Transformers War for Cybertron Earthrise Sunstreaker review

Along with his brother Sideswipe, Sunstreaker was one of the cooler original series Autobots. They were the aggressive, sports car duo that always wanted some action when the Decepticons arrived. Some of that was because his G1 figure wasn’t so drastically different from his appearance in the cartoon.

I’ve been pretty happy with building this War For Cybertron/Kingdom/Legacy collection, but there were a few figures from the Earthrise line that escaped me and were too expensive to chase down on the secondary market. Like Sunstreaker.

I figured I’d have to hold out hope for an updated version from Hasbro at some point until I randomly stumbled onto Sunstreaker at Ollie’s. He was one of my best finds at Ollie’s and recalled that fun of walking down a figure aisle and seeing something you wanted just sitting on the shelf.

Now let’s see if the second most popular yellow and black Autobot was worth tracking down for so long.

Packaging: As part of the Earthrise branding, Sunstreaker has the green color scheme with the large portrait on the left side. I really like the side right artwork with the multiple characters as it shows off a bunch of them while telling a little story in one image.

The rear packaging is very basic with a picture of Sunstreaker in both robot and alt mode.

Likeness:  One of my favorite aspects of this WFC era of Transformers is how Hasbro has nailed the engineering and design of the Masterpiece figures in a smaller, more affordable scale while capturing the cartoon likeness of the characters.

For those of us stuck in the 80s, the Transformers figures were cool and all, but the characters in the cartoon were so much more dynamic and looked so much better.

Now I actually have a Sunstreaker that’s set for battle and co-piloting the shuttle to launch the Dinobots after Devastator and send Optimus Prime off before his fateful confrontation with Megatron.

I dig the expression Hasbro used as it shows Sunstreaker’s somewhat vain personality. His bio was epic in detailing an Autobot who liked the spotlight and charging after Decepticons with Sideswipe. While yellow is typically used to denote cowardice, Sunstreaker was one of the more formidable Autobots and looks it. There’s no overabundance of kibble and there’s just enough black elements to break up all of the yellow.

Hasbro included an homage to accessories from the original figure with beveled rectangular sections atop both shoulders. Those were accessories on the original figure but included as part of the design in the cartoon so it’s nice to see them incorporated into the figure straight up. Other links to the original figure include the grooved forearms and the grid-like panels on his shin area.

Alt Mode: Sunstreaker’s alternate mode was the LP400 Lamborghini Countach. It’s a sleek looking car and one that looks great for an Autobot concerned about his appearance.

Transformation: Sunstreaker can be transformed in 15 steps. He’s pretty easy to transform since it’s mostly a matter of packing the arms and legs in tighter while the body requires minimal rotating.

This was one I didn’t need to run to YouTube to decipher how to transform him, which is always a bonus for me.

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Scale:  In my unofficial scale chart, Sunstreaker should be about the same height as Wheeljack, Prowl, Jazz and Bluestreak.

He should look down at Cliffjumper and other Minibots while looking up at Ratchet, Ironhide, Trailbreaker and of course Optimus Prime.

Paint:  Sunstreaker’s molded yellow parts are very vibrant and demand attention like most drivers seek when they get a bright and bold color like yellow. The only catch here is Hasbro couldn’t mold all of Sunstreaker in the yellow.

His top/windshield section had to be painted yellow and trying to perfectly match yellows was impossible. You don’t have to strain to see they don’t properly match up and it’s more distracting than I would like.

All of the little details like the silver in his head and the Autobots logo turned out very clean with no issue.

As always, I wish the blue for the Autobots’ eyes caught the light easier to avoid the first act of The Transformers The Movie appearance for most of the originals with the dead eyes. Not Sunstreaker though since he was smart enough to hang back with Prime.

Articulation: Sunstreaker has very fluid movement and has no problems hitting the poses I could reasonably expect.

He’s got a nice ankle tilt that aids in posing better than some of the WFC figures and has a bit more of a stable base than the majority of the lines as well so he’s less likely to fall with a light touch.

Sunstreaker has:

• neck
• bicep
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbows
• wrists
• wrist hinge
• torso
• waist
• hips
• thighs
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles

Accessories:  Sunstreaker isn’t loaded with accessories.

The original figure’s blaster was a swap out attachment for his right hand. To modernize it, Hasbro have Sunstreaker a radiator-style blaster. This seems a bit bulky for an Autobot who’s all about sleekness, but it does look like it would pack a punch.

That’s all Sunstreaker gets in terms of accessories. That seems a little sparse and one of those instances where Hasbro should just throw in a translucent Energon cube box to pad it out a bit.

Worth it?  I got Sunstreaker for $13, a great price for a medium size figure especially considering the secondary market prices on him.

Rating: 8 out of 10

The paintwork really holds Sunstreaker back visually, but otherwise he’s got a great sculpt and is easy to transform. And he’s absolutely essential for a G1 Season 1 cartoon collection.

Where to get it?  The best way to find Sunstreaker now is through online retailers like Amazon. Although maybe you can get lucky and find him at an Ollie’s for $13.

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