Despite his well-deserved popularity as a character, Starscream hasn't been present in every TransFormers toy series. Even when he has been around, he was exactly the same toy - aside from changes in colour - for absolutely ages. This is, in part, tribute to the fact that the original toy was an excellent design and instantly recognisable. Starscream was absent from the Beast Wars line, but what animal could they have used that might have actually seemed like a contender against Tyrannosaurus Megatron? Apart from a Pretender version in 1989, didn't resurface until the Machine Wars series, but that version looked like crap, and it wasn't really until Armada that Starscream returned to form. Following that, he was 'reimagined' as one of the Robot Masters series before turning up in the Energon line twice and, most recently, in the Galaxy Force line.
So here's my brief history of Starscream, Megatron's treacherous lieutenant...
Generation 1 Starscream - All three of the first set of Generation 1 Seeker jets (Starscream, Thundercracker (both pictured) and Skywarp) were based on the F-15 Eagle fighter plane. It's a very accurate model, all things considered, and the fuselage went on to be used for the later three jets - Dirge, Thrust and Ramjet - with different wing arrangements and weapons. The only real drawback to this model is that - as with many Gen 1 toys - it's a bit of a brick. There's no articulation in the legs (in fact, his knees join up with his torso, so he has very dumpy legs indeed) and only a little in the shoulders. This was corrected to some degree with the Robot Masters version, which extended the legs and introduced the concept of 'elbows' and 'wrists'. Apart from these improvements, though, the RM version doesn't look that good. The head seems disproportionaly small, whereas this Gen 1 version seems about right, and the RM's wings don't angle backward because of the way they're jointed to the body. Still, swings and roundabouts... This mold lasted from 1984 to 1993 with changes to the colourscheme, then came back in 2001, and again in 2003 when Takara started reissuing Gen 1 toys.
Starscream has had pretty much the same armament all along, except where a new mold was used. As with all three of the original Gen 1 Seekers, his missile pods had a choice of two different attachments: basic looking missiles, and the guns pictured above.
Armada Starscream - I got this long after Armada
toys became almost impossible to find. Strangely, this - the original
Japanese version - turned up on Ebay (one of those 'dirt cheap toy,
expensive shipping' deals that generally work out quite nicely). I'm
actually very glad to have the Japanese version rather than the US/UK
one, because this one is made using white plastic rather than the
crappy greyish stuff of the official release. That, and some of his
details are painted in gold rather than yellow... All of which makes
him look far less cheap than the US/UK version.
Starting with plane mode - and a very strange plane it is too, only
really looking like a plane from above - Starscream has plain tail fins
and small wings at the cockpit. Robot
mode has
a face which was instantly recognisable as
Starscream (that smirk is unmistakeable). The overall construction of
the head is very reminiscent of Gen 1 Starscream, just with a bit more
detail. While plane mode is poorly executed and the Mini-Con activated
weapon is awkward in either mode, I really quite like the Armada jets.
If I find him, and have the space, I might even pick up Thundercracker
(or Starscream Supermode, if the Japanese version is easier to come by).
In terms of articulation, he's a huge improvement on Gen 1, but the movement of his legs is somewhat limited, and the huge chunk of plane sticking out of his back means his feet have great long stabilisers at the back to compensate. The arms aren't particularly convincing, especially considering that they're fully visible in plane mode.
The Armada seekers were rather short on weaponry. Aside from any
Mini-Con they were packaged with, they only have their shoulder-mounted
missile launchers, and the world's most laughable 'sword', which
transforms from the left wing. Considering that each forearm has a
Mini-Con port, I've always thought they should have been packaged with
guns of some kind, or perhaps two more appropriate Mini-Cons. Why
Starscream was partnered with a racing car (who doesn't quite fit in
place to activate the missile launchers) is anyone's guess. Of course,
you've got to weigh all these
limitations against the fun electronic sounds... even if they do
sometimes fail to switch off...
Superlink/Energon Nightscream Reverse - Oddly quite similar to the Armada version (note the fins at the knees), this model is based on the huge number of toys from TF Generation 2, where almost everyone had become a jet all of a sudden - even Megatron! Nightscream is larger than all of them, but physically much the same. The transformation is actually quite ingenious. Before picking this guy up, I could never figure out how the wings got into position in robot mode, but it's all down to twisting and flipping.
Plane mode is really a bit of a disappointment - it doesn't look like any real plane (much like Armada), and the wings seem to angle downward when the plane is resting on its undercarriage. Robot mode is actually very dynamic, though, and the transparent plastic in his head makes for very effective glowing eyes. One small thing, though: Don't Decepticons have red eyes, while Autobots have blue?
Energon Starscream is armed to the teeth. He has two missile pods
built
into his wings (though these can only be fired when the wings are
detached from the body of the plane) and comes with sword and rifle
Energon weapons which can combine into a giant sword. This re-release
came with the addition of Energon
Insecticon's head-mounted gun/spike combo weapon... but there's nowhere
to attach
it, so that was a very strange choice. One of the axe- or gun-type
weapons would have been a better choice.
Robot Masters is a new range
(beginning 2004) of remakes of old toys. It started out with a sort of
miniature Masterpiece Optimus Prime (which looked great in robot mode,
but terrible in truck mode) and, due to new laws about toy guns, a
remake of Beast Wars Megatron. Many of the later models were simple
redecorations of Generation 2 toys, but this model of Starscream was an
attempt at a TV-Show Accurate toy. The plane mode stays much the same -
it's an F-15 Eagle. Advances in toymaking, however, led to an increase
in articulation... Or that was the idea, anyway.
In real terms, only Starscream's top half has any significant
improvement. The head, freed from the plane's nosecone, has the ability
to tilt and turn, and the arms have joints at the elbows and wrists
(though the latter is necessitated by the transformation). No longer
does Starscream wear those embarassingly chunky 'gloves', and his Null
Ray guns are better proportioned. Below the waist, however, the
Screamer has only hip joints, which offer little in the way of
posablilty. He is, essentially, still a brick. And where the originaly
had plenty of colour detail added with stickers, Robot Masters
Starscream is as plain as they come.
Personally, I'm not keen on the way the cockpit joins to the body.
Show-accurate it may be, but it looks daft to break the cockpit where
this model does. Still, it's a decent attempt, and the proportions are
certainly better than the original... Just a shame they got the
Decepticon insignia upside down on the wings. It seems that both
Skywarp and Thundercracker will have the Robot Masters treatment... I
wonder what this means for Thrust, Ramjet and Dirge...
 |
World's
Smallest Starscream is
quite a remarkable achievement. Maybe not so great as WS Soundwave,
but a more than reasonable approximation of his Gen 1 twin. The wing
joints aren't quite so effective on WS Starscream... in fact, they're
just not there. The entire leg section has to be twisted round to get
the wings angled back in robot mode. Also, the tail fins are moulded as
one piece, rather than the full-size model's 2 pieces, so the ends of
his legs don't look quite the same.
All things considered, though, it's a very well-done model... and even manages to outdo the original in terms of painted detail - WS Starscream has a fully painted head, while Gen 1 Starscream is bare black plastic with a sticker for his eyes. And for the absolute completist, ReproLabels.com do the full set of Gen 1 Starscream stickers for WS Starscream! |
Galaxy Force Starscream manages
to look pretty good in both modes. While his futuristic jet mode looks
very similar to one of the player ships from Konami's Nemesis/Gradius
series, it's also - according to some - reminiscent of Starscream's
original Cybertronian form from one of the graphic novels. As far as
weapons go, he's stuck with a single, fairly weak missile launcher and
two (fixed) guns either side of the cockpit. Galaxy Force's gimmick -
the key - comes into play in either mode, activating a pair of blades,
one housed in each wingpod (it's worth noting that the larger American
Cybertron version, Supreme Starscream, has one blade
and one gun rather
than two blades). Not much use in jet mode, maybe, but in robot mode
they really come into their own.
Galaxy Force has offered some of the most poseable TransFormers in ages, and Starscream is no exception. The only gripe is that his arm movement is somewhat limited, and his forearms are incredibly stubby, perhaps more so than Galaxy Convoy. It has also been noted by some fans that, considering the size of the model, and the level of detail offered by the Binaltech line, it should have been possible to give Starscream (and other similarly sized models) proper hands, rather than shaped blocks with holes for holding the gun. This might have gone some way toward detracting from the simplistic look of his gun, which is obviously much more visible in robot mode.