(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Activator Starscream. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Activator Starscream here.)

    As usual, Starscream gets repainted as one of his Seeker brethren, and although Thundercracker is generally an homage to his G1 self, there's been a bit of divergence this time around. Yes, he's still primarily dark blue, but in addition to silver and black as secondary color, he's also got a nice shade of purple to contrast against all the dark black. It's really quite a great move, in my opinion, keeping the color scheme close enough to seem "familiar" but still making it its own thing. And in this case, I think it works even better than the G1 color scheme-- the purple goes VERY well against the dark blue to the point where I wish there were more of it and less of the black, which doesnt' contrast against the dark blue all that well, though it certainly doesn't look bad or clash or anything. The silver accents also look quite good, as they always have against dark blue (which on this toy has an ever-so-slight purplish tint to it, which is of course fitting). I wish a few more silver paint apps were visible in robot mode to add a bit more color variance-- particularly on the legs-- but that's a very small quibble, as Thundercracker has enough paint apps for a toy of his size overall. The gold Decepticon emblems on the wings are also a very nice touch (and they're the "regular" Decepticon emblems this time, unlike Activators Starscream who had movie Decepticon emblems for some strange reason).
    No mold changes have been made to Activators Thundercracker.
    Activators Thundercracker is one of the best Animated Activators molds, done up in a very well-done color scheme and at a very affordable price point to boot. What's not to recommend?

Review by Beastbot

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