Unlike most Beast Hunters
Autobots and Decepticons, Starscream's deluxe foray into the line is not
only a new mold, but doesn't completely evoke any beast in particular;
it's just a more stylized, pointed, decorative version of his original
design. He's still a jet, but with several pale yellow markings and protrusions
everywhere, such as on the sides of his cockpit, his rear and main wings,
and his tailfin (which is ridged like a bird or fish; the only part that
looks animalistic). When looking at "just" the jet bits, this mold looks
pretty good; the proportions of the jet mode are fairly spot-on, though
the cockpit is a bit undersized. However, like many jet-formers, Starscream
unfortunately has many quite obvious robot mode bits below his jet mode,
even if they don't stick down below the underside a ton. His robot hips,
lower legs, and feet are pretty darned obvious and can be seen from just
about every angle. He does have a fold-out landing gear below his cockpit
to make him level with the two wheels molded onto the underside of his
lower legs-- this will straighten him out level if you don't include his
weapon. Starscream's Beast Hunters weapon, though, is huge, and is a large
finned claw weapon with a painted sawblade in the middle-- it's so large
it almost looks like a drone Starscream can deploy as opposed to a weapon,
which is how I like to see it. All this said, this large weapon can only
store on the underside of this mode, making Starscream even MORE bottom-heavy
than he otherwise would be. The main handle for this weapon CAN plug into
the hole on the top of this mode, but the tailfin gets in the way of it
sitting in the same direction as the rest of the jet mode, so that's a
bit of a bust. Starscream also has two removable torpedos (one under each
wing), which are a nice purple shade with a bit of fuchsia spray on them,
both colors that go quite well together. They don't fire, though; they
just come off, but can also be placed on Starscream's lower arms in robot
mode to mimic his null ray weapons. Switching topics, the mold detailing
follows the typical Prime aesthetic, with large areas of fairly minimal
detailing (such as his ridged wings and top of this mode) mixed in with
a few areas of quite intricate detailing, like the yellow vents behind
the cockpit, the front of his saw/claw weapon, and the ridges on his robot
hips. What's astounding is just how many different colors are on Starscream,
and yet by and large he doesn't seem too busy; most of the colors tend
to either naturally complement or contrast against each other. A few bright
colors-- the yellow in particular, but also the light milky gray (boring,
but at least only used in a few minor places) on parts of his underside,
the silver on the wings, and the light red contrast with the "cooler" colors,
like his main color of a dull grayish green, black, and his lighter and
darker purple (which are more apparent in robot mode). His light purple
has a bit of darker purple mixed in with, creating a cool complementary
& contrasting effect. That said, I'm not a huge fan of Starscream's
main color; the grayish green just looks old and moldy, and honestly slightly
ugly, though at least it doesn't clash with anything.
Starscream's transformation
is pretty unremarkable, using a now-familiar method of unfolding the legs
from the front, arms from the side, and then flipping over his cockpit
and wings and exposing his head during the flip. I do like the way his
chest/cockpit compresses, though. Robot mode is definitely the mode that
took priority in the design, and it definitely evokes Prime Starscream's
unique silouhette very nicely, the only major exception being that the
wings behind his shoulders are a bit larger proportionally this time around.
He still has skinny, lithe limbs, a flat chest with a bit of a cockpit
on it, and a slightly hunchbacked appearance. I really have to give props
to Hasbro for all the little "claw"-like edges in this mode, such as on
his torso, knee caps, heels, shoulders, hips, and arms; they're all quite
menacing-looking, and call back to his original Prime design but with a
bit more of an "edge" to it all. Starscream's headsculpt is also done quite
well, being essentially his original head design but with larger, yellow-painted
"sideburns", which again give him a slightly more "wild" feel as befits
the Beast Hunters line. The one thing I really don't like is this long
"antennae"-like black piece that sticks out way above his back-- I'm not
even sure why it's there, it does nothing in either mode. It just looks
odd. Starscream's color palette is a bit better separated in this mode
with the black and purple more apparent, and again, looks pretty decent
except for the grayish green on his wings and chest. For articulation,
Starscream can move at the neck (at two points), shoulders, elbows, wrist
rotation, and movement at the hips, knees (at two points), and back-and-forth
at the ankles. Most of these are ball joints, so you can get a lot of movement
out of this guy, though his slight back-heaviness does make him a little
harder to stand up by himself than you'd expect, given his long heels.
Beast Hunters deluxe
Starscream is one of the weaker molds in the line. He has a pretty decent
robot mode, with only a few minor kibble problems-- but his jet mode has
so much junk hanging off the bottom (particularly if you have his overly
large weapon attached) that it looks borderline bad and a bit sloppy, and
his main color of grayish green is a tad ugly, in my opinion. Mildly recommended
if you're a big Starscream fan and intend on keeping this in robot mode
most of the time; otherwise, all but completists can probably skip this
release.
(Continued from Chapter 6, Voyager
Predaking)
When Predaking returned to the Nemesis
speaking of mysterious explosions and the disappearance of Megatron, all
optic sensors immediately turned to Starscream. The Air Commander had long
coveted the command of the Decepticons. It was obvious to everyone that
Starscream must be responsible. Now, he finds himself hunted and alone,
cut off from the other Decepticons who believe him to be an assassin. Starscream
finds himself where he never thought he'd be-- hoping Megatron turns up
safe and sound, if only so his name can be cleared.
(Continued in Chapter 8, Deluxe Ripclaw)
Thunder Talon:
-Pincer claw can pierce any armor.
-Once a target is grabbed, energy siphons
activate, making Starscream even faster.
-Also generates a force field around
Starscream, making him much tougher.
Strength: 8.0
Intelligence: 7.0
Speed: 9.0
Endurance: 6.0
Rank: 9.0
Courage: 3.0
Fireblast: 9.0
Skill: 10.0
Review by Beastbot