Sunstreaker may be the Luigi of the two Countach Brothers; he's not green nor a coward yet isn't as prominent as Sideswipe is in fiction and toylines past G1. In terms of cartoons alone, he never had a prominent appearance outside of G1, while Sideswipe appeared in Armada, the movies, the High Moon Cybertron games, and RID 15. That being said, it is at least nice that the yellow fellow has gotten toys in the CHUG lines, even having a Combiner Wars release that Sideswipe never got! Said Combiner Wars release was a reuse of Breakdown, which if we're being honest doesn't fit him all that well. Now with Earthrise making a toy of him to go along with last year's Sideswipe, let's see how well he turned out.
Here is Sunstreaker in his vehicle mode, which is more of an earth-inspired vehicle mode than Sideswipe is. It's not too bad of a design if you ask me, what with it being a Lamborghini from the 80s with a few liberties here and there to avoid licensing fees. The sculpted details look good and give the car mode a bit less of a toyetic feel to it, especially with the silver engine block on the back. It's only missing the spoilers that give it a Sunstreaker feel, which wasn't too bad on Sideswipe but is more obvious here. Still, it's as close to Sunstreaker as I've gotten to expect.
That being said, there are some issues worth mentioning with the toy. Number 1: the yellows are HORRIFICALLY inconsistent! I mean, what the hell happened to the coloring department? You've got 80 percent of the body being made in a yellow plastic whose shade looks more faint than it really should be while the yellow parts that are painted are in a more vibrant shade of plastic. You know how some figures had entire layers of paint applied on them to make the paint jobs look consistent? Why isn't this done with Sunstreaker? Also, the rooftop has a bit of a tolerance issue where it sometimes doesn't want to go all the way down, so sanding the pegs is advised.
The engine block is removable, which gives the car more of a stock look to it. The details underneath are nothing mindblowing but it does at least give the car somewhat of a complete look to it if the piece is lost.
Here he is next to Sideswipe, and while the design of Sideswipe's altmode looks Cybertronian according to Siege standards, it didn't stick out like a sore thumb so badly in my opinion. That being said, Sideswipe's colors are more consistent than that of Sunstreaker's, which clash badly in a way similar to the Universe 2008 version. Shame because Sunstreaker could go for a nice shade of yellow.
The transformation might be a little familiar...and that's because it's reminiscent of how Wheeljack transforms in the same line. At first, I thought the figure was actually a heavy retool of Wheeljack (which doesn't bother me because of the similar designs they share of roof chests and hood wings). The more prominent differences include how the forearms transform as well as the use of another swivel that was just for articulation purposes on Wheeljack. The robot mode is also leaner than Wheeljack is, what with the thighs being longer and the arms not being as stumpy; it works well for this character given how he's a sleek character among the Autobot Cars. The feet humorously have another side of Lambo details on what was the bottom section and is now the top in this case. Once again, the shades of yellow don't match up all too nicely, especially under my lighting where the shade of yellow on Sunstreaker looks more like a white toy that yellowed. Thankfully, it's not too bad when seen with your own eyes.
Head sculpt is perfect for how Sunstreaker looks, but he needs a bit of a smirk if you ask me; he's a character that loves himself quite a bit, which TFWiki sums up whenever the captions say that he's better than you and me. Also love how the yellow looks on his head, which matches the parts that are painted yellow. The articulation on this guy is about the same as all of the other Siege figures, what with the ball-jointed head, shoulders moving front and back as well as in and out, swivels at the biceps, and bends at the elbow. Waist swivel, hips that move front and back as well as in and out, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ankle pivots. As for his weapon, he doesn't get a gun whatsoever so instead has to use the engine block...which looks more like a price scanner and is kind of hard for it to be held on his hand properly unless it's held like this.
Sunstreaker received two repaints in one box, believe it or not! One is Spin-Out, who is basically Sunstreaker if he was colored to look like Sideswipe. The other repaint is Cordon, who at least has a lightbar to make his chest look a wee bit different. He's not a Red Alert-themed repaint, though, but he has a vague Prowl influence. Funny how he's one of the WFC figures based on a police car or ambulance to not have a removable siren. The sad thing is that these two have better shade consistency than Sunstreaker, and while Spin-Out's head is the same as Sunstreaker's, Cordon's ears replace the yellow with red.
For a Sunstreaker comparison, here he is next to the Universe, Combiner Wars, and Masterpiece versions. The two prior Deluxes were alright for what they were, and the Universe one was pretty neat for the fact that it was a unique method of using the Sideswipe mold while giving him the chest he's known for, but the Masterpiece certainly has more of the proper proportions Sunstreaker is known for compared to Sideswipe. Not saying that the ER version is bad, but it just looks a little stumpy than it really needs to be.
For a comparison with fellow Autobot Car Wheeljack, you can see that Streaky's already got a bit of a height difference compared to Jacky. Aside from the different chests, arms, and lower legs, even the rest of the body's different from Wheeljack. The thighs may be similar at first glance, but they're sculpted differently and aren't reused.
Their transformation skeleton(?) is similar yet the sculpted details are also different from one another; for starters, Sunstreaker doesn't have the slits that Wheeljack has while the shoulder hinges are also sculpted differently.
The sculpting used for the torso gaps is also different from one another, with the chest cavities having differently sculpted frames while the holes are placed differently. Also, Wheeljack's is placed lower than Sunstreaker's.
Even the backs are different, with the spoiler having the 5mm holes that are on Sunstreaker's forearms. And despite Wheeljack having a 5mm hole on his back, it's not the same spot that is found on Sunstreaker. I also like how Streaker's back looks as it's a little more like he transformed rather than leave it hanging.
Here we have Sunstreaker next to Sideswipe. At last, the two bros are complete! Sadly, Sideswipe remains the better of the two in terms of being an overall solid figure aside from the odd tint of the forearms and thighs. Still, pretty sweet to own the Lamborghini Brothers without having to pay too much. Sunstreaker's a pretty cool take on the G1 guy, but with a few things that are in need of improvement. For example, the yellows need to better match, there should be a few more accessories (notably the gun and spoiler) and the roof should better line up with the vehicle mode. That being said, he can happily join the rest of the Autobot Cars of '84.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
No comments:
Post a Comment