Thunder Clash
From Transformers Wiki
| The name or term "Thunderclash" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Thunderclash (disambiguation). |
- Thunder Clash is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Thunder Clash (also Thunderclash) is the powerful, intelligent commander-in-chief of the Autobot Turbomasters. Fearless in battle and keen in strategy, he is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, his mere appearance sapping the fighting spirit from Decepticon forces. He commands the respect of the Autobots under his authority and the fear of the Decepticon Predators they fight against. Thunder Clash worries not about the air superiority of the Predators, believing that by standing as one, the Turbomasters will be able to resist anything that's thrown at them. In one universe he even leads the elite Autobot squadron known as the Wreckers!
What a guy!
Contents |
Fiction
Predator Air Attack!
During a Decepticon Predator attack on the Autobot base, Skyquake gazed into his Supersight as he was about to join the battle. Suddenly, "into his Supersight view looms a menacing shape that strikes terror even into his hardened heart..." Predator Air Attack!
Presumably, Thunder Clash and Skyquake fought after this overly dramatic prose.
3H comics
Thunder Clash (or possibly one particular Optimus Prime) was one of several Transformers from all eras and all realities across the multiverse suggested by Alpha Trion for Optimus Primal to recruit into his Children of Primus. Optimus Primal decided to pluck Rhinox and Depth Charge back from death instead. Homecoming
Wings Universe
Nine million years ago, Thunderclash was originally a merchant, until his ship was taken hostage by the Fright and Bones Decepticon vessel. After a daring rescue in which he safely freed all seven of his comrades from enemy hands, Thunderclash enlisted into the military. He had difficulty putting up with his drill instructors barking orders at him all day long, and nearly resigned from the military, only for fate to intervene once more. On his way to his superior officer's quarters, he found the officer murdered, and came to grips as to why his training had been so extreme; to prevent the same fate from befalling himself. Thunderclash often drilled the mechs under his command in the ways of battle, even though his ship, the Eight Track, was stationed on the outer rim of the galaxy. His quick and powerful mind and the ease with which he commanded respect made him an ideal mentor for new recruits. Thunderclash's profile in Club magazine #40
One such recruit, a young Autobot named Kup, was on board the Eight Track when the ship was hailed by Commander Magnum of Autobot High Command. An important cargo hauler, the Van De Graaff, was shot down by persons unknown over the planet Beta-Nine. Since Decepticons were suspected, Thunderclash's team was ordered to retrieve the ship's precious cargo before the enemy could get their hands on it.
Indeed, the Decepticons were waiting for the Eight Track when it arrived, and the Eight Track was forced to make a crash landing. Though Landshark managed the landing with no casualties, the wiseass old mech began sowing seeds of uncertainty and fear. Thunderclash shot Landshark down quickly, reminding him at length that, as Autobots, it didn't matter how many Decepticons there were or how hopeless the situation was—all that mattered was the cargo they were sent after. After leaving their ship's wreck behind them, the four Autobots were suddenly attacked by a fleet of Skyraiders led by Banzai-Tron. Immediately, Kup was separated from them, but Thunderclash ordered that the young Autobot was on his own while the team found proper cover.
While the Decepticons were momentarily distracted, Thunderclash told Flak to radio Kup to meet him at the Van De Graaff. On the way, Thunderclash hoped he could divert a few of the Decepticons away from the other two. Unfortunately, Thunderclash wasn't able to land a shot on the Decepticon that followed him, and he arrived at Kup's position at the Van De Graaff without being able to rid himself of Skyquake, and now also having Banzai-Tron and Gaihawk to deal with. Kup, however, had an idea. He set a blaster to "overload", placed it in a container, and offered it to Banzai-Tron as terms of their surrender. After it exploded, Banzai-Tron woke up to find Thunderclash holding his mortar launcher at his head.
Shortly thereafter, a recovery team arrived to take Thunderclash's crew, their Decepticon prisoners, and the cargo back home. By the time they had returned to Cybertron, the war had officially begun. Commander Magnum, in response to the bravery of Thunderclash's crew, were inducted into a special new Autobot military unit, the Elite Guard. Wings of Honor
A few years later, Thunderclash's team joined with Metalhawk's team to battle a horde of Virulent Clones. The two teams of Elite Guardsmen were victorious. Magnum contacted Thunderclash to let him know that their R&R was being cut short, and Thunderclash's team proceeded to Space Port Bravo, where they were assigned the ship Beast With Wings. The Coming Storm: Part 2
The squad was returning to Elite Guard HQ in the Beast With Wings, when they discovered that they were unable to raise anyone on the ground. Thunderclash reacted in disbelief as Kup reported a newsfeed that HQ had been attacked by Bruticus and pretty much everyone had been killed. The Coming Storm: Part 6 Thunderclash and the other surviving members of the Elite Guard joined Magnum at the Autobot High Council Citadel intending to show the Council that the Guard was still functional. Thunderclash thought that Dion should be resting from his injuries, but Dion asserted he really had to be there to support Magnum. As it turned out, the Council were busy appointing Optimus Prime as the leader of a new Autobot military anyway. Battle Lines, Part 1
Not to be outdone, Magnum took the Elite Guard to find Deathsaurus's base, first stopping off at the Elite Guard Auxiliary Weapons Locker for guns and a few extra troops. Battle Lines, Part 2 It wasn't long before they were attacked by Deathsaurus's troops, including Starscream, the Combaticons and Deathsaurus himself. Thunderclash instructed the others to keep between the Combaticons so they couldn't merge, and traded blows with Vortex while Onslaught tried to taunt him over his failure to be in time to help defend Elite Guard HQ. As the Combaticons merged, they were promptly blasted, and Thunderclash could only stare at the newcomers. Battle Lines, Part 3 He came to the aid of Magnum, sending Lyzack flying with a punch after she damaged Magnum with her sword. He was helping Magnum up when they were again faced with Deathsaurus, however this time Sprocket jumped in to save them. In the aftermath of the battle, Thunderclash asked Magnum what they'd do next, but Magnum decided they needed to return to base for repairs. Battle Lines, Part 4
Back at base, he, Big Bang, and Dion wondered why the Gyronian Sentry Team hadn't arrived with the Combaticons yet, only to discover that the Sentry Team had been AWOL for the last decacycle. A week later, Thunderclash was at the walls when the Decepticons attacked the city with their new weapon Devastator. Battle Lines, Part 5 When Kup recalled an earlier adventure they'd had on Derelictus Five, he and Thunderclash attempted the same maneuver on Devastator albeit unsuccessfully. Their actions inspired Dion, and eventually the battle was won. As the war continued and Cybertron ran dangerously low on energy, many of the Autobots voluntarily went into stasis until others returned to re-energize the planet, but Thunderclash remained online. Battle Lines, Part 6
Thunderclash and Kup's Cybertron Defense Team valiantly fought Shockwave's forces but were ultimately forced offworld. Jhiaxus profile in Club magazine #44
2005 IDW continuity
- First appearance: More Than Meets The Eye #22
Thunderclash is better and more noble than you are. Among his great feats:
- Thunderclash helped Ratchet pass his medical exams. Little Victories
- Thunderclash formed the Thunderclash School of Heroic Arts, where he was teacher, mentor, and friend to the almost-as-heroic Countdown. The Sensuous Frame
- Thunderclash carried the Matrix of Leadership for Optimus Prime during his first sabbatical. It was said the Matrix had to be surgically removed, so pleased it was with its host. Little Victories
Megatron tried to kill Thunderclash several times throughout the war. In one particular battle, Thunderclash fought with Damus. Shining Armor #3 The Sensuous Frame After the fall of Grindcore, Thunderclash was shot through the spark. The Sensuous Frame To survive, he was hooked up to a gigantic life-support machine, which he eventually converted into a spaceship, the Vis Vitalis. As it wirelessly powered him, he had to remain in close proximity to it at all times.
Once the war was over, Thunderclash turned his pursuits towards rediscovering the lost Knights of Cybertron with a brave crew and his First Officer Paddox. Little Victories Their journey was driven by dreams he had, each new one pointing them further in the right direction. The Sensuous Frame During their voyage, they came upon the colony planet of Caminus, and its residents, the Camiens, distant relatives of Cybertronians. Three Camiens, Windblade, Chromia, and Nautica, joined them in their mission. A 'Bot and Her City During their stay on the ship, Thunderclash told them about Optimus Prime and how he had rejected the rank of Prime. The Sum and Its Parts The three Camiens soon departed with Alpha Trion to repair a wounded Metroplex. Burning Bright
Some time later, his ship was damaged while "rescuing some orphans from an exploding sun," so he sought the Lost Light for a quantum jump to his engines. While on board, he happily reunited with Ratchet, commended Ultra Magnus on his article on the Autobot Code (particularly the interrelationship between typography and military justice), and bonded with Drift via his spiritualism. However, Paddox took this opportunity to reveal himself. Paddox was really a pair of Ammonites posing as a Transformer, and now that the tide of his race's war had turned, he was charged with taking what valuables he could and returning home with them—namely, the Lost Light's quantum engines. He was quickly dispatched with a quick blow to the head and Thunderclash's ship was subsequently restored. Before Thunderclash returned to his quest, he signed an autograph for Rung and expressed his condolences to Rodimus, for now the Lost Light would be crippled in its own quest to find the Knights of Cybertron. He assured Rodimus that should he find the Knights first, he would tell them that he owed his success to Rodimus and his crew. Little Victories
Later, Ultra Magnus would scold Rodimus for his immature reaction to Thunderclash. This Calamitous Life
Following the loss of his half of the Matrix of Leadership along with the map it contained, Rodimus planned to seek out Thunderclash for help in finding the Knights of Cybertron. When Rodimus sarcastically made reference to "the greatest Autobot of all time", Optimus Prime immediately understood he was talking about Thunderclash. Towards Peace
He saved a stranded Camien ship and inducted Firestar, Velocity, and their chums into the Vitalis. Unfortunately they unwittingly brought an infestation on with them: personality ticks, emotive parasites who began to feast on Thunderclash's charisma. To keep him going, one of them fixed his spark wound (and was remembered as a passing doctor nobody could remember any details of). The Frail Gaze For six months afterwards, Thunderclash went from being fine to slowly getting worse. All he did before succumbing to rigor morphis was scratch out what appeared to be a map to Cyberutopia on the wall with a scalpel, based on a dying vision. The news went out and many, including Countdown, came to pay their respects in a "pre-wake".
What he could tell, and that nobody else could, was that the ship was riddled with the cloaked personality ticks: he even witnessed them attack his old student Countdown. When the Lost Light arrived and First Aid monitored his life signs, he began shutting himself down selectively to make his life signs appear as a grammatically correct message: "Y0 u're all 3L1N D All DEaD. The Sensuous Frame Once the ticks broke cover, Thunderclash—through sheer heroism—transformed to hold the monsters back so others could escape. The short speech he gave while fighting them was so intensely noble that it hurt the ticks, giving a clue to their nature and ultimate defeat.
Once the infestation was stopped, Thunderclash was healed of his terminal injuries and no longer needed the Vitalis, though he still needed some time to recover. He and some of his crew joined the Lost Light. The Frail Gaze
Thunderclash was soon up and about and made his way to Swerve's. There he was asked by Getaway and Atomizer if he would stand with them in a mutiny against Megatron. Much to their shock, Thunderclash quickly agreed. Sometime after however, he relapsed and fell back into stasis. Filling in the Blanks
A spark-energy blast from Tailgate woke Thunderclash from his coma Speak, Memory: Part 1 just in time to help save the Light from Sunder, the Tetrahex Ripper. Thunders and Megatron drove the killer away from Rung and Tailgate and pursued him all the way to his corpse-ship, where the hero dissed him for suddenly dropping his spoooooky voice. In response, the killer turned Thunderclash inside out! Thankfully, he recovered after Sunder was defeated. Speak, Memory! (Part 2)
While some members of the crew were taking advantage of temporal fissures in Swerve's to look on the past, Thunderclash and Velocity were having a conversation with Firestar over the comms.No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases
Thunderclash took part in a battle on Millarium, fighting alongside Ultra Magnus. Later, he was present for Megatron's lecture on pre-Functionist folklore, where they discussed the Knights, and in particular the strange gear symbol they kept encountering.
A few hours later, Megatron, Rodimus and their supporters were marooned on the Necrobot's planet, as part of Getaway's mutiny. How Bright Their Frail Deeds Thunderclash walked onto the bridge as Getaway made his dramatic monologue to Team Rodimus and joined the crew in grilling Getaway about the "visitors" he had mentioned.
At a team meeting, regarding the Warren, Thunderclash scribbled some extra clan markings onto Rodimus's map to Cyberutopia, before a distress signal came in from Frayus which Getaway claimed would only be a "distraction". An incensed Thunderclash snapped at Getaway, only to be interrupted by a transmission from Rodimus announcing the stranded crew mates would soon be executed by the Decepticon Justice Division. His patience exhausted, Thunderclash demanded to know the truth, before declaring he was rounding up volunteers for a rescue mission... only for Atomizer to incapacitate him with an arrow. Getaway then emptied his nudge gun into Thunderclash, knocking him into stasis. As part of Getaway's deal with Froid and Sunder, Thunderclash was then placed within a memory loop where he relived the moments from the mutiny to his decision to find the stranded crew. Filling in the Blanks
Thunderclash's body was then placed in the med-bay behind a locked door. Upon returning to the Lost Light, seeing Thunderclash's state only served to increase First Aid's mounting suspicions. Once the truth came out, Getaway confessed what had truly happened to Thunderclash before he placed the Protectobots in the same loop. Full Circle
Riptide eventually awoke all those trapped in the loops. First Aid directed them all to the morgue to retrieve the corpse of Ambulon to serve as a substitute limb for Defensor. Thunderclash took point on the way to the shuttle bay before Mirage reported they would need Defensor. In the shuttle bay, Thunderclash charged right at Getaway, beating him down before he was shot from behind by Star Saber. A repentant Atomizer shot Star Saber with the nudge gun, allowing Riptide and First Aid to drag Thunderclash onto Star Saber's ship and escape the Lost Light. Journey's End
First Aid got Thunderclash fixed up on Troja Major, and along the way they picked up the long lost Dinobot commander Grimlock and the blacksmith Wipe-Out, who had a Q-class ship. Following a tracker left on the Lost Light, they caught up with it at Mederi, only to find the crew had been turned into Sparkeaters and were menacing Rodimus and his unit. The groups teamed up, and Thunderclash joined a squad aboard the Q-class cruiser to infiltrate the Lost Light and get at Getaway. When they arrived, Getaway opened the oil reservoir into the shuttle bay, exposing the group to Scraplets. A Dance Before Dying Fortunately, Whirl had previously formed a bond with these Scraplets, semi-domesticating them, which saved Thunderclash and the others. Lūstrāre With the Sparkeaters saved down on the planet, everyone regrouped aboard the retaken Lost Light. They were confronted by the sheer scale of the Grand Architect's schemes, a mysterious figure Getaway had thrown in with after discovering Cyberutopia was a sham. Thunderclash and the rest brought the Lost Light aboard the Architect's Worldsweeper as he continued to pull at threadbare space. Farsickness
When Megatron and the Anti-Vocationist League arrived from the Functionist Universe – while being chased by the Functionist Council and their reengineered version of Cybertron – Thunderclash was among those freed from the Grand Architect's Worldsweeper and brought aboard the Last Light, although Rodimus and some of the others were left behind. The Return of the King
After discovering Rung's true nature as Primus and his ability to create Matrixes, Thunderclash and the others quickly developed a plan to use twelve Matrixes to destroy the Functionist Council. The Unremembering Once the Functionist Cybertron had been forced back into its planet form, Thunderclash headed down to the planet and took one of the Matrixes to the hot spot Automica, with Spinister providing cover fire for him. Although they were briefly overwhelmed by Functionaries, Thunderclash was eventually able to open his Matrix thanks to an uplifting speech from Rodimus, sending its energies surging into Vector Sigma and obliterating the Functionist Council. A Spark Among Embers
After joining the rest of the crew for one last "victory lap" aboard the Lost Light, Thunderclash returned to the stars aboard his new ship the Exitus. Thunderclash and his crew were in the Acklaw System when Rodimus took temporary leave to attend Ratchet's funeral. How To Say Goodbye And Mean It: Part 2
Kre-O comic
Thunder Clash was one of several Autobots reeling from the appearance of the mighty Devastator. A New Menace! The Giant Soldier Devastator Appears!
Ask Vector Prime
In Primax 092.0 Beta, Thunder Clash served as head tactician of the Autobots for Autobot leader and Matrix bearer Hyperdrive, who took an equally honorable but less hands-on approach to war compared to his predecessor Optimus Prime. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/07/16
2019 IDW continuity
Thunderclash was a soldier against Exarchon in the War of the Threefold Spark. After Exarchon was defeated, Thunderclash publicly retired but actually became an undercover operative for Colonial Security. Under the guise of a traveling stunt show, Thunderclash assembled his team- the Wreckers, to patrol the colonies and covertly deal with threats to order and innocent lives. The Wreckers operated without back-up or support from Colonial Security, leaving it vague where their self-declared authority came from in the first place.
After nearly two megacycles out on the colonial rim, the Wreckers were drawn into a conflict on Velocitron. A terrorist cell called Mayhem hijacked the broadcasting of a Wreckers stunt stream to announce their opposition to the Speedia 500. Velocitron regularly picked a new First Senator to rule them using the outcome of the race, and Mayhem wanted to tear down that order. Thunderclash ordered the Stuntmaster to Velocitron in order to interfere with Mayhem's plans. While Aileron planned for a covert deployment, Thunderclash changed the plan on her, seemingly on a whim, and announced the Wreckers' presence at a press conference. He even stated the Wreckers would be participating in the Speedia 500 as a show of support. Tread & Circuits Part 1
In preparing for the race, the Wreckers scouted the top racers to assess whether any were secretly supportive of Mayhem. Thunderclash made contact with Leadfoot, an eager racing historian who genuinely cared about the Speedia and Velocitron. Thunderclash and Aileron continued to disagree about his tactics, but they were interrupted by a radio message by their chronicler Circuit. The cameraman had tracked down Mayhem, but was shot relaying his position to the others. He was seriously injured, and Minerva did her best to stabilize him before the race began. Tread & Circuits Part 2
Once the Speedia 500 got underway, Thunderclash's natural bulk kept him towards the back of the racers. Mayhem was true to their word and began attacking racers on the track. Leadfoot and the other racers joined Thunderclash in beating down the terrorists who showed themselves, with Thunderclash defeating Thunderblast. As several members of Mayhem made their way towards the leading drivers, Thunderclash used Leadfoot as a skateboard to catch up. He bounded from one racer to the next before tackling Submarauder. As soon as he made contact, though, the local Security Operations appeared in droves and seized control of the scene. Submarauder got away under the cover Sec-Ops provided. An Ascenticon named Knock Out crossed the finish line first, but all of the surviving Mayhem escaped. Tread & Circuits Part 3
Days later, Thunderclash and the Wreckers attended the ceremonies at the Velocitronian Senate swearing in the First Senator and new delegates. Submarauder and Mayhem made an assassination attempt on Knock Out, skewering him with a harpoon gun from the balconies. Mayhem then sealed the exits to turn the forums into a kill zone. Thunderclash took on Skullgrin and inspired Leadfoot to lead the other spectators to safety. Several members of Mayhem were beaten by the Wreckers and turned over to Sec-Ops, but Minerva was caught holding the harpoon gun and arrested for attempted murder.
Back on the Stuntmaster, the Wreckers struggled to hold together. They publicly announced a hiatus to their stunt show, a final broadcast for Circuit before he passed away from his wounds. The four remaining Wreckers questioned whether their mission would continue, but Thunderclash had plans to go recruiting, rebuilding their numbers to support Cybertron and the colonies into the future. Tread & Circuits Part 4
Last Bot Standing
During the Great War, Rodimus developed a one-sided rivalry with Thunderclash. Eons later, when explaining the Cybertronian race to Shib Wallkis, Rodimus pictured his rival as one of the key Autobots in the conflict before the fighting drained the universe of its resources.
After most of the Transformers were extinct, Thunderclash was still remembered by Steeljaw's group of survivors, even though the pack had forgotten other noteworthy Cybertronians. Last Bot Standing #2
Toys
The Transformers
- Thunder Clash (Large Turbomaster, 1992)
- Accessories: Gun, 12 missiles
- Known designers: Andy Couzens (Hasbro), Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)
- Released in the eighth year of the European-market The Transformers toyline (after the US line had ended), Thunder Clash transforms into a Cybertronian "cab-over" tractor-trailer. His trailer is armed with two spring-loaded, plunger-fired missile launchers. In robot mode, he uses a small handgun. His trailer unfolds to become a missile-launching assault tower equipped with "gravity-fed" missiles that descend and reload the launchers as soon as a round is fired.
- This toy also has an undocumented feature: the back of Thunder Clash's legs have notches in them that fit his handgun's "wings" for storage in vehicle mode.
- Like his Decepticon counterpart Skyquake, Thunder Clash also has Gold Plastic Syndrome. Thunder Clash's feet tend to shatter at the ankle ratchet and the handgun's peg is prone to breaking off quite easily.
- Unusually, Skyquake, Thunder Clash, and the Motorvators were all sold in Japan at the tail-end of 1992, after the original Japanese Transformers toyline had already ended. The toys were identical to their European releases–down to the packaging–except for some Japanese-language stickers on the boxes, and, curiously, all-new Japanese-language instructions.
- This mold was retooled into Machine Wars Optimus Prime. This later version of the mold had a planned redeco as Menasor in the Universe line, but was canceled.
Timelines
- Wings of Honor (BotCon 2009 box set)
- Accessories: High-powered hand-held mortar, plasma shell missile
- The BotCon 2009 exclusive version of Thunderclash is a redeco of Energon Rodimus, transforming into a rocket-powered Cybertronic long-nose truck cab. He can also form the top or bottom half of a larger robot mode, compatible with any Energon Combat- or Mega-class Autobot combiner robot mold. He features a spring-loaded rocket thruster/missile launcher.
- Thunderclash was only available in the "Wings of Honor" box set along with fellow Autobots Flak, Kup, Landshark, and rival Decepticon Scourge.
- This mold in these plastic colors was repainted in BotCon 2009's customization class to make Shattered Glass Thunderclash. It was also used to make Energon Checkpoint.
Merchandise
Transformers Character Card
- ID number: 51 & 52
- Released as part of the seventh wave of the e-HOBBY exclusive Transformers Character Card series, this pair of holographic trading cards depict super-deformed art of Thunder Clash and Skyquake along with character profiles and tech specs.
Notes
- According to Transformers Generations Deluxe, at one point there were plans to create a leader character who would have "stood above Thunder Clash"[1] in the 1992 Transformers assortment. This Autobot was to have been named "Hyperdrive", and design artwork labeled as such appears in Generations. While Hyperdrive was never produced, he evidently got far enough along to appear in Skyquake's Megavisor scope.
- Thunder Clash appears in vehicle mode on Talon's Megavisor slide.
- In his Wings Universe stories, Thunderclash is written as speaking a "posh Southern accent". That official descriptor probably should have mentioned Southern England, specifically, since for the longest time U.S. readers couldn't figure out why the apparently "Southern" Thunderclash said things like "mates" and "chaps".
- Like all non-toy robot Kreons in the Kre-O manga, Thunderclash is made from existing Kre-O parts. He uses the Sideswipe helmet, and the Jazz car-door backpack. He also carries the large, square-barreled rifle.
- A proposed Fun Publications BotCon exclusive was a redeco of Prime: Robots in Disguise Voyager Class Ultra Magnus into Thunder Clash.[2]
Foreign names
- Japanese: Thunder Clash (サンダークラッシュ Sandā Kurasshu)
- Dutch: Eagle
- French: Tonnerre (Canada, "Thunder"), Eagle (Europe)
- Italian: Uragan ("Hurrican")
References
- ↑ Scans of Hyperdrive from Transformers Generations Deluxe p. 113 with translation at the Obscure Transformers Website
- ↑ BotCon 2014 attendee report
