Character Comparison: DW Sunstorm vs. IDW Thunderwing

[Brendocon]

Thought this warranted a thread of its own. Thought it'd be fun to do a comparison, seeing as certain people have implied that liking the recent portrayal of TW means we're not allowed to criticise Sunstorm.

Right... planting tongue firmly in cheek (though whose is uncertain... )

- Dreamwave brought in a new character (okay, he'd been made up by eHobby), created a vague history for him as a clone of Starscream, imbued with latent abilities and knowledge by Vector Sigma, coated in some special something or other... and let him loose as Teh Ultimate Adversary

- IDW reinterpreted a classic character, concocted a vague story explaining the origin of his abilities, that he'd once been Teh Ultimate Adversary... and unleashed him as Teh Ultimate Adversary Returneth.

Sunstorm's Tech Spec:
http://tfu.info/2003/Destron/Sunstorm/sunstorm.htm

Created with a built-in fusion reactor running at higher than original efficiency, he can use it as a weapon to generate intense light and heat or powerful electromagnetic waves. These energy emissions are constantly radiating from his body, inducing negative effects in his nearby teammates' internal systems, so unless he provides rigorously secure shielding, he is only rarely included in unit activities. His top atmospheric speed is 2400 km/h, while he can reach 16000 km/h in outer space. Sunstorm is secretly convinced he is a supernatural being, and his frequent flashes of bizarre speech and behavior tend to keep his comrades at an excessive distance.

Strength: 6
Intelligence: 6
Speed: 9
Endurance: 7
Rank: 5
Courage: 8
Firepower: 9
Skill: 7

Thunderwing's Tech Spec:
http://tfu.info/1989/Decepticon/Thunder ... erwing.htm

A two-faced, lying, cheating, back-stabbing scoundrel.
The ultimate Decepticon villan. Armed with power-enhancing, impenetrable exoskeleton. Also equipped with electrostatic gun ports in shoulders and metal-eating laser beam in forehead. Reserve fuel tanks in legs provide unlimited fuel supply and aerator hoses in chest emit noxious gases. Armed with cyclone cannon and transforms into inter-stellar jet that carries full payload of plasma charges. Outer shell jet equipped with neutron power pack that increases firepower by 50%. combines with jet pod to form super jet armed with heat seeking laser blasters.

Strength: 8
Intelligence: 7
Speed: 7
Endurance: 8
Rank: 6
Courage: 6
Firepower: 6
Skill: 9

Which portrayal is truer to the original concept of the character?
Which character best fits the notion of Ultimate Adversary?
Which interpretation elaborated on the way the character was meant to be?
Which one didn't?
Which story deployed a classic character in the way that was originally intended, to expand on a backstory?
Which one threw in a brand new toy in a specially-created god role just to appear cool to the toonies?

Discuss!

[Legion]

i think the key portion is this:

Sunstorm is secretly convinced he is a supernatural being

as opposed to the raving religious nutcase we were given in the comic.

[Yaya]

I think its just more a question of who you liked better.

I liked Sunstorm better. I think he looked cool, the way he glowed like that. His origin, IMO, was more mysterious. Unfortunately, we never got to find out whether he was telling the truth or whether he was just some crazed zealot. Maybe a little of both.

I preferred the old Marvel incarnation of Thunderwing. We never got to see any personality from him except in flashbacks. He looked fairly cool, but I still don't understand the source of his power. He was made from the skin of other bots, a veritable Hannibel Lecter...er, Vector.

At least he wasn't the Fallen, my most hated of Superpowered characters.

[sprunkner]

The Fallen was lame. I have to agree that I liked Marvel T-Wing better than this maniacal force of nature. But I see this T-Wing as sort the Edge of Extinction T-Wing, having already reached his crazy point.

[Brendocon]

I think its just more a question of who you liked better.

I don't undertand how the fact that IDW's Thunderwing is effectively what the tech spec originally intended for him, whereas Sunstorm's character was ignored and made up afresh comes down to who you liked better.

[Yaya]

I think its just more a question of who you liked better.

I don't undertand how the fact that IDW's Thunderwing is effectively what the tech spec originally intended for him, whereas Sunstorm's character was ignored and made up afresh comes down to who you liked better.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what this topic is supposed to be about.

(Yaya exit stage left).

[Shanti418]

Sorry, you can only exit using that line when the person who started the topic DOESN'T lay out a set of a half dozen questions entailing what the topic is supposed to be about.

[spiderfrommars]

I think tech specs can be the starting point for a TFs characterisation, or discounted completely. Doesn't really matter if the end product is good (look at Carnivac).

As it is, neither Sunstorm or Thunderwing's descriptions seem to come close to their recent portrayals. Mick was obviously inspired by it to a degree but neither of the specs suggest superpowered TFs and neither had much of a personality to write home about.

[Shanti418]

Word. Because if you're going to almost destroy a planet, you'd better have more than 6 Firepower.

[Metal Vendetta]

Sunstorm said a lot but didn't end up saying very much...except maybe to Bumblebee. Thunderwing, by contrast, said very little except in flashback: "You can all die in screaming torment."

[Brendocon]

As it is, neither Sunstorm or Thunderwing's descriptions seem to come close to their recent portrayals.

"The ultimate Decepticon villain. Armed with power-enhancing, impenetrable exoskeleton. Also equipped with electrostatic gun ports in shoulders and metal-eating laser beam in forehead. Reserve fuel tanks in legs provide unlimited fuel supply"

... isn't that exactly what we saw? Eh? Eh?

Eh

[spiderfrommars]

Well didn't all the Pretender tech specs go on about their shells being inpenetrable? And he was a more a victim than a villain if you think about it.

[Brendocon]

HE WAS TEH UBERFOE!!!!!!!!!!11111one

[inflatable dalek]

Only one of them was in BUGS. Which I'm sure made the other insanely jelous...