Starscream's vehicle mode definitely fits the general feel of a jet, but... well, there's some definite problems with this mode. The back portion is way too far down vertically, and it doesn't stick as far back as it should horizontally as well. The robot arms are obvious, just kinda sticking out there in front of the wings, though at least from the top the hands are covered up. The lower body and legs also stick out rather obviously significantly below where the main body of the jet should be, being fairly obvious as well. The wings are also a bit too small proportionally, and they aren't in the shape of Starscream's wings on the show-- the latter of which are supposed to be considerably more broad and curvy. At least the cockpit looks okay, though, and the mold detailing is pretty good for a Cyberverse toy-- there's plenty of panel lines on the nosecone and wings in particular, and lots of vents and the like molded into the main body. From the back end you can see exhaust ports detailed into the bottom of the parts that become his robot feet, though you can also see the top of his robot head back there as well. The colors are pretty classic Starscream, with a light gray (thankfully not of that blah milky shade) on the wings, legs, and nosecone, with some milky red on the main body. The light blue is limited to his lower arms, though it's a semi-metallic shade with some glitter mixed in-- I wish it was used a bit more on the toy. There's also some red paint (duller than the plastic) used for stripes on the main wings, and some dull pumpkin orange paint on his cockpit windows-- beyond the back end, it makes for a fairly varied color scheme. Oh, and Starscream does have a flip-out landing gear below his cockpit nose, if you're so inclined to use it.
    Transforming Starscream to vehicle mode is pretty obvious looking at him from vehicle mode-- unhook the arms from the sides, flip up the cockpit/body section and compact it on his back, then rotate down and aroud his legs and waist and lock it all in. The end result looks decent, and is certainly the stronger of his two modes-- at least visually. His proportions are mostly accurate to the cartoon more or less, with the exception of the wings, which are still definitely the wrong shape and size. He's got the basic sweeping, angular details on his legs, such as the "M"-like details on his knees and simple curved shapes on his feet. He's got the faux cockpit on his chest, surrounded by faux vents and intakes, and more simple angular shapes on his shoulders. His arms are a bit more detailed, with the blasters on the sides of his arms having surprisingly intricate detail. His headsculpt is also pretty good, with more vents and details on it than Starscream's traditionally square head has had, but it's still very obviously Starscream. There's some red paint on his eyes and silver on his face (which oddly is rather neutral in its expression-- NOT smirky), with some more silver on his abs and dull pumpkin orange on his faux cockpit chest-windows. That's it as far as the visible paint in this mode, which is WAY too little-- his arms and especially his all-gray legs are in desperate need of paint to bring out all those details. His legs are also hollow not just on the back end, but that hollow portion is "cut in" to the side details a bit, making his legs have less mass than they should. The cockpit and front section of the jet body fold up behind his back alright, though the nosecone sticks out a bit more than I'd like. The bottom of the landing gear slots in to a tab sticking out of his butt to help stabliize his waist. If you UNpeg this piece, his waist will rotate freely, which is supposed to be part of gimmick. How it's SUPPOSED to work is you're to wind the body around and around the waist until it gives enough resistance and then you let go, and the wings will spin forward with extra details sliding out to make them look like large blades as they whirl around Starscream in a (fictionally) deadly circle. In reality, the wings don't open at all-- the gimmick just doesn't work, and the mechanism on the waist often doesn't wind up all that far, either. In return for this non-functional gimmick, though, we get a waist that sticks out forward further than it should in robot mode and wings that are very loose and turn whichever way gravity wants them to turn, so... yay for that. The hidden details inside the wings are admittedly cool (though they'll snap shut if you don't open them)-- there's some circuitry and panel detailing inside them, and they're also painted hot pink on the inside with silver on the Decepticon emblems. Starscream's articulation is somewhat limited-- he can move at the neck, shoulders (at two points), and elbows, but his legs can only move side-to-side at the hips-- no forward-and-back motion individually (though they can both move forward as one), nor any knees, either. Not sure why those essential points were overlooked (beyond money).
    The 2018 warrior version of Starscream is just one of the most obvious examples of a gimmick ruining the toy (and one that doesn't even work at that). Much of the jet mode is completely messed up because of it (particularly the rear and bottom portions), the wings are very loose, and the budget that went into this bad gimmick means Starscream has very skinny, unpainted legs made up mostly of just one piece. Just one of the worst toys of him in the entire line, if not THE worst-- don't bother with this one.
 

Review by Beastbot

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