Prime Spotlight: GCreations SKR-01 Thunderous

Prime Spotlight presents: 

GCreations SKR-01 Thunderous

Bottom Line (** 1/2 stars- <out of a possible 5>)

By Stygian360



Introduction:
I’ve always loved G1 Sludge.  In fact of the G1 Dinobots he’s actually the only one I own currently.  I’ve already gushed in previous reviews about how much I adore the Dinobots in general- and how much in heaven I am currently with so many to choose from-so I won’t wax on further about that topic.  Ultimately we’re here to discover whether or not this particular latest version of Sludge works and whether he’s worth a purchase.  So is Thunderous worth a purchase?  Let’s find out.

Articulation:
These days third party is doing it right.  Earlier releases were fairly rudimentary, but with the current crop of third party figures it’s almost better to describe to a potential buyer what’s missing.  On that front there are no significant challenges that I found with Thunderous.  He seems to have all of the fun and appropriate swivels and joints that make for a proper modern era action figure.

Paint:
There isn’t much that constitutes paint on this figure, but what’s here is adequate, clean and ‘tells the story’.  For whatever reason most third party companies are including liberal amounts of chrome on their Dinobots, and Thunderous is no exception.  I say “for whatever reason” but most would cite the G1 precedent and in that sense you’d be right.  Whoever heard of dinosaurs roaming the streets of a modern city and being able to blend in- much less rife with chrome- but hey it worked in the G1 fiction so why not now.  It would seem wrong- sacrilegious if you will- not to include chrome on a Dinobot, so thankfully most (if not all) companies producing them in any variety these days are sticking to what works and going with chrome.  For the most part Thunderous sticks to where chrome showed up on the original and that’s just fine with me.
There is also the homage to G1 Sludge via his see through smoky plastic head and neck.  This works pretty well actually.  It may not be how every collector interprets their version of Sludge, but here it’s done well and I enjoy seeing it.

Transformation:
This was the least fun part of the figure for me.  It’s not inherently difficult to do, but because the parts, plastic, and various pins and swivels which enable it seem cheap and almost an afterthought, I just couldn’t get into the head space of enjoying transforming him.  Additionally, due to his extra-large ‘wing’ pieces, overly large feet, and awkward proportions he handles oddly.  It’s hard to describe, but once you’ve engaged the transformation once you’ll get it.  It also seems as if GCreations went with a cheaper and less durable plastic with Thunderous, which gives the impression of potentially easy breakage.  Admittedly this could simply be my perception, but ‘eye of the beholder’ can’t be discounted as important when it comes to collecting.  Take it or leave it the transformation is fairly straight forward but not what I’d exactly term breezy or fun.  He’s G1 Sludge through and through, but whether as a collector you feel comfortable paying this much for a G1 style figure, and all that this implies, is going to be very much an individual taste consideration.

Bottom Line:
GCreations did an adequate if not great job with this their first Dinobot release.  Some collectors will gush over his G1 faithfulness, but with so many Dinobots to choose from these days “faithfulness” has much less allure than it once did.  Also, his overly large and awkward proportions throw everything off and make it seem like he could have used more time in the design phase.  Lastly, the cheapness of his plastic is really disconcerting.  There is simply no valid reason to go cheap when it comes to a high-end third party release and makes for his most unforgivable attribute.  In fairness I’m not certain if “cheap plastic” is how every collector will perceive him, but this is my review and these are the facts as I see them.  Be cautious is all I’m advocating.  Otherwise, GCreations is off to a decent start and I wish them well moving forward.