Starscream's vehicle mode is an F-22 Raptor, though it's hardly very convincing for an alt mode. The top looks alright, with good proportions on the main body of the jet and the wings, and the dull tan & black color scheme, while not the most attractive, certainly fits the realism look of the movie and is perfect for a jet. Starscream has got some REALLY noticeable undercarriage junk in this mode, though. For one, the arms are VERY noticeable under the wings, though part of this is because of the gimmick-- as you roll Starscream forward on a flat surface (or just turn the front parts of his arms), the three missiles housed in each of his arms will fire off one by one. They can fire off a little easily, however, as there's no resistance before you hit the point where one fires, so the gimmick can get a little annoying. Thankfully, there's flip-out pieces on the side of each arm that can house the missiles somewhere besides the launchers. Starscream's robot legs also stick out from the underside of the jet mode rather obviously, though at least they tuck away and mesh with the overall shape of the mode, unlike with the arms. Starscream's head is also pretty visible on the rear end of this mode-- there's no jet engines on the back at all, sadly. On the plus side, I do like the black "worn" paint fade on the wings, and the transparent cockpit looks very nice, with a little pilot's seat molded in there and everything. A little more mold detailing could have been done on the wings, however.
    Starscream's robot mode is certainly one of the less human-esque movie designs in regards to its proportions, which resemble a gorilla's more closely than a human's, what with the long arms (oh, and the chicken-walker-esque feet). I'm not too fond of the proportional change-- I just don't feel it fits a jet Transformer well, much less a scheming character like Starscream. However, the head sculpt is perfect for the character-- smooth and evil-looking, with quite a hint of scheming intelligence hidden in there. The mold and paint detailing in this mode is considerably better than in jet mode, especially on the broad chest, the head, and even portions of the back that aren't clearly visible in either mode. Despite my grievances with Starscream's overall gorilla-esque proportions, however, I do LOVE how all his wings fold together so nicely into his main body. Pretty much every jet Transformer to date has had their wings just hang off them in robot mode, but not Starscream-- all of his wings fold on to the sides or back of his chest, and I love how the nosecone and main body of the plane split apart to reveal a bunch of mechanical detailing on his chest. This leaves him with no real jet mode kibble, which is pretty cool. My grievances with Starscream's arms still carry over to his mode, however-- I don't like that BOTH of them have the rotating-fire gimmick, I wish he had at least one normal arm. At least he has three claws positioned around each missile launcher that can open and close for pseudo-hands, though. Starscream's articulation is slightly limited due to his abnormal proportions-- he can move at the head, shoulders (at three points), elbows, claws, hips (at two points), knees (at two points), and ankles. That sounds like a lot, but his broad chest and waist construction make his shoulder and hip articulation a bit limited.
    Voyager Starscream is one of the Movie mainline's weaker molds, even though it is pretty accurate to the movie design in robot mode. I do love how all his wings and such fold away in robot mode, even if it is oddly proportioned, but his jet mode needs a LOT of work with all its obvious undercarriage junk, and his missile-firing gimmick can get rather annoying.

Review by Beastbot

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