Saturday, December 26, 2015

Ghosts of Past Christmas Presents: Transformers Masterpiece Ghost Starscream






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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