(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 Cybertron Supreme Starscream. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Cybertron Supreme Starscream here.)

    Well, I honestly can say that this is one mold I never thought would be repainted. Cybertron Supreme Starscream was a massive "blown up" mold in terms of complexity, and seemed to solely be as big as he was in the Cybertron toyline because of one episode. A humongous Starscream divorced from the Cybertron storyline seems... odd. For this "Year of the Horse" edition, Starscream still keeps his signature colors--  in fact, his color scheme edges MORE G1 than his Cybertron version. Unlike this mold's previous outing, this version has some of the Starscream signature dark blue, which contrasts against the metallic red very well, particularly when both colors are of a nice, eye-catching metallic shade. (There's also some dark blue that is more of a flat color that's plastic instead of paint, but it complements and is close enough to the dark metallic blue to pass as the same color at a first glance.) There's also a fair amount of yellow/bronze, first in the form of a translucent, glittery shade for his cockpit, missile launchers, shoulders, and Cyber Key-unlocked shoulder weapons. It's another shade that goes with its surrounding colors well, either via complementing them (as with the red) or by contrasting against them (as with the dark blue and light gray). Some bronze paint is also used on Starscream's crown piece, which is another nice shade, but I wish a few more details on the crown accessory had been painted. Unfortunately, Starscream's gray-- which makes up the vast majority of his plastic and a good chunk of his color scheme-- is of a rather bland shade. At least it's more of a "straight" light gray than a milky gray, however, which would have looked even worse. One thing worth pointing out, though-- Starscream's hips are painted metallic red, and these go through a lot of pressue and scraping when transforming him, which means that the red paint on his hips can scrape VERY easily. Honestly, that was just bad planning-- those should have been solid unpainted plastic.
    No mold changes have been made to "Year of the Horse" Starscream.
    "Year of the Horse" Starscream is an iffy figure to recommend to even most completists. He's really overly simplistic for his size, costs a TON of money (over twice the price of Cybertron Supreme Starscream!), doesn't look vastly different from his initial cheaper form, has hips that are prone to paint-scraping, and his light gray is just a bland color. (I do think color-wise he's slightly better than Cybertron Supreme Starscream, but this version's vastly inflated price puts his score lower.) Because of all these factors, I'd only recommend this release for the most diehard Starscream collectors.

Review by Beastbot

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