Generation Toy Sarge - Streetwise

Generation Toy Sarge - Streetwise

I’m surprised to say that I don’t have a proper Defensor. My Combiner Wars set is back in its packaging in my garage and Maketoys Guardia is still in various stages of unboxing. I was excited to see the Protectobots be tackled by one of my favorite new (renamed old?) companies. Generation Toy Sarge seems to be a great start to another line of figures.

I love the way vehicle mode looks. I'm not a car aficionado so I'm just going to guess it's a Nissan Z. Gun metal gray paint breaks up the expanse of white. The decals appear to be very cleanly applied. I appreciate the painted head and tail lights. Despite his head and fists being visible, the undercarriage is pretty clean. On my copy, there is a spring-mounted piece that will not stay in place. It doesn't seem to affect the car's ability to roll along smoothly on its rubber tires. He also has soft rubber sideview mirrors that are on hinges.

Transformation to robot mode is not complex, but I found that I had to flex a piece here and there to get panels to slide or rotate pass one another. Fortunately, nothing scratched or snapped. As expected, some windshield pieces are on transparent plastic hinges. Going back to vehicle mode is not too difficult. It is about on par with their Stunticons. I had less trouble with it than with GCreation Rebel.

Robot mode looks really good. I'm not familiar with his IDW incarnation, but there does not appear to be any aesthetic embellishments that would prevent him from doubling as a Masterpiece Streetwise. The few applications of metallic and red paint are cleanly applied. I like how his backpack somewhat locks into place. It does not swivel around like with the Stunticons, triggering my OCD. My only real complaint is that the soft rubber hinges of his sideview mirrors prevent them from ever sitting completely flat against his chest.

His head is on a hinge and swivel. He can look up, but not down. His shoulders are on swivels and hinges. He can raise his arms out and up parallel to the ground. He swivels at his biceps, wrists, torso, waist, and thighs. His elbows are single-jointed, but are only capable of half curls. He can also bend his wrists inwards. He has fixed thumbs and single-pinned fingers. His pointing fingers articulate separately from the others. His hips are on universal joints that allow him to perform a not quite full front or side splits. He has double-jointed knees that curl a bit past ninety degrees. His feet are on rockers and tilts.

His only accessory is his rifle that has metallic paint on the barrel. It has a hinged handle that uses a Masterpiece-styled tab. Not surprisingly, it doesn’t stay securely in place, but it doesn’t fall out either. The rifle basically becomes a third exhaust pipe in vehicle mode.

Sarge will stand on my IDW shelf and double as my Masterpiece Streetwise, at least until the Ocular Max version is released or if the rest of the line proves to be too stylized. There were a couple of nervous moments during transformation, but the figure looks great in either mode. I really liked the Generation Toy Stunticons so am glad to see them take on another large combiner that I don’t have yet.