I reckon it's a new mould rather than a repaint of MP Starscream (if I'm wrong then I share others' sentiments that it is a slack/lazy move). But if it is a new MP style mould, then at first it would look fairly similar to Leader Starscream because well... it's an MP based on a toy made from contemporary toy engineering.

I guess it doesn't have the same "Masterpiece" feel because we're looking at a toy that's 'upgrading' a toy that's really NOT old. G1 MPs feel like Masterpieces because they're highly detailed and complex reimaginings of 25 year old toys (even older considering their Diaclone/Microman origins).

I see things like Masterpieces and Classics like remakes -- similar to a remake of an old movie. The idea or novelty is to take a well loved toy from yesteryear, then reimagine it with updated contemporary toy engineering. I have nothing against the idea of doing non-G1 MPs, but the thing with doing something as recent as a movie toy is you're reimagining a toy that's was made with still-current engineering. It'd be like if someone decided to do a remake of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix using state-of-the-art special effects. Wouldn't really be substantially better than the current movie now.

So I imagine that if MP Moofie Starscream is a new mould, you can see that it's not substantially different (at least visually) than the Leader Class figure on shelves now. The transformation may be more complex and it may have all kinds of neat features like MP G1 Starscream does (e.g. airbrakes, mobile vector thrusters, nosecone radar etc. -- it'd be cool if it came with a small figurine of the Decepticon Moustache Guy as an F22 pilot that you could put into the cockpit (like Dr. Arkeville) ), but these rather superficial differences probably wouldn't matter to most collectors here.

Having said that, the Japanese collector market is one that likes "Masterpiece" and "Master Grade" stuff. So while I agree it wouldn't appeal to the Western market I can see its appeal to the Japanese market, which is TakaraTOMY's market.

Worse case scenario this toy shelf warms in Japan and TakaraTOMY learns not to do it again?