Amen. He's criminally underused considering his backstory, there's a wealth of material just begging to be mined, and just our luck that Barber snagged him for a total non-part in RID when Roberts wanted him. I can only hope that Dark Cybertron sees a few characters taking up with Rodimus when the smoke clears.

 

Simply because the color scheme makes him look awesome, character background be damned? Not everyone needs a back story to like a figure. For me, it can help, but it's not the only factor. The mold is slightly different to.
Great pics, by the way.

 

Fuuh understated elegance.

 

Good thing is about Transformers throughout the years is that they can easily keep the mold and change the color to create a new character. I think it is that sort of variety that gives completists and casual fans alike something to latch onto. I'm pretty sure there are people who buy for the characters and some buy for the color or how it looks.

At the same time, toy makers like Hasbro and Takara can make reuse the molds and hopefully find value out of creating a mold, which can take years and have high costs.

 

What I just don't get, is how many people flippantly scoff off shared mold characters like Bluestreak and/or Smokescreen (or Skywarp & Thundercracker) as being nothing but non-essential almost cash grab repaints when they were, in fact, very visible relevant characters in the show. Well, at least Bluestreak was. He had every bit the amount of screen time that Prowl did. I mean, none of these supposed "just repaints" are nonsensical crap like Nightwatch Optimus, Roadbuster Ultra Magnus, Dark Energon Megatron or whatever other kind of "NEVER seen in show or comics but we're desperate to release a make-no-sense repaint and slap whatever name we can that fits the color scheme" junk that HasTak pump out via every main line series. Bigger point here: if someone's going to claim that Bluestreak or Smokescreen or Thundercracker or Skywarp or whoever else were "just background filler", then they have to also say that about EVERY OTHER character that wasn't Prime, Bumblebee, Ironhide, Megatron, Soundwave or Starscream since it equally applies.

 

Looks amazing.

 

For me, it's simple--

As a kid, I liked Bluestreak and had his toy. I was of course well aware of Prowl, as he was a much more prominent character. But just like Sideswipe vs Wheeljack---I simply liked certain toys/colors/cars more than others. Yeah, Bluestreak+Sideswipe combined have less than half the lines/characterization of some of the others---but they were my faves as a kid, so that's what I still want, regardless of their importance (of lack of) in the toon.

----proud owner of MP-18, with no plans to ever get MP-17

PS---I clearly remember my G1 Bluestreak being all silver, and not blue.  

 

What I don't get is why some people think Bluestreak is a non-entity compared to Prowl when discussing the cartoon. If we were talking Animated or Marvel or IDW then you'd have a point. But not with the Sunbow series.

Bluestreak had about the same amount of screentime Prowl did and had more "focus" episodes than Prowl did. Bluestreak was one of the main stars in the big race episode with the Stunticons, and then he and Prowl shared that Chip Chase episode. And he shot down Laserbeak several times. As far as I recall, Prowl's big moments were the Chip Chase episode, getting turned into a throne, and being killed by a Constructicon. Big Sunbow pedigree right there, I tell ya.

Plus, in my personal opinion he just has a superior color scheme. And as much as I love Michael Bell, Casey Kasem is pretty hard to beat.


Edit: Oh, and Smokescreen actually had a full focus episode, instead of having to share it with anyone. Well, anyone who had a toy.

 

It is very nice...I only have one complaint/question:
On the "Car Mode" Close up picture.....What is that black piece that looks like it's rubbing on the floor...It is at the same level as the tires....I don't like that...I hope it is just mistransformed

 

On the point of repaints, I have to cut Takara and Hasbro a little slack. Almost every other toyline can get away with reusing parts for dozens of characters, like Masters of The universe, GI Joe, or any wrestling line. Transformers can't really get away with that, so yeah, we get repaints and retools, and why not? They aren't taking anything away from you, just giving you a new option that could actually be better than the first release of a mold. There's also no real reason NOT to take advantage of releasing these retooled MP's when you had the characters their from the start.

Either way, I would feel robbed if Takara didn't make a Bluestreak out of this mold, and to me he has the best color scheme of the three. He might not have had any memorable moments, but I always remembered him there with Prowl and Smokescreen.

 

Those are his forearms. They're supposed to sit a little higher up into the hood/chest cavity in vehicle mode. They definitely don't drag on the ground.

 

That was kind of my worry when I saw that, too.

That's good. So he rolls along a smooth surface without a problem then?

 

Bought Streak yesterday but the QC is still hit and miss. stratches on the glass parts on the car.  

 

^ bad luck :/

I got mine and mine were perfect   (rubs it in  )

 

I agree with some of the earlier posters about Prowl as a character. He had almost no screentime. Any importance he had was added later in comics. Even the G1 comic didn't use him much until his action master came out in 1990.

As evidence of Prowl and Bluestreak's status as nonentities, I point out that they both did so little of note, that Takara couldn't even think of optional show specific accessories like the rest of the mps.

With that being said, I take my personal tf fiction from the tf universe series from 1986ish. Roll with Budiansky and make your own fiction I say.

 

Mine doesn't have any trouble. My Prowl sorta does - the front left wheel doesn't really roll well. I don't see anything getting in the way, so it's probably an issue with the pin.

 

Such a lovely gallery of an awesome figure. Props to ya, Syd!

 

One of my Streaks had a similar problem at the same spot and the factory tried to cover it by hand painting over the scratches. Looked awful.

Thankfully, my second Streak is fine.

 

Take the Budiansky/Marvel bios, and put them into a Beast Wars quality show. Still a lot of untapped potential there. And I mean a lot.

I think you have to understand the importance of a character's legacy isn't just how many lines they had in the TF show. Prowl and Bluestreak carry what is really the iconic Autobot transformation - extended hood chest and door wings. They're a little anime without putting it in your face. The head crests only help accentuate this.

They're extremely recognizable and have helped shape the look of TransFormers. Look at movie Bumblebee as an unfortunate example. Look at most police car TF's that take the Japanese styling like Prowl.

Just because they haven't been overused, doesn't mean they don't have a lot of character and a lot of popularity. People can deny it to themselves all they want, but they're iconic legends.

 

As far as being iconic, the autobot symbol was based off of the datsun face...