Thundercracker is the master of fear. His victims can hear him coming from 200 miles away, which is the way he likes it—it's not worth the effort it takes to kill them unless they're nice and terrified first. He doesn't care much about galactic conquest or the AllSpark, but as long as Megatron allows him to indulge himself, he's happy to serve.
A fellow Seeker and loyal to a fault, Thundercracker is Starscream's personal choice for Second in Command once he takes control. In fact, bar a lack of experience, he is in many ways comparable to Starscream in skill. However, the air commander is not simply going to hand the job over, and Thundercracker must prove himself worthy by seizing the opportunity with both servos.
History[]
Defiance[]
Many years ago, Thundercracker was member of Cybertron's Defence Force under the command of Protector Megatron. When a mysterious relic was uncovered, aliens from the Eshems Nebula attacked, leveling much of the city of Metrotitan. Thundercracker was among the forces deployed to defend their home. Following this outrageous attack on their sovereignty, Megatron used this to declare a military dictatorship and led the flight-capable soldiers in a bloody counterattack on the aliens. During the battle, Thundercracker and his comrade Ramjet competed against each other in the numbers of confirmed kills. After Megatron discovered that science leader Optimus had snooped around his quarters, he issued orders for the arrest of the scientist, but assigned Starscream and Thundercracker's team the task with assassinating those escorting Optimus. However, they underestimated the scientist's fighting prowess and paid for it when an entire city was dropped on top of their heads. They survived, and Megatron used Optimus's act of self-defense as a catalyst for declaring them traitors and forming a new faction: the Decepticons. Thundercracker was present for the inspirational speech Megatron held at the dawn of this new faction. During the subsequent civil war, Thundercracker fought against Strongarm and was present for the launch of the Decepticon flagship Nemesis. He also became an understudy of the immoral Decepticon scientist Flatline.
War on Cybertron[]
Late in the war, Optimus Prime ejected the Allspark into deep space, leaving the warriors of Cybertron to fight over the limited Energon hey had left. At one point in the early 20th century, Thundercracker participated in an ambush on a team of Autobots attempting to steal resources from the Decepticon capital of Trypticon. He later left Cybertron to join up with the crew of Starscream's battlecruiser which had been launched to search for the AllSpark, and told Starscream that Shockwave was also looking for the cube. While the other Decepticons went to Earth in search of the AllSpark, Thundercracker waited aboard the ship, hidden on Mars with only Hardtop for company. During this time, he explored Earth's moon and discovered Sentinel Prime's ship where he recovered a pillar. Using his scientific knowledge gained from Flatline, he jury-rigged a space bridge back to Cybertron, based on the path the Ark took through space.
Transformers: The Game (PSP)[]
Thundercracker was Shockwave's right-hand man and confidante, and came to Earth alongside him and the other Decepticons. After Shockwave received a communique from Frenzy informing him that the Autobots had found a lead to the location of the lost Decepticon leader Megatron, Thundercracker airlifted his boss into Qatar so they could relay the message to Blackout. Shockwave decided to follow up on the lead himself, and had Thundercracker take him to the Arctic, where they battled their way through a platoon of Autobots that had already arrived and searched the ice cavern that Megatron's body had been found in. Although Megatron had already been moved by Sector Seven, Shockwave discovered that Megatron had brought an army of drones to Earth with him which were currently lying dormant on Earth.
Thundercracker and Shockwave subsequently travelled south, keeping themselves hidden by making the trip submerged in a large body of water, heading for an unknown location. Thundercracker was fairly puzzled by the whole affair, as Shockwave was playing the mission objective close to his chest, but things soon became clear when he discovered that they had arrived at a rocket launch site. While Thundercracker created a distraction by attacking the facility, Shockwave slipped in and programmed the rocket with the signal code required to reactivate the drones. Once the rocket blasted off, the signal was beamed down across the world, bringing the drone army back on-line.
A platoon of drones proceeded to attack the Autobots who were on their way to Hoover Dam, forcing Ironhide and Ratchet to break off and take care of them. The fight carried the two Autobots to the Smash Derby arena, where Thundercracker attacked them. Unfortunately for the Decepticon, the two Autobots overpowered him, and forced him to reveal the origin of the drone army, providing them with the information they needed to take the drones down.
In a Water Plant over Central City, while Optimus escapes with Bumblebee to secure the Allspark, Thundercracker appeared in front of them and fight with the two Autobots, but was defeated and escaped the place.
The Reign of Starscream[]
When Starscream returned with the seemingly lifeless Frenzy, Thundercracker was there to greet his barely functioning Commander and brought him aboard for repairs. Afterwards, Starscream began to confide in his subordinate his plans for recreating Cybertron while Thundercracker questioned him on both his new alternate mode and the fate of the AllSpark. Before they could finish their chat, Hardtop alerted them that the ship was under Autobot attack. Thundercracker sent in Swindle, Dreadwing and Payload drones to soften up the Autobots, and then entered the fray himself, shooting down Air Raid nd unleashing his sonic weaponry on the rest of the team. He then swiftly slew Camshaft and Cliffjumper, but he took a little too much time savoring the latter's fear and soon found himself at the mercy of Cliffjumper and Arcee. The revitalized Starscream was forced to enter the fray to save his would-be second-in-command, and he killed or critically damaged the entire Autobot squad. After berating him for his failure, Starscream took Thundercracker back on board and took the Nemesis back to Cybertron. They landed in Trypticon, where they were greeted by Ramjet. Starscream ordered Thundercracker to undergo repairs. Thundercracker was evidently back to working order, as he accompanied Starscream and Dreadwing to the site where a copy of the AllSpark was being constructed when the former questioned Payload's delay with delivering the generator for the replica. Upon their arrival, he swatted a Payload drone aside. Thundercracker's status received a boost after Starscream's copy AllSpark failed. While Dreadwing, Ramjet, and Payload all turned on the Seeker leader, Stockade and Thundercracker fought at his side. As Dreadwing made his escape, Thundercracker stated that he would take care of Dreadwing's drones. Starscream wished "Commander" Thundercracker luck before giving chase to the Dreadwing. After they were transported by the space bridge, Thundercracker transformed and began to search for his lord, who returned to Mars and, shortly after executing Dreadwing, was comforted by the fact he had some actual allies still out there.
Tales of the Fallen[]
Sometime later, Thundercracker caught up to Arcee's spaceship by an undesignated planet. Eager for a chance to settle the score, Thundercracker singlehandedly massacred his way through the ship until he caught up with Arcee and gleefully tore her apart limb from limb. However, he wasn't about to let her off so easily. He brought her remains back to the outpost he commanded so that Flatline could experiment on her. Flatline questioned Thundercracker whether or not her spark was cut out for his latest far-reaching, objectionable experiment. But Thundercracker insisted it would be and scolded him for squandering the outpost's supply of protoforms on some of his not-so-successful endeavors. Once Arcee regained consciousness in a strange new body, Thundercracker dropped by to pay his respects personally, casually remarking he got 'carried away' taking her down. Even though Arcee couldn't quite remember him, Thundercracker and Flatline revealed their plan to use her spark to power three discarded protoforms to bolster Decepticon forces and helped the medic carry out the procedure. The experiment was successful...But perhaps a little too successful when all three Arcees escaped, freeing two other prisoners with her. Ultimately, Thundercracker had to personally intervene and subdued one of the three Arcees. However, even he was no match for the combined forces of the two other fury-driven Arcees and was forced to flee. After Flatline purged the outpost, the wounded Thundercracker bitterly watched Arcee, Skids and Mudflap escape on their shuttle.
Toy Bios[]
Thundercracker was one of the many Decepticons who arrived in Washington, D.C. through the use of Sentinel Prime's space bridge pilars. When it became apparent the Autobots survived the destruction of their ship, Thundercracker participated in an aerial assault on the Autobots during the battle for Chicago.
Bumblebee (film)[]
See Seeker Warrior
Note: As numerous blue, white, and red Seekers appear during the Cybertron scenes, it is uncertain to determine which (if any) of these robots is the actual Thundercracker.
Thundercracker(s) were among the Seeker hordes participating in the attack on the Autobots' launchpad to prevent them from evacuating Cybertron. One was unfortunate enough to take a beating from Optimus Prime, another was bowled over by B-127, and another joined Soundwave and Shockwave in surrounding the Autobot leader.
Weapons:[]
- Back Missiles
- Laser cannon
- Blade machine gun
- Saw
- Energon Blast
- Alien Shotgun cannon
- Null-ray Blaster (Bumblebee)
Gallery[]
.jpeg "Thundercracker (Bumblebee).jpeg (373 KB)")
Trivia[]
- In the Studio Series "Bumblebee" Thundercracker toy bios, it is stated that the individual Thundercracker was among the Seekers of Starscream, Thrust, and Skywarp who, under Shockwave's command, attacked the Autobots launch pad. However, he was not among them in the film.