Easily the jewel in the crown of translucent Starscream
figures is the Masterpiece, MP-3G. The original Masterpiece Seeker mold has
been maligned a fair amount since its 2006 release, and in 2012 it was slightly
redesigned and released to a fair deal of acclaim, the same figure save for
remolded legs that dealt with the pretty awkward hip pieces. This Ghost version
was released in 2010.
The Seeker MP has some issues, to be sure. The hip parts do
get in the way, and there aren’t many options for dealing with them. I
generally pop them off the ball joints and then attach them to the legs, giving
something of a leg brace/splint appearance but alleviating the generally
awkward issue. Not on the Ghost version though, as translucent plastic is known
to be a bit more brittle than normal, and the MP Seeker plastic has always felt
thin and delicate to me anyway. The less stress put on a figure like this one,
the better. The feet are also not very good at supporting the toy, as it stands
on the jet engines and a pretty narrow portion of the actual foot. This figure
can be hard to balance and hard to stand, and since 2006 I have lived in a
near-constant fear that these figures are going to tumble over. I own six of
them (the original Starscream, the G1 Walmart repaint, the Ghost Starscream,
Skywarp, Thundercracker and the MP 11 repaint Acid Storm) and have had this
happen maybe twice, but still, it is a fear that I don’t find totally
unfounded.
This mold in general has a good transformation scheme, and
the jet mode, although not pictured here, is a strong alt mode. As a general
commentary, I feel that jet Transformers often have one mode that suffers for
the other: a good jet, but a not so good robot, or vice versa. While this can
and does happen for Transformers of any alt mode, I’ve got a personal affinity
for jets, and so perhaps notice it more with figures that fit that bill. The issue
has been addressed over the last decade or so, with figures like the Classics
Seekers and Energon Starscream, and
most of the Combiner Wars jets all
doing rather well.
The Masterpiece Seeker does a very good job in both modes. I
have never understood why people are overly critical of this figure. But, I suppose
when a line begins with the literal masterpiece that is MP-01 Optimus Prime,
there are bound to be those who feel that things can only go down from there.
The Starscream mold is almost everything that that Prime isn’t: it’s thinner
and feels more delicate, it’s far more intricate and less sturdy. That Prime
honestly feels like a brick, like an actual brick, while Starscream is waifish
in comparison.
The Ghost version is once again very beautiful, and very
stunning under the proper light, and is perhaps the most complete realization
of the translucent ghost concept. There are very few parts on him that are
solid, and again they are generally joint pieces, such as the ratchets in the
shoulders and the parts holding on the wing flaps, and then kind of
interestingly, the helmet and face. You can see in the photo that the colored
plastic appears stronger in some areas that others; for instance, the red of
the chest and the hips appears to be a bolder, stronger red that the red of the
shoulder intakes, and It is. There is a higher density of red plastic in those
areas, and so it appears darker, a thicker red, essentially due to layering.
The forearms are another good example of this, as compared to the feet, as the
forearms allow the blue to look deeper than do the thin, single layer feet. Interestingly,
the hidden chest missiles are unpainted.
As I stated at the beginning of the Ghost Starscream
reviews, I’ve gotten most of these as Christmas gifts from my wife. This one
was one of two Ghost Starscreams that I thought I would never own, which makes
it feel a little better every time I look at the shelf that houses the Ghosts
of Starscream and see him there.
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