Quote Originally Posted by doublespy View Post
The undercarriage is not as compact as the real thing, but at the Voyager scale this is probably as good as it gets for a transforming F22 toy. As everyone mentioned, the paint is beautifully executed.
A friend of mine's who's an avid Macross collector also got this Starscream and thinks that it's a really nice toy. He said that it's easy for people to dismiss toys like this Voyager Starscream as being inferior to contemporary Macross Valkyries, but he pointed out key differences such as:
* This toy is based on a very complex live action movie CGI model, Valkyries are not.
* From a toy engineering/design POV, this is a robot that transforms into a plane. Valkyries are planes that transform into robots.
* Cost (and thus budget). This toy costs $50 or less at retail. I just saw someone drop a pre-order on an upcoming Macross Valkyrie for $350.

So I totally agree that at the Voyager scale, this really is an excellent toy.
TakaraTOMY seems to be dipping their toes into the upper price ranges that we see with other transforming robot brands in Japan - initially with the high price of MP Sunstreaker and then with the whopping price of MP Dinobot. While these prices feel super-expensive for Transformers collectors, they're about average compared to TakaraTOMY's other collector-centric competitors' products. But I suppose time will tell if Transformers collectors are willing to meet TakTOM at the price range or not. What works for other transforming robot toys may not work for Transformers. <shrugs>