Review: #743
Name: Starscream
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Generations - Legacy
Year of Release: 2022
Size Class: Voyager (Wave 3)
Mold Status: new
JET MODE:
Based upon his Armada self, and eight years after his first updated figure, Starscream transforms into a red, grey and black jet.
This is a much more screen accurate figure, in particular, the air intakes and rear facing cannons are better now. Although the back of the figure is still subpar.
The two weapons in robot mode, both being blades, store by plugging underneath the wings.
Due to the nature of the transformation, and how basically it's an update of the original figure's transformation scheme, there is some undercarriage kibble. The robot arms are folded up underneath each wing but they are much more streamlined this time around.
While primarily for robot mode, the cannons on top can flip over to face forward.
If you have some spare blast effects, you can peg them at the tip of the the cannons and they look pretty good there.
This is a good jet mode, the only complaint is the kibble and even that is very minor.
TRANSFORMATION:
On the whole, it is clearly inspired by the original toy, but now with tweaks to bring it up to more contemporary standards. As a result, the rear unfolds to form the legs, the arms from the bottom of each wing, but now with a twist where the shoulders pull outwards a bit. This creates enough space for the nose to fold down and the head to be pushed up.
ROBOT MODE:
As per usual, robot mode is where it is at and even if you're not a fan of the source material, this is still a good looking figure.
Impressively, he doesn't have any kibble. The cannons sticking out his back is deliberate and in line with the depiction in the cartoon.
The head sculpt is okay, with a black helmet and white face, it can look a bit pale.
Size-wise, he's a tiny bit shorter than Siege Optimus, but he doesn't feel cheap or tiny, which is a good thing.
There are a few different ways for his cannons to be positioned. The first is having the cannon stick back, the second is that there is another red panel that you can either peg onto his back or have it up as well underneath the cannon. The latter is more cartoon accurate but not as good visually.
The last position is inspired by the previous Deluxe figure, and you can just have it folded down against his back and out of the way.
Starscream is very posable, as one would expect. He has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees and ankles.
He comes with two weapons, a sword and the Star Saber.
The grey sword is supposed to be his wing sword, whereby in the cartoon his left wing detached to form it. Unfortunately, that gimmick never got carried forward with his updated figures. The good news is that if you so desire, you can still mimic it as his wings have the joints to fold out of sight.
The Star Saber is naturally one that also doesn't split and transform into Minicons. Despite being painted bright blue, it has a surprisingly intricate sculpt where you can tell apart all the details on both sides.
Both weapons can store on his back, via his wings, the same place as jet mode.
Naturally, Starscream can utilize both weapons at the same time.
Lastly, for ranged firepower, Starscream's cannons and fold forward over his shoulders, and it looks really good.
Again, if you have some spare blast effects, it looks even better. However, you need to be careful which blast effects you use since the cannons are so close together, if you use larger ones, it just looks awkward and comical.
This is a fantastic robot mode that surprisingly has a lot of play value.
OVERALL:
Armada Starscream is a good solid figure. He succeeds in making a Transformer not overly complicated or simple, and no gimmick that compromises the figure. He's just a fun Transformer that has plenty of play value, looks good and is plenty poseable.
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