Modern classic.

How many repaints are there of this mold? A lot.

But right here, this is the first release of the mold. I got it for Christmas way back in 2006. As you can see, my copy has seen better days. He’s yellowing and a bit chewed up in places.

But he’s still kicking and he’s still Lord Starscream!

Vehicle mode

Lord Starscream is a fighter jet as usual. He’s an F-15 Eagle fighter jet, exactly the same as his G1 toy. What’s weird is all the other Classics figures were updated with different alternate modes. Except Lord Starscream. I guess the jet mode was already perfect to begin with.

The molded detail on display here is definitely plentiful as is the paint. I’ve got to fix the yellowing on him. I’m especially impressed with the detailed cockpit on a Deluxe figure. It’s also nice that he has a relatively clean side profile and undercarriage for a jet.

For playability, you can attach the null rays under the wings and deploy some weird landing gear on both sides of the jet.

Transformation

It’s a very straightforward transformation compared to what I’ve come to expect from collector focused Transformers. The Classics line in general seems to be quite simple come to think of it.

Not in a bad way though.

Robot mode

Lord Starscream has also not been updated and overhauled in his design in robot mode. Don’t fix what ain’t broken. In certain ways, this guy was actually much more accurate than the Masterpiece Starscream that came out around the same time. The colours were definitely more spot on for one. And the other thing was the kibble was much less obnoxious.

There’s nowhere I’d add extra paint to the deco honestly. It’s pretty much complete! And the only bit of kibble that is a bit obnoxious is the piece of cockpit/nosecone behind the head. Aside from that no complaints on the kibble front.

While Lord Starscream looks incredible in robot mode, his articulation feels a bit dated now. Then again, I am looking at it 13 years after it’s official release. His head has very limited side to side movement. His arms rotate as well as go in and out at the shoulders. They bend at the elbows as well as bend inward at the wrist. The legs are ball-jointed at the hips. They bend at the knees, rotate below the knees as well as move forward at the feet.

Gimmicks

Lord Starscream himself doesn’t really have any gimmicks. But his weapons do. Both of the null ray blasters are spring loaded missile launchers that can fire pretty strong. Also, they’re just a bit too big for Lord Starscream. But better too big than too small, yeah?

Toy or collectible?

Both. This mold has a nice jet mode and a great looking robot mode. The transformation is simple and straightforward. Any kid would have a great time playing with this. The good thing is that this mold is so prolific that you can get a cheap version of it pretty easily. Maybe not this release though, he costs as much as an MISB Siege Deluxe when he’s loose and complete.

If you’re an adult collector and you don’t have this mold yet… I don’t know what to tell you. Go put some respect and history in your collection man. Also, I know there are better repaints of Lord Starscream available (like the United one) but there’s something special about having the first use of the mold in my collection. You feel me bro?

Closing

I’m pretty confident that almost every Transformer collector has at least one version of this mold in their collection. And if you somehow don’t , you really should fix that.

Start with the Lord Starscream that CHUG started with! 12/10 stars!