Size: Mini-Con (2-pack)
Overall Rating: 6.3
 

Sunstorm

Allegiance: Decepticon, Minicon
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Light milky gray, dark transparent purple, dull metallic yellow, and some silver, metallic red, and dull bluish purple
Individual Rating: 6.0

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

    Like his other teammates, Sunstorm is a homage to the G1 jet of the same name. And in vehicle mode, at least, Sunstorm's color scheme lives up fairly well to his name, what with the dull yellow detailing covering most of the mode. It works surpisingly well with the dark purple that surrounds it, and the light gray also goes well with the purple in robot mode. However, I do have to complain about the light gray with respect to the previous paint jobs this mode has gotten-- the light gray, and the red paint apps on it, are pretty much identical to Armada Runway's. Given that this is the fourth use of this general mold and the second use of this specific variation, a bit more should have been done to differentiate the robot mode from any of the previous incarnations. The solid bluish purple used for the thrusters also doesn't quite fit with the transparent purple used for the rest of the vehicle mode, which is a little distracting. Still, overall, Sunstorm has a very nice color scheme.
    No mold changes have been made to Sunstorm, though a Decepticon emblem has been added to his left rear tail wing.

Combined Sword Form (Combination of Sunstorm, Ramjet, and Thrust)

Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Light milky gray, charcoal black, transparent dark purple, fuchsia, dull metallic yellow, shiny sparkly violet-red, and some silver, red, dull bluish purple, metallic red, shiny off-white, and metallic moderately light blue
Individual Rating: 4.2

    The combined sword form of Sunstorm, Thrust, and Ramjet-- an unnamed form, but I like to call it the Sun Saber-- can be held by larger Cybertron Transformers, just like the Energon Saber these toys were repainted from. Overall, the color scheme seems to mesh together very well, and looks decidedly more "Decepticon-y" than the Energon Saber, with the purple, fuchsia, and gray going together especially well. At first, the yellow on Sunstorm may look like it throws off the color scheme, but that's until I remembered that Sunstorm forms the "energy blade" of the sword, and yellow is a perfect color to make the sword look more like an energy weapon. It still suffers from the same problems as the original Energon Saber, but I think the color scheme looks a bit better and more eeevil, as it should.
 

Checkpoint

Allegiance: Autobot, Minicon
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: Transparent black, dull pale blue, black, red, and some white and metallic gold
Individual Rating: 6.6

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

    Checkpoint has a "night police car"-style color scheme. He has the traditional blues and blacks of such a vehicle, but the black takes up the bulk of the color scheme, and it contrasts rather nicely with the other colors as well, so the whole package looks pretty good color-wise. The red sirens look good, but the red windows, like on Checkpoint's other teammates, look rather tacky, even if they do fit in well with the black. The gold headlights do look very good, however-- the particular shade used is very attractive. The "SWAT A2" on the left side of the vehicle looks a bit crammed in there, but it does give Checkpoint more of a "rescue vehicle" feel than he otherwise would have. Some of his paint apps really needed to be transferred to his robot mode, however-- his robot mode is practically barren of any paint apps.
    No mold changes have been made to Checkpoint, but an Autobot symbol paint app has been added to his front hood.

    Although both Sunstorm and Checkpoint have the best paint jobs of any of their molds' previous versions in my opinion, they're still my least recommended of the Wave 3 Minicon Battle Packs, primarily because neither of the molds are all that good, in my opinion. Still, if you don't have any of these molds and like small Transformers, or if you just have a hankering to complete the combined sword form, this small $5 pack is worth picking up.
 

Reviews by Beastbot

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