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.
The figure is not without criticisms. The legs are a bit too
large for some people and the torso is mostly hollow, as the Fall of Cybertron line was the one where
everyone was supposed to feel bad for a multibillion dollar corporation because
they needed to do something to make their toys more affordable to produce yet
cost more at retail lest they lose any of their profit margins due to the cost
of materials in the 2008-2012 period, and so they began experimenting with
hollow spaces in toys and thinner plastics. The arms are a little too lanky and
the elbow is lower than it probably should be, giving the robot a gangly arm,
almost ape like. This is also a necessity of the transformation, as the arm
needs to fold over in order to fit up into that totally hollow torso section.
The jet mode is supposed to be a Cybertronian jet, and does a good job of being
one, but the wings are on the short, stubby side, giving the overall vehicle a
kind of spearhead appearance, more than a real jet. The short wings are
exacerbated in vehicle mode by the large, thick legs, which run the length of
the plane and don’t integrate very well into the underside of the jet.
Infiltrator Starscream comes with a wealth of weapons. He
has the gatling guns that were standard armament for this mold, although they
plug into the forearms and as a result don’t allow the typical Seeker profile
of bicep mounted weapons. I’ve never been a fan of the way those guns mount on
this toy. Also included are the Pathblaster, the enormous gun that originally
came with Fall of Cybertron Sideswipe,
and (I think) the EMP blaster, originally found with the Shockwave of the same
line. All the weapons here are painted with nice metallic red highlights: the
gun barrels for the gatling guns, along the side of the Pathblaster and on the
muzzle part of the EMP blaster.
Although not a traditional ghost Ghost Starscream figure, as
Inflitrator Starscream is supposed to be just what the name implies, this is a
really nice figure despite the flaws of the base toy. He looks great, and is an
excellent realization of a translucent figure who is fully colored as opposed to
the mostly clear figures which had preceded it. The translucent Transformer is
not something that was invented by the Ghost Starscreams, just as this one did
not invent the translucent, fully colored one. Its release was pretty uniformly
passed over by most of the fan sites back when this was announced, and man did
people miss out. It may be the most limited run of the Ghost Starscream figures
owing to what it was produced for, but it is a great one, and one that deserves
a lot more press than it ever got.
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