Transformers: Legacy Armada Universe Starscream is Something That Exists

 

The 2002/2003 Armada Starscream toy

I have strong feelings about Transformers: Armada. It hit just as I was reacquainting myself with the Transformers fandom, which if the forums were anything to go by, didn’t like Armada. I’ve already written about this, and I stand by that article. So, when I heard that Hasbro was actually doing Armada in its nostalgia tribute line, my reaction was one of joy. I also turned to dust when I realised Armada was now twenty odd years ago, but that’s besides the point. Armada updates are personal must-have for me, so I grabbed the new Starscream on sight. Might you, things may not be as you remember them...

The 2014 Thrilling Thirty Armada Starscream toy

In order to put this toy into its proper context, I need to talk about the Armada era design philosophy. It goes a bit like this: its a big, chunky vehicle which rolls and has a lot of gimmicks, which transforms into a big chunky dude, which is somewhat immobile and has a lot of other gimmicks. What you got was a lot of toy, but the absence of posability annoyed collectors at the time. The toys from Armada that have aged best were either mini-cons, the odd few that had good articulation, or those embraced gimmickry so hard that they became classics on their own terms. The Starscream mould from that line definitely was in the big chonk of toy category, but this Legacy mould does not do that. Rather, it's a modernised take on the animation model, with a lot more posability, and no real gimmicks beyond the 5mm port thing. That's a completely different design approach, and rather more "serious business" than Armada was at the time. The Thrilling Thirty version was a bit like this too, but that still retained mini-con compatibility and firing missiles. Today’s subject doesn’t. Now, I hesitate to call this a negative, its just a different set of priorities, but it is the mindset that gives us Blitzwing and the Stunticons. It's about favouring media appearances of a toy, divorced from the actual playing with of that toy. Such an approach does not prevent a Transformer from being a good time, and I'd go so far as to say this could be described as how a child circa 2002 would remember the character. However, this approach colours the entire discussion about the toy.

The jet mode is a case in point. This was not an especially clean or aerodynamic example in the first place. It's appearance was dictated by the assorted gimmicks, the most important being some big, f-off, missile launchers formed from the engines. These remain, but its a purely decorative thing. You can stick a few blast effects in there, but that's it. The toy also omits the distinctive wing sword gimmick, although TBH that's more excusable. The original looked less than a sword so much as a girder, and this would have resulted in much thicker wings. What we have instead are a single piece accessory representing it, paired with a representation of the Star Saber. I'll come back to these in the robot mode section, but these do store in jet mode, odd as it looks. What the jet mode has going for it instead is proportions and detailing. There's a few dedicated panels to close gaps, and lots of F35 style triangles. The flaws of the original toy are retained, like the exposed scalp and arms are still there, but brought in closer. While there is no landing gear, a dedicated flight stand port is here. This is undoubtedly the best this jet mode has ever looked, and the 5mm ports are both plentiful and unobtrusive. While this is probably just me, I'm getting a bit more of a Macross vibe this time around. Valykrie comparisons are obviously par for the course with any jet ormer, but given the general tidying up, I wonder if the VF-11A may have been an inspiration. 

 

Transformation to robot mode works largely as you think it would, but there's a few wrinkles. The shoulders feature a sliding mechanism I advise keeping an eye on, and a lot relies on friction joints rather than ratcheting ones, so your mileage may vary. The resulting robot mode ticks all the right boxes, so allow me to waffle about visual and character elements for a bit. The thing about this iteration of Starscream is, depending how charitable you are towards the cartoon, is that he's basically either a Limpkin Park song, or basically noble underneath it all. This Starscream is not the habitual backstabber of the archetype, more of an abused underling, whom switched sides for a time, and actually made a heroic sacrifice to force an alliance between the Autobots and Decepticons against Unicron. He's possibly the only version of a Starscream that's sympathetic for any length of time. How this characterisation came to be seems to have been a result of the Japanese writers working with what they had, trying to make the Megatron/Starscream dynamic actually work, rather than anything conscious. The original toy had a smirk on its face, but that wasn't how I remember his depiction on screen. Rather, what seems to have been the catalyst for this anti-heroic take on the archetype, is that this Starscream is a swordsman. He doesn't carry a gun, there are no obvious weapons in jet mode, and the big shoulder cannon thing is something that his mini-con did. The Decepticons of his time are basically made of guns, by comparison. And be it the Japanese cultural mythology or western depictions, carrying a sword in a time of guns implies a certain dignity and honour at odds with being a, well, Starscream. One imagines that things flowed from there. 

 

This depiction is strongly felt in this Legacy toy, which features both his wing sword and the Star Saber. No, not that one. The Star Saber we're talking about today is the combined form of the Air Defence Minicon team, something sufficiently important to have its own role play toy and be a major plot point in the show. If you aren't putting in mini-con functions, that's a good substitute. As so often with Legacy, there’s a high level of basic competency going on, with the 5mm port system, so I don’t have anything especially deep to say about how he plays. It comes down to a lot of little touches which are nice, and maybe a few minor things that could have been better, but are normal for today. There’s some hollowness, but also panels cleaning up the forearms and calves. I would have liked wrist swivels, but you can fudge a transformation joint to help. The canard wings, in a deviation from the usual depiction, can fold back against the torso for a cleaner profile. And, like the Thrilling Thirty version, you can fold the gun assembly flat against the back, but if you want it up, there’s a dedicated set of tabs to secure it.

My point? Only that Armada Universe Starscream is something that exists. And while not making the obvious choices, he bodes well for the Armada revival.