Transformers Generations Combiner Wars Deluxe
Item No.: Asst. B0974 No. B3060 Manufacturer:Hasbro Includes:Comic book, sword/gun, hand/foot/weapon Action Feature:Transforms from Robot to Car to Hand to Foot Retail:$15.99 Availability: August 2015 Other: Pretooled from Breakdown
Depending on how old you are and how long you've been collecting, this Sunstreaker may or may not be delightful. The last "new" transforming one was around 2008, so after seven years it's a good time to make a new one for the kids or fans who weren't necessarily on board right after the first live-action movie. We've had one in Universe, there was a slick Alternators toy, and a number of collectible figures. This one, though, is the only one to become an arm or a leg of a combiner. The design will also be used to make Ravage for Botcon 2016.
The robot mode is Breakdown with a new head for Sunstreaker, plus a new chest that looks very little like the original. If anything, it looks more like some of the first movie Optimus toys. It works, though - really, once you have the colors and the head down pat everything else is a bonus. The yellow is nice and bright, the blacks are nice and dark, and his head has slick blue eyes. If you showed this figure to a fan, they'd immediately pick up on it being Sunstreaker thanks in part to the successful integration of his combiner mode accessories.
Not only does he have a sword/gun - a departure for the character - but he has a backpack too. The combiner foot/hand accessory was designed to look just like the original Sunstreaker's air intakes, and they can be mounted on the figure's back or the car's roof. The accessories are grey plastic painted silver in spots; the thumb/5mm peg area on the hand/foot is left undecorated. I should note, the sword/gun is a bit of a tight fit in the fist - I blame the painted grip, as this frequently is a problem on many action figure lines. Breakdown doesn't have quite the same problems holding his weapon and he comes from the same basic mold designs.
Transformation is more or less the same as Breakdown - with the same trip-ups around getting the car's hood in place and lining up various pegs and grooves correctly. It's not particularly difficult, but it is more fiddly than the other toys in the line which all work quite nicely. It's not as fun as the other ones in the set - I still really dig Ironhide and Mirage a bunch - but it's acceptably entertaining for my fingers.
This car looks a lot like Sunstreaker! He has an Autobot logo, and the silver "foot" mounts to the top of the car - by the back of the car. The heel/thumb piece plugs in a slot on the car's trunk, while the rest of it rests gently on the top of the vehicle. It works quite nicely. Unlike some of the other releases, deco is quite nice - silver headlights, silver hubcaps, blue windows, and black trim are great. But wait, there's more - red detailing near the rear wheels really make it sing while recalling the look of the original toy. For a toy that shares its parts with a Decepticon combiner, they did a nice job ensuring they could get two pretty good toys from a single design.
As an arm or a leg, it's exactly like Breakdown - which is to say, it's OK. The articulation on the arm mode is great, with bending elbows and a swiveling piece thanks to his waist joint. As a leg, it only moves at the "knee." It does the job nicely, but won't really impress you too much.
If you don't have a Sunstreaker, get this one - unlike most "Generations" classic toys it actually brings a new play feature to the table and that's just fantastic. If you don't want to use him as a combiner, you don't have to - and if you want to, you can check out the Combiner Wars comic for the backstory. (Spoiler alert: it's not very good and it is very abrupt.) It's a great idea for a toy and is about as forced as forced gets in the fiction, so just buy it because it's fun and grit your teeth about how it derailed an otherwise interesting tale in the comic books.
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