Thunder Clash
| The name or term "Thunderclash" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Thunderclash (disambiguation). |
- Thunder Clash is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family. His name is sometimes parsed as Thunderclash.
Thunder Clash is the powerful, intelligent commander-in-chief of the Autobot Turbomasters. Fearless in battle and keen in strategy, he is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, his mere appearance sapping the fighting spirit from Decepticon forces. He commands the respect of the Autobots under his authority and the fear of the Decepticon Predators they fight against. Thunder Clash worries not about the air superiority of the Predators, believing that by standing as one, the Turbomasters will be able to resist anything that's thrown at them.
- French-Canadian name: Tonnerre
- Italian name: Uragan
Fiction
Catalogue comic
During a Decepticon Predator attack on the Autobot base, Skyquake gazed into his Supersight as he was about to join the battle. Suddenly, "into his Supersight view looms a menacing shape that strikes terror even into his hardened heart..."
Presumably, Thunder Clash and Skyquake fought after this overly dramatic prose.
Wings of Honor
Nine million years ago, Thunderclash was worried but ready about the growing conflict between Autobot and Decepticon, and often drilled the mechs under his command in the ways of battle, even though his ship, the Eight Track, was stationed on the outer rim of the galaxy. His quick and powerful mind and the ease with which he commanded respect made him an ideal mentor for new recruits.
One such recruit, a young Autobot named Kup, was on board the Eight Track when the ship was hailed by Commander Magnum of Autobot High Command. An important cargo hauler, the Van De Graaff, was shot down by persons unknown over the planet Beta-Nine. Since Decepticons were suspected, Thunderclash's team was ordered to retrieve the ship's precious cargo before the enemy could get their hands on it.
Indeed, the Decepticons were waiting for the Eight Track when it arrived, and the Eight Track was forced to make a crash landing. Though Landshark managed the landing with no casualties, the wiseass old mech began sewing seeds of uncertainty and fear. Thunderclash shot Landshark down quickly, reminding him at length that, as Autobots, it didn't matter how many Decepticons there were or how hopeless the situation was—all that mattered was the cargo they were sent after. After leaving their ship's wreck behind them, the four Autobots were suddenly attacked by a fleet of Skyraiders led by Banzai-Tron. Immediately, Kup was separated from them, but Thunderclash ordered that the young Autobot was on his own while the team found proper cover.
While the Decepticons were momentarily distracted, Thunderclash told Flak to radio Kup to meet him at the Van De Graaff. On the way, Thunderclash hoped he could divert a few of the Decepticons away from the other two. Unfortunately, Thunderclash wasn't able to land a shot on either Decepticon that followed him, and he arrived at Kup's position at the Van De Graaff without being able to rid himself of them. Kup, however, had an idea. He set a blaster to "overload," placed it in a container, and offered it to Banzai-Tron as terms of their surrender. After it exploded, Banzai-Tron woke up to find Thunderclash holding his mortar launcher at his head.
Shortly thereafter, a recovery team arrived to take Thunderclash's crew, their Decepticon prisoners, and the cargo back home. By the time they had returned to Cybertron, the war had officially begun. Commander Magnum, in response to the bravery of Thunderclash's crew, were inducted into a special new Autobot military unit, the Elite Guard. Wings of Honor
Further information in this article is coming soon as it pertains to information that may not yet have been officially released. |
Toys
Generation 1
- Thunder Clash (Large Turbomaster, 1992)
- Accessories: Gun, 8 missiles
- Thunder Clash transforms into a Cybertronian "cab-over" tractor-trailer. His trailer is armed with two spring-loaded, plunger-fired missile launchers. In robot mode, he uses a small handgun. His trailer unfolds to become a missile-launching assault tower equipped with "gravity-fed" missiles that descend and reload the launchers as soon as a round is fired.
- This toy also has an undocumented feature: The back of Thunder Clash's legs have notches in them that fit his handgun's "wings" for storage in vehicle mode.
- This mold was retooled into Machine Wars Optimus Prime. This later version of the mold had a planned redeco as Menasor in the Universe line, but was canceled.
Timelines
- Wings of Honor (BotCon 2009 box set)
- Accessories: Rifle/launcher, flame-missile
- The BotCon 2009 exclusive version of Thunder Clash is a redeco of Energon Rodimus, transforming into a rocket-powered Cybertronic long-nose truck cab. He can also form the top or bottom half of a larger robot mode, compatible with any Energon Combat- or Mega-class Autobot combiner robot mold. He features a spring-loaded rocket thruster/missile launcher.
- Thunder Clash was only available in the "Wings of Honor" box set along with fellow Autobots Flak, Kup, Landshark, and rival Decepticon Scourge.
Notes
- According to Transformers Generations Deluxe, at one point there were plans to create a leader character who would have "stood above Thunder Clash"[1] in the 1992 Transformers assortment. This Autobot was to have been named "Hyperdrive", whose design artwork appears in Generations. While Hyperdrive was never produced, he evidently got far enough along to appear in Skyquake's Megavisor scope.
