TransFormers Collectors' Club 2017/Combiner Wars Shattered Glass Starscream

It was quite rare for the TransFormers Collectors' club to release exactly the same character twice, in two different molds (Kreo figures not included). The only other one I can think of was Toxitron, who appeared in TransFormers Animated form at BotCon 2011, then in Combiner Wars form in the final set of the Club's Subscription Service in 2017. Technically, though, even they are from different continuities... While this is simply a Combiner Wars version of Shattered Glass Starscream... and, unless Shattered Glass has its own multiverse (which, admittedly, is not inconceivable) this thing is a development of the BotCon version rather than a whole new character.

I never picked up the original Shattered Glass Starscream, since I already have a couple of iterations of the Galaxy Force Starscream mold, and I didn't really think the G1 Jetfire homage paint job suited it that well. This one had the advantage of being both smaller and - at the time - substantially cheaper, since the BotCon figure rarely appears outside of the BotCon 2008 boxed set.

Of course, this being a Combiner Wars mold, it was intended as part of one of the Club's swan-song gestalts but, by this point, it seems as though the Club didn't really care: Starscream was never officially assigned to any particular combiner beyond the vague suggestion that he could be use to create something called "Modulus", which was described as being formed with two other BotCon figures (Medix and Ratchet from the 2016 show's customisation class) and two mainline Combiner Wars figures (Protectobot Rook and Technobot leader Scattershot). Personally, I've had him as part of a custom Sky Reign along with other, similarly teamless 'bots.

Vehicle Mode:

The first thing that struck me about this interpretation of SG Starscream is that he's white. Like, really, really white. The original was white, granted... but also had a more interesting design - Skydive wasn't one of the outstanding CW molds, and the Ghost Starscream version released as part of Unite Warriors Grand Galvatron was only outstanding due to its extensive use of translucent plastic.

While it's arguable that the original didn't have much more paintwork, proportionally, it was used more effectively because the design of the Galaxy Force jet made that possible. Here, due to the way the jet is broken up for both robot mode and either form it can take for a gestalt, larger paint applications are limited to specific parts, and much of it is linework on the wings, fins and stabilisers. Weirdly, while the paint job is still referencing G1 Jetfire, it takes a lot of liberties, with applications of black to the wings, and the absence of red from the nose. Probably the strangest choice here was the use of very pale grey plastic for the cockpit canopy. It's another reference to the BotCon toy, which featured a translucent grey canopy, but the paint is barely darker than the white plastic, and has very little visual impact. What makes it all the stranger is that the sculpted missiles on the wings are also painted grey, but it's a far darker shade, which would have worked well for the canopy.

Of course, this being the Club, there's a sense that robot mode may have taken priority, and this can be seen by the paint applications on the arms, running down the sides of the jet below the wings, let alone the underside of the jet that forms the front of the robot.

Unsurprisingly, Starscream comes with exactly the same weapons as Skydive: a decidedly hollow double-barrelled handgun, and the hand/foot missile launcher. The former is molded in opaque red plastic, completely unpainted and is described as being a "dual energy beam cannon". The hand/foot weapon - called an "Atari-Scream projectile launcher" - is molded in translucent red, so at least looks a little bit more interesting. I am, however, baffled by this name, Atari having been one of the major players in the US videogame industry of the 1980s. The '-Scream' suffix is most likely just a reference to Starscream himself.

What's really frustrating here - and it's as much a flaw with Combiner Wars in general as it is in this exclusive figure - is that the Jetfire homage pretty much begs for one of the hand/foot weapons that could be pegged into the 5mm port on the top of the jet in reference to G1 Jetfire's boosters, but neither accessory is adequate to the task. It feels almost as if the double-barrelled handgun was supposed to suffice, but it really doesn't work... and, like the previous iterations of this mold, the weapons look pretty ridiculous attached to his wings.

I should also take this opportunity to correct an error I've made in my write-ups of both CW Skydive and UW Ghost Starscream: this jet mode is based on the F/A-18 Hornet, not the F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Robot Mode:

The crazy thing about this mold in robot mode is that the paintwork is really aiming for the G1 Jetfire vibe, but just cannot pull it off because the Combiner Wars mold cannot support it adequately. A red plastic combiner peg leads down to red paint in the centre of the waist, then down to a red pelvis, which only vaguely resembles G1 Jetfire's largely red nose section. Red paintwork spreads up the chest to the shoulders in irregular, angled stripes, with black paint on the recessed areas of the chest and down the torso on either side of the combiner peg, and both red and black paint are applied over the jet intake details on the shoulders. The strange thing is that the red stripe from the chest doesn't actually meet the intakes. Similarly, the application of black paint on the lower part of his robo-pecs doesn't connect with the red stripe, and the white plastic visible in these breaks is extremely ugly, looking very much like factory errors. Exacerbating this, some of the red doesn't line up fully with the raised areas it's applied to, which always seems particularly poor on a premium figure such as this.

While the majority of the figure is molded in white plastic, the biceps and pelvis follow the combiner peg in being molded in red, but it's a much darker red than the paintwork, so it doesn't blend especially well, and really doesn't work on the arms. His vambraces are painted red, in reference to the upgrade parts applied to the G1 toy, and the shoulders feature large applications of black paint with small blocks of red paint in the recessed details on the corners, all of which is supposed to reference stickers on the G1 toy. Similarly, the lower legs have applications of red paint in homage to the G1 toy's armour pieces, and black paint seemingly referencing the G1 version's jet intakes (which were on his hips) and the black stripe across his thighs, while the stickers from the original toy's shins and feet are both represented by black boxes containing diagonal red stripes, painted on the sculpted armour over the bridge of the feet. None of it works particularly well, and it feels as though the red paint should have been extended further round the sides of the lower legs. Chances are, they were left uncovered because the arms complete the appropriate coverage of red while he's in jet mode.

As with the Ghost Starscream iteration of this mold, it's frustrating that he has no weapon ports on his arms, because this really doesn't work well as Starscream - or a homage to the Galaxy Force Starscream mold used for the original Shattered Glass Starscream - without some form of accessory plugging onto his arms. It's also frustrating that it was the subsequent toyline - Titans Return - which featured an number of two-part weapons that could be combined, since that sort of accessory - if it could have been plugged into Starscream's arms - would have been ideal here. As it is, we just have a dull, hollow, unpainted red plastic double-barrelled handgun, and a reasonably pretty but oversized double-barrelled missile launcher.

I'm assuming, to be honest, that the only reason this mold was used for the Club's second take on Shattered Glass Starscream was that it had already been used as Ghost Starscream, and consequently already had the right head available. Here, as with the original SG Starscream, it's molded in white plastic, with the extremely sour-looking face painted silver. However, for no obvious reason, the nose has been left unpainted. It's not even a reference to the BotCon toy, which left the details framing the chin unpainted. The applications of black paint on the vent-like details on the sides and on the central crest are references to similar applications on that toy however, and his eyes are painted cyan, per the usual for a Shattered Glass Decepticon.

Both iterations of Shattered Glass Starscream have taken the opportunity to focus and expand on Starscream's canonical origins as a scientist but, where the BotCon incarnation continued the development of SG Megatron's transformation technologies, this version is described as being "the first lieutenant and personal medic to Megatron". Beyond that baffling choice, much of the bio seems to delight in taking the obvious and easy path of making him the polar opposite to Starscream's portrayal in the G1 cartoon: "Kind, humble... well-liked by all of his comrades... a charismatic and effective commander", for example. The bits about his weapons are basic, but clear, and at least a little reminiscent of a Budiansky-style bio from G1, and the Dual Energy Beam Cannon almost reads like the opposite of the G1 character's Null Rays - "overcharges an opponent's circuitry, causing malfunctions". Curiously, while his top speed matches that described on his G1 Tech Specs, this version can achieve an altitude of 83 miles - 31 miles higher than G1 Starscream and more than 12 times higher than a real-life F/A-18 Hornet. The bio card makes a somewhat clever reference to the so-called Scramble City combiners from Takara's take on G1, but seemingly uses it as an excuse for him not being a component of a specific gestalt. The bio also makes it rather weird by stating that Starscream can function independently in either limb mode. It does explain the translucent plastic on the hand/foot part, saying that "in arm mode, his combined mode fist burns red with power, which produces an attack dubbed the Null Fist", which functions exactly like the G1 character's primary weapons. It also states that "In leg mode, Starscream traverses up to 5 miles in a single leap"... and the picture of the lower part of a gestalt's leg, bouncing along, five miles at a time, without a body attached is now burned into my mind.

Along with Lifeline, Shattered Glass Starscream was one of the seven main components of the fifth and final year of the TransFormers Collectors' Club's Subscription Service. The service itself was a great idea, adapted from a similar setup employed by Fun Publications' other Hasbro license, the GI Joe Collectors' Club, but the concepts behind each year's selection were a lot more 'miss' than 'hit' in my books. I bought the entirety of the first and fourth years, ignored the third year entirely, and cherry-picked the remaining two, Lifeline being the only other figure I bought from this year.

Truth be told, in retrospect, I can't think why I bought this figure, since even the original Skydive mold wasn't that great, and the Thunder Mayhem combiner that made up the majority of Subscription Service 4.0 pretty much exhausted any enthusiasm I might have still had for Combiner Wars back in 2016. It seems even more strange since this is the second instance of a Starscream I own using this very mold. It's entirely possible I bought it simply to make up a complete set of limbs for my custom Sky Reign but, looking back over the four years since this figure was produced, that feels like a somewhat ridiculous extravagance.

Given that Starscream's hand/foot weapon is translucent red,
I think it's more fitting for it to become a hand rather than a foot...