Starscream
(Classics)
Out of all the Classics,
Starscream's mold shares the most in common with his original
G1 form. In jet mode, the proportions are almost exactly the same as
they were on the original toy, though with much better detailing all around.
There's numerous little panel lines and such all over the top of this mode,
even if they aren't painted. That's not a complaint, though-- if all of
those details WERE painted, it would've made this mode look overly crowded.
Using nice, sleek, dynamic red-and-blue lines on the wings and main body
look much better. Granted, the color scheme of red, blue, and gray was
never the most eye-catching, but of course it is accurate to the character
and it isn't ugly at all, so I can't really complain there. There's very
well-detailed miniature pilot seats and control console inside the transparent
cockpit, though said cockpit can't open up.There aren't any more robot
extras than there were on the original toy-- i.e, it's pretty obvious where
the robot parts are if you look at the toy from the underside, but they
robot parts don't form any real excess baggage and fit in nicely with the
shape of the mode, so it doesn't matter much. The "robot head visible on
the underside of the nosecone" that plagued the G1 mold hasn't carried
over to his toy, however, and the wings fit nice and tight against the
main body of the plane, something that was certainly not the case on the
G1 toy. The missile launchers under his wings are both your typical spring-loaded
launchers, and they don't fire too easily, thank goodness. His landing
gears fold out rather ingeniously from the insides of his chest, while
still keeping his chest G1-accurate in robot mode. Starscream's allegiance
rub symbol is on his left wing.
Starscream's robot mode
is absolutely fantastic, certainly head-and-shoulders above his G1 toy,
even though the overall design is almost identical. The detailing is exquisite,
especially on his chest, and the way the actual plane cockpit forms the
stomach, but not the entirety, of the chest is ingenious. Also, unlike
the original toy, the only pieces you have to de-attach and re-attach are
the guns. The tail wings fold up really nicely against the legs and stay
out of the way, and though the main wings behind the arms get in the way
of articulation a bit, they can fold back if you really want to aim the
arm-guns (which, by the way, can also be held in Starscream's hands). The
only real vehicle kibble that doesn't complement the look of the mode is
the tip of the nosecone behind Starscream's head, but that stays out of
the way and doesn't actually attach directly to the back of his head in
a goofy manner like on the original toy. I do think that the use of the
light milky gray was a mistake, though-- even though Starscream's head
is sculpted very nicely, the light gray washes out a lot of the details
on his face. Starscream has pretty good articulation-- he can move at the
head, shoulders (at two points), elbows, hips, and knees.
Classics Starscream
is a fantastic upgrade to the original G1 toy, with a nicely proportioned,
nice looking, and fully articulated robot mode, and a pretty good jet mode
with minimal robot extras. Highly recommended, though if you only want
to get one version of this mold, wait for the Target Exclusive Skywarp.
Review by Beastbot