...But I liked it, and I guess my Seeker OCD took a new turn (Thundercracker and Skywarp being made from a different mold in Cybertron/Galaxy Force) because I felt compelled to shell out for a boxed set of two figures when I was only interested in one. Vector Prime is still in the box to this day while this - the only UK release of this version of Starscream at his intended size - stands among his Cybertron/Galaxy Force contemporaries... representing a different character...
Vehicle Mode:
So, we all know that the G1 cartoon featured a load of additional Tetrajet Seekers in random colours, either due to animation errors or a deliberate attempt to bulk out the Decepticon forces on Cybertron, and these have been retroactively made canon, with some even being released as toys. We know, too, that the core of the G1 Seeker mold was reused for the Coneheads, so there's a certain fluidity to just about any TransFormers toy mold designed to represent any of the Seekers/Coneheads...
...So, when one sees a Cybertron/Galaxy Force jet (its design clearly inspired by the G1 cartoon's Tetrajets) which is coloured burgundy, silver and black, there's a fairly obvious link to be made: he looks a bit like a Cybertronian Thrust. Granted, Thrust wasn't a Starscream clone in G1 - he had unique wings and tailfins - but it's reasonable to assume that, back on Cybertron, such differences were more subtle, if they were even present at all.
What's interesting about this figure is that he takes Galaxy Force Starscream's colours and paint layouts and almost uniformly switches grey for burgundy and red for silver, while keeping the black virtually identical. The main exception to this rule being that this figure has a couple of applications of gold paint (and it is closer to gold than GF Starscream's coppery colour) on the chunks of wing that house his key-activated blades which weren't present on Starscream. The translucent plastic parts remain purple, but there's a curious milky quality to it here, which seems to glow more readily in the presence of normal light, let alone UV.
Other than that, there's nothing new or exciting about this version - both of the key-activated weapons are still blades, the mounted guns on either side of the cockpit are still fixed, and no electronic features are included.
Robot Mode:
Just as GF Starscream carries echos of his G1 predecessor, this figure looks even more like a Cybertron/Galaxy Force interpretation of Thrust in robot mode. The colour layout is just right, all he's lacking is the traditional cone-shaped head... And I guess the G1 toy had a greater proportion of black than silver, the latter coming from his stickers rather than plastic or paint colours. Still, he's very striking and, unlike a lot of repaints, manages to look sufficiently different from Starscream to be believeable as a wholly different character.
It's only really in robot mode that the very subtle change to the translucent plastic seems disappointing - surely his swords (and thereby his cockpit) should have been in different colour rather than just a milky version of the same? I didn't mind it so much in jet mode, but now it seems like a wasted opportunity... though, given his colourscheme, I can't quite decide what colour would have been preferable - certainly anything on the red end of the spectrum would have been overkill, so maybe something cooler, or green, for some contrast?
Similarly, the comparatively large brick of a weapon and its rather boring missile are essentially unchanged from the Galaxy Force version - it looked boring there, it looks just as boring here.
And, obviously, being a simple repaint, the head sculpt is identical to the Galaxy Force version, even down to the paint job... Not that I'd expect any different, but it might have been nice to, I dunno, make the face gold, maybe?
It would be easy to regret a purchase like this, but I really like the GF Starscream mold, and think this adjustment to the colourscheme - because, really, that's all it is - turned out looking fantastic... Since Thundercracker and Skywarp were repaints of a different mold, it almost feels as though this mold didn't get enough usage at the time. In fact, it's almost a shame Hasbro didn't release him intentionally as a different character rather than just a 'special', store exclusive Starscream repaint, as I've never really seen the point of those unless they have some sort of premium paint job, or represent something from the TV show - such as the Supreme class toy released in the US and Europe, which represented him after he was turned into a giant in the latter half of the series... And it's not as if they couldn't have repainted Vector Prime into a new character.
So, basically, if there's any regret to be had here, it's that the other half of this twin-pack wasn't a bit more imaginative, so that it wouldn't have remained languishing in its box while this guy sits on my shelves. Vector Prime was a decent, if simplistic mold, and a different paint job could have given it a whole new personality, and expanded the toyline beyond the confines of the TV show, just like this figure... my Galaxy Force Thrust.
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