Review: #941
Name: Starscream
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Timelines - Age of Samurai
Year of Release: 2026
Size Class: Deluxe
Mold Status: new
PACKAGING:
The Timelines Age of Samurai two-pack comes with Optimus Prime and Starscream, in a fancy box, with a really nice piece of artwork on the front.
The sides have further artwork that are inspired by the time period that these figures are based on.
The outer sleeve comes off, to reveal a book style packaging that you can open and review the figures through the transparent windows, so that if you didn't want to open them, you can still enjoy the figures.
It's a neat packaging and one that does make the set a little bit more special.
ALTERNATE MODE:
With a Feudal Japanese theme, Starscream transforms into a mechanical eagle. It's not quite as unique and interesting as Optimus Prime.
It's not a bad beast mode, apart from the robot legs clearly sticking out the bottom, and makes the eagle seem a bit too much legs.
As a Deluxe, he is not a bad size. Being a beast, he has the advantage of appearing bigger than most vehicular Transformers.
A quick comparison against Optimus, there's a bit of a scaling issue given that Starscream is so much bigger compared to Optimus...
The head sculpt is actually really good, it looks suitably evil. The mouth can open and close too.
In terms of articulation, the wings can open up or fold down, and he has a pair of guns underneath each wing.
A decent beast mode, it's tough cramming a whole robot into such a small beast mode so the obvious robot legs can be slightly forgiven.
TRANSFORMATION:
Looking so similar to Kingdom Airazor, you might think they'll share the exact or at least a very similar transformation. To be honest, Starscream's transformation scheme is surprisingly different enough to remain interesting. The legs obviously become the robot legs, and they're simple. However, the arms are folded within the torso of the eagle mode, which you then unfold. You fold the eagle head back, and fill in the spot with the torso piece.
ROBOT MODE:
Robot mode is immediately recognizable as Starscream, from the guns on his arms, to the wings on his back.
Impressively, he doesn't have much kibble, and his wingspan is wider than you'd expect.
The head sculpt is quite nice as well, and captures the evilness of the character.
He's around the height of a typical Deluxe in robot mode.
However, the theme is not as strong as it was on Optimus. It's still there, but less obvious.
And a quick shot against Airazor to show how similar or different they are to each other. Starscream is clearly inspired by that figure though.
Articulation is good, he has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles.
He comes with a plethora of weapons, with two guns and a war fan.
The guns that are normally attached to his arms, can be detached and held in his hands.
Similarly, the fan can be held in his hand. It's a unique weapon.
The fan can store on his back, in the same place as beast mode, where it was the eagle's tail feathers.
Despite his joints being mostly hinges, Starscream is super flexible and is able to pull of various poses.
A slight negative is his color scheme is muted, mostly thanks to the shade of grey used, which makes him look blander than it should.
It's still a strong robot mode and doesn't have many flaws.
OVERALL:
While Optimus is the stronger figure, mostly in terms of the application of the theme, Starscream is no slouch either. He's better designed in terms of feeling more solid and proportion. They come in a two-pack anyway, and they are both worth getting.
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