BADCUBE OTS-08 SUNSURGE > THE RE-ISSUED REVIEW

*This is a re-edited review that was originally published on the 2nd February 2016.

And God said “Let there be light” and there was light. The Sun shone so bright...

Okay, so a little dramatic with the introduction there but is Badcube's OTS 08 Sunsurge worthy of such gravitas ?

Packaging & Accessories

A good solid and glossy looking box, simple, basic logos and imagery make it a win, easily on a par with Takara’s Masterpiece boxes in terms of quality. With dimensions not that far out from Takara’s, it fits in quite well on the shelf with their releases. Cracking the box open we see Sunsurge presented in a clam-shell in vehicle mode and the selection of accessories he comes with. Badcube have taken inspiration from Takara in it’s presentation, the Autobot cars are packaged in car mode, it’s a little reminder of those hazy 80’s G1 days.

Anyway, in the box we have:

Sunsurge, small screwdriver (with spare screws), buffed set of wheels, air intake and spoiler, blaster gun, two chromed nozzle like attachments to replace his hands and a spare face with smirk. There is also an instruction booklet, two collector cards and the nice, if a little unnecessary, addition of a Chip Chase figure complete with his wheelchair.

Vehicle Mode

Out of the box Sunsurge has a light but yet solid feel to it. The plastic is good quality if a little sharp, by this I mean it does not have the more dull or flexible feel to it that Takara releases have, this may harm it in the long run as it could contribute to the appearance of stress marks if care is not taken when transforming.

Being Sideswipes brother, Sunsurge shares his alternate mode but with a slight difference. Based on the Lamborghini LP500S with the addition of two very large air intakes over the engine bay, the official term for this is Super Tuning but to my knowledge there is no actual real road car sharing this look.

Comparing with MP-12 Lambor, Sunsurge almost fits in. Badcube have managed to retain a familiar look but with a stylized flair to it. The yellow is a nice, not too over the top tone in comparison to Tigertrack who also shares the same mold as MP-12. Aside from the aforementioned air intakes the other main and most welcome difference is the addition of rubber tyres to the wheels. Seeing this on Sunsurge it reaffirms my opinion that Takara could have done this themselves, sure it may have added a little on the price point but I feel it would have been worth it. Minimal to no panel gaps on the example I have here in hand, also it rolls and sits well on that rubber.

Robot Mode

Once transformed and all was in place the robot mode is really nice, a decent likeness to his G1 inspiration with lots of articulation affording some great poses to be achieved. However he does feel a little delicate, this maybe down to that “sharp” feel of the plastic again or the (over complex) transformation. A minor quibble is the mismatch of colour on the chest area, but as it is paint on translucent blue plastic I’ll cut them some slack. However a glaring issue is the shoulders, they do jut out quite a bit and can be distracting. You can shift them up or down to minimize this but it does not fully negate it.

There is some good detailing on this figure, close up there is no part that looks superfluous or out of place. The attention to detail continues when scaled up next to MP-12 Lambor, there is an ever so slight height advantage to MP-12 but this can be addressed by a slight alteration of how the ankle joint sits on Sunsurge, this will give him that extra few millimeters.

Final Thoughts (Updated)

At the time of release, Sunsurge was the only viable option for a Masterpiece style Sunstreaker. There was Omnigonix OG-01 Spinout, but that was a total shower of shit, no kidding. And the Official Takara Sunstreaker was still 2 years away. Sunsurge was my first 3rd Party figure as up to that point I was a Takara Masterpiece kind of person. It's both funny and interesting how our opinions and tastes change over the years. In fact I edited out of this updated review my preference of having my Transformers come packaged in their alt modes, something that now I dislike strongly.

Sunsurge is still a good figure to have in any collection, however the mold and design is dated, specifically where the aesthetic is concerned. I would say that it is more of a fit in with Mastermind Creations Perfection Series, such as Backdraft or Terraegis, as opposed to the now default cartoon emulation. Design concepts move quickly and in this respect Sunsurge struggles to fit in. The design & mold is now 6 years old, but quality wise it still holds up. I made mention back in 2016 my concern of breakages or stress marks due to the plastic, I'm happy to report I was wrong on both counts. My Sunsurge is still as pristine as the day I got him.

In hindsight, had Badcube fully painted this figure and opted for a differing design for the shoulders, it could still potentially go toe to toe with MP-39 Sunstreaker... maybe!

Image taken from MP-39 Review (2018)

Well, that's all for this Re-Issued review. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and catch you all soon.

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