Sunstreaker
Sunstreaker (Solo in Canada, Lince in Italy) is a fictional character from The Transformers. Template:Transformers character
Transformers: Generation 1 (1984)
Sunstreaker was one of the first generation of Autobots in the original Transformers television series. He was the twin brother of Sideswipe, another Autobot, and like him also turned into a Lamborghini Countach. His alternate mode however, was yellow and had a modification in the form of an engine that sticks out the back. He was described as the ultimate egotist, being notoriously difficult to work with and pair up with anyone else besides Sideswipe, and described himself as the most beautiful thing ever. He was also a cold, ruthless and effective fighter who would do anything to win.
He is one of the few original Autobots to have apparently survived the attack on Autobot City. He unlike his twin Sideswipe had a brief appearance in the movie as the pilot of the shuttle carrying the detachment of Autobot reinforcements to earth. This was his last appearance in the series.
Oddly, Sunstreaker's Tech Specs and Transformers Universe profile mentions Sideswipe's rear mounted engine, which is a feature on the Sunstreaker toy. The missile launcher and gun in Sunstreaker's profile are found on the Sideswipe toy. The mix-up may have been due to the Diaclone toy decos. The toy used for Sideswipe had three Diaclone versions: red, yellow, and police, while the Sunstreaker mold was released only in red and police decos. This might also explain the red stickers behind Sunstreaker's rear wheels.
The Toy was designed by Koujin Ohno (Takara Toys) and is credited as the first "Car to Robot Transforming Toy" ever made. It appeared first in Takara's Car Robot Series in 1982 before being used in the initial wave of Hasbro Transformers in 1984.
According to original tech spec notes written by Bob Budiansky found at Iacon One in 2006 the original name for Sunstreaker was Spinout. Also according to these notes the numbers for Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's tech specs were not switched, just their bios.
Animated series
Sunstreaker appeared frequently in the animated series as one of the Autobots on Earth, saving Trailbreaker from the Seekers in "More Than Meets the Eye", but had very few prominent roles. Predictably, given his ego, he was one of several Autobots who appeared as "giant evil aliens" in a Hollywood Movie ("Hoist goes Hollywood") alongside Hoist and many others, before ending up battling the Decepticons for real.
Sunstreaker appeared in two places at once in the Transformers movie. Before the Decepticon attack on Autobot City, Sunstreaker was helping Kup move a roadblock. He was knocked over when Hot Rod and Daniel Witwicky drove through it. Meanwhile, he was also on Moon Base One and helped pilot the shuttle that flew Optimus Prime and the Dinobots to Autobot City.
Marvel Comics
In the US Marvel Comics, Sunstreaker made his debut in Issue 1 as one of the Autobots who travelled on the Ark to destroy the asteroid field that threatened Cybertron and subsequently crash landed on Earth. After being revived, Sunstreaker was given his sports car form. He was involved in some of the early skirmishes with the Decepticons, but was rendered inactive when the Autobots ran out of fuel. When Shockwave captured the Ark he damaged the inert Sunstreaker so badly that Ratchet was unable to repair him with the other Autobots. He remained inactive for several years.
Eventually he was mended, and made a rare appearance when Grimlock and Blaster battled for leadership on the Moon. It may be assumed that he was rendered inactive again when the Decepticons launched a surprise attack in the same issue.
Sunstreaker did not appear again until Grimlock revived him along with a number of other Autobots using the healing substance nucleon. He then travelled with Grimlock to Cybertron where he was involved in the battle against Unicron. His status and whereabouts after this battle are unknown.
Marvel U.K. Comics
In the annual story State Games, Sunstreaker was revealed as a gladiator in the State Games before the War, where he lost a match to Megatron.
In the Earthforce stories, an injured Sunstreaker, along with several other Autobots, was awakened not by Nucleon but by Galvatron's Dream-Inducing Bug. Galvatron had studied their dreams in the aim of finding dissenting members of the Autobots that he hoped to put into his own employ. In this story, it was revealed that when doing a recce of the original Decepticon base, Sunstreaker panicked, leaving an injured Jazz behind and deliberately drawing human soldiers into the fight to avoid being damaged. After defeating Galvatron, Sunstreaker became part of Grimlock & Prowl's Earthforce team.
Later, Sunstreaker was sent on a new mission to the Stanix region of Cybertron with Silverbolt, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Jazz, and Inferno by Optimus Prime. While there, he overcame the ghosts of the past and helped defeat the mad Decepticon Megadeath who had tortured him & the others 4 million years ago.
Dreamwave Productions
Sunstreaker is the twin brother of Sideswipe. Before the civil war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, Sunstreaker was an artist. After the war broke out he joined the Autobots, but some who knew his violent dispositon joked that he didn't join the Decepticons simply because their purple logo clashed with his paint job. When Decepticon leader Megatron and Autobot leader Optimus Prime temporarily disappeared in an accident with a space bridge, the Autobot and Decepticon forces splintered into smaller factions. Sunstreaker stayed with the Autobots under the leadership of Prowl and battled the Fallen when he attacked the Autobot base.
Afterwards, he was among the Autobots on the Ark mission and crash landed on Earth, being revived & reformated in the form of an Earth car in 1984. When the battle for Earth was finished and the Autobots were heading home, the Ark II exploded after takeoff and Sunstreaker was lost & deactivated in the ocean. Sunstreaker was among those revived in 2002 by Optimus Prime and fought against the Decepticons in San Francisco. When Ultra Magnus came to Earth claiming that the Earth-based Autobots were Cybertronian criminals and apprehended most of them, Jazz was left in charge of the Ark and Sunstreaker was part of his unit.
When Starscream returned to Earth with the Combaticons, Sunstreaker was taken offline once again along with most of Jazz's unit. Jazz, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were repaired later by the Earth Defense Command, and investigated Insecticon activity on Earth for them. They all later rejoined Ratchet on board the Autobot ship Orion.
Devil's Due Publishing
In this reimagining of the Generation One story, the Ark was discovered by the terrorist organization Cobra, and all the Transformers inside were reformatted into Cobra vehicles remotely controlled by the Tele-Vipers. In this storyline, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker both turned into Cobra Stingers. [1]
IDW Publishing
In IDW Publishing's new The Transformers: Infiltration mini-series, Sunstreaker is part of an infiltration unit consisting of Ratchet, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Bumblebee and Jazz, led by Prowl. He has not played a major role thus far, other than to accompany the other Autobots to the Decepticon base to watch the duel between Megatron and a super-powered Starscream, saving Bumblebee from Runabout at one point. Apparently destroyed by the Machination along with his passenger Hunter in the sequel The Transformers: Escalation, it has since been revealed that the Machination faked his destruction, indicating he and Hunter are still alive. The story is ongoing.
3H Enterprises
Recently Hasbro and Takara had produced new toys of Sunstreaker. The first being Hasbro's Official Transformers Collectors' Convention 2003 exclusive toy, which was a repaint of RiD Prowl. Collectors who stayed at the Hyatt Regency hotel where the convention was held, were entitled to purchase this exclusive.
Sunstreaker would appear again as a Botcon Transformers Convention exclusive toy, a remold and of Robots in Disguise Prowl painted in his yellow color scheme.
Sunstreaker was amongst the Autobot heroes of the Great War welcomed back back to Cybertron. However, all of them were transported away by Unicron. Reformatted into a new body, he was forced to fight for Unicron's amusement (and unbeknownst to all, so that the Spark energy from fallen combatants could revitalize his own shattered frame), Sunstreaker duelled his own brother. All were subsequently freed by the resurrected Optimus Primal, and Sunstreaker went on to serve him as part of the new Autobot faction.
Although Universe ended at issue #3, the flashback of Optimus Prime would reveal what happened. In the final battle between the forces of Optimus Primal and Unicron, the Chaos-Bringer had disappeared (due to the events of Transformers: Energon), with Primal's forces barely making it out. Sunstreaker was among those seen escaping.
Toys
Binaltech/Alternators (2005)
In 2004, prototypes of a remolded Binaltech/Alternator Sideswipe toy were leaked, and it beared a great resemblance to Sunstreaker. However when it was released, Takara & Hasbro surprised fans by releasing him as the Decepticon Dead End, in different colour scheme and faction to reflect the former Stunticon.
About 2 years after the release of Dead End, and with much prodding from the fandom, Takara launched a new sub-line called 'Binaltech Asterisk' (BTA), with one of the first releases being Sunstreaker himself. Sunstreaker is partnered with -for unknown reasons- the human "race queen" model Junko Shiragami, and acts as her car. Once, Sunstreaker got in a race with a human-driven sports car, much to Junko's dismay. He used his transformation ability to take a particularly sharp curve, destroying a road sign in the process, for which Junko chewed him out.
It is said that Sunstreaker drives faster when he smells Junko's marigold-scented hair.
During December of 2005, Hasbro released Sunstreaker as Alternators #18, with a different color pattern and deco. The Binaltech Asterisk and Alternators versions differ in the yellow used for the main paint job, as well as the Alternators version having black stripes down the car body, just like Dead End, where the BTA is solid yellow. In robot mode, the chest coloring is essentially inverted: a black cross-piece over a yellow chest for the BTA, and a yellow cross-piece over a black chest for the Alternator. The legs, feet and arms are also colored very differently, however both share the same signature Sunstreaker head design, with silver and yellow replacing Dead End's bronze face and red vents. The Alternators version does not include the Junko figure. Coming from the Binaltech line, BTA Sunstreaker includes diecast components, while the Alternator version is all plastic.
Transformers: Titanium
A repaint of Titanium Side Swipe, Sunstreaker will be released as part of the 3 inch tall Titanium line in early 2007.
There are plenty of mavericks and weirdoes in the Autobot ranks, but most of them are down and dirty warriors fighting for freedom against the Decepticons. Sunstreaker is in a totally different class, and he makes no secret of the fact that he knows it. In fact, he thinks he’s the hottest thing on wheels. When it comes to a fight, winning is only the second or third thing on his list, after protecting his artillery-resistant hide from scuffs and scratches, and making sure reflected laser light glints just so off his paint job.
References
External links
- Champions RPG character sheet for Sunstreaker.
- http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4725770 - Walmart Sunstreaker page.
- http://www.bwtf.com/binaltech/sunstreaker/ - Review of Sunstreaker and Junko