Transformers Earthrise: Sunstreaker

 

 

Sunstreaker is one of my favorite Transformers characters from the Generation 1 era, yet he has only had a small handful of updates since his original release in 1984. To say I was excited to hear he would be receiving a new toy in the War for Cybertron Earthrise series would be an understatement.

I feel pretty fortunate that I found him at my local Target store because it was the *only* time I would see him at retail. There was a time where I enjoyed the thrill of the hunt, but those days are behind me. I refuse to pay more than retail and I hate paying for shipping & handling so I don't always shop online. I'm to the point now where if I find something locally that I want I'll grab it, otherwise I'm learning to do without. Thankfully I didn't have to settle for the latter here!

Now before I get into this post, let me say that these images I took do not represent the figure in hand very well. I'm not sure why this figure photographs so bad, but I'm not the only one who has encountered this. Sunstreaker's chest piece is painted yellow (translucent blue) plastic so it is a different shade of yellow versus the molded yellow plastic body. In hand this figure looks much better. It's true that the two yellows are slightly different, but the difference isn't nearly as drastic. I almost scrapped this post entirely after I went back to edit my photos and saw how horrible he looks, but it's Sunstreaker after all so the show must go on!

I'm very happy with the mold itself. I'm glad Sunstreaker got his own unique mold and Hasbro didn't shoehorn him out of the Sideswipe mold like they've done in the past. It looks very G1-ish in my opinion, but of course with that modern flair. The head/face sculpt is spot on and looks fantastic. The paint apps are subtle, but well applied. Like with most modern Transformers, Sunstreaker is well articulated...too bad I suck at posing my figures! 

If I have to say anything negative about the figure its the included "weapon" is incredibly lame. His engine does not make a good weapon. Thankfully there are people that are making proper weapons for him such as Nonnef Productions. I've yet to buy an upgrade kit, but it's high on my list to grab because it makes a huge difference to the look of Sunstreaker in both modes.

The back of the car just looks "naked" without his classic metallic silver spoiler. Most of the upgrade kits currently on the market resolve this and I can't wait to pick one up. In fact, I'd love to get two as I wouldn't mind having another Sunstreaker to display in vehicle mode.

Overall this is a very solid effort by Hasbro/Takara Tomy and I'm so happy that Sunstreaker made the cut into the Earthrise series. He's not perfect, but when he so seldom gets a new toy I guess I can forgive some of the figure's shortcomings. Highly recommended...if you can find him!