Neither were priority figures when they first appeared, but when the Bumblebee movie turned up, featuring a character named Blitzwing, who transformed into a jet coloured suspiciously like Starscream, the latter figure got bumped up the list since it occurred to me - thanks to my weird way of thinking - that he could function both as Cloud Starscream and a Generations version of Bumblebee movie Blitzwing (even though he never transformed into a tank, or gave any indication of being a triple-changer in his brief appearance).
Of course, I already own both Generations Blitzwing and Generations Doubledealer - the latter's head sculpt being reused here - so let's see what makes Cloud Starcream unique...
Packaging:
I really do like the Cloud packaging format - Takara Tomy often go for completely enclosed, windowless boxes for their exclusives (a trick more recently adopted by Hasbro), and there's a very G1 feel to these boxes. The digitally-painted artwork may not be as 'realistic' as Jeffrey Mangiat's iconic G1 box art, but Hidetsugu Yoshioka's style, while tending more toward anime/manga, is dynamic and the depiction of each character closely resembles the toy within. The basic colourschemes also tend to be in the G1 style - predominantly warm/red for Autobots and cool/purple for Decepticons.
The back of the box features nice, clear product shots highlighting the important features of the toy, along with Tech Specs and a character bio. I'm not able to make much sense of the bio, since I'm relying on Google Translate - which offers several options, none of them remotely coherent - but the Tech Specs alone are quite intriguing. Each category (Strength, Intelligence, Speed, Endurance, Rank, Courage, Fireblast, Skill and an all-new category, Aptitude) has two bars next to it - the first labelled 'Usual', the second 'Energy Capture'. The total of each is added to reveal the number at the righthand side of each bar, labelled 'Dimension Mode'. At the bottom of the chart, all the numbers get added up into 'Usual', 'Energy Capture' and 'Dimension Mode' totals, though I've no idea what the purpose of any of these figures might be, other than keeping the maths geeks amused.
Another interesting feature of the box is that it's not the usual 'flap-top' style, but a side-access slip-case around the tray which contains the plastic shell to which Starscream and his accessories are teathered. This adds to the premium feel of the product, as slipcases tend to be used for limited edition DVDs/Blu-Rays, videogames and books. It's all nice, sturdy card, and the only enhancement it's missing is the Spot UV varnish that's used on Masterpiece products.
Along with the toy, my box came with two bilingual comics - one is a 6-page short dedicated to Starscream, while the other is apparently the 'Coda' issue, covering a full story in and of itself. Yoshioka is on art duty for the short, while the longer comic has separate credits for Art (Naoto Tsushima) and Colour (Makoto Wakabayashi - also responsible for the story in both comics - and Sayuri). The art in both seems a bit rushed to me, but Tsushima's work is both more detailed and dynamic. Since Cloud appears to be a cross-continuity story, it's interesting to see characters from one subset of the toyline restyled to look like they belong in another. The very last page, for example, features Cloud Megatron (which was based on movie Bludgeon) wearing a Dark of the Moon-style cloak, while Soundwave, lurking in the background, looks as though he's been styled after the TF Prime Vehicons.
Jet Mode:
While this is not the traditional representation of Starscream by a long shot, I'd have to say that this version of the mold looks the best out of the three I own. Starscream's sober colourscheme suits the mold well, with the cyan and metallic red presenting just enough variation to keep it from becoming boring, despite jet mode being largely grey plastic. It could certainly have had more paint - touches of silver or gunmetal on some of the sculpted details on the body of the jet, or even just a black/grey wash everywhere - but it works quite well as-is.
The FAST Pack-style chunks on the top of the jet work particularly well, though I feel that some additional paintwork on the cyan sections really would have been beneficial here. Starscream's wings feature his traditional red and white striping, though his stabiliser fins are bare grey plastic. This is actually true to G1 but, considering this mold lacks his traditional blue fins, additional striping here would have looked good, and made a better match with the angled fins on the FAST Pack.
The cannon sticks out of the back of the jet, like a third afterburner, but seems to angle upward slightly more than that of either Blitzwing or Doubledealer, and I can't see why. A little more paintwork here - around the barrel or on the rims of the afterburners - would have improved the look of jet mode further, but its main problem is the lack of structural integrity and the vast chasm in the middle of the jet which is most visible from behind.
Rather than being packaged with the sword and handgun that both previous molds carried, Starscream has a pair of his traditional G1-style 'Null Beam Cannons', which can be plugged into the sides of his FAST Pack or onto the undersides of the wings. The guns are molded in the same grey plastic as the majority of the jet, and feature no paintwork at all. Nevertheless, they might look familiar: the mold for these guns is identical to those packaged with MP03 Starscream. Given the not inconsiderable difference in size between these two figures, it comes as no surprise that they're a little oversized for jet mode, at least. Additionally, the fact that Cloud Starscream's wings are not only smaller but proportionally less substantial means that the gappy undersides of the weapons are fully on show. The lack of paint is the big disappointment, though - even just a bit of weathering at the tips would have made all the difference.
Tank Mode:
Clunky as it is, this mode also works far better with Starscream's colourscheme than it did with either Blitzwing or Doubeldealer... though, since it conceals some of the red highlights that were visible in jet mode, it does look a bit more boring and, again, some touches of paint on the details, or a black/grey wash over everything, would have made a huge difference. The lighter colourscheme does seem to emphasise the emptiness of both the front and back of the vehicle, and the turret is still rather gappy, but it does go to show that Starscream's traditional colourscheme doesn't always have to be applied to a jet to look good.
In this mode, the Null Beam Cannons can be plugged into either side of the turret, right at the back, or - for those who prefer an asymmetrical look - one of them can be plugged into the socket right at the back of the cannon. While still oversized, I think they work better with tank mode than they did on jet mode, and they can be angled up/down slightly without hindering the rotation of the turret. The one bit of paintwork on the cannon itself - the red patch behind the main barrel section - is only visible in this mode, and adds a welcome bit of extra colour to the turret.
If I had one gripe regarding both vehicle modes, it would be that the missile for the spring-loaded launcher is molded in the same grey plastic as the cannon itself, where the missiles supplied with both Doubledealer and Blitzwing were a different colour (different shades of purple). This is entirely because the other parts which were purple on the other two toys are all grey on Starscream, to ensure the closest possible adherence to his G1 colour layout. It's a shame it couldn't have been a different colour for the Cloud toy - something translucent would have been particularly cool - but I guess I can always switch the missle with one of the other two...
Robot Mode:
It was actually Cloud Starscream's robot mode that really sold me on the toy, as his traditional distribution of colour works so well. Sure, his 'wings' are upside down, in completely the wrong place, and proportionally far smaller than they've been on any other Starscream figure, but they're there... If you're really that fussed about their orientation, it's easy enough to pop them out and swap them since the joint isn't pinned, and the effect on his vehicle modes is fairly minimal - the worst part would be that jet mode's rear fins would be the wrong way round, which always bugs me when it's the stock configuration of a toy.
The distribution of plastic colours was clearly decided to benefit robot mode primarily, since Starscream ends up with his traditional blue gloves and feet, while the metallic red paint ends up on the tops of his hips, around his groin, and on either side of the cockpit on the chest, just like the G1 version. The triangular vent details on his chest don't quite do the job of adequately representing what would normally be turbines, but the effort of specific paintwork is appreciated nonetheless. The only letdown with this mold as Starscream is the tank treads on his shins, but I think that's a small price to pay, overall.
The Masterpiece weapons peg into the backs of Starscream's shoulders in this mode, which isn't ideal, as the only joint that affects their orientation is the main shoulder rotation joint. Swing Starscream's arms out to the sides, and the guns still point in the same direction without manual intervention. I don't think any of the Cloud figures have had unique weapons created just for them, but Starscream is really crying out for something that could clip onto his forearms (much like the guns included with TF Legends Slipstream), or an alteration to the bicep piece that would accommodate a 5mm port. Just having guns anywhere on the arms isn't enough to make them useful. It also just looks really weird that, with his arms outstretched, his guns are underslung and sticking out of the shoulder...
Being, essentially, just a repaint of the Generations Doubledealer mold, it's surprising to see how well the original head sculpt suits Starscream. It's certainly not perfect, but the overall helmet shape isn't dissimilar to the bizarre alternate heads created by Marvel, to differentiate between the Seekers in the early comics. The gunmetal paint over the face hides some of the harsher aspects of the sculpt to a degree, though the overall look is rather angrier and less smirky than one would tend to expect from the typical Starscream.
Despite all its flaws, and the fact that the Titans Return Blitzwing mold is objectively a superior Triple Changer, I like this mold, and absolutely love it as Starscream. The coincidence that the character named Blitzwing in the Bumblebee solo movie looks so much like Starscream made this figure too hard to resist, and I now have the luxury of having a Generations incarnation of a movie-style Blitzwing, or a triple-changing Starscream from yet another new continuity... All of which is surely a sign that the TransFormers Collectors' Club's Timelines series of cross-continuity figures had a profound and lasting effect on my collecting habits.
Cloud figures were originally available only via e-HOBBY and, while they tended to be also available via the usual online retailers eventually, they normally sold out quite quickly, turning up only occasionally on eBay. On the upside, despite them being premium figures to start with - Starscream being about $90-100 (£70-80) upon release - their prices don't seem to be overly inflated on the secondary market and, in fact, I managed to pick up Starscream for about £75, shipped from Japan.
I don't see myself striving to acquire many other Cloud figures - of the seven other figures in the line so far, only Hellwarp really appeals to me - but I think it was a very imaginative line, and the accompanying comics are a nice touch, bringing the toys together in an all-encompassing, if a little baffling story.
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