Earthrise Sunstreaker

Prelude: Sunstreaker is that yellow Autobot guy that has been around pretty much since the start, but without ever really standing out. Just one of the guys, occasional bouts of Jet Judo notwithstanding. Occasionally he has a stand-out appearance in the comics, but mostly he is just that yellow Autobot guy (well, the OTHER yellow Autobot guy) from season 1. Now he has a new toy in Earthrise, which was gifted to me by my buddy Reyin. So let’s say go!

Robot Mode: Sunstreaker is a very extensive retool of Earthrise Wheeljack, but you barely notice that. You could probably call him a brand-new mold with merely some shared engineering, too, if you want, it’s not a clear distinction after all. Either way, the figure is clearly meant to be Sunstreaker, the resemblance to the cartoon character is very strong. They also included some callbacks to the original G1 toy, such as the top of his shoulders, which resemble the ‘missiles’ that G1 Sunstreaker had plugged in there.

Articulation is great, no complaints here, and the robot holds together well. I do have two complaints, though. One, the yellow plastic parts (such as the limbs) are not quite the same shade of yellow as the painted yellow parts (such as the chest plate). This is also somewhat reminiscent of the different shades of white on Earthrise Wheeljack, apparently Hasbro currently has a bit of a problem properly matching colors. And two, he really needs a better gun. Sunstreaker uses his signature top-mounted exhaust as a gun, which works, sure, but doesn’t look great. I gave him an extra gun I had lying around, it looks much better that way.

So bottom line, a pretty good robot mode as such, but in need of matching paint and a better gun.

Alternate Mode: Unsurprisingly Sunstreaker transforms into a yellow sports car, more specifically an unlicensed approximation of a Lamborghini Countach. Which brings us directly to my one major gripe with this car mode: where is the rear spoiler? A Lamborghini Countach needs a rear spoiler! There are even peg holes in place to plug it in, so where is it?

Apart from the missing spoiler, the car looks pretty good. No visible robot bits, everything holds together well. The different shades of yellow are visible here as well, of course, but I fear we shall have to live with that. So bottom line: a good car mode, but just like the robot needs a better weapon, the car really needs a spoiler. Hey, maybe some third party company can give us a plug-in spoiler that becomes a better weapon? I’d buy it.

Remarks: Sunstreaker was one of the original crewmembers of the Ark in the G1 cartoon and starred in the first season before slowly fading into the background to make room for newer toys. He also appeared in pretty much every G1-based comic series ever. He has yet to appear in Netflix’ War for Cybertron series, but maybe that will change when Earthrise starts in a few days. We’ll see. (Spoiler: he didn't appear!)

As for Sunstreaker as a toy, he is good, but falls short of great. Which is a pity, given that it wouldn’t have taken much to improve him. A spoiler, a gun, possibly a combination of the two, and matching tones of yellow, we would have been all set. As things stand, Sunstreaker is still a good figure, but with missed potential.

Rating: B-

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