Starscream's jet mode-- in comparison to his smaller First Edition version-- is a bit darker-colored on this version, and a bit pointier. The dark and light shades of bluish green still dominate the toy-- as they are wont to do, given that they're his show colors-- but the darker shade is definitely the more dominant now, compared to the lighter shade on his First Edition toy. One interesting thing about his wings-- they LOOK like there's a darker stripe of paint going down the center of them, but this actually just the "smooth" color of the plastic, whereas the plastic near the edges of the wings is molded slightly "roughed up" to give it a lighter look. It's an interesting application of mold detailing to achieve slight color differences without actually being, y'know... different colors. I am glad for the bits of light orangish red paint on Starscream's main body and tailfins, though, as they bring light color to a toy that's largely pretty dull. The transparent dark purple on Starscream's cockpit window and weapon is also a nice shade, but it complements the main colors, and there needs to be a bit more contrast here. There's just a touch of medium blue on the rear exhaust port, which is a really nice color and contrasts well with the dark bluish gray-- I really wish this had been used a bit more on the toy. Proportionally, the wings and cockpit are a bit larger compared to the First Edition toy, with a bit more "meat" in the tail section of the jet. In addition, though it's still fairly obvious that Starscream's robot legs are on the bottom of the jet mode (sorry, but he doesn't have any landing gear), they're turned sideways and "mesh" with the overall jet body better this time, so it isn't so much "this is the jet, and these are the legs dangling below it" as it is with the First Edition mold. There's also removable (non-firing) individual missile attachments underneath each wing, and a couple of really un-needed extraneous points in this mode that come with his transformation (such as the spikes on the sides of his tail and the cockpit). These aren't a huge deal, but they aren't show-accurate, to be certain. Like with the other 2012 Prime voyagers, Starscream has a "Powerizer" weapon that is usually just a big block of unaerodynamic nothing in vehicle mode, pegging in slightly behind his cockpit. If you press down on the gray section, the transparent purple bit also rotates forward to form an energy weapon, with a red LED light going off in the center of the weapon when you do this-- and, just like most other Powerizer weapons, it's not nearly strong enough to light up the whole weapon, particularly when the transparent plastic is this dark. More annoyingly, like most other Powerizer weapons it snaps back into its "block of unrecognizable stuff" mode whenever you don't have the trigger pressed down.
    In robot mode, Starscream retains his lanky look from the show extremely well-- in fact, in the legs, I think he's perhaps a bit TOO lanky/long, though otherwise the proportions on this mode are pretty admirably show-accurate. The wings hang off his back, but enhance his silouhette, and look pretty nice as-is, so as far as kibble goes I don't mind those bits. What I DO mind are the pieces of his jet back end on the sides of his feet-- they just hang off there, with nowhere to peg in, and are probably the biggest eyesores in this mode (though at least they help with Starscream's stability a bit). His cockpit is also right behind his butt, which looks a little weird and has his crotch at a slight angle, though this is a minor issue. There's also a couple of other slight oddities on his arms-- his shoulder panels are a bit overly flat, being part of the body of his jet mode split in half, and the wing-halves that make up most of his lower arms also aren't quite as show-accurate as his arms are on the First Edition toy. As far as negatives go, one final downside is that as skinny as he's supposed to be, Starscream's stomach is absolutely emaciated compared to his chest-- a side effect of the "2012 Prime voyager's chests are supposed to glow" gimmick that should happen if you plug Starscream's Powerizer weapon into his back and turn it on. Of course, this doesn't work at all (and neither does it work if you place it in Starscream's transparent purple forearms), so it just looks weird instead. Beyond his huge Powerizer weapon, his missiles on his wings can also plug into his forearm holes, which I much prefer instead. As far as mold detailing, it's fairly sparse as on most Prime-aesthetic toys, but in a few areas-- like his pelvis, chest, and head-- it's done wonderfully well, and is remarkably show-accurate. Plus, with Starscream's skinny, angular arms, it's hardly noticeable if you're one who likes a lot of mold detailing on his TFs. The paint detailing in this mode is mostly on his head, chest, and upper arms, but given the color variation it still works with Starscream's admittedly dull but show-accurate color scheme. For articulation, Starscream can move at the head (at two points, so if you don't want him to be very hunchbacked like on the show he doesn't have to be), shoulders (at two points), elbows, wrists, hips (at three points), slightly forward at the waist, and he can also move at the knees and ankles. A bit of rotation at the knees would've been appreciated, but otherwise he's pretty darned posable, especially given his stance and those aforementioned jet thruster halves giving him some extra stability.
    Whether I recommend Prime voyager Starscream to you over his First Edition counterpart largely depends on one question-- which is more important to you, an excellent robot mode or an excellent vehicle mode? If the robot mode matters the most to you, get the First Edition version. This version is the one with a considerably better vehicle mode, however, and though his robot mode does have some minor kibble issues, it's not so much worse I'd unequivocably recommend the First Edition version in every situation.

Review by Beastbot

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