Transformers: eHobby Generation 1 Ghost Starscream

So, this review is a very long time coming. Back in November I won an eBay auction for this figure, and tweeted pretty much immediately that I’d be writing on it soon. Then came Thanksgiving, and the end of the Fall semester, and then Christmas; I started writing up the other Ghost Starscream figures I own as a way of making a unified set of entries, and then I got Bloodborne, and Lemmy died, and we went to Toronto for a few days. So I have to try and get myself back on track.

This is a figure that I have wanted for a very long time. eHobby used to be in the business of releasing G1 toys for ‘new’ or different G1 non-character characters. Notable examples include things like G1 Sunstorm and Hauler, both born from animation errors in the original cartoon: Sunstorm is actually a known and established character by now and Hauler is a miscolored, vaguely Construction-neon Grapple, who never transformed or did anything. But, you know how it is: if it appears on screen, there is a chance that it will eventually get a toy. 

I have wanted this toy for a very long time. It was originally released in 2001, which is just about the time that I became a serious toy collector. It was originally sold with the eHobby Black Starscream repaint, which was always slightly confusing to me: it was a Starscream repaint, but it didn’t really fit anywhere, so I just headcannoned it into being a different Seeker. Anyway, enough of my problems: I’d gotten the Black Starscream loose for probably around $60, and only afterwards, during the rise of eBay, found out that the ghost version existed. I’d found a set of the two figures for almost $300 – probably the same set that’s still on eBay – and beside the price, I wasn’t too keen on rebuying a figure I’d already had. Again, it was the early 2000s, and I had just begun my collectors’ journey, so I was troop building Star Wars Clones yet and there were only the original six Seekers at that time. My interest in the figure changed over the years from curiosity, since there’d never really been a Transformer that was clear before, to a serious interest to a gradual acceptance of the notion that I’d probably never actually own one. As my wife began buying me other Ghost Starscreams over the years and the number of potential future gifts began to dwindle, the eHobby version made a reappearance on my radar. But still, it was always too expensive. That is, until this eBay auction came around, and a pretty low bid for most of its week put me in a position to snatch it on the cheap, which I totally did. 

 

The G1 Ghost Starscream is a G1 Seeker figure done almost entirely in clear plastic, with the exception of the large die cast chest. I’ve made a habit of pointing out the depth of the blue on these translucent toys, and on this example, the blue is very weak. The clear plastic is also ‘just’ clear, not the smokier type of ‘clear’ plastic later Ghosts would employ. The overall effect is a kind of anemic look colorwise, with nothing really catching the light, say, the way Infiltrator Starscream does. This is not to say that it’s a bad figure at all, and if we’re being honest here, we’re talking about the G1 Seeker mold: a mold which most of us have encountered, and is pretty limited in all areas by being a product of late 1970s/early 1980s toy engineering. Aside from it being clear plastic, the amazing things about this figure are almost all related to the age of the base mold. When I opened it, I was opening a figure that had been sealed for the better part of the last fifteen years; as I was putting the stickers on, I was putting the stickers on a design that was over thirty years old, and the stickers were still a super pain in the ass. Of all the things that have or will change during the evolution of toy development, I will never, ever miss having to apply the robot eyes sticker to Transformers. Ever. As I look at it and hold it up to the light, I’m messing around with a figure that I’d been hunting on and off for almost fifteen years. 

On the plus side, this may be the one Ghost Starscream that does not feel at all like a part is going to break, or that plugging weapons or fists on is going to cause stress on the plastic. It is like a solid brick of clear plastic, in keeping with the overall G1 aesthetic. 

It's not every day you get to take a G1 Seeker out of the box anymore....

Overall, the figure really does give the impression that it is the first of its kind, the first of the Ghost Starscreams and one of, if not the, earliest translucent Transformers. It looks like the kind of thing that is great at being what it is, but in comparison to other, later, more refined attempts, it’s something that will be outshined by pretty much every follow up. And that is true in this case. But if you really look at the figure for what it is, it is something very special. The translucent toy is not for everyone, but it is not a thing that happens so frequently that it should legitimately upset anyone when it does. When Takara’s Unite Warriors Grand Galvatron was announced in late November, and one of the limbs was revealed to be a Combiner Wars Ghost Starscream, I threw down a preorder right away. . . and on a fansite, saw people complaining about “another” Ghost Starscream figure. Right, because there are so many of them. What the world really need is some more stealth mode Bumblebees that just invert the color scheme and then take up more space at the store, but we’ve heard that argument over and over and over. The eHobby Ghost Starscream may not be working with the best Starscream figure, although I will always love the G1 Seeker, and it may not be the best of the translucent figures. But it was among the first, and if for no other reason than that, it is something special. And if Ghosts of Starscreams make people that angry due to their proliferation, the word around the Internet is that this figure was made in a run of only 1,500, so it’s very doubtful that you’re ever going to find yourself in a position where you actually have to deal with one. I am glad that I finally am in said position, and getting this figure truly was obtaining one of my Grails.