Transformers: Robots in Disguise Starscream

My general unfamiliarity with this line makes me uncertain how to title this entry. I’m pretty sure the toyline is called Robots in Disguise, but I could be mistaken. The line is connected to the current cartoon, which by most accounts is good if you can find a way to view it. This toyline gets a lot of love on the fan boards, but it isn’t much of an interest to me. I bought this figure because it is a Starscream, and a pretty darn good one. So, without any strong attachments to the line or the fiction it represents, how do we feel about this Robots in Disguise Starscream?

Apparently the official size class designation for the line makes this a “Warrior” class figure, but it is a Deluxe. Maybe a little bigger than a Deluxe, mostly due to the lanky nature of the body and the span of the back mounted wings, but the Robots in Disguise line apparently doesn’t have a Voyager size class, and most of its figures come in this Warrior class. Again, it’s a Deluxe, although Warrior does sound pretty cool, and is better than the stupid “Powerizers” and “Revealers” and whatever else Prime tried to make stick. And, if I may for just a moment: Robots in Disguise again, really? The brand really, really needs to come up with a new tagline, because this one is way played out. Since 2000, this is the second television show to use that as its title, along with a comic book AND it being the subtitle of the Prime toyline, with the full name being Prime: Robots in Disguise. Enough already Hasbro, honestly. 

Right from the very first second, it is clear that this toyline is intended for children (gasp). The character design is more evocative of series like Animated, maybe a little bit of the Prime aesthetic, and that is to say rather cartoonish. That’s not a bad thing, as the characters in this line in general look pretty cool. I’m such an out of touch old man on this line too, because I know that a number of the characters are fairly unconventional-looking, and I think that’s cool, but I don’t have enough of an interest to even do much searching to confirm this. It’s fine though, one does not have to be in the know on everything in a franchise. 

Noticeable right away when handling this figure is the way the plastic feels super thin. It seems fairly durable under stress though, which is certainly a positive for a toy explicitly made for kids. The plastic feels cheap though, and that is something that I really don’t like. It’s light, in terms of its weight, and this only adds to the idea that the toy feels cheap and flimsy. Every time I transform this one, I worry that it is going to break, but again, it is pretty durable. The forearms are solid plastic, but the legs are totally hollow, and while this is needed to accommodate transformation, the rest of the figure is pretty hollow as well. The wings are basically attached to a backpack hinge, and the jet nose just folds into the hollow torso. Overall, there is not much of a figure here.

However, Starscream looks good. The grey color, the primary one here, is a nice one, as are the scant few applications of light blue, red and yellow. He is a pretty lanky robot, so people who oppose the slender, angular Animated style probably won’t like this one. The jet wings swing down behind the back kind of like a cape, or they can be swung out to the sides for a more typical Seeker profile. But, they sit real high up on the torso, so extending the wings all the way makes them hang over the top of the head, which is not really a good look. Of course, a middle ground arrangement is possible, with the wings sort of out to the sides, but in my opinion this stretches the robot mode too much, which then exaggerates the overall thinness of the toy. 

Starscream comes with two small weapons that can either be held in hand or attached to the forearms, in the typical Seeker style. Subsequently, they can plug into the underside of the wings in the typical Seeker style. They are alright as weapons, and I prefer to have them attached to the arms because I am a Seeker traditionalist like that. This is something that usually makes me happy about a new toyline or a new version of a character: that callback to the original. Not every Seeker must be a G1 style Seeker, but there are certain things that the Seeker profile should always have. Wings that stick out from the back, and arm mounted weapons. And probably the cockpit chest, although that’s just a design choice that I like. The other two things, yeah, mandatory. Those two features leave a lot of room for change and development, but they are features that make the Seeker profile the distinctive one that it is. Anyway, they don’t look bad as handheld blasters, but I prefer them on the arms.

The jet mode is cool. Like real cool. A forward swept wing design and a real long, dagger like fuselage makes Starscream look fast and lethal, a really nice update for the alt mode. Starscream has worn many jet designs as disguises over the years, and most of them have been real cool. The only drawbacks here are, again, the plastic quality makes the toy look cheap, and the toy is another entry in the very, very long list of “folded up robot with an airplane on top” figures.

The robot shoulders are clearly visible, and flipping the toy over exposes the entire rest of the robot. This is a pretty halfhearted criticism, as it has happened so, so many times over the years of the franchise that for the most part, I think people are over it. It is almost expected that a jet alt mode figure simply has the robot underneath itself, or has some clearly identifiable robot part(s) plainly visible. The legs do fold up sort of neatly to form the rear portion of the jet, but then the feet stick out, supposing to be tailfins. Eh, the jet mode is fine, and does what it does pretty well. And, again, we are used to this by now, and again, this is clearly a figure meant for kids.

A few weeks back there was some image dump of characters that would be soon appearing on the Robots in Disguise show, and among them was Skywarp, utilizing, as he should, the same body. I didn’t investigate enough to know whether or not that Skywarp would be getting a figure, but I must say, I would buy a set of Seekers from this mold, and I’d feel pretty good about it. The toy is a nice one overall, and part of me wonders, in light of the Skywarp image, how much of the cheapishness of the toy is due to Starscreams’ color palate. As well as, could that cheapishness be mitigated by a more robust paint job, like those of Skywarp and Thundercracker, or even the Coneheads? It would not be the first time thatStarscream took a good mold and made it look kinda flimsy. I think if I were to go in for other Seekers though, I’d want to know that at least the first three were going to be made. Not sure I’d want just a Starscream and a Skywarp or Thundercracker, but I would invest in at least the trio, with the hypothetical Coneheads depending on how they looked.