Transformers: Unite Warriors Grand Galvatron

  

Here’s something that’s pretty interesting.

Unite Warriors is the Takara version of Combiner Wars, and is responsible for bringing us in the US the left out combiner team members like Slingshot, Wildrider and Groove. Essentially, Unite Warriors is only releasing box sets of full combiner teams, generally with improved or ‘more accurate’ paint schemes. The general release schedule has been following the US releases or announcements of teams, so there is something of a 1 to 1 ratio between Combiner Wars and Unite Warriors. Hasbro does Superion; Takara does Superion. Hasbro does Defensor; Takara does Defensor. Hasbro released a seemingly random and superfluous Cyclonus, serving as the torso of a limbless, teamless combiner called “Galvatronous”; Takara releases….Grand Galvatron, the Cybertronian Haunt Commander.

What?

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.

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.

Ghost of Christmas Presents: Transformers: Generations Volume 3 Infiltrator Starscream

Infiltrator Starscream is a translucent version of the Fall of Cybertron Starscream mold, and was available as some type of Japanese magazine exclusive. He comes with practically every weapon from the game as well. 

Unlike the Henkei! Ghost of Starscream, this figure is mostly red plastic, giving him a much more solid look under normal light. From a distance it looks like just a Seeker in red, and it is only close up that his translucent nature is apparent. The legs are a smoky grey plastic, as is much of the torso, and this inclusion of colors makes this figure a bit more visually stimulating than the Henkei! one as well. The two are impressive for what appears to be the opposite reasons: Henkei! for its clearness and Infiltrator for his colors. 

Ghosts of Christmas' Past: Transformers: Henkei! Ghost Starscream

Of all the wealth of characters in the Transformers universe, my favorite is and always has been Starscream, the treacherous lieutenant of Megatron and commander of the Seekers, the elite air commandos. In Transformers The Movie, the 1986 animated feature and still only watchable big screen Transformers venture, Starscream is blasted by Galvatron and later, in Season 3 of the G1 cartoon, comes back as a ghost and causes hijinks. This spectral Starscream winds up being kind of a thing, appearing in an episode of Beast Wars in 1996 as well. 

Every so often, Takara in Japan puts out a Starscream figure in translucent plastic as a special Ghost of Starscream, and every year, there is a Christmas. My wife has made a habit of getting me a Ghost of Starscream for Christmas and, as Christmas is once again approaching, I thought I’d take some time here on the Coffin to take a look at these interesting and fairly unique entries in the Transformers toy catalog, compliments of my wife. About a month ago, I won an eBay auction for the first such figure, an eHobby exclusive G1 Starscream; but it is thanks to my wife that I have any of these, really.

The first Ghost of Starscream figure I got was the Henkei! version, a translucent Classics Starscream. The Classics Seeker first appeared in 2007,  and by now I don’t think there’s a Transformers fan alive that hasn’t handled one. There will probably be a more thorough write up on this general figure coming in the future, so I’m going to keep this focused on this specific one.