MakeToys: MTRM-12 Skycrow and MTRM-13 Lightning

 

The second and third of the MakeToys Seekers, Skycrow is a straight up black and purple repaint of the excellent Meteor, and Lightning is a light blue version of the same. You know who they are supposed to be.

Iron Factory: Tyrant’s Wings Amethyst

 A few weeks ago there was a huge reveal of future Iron Factory releases, and once again, they seemed to catch some part of my interest in a way that probably does need to be addressed. Sure, I’ve pondered changing collection gears to more of these Legends scaled figures, already owning a couple and honestly liking pretty much every one that I see. But we’ve talked about this before, you and I, and something about making such a huge (lol) shift in my collecting slightly frightens me; I don’t want to add another line, for lack of a better word here, to my shopping list, but I am growing more and more of an interest in these figures. This is certain to be a thing that will drag out for quite some time until it is finally resolved, and in the meantime, here’s Iron Factory’s Amethyst, a purple repaint of Clone, which is itself a repaint of their Starscream.

MakeToys MTRM-11 Meteor

It has been mentioned before that MakeToys may be my new favorite Third Party company, and it has been mentioned a number of times that Starscream is my favorite Transformers character. So, how will a MakeToys version of Starscream, that came with a fair amount of hype, fare?

The short answer is “pretty damn well.”

Mastermind Creations Airborne Squadron

In 2006, the third party scene was just beginning to turn into blossom into its current form. Around that time, most third party offerings were things like add on sets for official figures. Very slowly, original pieces were beginning to surface from a smattering of ambitious companies, and the modern day market as we know it, consisting of established characters and full toys, as opposed to the more accurate accessories or embellishment kits, was born.

DX9 War In Pocket Usurper, BlueBolt, and SkyShaker

 

 Here’s something really exciting. Proving that good things come in small packages, DX9 has produced a Legends-scale trio of G1 Seekers Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp, packaged them all in one excellent throwback style box, and managed to get them out to the market for about $60. Amazing.

This is not the Coffin’s first experience with the third party Legends class, as last Fall Iron Factory’s Wing of Tyrant Clone figure was a very pleasant and generally unexpected surprise. It is only natural then that these Seekers be compared to that one from time to time, and as good as Clone is, there is no contest to be had.

Maketoys Galaxy Meteor

 

Galaxy Meteor is an interesting piece, on a number of levels.

It is a third party rendition of Cybertron/Galxay Force Starscream, an anomaly by itself, as most of the third party market is still hyper focused on the G1 collector. It is also a figure that was seemingly rescued from oblivion by a concerted effort by some Transformer Twitter bigwigs spreading enough hype and etailers settling on a $99 price point, down from the initially projected $130.

And then, it’s a pretty interesting figure on its own.

Iron Factory: Tyrant’s Wings Clone

Here’s something that’s a little different. There has been a vein of the third party mine that has focused on making small, Legends scale figures as opposed to the larger variety. As an idea, this has been one that has been well received, and one that at times has piqued Coffin interests as well. One such company is Iron Factory, and when their TFCon USA 2017 exclusive Sunstorm repaint of their Starscream was announced, it seemed like as good a time as any to jump in to this area of third party merchandise.

So, Iron Factory’s Legend scaled Starscream is called Tyrant, and the other Seekers fall under the group moniker of Tyrant’s Wings. Sunstorm, as established by the Dreamwave G1 continuity, was a religious zealot who identified Starscream as his brother, so it kinda makes some sense that here, in the unofficial realm, that would translate to Clone.

Kinda.

Transformers: Masterpiece Dirge

At this point, there have been so many Masterpiece Seekers released that it is difficult to find anything to say that could even give the appearance of being new, and the shame of that is that this condition accompanies Dirge, arguably the best looking of the Masterpiece Coneheads. Another repaint of the MP-11 Starscream mold with different wings and a cone head, Dirge, like Ramjet and Thrust, simultaneously offers excitement for being something new and a sense of fatigue and completion, having now finally reached the end (for now . . . ) of the molds’ tenure in the line. No other mold has given as much as this one, from the beginnings of the Masterpiece line until the present day. So, in a way, I’ve come here not to praise Masterpiece Dirge, but to bury him.

Transformers: Masterpiece Thrust

 

With no intended slight at Titans Return Breakaway, Masterpiece Thrust is the review that I want to use to usher in 2017 at the Coffin. Released (and received) in October of last year, Thrust is one of the more unfortunate casualties of my lack of blog time in the closing months of last year.

Thrust is the second of the three Conehead Seekers, the G1 Season 2 trio of Decepticon air warriors. He is also the second modification of the MP-11 mold, this time labeled as MP-11NT, the first being Ramjet. Thrust is quite a bit different from Ramjet, sporting an impressive pair of new wings.

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?

Transformers: Generations Armada Starscream

 

 Ah, Generations. The continuation of the ever changing to meet the needs of the brand Universe line. 

At several points in the history of the moniker new toys have been released, figures designed and produced as 100% originals, rather than the straight up repaints of old figures which were the hallmark of the line from its origins until 2008. Between about 2011 and 2014 the Generations line took up the mantle of being the ‘collector focused’ line, and a slew of G1 updates were released in its packaging. With the success of Transformers comics on the upswing in the 2012-2013 cycle, Generations also became the toy line attached, either in part or in whole, to releasing figure versions of characters featuring in the comics. But here is a sort of grey area for some: was Generations the umbrella under which comic characters got new toys, or were comic characters getting more comic attention because they were getting new toys in the Generations line? The dreaded ‘to sell toys’ argument was reborn again, as it is with every Transformers fictional iteration. 

Transformers: Masterpiece Ramjet

If you’ve read my Ghosts of Christmas Presents series of reviews from last December, you’re probably aware of the tendency my wife has to buy me really awesome and occasionally really rare Transformers figures. My birthday was a few weekends ago, and I turned a spry 38 years old. My wife got me a really excellent two part gift: the first part is the Takara Mall exclusive Masterpiece Ramjet.

Ramjet is the first (we now know) of the Coneheads released in the Masterpiece line. Starting from the MP-11 Starscream body, Ramjet is a heavy modification that makes a lot of improvements to that figure, and has one of the most satisfying transformation steps that I’ve come across in some time. I took a picture of it, so don’t worry. Just try to process your excitement, and we’ll get to it soon enough. 

Transformers: Combiner Wars: Skywarp and Thundercracker

This review, like another one I did  a while back, is one that has been a long time coming. When I first started this blog, the then-recent Generations Jetfire was newly found at retail, and was the figure I thought I’d launch my Internet empire with. That never happened. Months later I got its retool/repaint Thundercracker at retail, and thought that was a good time to write on the mold. Months passed and last week I found Skywarp at a Toys R Us, and figured that now was finally the time, or else I should just wait until I get the Starscream version. So, here I go.

Transformers Cloud Starscream

On the 17^th of January, I present my final Christmas present write up. Look, it’s been a busy time at Coffin Central: been on vacation, did some traveling, struggled to keep up with all the celebrity deaths, and am like 2/3 through a second playthrough of Bloodborne. Maybe later is better than never.

Anyway, the final gift from my wife was a second figure from the Transformers Cloud line of Japanese repaints, one which keeps the Christmas Starscream tradition going as well. Cloud Starscream is a repaint of the Generations Doubledealer figure, itself a repaint and new heading of the Generations Blitzwing figure. Wait, two flawed Generations toys made into exclusives in consecutive reviews? Yes. But, much like Hellwarp, Starscream here does some things that make up for some of the base molds’ issues.

Transformers Legends Slipstream

Moments ago I learned that I was not the owner of a winning Powerball ticket. Oh well.

That would make this a perfect time to FINALLY talk about some other Christmas gifts I received last month. As I’ve mentioned before, my wife always gets me some excellent Transformer that I’m after for Christmas, and this year was no different. Well, actually, it sort of was, as she got me not one, but three such figures. First up for review is the Japan-only Transformers Legends Slipstream.

Slipstream is a newer addition to the Transformers universe. A clone of sorts of Starscream from Transformers Animated, which is a series I never finished watching, Slipstream is a, or perhaps ‘the’ is better, female Seeker. In Animated, Starscreams’ personality is manifest in the forms of a number of “clones,” one of which, incredibly interestingly, is Slipstream. After causing a minor tremor in the fandom right after her introduction, Slipstream more or less fades into the background of the mythos, getting one figure – a Starscream repaint – via the TFCC. In 2013, Hasbro conducted a fan vote, the validity of which is debatable, to create a new character and toy that was made ‘by fans, for fans.’ The result was Windblade, as I’m sure we all know. Windblade would eventually get a figure and be shoehorned into the comics, and Slipstream is a repaint of that Windblade figure. 

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.

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.