Voyager Class : Decepticon Starscream
My second Transformers, Revenge of The Fallen line toy. The Decepticon Starscream. Got this as a congratulation gift from my girlfriend for being able to graduate with the minimum standard in order for me to practice in the legal world, provided i passed my CLP. To be honest, Second Class Lower isn’t really something worth celebrating but my girlfriend insisted T___T thank you.
We’re all now quite familiar with Starscream’s role in the Decepticon faction after of course following the 2 marvelous Transformers movie that hit the big screen not long ago. I’ve always been a big fan of aviation and in fact wanted to study as a pilot but it was a sad truth that i did not possess a pair of perfect vision eyes and the academic requirements are just so damn low T___T
Back to the toy. There isn’t much difference in the packaging in comparison with the Optimus Prime my girlfriend got me few months ago. Both have the zig-zag edges and their own faction insignia and face after transformed on the cover. What you have in the box for RM119.90 is Starscream himself, 2 trajectory missiles and a small manual box depicting how to transform.
Starscream’s vehicle mode is the world renowned stealth fighter jet plane, the F-22 Raptor, the crown jewel of Lockheed Martin. The F-22 is able to reached a staggering top speed of estimated 2,000kmph with its dual thrusters on afterburners, that is like 1000 times if you’re driving on the highway at 200kpmh =O The 2 missiles can be attached under both the wings but in order to keep the realism, i just put them aside and only include them in the robot mode.
A few obvious difference between the first movie release and the Revenge of The Fallen Starscream is that the latter has some kind of alien tattoo imprinted all over the top body and also, more sleek. This was not explained in the movie neither was this featured in the original Generation 1 Transformers cartoon but the description behind the box suggested that when Megatron was defeated and was dropped into deep freeze sea water, the remaining Decepticons on Earth went into hiding while Starscream head back to Cybertron to seek reinforcements. We all know that Starscream wanted to take over the Decepticon ever since he was recruited by Megatron and no time can be a better time than now.
Starscream went back to Cybertron and won an internal war for leadership, the alien tattoo was a mark of victory given together with a Cybertron symbol on the left of its wing span. Came back to Earth and revived Megatron.
No interpretation on what does this symbol means or the meaning it carries.
The F-22 built was great, compared to the Optimus Prime i had which when transformed, the rear tire fender detaches itself every single time but it is said that i was meant to be detached if excessive forced were to be applied. Strange to it that i found the same warning given in the manual book of Starscream but up until today, not even a single rudder has been detached from its original place.
Nothing to rant about the overall paint job and the detailing of the F-22 is remarkably accurate for a Voyager class toy. Maybe this is because there are no Leader class Starscream on the market now but rumor has it that Hasbro is now in the process of making one and will be due for released at September 2010. I will be eager to see how it turns out.
They even made you these small little retractable tires that are extremely useful when posing on the vehicle mode and i don’t know why but the presence of these tires, although small but makes me happy. Sometimes, it’s the littlest things that shows how much time and effort they have put just to make a toy perfect for people.
In terms of dimension and size, both the Optimus Prime and Starscream are almost identical and maybe it’s because since both are Voyager class so it’s only rational to have both scale down to the same size. The only regrettable thing about the F-22 is that Starscream’s hands are not well hidden, it is visible while in the vehicle mode.
Most of the Revenge of the Fallen toys have what Hasbro called them “Mech Alive” mechanism in them and this is supposed to give “life” to the robots. This part forms the chest of Starscream.
What is Mech Alive then?
” Mech Alive” features moving panels and/or moving gears and mechanisms when certain areas on a toy’s body are manipulated and for Starscream, when the head is turned, the orange gears will move. A nice addition to the toy, something i’d like to consider as a value added service but not necessary. How often do you twist a toy’s head if your purpose is to collect and even if you are playing with them, i am sure you don’t reenact a fighting scene by only moving the head but hey, if kids are happy with that, by all means.
Director Michael Bay ordered his men to have Starscream designed to looked like a bird and they did, big upper body with tiny puny legs. Realistic and looked amazing on the big screen but when it comes to the toy, not a very good idea. Because of the fact that the chest is relatively wider, heavier and bigger than the pair of legs the toy has, posing has become a tedious and limited practice. We all know what happens if you try to stand a 1.5 Coke bottle with 2 toothpicks -.- it all comes crashing down.
That doesn’t mean that posing Starscream in the robot mode is an impossible job, it’s easier than counting 1 to 3 if you’re just setting him up in an attention pose but if you want him to give you the “Come Here, Boy!” pose, it requires extreme skill and care to do so and even if you get it right, a slight knock on the surface of which Starscream is standing on or a sudden gust of wind will bring him down.
I adore Starscream’s character and looks but for the toy, i think i’m going to keep him mostly in the vehicle mode not because he looks ugly in robot mode but because of the difficulties involved in keeping him stable, well until at least i found a way how to achieve stability without sacrificing style.
Great toy!
Click here to read about the Voyager Class : Autobot Optimus Prime
