General Information:
Release Date: December 2012
Price Point: $14.99
Retailer: General Release (Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart etc.)
Accessories: Assault Cannons x 2
*Images above with asterisks(*) and text in italics below from The Official Transformers web site:
There was a time when STARSCREAM was an honorable soldier who fought for the defense of CYBERTRON. But long isolation aboard an orbital platform made him greedy and ambitious. Given the opportunity to once again lead troops, he gladly joined MEGATRON.
Convert, arm and attack with all the TRANSFORMERS action you can handle! This STARSCREAM figure is just the DECEPTICON to create all kinds of trouble for his AUTOBOT enemies (other figures sold separately). In Cybertronian jet fighter mode, your STARSCREAM figure can take to the skies against the enemy. Whether he’s in robot mode or jet fighter mode, his spinning assault cannons will make his enemies think twice before taking him on!
Awesome STARSCREAM figure converts from Cybertronian jet fighter mode to robot mode and back! Spinning assault cannons! Figure comes with accessory. Series 01 #010 STARSCREAM. Ages 5 and up.
Starscream2012's big "Transformers" multimedia event was not a movie, but rather a video game. Following up on the success of "War for Cybertron", High Moon Studios released "Fall of Cybertron", a game telling the tale of the exodus of the Transformers from their dying homeworld. In concert with the release of this game, a segment of the "Generations" toy line was dedicated to "Fall of Cybertron" action figures. Among the characters featured in the game was the manipulative Air Commander Starscream.
Robot Mode:
This is the first new Deluxe Starscream mold since the Transformers Prime version released last year. It's also the first in a while to borrow its stylings from Starscream's "Generation One" counterpart. Using the stylings of the video game model from "Fall of Cybertron", this Starscream is almost the opposite in design to the thin, lithe "Transformers Prime" version. Instead, he is bulky looking with wide shoulders, large arms and thick legs. What's interesting about the design is the way he manages to still look sleek, due in part to the angled lines and triangular shapes located throughout the body (including his chest and the wings on his back). This combination of designs keeps Starscream looking like an aerodynamic vehicle while still conveying a sense of power.
Many of Starscream's design elements borrow from his Generation One counterpart in "Fall of Cybertron" and they are reflected in this figure. The most obvious is his head design, which features a crest flanked by two raised sections on either side. On the sides of his head are vents and he has a prominent chin piece on the bottom of his face. Also carried over from his G1 design are the two vertical pieces on either side of his head, the jet cockpit on his torso and the vehicle mode wings on his back. Other designs are unique to the "War for Cybertron"/"Fall of Cybertron" universe including the small fins on his shoulders and his thick legs with feet that have angled sections on four sides acting as stabilizers on his feet.
Small details haven't been left out. Among my favorites are the sculpting on the head, which is nicely detailed and gives his face a somewhat alien look with its narrow design. The two parts that extend from his chest to the sides of his head have small rows of ovals at the base, a detail seen repeated in many designs in the "Fall of Cybertron" video game. Also, it's a bit hard to see behind the cockpit window, but there is a small seat with a control panel sculpted inside. Another favorite detail of mine is found on the forearms, which are mostly angled panels, but on the sides there are mechanical details that hint at the complex machinery underneath his armor.
Starscream is cast in silver, red, gunmetal grey, blue, translucent orange and black plastic. These are classic Starscream colors and they work together brilliantly. The colors are also nicely distributed, without any one color overwhelming the other. The color breakdown also follows the CG model very closely, which impressed me since nowadays a lot of short cuts are taken both in the design and color scheme of Transformers figures. For instance, his legs have a sequence of four colors alternating, going form red to blue to silver to blue again. The designers could have easily left the knee area unpainted to save money, but I'm glad they didn't.
In terms of paint, Starscream uses a combination of red, blue, pink, black and silver to round out the details on the figure. The blue and red colors are the most heavily used, especially on the arms and legs. Silver is found on the face and his weapons. The eyes are left unpainted in this case as they are cast in translucent orange and his light piping feature is allowed to shine. The pink color is found on the aforementioned oval details near his chest, which is the toy representation of the "glow" that many Transformers have in the video game. Black is the odd color out, being featured only on one patch on the top of his chest.
Starscream features an awesome twenty one points of articulation. This includes six in each arm and four in each leg. He comes with two huge weapons which each feature three barrels. Combine the two weapons and you have a six barreled weapon. Each of the three barrels has a gear at the base, so when you have the weapon combined, spinning one side spins the other weapons creating a dramatic "firing" effect. When combined, these weapons share some features with the "Neutron Assault Rifle" weapon from the "Fall of Cybertron" video game, but it's not an exact replica of the CG model. I really love the design and sheer size of these weapons. It gives Starscream's already powerful appearance an extra "boost". Starscream has six connection points for 5mm peg weapons including his fists, forearms and legs. I like the forearms in particular as they evoke his classic "Null Ray" weapons when you split the weapon and attach a half to each arm. If you combine the weapons, you get an additional connection point on the top for a 5mm peg weapon.
Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
- Detach the weapons and set them aside for now.
- Swing the angled parts that extend from the chest to the sides of the head forward.
- Rotate the robot head around and push it down.
- Swing the torso and legs up, taking the parts from step two and overlapping them onto the raised sections from the back of the robot mode.
- Fold the forearms over the upper arms and then connect them together.
- Push the arms under the back panel.
- Swing the robot legs back and connect each to the pegs by the robot arms.
- Push the robot feet up.
- Attach each weapon half to the underside of a wing.
- Flip up the tip of the nosecone.
Vehicle Mode:
Starscream's vehicle mode continues to impress me. First off, the transformation is extremely intuitive, and the end result is very close to the CG model used in the video game. Starscream becomes a Cybertronian jet, which echoes some of the triangular stylings of the Generation One "triangle jets" seen in the first episode of the original "Transformers" cartoon series. This jet however looks a lot more like a jet you'd see on Earth, with a nosecone/cockpit section sticking out in front, wings on the sides and boosters in the back. The "triangle jet" configuration appears in the form of the vertical fins, which come together in the center in a triangular shape. The overall effect is of a jet with a bulky center but with sleek sections sticking out in different different directions.
Some of the smaller details revealed in this form include triangular designs in the middle of the vehicle and line details along the edges on the sides. The boosters on the back look nice and powerful and includes ridged details along the edges. The weapons mounted under his wings give him a fierce appearance, again in keeping with the theme of conveying both power and sleekness in one form.
In this form, the silver, blue and red colors are distributed nicely once again. The middle to the back is mostly silver, but those colors are balanced out by the red parts in the front and the wings along with the blue parts towards the back. A bit of the pink color appears again near the vertical stabilizers and each of his wings have big purple Decepticon symbols on them. The purple used is a lighter shade, which looks like the "glowing" symbols used on the game's CG models. The look of the figure says "Starscream" in both sculpt and colors and looks fantastic!
You can attach weapons to the underside of Starscream's wings or on the sides of his legs (which are also under the wings in this form). Either way it's fun to have the option and almost every weapon you put there looks great. He also looks cool without any weapons attached. In that respect he becomes more "game accurate" in appearance.
Final Thoughts:
Some folks have been concerned about the quality of Deluxes in the Transformers line nowadays (and justifiably so). Starscream shows that even in this age of cost cutting, "Transformers" at this price point can still be substantial, look great and have cool play value. This is one of my favorite Generations figures this year, highly recommended!
