Sunstorm (Transformers)

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''This page is about the Transformers character, Sunstorm. For other uses, see: Sunstorm

Sunstorm is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers series. Sunstorm always seems to be a Decepticon allied jet who is yellow or orange in color and usually has some link to Starscream.

Generation One

The character who would be Sunstorm appeared in the very first episode of the Transformers animated series, as a gold-and-white Decepticon jet, one of many generic troop characters used for crowd-building scenes (a bright yellow jet subsequently appeared a few episodes later, but has no relation to this one). Nearly twenty years later, when Takara reissued the original Starscream toy in 2003, the popular online retailer, e-Hobby, offered one of their customary exclusive repaints of the toy - a repaint based upon this generic character, bearing the name of Sunstorm. However, despite being inspired by the golden jet of the TV show, the design of the actual toy prohibited it from accurately resembling its animated progenitor in terms of colour layouts. Additionally, for whatever reason, rather than being golden yellow, the toy was a creamy-orange. Regardless, the character struck a chord with fans, and his cult popularity resulted in him eventually reaching the US in the form of an exclusive PVC figurine available at Botcon 2004.

The profile included with his toy notes that Sunstorm was created with a built-in fusion reactor which perpetually runs at higher-than-normal efficiency, which he can use as a weapon, enabling him to generate intense light and heat or powerful electromagnetic waves. Unfortunately for his fellow Decepticons, Sunstorm is actually unable to shut off this process, and as such these energies are constantly, directionlessly radiating from his body. Sunstorm needs to make sure his shielding is secure to protect his teammates from negative effects caused by proximity to him, and consequently, he is only rarely included as part of a battle unit. But that suits his comrades just fine, because as far as they're concerned, Sunstorm is touched in the cranial component - he believes himself to be a supernatural being, and often slips into flashes of bizarre, archaic speech and behaviour. In addition to his unusual powers, he is armed with two conventional gamma ray laser cannons in robot mode, while in jet mode, he is equipped with burst missiles, and is capable of flight in outer space.

Dreamwave Comics

Taking advantage of Sunstorm's growing popularity, Dreamwave Productions opted to include a similar but re-imagined version of the character into their equally re-imagined 21st century version of the Generation One universe. Here, Sunstorm was a clone of Starscream, one of many Transformer clones created by Shockwave after investigation of the cloning technology of the Quintessons. At an early stage in the cloning process, Shockwave experimented with installing fusion reactors in his clones, but their bodies burnt out, unable to contain the energies. A solution was reached, however, when Shockwave coated the Starscream clone in the element known as Electrum, allowing it to contain the fusion reactor's energies.

In 2003, Shockwave succeeded in accessing the massive data content of Vector Sigma, the mega computer at the heart of Cybertron, and although he was stopped by Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus before he could examine the data for himself, he was able to transfer a compressed version of it into his computer network, sending it to a terminal in one of his laboratories, where his assorted clones were being held in stasis. The Starscream clone was exposed to the data, and the sheer amount of information dumped into its mind drove it insane, forcing it to simplify what it was being told into the most basic format it could comprehend. Calling itself Sunstorm, the clone escaped and, following what it had learned from the data, headed for Earth, intending to open a mysterious Cybertronian seal buried away on the planet, for which he needed Starscream.

Forced into an alliance with the Earth-based Autobots to save his own skin, Starscream reactivated the frozen Jetfire, who deduced Sunstorm's clone nature and developed a power siphon to drain off his energies. In the ensuing battle to attach the siphon to Sunstorm, Starscream betrayed the Autobots left to guard him and escaped to further his own ends, only to be pursued by the weakened Sunstorm, and for them both to be set upon by Omega Supreme. In order to escape, Starscream blasted the siphon off of Sunstorm, who overcame Omega and took Starscream to the site of the seal. Professing that only Starscream could open it, which he did, Sunstorm unveiled a mysterious subterranean chamber, overflowing with an energy-rich liquid that could give Starscream similar, but directly-opposite, powers to Sunstorm's. Unwilling to risk his life in the ooze, Starscream turned on Sunstorm, blasted him and sending him tumbling into the liquid, only for him to emerge, moments later, his powers flaring uncontrollably as the opposing natures of the two energies began to tear him apart from within. Descending even further into his madness, Sunstorm was engaged by Jetfire, who dragged him out of Earth's atmosphere, where Sunstorm exploded.

The precise nature of the data Sunstorm received from Vector Sigma, the true purpose of the Cybertronian seal on Earth, and the nature of both his powers and that of the opposing energies remain unrevealed - and due to Dreamwave's closure, it seems unlikely that any answers will be forthcoming.

Universe Sunstorm

In 2004, Sunstorm finally reached American toy shelves in a new incarnation - a repaint of the Thrust figure, in Sunstorm's traditional orange, yellow and white. Accompanied by an appropriate redeco of Thrust's Mini-Con partner, Inferno, Sunstorm also came packaged with a repainted version of the Street Action Mini-Con Team. Sunstorm only appearance in the Transformers: Universe storyline was as one of the Decepticons under the command of Reptilion in the Botcon 2004 voice actor play.

Micro sized Cybertron Sunstorm

Two different characters name Sunstorm were released in 2006 in the Cybertron toy line. Neither appeared in the televison series because the series was made in Japan as Galaxy Force, and the two Sunstorm toys were made in the US by Hasbro after the television series had been made.

The first was a recolor of the Micro sized Starscream, painted as a homage to Generation One Sunstorm.

The second was a Mini-Con named Sunstorm, a repaint of Energon Wreckage.

Bio: One of the rebel generals most trusted by THRUST, some suspect that SUNSTORM is the true intelligence behind the MINI-CON rebellion against the Council of Sages, and that this sudden uprising may have some deeper purpose to it besides simple chaos. Indeed, SUNSTORM has secretly established contact with a small group of DECEPTICONS in hiding on the surface of CYBERTRON. His intention is to cause enough chaos among the MINI-CON colonies to allow them to be easily conqurered by the DECEPTICONS, after which they will join GALVATRON on his quest for domination of the Universe!

References

• [Information about the toy]
• [Character Profile]

 

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