TFW Member garyjale has received Alternity Starscream and has been kind enough to post a very in-depth pictorial review of him. garyjale has included many very detailed pictures of pretty much all the Starscream’s detail, transformation, and even problems he has had with the figure.
If you are the slightest bit interested in this figure, be sure to click on the above picture to see all of his thoughts on the figure to help you decide if this is worthy of a purchase.
TFXProtector
I'm going to bump this because there's no point in starting a new thread. I just got this in off of eBay for a ridiculously low price. For the price I paid, it's a great mold. For the original MSRP? Um…no. There are too many design issues I don't like for $70.00. For less than $30.00 shipped? Hell yes.
I had the driver's side door pop off once, but that was it. I've had no problems keeping the doors on since. The right leg is a stiff bitch and it drives me nuts, as well as the rear wheels/wing assembly. UGH.
The paint chipping? ….I hate die-cast. I opened the doors and BAM. It's not like the paint's stripped, but there are some chips. -_-
I don't care for the four eyes, I'll be painting the top layer, but the headsculpt is nice I think. The fake/cheat chest doesn't bother me, which is a surprise. The wings…I'm not quite sure how to display them, they feel asymmetrical in terms of wingspan, like the left wing is shorter than the right. Could just be my imagination, but it's kind of driving me nuts to look at it head on.
I like the range of poseability, considering the design of the mold. I was very impressed by that. I like the heft to it and the plastic feels definitely more solid than what current figures are offering. The transformation, overall, is really quite neat and I like how it all compacts and folds up. Things go places and move in ways you wouldn't have thought, I really liked that.
If you can find one cheap, or get one used at a good price, get it. If you're paying full price, nah. Pass.
Oh and the vehicle mode? Ugly or not, I'd drive an Orochi in a heartbeat. It's grown on me so much.
mx-01 archon
Eh, superglue worked for me. Still not the most secure of connections, but they don't fall off on their own volition anymore, and the joints are now stiff enough to hold the door panels up, without them sagging with gravity.
zephon
ah, just as I feared. Good to know someone concurrs with me….
SharkyMcShark
I don't think any of the known tricks are going to work on the doors, because half the weakness is that the cup half isn't big enough for a secure connection.
zephon
has anyone tried any method on tightening the ball joint doors which easily pops off? I used the "piece of paper" method on the shoulder ball joints and they worked perfectly. It's just the doors now that I'm having issues with….
SharkyMcShark
I have it. It's a very good design. The doors popping off easily is really my only complaint – the hip is not something I've had any trouble with.
Something that has worked wonders is giving the screw for the arms that that the doors rotate on a small tightening – part of the door problem was that the joint had no resistance so they were flopping around really.
mx-01 archon
The Automorph works by folding the pelvis up to meet the chest. It should cause the chest to slide down slightly.
Knightdramon
Received mine today…it's gone through 3 transformation cycles already! Very fun to transform, had a little difficulty with the wheels on the legs until I peeked in and found out that not only do they slide up and down, but there's an indentation for them to slide inwards.
I didn't encounter any poor locking problem for the waist or shoulders [the latter are not perfect, but they're way better than say, classics grimlock]. Are you supposed to push down the chest manually or is there any automorph included?
indifferent
Thank you, Benny. Looks great; more Starscream-esque.
zephon
i like it. makes me wanna do the same mod with mine. wonder if the gundam pannel line marker is small enough to do the job….
kingbenny78
Sure… here are some macro shots. Wow… I didn't realize what a crappy job I did. These macro shots really expose the flaws – it does not look this way when looking at the figure normally. I used a fine point sharpie but the red was still coming through, so I stole my wife's nail polish pen.
Pretty sloppy job on my part, but you get the idea.
indifferent
Skywarp feels a little more solid to me than Starscream does. At least his waist stays locked in place and the doors don't pop off the ball joints during transformation.
Benny, that looks great. Do you mind taking a closer shot of the eyes? A lot of people have talked about painting the top optics to make the headsculpt look 'normal.' I'm contemplating just lining in between the pairs of eyes with a fine-point sharpie to make them look more like the boxart.
kingbenny78
I have had Alternity Starscream for a few days now and I think he's great.
I echo the others on here that have mentioned that the head sculpt is not as bad when you see it in person.
However, I did paint over the top eyes in black and I think it improves the look:
I primarily collect figures that closely represent the G1 cartoon but I have made an exception with Alternity line.
I could not ignore the quality of these figures. I love the unique colour choices for some of the molds – a real fresh take on the franchise IMO.
The Alternity characters should be different looking but still contain enough G1 goodness to keep them recognizable. I think they've done a good job in this regard!
Alt mode comparison pic with Silver Convoy, Bumblebee, and Blue Megatron:
and in robot mode:
Pikachu_King
I love mine. He's had none of the issues you guys talk about, and is just amazing.
Of course my skywarp has ALL these problemes, and while awesome i'm still a bit confused why they made it skywapr PURPLE instead of going with the obvious black…
back to starscream though, love his paintjob, the matte white is simply amazing in car mode, and the glossy blue/darker blue/red details in robot mode are great. He may have just dethroned my red convoy as my favorite alternity.
Delta-Raven
I gotta say I'm somewhat disappointed with him… He looks great in both modes, but his waist doesn't lock into place, nor do his shoulder pads, so every time I try to pose him I end up having to re-transform various parts of him.
This coupled with the fact that his door-frames/hip-kibble fall off if you so much as think about them really creates some frustration.
Some great ideas here, but poorly executed.
Aigis
Got mine today and I love him. It's my first Alternity figure. He was a lot easier to transform than I thought it'd be.
Keroshino
I actually like them and have had no problems with them (they are my favorite alternity so far)
Mumps
I was able to get the waist pieces to… pretend to click. They hold a little bit better, but not perfect. The shoulders though really bug me that there is no solid click. Oh well
I am actually really disappointed in these figures. I still like them, but I find them to be the weakest of the Alternity line. My main problems are, the doors scream 'I am a wing!' and the hood wing is attached via the windshield… that bugs me for some reason. Oh well.
Gligamesh51
I just finished TFing mine, which came in the mail today, moments ago.
Boy am I impressed! I thought this would be the hardest Alternity to TF yet, and surprisingly he is not! I'd say Cliff/BB or Prime have a bit of a higher learning curve then Starscream.
The paint job first really was a treat to adore. Like Cliff, you won't really see it, until its in your hands. Since its a pearl white, there is bits of texture, and shine within the paint. His face is glossy, where the care body is mostly a matte color. The various reds and blues are also a glossy shade.
As I said earlier, his TF is quite simple. The legs are tricky at first, trying to line the wheels up within the leg, but once you get it, it sticks. I love how the cars exhaust become thrusters for his thighs, the front of the car becoming G1-ish jet intakes, and of course, the hood and trunk forming makeshift wings.
His posability is quite fantastic, one of the things I adore with the Alternity line, and nothing ever seems to get in the way of each other. Kibble like the doors can be moved anywhere on the joints axis and you can still pose him.
Overall, I can't recommend this toy enough. Even for someone who still isn't sold on the Alternity, Starscream/Skywarp would be an excellent welcoming toy!
Vangelus
Those parts don't click together on mine either, they just kind of friction into place to a degree. I was hoping for some solid KA-CLUNK on those bits. D: