The Energon Pub

Is he a good figure?

Depends how much you like the Competition Viper really. I personally think it's the sexiest car in the Alternator line. The robot mode is quite good too but nothing special compared to others in the line.

The robot modes' colors and looks are good, the car mode is probably one of the best in the Alternators line and it looks brilliant black with white racing stripes.

For me, the downsides for this figure are that it doesn't have the greatest articulation when compared with other molds and it is a repaint (all be it a good one) of the Sunstreaker mold (however, Dead End may have come first if my memory serves me right).

Still it is an Alternator and more importantly a Decepticon Alternator, which there aren't many of so i recommend him.

I've got the metal version and I
wanna say it's a great figure. I like the red tint windows too.
Very Decepticon.

I have him, he has an awesome alt mode but i didn't like the fact he was basically Sunstreaker in black so I kitbashed him into Wildrider:



Yours AK

Maniac23 wrote:For me, the downsides for this figure are that it doesn't have the greatest articulation when compared with other molds and it is a repaint (all be it a good one) of the Sunstreaker mold (however, Dead End may have come first if my memory serves me right).

A rough schematic:

Conceived as Sunstreaker -> Turned into Dead End and added the "stolen body" plot hole to the Binaltech story -> re-released as Sunstreaker.

Next to Mirage he has the hottest alt mode out of all the Alternators. His 'bot mode is nothing special, personally to me the Sideswipe/Sunstreaker/Dead End robots don't look nearly as good as the rest of the line. Well, maybe better than Optimus but it's pretty close.

Dead End was the 5th Alt/BT released and the first Decepticon. He is a reuse of the Sideswipe (or Lambor) mold with a new Sunstreaker head. Sunstreaker himself followed 2-3 years later so Dead End diffinatly came first. Dead End is the best use of the Viper mold and the only actual Stunticon released in the line although some people seem to consider Swindle one for some reason. Those people are just plain wrong.

Is he a good figure? No, not to me. Is he a great looking figure with a great paint job and alt. mode? Oh yeah. He's not one of personal favorites from the line but hey, the Alternator Decepticons need all the troops they can get! They're outnumbered nearly three to one.

I've got Sunstreaker and Sideswipe and while the alt modes are dead sexy, the robot modes don't do much for me. I definately like Sunstreaker the better of the two but he does look kinda chubby.

Alex Kingdom wrote:I have him, he has an awesome alt mode but i didn't like the fact he was basically Sunstreaker in black so I kitbashed him into Wildrider:



Yours AK

The deco is actually Wildrider's. Observe:

Vehicle modes:




Robot mode:

they should have made a Alternator Menasor (Combiner of the usual Stunticons. would look killer

zodconvoy wrote:Dead End was the 5th Alt/BT released and the first Decepticon. He is a reuse of the Sideswipe (or Lambor) mold with a new Sunstreaker head. Sunstreaker himself followed 2-3 years later so Dead End diffinatly came first. Dead End is the best use of the Viper mold and the only actual Stunticon released in the line although some people seem to consider Swindle one for some reason. Those people are just plain wrong.

Actually most people refer (and were pissed to find out that it didn't happen) to Decepticharge as Drag Strip. I don't see anything wrong with that though, Decepticharge is a lame name. I did finally pick up Dead End (which completes the line for me) and he's definitely one of the top alts in the line.

Not one of my favourites tbh. Joints all seem to be in awkward places, doors restrict arm posability (although there is an alternate way of transforming the doors so they form "wings" but it doesnt look any better), huge chunk of kibble hanging from behind.

The Viper is a great car, but the toy feels hollow (its mostly a shell) and therefor cheap. Not recommended.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
The deco is actually Wildrider's. Observe:

Vehicle modes:




Robot mode:

Well that is why I converted him onto Wildrider. It was no coincidence.

Yours AK

It was probably just an issue of which name they could get at the time. That or someone figured black was a better color choice for a character named Deadend.

I wonder if we got Deadend instead of Sunstreaker first partly due to the supposed issues Takara/Hasbro were having with casting yellow plastic.

CyberTooth wrote:It was probably just an issue of which name they could get at the time. That or someone figured black was a better color choice for a character named Deadend.

I wonder if we got Deadend instead of Sunstreaker first partly due to the supposed issues Takara/Hasbro were having with casting yellow plastic.

Also take into account that people wanted to see Decepticon Alternators, and there ya go. Plus, there was indeed a name issue. "Wildrider" has been lost for a good while. A group of G1 Spychanger redecos based on the Stunticons was planned a couple years back, and Wildrider was announced as "Wildracer".

While AK's customs have probably become a bit better known over time I talked him through the mods when he did them (though I am by no means the first to do these mods) and here are how mine turned out.





Sorry for the old photography, but these serve to illustrate that if you do the swap with a yellow BT Tracks you also end up with a nicer Sunstreaker than either the Alt or BT version.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

CyberTooth wrote:It was probably just an issue of which name they could get at the time. That or someone figured black was a better color choice for a character named Deadend.

I wonder if we got Deadend instead of Sunstreaker first partly due to the supposed issues Takara/Hasbro were having with casting yellow plastic.

Also take into account that people wanted to see Decepticon Alternators, and there ya go. Plus, there was indeed a name issue. "Wildrider" has been lost for a good while. A group of G1 Spychanger redecos based on the Stunticons was planned a couple years back, and Wildrider was announced as "Wildracer".

I was thinking more along the lines of the official numbering sequence of the Alts. Tracks is the first of the red box figures and Deadend, then, is the last of the blue box figures. However, Tracks is numbered as five and Deadend six. I have no doubt that Hasbro/Takara had intended to release a Decepticon in the Viper mold, it just seems convienent that all of this occured during the time when Tracks' color was yet to be determined.

Suppose you're Hasbro, and you want to release a blue Tracks. You tell Chevy, who is set on release the Corvette mold in its signature yellow, that the plastic's not taking to the yellow dye all that well. This postpones the release of the figure while you "work out the details".

Meanwhile Takara, who has already displayed a yellow Tracks, wants to launch its new figure a viper remold/repaint of Sideswipe's brother Sunstreaker. Suddenly, all your excuses for not making a yellow Corvette fly out the window unless you can avoid releasing the new Viper retool. You make a few compromises with Takara and instead of releasing Sunstreaker, the first Decepticon to join the series is born.

As Hasbro continued to work out the wrinkles in releasing Alt No. 5, they simply opted to jump ahead with the production of the black Viper mold. But again, its all just a theory.