OAFE – Transformers: Masterpiece Starscream review (2023)

Reproduced exactly as he originally appeared in the popular cartoons and comics of the 1980s; This is a figure truly worthy of one of the most skilled and deadly Decepticon warriors. Chosen to command the Decepticon army's elite air warriors due to his phenomenal skills and bloodthirsty nature, Starscream is a well-known and feared name in Cybertron and beyond. He is so in his element that wherever he goes, heaven is his alone.

Starscream was one of the original Transformers, released in the US in 1984, which means two things: first, it was heavily represented in animation since there weren't many characters competing for airtime; and second, his toys were an absolute mess. The redesign basically meant taking all the pieces off, tweaking them a bit, and then putting a few pieces back on. The toy had nothing to do with the cartoon version at all, and it took a lot of imagination on the part of the kids to tie the two together. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but fans still wanted toys that really captured the character's looks.

After Hasbro und Takara hunMasterpiece Optimus Prime, rumors of further offers made the rounds. There was the obvious repaint of Ultra Magnus, but there was more - eventually photos of a Starscream prototype surfaced that promised even more good things.

The first thing that strikes you about Starscream is that he's small...Well, compared to the giantMP Prime, at least. He's 9" tall to the top of his shoulder towers, putting him somewhere between Prime and the Alternators. While the original toy could barely move his arms, Masterpiece Starscream moves his neck, shoulders, biceps, elbows, wrist, waist, etc. hips, thighs, knees and ankles as well as a few other joints for his wings and the same. The jet's engines serve as its heels and are mounted on ball joints, allowing you to easily bring it to a halt. He has another five joints in each hand - thumb (spherical joint), index finger (spherical joint at base, hinge in middle), and the other three fingers (spherical joint at base, hinge in middle).

The fingers were wrongly mounted on my Starscream,But it was easy to correct: remember that the curved part of the fingertip should face the palm, and the fingers should fold slightly down, not up. If you need to repair your device, simply peel off your fingertips, rotate the ball joint base and reinsert. Very easy. Just don't drop any of the pieces.

For MP-03 Starcream (not to be confused withMP3-Schallwelle) was released in Japan, there was no announcement of a US release, so many fans paid import prices to get their own. They found that Takara had chosen an odd dark grey-green color for the character instead of the more traditional color scheme. Well, while trans fanboys like to resent Hasbro's coloring apps, this is one case where they have to admit Hasbro got it right - the US release is decked out in classic grey, red and blue colors, which really shows how weird Takara's color choices were.

Starscream is armed with his iconic weapons,the Null Beam Cannons, which can disrupt the flow of electricity in any circuit for up to two minutes. The 4¼-inch turrets protrude above the elbow joints in his upper arms but pivot below the biceps, allowing them to pivot with the arm to allow for some really nice menacing poses. The turbines on his chest can be lifted to reveal missile batteries, as was the case a few times in the series.

While Starscream doesn't have any bonus weapons, his dexterity allows him to wield the included MegatronMP Prime. That happened a lot in animation, but the old toys clearly couldn't do it. Well, there was a Commemorative Series release with a tiny Megatron and new fists meant to hold him, but it didn't come out until 2003, 19 years later.

There are large chunks of beam around Starscream's legs.Instead of wearing the plane's tail fins on the outside of his ankles like the old Toys and Classics version, they sit on long fuselage strips that attach to ball joints at his hips. Why did they do it like this? Well, the cartoon showed Starscream with undecorated legs instead of tail fins, and the toys tried to replicate that look. There are a number of solutions to this problem. In the "real" transformation, they stick out directly behind the robot, so they can't be seen at all from the front, but this makes it more backward-heavy. You can take the bits off the ball joints and put them on your ankles, but that seems unnecessary to me. I just let them hang straight and keep the fins close to where they should be without having to disassemble anything or unbalance the character.

One of the coolest little features of the figure?You can change his facial expression. A separate piece from the gray head, the silver face is actually a hollow tube attached to a needle. You can pull the face down, rotate it, and slide it back into place, giving your character one of two facial expressions: a gruff frown or a slight grin, both of which work perfectly for the character depending on what phase they are in located. at the latest rebellion. against Megatron is in.

There's also one part of the transformation that everyone who flaunts their character online seems to miss: the air intake towers on his shoulders need to be tilted forward in robot mode, rather than in the same position they were in on the plane. It's a small thing, but it's important. Why? Because it enables an otherwise difficult part of the transformation. So do you remember being tipped forward? To the right. Tilted backwards? Incorrect.

If we stopped at that, Starscream would just be a very poseable, highly detailed action figure. That's nice, but you need more. A true Transformer must earn their name by transforming into something else. There were a few characters that mimic Starscream's cartoon appearance, but this is the first that could also become an F-15 Eagle.

Starscream's Takara release had notoriously brittle plastic,It felt like it would shatter if you moved it (which it actually did on a number of occasions). That's another correction the Hasbro version makes: This is a nice, sturdy toy and shouldn't fall apart in your hands. The transformation is quite complex, but after going through the instructions once I got the hang of it.

Clench your fists, twist your hands behind you, then swing your forearms out to the side and pull your hands up. Pull your head, chest, and wings up, rotate your shoulders up, and swing your arms back down. Slide the chest and bow through the body, raise the canopy and fold down the pilot's seat. Finish inserting the nose cone, then twist the entire section up and lock. Swing the "ribs" to the center of the body and rotate the arms inward. Push the legs together, then move the lower legs up toward the hips and pin the tail fin pieces. Swing your feet around and fold them to the body. Fold the wings, lift the flaps, and push down the large panel to complete the torso.

Remember how we told you the air intakes should face forward? This is where it gets important. There's still a bit of work to be done, but if the towers were to recline, it would be insanely frustrating to get the pieces in place. Flip out the little flaps, turn the whole thing upside down and when you set the air intake in the "jet" position everything slides easily into place. Then just fold down the tail fins and you're done!

Starscream excels in jet mode. WhileMasterpiece PrimeWhile Masterpiece Starscream focuses mostly on the robot, it's more about the vehicle. The aircraft is approximately 12½ inches long with a wingspan of 8½ inches. Since a real F-15 is over 60 feet long, the 1/60 scale Starscream is far too small to compete with the 1/24 scale Alternators. To keep up with these guys, he'd have to be more than twice his size now. 1:60 is popular with Gundam kits (another Japanese favorite) but the only TFs it would scale with are the original minibots like Bumblebee or Windcharger. Perhaps.

Nevertheless, there are many authentic details on the plane. The flaps move, the landing gearcan be lowered, the canopy opens, the nose cone folds to the side to reveal a detailed radar assembly, the airbrake lifts from the tail of the aircraft and the panels over the engines lift for service access. This is a really nice representation of an F-15 Eagle, especially because it's painted the right shade of gray. Hasbro also sprayed a dirty gray color down the center of the plane to denote the kind of stains left by exhaust fumes and smoke over the years.

Takara's release of Masterpiece Starscream received mixed reviews, mostly because of the paint job. Most fans didn't like the odd gray-green used for the body, while others argued that it made it look more realistic like an airplane. Some said it wasn't realistic enough, as no real service jet had ever been painted red and blue. And of course, the red Takara chose was more of a dark magenta, which also irritated some. But by choosing the G1 colors Hasbro was able to avoid all that. The gray is more like what real planes use, the red is bolder, the blue is deeper, the canopy is orange (just like in the cartoon), and it even has Decepticon symbols on its wings. Takara's release had a sticker sheet that Hasbro doesn't have, but will that be a deal-breaker for anyone? Barely.

Since "Zero Rays" aren't a real weapon and would therefore ruin his disguise, Starscream has a few substitutions. Specifically, it's four missiles that can be stowed under its wings - two on each side. These aren't the G1's oversized cluster bombs, but realistic missiles; AIM-9 Crosswinder. They don't come loose from their mounts, but still look very nice hanging under the wing. You can even leave them in place in robot mode. Of course, if you want to arm him with the guns, you can - the pins are the same size on both guns. Technically, the rockets should be mounted at a 45° angle to their location, but that's a side issue.

As if that wasn't enough firepower, Starscream also comes with a small black plastic clamp. Wow, exciting! Yeah, okay, so it looks like throwing it away if found in other toys' packaging, but it serves a purpose here: slot it into the bottom of Starscream's nose cone and you can snap the Megatron Cannon over it There. TakeThe, Autobots!

Starscream also has another accessory never found on any other working Transformer: a human. Yes, Spike has been seen as both a PVC figure and a metal encased headmaster's head, but that doesn't really count. This is a specially designed human figurelook like a human and drive the vehicle. The man in question is the disgraceful Dr. Arkeville, the chrome-domed mad scientist who sided with the Decepticons. Maybe you remember himthe Alternators story? yes, the vent

DR. Arkeville is a single solid piece of plastic molded from the same light gray plastic as Starscream's body - another improvement over the Japanese version. See, the Japanese release was cast in this dark grey-green and only had one coat of paint to brighten his lab coat. Which meant, yes, his skin was dark grey. This one is already cast in a light colour, so his only paint job was used to make his face pink, resulting in a much better looking accessory. Despite being cast in a seated position, Dr. Arkeville is only about 2.5cm tall, which is perfect given our 1:60 scale: do the math and you'll see that he would be 4'4½" sitting and 5'7½" standing.

According to the original plans, MP Starscream was to come with a few more accessories; namely the cloak and crown he wore at his coronationTransformers: the movie. You can even see the folding tabs on his shoulders where the cloak would have been attached. Neither the US nor Japanese releases have these extras, but our Starscream has its crown, so to speak: it's painted on the sides of the cockpit. Maybe sometime in the future Takara will release Starscream with these extras - see how they worked outOptimuswith publication after publication. Still, it's not really worth waiting for alone. You can bet kitbashers are already working on versions they can sell you.

Sold in a large square box with classic style graphics throughout, Masterpiece Starscream features a large gray display base measuring 7 inches wide by 4 ¼ inches wide by ¾ inches thick. The base is not smooth and flat, but covered with intricate technical details.There is a Decepticon symbol on the top and a name tag on the front. The clip that holds Megatron under the nose cone can be stowed under the base, and the weapons you're not using - the Sidewinders or the Zero Beams - can be clipped to the top so you don't lose them. It's a very nice base, but we're not done yet.

The kit also includes a 6-inch clear display stand in the shape of a faint flash. There are 1¼ inch long notches on the back and right of the base for this stand to slide into. Depending on which side of the stand you place it on, there are special connectors that allow you to 'fly' Starscream in jet or robot mode. Impressively! The connections are solid - a hook and mount for the plane, a simple hole for a peg on the robot's waist - and the toy looks great in both modes. And when you're not using it, the clear stand tucks away under the base, too. Due to the great detail of the sculpture and the dark touches of color that bring out the details, this toy looks like a high-quality statue when displayed.

Masterpiece Starscream is an absolutely fantastic toy, make no mistake. It might look small at first glance, but don't be fooled - it's highly recommended for any old-school Transformers fan. A must. The paint is better, the quality of the plastic is better, and yet this Wal*Mart exclusive is only about 1/3 the price of the Japanese version. We pay less for better toys? If this weren't essentially a re-release of last year's toys, it would be a strong contender for the titleToY awards. Hell, it could still just be based on the upgrades.