Starscream is a figure that I had no interest in picking up until I saw him in hand. I'm really glad that I ended up getting him as he's one of my favorite figures from the Siege line.

 

You've not seen the pics of the Earthrise Starscream then? It is hideously retrograde.

 

Yes I have but on display, it wasn't posed to the extent of its true poseability so I'm waiting to see how it turns out in reviews. Kind of like how with SIEGE Starscream, it's a lot more articulated than I expected it to be even from reviews I saw prior.

For this Starscream, the way the upper body intakes form is pretty impressive. Also I noticed on the initial SIEGE Starscreams I saw, there was a slight angled gap between the chest plate and the hinge it pops onto. Mine didn't have that gap and mine has yet to come off even though I accidentally almost pushed it outwards off the hinge while transforming. Luckily, it's easy to see this in the box. If the chestplate is flush with the grey hinge, it might be a "safe" copy.

 

This guy is the most recent addition to my shelf. He’s chunky and fun and I love him. A nice fat over-detailed Starscream. I ripped his box open like a child and threw it away. It was highly satisfying.

And the first toy I’ve held that goes for the tetrajet, which I always found pretty fun. My family all mistook it for a Star Wars design though. I guess I can see what they mean, and I imagine the quick designs they whipped up for the MTMTE pilot were influenced by Star Wars look in a generic kind of way there in the early 80s.

It’s funny to me to see those chest turbines so lovingly detailed. Where did that design element come from? I think I first saw it on ActionMaster Starscream.

No trouble with any of the joints or pegs either. I see why people are doing some pin work though. Nice rig, my man.

 

Yeah I don't know why but I feel Thundercracker (haven't bought Skywarp yet) looks so much better than Starscream. I'm gonna get Redwing to serve as an Armada Starscream.

 

Now that I know Earthrise Screamer is coming this guy has lost a lot of his luster.

Sure, he's mega posable, but for such a flat design it doesn't really make him look that great. I like how utterly rectangular it is, but it doesn't make for a very dynamic figure. And the transformation really sticks out as just... bad. Literally no piece of the robot mode forms a substantial part of the jet, only sticking out awkwardly underneath. Said jet also really stands out as a weak attempt at the tetra-jet, really lacking in the "tetra" department. And the face just falls totally flat. (Thundercracker's even worse. How did they get Megatron so right and Starscream so wrong?)

I said before how this figure really highlights how we've never had a not-shit G1 Starscream update, but the Earthrise figure really highlights how this figure still isn't that ultimate Starscream. Articulation is literally all this has going for it, but what good is articulation if the toy can't benefit from it?

 

The last time I've seen the turbines that detailed on the chest(aside from the MP's) was on Classics Starscream.

 

is there a difference between the first release and the one shipping in the 35th end cap display? I thought I saw something about the 35th display one having the smirking head and an improved chest hinge. my wm never got the display.

 

When I saw the 35th display, a number of Starscreams had a downward smirk(left or right) and the chestplates may have had less or no gaps between the red chest and grey hinge. I later saw a Starscream like that in Target and the downward smirk or grimace is definitely different than the straight-mouthed Starscreams I saw back in Spring and sometimes still do now. The chestplate on mine doesn't have gaps between the chestplate and hinge and has yet to pop off.

 

  This is too good!

 

Excellent. Will definitely have to look at picking him up now. I wish there was a way to know who is carrying this one online.

 

Can someone remind me, tetrajet starscream had no appearance in the cartoon, right?

 

Any tips on how to paint his face a little darker?

 

I’m very late to the party, but I come with drinks. I’ve passed on Siege Starscream many times at retail. Passed on him for $13 at Ross many times. I don’t know why I finally caved at $15 from HTS, but I’m glad I did. The alt mode isn’t nearly as bad as it looked on pics and videos. He’s not my definitive Starscream (I have the ER), but he’s a really fun figure. Sure, the chest falls off during transformation. But, I’ll see if I fix it with a pin. I’m glad I finally got to experience this mold.

 

What is hts?

 

You have one of the earlier production runs then. Hastak did a silent tweak on later runs. The chest could still fall off but took a bit more force to do so. Others have pinned the earlier version before.

 

Hasbro Toy Shop has 50% off some figures in eBay.

 

Oh well. Only one side comes off, so it isn’t that bad.

 

This is one of my favourite figures and will absolutely be my Starscream for a very long time. The Earthrise version just seems so disappointing to me by comparison.