Toy review - MPM-10 Movie Masterpiece Starscream

Series - Masterpiece
Sub-line - Movie Masterpiece
Size/class - N/A
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - N/A
Released here - N/A
Approximate Retail Price - USD149.99
Approximate Size - 29cm
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor
Main Features/Gimmicks - Screen accuracy, licensed vehicle mode, Masterpiece detail and engineering
Main Colours - Grey, beige
Main Accessories - M61A2 Vulcan cannon, missile pod, circular saw

Vehicle mode

https://i.imgur.com/MW6tyeR.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/KfFGSrc.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/mQdWbaR.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/UabZYTS.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/268S6js.jpg

A Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor. The plane is 31cm long, with a wingspan of 23cm, giving a rough scale of 1:61 for the length.

As with many a plane Transformer, the undercarriage is substantial and full of robot parts.

https://i.imgur.com/QVHCUzi.jpg

This figure has pitot tubes mounted on the nose, which is a great touch.

https://i.imgur.com/TQCa0C1.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/YtKm1Fe.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/4DKQNE7.jpg

It's oddly fitting that a new Starscream is the tenth Movie Masterpiece figure, released in the line's tenth anniversary year. Here is MPM-10 next to MPM-1. The older figure has a shape that is less accurate than the new figure, and has a bulkier profile - bear in mind that this figure has an electronics pack and two AA batteries in it.

The comparison exposes the one big weakness with MPM-10's vehicle mode: the colour. The vehicle mode parts were moulded or painted in a light beige, with darker grey camouflage spots and dark grey edges to the control surfaces. MPM-1's colour scheme, a mid grey with dark grey camouflage spots and light grey edges, is more accurate to a real F-22. In fairness to Hasbro and TakaraTOMY, an F-22 can appear in colours like these depending on the lighting because of the radar-absorbent coating that gives the skin a metallic look.

Transformation

Complex, as one would expect of a modern Masterpiece. It can be a bit tough to make out what the instructions want you to do because the illustrations are small, despite the instructions being printed on a good-sized sheet of paper.

Those small instructions made transforming back to plane mode a pain - the shoulders and arms disassemble into an array of parts that need to be aligned in a certain way before they'll fold back into the fuselage, and those small diagrams made the orientation difficult to determine.

Robot mode

https://i.imgur.com/K2kBAUf.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/FeWI6da.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/gpoQo68.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/WenMBww.jpg

Starscream's height depends on the degree to which you bend his knees and ankles. I've photographed him here with only a slight bend at the knees and ankles, and he stands 27.5cm to the top of the head, and 29.5cm to the highest point of his wingtips.

Aesthetically, Starscream is amazing. Whether you like the design or not is up to you, but as a representation of that design, especially one that transforms, this is as good as it gets. Diecast metal is present on the bicep plates, and much of the feet are made of metal.

Articulation is plentiful. The head rotates and tilts up, and the jaw opens. The shoulder moves backwards - think of pushing your shoulders back when puffing out your chest. The shoulder itself has the usual two axes of motion on ratcheted joints, the elbow is ratcheted, and there is a rotational joint right below the elbow. The wrist rotates and flexes and extends, the thumbs have two joints at the base, and each finger has a single joint at the base.

The hips have two axes of motion, there is a thigh rotator just below the hips, and the knees and ankles have ratcheted hinges. There is a rotator right below this ankle, and the tarsometatarso-phalangeal joint (I'll call this one the 'secondary' ankle from now on) tilts up, can tilt down if a transformation joint above is unlocked, and rocks side to side. On top of this, the arrayed panels and the thruster nozzles on Starscream's back have numerous points of articulation.

The mould's one big weakness is in those secondary ankles - the joints that give forward and backward motion to the foot are fairly thin friction joints, not ratcheting joints. This means that Starscream may be somewhat precarious when standing, liable to tip forwards or backwards, particularly in neutral standing poses on uneven surfaces. That said, the likelihood of Starscream tipping over seems to be lessened when using a more substantial bend in the knees and ankles. I can only imagine that the transformation simply didn't allow for a ratcheted joint in that location.

https://i.imgur.com/3jQh3wi.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/UZW1RNG.jpg

Starscream comes with three accessories: his arm-mounted M61A2 Vulcan cannon, his bladed missile pod, and his circular saw. All three attach to his forearms, with the missile pod and saw requiring the hands to be partially folded.

https://i.imgur.com/F56l2TS.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/dmNnRMe.jpg

The weapons can be stowed in both modes.

https://i.imgur.com/E7WaN4x.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/QiGxa3A.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/16LZLU5.jpg

With MPM-1. MPM-10 has shoulders which are wider than those on MPM-1, which is accurate to the CGI model. Because MPM-10 doesn't need to accommodate an electronics pack, it can also be far thinner than MPM-1.

Aesthetically, it's not really a contest: MPM-10 is more screen-accurate. However, there are a few areas where the older figure is superior. Its grey colour is more screen-accurate than the light, almost milky grey of MPM-10, its shoulders shift forwards rather than backwards, it has an upper arm rotator, which MPM-10 lacks, and its secondary or lower ankles are ratcheted, which is a major boon to stability.

https://i.imgur.com/JY7gX5Z.jpg

With MPM-8 Megatron.

https://i.imgur.com/TtRzCx6.jpg

With MPM-4 Optimus Prime.

Verdict

https://i.imgur.com/kbGwnCP.jpg

MPM-1 is no longer the best movieverse Starscream there is. The plane looks good, and the robot mode is superb. The only figure that looks better is ThreeA's large Starscream figure from 2015, and that figure can't transform. That's not to say it's perfect or without flaw - the lack of an upper arm rotator means that Starscream can't rotate a forearm across his broad chest, although this motion can be cheated by unlocking the transformation joints in his upper arm, and the secondary ankle may require careful positioning of the legs to minimise the risk of Starscream falling backwards.

Being a large, complex figure with a high part count, Starscream isn't cheap, but I nonetheless recommend him.