Thundertron

Thundertron is a Star Seeker from the Aligned continuity family.

"Do you fear death? Do you fear that dark abyss? All your deeds laid bare, all your sins punished?"

Cybertron and its inhabitants will tremble, for they will hear the massive clang of steel amidst the sound of leonine growls, and fall before the might of Thundertron! The massive, peg-legged leader of the Star Seekers and Captain of the Tidal Wave, Thundertron claims to be "the mightiest freebooter on the spaceways". Aside from being a merciless pirate, the inadvertent destruction of his home-world by Cybertronian neglect has given him an unquenchable hatred and a desire for revenge. He vows to hunt down and slaughter any who come from Cybertron, and is equally brutal with anyone else who would get in his way.

Fiction

Aligned novels

During Cybertron's Golden Age, when the Transformers colonized other worlds, Thundertron's colony loyally served the Cybertronian Empire. When the space bridge network collapsed and Cybertron turned its attentions inward, Thundertron and his fellow colonists were left to fend for themselves, dying by the millions. The survivors became the core of the Star Seekers, and Thundertron emerged as their leader. Retribution

Upon sensing the energy trail of a Cybertronian ship, Thundertron had his ship land on Velocitron. He quickly questioned the planet's leader if there were any Cybertronians there. She said there were none, but the leader's refusal to divulge where they were, her insolence in asking the fault of being Cybertronian, and her rival's insistence that she was Cybertronian quickly made Thundertron lose his temper and ordered his crew to attack.

Following the energy trail, they traveled through a space bridge to Junkion, where he found not only the Cybertronian ship, but another. While the Cybertronians were fighting each other, Thundertron met with the leader of the locals. He quickly forced the Junkions to repair his ship and attach a space bridge to it. He had two crew members show the Junkions they meant business by killing one of them. As soon as the space bridge was attached, Thundertron ordered the Star Seekers to attack the Cybertronians. Exiles

Some time after the battle on Junkion, Thundertron and the Star Seekers engineered a ruse to trap the Decepticons and destroy the Nemesis with the Requiem Blaster. While the trap was sprung, the more nimble Nemesis was able to exploit the Requiem Blaster's high energy demands, forcing the pirates to detach the weapon after an ineffective blast had been fired off. Furious, Thundertron engaged Megatron in personal combat on an asteroid. Though the pirate's savage might proved an equal match for the Decepticon leader, he opted for a retreat when the Nemesis began overpowering the Tidal Wave. Speaking to his foe one last time, Thundertron swore to face Megatron once again, an opinion that the Decepticon did not share, his speech allowing Megatron to deduce that Thundertron had not killed Optimus Prime. Retribution

Ask Vector Prime

Optimus Prime and the Earth Protection Taskforce unsuccessfully attempted to capture Starquest and Thundertron. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/08/17

Toys

Prime

Thunder! Thunder! Thunder! Thundertron, Ho!

• Thundertron (Voyager Class, 2012)

• Series / number: 1 / 008
• Accessories: Claw/Battle sword, claw/right foot
• Known designers: Joe Kyde and Bill Rawley (Hasbro), Emiliano Santalucia (concept artist), Mark Maher (deco artist)

Part of the fourth wave of Prime: Robots in Disguise Voyager Class toys, Thundertron converts from a robotic lion to a peg-legged space pirate and back! He features an incredibly long beard and looks like he's wearing a long-coat, with the latter being due to the beast mode "wings" on his robot waist and the coattail-shaped panel on his back. He also features translucent plastic, such as his back and forearms/beast mode forelegs, to accommodate his weapon's light-up gimmick.

For accessories, he has a short-bladed claw which is pegged (via 5 mm peg-hole) into his peg-leg, and serves as his right robot mode and rear-right beast mode foot. He also has a long-bladed claw that transforms into a "Battle sword", the LED in the weapon illuminating the sword blade as a sort of "Energon glow". Either accessory can peg into his hands, forearms, robot and beast back, and into either side of his "wings". Additionally, the light-up weapon features a peg-hole on either side of the lever.

In order for him to fit in the box, he is often mis-transformed in-package, with his chest panels not being opened, and his crest, "coattail", and pelvis being left in their beast mode positions. His package-back also features a call-out to his static snap-on claw/right foot accessory, but it incorrectly points to his claw/sword accessory instead. Additionally, his stock photography depicts additional paint operations not present in the final product, such as silver paint for most of his robot feet/beast hind-feet, and gold paint for the lower half of his peg-leg. Finally, his instructions forget to mention that the spurs on the sides of his rear feet have to be swung up and angled for lion mode, as shown in his package art and stock photos.

He was later redecoed into Leo Prime, Go! Go Prime, and BotCon 2014 Alpha Trizer.

• More information on Thundertron at TFU.info

Legacy

He stole Bmac's Beard!

• Prime Universe Thundertron (Voyager Class, 2024)

• Accessories: Sword, detachable foot
• Known designers: Mark Maher (Hasbro), Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy), Emiliano Santalucia (concept artist)

Released in the eighth wave of Legacy Voyagers, Legacy: United "Prime Universe Thundertron" transforms into a robotic lion (with noted heavy Zoids inspiration). He includes a sword, as well as the original toy's peg leg feature (at the cost losing of ankle tilt in the right foot).

Hasbro marketer Ben MacCrae and designer Mark Maher lampshaded the Zoids influence that went into Thundertron's revamped beast mode by offering that the pirate had scanned one of the Zoids franchise's trademark mecha-ligers after crash landing on the Zoids' home planet. Maher further noted that the toy was initially planned to have sculpted space barnacle details, but they ultimately didn't quite fit with the vibe he wanted, so it was changed in favor of some scars and battle damage. Thundertron's left shoulder has two slots, which fit Earthrise Ratbat's legs.

Thundertron was revealed alongside the rest of United's first wave, and went up for pre-order shortly afterwards.

Designer commentary on Legacy Thundertron from Mark Maher on Instagram

Notes

• Thundertron was designed by Emiliano Santalucia.
• According to former Hasbro creative director Rik Alvarez, Thundertron's name is a portmanteau of ThunderCats and Voltron.
• The original concept of the Star Seekers was that each of its 13 members was from a different Cybertronian colony. To date, Thundertron's colony of origin is unknown.
• Thundertron's status as a captain of an independent ship, his apparent peg leg, and his unending quest for vengeance harken back to Captain Ahab from the classic novel, Moby-Dick.
• Thundertron and the Star Seekers were at one point planned for inclusion in whatever TV project followed the third season of Prime (either a fourth season of Prime, or a new show entirely), prompting Thundertron's toy and the seeds of their backstory being incorporated into the Aligned novels. The dissolution of HasLab and their big vision for the Aligned continuity put an end to that.
• A catalogue that comes with the Leo Prime version of the mold erroneously labels the figure "Thundertron" (サンダートロン Sandātoron).

Foreign names

• Japanese: Thundertron (サンダートロン Sandātoron)
• Mandarin: Pò Tiān Léi (China, 破天雷, "Heaven Breaking Thunder")