Starscream (September 28, 2006)

ID number: MP-3

Accessories: 2 null-rays, 2 missile racks, Doctor Arkeville pilot figurine, gun clip, two-piece display stand

The second new mold in Takara’s Masterpiece line, this highly-detailed version of Starscream is the ”odd man out” of the series, eschewing the slavish cartoon-accuracy of the other Masterpiece figures in favor of creating as accurate an F-15 Eagle alternate mode as possible, with a somewhat more stylized robot mode. The toy features several unobtrusive built-in gimmicks, including numerous opening panels on his jet mode surface (highlighting the attention this mode received), flip-up panels in his chest that reveal missile racks based on the weapons seen in the Generation 1 episode ”Fire on the Mountain”, and a rotating face that allows Starscream to switch his expression from stony-faced to sneering. Owners of the toy are given quite a few customization options, as Starscream comes with an extensive sheet of sticker decals, including variously sized Decepticon symbols, and squadron numbers and markings, including one of Waspinator!In addition to his built-in features, Starscream comes with several accessories. He is armed with both his traditional null-ray rifles, but his familiar cluster bombs are replaced with a rack of (slightly inaccurate) Sidewinder missiles. He also comes with a clip that mounts under his nosecone, allowing him to hold the Megatron pistol accessory that came with 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime in emulation of the way the characters linked up in ”S.O.S. Dinobots”, and a small figurine of Doctor Arkeville, his partner in crime from several first-season episodes of the Generation 1 cartoon, which can fit in his cockpit. Finally, he includes a two-piece, reconfigurable display base that allows the figure to be posed in mid-flight in either jet or robot mode, and can store Starscream’s accessories while they are not in use. Control art for Masterpiece Starscream which showed the figure wearing his Crown of Leadership (as seen in the coronation scene of the original animated movie) and a pair of otherwise-pointless flip-out notches in the finished toy’s shoulders indicated that Takara planned for a set of clip-on coronation gear. Ultimately, it would take six years before these accessories were finally released.Masterpiece Starscream’s creation was overseen by famed Japanese mecha designer Shōji Kawamori, who was particularly intent on hiding the robot-mode details on the underside of the fighter mode. The first prototype for the figure was essentially an upgraded, more complex version of the original toy, with much more accurate robot and jet modes, but Kawamori’s desire to avoid simply making a new version of an old toy saw the figure go through a major redesign into its finished form. Perhaps the most notable change was the repositioning of Starscream’s tail-fin structures from his legs to his hips, with the intent of creating the feel of a samurai wearing a pair of swords at his waist (presumably, if somewhat oddly, based on the then-recent Armada and Energon cartoons’ portrayal of their Starscream as a noble swordsman). Even so, Kawamori was still unhappy with the amount of robotic parts visible underneath the plane, but conceded that too many changes would essentially not make the toy look like Starscream in robot mode. In this pursuit of realism, the most visible concession to the design was the abandonment of his traditional color scheme, replaced with an all-over greenish-tinged grey. Given that this color is inaccurate to most real F-15 fighters (whose Gunship Gray coloration is much closer to Starscream’s traditional shade), the question of why it was changed at all is not an unreasonable one. However, there are instances of F-15 Strike Eagles that actually utilize this (seldom seen) color scheme.This mold was later retooled into the Masterpiece versions of Skywarp and Thundercracker, and was recolored by Hasbro into a more cartoon-accurate Starscream color scheme released under their Classics line as well as redecoed into Hasbro’s version of Masterpiece Skywarp under the Universe line. It was also redecoed and retooled to create the eleventh Masterpiece figure, Starscream.Though not stated on the package, Starscream is in fact a 1/60 scale F-15. The same scale used by many popular Japanese mecha toys including Kawamori’s own Macross Valkyries. Coincidence?

Masterpiece Large Scale

Takara

4904880718894

2005

Japan

Masterpiece Large Scale

Grey Plane

2018-06-08 15:35:29

~$249.97

2024-01-25

2018-06-08 15:35:29