed here as a repurposing.

Part of the sixth wave of 2012-onwards Generations Deluxe Class toys, Thrilling 30 Thundercracker is a redeco of Generations: Fall of Cybertron Starscream, and transforms into a Cybertronian jet fighter. He comes with two spinning, triple-barreled cannons which can combine to form a larger hand-held weapon that is geared to spin its two triple-barrels together, and resembles the Neutron assault rifle from Fall of Cybertron. Each of the weapon halves features two 5mm posts, as well as a peg-hole on their hollow sides, while the combined form features another peg-hole at the top, but makes the peg-holes on the hollow sides inaccessible. Thundercracker features numerous 5mm peg-holes, such as his hands, forearms, lower legs, and wing undersides.

Thundercracker's tail-fin is attached via a 5mm post on its underside, and can be detached to reveal three additional peg-holes, with two of these peg-holes being just the right distance to accommodate the combined assault cannons/rifle, with the tail-fin pegging on the rifle's top peg-hole. This allows the weapon to mount on top of the vehicle mode, and store on his back in robot mode.

Thundercracker is minimally mis-transformed in-package: his jet mode nosecone is extended, rather than folded in as it should be in robot mode. He comes packaged with a copy of IDW's 'Spotlight: Thundercracker'.

This toy was also redecoed into TakaraTomy's Fall of Cybertron Skywarp.

• More information on Generations Thundercracker at TFU.info

Notes

• Thundercracker is usable in both the Autobot and Decepticon versions of the War for Cybertron games for the DS. Used only for multiplayer, bonus missions and Arena mode in the Autobot version and used in Multiplayer, Arena mode, and campaign in the Decepticon version.

Foreign names

• Russian: Gromoverzhec (Громовержец, "Thunderer") (ROTDS)