Here we have Thundertron in his lion mode, which has more of a Zoids influence this time around compared to the original version. This design is a little less in-line with the TFP aesthetics, which has been an issue with most Prime characters receiving Legacy toys, but he fits in better than someone like Arcee and Bulkhead. Plus, it doesn't feel too out of place for a Transformers Universe MMORPG game-styled take on the character. He wasn't in that game but was instead in the Transformers Online game, which was a Chinese MMORPG. Yeah he barely got a lot of love past the novel and previous toy. Articulation is pretty basic, with limited movement for the hind legs while the forelegs can only move at the elbows and paws. The jaw is articulated at least, with a bit of silver paint for the fangs to give it some extra detailing.
The tail can be stored on the back if you want to keep it around with him at all times. If you look closely, there are numerous scars as part of the sculptwork, as they were selected instead of using barnacles.
Transforming Thundertron is similar to the original version from years ago. The usual trait of legs straightening out as well as the beast head becoming the robot chest is there, on top of the arms being made from the underside of the beast mode body. At least the forelegs of the beast mode work differently this time, being part of the shoulder pads like they originally were. The robot mode itself is a surprisingly faithful interpretation of the character design we saw before. While it feels like an inevitable Alpha Trion, and details like the claws are not present on the now oversized shoulder pads, this still looks consistent with his past look despite his Generationized touches. And hey, he has the claws on the forearms, which is a decent compromise. The beard, shoulder pads, coattails, and color layout definitely push this as resembling a pirate, which is one of the things I like about Thundertron. It makes me wonder what other Star Seekers might have looked like if we saw their character designs in the show. And as always, be sure to have the thigh swivels facing forward so they won't look weird and possibly clash with the coattails.
His head sculpt is certainly more Generationized than the past version of the character, yet it retains a lot of the same traits that make him identifiable as Thundertron, with the forehead design, beard, adn even his nose. The mouth is more visible, even compared to the original version. Only oddity would have to be the blue eyes since his eyes were normally red. As for his articulation, he has a ball-jointed neck, shoulder rotation, bicep rotation, hinged elbows, wrist swivels (with gaps under where the hands slide into), a slight waist swivel, hip movement, thigh rotation, knee rotation, knee bending, and an ankle rocker on the left foot while the right foot could swivel. Both are hinged, though. The right foot has no ankle pivot due to the peg leg ability he has, further pushing the trope of being a pirate. His detached foot can attach onto his sword to vaguely homage the Powerizer gimmick having a claw.
Here is a photo of the original Thundertron. My copy sadly broke due to God knows what happened to the hinge used in transformation. I prefer the aesthetics of this original figure more than the Legacy United version, though the newer figure manages to have an advantage in terms of not using MechTech weapons that don't lock in place. Meanwhile, those clear forearms might seem thick for durability, but I bet many had issues with how broken they ended up being over time. The new version of Thundertron may not be 1:1 to the original aesthetics of his universe, but he is arguably the most faithful TFP character in this line, even Skyquake & Dreadwing despite them both being better than this guy. I recommend you get him if you haven't.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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