Tatoos are badass.

Getting this out of the way first. I like the tatoos. They’re polarising, I get it. Some of you hate them, but you can just go get the clean repaint of this mold instead.

At this point the Cybertronian tatoos, they’re iconic.

When people think movie Starscream, they’re likely to think, “Oh, the one with the tatoos?”

Some think of them with disgust.

I think of them with awe.

You should too.

Lord Starscream forever!

Vehicle mode

Budget cuts are brutal man. This Starscream almost had a perfect jet mode. But he got hit by a budget cut at some point.

That point being his hands. They stick out the back like a sore thumb. Pun intended.

They were originally designed to transform and get tucked away out of sight.

That said, he’s still got a good jet mode. His profile is slim for a jet transformer and he actually has three point landing gear. His cockpit is transparent/translucent amber with a detailed cockpit.

And obviously, the tatoos are love or hate, but there’s no denying that the paint apps for them are intricate. To me they’re just interesting to look at, even if it comes at the cost of him no longer being a robot in disguise.

The jet mode has one glaring fault, but aside from that it’s a solid A.

Transformation

Now this is why you should still handle this guy at least once even though the Leader and Studio Series Voyager molds blow this guy out of the water.

His transformation is a blast.

It’s thoroughly unique. He basically explodes from a compact jet into a dorito shaped powerhouse. The transformation makes no sense but is somehow still intuitive.

It’s incredible.

Robot mode

When it came out, his robot mode got a lot of praise as an improvement over the first first Voyager mold. His face was more accurate to the movie and he was less 2D looking from the sides.

Also, and this is important. He had hands.

In 2009, that was a revelation.

Fast forward to 2019, he’s still a good looking bot. But he’s been beaten in terms of posability and overall proportions several times over by the Bayverse Starscreams released after him.

His posability is problematic. The joints are all mostly present, it’s just he can’t really utilise them. His arms are almost fully posable, but they’re missing wrist swivels which makes him less expressive than the Movie Starscreams released after him. But I repeat once again. He has hands. His legs have a bunch of joints but posability is limited due to his chicken leg design. His head can rotate 360° but can’t look up and down.

Gimmicks

ROTF had Mech-Alive as it’s line wide gimmick. This Starscream has one of the best executed ones of the line. Turn his head, and the gears and stuff in his chest move. It adds a nice amount of detail to Starscreams robot mode and makes it feel as though he’s alive when the gimmick is activated. Oh, I get it. Mech-Alive. Clever.

He’s also got two firing missile launchers on his forearms. They used to launch with quite a bit of force, but now… not so much. It’s been 10 years, give him a break.

Toy or collectible?

ROTF toys are legendary for being extremely complex to transform. Starscream here is no exception. I did say his transformation was intuitive, but that doesn’t change the fact it is complex. So I’d say give him to a kid 10 years old or older. They’ll have fun with it because Starscream is complex but not infuriating.

For collectors, if you have Studio Series Starscream or any of the Leader Class Starscream releases, this guy isn’t that necessary. His only upside over those guys is his unique transformation.

Closing

He has his flaws, but you should ignore all of them.

He is the Starscream with the most unique transformation.

Lord Starscream gets 12/10 stars.