As can be expected from a Masterpiece toy, Starscream, whose toy was obviously spared no expense, looks fantastic in vehicle mode. Most Transformer jets suffer from at least some obvious undercarriage robot parts in jet mode, but not Starscream here. The bottom absolutely sits flush with where it would be on a real F-15, and the proportions of the mode are perfect, as well. If you purposefully look at the mode right from the bottom, you can see Starscream's hands, but that's REALLY being picky. The overall color scheme is spot-on G1 Starscream, with the red-and-silver stripes, an off-white, and dark blue making up most of the colors on the figures. A fairly run-of-the-mill color scheme by now, but Hasbro spiced it up quite a bit by added a REALLY nice black paint wash to nearly every major piece of the figure. The paint wash not only makes Starscream look more "worn" and battle-hardened, but it also really brings out the extravagant mold details, too. There's also some burn mark "battle damage" on the top center of Starscream's jet mode, which looks fantastic and adds to the worn look even more. A few details, such as silver and bronze, have also been added here and there to make Masterpiece Starscream look even more attractive to the potential buyer. Starscream also has several features in jet mode, to boot. First, he has a very small pilot figure that fits inside his cockpit-- Dr. Arkeville, a cyborg scientists from the '80s cartoon. (Sadly. Dr Arkeville cannot still fit into his chest in robot mode, due to the transformation.) The rear thrusters can pivot in place a little to look like they're thrusting Starscream upwards or downwards a little, and the panels in front of the rear thrusters can be lifted up to look at all the mechanical detailing underneath. The same can be done with a panel at the center of Starscream's jet mode-- which actually has a cylindrical piston that holds it in place-- and the cockpit can obviously be opened, as well. The nosecone can extend outwards to one side to reveal a front-mounted machine gun, and Starscream has his choice of two different weapons to be carried underneath his wings-- either his traditional "null rays" or packs of two missiles per wing. (None of his weapons can actually fire projectiles, however-- they're just for show.) As is expected for a toy this size, Starscream also has three flip-out landing gear. Finally, the rear pieces of Starscream's main wings can be folded up or down like on real planes to "ride the jet streams", as it were.
    In robot mode, Starscream still retains an impressive similarity to his G1 self in the cartoon, though it's not totally 100% accurate. So, let's get the two things I DON'T like about this mode out of the way first, one of them minor, the other major. The minor downside is that there's these little pieces of the jet mode that stick out of the side of Starscream's shoulders, and don't really mesh with their surrounding parts at all (not to mention they're not cartoon-accurate). They also tend to come unpegged really easily, which is pretty much a given during the very complex (but not frustratingly so) transformation. Second, and more major, I HATE the large pieces of the tailfins hanging off of Starscream's waist. They're really large pieces of kibble and unabashedly so, and with all the engineering that goes into a Masterpiece toy you can't tell me there couldn't be some way to fold those things up and out of the way. Other than these qualms, though, the robot mode's pretty much perfect-- all the necessary mold and paint details are there (and then some), no pieces are too loose or too tight, and his articulation is fantastic-- he can take on almost any reasonable pose you can think of, with the notable exception of his waist, which can't rotate. His fingers are very articulated, too-- he can move them at the base of his thumb, his index finger, and his other three fingers (at one point for all three). For the index finger and the other three fingers, they also can move at a mid-point on the finger as well, which is obviously quite impressive. Another impressive engineering task is that Starscream actually has TWO faces-- a "normal expression" face, and then, if you extend out the face parts, flip it around, and insert it back into the larger headpiece, a face with his characteristic smirk. Parts of his wings fold in on themselves to make his wings look smaller proportionally in robot mode, as well. His chest can also open up at two places to reveal (non-firing) missile pods.
    Masterpiece Starscream also comes with a black stand that has his name and Decepticon insignia featured prominently on it, and whichever underwing weapons he's not currently holded can be stores in holes on the front or sides of the stand, depending on which position he's in. (A clear plastic piece can be connected to the stand in two different ways to hold Starscream "in mid-air" in either mode-- a very creative move, though posed in robot mode he does tend to wiggle around on the base a bit easily.)
    Masterpiece Starscream is hard not to highly recommend. He's truly a marvel of engineering, with the whole "big tail fin kibble pieces" in robot mode being the only thing that weights him down in that category at all. He's got tons of features, details, articulation, excellent proportions, and is just the ultimate representation of the character. If you're at all up for spending $50 on a toy, get him.

Review by Beastbot
 

Second Opinion by VBBN

Difficulty of Transformation: Hard
Rating: 9.6

    Starscream's vehicle mode is what it always has been, a garbage truck. As you can see, his color scheme is black, with some muddy brown and mucus gree- Oh, wrong review! Starscream is a jet as he always has been, and this is a FANTASTIC jet at that. It even surpasses the ROTF Leader Starscream. Granted, this is an F-15 which is boxier than a F-22, but still. He has essentially no kibble whatsoever. He has tons of little details, such as an opening back hatch, opening turbine bits, adjustable thrust vectors, an opening nosecone, swappable weapons, and more! He has a small clamp that is stored under his base which can be used to peg in under his nosecone and attatch the megatron gun that Masterpiece Prime came with, a very nice touch. His opening cockpit contains Dr. Arkeville, one of those annoying human villians you would see in G1. It's fine on this guy and on the Takara Starscream, but I wish it had been a generic pilot in this mold's later releases, Thundercracker and Skywarp. Dr. Arkeville CAN stay in the cockpit during transformation, you just have to make sure he doesn't fall out when you're doing it. I will probably just superglue mine in, he really can't be displayed in any other way. The landing gear is nice, but it's a pain in the transistors to get out. The front landing gear is metal.
    Robot mode is where things get a bit iffy. Let's get the negatives out of the way. Firstly, the tail segments on his legs. Yes, everyone's complaining about them, and so am I. They are on ball joints, but still. There are some modifications you can do to them, so do a little research on that if it's the make or break of this figure for you. Next, I find the figure to be backheavy, mainly due to useless leg joints and some diecast in his chest. With that out of the way though, this guy is really nice. The two faces are quite nifty, if a bit fiddly to get switched around, and he has some nice little missle pods on his chest. Articulation is pretty good, especially the nice finger articulation. I tell you, I'm thankful for that base, 'cause Starscream really looks nice in a flying pose, and with the backheaviness I mentioned earlier, it's a necessity. If you're buying this guy off eBay, make SURE he has his base/stand. Speaking of the stand, although it's a bit wiggly on Screamer here, it is much tighter on Skywarp and Thundercracker due to the extra paint that is added to their waists.
    Overall, Masterpiece Starscream is a fantastic figure, especially in garbage truck...er, jet mode. If you like Starscream/his G1 design, this is a great figure to get. If you are interested in this figure and you don't care what character it is, I'd recommend Skywarp over him, as Skywarp's color scheme is fantastic.

Review by VBBN

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