Armada Starscream

Do you know what almost drove me from Transformers for good?  No, not Dreamwave.  The Unicron Trilogy.  Thank goodness for the book-style reissues and the things that Brad Mick was trying in the Dreamwave stuff.  If not for those tidbits of goodness, the Unicron Trilogy would've driven me off for good.  So, why did I get Armada Starscream from the Generations line?  Simply put: I actually liked this design, but the original was poorly executed in my eyes.

The original tfwiki.net

I'm still not sure why IDW went with the Armada body for the comics.  I'm certain that Hasbro had more than a small hand in that, but I still can't put my finger on why they felt the need to use it for the G1 continuity.  It's just shoe-horned in.  Whatever.

Here we have Starscream in a resting position.  See how relaxed he is?  This would be his everyday appearance, I suppose.  If you compare the original version to this version, the Generations one is so much better.  The arms are better proportioned, and the articulation is, naturally, better. 

Here's a shot from behind.  It's not for fan service or anything.  I wanted to point out the sword storage on the back of the wings.  Again, much better than the original version.

See?  Starscream doesn't look like a clipped bird when he's holding his swords.  I really like the articulation on this figure.  Oh, notice the ports on the forearms?  Those are for minicons.  As far as I know, there aren't any planned for release in the Generations line. Even if they were planned, they wouldn't activate anything; the gimmicks from the Unicron Trilogy are gone. 

As I look at Starscream, I think back to the Fall of Cybertron figures and I can't believe that they're in the same line.  The FOC figures featured so little articulation that it was sad.  They seemed like scaled up Legends-class figures.

Starscream has missile launchers that can be stored away when not in use.  Most depictions show the launchers up at all times, but I'm not too keen on this look, myself.

Jet mode is nice.  It's much better than the Fall of Cybertron jet-type.  Man, do I hate that thing.

I really don't have much to add about the jet mode.  It's a jet, and it looks pretty.  That's a review, right?

I can't believe that Armada is over ten years old now.  I'm old.  There are people out there who were introduced to Transformers with this series.  Thinking about how someone saw this series and fell in love with it blows my mind. Then again, I am a curmudgeon.  Thus ends this wave of Generations Deluxe figures.  I have one more new release figure before I go into some vintage guys.  Up next - Masterpiece Soundblaster with Ratbat!