TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
STR
INT
SPD
END
RNK
CRG
FPR
SKL

Heinrad's review of: Cybertron Thunderblast

Name: Cybertron Thunderblast
Group: Decepticon

THUNDERBLAST knows that the weakest part of any AUTOBOT is his obnoxious sense of nobility. They’re constantly rushing to the rescue, and every last one of them would sooner scrap a basket of Antilian bumble-puppies than blast a female as pretty as she is. She uses that fact to her full advantage; more than one AUTOBOT has fallen first for her charms, and then to her plasma torpedoes. As an agent working on earth for STARSCREAM, she knows better than to trust any DECEPTICON, but she finds a kindred spirit in the con-man SIDEWAYS.


If Crockett had a speedboat like this on Miami Vice, he wouldn’t have had to chase the bad guys too far on the water. Thunderblast, in vehicle mode, looks like she could bring down a task force, if not a whole carrier group, all by her little ol’ self. In robot mode, she looks shapely enough….. she also looks like the poster Scourge probably had on the inside of his locker door in Charr’s locker room. Her planet key gimmick, while impressive, unlocks a few problems of it’s own as well as possibly increasing her firepower.

Vehicle mode
Thunderblast is a jet powered speedboat. She’d be a cigarette boat if she was a little sleeker. And she’s well detailed, from the jet nozzles on her stern, to her cockpit area, to the deck gun mounted forward of her translucent canopy. Aside from the seam in her prow, the only indication that this isn’t a normal boat(well, aside from the lack of footroom in the cockpit, anyway) is the Decepticon emblem just aft of the deck gun, and the torpedo mount points on her sides. Her armament in this mode is the aforementioned deck gun(probably a machine gun, detailed down to the ammo hopper for the belts on the side), a torpedo mounted on each side, and a four-pack missile launcher on a turret. Her hull is purple, while her deck is silver/grey. The stern of the hull is grey, as well.

I’m not letting my engineering friend anywhere near this figure. Mainly because she doesn’t feel as sturdy as Downshift(whom I got the same day). So…. Flip the stern plate up, pull her hull apart(it splits along the bottom), folding them back so they form Sweep-like “wings”. She’s got a slanted joint mid-thigh on each leg so they can fold into the inside, with her toes forming the bow of the ship. Flip her toes out, rotate the legs/lower thighs until they stick out straight, pivot the whole legs until they can fold down at the hips, unfold her arms, and move her up on the boat body(there’s a swing piece on her back), and voila, we have a robot.

Robot mode
Well, she does look feminine. The high heels are a giveaway. What I can’t figure out is why her torso looks like she had the Autobot Matrix of Leadership welded to it. As I alluded to earlier, she looks kind of like a Sweep. I think it’s the wings that do it. She’s got no beard, though. Her colors stay largely purple and grey, though she picks up some gold/orange trim and upper legs, while the center of the “Matrix” looks pink. Her weapon is the missile launcher mounted on the turret in her boat mode. The “Planet Key” unlocks the hidden power of her gun.(Okay, that sounded cheesy, but…. That’s what it does). Insert the key into the back of the launcher, and it springs open, revealing an actual…. Missile launcher. The torpedoes lock into the launcher and fire from it…. Ah, well. Robot mode looks very good, and the wings don’t overbalance her that much, because they rest against the ground.

Not a bad design, all in all. But there are a couple of drawbacks. For one thing, her gun in robot mode is a little heavy. To the point where her arm pops off at the shoulder if you're not careful. For another, she feels…. Light. Like the figure itself can’t take too much punishment. But I still like this figure. I’ve got her standing in robot mode next to my computer. And she does look good.

Her transformation is simple and somewhat intuitive, though I've had problems getting her hull to lock back into position when I transform her to boat mode, and her mid-thigh pivot points cause a little frustration.

My final Recomendation? It's a good figure, and a unique design. If you like boats, Femmes with attitude, or just finally want to get that Chromia figure you've been waiting for since seeing "The Search for Alpha Trion" all those years ago(as I understand it, this figure was released as Chromia in Japan), get it. If you know that your TF collection gets hard use(small children, pets that chew, accident prone people picking them up, etc), then you probably should give her a miss. She still feels fragile.

And for those who are wondering, my Ironhide figures haven't tried hitting on her yet...

Transformation: 6 On mine, the joints are kind of stiff, and I'm worried that I'll break something, leading to....
Durability: 4 - She feels fragile. She might not be, but she feels it.
Fun: 7 - I kind of like boats, but she doesn't float so well.
Price: 8 - $9.87 at the local Wal-Mart. I'd think more of the price, but I'm worried about breaking her.....
Overall: 7 - If it's a figure you want/need, go for it.