Review: #566
Name: Starscream
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Generations: War for Cybertron - Earthrise
Year of Release: 2020
Size Class: Voyager (Wave 1)
Mold Status: new
JET MODE:
For the second part of the the War for Cybertron trilogy comes another version of Starscream. This time, it is based on his G1 self, transforming into a F-15 fighter jet.
Revisiting an accurate G1 version is long overdue ever since the Classics / Universe version, which was released over ten years ago.
However, this Voyager mold shares a lot of engineering design with the Classics mold, right down to the gap within the body of the jet mode.
In terms of size, Starscream is fairly decent, above is a comparison against Titans Return Optimus.
Despite the gap underneath the body, this is still a decent jet mode.
TRANSFORMATION:
One thing is for sure, while Earthrise Starscream takes the Classics Starscream's transformation as a base, it is not a simple upscale. There are a lot of little changes that make it feel really different. At its core, the back extends to form the legs, the arms fold out from the fuselage, and the nosecone folds into the body to form the chest and reveal the head. However, the arm design feels like it complicated things for no reason since there are multiple hinge joints to extend it for robot mode. It improves upon things such as having the panels the arms are attached to pegged solidly into the chest piece.
ROBOT MODE:
Starscream's robot mode is a lot bulkier than you would expect. Unlike the recent Masterpiece toys, the Earthrise line still has plenty of sculpting to give the robots are more robotic / mechanical look.
He does have several pieces kibble including the nose hanging off his back, and the rear wings on the sides of his legs.
The headsculpt has Starscream with a neutral expression, although there might be a slight smirk happening, it is hard to tell.
A quick comparison with Studio Series Optimus and Starscream is a bit shorter than several Voyagers but he makes it up with his chunky look.
The robot mode has fantastic articulation as you'd expect from the Generations line nowadays. He had hinges for his neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles.
While the ankle joints are useful, they can only tilt for a limited range.
All of the red on Starscream is painted, he only has blue and grey plastic.
If you wish, you can remove the (small-ish) nullrays and have him hold it in his hands. Although since his forearms are fairly large, Starscream only manages to hold them loosely.
A great robot mode that's a worthy update of the original.
OVERALL:
Despite what seemed like a lazy upscale of the Deluxe figure from over ten years ago, Earthrise Starscream is a worthy update with improvements to the core transformation design. It looks great in both modes (despite the gap in jet mode), and the robot mode is a real treat in terms of its size and articulation.
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