(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Classics Masterpiece Starscream. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Classics Masterpiece Starscream here.)

    Given that this mold was used for Acid Storm, the logical next choice would be another of the more obscure Seekers, Sunstorm. Sunstorm's Masterpiece deco-- for the most part-- follows his normal color scheme, being mostly yellow and white with some red accents (the paint apps on the stripes on the wings really pop against both the yellow and the white). The yellow on Masterpiece Sunstorm, however, is noticeably lighter and less of an orangey shade than on most other releases of the character. Generally I feel this works on this large of a toy-- these days, having a large toy be mostly "cheese yellow" brings to mind one of the many large Bumblebee toys, so I'm glad they went with a slightly different direction in this case. The shades of metallic bronze and silver on places like his thrusters and guns helps to add some much-needed darker shades to his bright color scheme, and standard stuff like his clear plastic cockpit and black-and-clear stand look pretty decent as well. The other parts where Sunstorm departs from his traditional colors, though, don't fare as well. The worst is the milky brown that's mostly prevalent in robot mode. Particularly on his head, this just doesn't fit with any of Sunstorm's previous iterations, and doesn't mesh all that well with his general "themed" color scheme, either; this should have been replaced with black as it traditionally has been, both for better contrast and particularly since this is the "Masterpiece" version of the character. Having brown in these areas almost makes him look like he's trying out to be a McDonald's mascot. Sunstorm's big paint app in vehicle mode, on the other hand, was a nice idea-- a nice, large bunch of curly "flame" paint apps along his main body and wings. However, in practice these flame paint apps are far too close to the shade of yellow plastic they're on, to the point where they don't really differentiate themselves enough to really be distinct from the yellow (they pop out in pictures much more than in real life)-- it blends in too much, which is really a bummer as a bunch of genuine metallic gold flames (instead of yellowish gold) would really have looked boss on this toy.
    Masterpiece Sunstorm doesn't have any mold changes made for him specifically, though he does have the same alternations that Masterpiece Thundercracker has. The mold is degrading quite noticeably at this point from over-use, as well; his tailfins fall off all the time in robot mode, and often parts of his chest/wing assemblage are wobbly and will come off during transformation. They can simply be clipped back on, but it's mighty annoying at this point. They seriously need to re-cast this mold.
    Masterpiece Sunstorm does the same basic "sunny, flamey" theme of the character quite well, but a couple of odd choices-- like the brown in robot mode and the usage of a bunch of paint for flames that are just an ever-so-slightly different shade than his main yellow plastic-- make him less of a home run than he otherwise would've been, particularly when you add in the QC issues. Seeker completists will probably like this, but otherwise it'd probably be best to pass on this toy and get one of the versions with a better color scheme.

Review by Beastbot

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