BLUEstreak is in the building! A holy grail among G1 collectors, this blue and silver version of MP18 is a homage to the Diaclone Fairlady Z version, and one that makes a whole lot more sense paired with his Hasbro name. This is the 5th use of the Datsun Z mold, previously we’ve had Prowl, Bluestreak (Streak), Smokescreen, Silverstreak. Bluestreak features a popular color scheme for the 280z when it was originally released, one that appeared on a Diaclone version of the original toy and has been notoriously hard to get. Now anyone can have this iconic look, as a Transformer, on their shelf together with his car brothers. You can check out over 55 pics of him in action in our full gallery here: TFW2005’s MP-18B Masterpiece Bluestreak Full Gallery.
He’s out now and shipping, grab yours over at site sponsor TFSource: MP-18B Masterpiece Bluestreak @ TFSource.
Read on for some key shots attached to this story and discussion!
Sam
Can't find a photo of it but pretty sure in the first episode (not sure which part), when he and Sideswipe come along to save Trailbreaker, that he shoots at Laserbeak(?) with a rear-mounted launcher of some sort.
SMOG
Now that stuff I didn't know. Interesting.
Good point… though really, all of the original 3 seekers had compound invented names, rather than actual terms or phrases like most other characters. In any case, it certainly initiated a tradition of Transformers names constructed in a similar way.
I have no doubts that it will. We'll also probably get the classic Diaclone police deco as well.
Yeah… though I'm fine with attempts to redesign them slightly to better reflect those old bios. For example MP Sideswipe comes with piledrivers… no jetpack though.
What mini-launcher are you talking about on Sunstreaker?
zmog
Sam
Great explanation, SMOG!
Hopefully the red Diaclone Sunstreaker we eventually get will be called Spinout, and given a new personality et al.
The G1 cartoon pretty much ruined any chance of swapping Sideswipe and Sunstreaker back around by giving Sideswipe an actual jetpack and piledrivers (Sunstreaker also has a mini launcher he uses in car mode).
AndE
Several Autobots had their names changed at the last minute, namely Sunstreaker, Cliffjumper (Blow Out), Trailbreaker (Guzzle) and Windcharger (Sprint). For the better in most cases, except for Sunstreaker. Spin Out would've been better IMO.
Also, given the common theme in these new names I wonder if Thundercracker also had his name changed…
SMOG
TRIPLE meaning, even. Bluestreak's ion rifle fires bolts that resemble "blue lightning" according to his bio.
Or QUADRUPLE meaning even, since he's described as being one of the fastest Autobots in 1984… and "blue streak" being a term used to describe something really fast.
At that point, it sort of seems like overstating it, doesn't it?
Well, a certain portion of the fandom might suggest Rumble and Frenzy…
Not their bios, but comparisons would suggest that all three 1984 Seekers had their Tech Spec graphs switched. The intelligence and ranks stats give it away.
A lot of people nurse the suspicion that Battletrap and Flywheels had their names switched.
The Sunstreaker mold was supposed to be produced in red, not yellow… which is somewhat confirmed by the fact that his sticker sheet was never updated. He still had the red stickers for his shoulders. It makes a lot of sense if you always wondered why Sunstreaker had a red rear fender.
It makes a lot of sense in other ways too. Going by the bios:
– Sunstreaker is supposed to have a heavily armoured chest… but the toy has a glass canopy for a chest. Meanwhile the Sideswipe molds seems to have a big solid chest.
– Sunstreaker has the piledrivers described in Sideswipe's bio, as well as the two shoulder mounted flares, the jet pack (sort of) and the external engine vens that supposedly "ruin" Sideswipe's car mode aesthetics.
– Sideswipe has the right-shoulder-mounted rocket launcher and rifle described in Sunstreaker's bio.
– Sideswipe is described as the rough and tumble one, while Sunstreaker is the "beautiful" one. Conversely, the Sideswipe figure is an elegant, proportional design, and the Sunstreaker mold is the muscley ape-like robot design. Also of note… according to his Tech Specs, Sideswipe is quite strong (7) compared to Sunstreaker (5)… but Sunstreaker clearly has the more brutish looking toy.
On the colour thing… apparently Sunstreaker's name was changed late in the game; originally he was supposed to be "Spin-out" (Sideswipe and Spin-out has a nice symmetry to it, eh?). So who knows what colour each one was supposed to be originally?
I always did find it a bit weird that 1984 had both a BlueSTREAK and a SunSTREAKER. Maybe it was a last-minute change or something.
This is one of those nagging bits of trivia that really bugs me. Like, suddenly everything about those characters makes that much more sense. It feels like something that should be rectified. But then, on the other hand… it's like, waaaaay too late for that now. The twins are cemented as they are.
I'm torn… this looks sooooo good, and it hits that special nostalgic spot. But I have to say, the silver/black deco is also really, really pretty. MP Bluestreak (the first one) really shows it off nicely.
Speaking of real cars, BOTH of those decos are real Fairlady Z paint jobs. A few years ago, someone who lived a block away from me owned one in the black/silver scheme. Whenever I saw it parked on the street, I had to stop to oooh and ahhh over it. It was a really beautiful little car.
zmog
Omnus
After this release (and seeing how good it looks), it would be great if HasTak decided to make it Bluestreak's official color scheme going forward.
Autovolt 127
Beautiful.
You know what that would have worked a lot better.
Sam
Another great gallery guys.
Yeah – basically Tigertrack is what the original Sunstreaker was meant to look like.
Scott_XIII
Something like that, all you have to do is hold Sunstreaker in hand while reading Sideswipe's bio – mind blown!
ambitron
No problem! Sorry if I came across as snarky in my last reply. Are there any other known mix-ups with bios? That's pretty interesting about Sideswipe and Sunstreaker – so does that mean that Sideswipe was originally intended to be the vain, merciless one? I re-read their bios, and they must have switched the names over, because Sunstreaker is obviously yellow-sounding, so presumably the swap was deliberate? Oh, wait, their colours were switched, weren't they? So originally there was to be a yellow Sunstreaker that used the Sideswipe mould and vice versa. Cool.
Scott_XIII
Apologies, I Probably should have worded it better.
ambitron
But you asked whether it was possible that their bios and names were switched… It wasn't.
Anyway, I'm loving owning a blue Bluestreak at last, and this gallery did him full justice.
Scott_XIII
I'm aware of all that, just saying that for Smokescreen to have smokey colours would fit
ambitron
That's almost certainly not the case (I didn't know that about the Lambo twins, though, thanks for that!). Remember that all of the G1 artwork for Bluestreak showed him blue, and that he was blue in the original catalogues and leaflets that came with the toy:
I even had the transforming jigsaw which had Bluestreak as blue (the closest I got to owning Bluestreak):
Almost certainly what happened was that Budiansky created the names and bios based on the Diaclone artwork and toys that he thought were being put out by Hasbro, saw the fast blue car and thought of the phrase "to talk a blue streak" and how that would make a great double meaning, so that the personality of Bluestreak was born. I always thought it was a shame that the double meaning was lost by making him silver. The final colour scheme of Bluestreak was weird – everyone wanted the blue one that was in the catalogues, the cartoon used the other Diaclone variant with the black bonnet, and then Hasbro went completely their own way and made him all silver. I'd love to know exactly what went on there.
Also, Smokescreen was part of season 2, so I believe his bio would have been written after that of all the original S1 characters.
Scott_XIII
Here's a thought, its common knowledge that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had their tech specs mixed up prior to production, hence why the 84 Sunstreaker toy looks to have piledriver arms and built in rocket pack, things that were mentioned in Sideswipe's bio.
With that in mind (forgetting the 84 blue myth), could it be possible that Bluestreak and Smokescreen had their names/bios mixed up?
Grey/Smoke colours would better suit somebody called Smokescreen, just as a blue rally car would suit the name Bluestreak?
G1Prowl
I WILL own that car one day, and slap an Autobot symbol on the hood. I saw one for sale while passing through a local town, and came back that weekend to find it had already sold.
On topic, gorgeous. However, this is simply fueling my desire for blue Bluestreaks in EVERY toy line I collect.
Nighthawkblack
That was a real color scheme in 1980.
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Bass X0
Yeah, I really don't like that. They're both the same 1984 Bluestreak to me. If some of the IDW comics are to be believed, Silverstreak is a separate character to Bluestreak which I don't like either.
Autovolt 127
Beautiful in Blue!
Blitz.
got mine in the mail from kapow early this week. IMO he's a great addition. I love the colour and the mix of silver streaks car mode bits and Prowls robot mode parts.
I'd love to see repro labels make a set for this guy. nothing crazy just some stickers for the hips and some car lights.