Mexican Thundercracker

MEXICAN THUNDERCRACKER

Here is the superb Mexican IGA release of Thundercracker. Looking at the packaging pictures above, I'll go over the obvious first. Despite having the same name as the US, the writing on the box is almost entirely in Spanish. The box colour is a little different from US boxes too as will be seen in the later comparison pics. Looking at the boxback, there are no robot points (as with all Mex TFs, instead replaced by a big purple block). Since Thundercracker is a first series TF there is no "graph" on the Techspecs. These were only introduced on Mexican TF packaging for the second series TFs and 3rd series minis.

The above two pictures are from both Mexican Thundercrackers that I have owned. The first one above had a US-like grey cardboard insert but the second one had a shiny grey reflective cardboard insert, same as the later Mexican Starscream I owned. It appears that Mexican jets came with both types.

The differences between the US and Mexican Thundercracker toys will start to become clearer from here on in. The colour. Much much less sparkliness than any of the previous Thundercrackers. The Diaclones were the most sparkly, followed by the US TFs, and the Mexican has the least amount of sparkly. It gives it a duller blue look and the blue is a tiny amount darker than US Thundercracker although this may not always be visible in my pics.

It has no rubsign, no Mexican transformers do. The canopy has rubsign TC characteristics in that is not the smooth type, it is ridged. The wheels on the jet are not silver die cast as they are on Diaclone and US jets, but instead they are black plastic. That is something that's unique to Mexican jets.

The main wings are the shorter type and instead of the hacked/sanded look of some very early pre-rub jets, they appear moulded shorter just like rubsign TCs and Italian Pre-TF TCs. In the US and Italy this was done for safety reasons, but in Mexico I don't think that was why it was done...I'll come to that later.

Still on the main wings, look at the red factory labels. The US and Pre-TF versions have a thick red stripe on the wings accompanied by a thinner white stripe. Not so on Mex TC. The same thing applies to the red factory labels on the tailfins. They're almost neon red. The factory stickers also have a more paper-like quality to them. The pegs on the main wings are very long, so in conclusion, the main wings are closer to rubsign Thundercracker than any other version, with the exception of the stickers. Or are they? Well, Diaclone main wings are "solid" underneath but most TF wings are hollow (except for early pre-rub jets). This Mex jet has solid wings too. This point will become clearer in the later comparison pics also.

Onto the small horizontal tailwings (or rudders). These are the solid/small peg variety which is a Diaclone and pre-rub characteristic. Strange that this Mexican jet should have them.

The nosecone is hard plastic. And not molded perfectly. Here's a closer look at it:

The tip of it has a little ball-like thing on the end which is sort of off-centre. Hard plastic nosecones are reminiscent only of Japanese Diaclones and Kingdam knockoffs (of Japanese Diaclone jets). In Italy and the US, the nosecones were of course rubber for child safety reasons.

The launchers on this toy don't work perfectly, but when they do fire, they fire very far. A Diaclone characteristic.

The Block covers the "Japan" section as Mexican toys were manufactured and assembled in Mexico. Apart from the block, it would be a typical rubsign Thundercracker copyright

Mexican Thundercracker in robot mode:

The lack of sparkly can be seen quite clearly in this pic. The fists don't fit onto the arms too well. Especially the left fist which had a tendency to slip off. These fists seem molded quite badly. There are blemishes and extra bits hanging off them. Not large bits but it looks like the bits on the excess plastic on the end of the missiles when they've been seperated from the sprue. Incidentally, the fists from my US Thundercracker fit perfectly on the Mexican jet. The fault is with the fists. The fists are double-tabbed. Another rubsign characteristic.

Now onto the comparison pictures starting with the packaging. Here's a pic of the rubsign US TF(left) and Mex box (right):

The difference in colour between the boxes is clear here, and obviously the US box has the Hasbro logo in the bottom left corner whereas the Mex box has the IGA logo. A boxback comparison between the above two:

The techspec variation I mentioned above should be clear in this picture. No graph on first year Mex toys and no robot points. Just for fun, a pic of Diaclone TC box (top), US (middle) and Mex (bottom):

Differences are obvious here. I don't believe that any of these boxes have suffered sunfading, so the colour differences on the character's boxart should be genuine. Mex (left) vs US rubsign (right) in jet mode and robot mode respectively:

The darker less sparkly Mex colour can be seen in the above pictures. Mex (left) vs US rubsign (right) main wing comparison:

Here clearly the difference between the factory stickers on the wings can be seen, the Mex has no white stripe accompanying the red stripe. Both have long pegs. The Mex wing looks lighter here, but it isn't.

The Mexican rudder on the left as mentioned before is the solid/small peg type and the rubsign is the hollow/long peg type. The Lack of Mex sparkly is in evidence again here. The rudder is definitely a Diaclone/Pre-rub TF type.

Tailfin comparison:

As with the main wings, you can again spot the difference in factory labels between the Mexican and US jet. No white stripe on Mex.

The Mexican jet is the only Thundercracker incarnation with plastic wheels as the rest have die cast shiny wheels. The above pic illustrates this point nicely =)

Launcher and Missile (Mex on left) comparisons respectively:

I have to say that the Mexican long missiles don't look very straight. I was pretty sure mine were a little...bent? The second pic supports this to a small degree.

Now some comparison pics including the two Diaclone jets. Here's a pic with four main wings. From left to right: Japanese Diaclone, Italian Diaclone, rubsign US and Mexican:

The two Diaclones have the clear thin film-like factory labels with the "F-15 Eagle" lettering whereas the TFs have the solid-looking factory labels. Again, only Mex has no white stripe. The Diaclones (and pre rub Thundercrackers not pictured) have small pegs, but the rubsign and Mexican jet have long pegs. Colour differences in evidence too.

A pic of the underside of all the four aforementioned main wings (same order as above):

Now you can see that only the Japanese Diaclone and Mexican Thundercrackers have the solid section on the part nearest the peg and the Italian Diaclone and rubsign TF have the hollow section. The difference in sparkliness is also clear in this pic.

Again, the difference in factory labels is the main thing here. Thin film-like Diaclone stickers with "F-15", solid TF stickers, Mex without white stripe.

So here is a summary of the Mexican Thundercracker's characteristics and what jet it has that characteristic in common with:

Hard Nosecone (Japanse Diaclone)
Short mainwings (Italian Diaclone, US TF)
Small peg/solid rudders (Japanese Diaclone, pre-rub TF)
Firing missiles (Japanese and Italian Diaclone)
Solid main wings (Japanese Diaclone)
Long mainwing peg (Rubsign TF)
Striped canopy (Rubsign TF)
Double-tab fists (Rubsign TF)
Copyright (Rubsign with exception of block, so unique to Mex)
Plastic wheels (unique to Mex)
Factory labels (unique to Mex)
Colour/Sparkliness (unique to Mex)

As you can see, trying to figure out exactly which model of Thundercracker the Mexicans based their toy on is no easy task!

Speaking to Morg at the time, he reckoned that Iga received the moulds etc directly from Takara. Now, I don't think safety was ever an issue for the Mexican toys especially when considering the firing missiles, hard plastic nosecone and high lead content in the paint (obviously not intentional). This makes the fact that this toy has the shorter non-pointy US TF-like main wings very odd. And the Diaclone/early prerub-like solid section underneath the main wing is even more confusing.

Other than the shorter non-pointy main wings and the double-tabbed fists, this jet is quite close to the Japanese Diaclone. The fact that the wheels are plastic is typical of the Mexican factories cutting corners and costs (as seen in other Mex toys). But what ABOUT the double-tabbed fists and the striped canopy? They're rubsign TF characteristics, not Diaclone. Well, I remember hearing that TFs first came out in Mexico in 85, and if that's the case then these characteristics were no doubt copied from the rubsign versions that were on sale in the neighbouring US at that time in 1985.

It appears that IGA took characteristics for this toy from all over the place and not exclusively from Japan or the US. Plus they added a few twists of their own. In conclusion, an extremely nice-looking, mysterious, hybrid of a toy with unclear origins.

As always, I like to close any review with a nice picture, so here are all 4 Thundercrackers in one pic, click the thumbnail for the full-size shot: