TFWiki mentions that you can detach the backpack and have a wingless robot mode and a nearly complete Tetrajet. I can't find pictures of this anywhere (if they are in this thread, I missed them somehow). Has anyone actually done or seen this? I usually buy two copies of seekers to display in alt mode and robot mode, but the horrible undercarriage on the Tetrajet mode for Siege Starscream made me think it wasn't worth it. If I could detach the backpack and have a Tetrajet, that changes everything.
If you detached the backpack you could transform it into a partial jet, yes, but you would basically have nothing but an empty shell of wings, cockpit and nosecone.
Isn't that what we have now, except with robot parts on the bottom and his chest inexplicably under the engines?
Not really, no. It’s a pretty tidy alt mode to my eyes. If you want to see a giant empty space when you look at it from below then go for it.
I love this figure. The robot mode is awesome. But it's very much a shell-former Tetrajet. There is a cockpit inexplicably under his engines (the robot mode chest), even if you can forgive the arms and legs on the underside. I was hoping to see pics of what it might look like detached. I don't want to break him and then end up agreeing with you that the detached mode is too empty.
Well since you have one then you can totally see what it looks like because you can transform the jet portion while it’s attached to his back.
Thanks! I don't know how I missed this the first time through the thread unless I just didn't let the pics load before moving through.
So I love this figure, it's great. My copy had some plastic flash keeping his right ankle from tilting properly, it would slowly move back to neutral position after putting it in tilt for "A" stance. Popped it open, trimmed it, much better. I think I have a unique problem with both my Null Rays, though. And it illustrates the fact that each Null Ray is actually made of two parts, because mine are not glued together properly, and have splits. I'm not gonna try to fix it or anything, but it's something that could pop up on any copy I suppose. (and could possibly be made worse through mold reuse?)
Everyone loves a bastard. There’s just something so fun about watching an absolute manipulative git either winning or getting his comeuppance. It’s part of why Starscream is one of the many Decepticons who has permeated the cultural zeitgeist… OK, I’m sorry for using that term. Let me rephrase it. Do you think of a conniving little prick who’d sell his own mother for a new job title? If so there’s a good chance you’ll have an image of Starscream in your head. Way back in 2002 Transformers Armada got me back into the franchise, and Starscream was one of the standout characters and became one of my favourite Cons. Looking back at his depiction in said show, it’s a very atypical portrayal, what with the whole honour and dying in battle thing. Has a bit more in common with Beast Wars Dinobot than you’d think. After that, it seems most versions of him went back to his G1 roots. And I gotta say I prefer him that way. And for the longest time, we’ve never had a good voyager G1 Starscream toy. The old Generations/Classics deluxe is still a decent toy, if starting to show its age, and the recent Studio Series Voyager is good, but the only G1 styled voyager we ever got was the Power of the Primes version, which …well I sold it on within a month of buying it so I really can’t be arsed going on about how bad thought it was. It appealed to some and the torso mode for the combiner mode was cool, but everything else was just garbage. In lieu of being able to have the much better Siege Starscream beating up his POTP variant since I don’t own it anymore, here’s Grimlock singing part of “I Am” from the Shadow the Hedgehog game. In a lot of ways, Siegescream looks like he could have jumped off an animation cel. His colours are bright and vibrant, he has the classic seeker chest and the null ways which for the first time since Masterpiece MP11 I am remembering correctly, can stay attached during transformation (more on that later) He does have a good amount of battle damage with silver and grey paint and I think it works better than on most of the other cons, along with the sci-fi greebles and has a total of eight weapons words. Two on each arm, though most likely one will be permanently fitted with his null rays one, one each leg and one on each wing. I don’t think filling up with guns works as well as say, Megatron, but he does look quite good with the Micromaster Sky Patrol’s combined sword form. His articulation is really good, having loads of swivels and tilts to pull off very nice poses. Hell, even his wings have articulation allowing you to angle them. The only place he is let down in comparison to other Siege guys is his waist, as the backpack only allows it to move about 20-25 degrees left or right at a maximum. Still better than we got on pretty much every other G1 Starscream, which have precisely zero (including the bleeding Masterpiece). And he looks fantastic in the air because of it. Transforming him to jet mode is fun…to a point. It is fun and fluid…but when you have to move his chest it IS going to pop off, as documented in every other review out there. It’s a widely known issue and lead to some speculation about it being fixed in a running change, but that turned out to be nought but a rumour It’s a shame as it’s the only bad bit of a decent transformation. I personally love how his shoulder pauldrons actually end up forming the nosecone of his lovely tetrajet mode. I love this mode, despite its…well flaws a strong a word. Perhaps “issues?” Like almost every other jet Transformer ever you essentially fold up the robot underneath the wings. Some people think this guy is a very egregious example, but I don’t really see it. It’s got a much worse problem on the back. Yes, that is his chest on his back. I have no idea how else they could have accomplished this look otherwise, but it does look rather silly. However, this is a very sleek re-imagining of the Cybertronian jet mode. While I do like the other versions that have come before, the Transformers Cybertron and War for Cybertron versios specifically, this looks so much sleeker than those it’s ridiculous. Overall Starscream is definitely a great toy and has convinced me to go in for Thundercracker, Skywarp and possibly even Red Wing. He’s got some flaws, but overall he’s another must buy from the Siege line. Lovely robot mode, decent transformation, and an alt-mode that is far better than another versions of the tetrajet
I have severely mixed feelings on this one. I finally caved on the basis of having seen it in stores here packaged in robot mode over the last few weeks. Positives - The robot mode is incredibly gorgeous and poseable. - I like the null rays. Middle Ground - The alt-mode isn't as cripplingly shit as I'd thought it would be. - The faux fake cockpit on the chest doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. In person it looks less like a cockpit and more like a power conduit or something. Negatives - The transformation is incredibly boring. It's barely a step above rolling a revoletch or SCF figure into a ball and hiding it under a cape. - The quality control on some of the engineering is absolute dogshit tier. The chest panel is the chest panel, we all know about that. The grey panel behind the neck is literally too big on my copy to allow the figure to properly transform. As I understand it this is not an uncommon problem among copies of this figure. Fortunately it is on a stiff friction joint and can be removed without tools. You don't lose any functionality (you actually gain a bit of neck articulation) but I shouldn't have to be ripping bits off my figures to make them work. Overall I'd buy it on sale. It's a good action figure, just not a particularly interesting or well designed Transformer.
just got around to opening and fooling around with this guy. Chest with no pins suck, it's pretty much partsforming. Rest of the figure is pretty good actually, he can pose with the best of them and it ultimately looks very starscream. I'm inclined to get the other two recolors, after swearing I wouldn't go all in on this mold. I hope in a few years they use this as a blueprint to make a true updated, earth mode Starscream.
Starscream's a great Voyage my only complaint doesn't seem to be a wide spread issue but mine has an ankle that slowly moves back to its normal position so I'm guessing it's mold flash and I probably won't be able to fix it without removing the pin behind the ankle
Just a heads up everyone but I just bought mine and returned it for a refund. 1 ankle wasn't staying tilted and I thought maybe it had to do with the way the rivet was seated. However, I took a look underneath the feet. Noticed the heels(or some other parts) are numbered "1" and "2". Thing is. The blue feet should also be numbered "1" and "2", however both of mine were numbered "2"! So mine had 2 of the same blue feet and I believe this may be why 1 ankle wasn't staying tilted when I would tilt it. I'm not even sure how to tell the blue feet apart outside of looking underneath the feet to see what the feet are numbered.
Prelude:While the current Siege line does seem to make an effort to include characters we haven’t seen in ages, there are, of course, the usual suspects as well. Such as Starscream, who really shouldn’t need any introduction. He is back for Siege in all his back-stabbing glory, now sporting something approaching his classic G1 cartoon Cybertronian alternate mode. Let’s see how it works. Robot Mode: The first episode of the original G1 cartoon cheated a bit when it showed us the Bots and Cons on Cybertron. They sported Cybertronian alternate modes, but their robot modes already looked like they would after acquiring Earth modes. Probably didn’t want to confuse the kids. So Starscream looks (from the front, at least) much like he usually does when sporting his classic F-15 Eagle jet mode. (Fake) cockpit on the chest, turbines as nipples, the whole nine yards. It’s only from the back that you see the differences. Character recognition is absolutely no problem here, this is clearly Starscream. Could have gone a bit easier on the battle damage deco, but that’s the Siege line for you. Starscream is a Voyager-sized robot with excellent articulation, including articulated wings on his back that can swing back and be moved up and down as well. The back of his legs feature spring-up plates, so that he can bend his knees almost 180 degrees without the lower legs being open. The forearms, meanwhile, flip open when you wish to fold in the hands, instead of simply being open on one side. Very nicely done, would like to see more of that. Buying third party upgrade sets simply to fill in hollow legs or forearms gets tiring after a while. In terms of weapons Starscream comes with his usual arm cannons, which can plug into shoulder, forearm or his hands, your choice. So bottom line for the robot mode: very nice. Clearly Starscream despite the Cybertronian alternate mode. A bit less battle damage deco maybe, but otherwise: two thumbs up! Alternate Mode: The Decepticon seekers on Cybertron sported a kind of pyramid-style design that fans have dubbed “Tetra-Jet”. So far only the now-defunct third party company Impossible Toys has come close to actually turning that design into toys with their ill-fated Tetra Squadron. Siege Starscream, on the other hand, is a bit of a mixture between that design and, of all things, the original Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper. Even the guns under the wings are somewhat similar to the Viper design. I have very fond memories of that design, so thumbs up for that. What made me hesitate to buy this figure for a long time was the big undercarriage of the jet mode. I have to say, though, it’s far less a problem in-hand than it looks to be on the pictures. Yes, the jet has an undercarriage, but I can count the number of jet Transformers that don’t have one on one hand, I think. So while the jet could be a bit more aerodynamic, it still looks pretty good. The entire jet tabs together very solidly and while the amount of battle damage deco on the wings is a bit much, it still looks very good overall. The only real downside of this jet mode for me is the back, where you see Starscream’s robot mode chest plate. You can sort of interpret his turbine nipples as exhausts, sure, but the fake cockpit really stands out. Also, the chest plate is quick to snap off during transformation. So some minor point deduction for that. Otherwise, though? A very nice jet mode with bonus points for the Viper look. Remarks: Not much I can say about the character of Starscream that hasn’t already been said in at least a dozen other reviews on my site, so I’ll spare you. Suffice to say that there has been a Starscream in just about every Transformers toy line since the end of the Beast era and that isn’t about to change anytime soon. And naturally we’ll be getting quite a few repaints of this mold as well, as Thundercracker, Skywarp, and a new Seeker called Redwing have already been announced. So business as usual. Overall I was pleasantly surprised after buying this figure. It’s not perfect, but it’s a pretty good design and very nicely portrays Starscream in his pre-Earth days. A better place to hide the chest plate in robot mode, a bit more restraint on the battle damage deco, and I’d probably have been tempted to give this toy an A-rating. As things stand it’s a fun figure, a good Starscream, and a solid recommendation to everyone who is a fan of jet Transformers and Starscreams. Rating: B Source: Transformers-Universe.com
