The Energon Pub

nice re-paint

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIZJuszFqOA

Unfortunately the parts lock to damn well...I broke him a couple places trying to transform him back into a robot.

It's a nice figure...best movie Starscream to date (which isn't too hard to top) and the best leader Decepticon, but Prime is still tops in my opinion...and maybe both movie Leader Primes. Back to Starscream, though, the crappy brown plastic blows, but on the bright side, his Con insignia are the real symbols! The voice is terrible, though...the lights are cool enough, but the voice is just ass. I'm looking forward to removing the batteries. Also on the plus side, like Mindwipe, the chicken legs are optional. If those bothered you, you can pose them straight without issue.

Powermaster Jazz wrote:Unfortunately the parts lock to damn well...I broke him a couple places trying to transform him back into a robot.

So did I. Where the arm attaches to the piece that swivels out from the chest, the slot for the tab snapped. I had to glue the slot piece back together and turn it around so the arm would tab in without getting loose. Took me a while to get it right too.

Plus the panel that hides his head in vehicle mode got stuck and I had to disassemble him to loosen it and get him to transform. Once I got that fixed, he turned out to be a better figure than I first thought, but he's still doesn't beat Optimus. Not in my opinion.

Optimus is #1, Starscream is a solid #2, Jetfire's a 3, and Megatron is a distant 4.

Optimus still wins me over and I can honestly say I think he's my favorite TF of all time.

Starscream looks great, his posability is great, but he just wasn't what I was expecting. The gold plastic really, really worries me. It seems to be the same type as what's used on Armada Superbase Prime, which doesn't break or suffer from GPS, but just in case it is the GPS type (and there are visible swirls in the plastic...), you're in serious trouble if he's stricken with it. All of the important connector points and joints have gold plastic, and a brownish plastic is used on the others. If they crumble, he will literally fall apart into a mess of pieces that look something like a TransFormer.

It's guaranteed that there will be a repaint of this guy (we're talking about Hasbro here), so you folks may want to consider taking the two figures and Frankensteining them to make a solid and trustworthy Starscream.

I will be extremely careful with my Starscream until I know for sure he doesn't have the GPS plastic.

And I'll be extremely angry if he does.

Part of me really does want this figure, but I am going to have to pass. I am just not at all inspired by it, which is really surprising considering I was looking forward to seeing it. I think it looks completely fantastic (except for the hands) in both modes. It is actually a spectacular looking figure, and Hasbro did a great job of bringing the movie character to life. AND Starscream is finally in the right size class!

I just don't like the Movie-style Starscream enough to by this Leader Class figure. I haven't liked his design since the 07 movie, and I can't seem to warm up to it. I can honestly say the only Leader Class movie decepticon figure I like is Brawl......and he is a freaking brick (it is consistent with his movie design though). New and old Megatron are terrible IMO, and Jetfire was just sorta kinda ok I guess. The Optimus Prime molds for both movies were/are absolutely great in their own ways. The 07 mold is phenomenal in it's own right just as much as the RoTF mold. If fact, the transformation and alt mode appearance of the 07 figure is better in my opinion-a lot of people say the newer version has a more realistic looking alt mode, but this is frankly not correct. People may argue against that, but the proportions say it all.

I am sorry to be so negative about the Leader Class figures from the movie line, but I just find them truly disappointing at this point and I refuse to waste any more money on them.

Prime Riblet wrote:Part of me really does want this figure, but I am going to have to pass. <snip>
I am sorry to be so negative about the Leader Class figures from the movie line, but I just find them truly disappointing at this point and I refuse to waste any more money on them.

Just wait for it to go on a good sale and then decide...at some point you should be able to buy it for $35 or less. And other than Jetfire, the leader class have been plentiful throughout the shelf lives of a line. Although I can't imagine Hooker Prime is going to sell all that well so stores might just quit getting in leaders when they have a shelf of 6 Primes and no Starscreams. But I would still think it'll live to see a decent sale, nonetheless.

Do NOT open that head panel from the aft, doing this will lock it down. LIFT it from where the pins are located.

LeL wrote:Do NOT open that head panel from the aft, doing this will lock it down. LIFT it from where the pins are located.

Sliding the front down a bit helps, it raises that panel a bit so it's easier to open.

I've had mine for a week now and I think he's better than Optimus. He doesn't have the issues with kibble getting in the way that Optimus does and his transformation isn't as fiddly. The only drawback is the extra bulk on the underside of the jet, but it's streamlined very well and it's not as bad as Jetfire.

Kibble wrote:

Prime Riblet wrote:Part of me really does want this figure, but I am going to have to pass. <snip>
I am sorry to be so negative about the Leader Class figures from the movie line, but I just find them truly disappointing at this point and I refuse to waste any more money on them.

Just wait for it to go on a good sale and then decide...at some point you should be able to buy it for $35 or less. And other than Jetfire, the leader class have been plentiful throughout the shelf lives of a line. Although I can't imagine Hooker Prime is going to sell all that well so stores might just quit getting in leaders when they have a shelf of 6 Primes and no Starscreams. But I would still think it'll live to see a decent sale, nonetheless.

I might consider that. I do know that here in Minnesota the shelf life has been amazingly long-Leader Megs and OP are still available. I might change my whole view of the figure once I see it in person, but I have to wonder if it is still worth the money I could other wise spend on an Alternator or whatever. I will see, I guess.

I never had like starscreams' movie design or really any of the voyager toys even though I do have the first movie figure and nebular starscream because it was on clearance. This leader class figure does wonders for him. If you have him standing straight up (really hate the chicken legs on the movie figures) he looks really badass. I can see what the movie designers was going for. The only thing that would make this figure perfect would be if he had articulated fingers.

Mistransformed wrote:I never had like starscreams' movie design or really any of the voyager toys even though I do have the first movie figure and nebular starscream because it was on clearance. This leader class figure does wonders for him. If you have him standing straight up (really hate the chicken legs on the movie figures) he looks really badass. I can see what the movie designers was going for. The only thing that would make this figure perfect would be if he had articulated fingers.

There is a post about the hands in the Kitbashes/Custom Figures forums.

Prime Riblet wrote:

Mistransformed wrote:I never had like starscreams' movie design or really any of the voyager toys even though I do have the first movie figure and nebular starscream because it was on clearance. This leader class figure does wonders for him. If you have him standing straight up (really hate the chicken legs on the movie figures) he looks really badass. I can see what the movie designers was going for. The only thing that would make this figure perfect would be if he had articulated fingers.

There is a post about the hands in the Kitbashes/Custom Figures forums.

Thank you for the tip. It looks really great but I could never attempt anything like that. I would so screw it up. I am just not skilled in customizing or kitbashing.

opened this guy yesterday and found him easier to transform than I thought. Not as hard as Optimus. Speaking of OP, I quickly put SS near him (he's in a hard to reach area behind a PC monitor) and noticed he was taller. Wow. I gotta make these guys fight when i transform him back to bot mode. I'll be careful with him as everyone's warning. Too bad we don't get a gun or missile firing noise, but I'm pleased with him so far. Haven't removed the missiles from the tray yet.

sidenote: what do you guys do with your empty boxes? Do you keep them or throw them out? I'm runnin out of space & this box got dinged up bad b/c of TRU's crappy packaging/shipping. (No protection). I have MP boxes & 2 LC boxes. Do i really need these?

LeL wrote:Do NOT open that head panel from the aft, doing this will lock it down. LIFT it from where the pins are located.

This is good advice. I think I pushed the panel up from the underside because mine would not move.

HFTD LC Starscream looks good, but i feel he has lack of detail and color on his head, face, and so on, but thats me. And sorry to say i must pass on this for personal reasons or if he is on sale then might consider him, highly doubt it though...

Counterpunch wrote:First off, Starscream is rightfully huge.

The alt mode is really impressive with the same kind of panel interlocking that Jetfire displayed but with the process improved and perfected.

The transformation is complex and intuitive except for one single step in alt to bot mode where the panel just has no give. Everything locks and guides you to the right location.

The bot mode is detailed and articulated, but most importantly it is accurate to the movie. Where his chest is wide, it is not a limit as there are joints in all the right places for realistic movement and posing.

Starscream properly handles his missile launcher by allowing it to be a transforming part of his arm or removable kibble. Two little guns sit in his hands as well.

Best of all, there just aren't any cheats in the toy. Every part goes from here to there and has a purpose. The legs retain all their detail and don't rely on a collapsing mechanism to hide them and the arms work in a similar way.

I'm bad at reviews...but this is the most impressive toy I've held in my hands since MP Grimlock.

Well, CP and Kibble, your views made me (forced me) to reconsider my position on this figure. I passed him up 2 times, but I finally caved in and bought the damned thing. It really is a great figure in just about every way. I actually think it might a little more interesting than RoTF Prime at this point in the game, but maybe just because it is a new figure and I haven't bought anything for a while.

First and foremost, the hands don't bother me nearly as badly as I thought they would based on the pictures. They really are ok. Also, the fact that they fold neatly out of the way makes it a nonissue.

The figure looks really good in both modes. The detail is good, and the accuracy is impressive. It is also a VERY solid figure, and there is a really nice heft to the toy.

The transformation is great. It makes really good sense, and all the pieces have their places. There is very little kibble at all and what is there actually looks "right".

Articulation is great compared to the rest of the Movie Leaders and it is right on par with Prime-at least as good.

There are a lot of points to speak about, but I am super happy to have bought the figure. It is seriously all that and a bag of chips.

One thing to those yet to buy it though......take the batteries out.

The figure really does not look like much just glancing at it, but once you actually have him in your hands... he's really just great in every way. The accuracy of mode modes, the level of sculpted detail, the pop-out weapons, the extra joints that allow his wide chest to deform for natural-looking poses, it's all just perfect.

I put him on par with combined Prime, and above Prime by himself, with Megatron below that and then Jetfire. Prime is awesome, but Starscream can do this:

Prime Riblet wrote:One thing to those yet to buy it though......take the batteries out.

Truer words cannot be spoken! It's beyond annoying and the voice is terrible! The only bummer is the lights are actually kinda neat in the chest. I read about someone that got one that didn't have sound, but the lights worked and he was disappointed. I shoulda offered to trade him!

PR, did you get him for $30? If not, you should consider ordering from Walmart.com, sight to store, then returning the sealed one to the more expensive place. Unless of course they'll price match without the hassel...

Kibble wrote:

Prime Riblet wrote:One thing to those yet to buy it though......take the batteries out.

Truer words cannot be spoken! It's beyond annoying and the voice is terrible! The only bummer is the lights are actually kinda neat in the chest. I read about someone that got one that didn't have sound, but the lights worked and he was disappointed. I shoulda offered to trade him!

PR, did you get him for $30? If not, you should consider ordering from Walmart.com, sight to store, then returning the sealed one to the more expensive place. Unless of course they'll price match without the hassel...

Unfortunately for those who didn't get him yet, he's no longer $30 at walmart.com. Its up to 49.95! Battle Hooks Leader Prime is still $30 though.

Damn! $5 more than TRU...wonder if that to try and make up for the $30 thing...

$49.95?! What the heck is going on over at Wal-Mart? I mean it's obvious to them that these guys are starting to sell so they no longer feel as though they have to cut their losses, but dang.

Dang.

Kibble wrote:

Prime Riblet wrote:One thing to those yet to buy it though......take the batteries out.

Truer words cannot be spoken! It's beyond annoying and the voice is terrible! The only bummer is the lights are actually kinda neat in the chest. I read about someone that got one that didn't have sound, but the lights worked and he was disappointed. I shoulda offered to trade him!

PR, did you get him for $30? If not, you should consider ordering from Walmart.com, sight to store, then returning the sealed one to the more expensive place. Unless of course they'll price match without the hassel...

Nope-I got him for the full price (44.95) at TRU. I don't mind though. Considering that I gave that same amount for Jetfire, I can deal with SS being full price. I tore the package all to hell though, so I won't be returning it!

I am frankly astonished by how poseable this figure is. The toy is balanced so well, that it is possible to set him up in surprisingly realistic poses, and he remains nice and planted. Seriously, the balance and center of gravity of this figure is top-notch and makes it just that much better. I am completely impressed with this figure.

Prime Riblet wrote:I am frankly astonished by how poseable this figure is. The toy is balanced so well, that it is possible to set him up in surprisingly realistic poses, and he remains nice and planted. Seriously, the balance and center of gravity of this figure is top-notch and makes it just that much better. I am completely impressed with this figure.

Seriously, this. In my picture up there he's holding deluxe Bumblebee up in one outstretched hand, and he wasn't in danger of tipping over at all. So firmly planted I shook the desk lightly and he barely wobbled. The balance of the figure is exceptional.

Prime Riblet wrote: I tore the package all to hell though, so I won't be returning it!

I meant return the new, sealed one with the more pricey receipt, but it doesn't much matter now since walmart raised their price even higher than TRU's...

Kibble wrote:

Prime Riblet wrote: I tore the package all to hell though, so I won't be returning it!

I meant return the new, sealed one with the more pricey receipt, but it doesn't much matter now since walmart raised their price even higher than TRU's...

I realized after posting that-I totally dorked out. I know what you mean though. Lapse of mental ability for a second.