Name: Sureshot
Series: Generation 1
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Sharpshootrr
Alternate Mode: Cybertronian Racing Buggy
BUGGY MODE
Height: 6.5cm Length: 12cm Width: 9cm
A yellow racing buggy with black plastic tyres, an off white windshield and an orange rear spoiler, Sureshot has some red and orange hints here and there. There's a rubsign indent on the bonnet, flanked by some silver stickers, while towards the back of the bonnet there's a mount for Spoilsport's gun mode. The colours work quite well, even if he is the brightest of the 1987 Targetmasters by some distance.
Sureshot has a pretty good level of detail for a Targetmaster, with some engine detail on the spoiler, sports lights on his roof and mini airdams on the front fenders. The hubcaps are yellow plastic embedded in the black tyres, rather than just stickers (something that became all too common in later G1). While a lot of the detailing is attained through the use of stickers, there's enough detail here to make Surehot interesting.
The wheels spin although he doesn't roll that well, mainly because the wheels are plastic. Spoilsport looks pretty good on the mount, although you wonder how a driver would see past the large red and grey gun in front of the windshield. The gun can swing through 180° from side to side, and the barrels are high enough that this gun looks useful rather than forced.
A pretty decent buggy mode, and while there's nothing spectacular about it there aren't any real flaws. The colours wont suit everyone but work well enough with each other, so I'm not critical of the choice. The front has a fairly obvious transformation hinge visible, but otherwise everything here is positive.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Remove the gun if it's attached, swing out the legs from underneath. flip down the feet, fold back the front wheels. Slide the roof/windshield down to form the chest, swing the arms down, fold out the forearms and slide out his fists. Fold the spoiler onto his back to reveal the head.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 14.5cm Width: 9cm
Again based around yellow, although this time the red and orange come into play more. His torso and forearms are yellow whole the legs and upper arms are red. His fists and feet are orange while the head is black with a white face. The rubsign sits on his groin, there's an Autobot logo sticker on his chest - the roof of the car. The colour scheme isn't quite as successful this time around, mainly because the orange that helped break up the vehicle mode isn't as prevalent as the red.
Sureshot has a very sculpted head, and a great facial sculpt. The eyes are white like the rest of his face, but still come through fairly well since white is nice and light. The rear wheels of the car hang off the sides of the ankles and are pure kibble, although they don't get in the way of anything but visual impact. His chest and head protrude further forward than the rest of the toy (even the feet), so he looks pretty bad from the side - although from front on Sureshot gets away with it.
Sureshot's poseability is disappointing. His shoulders lift out to the sides and his forearms swing up, both using transformation joints. The latter does allow him to aim his gun, and these elbows joints are nice and tight. Still, I would have liked to see shoulder movement that Pointblank and Crosshairs have.
Sureshot's robot mode is a mixed bag, making it his weaker mode. The head is quite well detailed and the gun can be aimed, but the wheels on his ankles bug me as does the protruding top half. With limited arm movement, Sureshot doesn't impress as much as other 1987 -master toys.
Spoilsport
With a dark grey upper half and red legs, his humanoid form is pretty standard. The red twin barrels stick up behind his shoulders, which looks cool, the darkish red paint on his face tends to get lost amongst the grey. Spoilsport has a single transformation hinge - which isn't the strongest - allowing him to fold up to form a twin-barrelled red pistol, with the grey torso becoming its base (the handle is on his back). The gun mode is pretty good, even if the humanoid figure disappoints a little.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of.
OVERALL
The weakest of his trio, Sureshot has a nice buggy mode and a successful Targetmaster gimmick, but is let down by his robot mode. The colours are bright but work well enough, while Spoilsport's gun mode is his better configuration. Despite being relatively weak, Sureshot is by no means a bad toy - but he compares unfavourably to his contemporaries - 6/10
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