Thundercracker's vehicle mode is a futuristic jet, meant to resemble the triangular jets seen in the first episode of the original G1 TV series, before they went to Earth-- which is appropriate, since War Within is pre-G1. Anyways, this mode is very slick, with a nice, sleek form and tons of paint detailing-- the silver streaks especially enhance the look of this mode, and the "charred" paint apps on the sides give the impression that Thundercracker's flown at pretty darned high speeds. The yellow segmented windows look very nice against the light blue, though the blue could have stood to be a few shades darker-- it's not bright or anything, but a darker color would have looked better with the other colors, I think. The gray could also stand to be a few shades lighter for some added contrast. The only real flaw with this mode structurally, however, has to do with the fact that if you look at it from the rear, the robot head and fists are pretty obvious. A small landing gear folds out from the nosecone to help stabilize Thundercracker on a flat surface, and there are two wheels on the underside of his rear section to help him roll along.
    Thundercracker's robot mode is very similar in its design to Cybertron Starscream, with large upper shoulders and lower legs, though they're not so out of proportion as to look odd, of course-- it just makes Thundercracker look more buff. The main changes to the Cybertron Starscream transformation are that his tailfin splits in half and folds over his upper arms, and that his nosecone folds behind his back. Neither of the changes look all that great, to be honest-- the big point behind his back looks rather out-of-place, and the tailfins halves over his arms make his upper arms look somewhat hollow even though they aren't-- but they make the jet mode look much better and sleeker because of these small changes, so overall it's a net positive change to the basic design. I'm not all that enthused about Thundercracker's head sculpt, however-- he has all these little details around his mouth, like the sculptor wanted to add something there but couldn't figure out what. And considering that Thundercracker has never had all those crowded designs around his head, it was a rather odd sculpting choice. His head is also gray instead of black like in every other form G1 Thundercracker has had, and the new color choice doesn't look nearly as good, in my opinion. Still, otherwise this is a great, well-proportioned mode wiht some great articulation-- he can move at the head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips (at two points), and knees (at two points), and given that he's not back-heavy or anything, you can get quite a good few poses out of him (though giving him a hand-held weapon would have made the poses look a bit cooler, alas). His diecast parts are his lower legs, his main body, his upper arms, and all of his nosecone piece except for the very tip of it.
    War Within Thundercracker is the best Titanium mold I've played with as of this writing (1/07), with a superb jet mode and a pretty darned good robot mode, as well. He does have a few minor color choices and design flaws, but they are nowhere near major enough to ruin the toy, and if you don't like the colors, just wait for the Starscream and/or Sunstorm repaints coming on later in the line.

Review by Beastbot

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