Transformers 2007 Deep Space Starscream review

We all know Bayverse Starscream by now; though he is the least betrayal-happy version of the character, he still manages to be fairly competent with fighting against Autobots until he was killed by a human. On one hand, I kind of with another Autobot did the honors, but on the other hand, it does prove no feat is impossible for a mere human if they put their ass to work. You should also already know he's been a reoccurring character in my review site, be it with any figures coming out at the time they were made or from years ago. And now I have another old figure to go with my 20th anniversary 2007 movie reviews. He may be given the designation of "Deep Space Starscream", but he's clearly meant to be part of the Premium Series line. Let's see how well this mold holds up after 2 decades.

Here we have Deep Space Starscream in his vehicle mode, and while it is an officially licensed F-22 Raptor, the proportions are ruined by all of that undercarriage. I know jetformers are notorious for having some messy kibble underneath their sleek alts, but even back then, this looked pretty bad. It's practically Silverbolt levels of bad, but while he was a combiner and they had to do something with his basic design, this guy's got his thighs and arms visible from underneath. Also, the decision to have the head covered by a mere panel that looks so incomplete makes me think of the joke Thew made on his Skywarp flipping people off. You can chop the underside of the jet mode and have two different toys, just about. This may as well be a chibi style toy with how goofy he looks, even if you put the missiles in those racks where the arms lie.

There is a gimmick where rolling him on a flat surface spins those gatling guns so he can launch the missiles with the help of a tab folded underneath the weapons. Seems cool but it does make me concerned with how sensitive those buttons are if you're handling the toy; I want to avoid losing those missiles.

Transformation is mostly reliant on Automorph technology to make up basically the entire torso. The legs do have some transforming going on, but the arms and head are already there. On one hand, it is a cool way to recreate his unique shape, especially back when some figures had that blocky look to them given Hasbro started learning how to translate movie designs, but on the other hand, it's a bit tedious how one area does all the work and the rest of him partially contributes to what we have for his engineering. It's why I appreciate how later Bayverse Starscream figures use more involved transformation sequences so as not to be this levels of easy, especially when we can still get a cool robot mode out of what's basically a plastic jet origami. The robot mode is not exactly 1:1 with the CG model since it's closer to the outdated concept art where he had these bulkier proportions than what we normally see in the movie. Keep in mind that like with all movies, toy manufacturers usually get reference material that isn't always finalized before production or shooting begins, so we end up with toys far different than what we actually see on screen. Starscream isn't the biggest example of this, but you can see how the thicker parts of him are far from his thinner build in the movies or later toys. As for the silver paint, I want to say it looks great, though being fully premium may not be the best suit for a military vehicle. It works so well for the robot mode, at least, especially with the details of wires or circuitry exposed in the arms or chest. And while the arms and lower legs aren't painted, they at least use a respectably cool grey shade to blend in better with the silver. Only real issue I have is that I wish the nosecones could fold better on his back since it looks awkward sticking up like some weird tail. Also, I heard that you can use Swindle's hands for this figure, but the TFWiki crew erased that over time. Maybe it wasn't worth bringing up as an unofficial thing?

Head sculpt is close to what the CG model's face was in the movie, but the sculpted details are far from being exactly like it, mostly for the eyes and the mouth being simpler than what later figures would have. The eyes may look light-piped but they are painted red over amber plastic. Articulation consists of a neck swivel, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, hinged elbows, hips that only move front and back if you hinge the back parts out a bit, outward leg movement, rotation below the thighs, and digitigrade knees that bend at two points. His forearms use these fin parts that fold out so they can look more like his hands turned into the arm cannons he'd normally use. While the missiles are meant to resemble fingers, the effect isn't as good as Hasbro intended.

The original version of the mold was heavily beige with some decent scorch effects to simulate how fast these jets fly in the sky, but it's much closer to the concept art where he had a beige tint. It's likely more apparent here because Hasbro doesn't usually want to sell monochrome toys that would flash on shelves less even though the Decepticons are far less colorful than the Autobots.

A special repaint sold in Japanese markets, known as Starscream Vardia Red Model, was only available to anyone who bought a Vardia RD-A301 HD DVD recorder, which also came with an HD-DVD copy of Transformers, five HD DVD-R and five DVD-R discs. Remember when some companies thought HD DVD was going to be the next big thing? Also, this repaint may be titled "red model" but it's clearly hot pink. Still weird Screamer got a special repaint like this when other characters have more screentime than him (maybe Takara wanted to have some of the bigger names of the franchise each share special promos?)

Naturally, a G1 style redeco was going to happen, and it was sold as a Target exclusive much like with the Deep Space repaint I am covering. Predictable as the repaint may be, at least his bot mode looks better with the color layout than the First Strike Optimus Prime with a similar G1 color scheme homage.

Thundercracker actually used the tooling first, though I won't lie that this feels like a mix between the movies and Animated with that shade of blue, or at least what these photos use. The head that originally came with this repaint even has a glowing mouth like the Animated Voyager!

Rounding out our Seeker trio from this mold is Skywarp, now sold exclusively at Walmart if you want to get him with the Masterpiece figure. Maybe this one was easier to find since it wasn't the actual G1 character. 

The last known repaint of the set, Ramjet, reverts back to the original tooling, with no Conehead in sight. At least it makes for a other easy Animated reference since he was known for lacking the distinct G1 nosecone helmet. Wait, what are you talking about? This is the real Starscream, the others mentioned in the review are fakes! He never had a nosecone, and G1 was never the original iteration of Transformers! He wasn't sold at Walmarts compared to the fake Skywarp; he could totally still be bought at any other retail today! (Honestly would beat paying $42 for a modern Voyager with less plastic).

For a comparison with the only other Voyager Starscream I own, here we have the Studio Series version with those ROTF tattoos which the original mold never got. I will say that the original Voyager has the torso width a little more accurately, but not as well as the HFTD Leader and MPM versions. The Studio Series version, at least in a vanilla pose, did appear somewhat stretched vertically, but that could be from borrowing the sculpt of the DOTM Deluxe. In some ways, the original Voyager holds up poorly compared to other 2007 movie toys, mostly with the over reliance on the Automorph gimmick, the missiles being easy to lose, and the altmode looking whack. That said, he is still pretty close to the on screen design, and the silver looks better than the beige ever could. Not sure why this wasn't labeled as Premium Series when there already was a Target exclusive Starscream with G1 colors. Plus, as I always say, these older toys from the 2000s always had this balance of being fun to play with and still having a decent bit of shelf presence. If you want this figure to get some nostalgia, be free to get any version you see fit. Otherwise, there are better Bayverse Starscream toys out there. On the flip side, Ramjet could make for a good use of this design if you want to pretend he's like his Animated counterpart. Oh, and we never got Thrust and Dirge since one was a retool of Breakaway and the other was his own mold.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

McFarlane DC Multiverse Raven & Wonder Girl review

We got some classic Teen Titans rep to go over for this McFarlane review, and as we get closer and closer to the license, at least it makes things easier with going back and getting any other members I missed out on. Or at least the remaining members of the 5embers associated with the 2003 cartoon. In the case of Wonder Girl, the name used to be associated with a teenage version of Diana Prince (much like how Superman was once Superboy), but the name would later be reused for Donna Troy, who became a founding member of the Teen Titans. She also had other aliases such as Troia as well as plenty of retcons related to her bloodline status with Wonder Woman. As for Raven, she is the daughter of a cosmic demon named Trigon; despite having to deal with her father's baser impulses and his goal of merging her powers with his, she instead aims to use these inherited abilities for good while fighting alongside the Teen Titans. Let's see which figure is more worth the asking price that the Collector Edition subline is slowly losing reason to have...spoiler alert, look at the boxes.

Here we have Wonder Girl in-hand, who may seem like a fairly new sculpt from the torso up, but her legs are still the same ones originally owned by Knightfall Catwoman. If you're going to use a body sculpt like this if it helps with Donna's height, fine, but why do we still have those ridges where they shouldn't be for the mid-thigh area? We have the new belt from the diaper piece, and the forearm gauntlets are a cool addition, but what about the bicep guards? Leaving them decoed on instead of sculpting then to make the bicep joint's crevice less awkward would have gone a long way. Same goes with sculpting the separation between the fabric and the bare skin on the top of her costume. I guess the stars look nice applied into the body, though the alignment seems a bit asymmetrical. Oh and she sucks at standing without the display plate. Already off to a bad start with this figure, huh?

His head sculpt is a little uncanny; I get that it's meant to match the way women were drawn in the 60s to early 70s, but it's got a look of her that makes her look like one of those models you'd find in some vintage ads, especially if this is meant to be a teenager and not so much an adult. At least the paintwork is good, but a little uncanny regardless. Articulation is the same as expected, but get this: she only comes with the lasso made out of that shitty material that is only good when rolled up. Can't we get any of the lasso accessories that came with the Gal Gadot version of Wonder Woman at the very least? Because this just barely stays in her hand, and even then, I hate how there is no way to store it!

She also comes with a pair of alternate hands: a right fist and an open left hand. That's pretty much it, so a Collector Edition, she does not make. A Platinum Chase version puts her in black with extra silver, either representing her Rebirth look or her time with the Darkstars. Either way, not worth hunting down given the original Wonder Girl sucked as I explained. 

For a comparison with her older sister, here we have the first Collector Edition Wonder Woman. I guess the gauntlets, red, and stars are enough to make her a passable sidekick to the CEWW, but how did we go from a figure that had a great level of accessories and little to no part reuse with a $30 price tag to this? Very embarrassing on McFarlane's end, especially by indirectly proving anyone who bitched and moaned about him right.

As for Raven, she is a retool of the figure previous Raven we got a few years back, only with the legs replaced with the thighs replaced with smoother ones to allow the bare skin to not be compromised by thigh high boot ridges. I'd wish some subtle sculptwork would help raise the sides of her new footwear to be raised in relief somewhat, but at least it looks better than what Wonder Girl has. The torso is stuck with the etched detailing, but it's somewhat less noticeable with a darker color scheme. I believe the modern Raven has more paint apps applied, but I think the color breakup we still have here looks good. Also, at least the sleeves of her arms blend in better what other figures normally deal with from reusing the Knightfall Catwoman mold. The cape is still the same, so don't expect any cloth goods with bendy wires implemented. At least the sculpt looks good and ominously flowy as someone who's known to be in the dark.

Her head sculpt is mostly good, and you could almost make out the bangs of her hair, but the shadow effect could be done better without looking too much like a half mask. Articulation is the same as before, but she does have some effect parts that go over the wrist pegs instead of poorly wedging them over her hands.

As for her Platinum Chase variant, it is the purified version of Rachel Roth after she conquered her inner darkness, which is a typical buy logical color change for her design. Accessories are the same, however. Next to the Robin I reviewed a while back, and I am kind of excited to getting around and completing the Teen Titans; if the OG roster isn't possible because of the license change, then at least I could get the 2003 cast without issue. Still wish the Robin figure didn't suck.

Overall, while far from worth the whole asking price, Raven is at least a better figure than what Blunder Girl had to offer (or lack thereof). With the end of the McFarlane era coming closer now than ever, it may be best to wait for a sale to pop up as we reach the holidays. Either way, just stay on the lookout for any discounts and don't bother with the full price, moreso on Donna.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Wonder Girl)

⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Raven)

Transformers Prime Wars Trilogy Monsterbots review

The Monsterbots are a case of usually forgotten G1 subgroups given how bloated the series already was, but what made them more unusual was how they were in most other early media but not the Sunbow cartoon. Admittedly, The Rebirth was already at an all time high with a ridiculously huge case for a 3-parter, so what chance would they get? These characters are known to be troublemakers and are nowadays known for being drunk from time to time. What was surprising was seeing them not just get their toys in the Prime Wars Trilogy, but having them within relatively close proximity given how other subgroups weren't as lucky either before or after their release. I mean, the Autobot Targetmasters went from 2019/20 with Siege Crosshairs to 2022 with Pointblank and finally 2026 with Sureshot! Let's review this trio and see if they need any new toys from here on out.

Here we have the three Monsterbots in their beast modes, from left to right being Grotusque, Twinferno/Doublecross, and Repugnus. You might be more familiar with Repugnus from the review Thew Adams made 12 years ago for Halloween, while Repugnus may be someone you'd best know for that cold spark gimmick TFWiki made an article about. As for our middle man, he apparently lost the name Doublecross so Hasbro had to use Twinferno instead. Not sure if they'd reclaim it now, but who knows if they ever do a 3-pack. While they're all using the same mold or engineering, I appreciate that they all have their unique beast modes. Grotusque was already the more traditional monster look by having those clawed arms, an uncanny animal face, and wings that would almost make him a gargoyle if not for the hot pink. Doublecross has a two-head motif going on that we already got the same year with Hun-Grrr, but RID Megatron and AOE Strafe also earned that identity. His arms are much smaller than Grotty's, too, given they don't form the actual robot arms. Repugnus is the most unique for his head design and pincer arms, though the all have the same leg engineering. At least with Repugnus, his feet are not the same as the other two, but their thighs are slightly molded differently. All of them have articulated jaws, while Doublecross has hinged heads as well as neck rotation and bends; Grotesque's arms move front and back on swivels, in and out on hinges, bicep swivels, and hinged elbows. Doublecross has ball jointed shoulders only for his beast arms, and Repugnus's arms are on hinges and ball joints. All of them have the same hip swivels, outward leg movement, and slight knee bends.

All 3 of them have their own Titan Masters based on the Beastformers/Battle Beasts. Remember those, 80s manbabies? Like, comment, and follow for more nostalgia bait! Anyways, the guy in the middle is meant to be White Leo, but his unpainted ass is called Daburu, which is how we'd pronounce "double" in Japanese. The other two are known as Fengul on the left and Dastard on the right. Their names are Platinum Tiger (sounds like something you would find in a Chinese gambling game), and Hedgehog, who may not have a first and middle name like "Sonic the".

Transformation is mostly the same for these three with the legs, but the upper bodies have their own distinction; Grotusque's beast head predictably gets tucked to the back while the robot arms are basically the beast legs, while Doublecross's beast heads at least form the arms and Repugnus both having the beast arms turning into the chest and while the robot arms are exclusive to this other mode. They mostly share bits of white between each other, mostly for the thighs and hands (kind of for DC), but we have plenty of different deco attributes ans thankfully unique torsos and arms. 

With how unchanged the wings are, it would be nice if Doublecross had his own instead of being a pretool for Grotusque, but at least they are semi transparent. Also funny how the tail halves for the first two Monsterbots look like Power Ranger lightning bolts. The beast feet look ugly sticking out of the back, but they make helpful heels regardless.

At the very least, Repugnus is more unique from his teammates solely from having just the beast head look more like a backpack with the pincers now appearing like cool collar spikes from the back, Unicron style.

Head sculpts for all 3 are standard for the line, though Doublecross is solid white apart from the blue visor. Grotusque is at least more thoroughly painted in comparison, albeit with eyes that are harder to pick out amongst his dark face. Repugnus is all yellow but at least his face is painted. I prefer the bigger eyes on the original Titan Master.

Articulation consists of ball jointed necks, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement (with flaps on Grotusque), bicep rotation, hinged elbows, universal hips with annoying skirt flaps, thigh swivels, hinged knees, and ankle rotation but no pivoting. At least the claws on Doublecross are cool. Instead of guns, Repugnus has twin daggers that look cool if not for the distracting pegs.

Doublecross was given a more premium Takara repaint for the Legends line, better matching his Headmasters appearance. He comes with Blurr's Targetmaster partner, Haywire, who wasn't produced at the time the Blue Blur was released for their line. The stomach of the beast mode can hold the Targetmaster, but he comes without the normal guns. At least the Headmaster unit is better painted as White Leo.

The other two were put in a 2-pack as barely altered releases for the same line. Not sure if this was because Doublecross warmed pegs in Japan like in the US or to wrap up the Legends line as Power of the Primes and Siege rolled by.

One cool thing about Repugnus is that he comes with a special Prime Master version of Solus Prime. It's a translucent version of the version we got for the regular POTP wave, minus the Octopunch Pretender shell. Even funnier is that unlike the Enigmas and Matrix cores, he can use the Prime Master as a head. Kind of compliments the color scheme in a way. Overall, I find the Monsterbots fine on their own, regardless of what version you get (mostly for Doublecross). They're not the kind of characters who need new toys ASAP given their niche as fuck status, but I would like to see.a Generations Selects 3-pack. At the very least, you can experience the mold via the Fangry retool for Age of the Primes, who has tighter joints but still no gun!

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (all 3)

Super 7 Ultimates TMNT 2003 Utrom Shredder & Casey Jones review

The second half of TMNT 2003 Wave 2 is now in my hands, and it's time we go over some brief bios for Shredder and Casey Jones. The Shredder we have here is actually an alien known as Ch'rell, who took the form of the original Shredder, Oroku Saki, when the Utroms made it to Earth and disguised themselves as humans with alien technology. He was the more prominent enemy of our heroes, and for anyone wondering why he would have his alien heritage as a twist, it was a decision made by one of the franchise's co-creators, Peter Laird, and some could see it as a nod to the classic cartoon character Kraang, even though the Utroms were from the Mirage comics. As for Casey Jones, he's been a regular side character in plenty of TMNT media, but for the 2003 version specifically, he became the vigilante we know him as after his father was killed by Hun and the Purple Dragon gang. Not only that, but he also got to be friends with the Turtles when they were kids (though the Turtles disguised themselves as human kids). It's great to have my favorite versions of these characters in my collection, but even if I used a lot of gift cards to pay far less, I'm still going to have to judge these as normal toy reviews.

Here we have Shredder in-hand, looking pretty badass in terms of sculptwork for the most part; the colors are unfortunately pretty bland, and it's not because of the monochrome deco he has. See, the nature of Super 7 is their approach to being faithful to the color schemes of the cartoons rather than having some artistic license and using some metallic paint apps where needed. As a result, while the matte finish on most of the plastic is nice, most of the grey ends up appearing flat and prototypey in comparison. And it sucks, too, because the figure could benefit from using silver paint to keep him from looking unfinished, or at least have those light grey parts cast in a darker shade so they could blend in better with the rest of the colors. The bluish grey and black are fine; just do something with that lighter grey so he won't appear cheap! I've seen Super 7 do this with some figures in the past when they think show accuracy = no metallic paint, but surely something would help it look better? On the flip side, those two cloth goods behind him are comparable to bendy wire capes, which is great if you want to pose him dramatically as if the wind swept. Proportions are generally good for him, and the surface area, despite being simple to match the art style, is at least pretty good but could be sharper. As it stands, he's a mix between being badass and needing improvements, visually.

Head sculpt is mostly good, but I feel the spikes should be slightly less curved inwards to the helmet if I'm being honest. Maybe it depends on the angle of the show, but it does vary on how straight the three points on the helmet usually appear. I wish the paint for the mouthplate were more refined, but at least the red eyes are applied without any weird misalignments. Articulation consists of a double ball-jointed neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, double-jointed elbows, slight rotation for said elbow joints, wrists that rotate and hinge in and out, he has a ball joint in the diaphragm as well as a ball joint for the waist, pseudo ball-jointed hips, thigh swivels, double-jointed knees, and ankles that hinge as well as pivot.

One of his accessories is the Sword of Tengu, a powerful weapon he used to rule Japan before it was lost over the years, and he uses it in the show because his exosuit protects him from potentially taking a severe shock. The sculpt is fine, but he should be able to grip it better. The blade is dull grey like the crescent, and the yellow paint, while accurate to the sword, looks a little cheap. He also has an alternate head representing Oroku Saki, or a disguise version of the original Tengu Shredder that Ch'rell took the name from. Sculpt could be a little sharper, especially if you're going to paint the skin to make it less plasticky. 

He also includes his true form, the actual Ch'rell, who again could use some deco beyond the eyes and scar. A wash would help his sculpt pop better than it currently does, especially if it's going to represent the skin of an alien instead of just trying to be slavish to the cartoon's digital animation colors. While not physically possible, it would be cool to see this guy inside the mech suit.

As for Casey Jones, this guy is a huge contrast to what we got with Shredder and the Foot Soldier in terms of proportions, and it's more than just him wearing less than the others. I'm getting a similar vibe to the Raimi Green Goblin figure where the torso appears somewhat tiny compared to the arms, which almost gives Jason a small bit of a kiddy toy look from slightly larger arms and huge shoes. He is meant to be stylized as with everyone in the show, but I almost get a sense of a Playskool-style toy with larger hands and feet than we should usually get with figures meant for older fans. Not helping is that his elbows are unable to straighten fully, so he kind of has that pre-posed arm bend that we see on kiddy action figures. Also, while his skin tone has a bit of a tan to it, I don't think it was meant to appear that orange. In the flip side, this is always one of the coolest versions of the character, and at least the paint apps for the pants and shoes are well applied. I also appreciate that the shirt is sculpted properly instead of doing the Hasbro trope or painting clothes over a blank body without any distinction between the fabric and the skin it's covering.

His head sculpt is also pretty good, and I like that the mouth and eyes are peering through. It could use a wash to make this look more worn from constant battles instead of looking kike it was made of paper. I also like that the hair has some shading applied to make it layered while still matching the color used in the show. That would work better than leaving flat coloring for the figure. His articulation is mostly the same as Shredder's, but with a bit more range due to him not being armored up. That said, his grip on the hockey stick varies from decent to awkward depending on how well it's wedged in there.

Some of his other accessories include alternate fist hands, open palm hands, a golf club, and a pair of baseball bats. Deco is fine for most of them, though the grips on those weapons also vary in tolerances. His unmasked head looks pretty good, though as I got older, he now comes off like a way cooler John Redcorn in a way. The sharpness of the sculpt could be tweaked a little better, though the akin color makes it a bit easier to see than the face of Oroku Saki.

This wave has its own preorder bonus, most of which is meant for this wave specifically. We get a yelling Ch'rell, an alternate Casey head with his hair flowing in the wind while looking to the side, a gauntlet meant for holding the Sword of Tengu, and said sword with a glow-in-the-dark feature. These should have been included with the figures anyhow, but hey, gotta get people to spend full price when these figures don't deserve it (even if I like them when they're heavily discounted)

For a size comparison, here we have the second wave completed with our example Turtle in the form of Leonardo. While it's said that Casey Jones is 6'2", what does that make the Shredder when some official sources have the same height for him? I guess it would work fine if we remember he is a robot suit, but he should be slightly taller than Casey and the Foot Soldier, or Splinter and the Turtles should be slightly shorter. Overall, Shredder is a case where a good sculpt, mostly solid articulation, and his accessory count combined with his height save him from getting a lower score considering he costs $60. As for Casey, he's sort of equal to the Foot Soldier in terms of pros and cons, but my main issue has to be his slightly off physique as well as the lack of paint and whatever is going on with the grip he has for his weapons. At least he has a cool selection of things to swing at bad guys. Only get these if they are discounted, sold by anyone willing to charge less, or if you have gift cards.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Shredder)

⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Casey Jones)