Energon Starscream Review Capsule

Energon Starscream is a repaint of Starscream from late 2003. Like Galvatron, it's an attempt to repaint a new toy to look like an old toy. And it works. Recommended.

Introduction

Hasbro made a lot of fans happy with the original edition of this toy (named merely "Starscream") because it looked a lot like the character as he appeared in The War Wtihin comic books-- well, now they decided to paint him to look the part, and it seems they did a mighty fine job.

He turns from a jet to robot. He has two firing missiles and a two-piece sword. Oh, and he has a hyper mode. There's a lot to like here.

Robot

He's not very big, but he is a huge fan wank-- as the kids say. He's fairly posable and despite some odd deco choices, is one of the finer items for the line. He's also one of the final items of the line.

The sculpt remains unchanged from the previous release, so you can still see a lot of the "damage" cracks and exposed wiring in the toy-- it's just painted to look normal. (See the vehicle section for pictures.) Now that the clear plastic is gone, the toy is no longer a "robot ghost" (which is a hard concept to grasp) and is now a powered-up homage to Generation One. The figure is highly posable, but we found some of the arm joints to be more than a little stiff.

And he has a hyper mode, too! As before, his wings flip out and reveal twin rocket launchers as well as two small holes on which you can add weapons, Mini-Cons, or whatever fits in the holes. While it seemed to work well on the regular Starscream, Energon Starscream looks a little wonky in this mode. Still, it's nice to have-- these toys have a lot of play value, and it's nice to see Hasbro shoehorning in just a little bit more.

Vehicle

It's a jet-- and a nice jet, at that.

As mentioned above, the damage has been eschewed in favor of a clean design that doesn't scream "energon ghost." It screams "broken jet with new paint." (I kid, I kid.) Seriously though, take a look at the third image-- you can see where they painted over (or opted to not paint) some details that were a bright green in the previous release.

There aren't a lot of moving parts in jet mode-- just the landing gear, and the wings to fold into "hyper mode." The wings split open and you have the option to attaching more weapons here, just like in robot mode. It doesn't look especially great, though, and as such normal jet mode will make most fans happy enough. It made us happy, anyway.

Additional Accessories

Energon Starscream includes two missiles, a rifle (of sorts), and a sword (of sorts.)

On the left is the new release. On the far right, the 2003 Energon release of Starscream. In the middle is 2004's Robot Masters Starscream, modeled after Generation One's animated version of the character.

As you can see, he can hold them too. Very talented, this robot.

Comparisons

For your convinience, here's a look at the new and old toys.

The tiny Megatron in the middle of the robot shot was the Toys "R" Us exclusive from the two-pack with Optimus Prime, still available in many areas and well worth snagging as well.

Packaging, Tech Specs, & Co-Sells

This toy came packaged in the second wave style TransFormers Energon packaging with a few twist-ties.

Nothing too fancy. This item shipped alongside Roadblock as well as a few older deluxe toys like Energon Kicker and High Wire, Steamhammer, and Barricade. (And a few others.)

Fin

If you didn't look at this and go "wow, I need this," then odds are you don't need this. It's a great toy, a good homage, and a solid design given (arguably) a better color scheme. We like it more than the original and this is one of very few repaints we bought and said "hey, not a problem, this is a good one." Usually we complain. Not so this time.

Reviewed and photographed by Adam Pawlus
Sample purchased at a Phoenix, AZ Wal-Mart in February 2005 for $9.97
Reviewed on March 13, 2005.