Here we have Shadowstriker in her vehicle mode. This design is rather accurate to the Cyberverse iteration, though plenty of the design traits are different for this figure. The engine block is from the Universe version while the red windows are new, as I don't think the tint was ever associated with the character at all. The rims are painted red, though I wish something was done to make the pegs black. I feel that the proportions are kind of all over the place, with how exposed the wheels sort of seem when viewed from the front and back, as well as how weirdly blocky the whole car seems in contrast to the front end.
The gun can be stored on the top, though I should mention that adding further oddities to the vehicle mode's proportions is how low the roof is than normal while the rest of the car looks rather short. I guess it's meant to give it a stylized appearance, but it still feels weird when you think about how little viewing space there is. Also not a fan of how it doesn't like to peg in properly, despite having all of the tabs needed.
For a vehicle mode size comparison, here she is with Bumblebee from the Deluxe line made way back in 2019. While Bumblebee has a better-proportioned vehicle and is obviously closer to the Cyberverse aesthetic, I will give Shadowstriker credit for not looking as cheap in terms of the plastic coloring considering how see-through Bumblebee sort of feels. And hey, painted rims are better than unpainted rims! That being said, Bumblebee fairs a little better with visibility than Shadowstriker would.
Transformation is a vague mix between how she normally transforms in the Cyberverse line but the door kibble as well as the wheels on the hips actually call back to the way the Universe version was a repaint of RID Side Burn. Will we get a retool for him in the near future? We'll discuss that, but for now, I want to take off the windshield and the rear bumper for now to discuss the robot mode's proportions...they're definitely reminiscent of RID Side Burn, but maybe for the wrong reasons. While he was known to be rather kibbly and had some weird proportions, they weren't like this in the original design. not to mention how far back the arms go due to the assembly of the figure, making it look as though they're hinged far back. I don't mind the pseudo cape she has, and I don't mind the engine chest (though she looks like she's got wiener sausages due to the paint and sculpt work. I feel like this is the consequence of Hasbro wanting to make their pretooling game work so hard that they ended up getting in a bit of a roadblock due to how the Cyberverse elements have to be added onto the RID-inspired design. Also, this part isn't a complaint about the figure, but it should be mentioned that this is meant to represent her pre-explosion look rather than the poorly-rebuilt look that made her asymmetrical and flawed after Shockwave found her nearly dead body.
The head sculpt is the best part of the figure, and while the face should be sand blue instead of silver, I do like how it fits in with the Cyberverse aesthetics better than the TFP heads did on the earlier Legacy toys for Bulkhead, Arcee, and Knock Out. I even like how one eye looks normal while she has the monocle, which I initially thought was added when she had her body rebuilt poorly by Shockwave until I remembered she had it the whole time. As for her articulation, the neck is on a ball joint while the shoulders are on a weird assembly where they can swivel at the base of where they connect to the back section of the robot mode weather than where the shoulders normally go, but the in and out arm movement is instead used for her front and back motion. You have bicep swivels, elbow bends, wrist swivels, a waist swivel, hip movement going in the normal methods we'd expect, thigh swivels, knee bends, and ankle hinges as well as pivots. Attaching the roof onto her right forearm and the back bumper on the rear further completes the RID Side Burn look, though I'm sure the shield is supposed to go on the left arm which is possible to due thanks to the hinge assembly and use of 5mm ports. It won't affect transformation either! Her gun looks a little more like the original design from Side Burn than the one she normally has in the cartoon...
...down to the way the knife mode can sort of be represented with a small but somewhat noticeable machete-esque blade that requires using another 5mm port for her to hold it. Needless to say, the handle for the blade mode is longer than the handle for the gun. It is also able to store on the back via a 3mm port on one of the flaps.
OF note, my copy appears to have an issue regarding the tabs around the knees, where the caps are supposed to tab onto the thighs for a stable transformation. However, one of them sheered off easily because of how thick the paint tolerances were for the thighs AND shins, on top of the way the tabs add very little stability. I would have rather these tabs not been used at all, especially if they aren't going to do anything of the sort with the transformation. For a robot mode comparison, she does fit in fairly alright with the standard Cyberverse aesthetics as seen here with the Deluxe Bumblebee figure we previously saw in vehicle mode, though the sharper details and the less-cartoony detailing does make her a little different from the smoother surface areas of Bumblebee. Overall, Shadowstriker is a case where I can see the ideas working very well on paper yet the execution leaves a lot to be desired, especially with the proportions clashing each other due to the amalgamation approach of this design. She is still fairly cool, but I know there is room for improvement. She made me want to get the original Side Burn toy, though.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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