Starscream
(Combiner Wars)
(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Generations Leader Jetfire. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Generations Leader Jetfire here.)
Given that this mold
was already modified to make Thundercracker,
a Starscream was basically guaranteed, and here it is. As you'd expect
from a "G1-esque" Starscream toy, he's got his normal colors of gray, dark
blue, and red as the main shades for his color scheme. The red is your
standard red; nothing particularly special about the shade this time around,
though it does contrast against the gray and the blue pretty well, as is
usually the case. The dark blue is a rather nice shade of the color, having
a fair bit of glitter in it that makes it look semi-metallic in nature;
I really wish such a good shade was more apparent in vehicle mode, in particular.
On the negative side-- oh, this gray. I've nearly always thought that Starscream
had the most boring color scheme of the Seekers because of so much gray,
but why in tarnation did Hasbro tinge the gray with just a bit of brown?
It makes the gray look like it's old and aged a bit, and just is a mildly
ugly shade. It's all the more unfortunate because the gray is EVERYWHERE
on Starscream, even more than it usually is-- this is particularly bad
in robot mode, where the entire underside of the wings are completely unpainted,
in addition to most of his legs and his shoulders and upper arms being
molded in said gray, as well. I mean, there is a bit of black-- on his
head, obviously, but also on the engine exhausts on his back and the faux
intake details on his chest, but it's not nearly enough to break up all
that gray. In vehicle mode there's still too much gray, but it's not as
bad, with the wide red and narrow white stripes on the main wings-- as
well as the red and white stripes on the blue tailfins-- helping to break
up the gray more. The translucent yellowish orange color used for the cockpit
also looks nice, as does the metallic orange (ALMOST bronze, but not quite)
on the faux cockpit on Starscream's robot chest. But still, that brownish
gray... ugh.
Starscream shares the
same base mold changes to the Generations Jetfire mold that Combiner Wars
leader Thundercracker has, as well as one additional piece; a goldish bronze
crown piece that can fit snugly over his head, complete with a red "jewel"
in the center that is obviously an homage to his very brief reign as leader
of the Decepticons in the '80s G1 animated movie. It's a nice little (free!)
extra, but unfortunately there's no space for it to fit on Starscream's
head when he's in vehicle mode, nor is there anywhere for it to "slot in".
Combiner Wars Starscream
is an easy pass for most Transfans. He takes a back-heavy mold and adds
a color scheme that has way WAY too much of a rather ugly, brownish shade
of gray in it. The nice shade of blue and the crown accessory are nice,
but not nearly enough to make this the definitive "update" of the G1 character
by any means. I'd only recommend this toy to those who A. want a large
G1-esque Starscream toy and B. can't afford one of the Masterpiece versions
of the character. There's been many better Starscream toys over the year
than this.
Review by Beastbot