Cliffbee.com Sunder Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Sunder
Series: Generations
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Data Disc



DATA DISC MODE
Height: 1.5cm Length: 1.5cm Width: 1.5cm

   A small orange disc, which is essentially the shape of a hockey puck, Sunder's top side is painted red with complex gold circuitry detailing. The centre of the disc is unpainted, while right in the middle is a red dot with a gold Autobot logo. Around the sides and on the underside are some gunmetal robot mode elements. Unlike most of the data discs, he's a new character, inspired by Takara's Kissplay Sundor, who has a similar colour scheme (without the gunmetal - that toy's pretty much entirely orange).

   This is a rather indistinct alt mode on it's own. Without Blaster, he's little more that a folded up robot. Okay, so he's a data disc - I guess a Cybertronian take on a cassette, but without context there's nothing to see here.

   There's some play value here. He can be stored inside the transparent red casing he comes packaged with or stowed inside Blaster's chest. The idea is that Blaster can fire the disc out and Sunder will auto-transform.

   A rather underwhelming alt mode, but to be fair he _is_ well folded up. This mode doesn't look at all like a condor. The colours are almost arbitrary on an alt mode such as this, but I guess orange is as good a colour as any - and he's the only orange data disc while there are multiple blacks & blues.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Basically, when he hits the table, there's a gunmetal button underneath which presses & the entire thing unfolds thanks to a series of springs. Of course, you can press the button yourself. The "sides" become his wings, much of the top becomes the tail while the head is concealed within. Sunder has no legs to speak of. The reverse transformation involves folding him up, which requires juggling the folding bits at the same time. It's not hard once you get the hang of it.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 1.5cm Length: 8cm Width: 11.5cm

   An orange condor with red & gold circuitry remnants on his back, Sunder has some yellow details here and there - notably his beak & eyes. The colour scheme adds a lot more gunmetal, which is now prominent on his neck & wings. There's a big red stamped Autobot logo on his head. These colours are more of a departure from those of Sundor now - as there's a lot more gunmetal. The orange and gunmetal colours actually work very well together - this is a good colour scheme.

   Sunder shares his mould with Buzzsaw & Laserbeak, and indeed the head is distinctly that of thee characters (established in G1). The camera seen on Laserbeak in Transformers: The Movie is actually sculpted onto his beak, too. This is a pretty good bird of prey form, overall - especially considering it turns into a disc. Sure the front of the wings is rounded but he's amazingly angular.

   Play value is pretty much non existent here. He sits there being a robotic bird, basically. There's no real poseability here.

   A simple but effective condor, and while he's a repaint of far more prominent characters he has his own personality thanks to a good colour scheme. The play value is reliant on Blaster (or Soundwave/Soundblaster I guess),

VARIATIONS

   Sold exclusively with Rewind). The TakaraTomy version (which was sold with Rewind, Eject and Ramhorn) features a grey rather than gunmetal and lacks the red paint in disc mode. IMO it's a fairly rare occasion where the Hasbro colours are distinctly better - the gunmetal provides a much sharper contrast with the orange than grey does and the gold against base orange plastic makes the circuitry less distinct.

OVERALL

   The only new character amongst the data discs, which makes Sunder the least compelling in a nostalgia way - but at least Hasbro tapped Sundor for inspiration. The colours work really well & while the condor head make is obvious that he's a repaint, I don't feel like he's not worth the price. I'll admit I grabbed him because I wanted Rewind, but can't complain about this fifth Autobot data disc - 7.5/10

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