Comparison vol.2 : Classics Sunstorm

Today we are going to look on Sunstorm. Lets say, if you are looking to get some from Hasbro, you will be dissapointed, And if you are willing to get one from Takara, you will be dissapointed even more. Why? because at this moment, there is actualy only one version of Classics Seeker Sunstorm repaint aviable from Hastak. And for many of you, its sadly Botcon figure from last 2013 year. 
If are open minded to KOs, then its only good for you in this case. Our main seeker producer, chineese CHMS is taking chance and producing not 1, not 2 but already 3 different color options of this character. 

History:
In 2010 it was confirmed by Hasbro, that yellow character who apear as Rainmaker, is NOT Sunstorm, but some random guy. But well, in 2013 they released their Botcon Rainmaker set of 3 classic seeker figures and named this character as Sunstorm, later there was some confirmation from Fun Publications that it was error. So, what we will do about this? Well, we dont give a shit if he is rainmaker or not, we will compare all 4 figures together.

So, in total there are 4 figures at this moment. Botcon 2013, CHMS Yellow, CHMS Orange, CHMS "henkei-like".

From left: CHMS Orange, Botcon 2013, CHMS "henkei", CHMS Yellow Rainmaker

Lets start with the one which you can get easiest and probably i cheapest:

CHMS KO Henkei-like:

As we said before, this one is probably easiest and cheapest to get. Its very often on eBay. About price, you should be looking to 25-30 gbp max. In our case, this figure was done realy well, quality is surprisingly good, actualy, its quality is best out of this four figures. Why Henkei like? Because its designed like henkei like figures. Why like? Because there wasnt any Henkei Sunstorm made. As a fake Henkei version you will be looking on classic chrome pain apps on launchers and more complicated painjob. Nice purple Decepticon logos on wings, silver feets. Its main yellow color is more like gold-ish tone. Indeed, very nice figure. If you are looking for one Sunstorm and dont care much about KOs, this is figure for you.

Why to pick him: well, it is KO, but very well made one. Its relaively cheap and easy to get compare to other options. We would call it golden standard.

Points: 85/100

CHMS Henkei-Like Sunstorm

CHMS Yellow Sunstorm:

This deco is slowly going to be rare figure. It was released by CHMS as part of 3 figure kit called Rainmakers. Yep, they did it before Hastak and their 2013 Botcon set. And what more, they did great job, cartoon accurate shit right here. About price, well, here it goes wrong. Getting this figure can be pretty tricky. You can be lucky and get one for like 20 gbp on ebay. But you can also have bad luck and never get it at all. In this times, it starting to be realy rare. How about quality? Well, its standard CHMS, you will get loose waist, loose fists and you can sometimes expect loose shoulder joints too. Fists are like 90% probability. Leg joints and waist joint too. But its nothing hard to fix, tight some screw, get some nail polish and you will be fine. Plastic quality is worst then hasbro but still fine. On other hand, paint job is realy nice. You will receive nice very bright yellow color figure with some silver a white details, red stripes and purple decepticon logos on wings. Also nice touch with chrome detailed launchers.

Why ti pick him: obviously, perfect G1 Rainmaker cartoon acurancy. This figure is exactly what you saw in G1 as Rainmaker. Or if you just like rainmakers. If you like to get some rare figure which not every collector owns.

Points 60/100

CHMS Yellow rainmaker, indeed nice KO.

 CHMS Orange Sunstorm:

This is more Sunstormy KO then previous one, Not so bright, its color is orange like a orange. Getting this version of Sunstorm can be little bit easier then his yellow brother. eBay is your firned and you are looking to pay around 20-30 gbp as well. But same like previous version, it starting to be kind of rare. Who knows what happen in CHMS, seems like they just disapear like lots of other KO companies. Good or bad? You decide. Quality, here you come with same like yellow rainmaker. Its not so good, loose joints are normal but nothing what cant be fixed. All CHMS figures have loose waist joints, most of them loose fists and some of them loose leg joints. Color scheme is exactly same as yellow rainmaker, except his yellow is replaced with orange. All details remain same including white and silver parts, red stripes, purple decepticon logos and chrome launchers.

Why to pick him: if you want orange Sunstorm and not yellow rainmaker :-D

Points: 60/100

CHMS Orange Sunstorm. Sunstorm as it should be?

 2013 Botcon Rainmaker Sunstorm:

This is probably going to be the right choice for most collectors. Simply because its not KO and nothing more. Released last year (2013) as apart of Rainmakers figure set together with Acidstorm and Hotlink. Cartoon accurate? Not realy. Quality wise? Suprisingly worst then golden CHMS sunstorm. Loose fists, loose leg join. We would not expect this from such a expensive Botcon figure. Price wise its going to be problem. 99% of time, you would need to buy whole set which is atm around 120-150 gbp. You would need to be extremely lucky to get offer for seaparate figure.His color is somewhere between yellow and orange CHMS figures. Kinda cool semiorange. What makes it realy nice are black details, and white parts. We like it a lot, its cartoony, no bling crap. Red stripes over wings are same like other figures. You will find decepticon logos on wings as well, smaller, purpe with white background. Plastic quality is much better then any CHMS, it feels realy good compared to them. We just dont understand why Hasbro didnt care better about QC and release it with such a loose joints. We have almost all Hasbro/Takara seekers ever produced and this one is far the worst with loose joints. But again, nail polish and all is good.

Why to pick him: if you dig only HasTak and nothing else. If you dig Botcon stuff.

Points: 75/100

Im Botcon, who is more?

 Want to read something more about Rainmakers or Sunstorm? here you go:

G1 Sunstorm tfWiki

Sunstorm Wiki

Rainmakers Wiki

Comparison vol.1 : Classics Dirge

Seekers. Every collector should if not all those important ones, at least those basic ones, Thundercracker, Skywarp and Starscream. But today, we will look on one of coneheads, Dirge. It wont be a classic review, instead of that, we will expplain you differences in color decos, and hopefully, you will have nice idea which one of them is the right one for you and your shelf.

Man, its so hard, there are so many of those bastards out there. Henkei, united, takara, KO, …. damn, just please, i want a figure … We all had this headache when it comes to seeker repaints. There is just … too many of those. At this moment, we know around 50 - 60 total repaints/remolds including KOs. In this photo comparison review, we will take care Dirges, namely this ones: 

"Generations, Henkei, United, KO Ghost and 2007 Botcon from Games of Decepticon set".

From left: Henkei, Botcon, CHMS Ghost, United, Generations

 As you can see on picture above, there some significant differences between each of those figures. Lets start with Generations

Generations Dirge:

Produced by Hasbro, if you need Dirge, this one is probably the easiest to get. You can even still rarely find it in shops as brand new and sealed. If not, eBay is your 100% succes place where to get him. Its price is also the cheapest. But in this case, cheapest doesnt mean bad looking or bad quality. Quality is realy nice, no loose joints, nice pain apps, nothing wrong at all. Color scheme is simple one tho. You go with mid range blue on legs, body, launchers and hands. Black is on other parts. This is unique on this figure. Other repaints using grey color when Hasbro picked up black. Only Botcon remold using also black. But it also use different wing mold.

Why to pick him: if you just need some Dirge, if you like his black parts and if you are short on money.

80/100 

Generations Dirge

 Henkei Dirge:

Produced by Takara. Price can be very nice surprise, if you are lucky, you can pick him from eBay, tfw2005 or some facebook trading groups realy cheap, not as cheap as Hasbro version, but close. Definetly, 60usd is not what you should pay for this figure, more like 30-40. You would expect some better paints, stickers and chrome stuff added. Well, you will get those chrome launchers. But better colors? Not realy. Color is lighter then Hasbro version. Biggest difference is gray color on body and some other parts, also on launchers. In my opinion, this color difference makes this figure look much better. As you can see, there is also different wing styling. Stripes and Decepticon logo make its wings looking interesting and not plain and simple.

Why to pick him: if you like bling stuff, his chrome launchers will make it for you. Also it feels unique, wings, grey paint, all together makes it look realy nice, even those chrome launchers are little bit too much to our taste. Price is also cool for japan figure.

75/100 

Henkei Dirge, Hunger launchers on his shoulders

CHMS Ghost Dirge:

Produced by KO company CHMS. Price is around the same range as for Henkei. You can get him on eBay, or tfw2005 and facebook groups. It can be tricky to find one, but on eBay you have big chance on deal. What to say about paint? Well, there is no pain at all except face. All parts are made from translucent plastic, clear, see thru. This makes this figures so awesome and interesting. On other hand, when it comes to quality, CHMS isnt anything you can take seriously. Best is, to pose him and let him live his life, dont touch it, dont transform it, keep it in shelf and punch anyone who would like to touch it. Loose joint or hard moving parts not clicking parts are nothing rare with CHMS.

Why to pick him: if you want to fill your seeker collection with ghosts, if you like translucent figures. Dont bother if you dont like KOs and shit quality.

Points: 50/100

CHMS Ghost Dirge. See how wings doesnt fit its clip holes on legs, quality isnt his advatange.

Botcon Dirge:

Made for 2007 Botcon show. As part of 5 piece Games of Decepticon set. Price ... oh well, lets say, if you want to buy this set, it would cost you same as new Playstation 4 and Xbox One together, its expensive, ridiculous expensive. But ... you can be lucky, and find one sold separetly. Just wait for your moment and we can tell you, its cheaper one of those five figures. 60-70 usd for loose but complete figure including stat card should make the job, if not, then consider more, its exclusive stuff and it wont loose its price. This was first classics Dirge produced, it comes before Hasbro and Takara comes with its own mold. Its repaint of RiD Ramjet. So it comes with different wing mold and also different missiles. Quality is perfect as you would expect from such a expensive figure. It use same color scheme as later hasbro Generations repaint, mid range blue and black, dark yellow/light brown on wings. Some small red details on shoulders, feets and waist.

Why to pick him: if you are botcon sucker, if you want to have rare and different Dirge. If you are rich bitch, if you are Dirge collector or if you are trying to get all seekers possible.

Points: 70/100

 

Botcon Dirge, money money money

United Dirge:

Lasts resurection of Dirge mold. You can get him from Asia Exclusive Seeker Elite set. In 2013 Takara made two United sets, one contains classic seekers Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp, when other one have Ramjet, Thrust and Dirge figures. You can get both this sets on eBay, bbts and some other shops as brand new and sealed. Price is around 100 usd per set. Which makes it around 35 usd for figure. And what of figure! Best as last. if you are searching for perfect classic Dirge figure, your journey just ended. This recolor is spot on. Its fixing everything what you cant get from Henkei version and adding all good things what you can get from it. That means: no bling bling shitty chrome launchers, instead of that nicely painted grey launchers. It also means you will get that shiny metalic blue color which is making all those japan figures look so much better. Grey body parts instead of black. No stripes on wings, but you will get Decepticon logos. Quality is awesome, this set figures are actualy best seekers by quality means. All joints are nice stiff and all parts stick on its place as it should. All that comes in very nice box with beautiful artwork. Only con i see is that this 3 figures comes with only one instruction sheet (based on Dirge mold) and not 3 separate sheets, one for each figure.

Why to pick him: if you looking just for the best. If you like shiny paints. If you take it by price, 100 usd for 3 figures is cheaper then byuing henkeis, and if you go and buy Hasbro versions, it will come in same price range due to expensive Hasbro version of Ramjet. So, here you have bargain. Price/Quality ratio is awesome in this set.

Points: 100/100

United Dirge, Asia Exclusive Elite seeker set. All those shiny words together makes it best.