Starscream (Commander) [Prime]
Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
Allegiance: Decepticon
Size: Commander
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Light bluish gray, very dark greenish blue, transparent cherry red, and some white, dark red, and black
Rating: 7.3

    Starscream's vehicle mode is the same here as on his other Prime toys-- a fairly small jet fighter. The proportions are quite off for this mode, however. For one, the wings are too small, and the robot feet can be VERY obviously seen on the top of the rear section of the jet, the latter being a particular eyesore. The biggest proportional issue, though, is the size of the cockpit/nosecone-- it's far too large and long proportionally, and just really makes the toy look off, here. There's also some moderate undercarriage robot kibble here, with the robot chest, shoulders, and upper legs sitting below the jet in a fairly obvious manner. Given how small the toy is-- i.e., you're almost always looking at it from an above-angle few-- this isn't as big a deal as it would be on a larger toy, but it definitely is worth noting (and it also keeps Starscream from having any landing gear in this mode). The color scheme is quite accurate to Starscream's show model, with two different shades of bluish gray making up most of the colors. There's a bit of transparent red as well to help with some contrast, but it's confined to the interior of the robot chest and the weapons, and as such makes a fairly minimal contribution to the color scheme in this mode. There's a bit of white on the wings and nosecone and some black on his cockpit, but these are mere accent colors. This means that largely, Starcream's colors are fairly dull here, though at least they're complementary. Starscream's weapons are transparent red guns, which are how his hands look when transformed into their "gun mode" in the cartoon-- a nice touch, and although most of Starscream's mold detailing is somewhat sparse given the Prime aesthetic, these are really intricately detailed and nice-looking. However, they're attached to the underside of the wings by mere friction by a fairly shallow peg, and as such fall off easier than I'd like.
    For a toy at this size, Starscream's lithe, skinny robot mode aesthetic is represented quite well at this mode, with his proportions quite show-accurate. The only exception to this are his arms, which are made from the halves of his cockpit-nosecone-- because of this, they look a little too long/large, and the hands are merely molded onto the insides of these pieces, and thus aren't as lithe as the rest of him. Although Starsscream's wings fold behind his chest quite nicely, they way they do so also isn't show-accurate at all. (At least it doesn't impede articulation, though.) The mold and paint detailing on Starscream in this mode is quite impressive, with his chest, hips, and head all detailed particularly accurately and having quite a few paint apps, keeping Starscream from looking nearly as boring in this mode. Starscream's articulation is pretty good here-- he can move at the shoulders (at three points), elbows, up-and-down at the head, and at the hips, knees, and rotation at the ankles. Normally this would mean you could get him into a number of cool poses, but his feet are pretty small (albeit quite show-accurate), and this means that his stability isn't the best. (That said, he IS a little more stable than you'd expect from looking at the pics above-- so long as he's in a fairly neutral stance.) Like with other 2012 Prime commander-class toys, Starscream's chest is partially translucent, to allow you to hook up an LED weapon from one of the Cyberverse vehicle sets to make the translucent red bits of the stomach and eyes "glow"-- but, just like pretty much every other toy that has this feature, it works minimally well at best and is best forgotten. Starscream's weapons can either be held in his hands or stuck into a hole on the side of each of his lower arms to give them a more show-accurate placement.
    Prime Cyberverse Starscream does a surprisingly good job of emulating his robot mode proportions at a smaller scale, with his accessories and mold and paint detailing also being top-notch. However, he's got some fairly major problems, particularly in vehicle mode, with small wings, an overly large cockpit, and a fair bit of undercarriage junk, while his robot mode has his jet mode stuff behind his back in a very show-inaccurate manner. If you want a Starscream that isn't a large toy, try to find the First Edition version instead-- this is definitely the least-accurate and generally least appealing Prime Starscream mold there is.



Starscream Bio:
FUNCTION: Sabotage Specialist
Sneaky Starscream always has a plan. He builds his plots, layer on layer, for months or years-- and all with one goal: To take over command of the Decepticons and finally destroy the Autobots once and for all.
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

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