I snagged this first Revoltech of mine at Robo Toy Fest this past year, after some intense bartering with a certain lively vendor at the ‘con. Had my eye on it for quite some time – I actually really like the designs of the Revoltech Transformers. I’d almost picked up an Optimus and Megatron too, but I wanted to save my wallet from being permanently crippled.
As I understand it, these figures are based off of Dreamwave artist Pat Lee’s interpretations of the classic Transformers characters. They share distinctively puffy proportions, and don’t actually look like they could Transform. Despite the controversy about Pat’s designs, I’m glad Revoltech gave us a chance to experience the classic characters as standard action figures, and focused more on their stylized bipedal forms.
I’m loving the style of this figure…the proportions and mix of comic and classic cartoon proportions makes for a very nice result.
I gotta say – the most impressive part of this figure has to be the paint apps. The metallic red and blue is absolutely gorgeous. The main body areas are actually done in an off-white/light gray.
Unfortunately one has to be very careful when moving the limbs around, as the paint does scratch a bit if you rub it in the wrong areas. Thankfully only had a very minor issue with this on mine.
Barring a mini-Danboard figure I got a while back, this is just about my first real Revoltech experience, and thus my first time checking out what exactly the infamous joints of this line can do.
Turns out the joints are basically one-directional ratchet joints, allowing for one-way bends. However, the versatility comes with the fact that the limbs or whatever else are attached can rotate on the rods that they’re inserted into, allowing for a stable but free range of movement.
Example: Starscream can stand just fine with the hip/leg joints in their normal position. Like this, he can only move his legs forwards and backwards.
Pop the joints out, rotate them, stick them back in pointing out, and wide stances voila! While it can be a bit tedious taking the joints out every time just to change the stance, it does result in more stable limbs.
Single joint is used in the torso for some abdominal movement. Unfortunately the nose cone area of his jet mode does kind of get in the way of movement, but to get it past a little more all one needs to do is pull out the torso joint a bit to allow for more leeway.
Starscream’s accessory layout. Pretty bare, not gonna lie. I’m so used to the armory that most Figmas come with so this was a bit underwhelming to say the least.
One Megatron in gun form, one action base, and three hands. One of said hands is dedicated to holding Megatron, the other two are expression hands.
The Megatron gun is puny; it has some fair detail but unfortunately the iconic Decepticon insignia on the body isn’t included. As seen above, it can split – unfortunately the lower stock splits a bit too easily. It has a hard time staying on and it seems the peg was molded too small.
Starscream does wield his boss remarkably eloquently though. While I’ve never liked this accessory (it comes with many if not most Starscream figures and incarnations) it adds some extra flair to his basic null-ray armament.
I almost never pose any of my Starscreams on display with Megatron in-hand. Aside from being awkward when you have an actual Megatron figure standing next to him, it just looks out of place as a weapon for a Seeker.
Null ray cannons all day every day.
Remarkably simple and Starscream’s iconic choice of armament. I’ve always loved how much fun you can have with these. Unfortunately the barrel tips are molded flat, instead of with an actual port opening. They are attached to the upper arms via a simple rotating peg, so you basically have to aim them by adjusting the arms themselves.
The action base Starscream comes with is very simple and conservative; just enough to hold him up and spin him around. Consisting of three pieces, (base, stand, joint) it adds a whole new world of versatility for Starscream in the air.
The joint used at the end is a standard Revoltech joint that plugs into Starscream’s butt. Rotation in just about any direction with said joint is possible and very effective.
The one extra peg on the base is for what I assume to be Starscream’s feet. He does have a peg hole under each, and I suppose the base is able to hold him up in one-leg poses.
And of course – the hands.
Two extra expression hands in all, they’re limited to whichever hand they go on. Which means the left hand can only point, the right hand can only…do whatever it is Starscream is doing with his right hand there. Both expressions exemplify Starscream’s characer, and sport some excellent sculpting and painting. They pop on rather easily and only rotate at the sockets.
And of course, what’s Starscream without some despair…
Size, sculpt, and style comparison with Masterpiece Starscream. The Revoltech is on a whole different plane (pun intended) from the Masterpiece in terms of styling and proportions. I’ve actually never noticed how detailed the Masterpiece was until I looked at it like this.
All in all I do think Starscream was a worthwhile Revoltech experience. The sculpt and paint is fantastic, and the unique Revoltech joints maximize its play value. I suppose the biggest deal breaker for this figure is whether or not you like Pat Lee’s design styling. While more faithful to the cartoon version of Starscream from the 80’s than most figures I’ve seen, its proportions are also heavily bloated to feel marshmallow-like.