Name: Sunstreaker
Series: Convention Exclusives
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Warrior
Alternate Mode: Lamborghini Diablo
DIABLO MODE
Height: 3.5cm Length: 12cm Width: 7cm
A yellow Diablo with a black stripe running along the bottom of his sides, black bumpers, grey engine cover and tinted transparent windows. This is a _very_ realistic car mode. The proportions are good, the wheels are silver, the tyres are rubber, he has front indicators painted on the front _and_ sides, transparent red taillights, two sets of twin exhausts at the back and rear vision mirrors. Heck, this toy has _seats_ moulded into the undersides of the robot feet inside the cabin! It's worth noting that Sunstreaker is _not_ a straight repaint of Sideswipe, who lacks the black stripes on his doors.
The yellow and black is only really broken by car-realistic paint applications as described above, and a painted Autobot symbol on the hood. There's not really any robot kibble from above, there's mechanical bits on the underside, the robot head is visible under the engine section. The only break in the realism is the small block on the roof which doesn't need to be there, which is the attachment point for RiD Prowl's siren. There's a section at the rear of the roof which is actually a yellow sticker over white plastic - the plastic here is unpaintable (thanks to Fit For Natalie for this info).
His spoiler has tips that fold up to reveal attachment points for his weapons. If you point them forward they become flamethrowers or missile launcher (with blue flamey missiles), if you attach them backwards he's got rockets. He also rolls quite well on his wheels, but you've got to make sure the chestplate is folded up properly for this to work.
Overall, this is an excellent car mode. In fact it's difficult to flaw - I can only really hold the small notch on his roof and the fact that part of the yellow is a sticker rather than paint or plastic colour against this car mode.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Pull out the sides, lift up the roof. Fold up the front section, exposing the legs. Unfold the legs, slide the section to which they attach in, fold the front section up and the roof down again. Fold the chest down and push in, position the mufflers upwards or out to form chestguns (whichever you prefer). Spilt the rear section, fold the sides out to form the shoulderpads. Position the arms, as well as the shield on the left arm. Rotate the shins 180°, swing down the feet and rotate forward. You can put his guns on his right forearm or attach them to the tips of his spoiler (ie on the shield) on his right arm.
I've heard people call this mould a "shellformer", but it's more than just unfolding panels. Aside from that, this isn't a mould with panels hanging off it everywhere.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 12cm Width: 14cm
Wider than he is tall, Sunstreaker's robot mode is yellow, white and black with transparent smokey plastic. Yellow still dominates, but he has white thighs & forearms, black feet & upper arms and a smokey torso. His head is black with a silver face, blue eyes and yellow cheeks, he has smokey and shoulderpads with lots of red and white circles in the centre. His shins and groin are painted a metallic gold colour.
Those of you familiar with the G1 Sunstreaker will note that the red shoulders have been carried on here, which I think is really cool. In fact, the yellow cheeks are also a homage to the original - Swiper doesn't have red cheeks. Of course, the original 'Streaker didn't have much white, so the red shoulders and yellow cheeks make sure this _is_ Sunstreaker in a new configuration.
It's a good colour scheme in it's own right - the yellow and white don't work together all that well, but the white is sparse enough that the overall effect is a yellow and black bot with red shoulders. He has a red chromed Autobot symbol on his chest, along with engine like bits - it's a great centrepiece. The muffler-guns are yellow, helping give him some yellow on his chest - although I'm not sure about yellow mufflers!
Lanky and poseable, Sunstreaker does have some car kibble, but it all serves to enhance the aesthetic. The doors are hanging off his hips, but give his legs plenty of clearance. The shield attached to his right forearm is the engine cover & spoiler, and the shoulderpads are the rear fenders. The shoulderpads look cool, the hip pads the sides form look decent, the shield is nice, too. It'd be nicer if you had the option of detaching it, but it's attached with a metal post through it's joint. Still, the joint gives it meaning since he can do stuff with it, rather than just have it as kibble.
This toy is really poseable. His head turns, he has ball joints at his shoulders, and swivels below his shoulderpads on his upper arms. He has two joints on each elbow giving full poseability, as well as the joint on the shield's attachment point as mentioned. His hips and knees are ball joints and his ankles have _two_ ball joints each! So yeah, this guy's pretty much a contortionist. He's reasonably top-heavy, since the car bits are almost entirely above his waist, so while you have to balance him, he has a wide range of poses available, and the twin ball joints in each ankle mean you can find a way to make him stand up in the vast majority of poses.
The wide array of poses, the missile launchers, shield and chest guns give Sunstreaker a _lot_ of play value in this mode. Add to this a good colour scheme and a great moulding and this is a good robot mode, hampered really only by minor balance issues and the fact the shield can't detach.
VARIATIONS
None as such, being a one off run (as convention exclusives tend to be). A repaint of Mach Alert/RiD Prowl, based on a G1 character. Sunstreaker was only available to those who stayed at the "Official" hotel of the Convention, by the way, making him rarer than Sideswipe.
OVERALL
This is a great recolour of a great toy, and a fitting reincarnation of a classic character. It's actually the first time Sunstreaker's been given a new body (his brother's had lots). I like the way they've tried to tie in the specifics of the colour scheme to the original. The mould is great in both modes, the colour scheme is excellent, there's play value, good display value and a coolness about the fact this is a limited edition toy. The sticker in car mode means I rate him below the other versions of this mould, but it's a minor drawback only. The only way I could see people seriously not liking this toy is due to aesthetic (and then it's a personal thing). If you can find one and can deal with the price you'll pay, 9/10
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