Punker Don came from Big Bad Toy Store in a poly bag. Super7 had a cardboard sleeve wth Punker Don’s face on a manhole cover. I’ve seen this before on Conan the Barbarian figures but also on TMNT Metal Head. Oh yeah. And Cobra B.A.T. and Snake Eyes. And The Worst Black Falcon. I guess I have a lot of Super7 Ultimates! figures at this point. (I haven’t bought one in a while because I just feel that Mythic Legions, etc has been better.)
When you take this sleeve off, you can see Punker Don in a nice blister with TMNT sewer bricks around it. On the back is a bio.
These bricks are so nice looking…I can’t help but repurpose them.
FIGURE REVIEW
Here’s what you get in the package:
Punker Don figure
Keytar
Mic with stand
Spiked Goggle mohawk head
Purple Spiked hairdo head
six alternate hands of pointing, punching, and open varieties. The left has improvised brass knuckles.
Punk-Funk Flute Bo Staff
Record
Tuning Fork
Chain (made of rubber)
also notable, he is wearing a removable necklace with a turtle head charm. This has a metal chain.
He is sculpted very nice, with every wrinkle in the bo staff, rip in the jeans, zipper in the jacket etc. But the real story is the paint. Wow! He feels so 1990’s for real! We would call this “neon.” Above I have him pictured wearing the spiked goggles head about to play that flute instrument. Notice how he is leaning on his left leg…this is because right out of the box as I checked his articulation, it seemed like the right knee peg was going to snap right off. This is a pretty big limitation for articulating him.
But wow! I don’t remember if I had this as a child or not. Remember, by the time TMNT was big, I was around 11 or 12 years old. And even then I couldn’t really let He-Man go. I did (and still do!) like the Ninja Turtles, but there was an element of resentment there also. This didn’t stop me from getting the cool toys and watching the show. Back to “did I have it?” I know we had Basketball Mike and Spaceman Raph. Definitely Samurai Leo. I just don’t remember. I do know that Donatello was and is my favorite, so if I saw this I likely DID get it. But I don’t remember it.
ACCESSORIES
Every accessory here is very cool. The record is a stand-in for what would have traditionally been pizza, kind of humor on Super7’s part. The chain feels kind of weak and forgettable. But the bo staff flute is unique and different. And then there’s the keytar. If you remember my review of GI Joe Classified Series Cold Slither then you know that even as a guitar and chorus teacher with degree(s) in music, I haven’t seen many real-life Keytars. I kind of with there was more color on the buttons and switches. Instead we just have this banana yellow casing around the piano keys.
The microphone stand was a real draw for me to get because Cold Slither didn’t come with one…how did that even happen? I like how it has purple wrap around the stand. The base is not removable. You can remove the mic, but it always has the holder attached to it.
What’s up with the tuning fork? You don’t have to play punk rock in tune! (Well…it isn’t the most important thing)
PICTURED: Mythic Legions Sir Uczajk holding a REAL TUNING FORK and Super7 Ultimates! Punker Don holding his plastic tuning fork.
Super7 gave us a variety of hands. Remember, the turtles only have three fingers, so if he is pointing at you…
I have had a lot of fun with this. And that needs to be the key thing. In fact, I am about to review the Party Wallop Transformers crossover thing, and it is also way fun. The Turtles are bringing the fun, is all I am saying.
I award Punker Don a 4/5. Everything about his is spot on. I can add more paint apps to the key tar. Otherwise the paint is wonderful, the sculpt is interesting, it has plenty of accessories, and it is adding so much to the SpartanNerd’s collection. But I have to deduct a point because of that right knee issue.
Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!
(Hasbro just released a Studio Series Thundercracker that is Voyager Class. No one out there reading this should get confused…the one I am reviewing is an old toy from 2015).Link to Hasbro Pulse …like they need it.
This is an old toy. By my calculation, maybe 11 years old? But I have seen a few of them on shelves at different toy stores, with different asking prices. I picked up mine at Toy Federation in Greer for $50. I always preferred him to Star Scream simply because Star Scream kind of got on my nerves trying to overthrow Megatron. And kind of a whiny voice and all of that. Yes…eventually I realized it was the same voice as Cobra Commander. Just the same, Thundercracker was a more likable guy to me. And I also preferred the blue color scheme.
As a kid I didn’t have Thundercracker…in fact we had no large Transformers that were popular characters. So why Thundercracker, why now? He is on my mind because of the Energon Universe. He is making himself a main character in that story, switching sides (link to Reddit) realizing most of the Decepticons are really in it just to enjoy the violence. Thundercracker has some respect for human lives, and that makes him different than say … Star Scream, who calls us humans “squishes.” Or Shockwave who really doesn’t respect anyone.
Also, though I have a desire to collect these Leader Class size modern Transformers, and the Combiner Wars is apparently the line where they began making in the way they make them now. So how does he hold up?
PACKAGING
Thundercracker came in this nice window box packaging, where you can see everything in the box very well. One thing of note, there are Autobot symbols all around this box, and this might have dissuaded someone like the SpartanNerd from looking at it, knowing I was looking for a Deception. (My preference, all but a few exceptions…Optimus Prime…etc 🙂 )
I need to remember to look at these boxes that have an Autobot in a comet. Maybe I am more of a Decepticon guy, but Hasbro must believe that only Autobots can sell.
The back shows us an illustration, and tells us pretty much what we already know about Thundercracker being a Transformer who thrives on fear. And then we have the same “17 steps” kind of graphic that Hasbro still uses to tell us how difficult of a transformer this is.
FIGURE REVIEW
What do you get in the box?
This is everything except for the missile, which I lost to unintentional firing. WE NEED A SAFETY!
Well…the thing is he comes with a ton of guns! Most of them are attached to him. But there is one spring-loaded missile launcher. Otherwise you have the impressive and tall Thundercracker in his Leader Class glory. OK. An instruction book also that isn’t that great.
So what about it? Well he stands very well. There are some parts that seem looser than I am used to seeing on new toys. For instance he has a bit of a bobble head. On the subject of his head, the face sculpt looks like Thundercracker, and he has light-piping to make his eyes glow, though it is sadly ineffective. (I would prefer battery powered lights, which the Heatboys Donatello proves can be done).
But his main joints are clicky and work very well. This Transformer hasn’t fallen down on me yet, and I have had him for about three weeks. I especially like the ratchet joints in his knees and in his upper leg area, and he also has clicky shoulders and elbows. There is no wrist articulation, and actually very little you can do with the feet. But they hold the figure up very well. The waist area ties The whole thing together and is an unchanging point for the transformation.
He looks good from behind too, with only the front end of the jet with the cockpit and nosecone visible as a backpack, which s what he is supposed to look like in the first place.
One thing I don’t like, though is that there is no way to attach the guns to his upper arms, which would be accurate to the G1 cartoon. And why not? Hasbro missed an opportunity there…speaking of…
ACCESSORIES
Thundercracker has SEVEN guns. That’s a bunch! The two big and obvious blue cannons, the two machine gun types, the missile launcher that he can hold in his hand, and there are two undocumented removable guns on his legs! (It is said that if you remove these you can get more of a show-accurate look)
Now with these you can arrange them in all kinds of ways. You can place them under the wings of the jet however you like. You can combine them into one big weapon sort of like the Power Rangers like to do (the only actual “combiner” kind of feature to this Transformer.) You can attach them to his arms, to his legs, to his wings so many ways.
TRANSFORMATION
It isn’t that difficult, but it does have a quirk. (So far every one I have has such a “quirk.”) Basically you get the arms up and out of the way, pull down the torso, and wrap the legs up behind where his head was. Then you extend the cockpit forward and the wings out. The aforementioned quirk is where the torso connects back to the bottom of the jet. This has to be lined up perfectly or it won’t go.
But to transform him back from his F-15 Eagle Fighter Jet mode, that quirk is the easiest part. There are these tabs that you lift up, and then just press behind in the recess with your fingers. After that this Transformer almost transforms itself.
The accessories integrate right in to the transformation, and you can place the guns however you want. I prefer to have the big blue cannons on the inside and the machine guns on the outside. The instruction indicate putting the missile launcher under the nosecone, something I dislike very much.
FUN WITH THUNDERCRACKER
You can combine all of the weapons together to create a super weapon. And then nobody will be able to steal the coffee!I have a Cybertronian base set up, where Heatboys Donatello and Thundercracker are on display among other technological beings. It seems like Super7 Ultimates! Cobra BAT is always getting busted up.Vintage Shockwave and Shrapnel, along with Studio Series Soundwave with Lazerbeak, and Combiner Wars Thundercracker. Oops, looks like I have Soundwave’s waist twisted backwards. Also, Soundwave is supposed to be Leader Class. But there is a huge size discrepancy. Leader Class should mean pretty much as big as you get without going Titan Class.My vintage Shockwave really is a centerpiece of my entire toy collection.You can put the missile launcher on the other side of Grimlock’s tail. That is the best solution. (sarcastic)
THE SPARTANNERD’S RATING OF COMBINER WARS THUNDERCRACKER
It is pretty good for a 10 or 11 year old toy. I understand that this is a re-use of Jetfire’s mold, which is also used for a Skywarp and a Starscream release from the same time period. (There are vestigial slots on his back where Jetfire had some boosters). This means that some of the loose parts are construction related and not only an artifact of sitting in a box for all this time. (You can tell from my pictures that box has been through it.) I think it is pretty dumb that they didn’t give us a better way to deal with the missile launcher in the F-15 jet mode. Placing it on the front is pretty stupid…but you could consider it like another 1980’s nostalgia piece- Galaxian, Galaga, etc. Video games where large guns seem to attach to the front of a jet-like vehicle.
Still, he has no stupid problems. I got him because I wanted a Leader Class Thundercracker…the right Transformer for NOW. I like the paint pretty good…the only paint here is a splash of orange for the “fake” cockpit on his belly and the red on his wings. The accessories are great even if the missile launcher is a miss of the big-stupid type. The only thing I dislike about the sculpt besides the lack of a way to attach the guns to the upper arms, is that recess in his shoulder area where the “quirk” of this toy is. I wish there was some way to cover those little holes is all.
But I don’t have enough complaints to subtract any points. The SpartanNerd rates the Combiner Wars Thundercracker a 5/5. He checks all of my boxes, and is exactly what I wanted…a Leader Class Thundercracker. Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!
By the way, the Blog and the YouTube Channel are doing very well compared to all the years prior. Thanks for reading and watching!
