Mastermind Creations Collisus

Prelude: Legal stuff first as always. This figure here is not a product released by Hasbro or Takara-Tomy and thus not legally a Transformers toy. It’s from third party company Mastermind Creations and clearly portrays Thunderclash, but can’t officially be called by that name. Instead he is named using the Latin word Collisus, which means (drum roll!) Clash (or collision, take your pick). Tonitrus Collisus (Latin for Thunder Clash) would have been a bit too much of a mouthful, I think.

Robot Mode: Let us start by saying that Collisus is a very extensive retool of the MMC Kultur figure. I’m not sure the word retool even applies here, as the basic engineering is the same, yes, but most of the individual parts are different, from the head to the shoulders, from the chest to the toes. Looking at them side by side, you really don’t notice much of a similarity at first glance.

Color-wise Collisus is almost the polar opposite of Kultur. He is a true 1990s mix of colors with white, red, blue, yellow, and green. Not many bots could pull off that color-mix, but Collisus makes it look cool, much like his predecessor G1 Thunderclash. His entire look easily conveys the image of a heroic character, who enters danger with a big smile on his face. His articulation is excellent, including opening hands and moving toes, and enables him to pull off all sorts of heroic poses. Very nicely done.

In terms of weapons Collisus has two guns that attach to his forearms or can be held in hand. If you want you can also remove the two blue rocket boosters from his back and attach them to the rear of the guns, thereby making them bigger. The only slight downside of this figure is that it carries a big backpack. The roof of his vehicle mode folds together there, as well as two of the wheels. It folds together very nicely, though, so it isn’t really in the way. Just a miniscule thing on an otherwise excellent robot mode.

Alternate Mode: Collisus transforms into a science-fiction-styled truck with guns on top. The resemblance to the truck mode of the original G1 Thunderclash is marginal, but present (mostly in the colors and the two guns, which G1 Thunderclash had on his trailer). Personally I like this kind of vehicle very much. Big, heavily armored, big wheels, and guns on top, what’s not to like? While the transformation is practically identical to that of Kultur, there is once again very little obvious similarity between the two vehicle modes. Nicely done. Nothing much in terms of gimmicks here, but a very nice and cool-looking vehicle mode. No complaints.

Remarks: Thunderclash was the leader of the Turbomasters, a European-exclusive subgroup of Transformers during the twilight days of Generation 1. Thunderclash’s profile text basically described him as Superman, super-wise, super-strong, super-friendly, and so on. James Roberts ran with that over-the-top profile of Thunderclash when he introduced him to the IDW comics, making Thunderclash an Autobot hero so beloved and competent that many outright hated him for being too perfect. I was a Thunderclash fan long before he appeared in the IDW comics, but they made me love him even more. Consider me a proud alumni of the Thunderclash School of the Heroic Arts.

Given the rarity of Thunderclash figures (the only one apart from the G1 original was a Botcon exclusive nearly a decade ago), I am very happy that Mastermind Creations made a version of him. Sure, he reuses Kultur’s engineering, but you barely notice. I love almost everything about this figure, from the design to the 1990s paint job. So unless you dislike the character or avoid third party products entirely, Collisus is definitely worth a look or two.

Rating: A-

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