Customer Reviews

Transformers Animated Voyager Starscream

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I picked up the Transformers Animated Starscream toy as a desk ornament, mostly. With the overall quality of most of the other toys in the series, I figured they would certainly do a good job with one of the most popular characters in the series. I was quite wrong, apparently.

First I will cover the good points, as few as there are. The toy looks decent in robot mode. He stands well and is properly balanced with stable joints in the legs. He has the standard spring loaded rocket launcher type weapons on his arms that seems to work well. Those are pretty much all the positives I can think of.

On the negative side, it's hard to tell where to begin. The toy suffers from the now-common Hasbro paint and mold flaws. The coloration is somewhat ugly with the nasty shade of blue they used for the base plastic, and the bad shade of maroon for the details doesn't help. There are various bad joints with random loose areas in the arms and swivel joints halfway down his thighs that pop out way too easily. The most glaringly awful mold problem is with the hands, which suffer from fingers and thumbs that pop out way too easily and really don't pose into much of anything decent.

The auto-trasform function is a mess. It doesn't work right and you still have to push in or pull out parts that are supposed to move into position on their own, such as the nosecone part. Don't worry, this won't last long. Eventually, the entire mechanism will break and you will have to push and pull all the parts into place. By "eventually", I mean after you transform him back and forth twice, if you are lucky.

For such an overly complicated transformation,you would think the jet mode would look decent. Instead it looks okay at best from above and looks like a horrible mess on the underside. There is a single landing gear wheel that doesn't really do much to support the jet when it's "landed", which results in more of a "crashed into the ground" or "sitting on a clump of garbage" look when it's sitting on the shelf. The launchers that form the arm cannons are a large part of the problem. They are too big and end up shoved under the jet so awkwardly that they don't sit right. On top of this, the show has them on the wings and not on the bottom of the jet. This part of the toy would have worked a lot better if they had just used detachable launchers that attached to his arms in robot mode and wings in jet mode.

All in all, this is a terrible toy that seems like something that was done last-minute without the necessary testing and correction needed. It's definately the dark blot on the first series of Transformers Animated toys.

Oh Starscream, you never change. You'll always be the immortal, backstabbing power grabber.... May you never change.

Let's start with the good things, shall we?

Firstly, his colors and sculpt are really nice. This is actually universal to the entire line, with rich, bright, and detailed colors that don't seem unnatural or absurd. He also matches his cartoon counterpart about as closely as one could ever hope to make him. This is impressive, and a testament to how much toy technology has improved over the past 25 years.

Secondly, he has a bunch of articulation in his arms and legs, allowing him a wonderful range of dynamic motion. There ARE problems with it though.....

Onto the bad!

Firstly, his transformation into a plane is unnervingly hard, and the part fit is mediocre at best. You have to fight to get many of this pieces in place, especially his legs, and the whole thing feels tenuous at best. While holding him in jet mode, I half imagine he'd erupt into a mangled pile of plastic. It doesn't help that Hasbro still sticks with the trend of astonishingly unhelpful transformation directions. What's worse is that his transformations aren't even that hard, in theory at least, so HOW did they mess this up?

Secondly, while he may have lots of articulation, nearly all of it is loose, floppy and even detachable. To make matters worse, he has some of the strongest ratchet joints in his hips and knees that I think Hasbro could ever hope to produce. Why is this a problem? Well, you need extra force to move the ratchet joints which puts pressure on the already weak rotational joints, in some cases making them completely come off. BOTH of his legs have popped off on mine, and and have never really returned to normal since then.

Thirdly, his balance is terrible. He's VERY top heavy, and his feet are quite small, which causes him to stand in awkward lopsided ways. This problem is further worsened by his loose, unmotivated joints. You'll be fighting with him for a while before he stands in any way that could be considered appealing.

Overall, I'm saddened by this toy. I think Hasbro could have done so much better, but simply didn't feel like it. I do applaud some things they're doing better, such as more natural looking colors, and better plastics, but the figure still feels poorly constructed. I simply can't suggest him. Children will no doubt break him into at least 5 pieces, or be frustrated by his fickle plane transformation. Collectors will hate his articulation. Unfortunate.

Starscream is one sweet futuristic fighter jet!This is one of the best in the animated line.Starscream looks great in a new paint job while still having some of the classic features.The fighter jet mode is just kick-ass all around with great articulation from the cockpit to the thrusters.In robot mode this air warrior supreme has great articulation as well in the legs,arms,body and head piece.Starsceam features hidden arm lasers and flip down sonic shock blasters while also having the classic arm cannons with firing missiles.The poseability is outstanding with awesome stability for creating battle poses or displaying this gem where you please.The durability is excellent as well with secure joints and a solid build to handle whatever comes his way in either robot or fighter jet mode.The transformation level is advanced meaning if you have plenty of experience with transformers ther is mid-level difficulty.If you are a parent buying for a child of 5-6 or younger you will have to help some in the process.The transformation process is very versatile for all ages with some practice.Starscream is a great figure all around that is a great addition to any collection.Bottom line Animated Starsceam is a well-made,high quality,10 out of 10 transformer all fans can enjoy.I highly recommend Starscream to all transformer fans and collectors alike.Starscream Rocks and Transformers Rule!!!

After years of procrastinating, I finally broke down and got a Starscream for my TF collection. I decided to go with the TF Animated line because I didn't have any Transformers from that line and I particularly liked the look of Starscream on the show. This toy resembles the character from the show almost exactly. The only thing that differs slightly is the paint job. Starscream's paint is more red than pink, but that wasn't an issue for me. This toy is the exact same model used for Skywarp and the other Starscream clones. His fingers are somewhat articulated and the "auto" transform mechanism is a fun, if not sort of useless novelty. The transformation is very simple and the toy itself is not the most durable transformer I've ever seen. I liked this Starscream enough that I had to go out and get the Skywarp to go with him. I would recommend this toy for any TF fan and any child that loves robots.

My five year old son has every Transformer from the animated series and I originally gave Starscream a poor review but we gave ol' Starscream another shot and he worked perfectly. I think Hasbro went to the drawing board and fixed some of the problems.

So glad for Amazon - Starscream can be hard to find in stores! This Transformer is one of the "bad guys" (a Decepticon) but a favorite of my son and his friends. He is a tough looking robot that transforms into an impressive fighter plane - a little more exciting to them than "just another car". He has cool "guns" and features. This toy is a little fragile though, and a little complicated to transform for small guys (and sometimes Moms too!). Definately works best for ages 4+.

This is a terrible toy. Right out of the box it was breaking apart. This was the one toy my five year old asked for this Christmas and it was an epic failure. I was excited for him... his first Transformer was going to be the updated version of the Transformer I first had way back in 1984. Well I can tell you this... I could actually play with MY Starscream. Heck, I could abuse it and it wouldn't break like this cheap pile of plastic did. Whoever designed this thing needs to be sent packing. I am so unhappy that I am actually writing to Hasbro about this. You'd think the toys would have improved in the last 25 years.

If you don't mind a toy with missing fingers and joints that snap apart while properly transforming it (isn't that the point of a Transformer?), then by all means, please buy this toy.

If you don't have money to throw away and want you child to be happy with a toy that can last more than the time it takes to remove it from the packaging, then buy something else. The Voyager edition Bulkhead is MUCH better... durable even.

Impossible to play with. Every joint falls apart when you attempt to manipulate it. No way to get it from robot mode to airplane mode with all the pieces attached! My children were never even able to play with it once! If an adult can't build it with directions, how is a 5 year old supposed to?!

This toy sets out to resemble the character in the animated show, and in that regard it does quite well. The cartoon character's design seems rather unorthodox for something meant to be made into a toy, so I'd say that is a mission well accomplished. However, I'm afraid I can't praise it much more than that.

There appears to be poor quality control in regards to these figures. I resorted to returning the first one I purchased due to detached, broken, and missing pieces (as it is packaged in vehicle mode, these flaws are also hard to pick up on without opening the original box). The one I exchanged it for was more complete and apparently better assembled, but still had rather noticeable flaws due to sloppy paint application.

The above might be a big deal for toy collectors, but not for the children the product is aimed at. Sadly, I don't think I can recommend it that much for kids either: the figure's thumbs are loosely assembled and can be easily be lost, and though the auto-transformation gimmick seems intended to make the figure easier to transform, it seems to have an awkward stiffness to it, as if it would easily break in the hands of a child just playing with it normally. Other Transformers toys have been held to high standards of durability and safety that make them well-suited as children's toys, so the fragility here seems like quite a shock.

If you really want a good likeness of the Animated Starscream character to sit on display and can either accept or deal with potential quality control issues, this might be your best option. I don't feel I can honestly recommend it for much else.

When I went to BotCon I bought him and when he was opened...it was bad. I got it for $20 and I can see why: the hands were gone,3 missing pieces and his head pops off and if you can put holes around his head, take his head off and put the headmaster unit on you can remake the episode Transwarped. Over all very good figuer except DON'T BUY A USED ONE! And this was Jean's son.