Toy Review - TFPrime DLX Starscream

[griffin]

(Please post photos, comments or even a fully comprehensive review - these are just brief details)

Toy Review - Starscream
Series - TFPrime
Sub-line - none
Size/class - Deluxe
Wave - 0 (First Edition)
New/remould/redeco - New
Released here - Maybe not here at all (Released globally Nov/Dec 2011)
Approximate Retail Price - ($24-30?) US$12
Approximate Size - (14cm)
Allegiance - Decepticon
Alt-mode - Fighter Jet
Main Features/Gimmicks - none
Main Colours - Dark grey, light grey, silver
Main Accessories - 2 arm-missiles

[jaydisc]

As I tweeted a few weeks ago:

TF:Prime Starscream is another bucket of win. More killer engineering in an extremely diminutive package...

Like Henkei Glavatron, he could easily be a voyager without modification. Unlike Glavatron, he still works great at this size.

He's arguably the first Starscream who's physique and carriage perfectly reflect his personality. Brilliant.

[Doubledealer]

Yeah, I love the look of this toy too. There's just something about those creepy, elongated arms and borderline fembot legs that make this character stand out. Very original. The head sculpt looks nice and mischievous too, just the way it should be for Starscream! One I'll definitely be picking up at some point (might compare with the Takara toy first).

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Robot mode is great! A very clever look to his lankyness and general creepy feeling of his character. Looking at him, you can immediately guess at his character type, which in real life would not be so great, but this is a toy, so it works.

Shame about his head fin not being red like the cartoon, but it is easy enough to take out and colour with whatever takes you fancy. I used a red permanent marker on mine and it does the trick nicely.

Sadly though, the vehicle mode suffers a lot. From the top it looks fine, but from any other angle it is rather 'bits' looking. The front bottom of the jet is let down by the waist and the reaer has the legs all over the place. From the back, you can clearly see his feet as well. Not too sure what type of jet he is based on, but the wings look a little out of proportion to the body, specifically the tail area.

However this can be overlooked as the robot mode is where the love is at for this guy and since it just carries so much character, I find myself leaving him in robot mode all the time.

It is a rather fun toy to transform as well, which so far I have found for all the TFP figs that I have. Not too fiddly that you spend 30 odd minutes doing it, but enough to make it interesting and enjoyable.

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah, the jet mode does indeed suffer.

Transformation scheme is interesting - the waist/leg section reminds me of G2 Smokescreen. The robot looks nice - although those two knee protusions seem rather pointless and have a habit of flopping down during handling/play. They should have either found a way to make them lock into position properly, or just omitted them (I don't care if it makes the toy more screen-accurate... seems superfluous - I'll take toy engineering/play value over show-likeness any day). So far I haven't had too many issues making the toy stand, but admittedly I haven't tried putting it into any real dynamic poses yet... not sure how I'll go with the small feet on high-heels. With the inevitable repaints that Hasbro will do I reckon they should repaint (w/ a new head?) this one as TF Prime Slipstream.

Robot mode looks nice, jet mode has some nice elements but really could have been done a lot better.

And what's with the new bubble/blister shape? It makes it hard to package the carded figures front-to-front because it occupies such a large portion of the card area, and the odd shape makes it trickier to cut around when opening the toy. Also... where is this toy's Tech Specs Profile???

[GL-Sideswipe]

Ordered this guy online today along with FE Bumblebee, can't wait to get both of them. Seen so many postive reviews for this guy, wish I could say the same for bee, still happy to get him though :P