Who's got two thumbs and loves things that are horribly orange? This guy!

Sunstorm's a little less orange than I'd prefer. The original e-Hobby toy was orange creamsicle, a gloriously obnoxious shade not entirely possible in RGB photography, but Masterpiece Sunstorm runs a range from yellow to a yellowy orange. The jet mode gradients between those two colors from nose to tail, and so when it transforms, you end up with a robot that's sort of yellow-orange with yellow boots. The e-Hobby toy had a limited plastic breakdown, too, and so this more-complex toy tries to more accurately match the generic who appeared briefly in the cartoon, with white shoulder intakes, thighs, biceps, and fists.

As I said, not quite the orange I was hoping for. However, it's still a friggin' stark-bright day-glow Playskool fighter jet, and that still touches me in all the right places.

Which is why I was happy to sell my MP Starscream to better afford buying this guy. Yes, I liked Starscream because he was a more realistic desaturated hue, skewing towards realism, and the many alterations to the mold emphasizes animation-model accuracy over jet mode realism, but orange always trumps realism for me. Now you know my hierarchy.

Included in the cosmetic mold alterations is a new head. The old one was kind of narrow, partly because it had to fit through a narrow gap in the fuselage during transformation, but the new one is wider. The vents on the side of his head compress into the sides of his helmet so you can still squeeze the head through. I like the new head better, so that works out for me.

Since the retooled version of this toy was released as a "Coronation Starscream," Sunstorm comes with those parts as well, even though Sunstorm hasn't ever worn a crown, shoulder pads, and a cape. Maybe it's his formal wear. He does think he's a god, after all, what with the accident-of-birth radiation powers, so I guess it's not a stretch that he'd dress the part.

Though the Masterpiece toy's orange is inferior to the original toy's, the articulation helps fill the gap for me. Because of Sunstorm's well-articulated hands and arms and his balljointed neck, he can assume poses that aren't limited to "raise arms." He can stretch out his arms and open his palms, as if he believes he's controlling the cosmos. He can look up into the heavens. In short, he can have personality.

One real disappointment is that he doesn't have the stand that the first MP Starscream did. I kinda wanna do floating-in-the-air poses. I guess maybe I could buy a MP Thundercracker at Toys"R"Us to get one? Though that'd be a $70 stand with somebody else's name tampographed on it. Gnngh.

(Hey, during which iteration of this mold was the Dr. Arkeville pilot figurine replaced with the pilot pilot figurine?)

Finally, this toy came with a limited Sunstorm collectible coin.

Not sure what I'm gonna do with that, but I ain't gonna turn it down.

Tagged: sunstorm, masterpiece