Back when I wrote about Takara's MP03 Starscream, a whole fifteen years ago, I said I'd gladly acquire every iteration of this mold if I had the money and the space. While space is still something of an issue (I am in the process of thinning down my collection, but it's a slow process due to real life concerns), I happened to find this guy on eBay for a surprisingly reasonable price... When I later received a discounted offer from the seller, I just had to buy... Especially as I'd been having a rather trying time at home (due to redecoration work) and in the office, while Courtney was away travelling across Europe, and basically needed something cool to cheer me up.
Since MP03 emerged, I have to confess I've had a love/hate relationship with this iteration. Part of me feels the whole G1 colourscheme does the mold a disservice... but part of me thinks the mold transcends the ridiculously bright paint job, resulting in a truer interpretation of G1 Starscream.
So, let's take another look at this now 20-year-old mold, and see how it stands up to scrutiny in the year that is the 40th Anniversary of the original animated movie...
The F-15 Eagle form of the Seekers is a truly iconic fighter jet, and it has never been captured better - before or since - than in the MP03 mold. This is the least compromised TransFormers jet ever created, with an underside that reveals remarkably little of the robot. Sleek and impressive, The F-15 has remained in service far longer than anyone expected (albeit partially through necessity, due to the expensive shit-show that was the F-22 Raptor), no small feat for an aircraft that first came into service 50 years ago.
So it's fitting that the first Masterpiece Starscream retained the F-15 alternate mode and, engineered by the literal miracle-worker Shōji Kawamori, from initial concepts by Binaltech designer Hironori Kobayashi, it even works remarkably well in the Red, White and Blue of the original toy (well, technically, that was red, grey/silver and blue, but this colourscheme is show-accurate), particularly thanks to the black wash and weathering paint applications. While this version of Starscream lacks the technical markings of the original - 'No Step', etc. - and the motto where the pilot's name would normally be, it gains more of the original toy's coloured striping, the blue vertical stabilisers, and a neat animated movie reference on the nose: a design referencing Starscream's crown and shoulder pads from the coronation scene in the movie. The only real downside is that the radar unit in the nose is unpainted and, to be fair, I can't imagine most people would even consider displaying Starscream in jet mode with the nosecone open. I was genuinely surprised to find that most - but not all - of the wing lights are painted as well.
This specific figure has a tailplane that's prone to popping off - moreso than any other iteration currently in my collection - one of the rear landing wheels doesn't deploy fully, making it prone to falling over, and the midsection panel on the top of the jet, behind the cockpit, never wants to sit flush, even with the back end fully tabbed in. I have this latter issue, albeit not as prominent, with the Skywarp iteration... which makes me wonder if Hasbro changed something else that messed up the fit.
This version came with all the same accessories as the Takara original, including the Dr. Arkeville figurine with its perfunctory paint job, the missile racks - molded in white plastic with painted tips and rings - and even the clip for mounting the Megatron-in-gun-form accessory packaged with MP01.
While Hasbro and Takara have yet to produce a new jet TransFormer that equals, let alone supersedes the MP03 mold's jet mode, Third Parties have done a better job of using F-22 - designed to be the F-15 operational replacement - to create transforming robots, from the iGear's 2014 IDW Starscream analogue, to the more recent, more stylised an intricate, original robot created by TouchToys. Even the official Masterpiece Movie Starscream fails to conceal much more of its robot mode than the Leader class toy from the Hunt for the Decepticons/Revenge of the Fallen toyline. Honestly, given how well-made this jet mode is, I am continually baffled that anyone thinks the MP11 mold, let alone the horrifically compromised MP52 mold, is an improvement on this.
Robot Mode:
In its original colourscheme, Takara's MP Starscream was one of the biggest bones of contention for some fans but, personally, I found the more realistic colours refreshing. I've always preferred TransFormers toys that try to look somewhat real-world, and quickly lost interest back in the mid 1980s once Diaclone and Microchange had been exhausted and 'Cybertronian' vehicle modes and outlandish, simplistic robo-beasts became more common. The idea of a trio of Seekers in real-world colours rather than toy colours was appealing to me... though clearly Takara didn't agree, since their original Skywarp and Thundercracker (MPs 6 and 7, respectively) chose to be toy-accurate in their colourschemes, and to do away with most of the striping. On that score, this version is perhaps more in keeping with the rest of the original Masterpiece Seekers.
Initially, I didn't like the look of Hasbro's version of MP03 half as much as Takara's, but it quickly started growing on me - quite possibly as the simple and inevitable result of my longstanding Seeker OCD. Having it in-hand, I think my only objections are that some of the choices made regarding the paint job are flawed, and the red plastic colour is rather too flat and orange, particularly when placed directly next to the vibrant scarlet paint on the 'ribcage' parts just below his turbine-boobs. On top of that, the Decepticon insignias were applied to the wings in such a way that they're upside-down in robot mode, which frustrates me no end.
Then there's the absence of paint on the missile racks inside his... um... rack. Easy to customise they may be but, equally, it couldn't possibly have been a huge burden on the paint budget. Granted, it's not as if those missiles regularly came into play in the TV show or the comics - like many of the crazier aspects of the cartoon, I suspect they had a single use and were forgotten until MP03 came along - but the sculpted detail is there, and it seems ridiculous not to highlight it. And then, curiously, the intakes on his shoulders have been painted silver with the raised details in gold, where Takara's just had the whole block painted burgundy, and his crotch details are - unnecessarily - picked out in a dark gunmetal paint. On the upside, at least Hasbro didn't see the need to replicate some of the G1 toy's sticker details or add bizarre 'tattoos', the way they did with their MP Thundercracker.
As mentioned previously, there are no surprises with his accessories - his Null Ray guns have gunmetal weathering on the tips and more gunmetal paint toward the back, but are otherwise just white plastic. Similarly, the head sculpt is exactly the same as MP03, with red eyes, a gunmetal face, and the same option of either a neutral expression or Starscream's trademark smirk.
I am genuinely thrilled to have this in my collection now... and am honestly more than a little tempted to replace my MP11-based Thundercracker with a genuine MP07 if I can find one at a reasonable price. The changes made to the design just don't constitute enough of an improvement, to my mind, and the darker shade of blue works better. Then there's the question of whether there's a place in my collection for the truly glorious MP03G Ghost Starscream...
My only gripe outside of the paint issues mentioned above - and this is far more noticeable to me now that it was back in the day - is that the lower legs are so wobbly on their extension joints. This was addressed to a degree, but not fully eliminated, on MP11. Even so, I still consider this mold to be the superior of the three Masterpiece Seeker models produced so far, and I only wish the Masterpiece line had followed this template rather than shifting toward cartoon accuracy.
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