Silverstreak; Transformer Universe 2.0

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Other

Repaints. You either love them or hate them, but they're a fact of the toy industry. With production and materials costs going up, and the economy going down, toy companies need to use anyway they can to get the most out of a mold. In the world of Transformers toys, repaints have always been a part of the various lines, since many of the robot characters these toys are based on come of factory lines themselves and tend to have one or two or fifty-seven thousand twins running around Cybertron looking exactly like them.

Silverstreak is one of those transformers. In Generation 1 (the "first" line of toys from the 80's) there were 3 characters this same basic design; Prowl (police car), Smokescreen (rally car), and Bluestreak (silver sports car). I don't know why they changed his name for this release (probably something to do with copyrights again), but this is still the same character. All three of them re-use the same body in the new Transformer Universe line, with different paint applications. I picked up Silverstreak at Toy Kingdom in SM Podium a month ago, and I'm eagerly waiting for Smokescreen to hit malls.

Unlike some lines (re: Marvel Legends), repaint's are not that bad a deal in the world of Transformers. Like the Hasbro Mighty Muggs, you're totally aware that these are repaints and re-used molds and each has it's own personality; in my opinion it adds a certain kind of charm. Silverstreak is supposed to be a hothead apparently, compared to Prowl's battlefield strategist.

His color scheme tends to reflect that personality. His car mode is a flashy smooth silver, making the versatile body look every bit the sports car compared to Prowl's black and white. Hasbro has also seemed to have improved it's plastic; this new wave of toys is much less cheap looking, with a shine that makes it seem more like the metal it's supposed to represent. I can't wait to see Smokescreen's rally car ads.



His robot mode's color is also much more detailed, with alot of black and red thrown in. The good thing about transformers is that alot of the parts are mostly CAST in plastic that is already the color that it's supposed to be in. It's a great way to do things since you don't need to worry about crappy mass market paint applications.



Thing is, you can't do every part this way. Things like the doors of this mold have to be cast in a clear plastic in order for the windows to be clear. It's a great feature, clear windows, but you're gonna suffer play wear galore after a few transformations. My Prowl has already taken a beating and has scratches where the paint's already gone in areas. This means if you're particularly obsessive about mint toys, you're not gonna want to transfor any of these guys alot.



Moving on to posebility; I'll give him 3 out of 5. Relatively low I know, but there are a few things that make him a ***** to pose.

One: his awkward knees. He's got two of them. On each leg. It's great engineering really (great job to the designers), but makes for a hard time getting just the right angle.

Two: there's no thigh cut or the equivalent. This was something that us 80's guys would never have thought about back then, but now it's a standard for action figures simply because it allows the toy to have it's feet flat on the ground when you've got him in more dynamic poses.

Three: his tiny, tiny foot print. he's got small feet. really. Like the Sunstreaker series, his feet are really miniscule compared to his "boot" (the back end of the car where his foot is encased). The engineers did a nice job fitting it into the car mode, but because it's so small, and has that extra "fold" his stability is shot to ****. He continually falls over like nobody's business, even when he's in a static standing pose.



Even considering these negative points, I'd say Silverstreak is a must have due to his great looks. When you can get him to stand, he just looks every bit the rash warrior, ready to kick Decepticon tail across the galaxy. Unlike Prowl however (a peg warmer who is on all shelves), he's pretty hard to find at Toy Kingdom now. If you see him, don't think twice.