Dave's Cybertron Rant: TRU Exclusive Voyager Pack Vector Prime with Safeguard Starscream Starscream in Galaxy Force was a Voyager size, but Hasbro decided to promote him to Supreme for Cybertron. That left the Voyager mold existing, but possibly not something Hasbro would want to sell right away, lest it compete with the $50 toy. As often happens when Hasbro doesn't really want to sell something, it became an exclusive, in this case a TRU/Amazon exclusive. But to make sure it wouldn't sell to anyone but collectors, it got paired with an unchanged version of Vector Prime. Yes, I'm annoyed at Hasbro. Still, Amazon had a free shipping and free Scout deal, so I ordered it and got a spare Ransack in the process. http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Cybertron/Mega1 is my review of Vector Prime. Any changes are purely production quality issues and maybe a timestamp. There's a new bio note, and I'll discuss the packaging setup, but otherwise won't be reviewing VP again. http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/BW/Cybertron/Supreme1 is the original Starscream Supreme review, for comparison. However, this is a new mold, not a rescale, so I will be reviewing it fully. CAPSULE Starscream vs. Vector Prime: If you already have VP, you might want to just look into buying the Galaxy Force version of Starscream online, it won't be much more expensive, and it'll have show-accurate colors. A decent mold with a rather well-designed Key gimmick. Recommended if you don't have Vector Prime (or want a spare), very mildly recommended if you do. $34.99 at TRU. RANT Packaging: The two are packaged in robot mode (Starscream on the left, Vector Prime on the right) in an oversized and easily damaged box that is not *quite* Cybertron standard. It's an octagonal prism, with the front and sides being vertical rather than at angles. It's 15.5" (49.5cm) wide at its widest, 13" (33cm) wide at the front and back panels. The height is a constant 9.25" (23.5cm). The depth of the box is 5" (12.5cm), but the side panels are only about 2.5" (6cm) wide. The truncated corner panels are all 1.75" (4.5cm) wide, and are roughly 45-45-90 triangles of removed material. Despite being packed fairly carefully, mine is pretty mangled. The front panel, parts of the side corner panels, and most of the top panel are plastic window. Starscream's side of the front bottom has his name and faction symbol on a purple background, his art in the upper left, and his Decepticon Cybertron Key near the bottom of the corner panel. At the upper left it says he's Earth Planet Voyager Class, which is odd considering he doesn't come with an Earth Key in this version. Behind Starscream inside is a half Decepticon symbol that wraps forward onto the block-like structure he's twist-tied to. His two swords (he's show-accurate in that way) are deployed, and his gun is held into his right fist by both a rubber band and a twist-tie. There's a total of 8 ties, many of which require disassembling the whole cardboard structure to undo, so it's a wirecutter job. His chest is protected by a blister shield held down by a rubber band. Starscream has his wingtips straight out, not bent back, but the instructions and box pictures support this configuration. Vector Prime's side is red and generally a mirror of Starscream's. However, he has no Planet listing, that location in the upper right holds the "only at Toys R Us" logo. Inside, VP is tied to an angled piece of cardboard and he's generally further back in the box. VP's feet are a bit turned in, pigeon-toed if you will. NINE ties keep VP in place, plus another tie around each shoulderpad just to keep them from flopping, and a rubber band around the pelvis plates. A real wirecutter job. His sword is in a blister tray to keep it from bending, and is strapped down so as to look like he's holding it, but it's not actually touching his hand, just close to it. One twist-tie holds it to the tray, and four rubber bands keep the sword in the tray. Safeguard is under a blister between the two main figures, mostly in robot mode but with the cannon straight up so he's as flat as possible. The blister isn't glued down, he's secured by a single twist-tie. Like the regular release, VP does not come with batteries. Each figure's missile is rubberbanded to the back of the card, near the top, in a horizontal position. The right side panel has the standard Earth Planet info. The bottom has co-sells of Red Alert, Dark Scorponok, Undermine and Override. The left panel has the techspecs (unchanged for VP, wimpified for Starscream). The back has the bio notes and photos of the modes (Starscream on left, VP on right). A painted Universal Key is still shown for VP, despite the lack of paint on the real thing. The box should be opened from the top. The two instruction sheets are in a single bag taped to the back of the inner tray. Despite the fact that they're both packaged in robot mode, the instructions start from vehicle mode. AUTOBOT: VECTOR PRIME Planet: Universal (Giant) Altmode: Space Cruiser Mini-Con Partner: Safeguard Planet Key Code: v38g VECTOR PRIME outmatches STARSCREAM in wits and strength, but the ancient AUTOBOT is pushed to the limits of even his incredible power by the demands of the search for the Planet Keys and the defense of CYBERTRON from its countless enemies. Forced to use his remarkable time-traveling abilities to constantly hop between dimensions, he finds himself weakened during the frequent skirmishes with DECEPTICON forces. Nonetheless, he must persevere, for nothing less than the survival of the Universe is at stake! Techspecs unchanged. Same Key Code info. DECEPTICON: STARSCREAM Planet: Cybertron Decepticon Altmode: Jet Planet Key Code: s5a3 (same as Supreme) Constantly plotting behind his leader's back, STARSCREAM is using the DECEPTICON forces left under his command on Earth to further his own ambitions. He desires the power granted by the Planet Key, believing it will finally give him the power to destroy MEGATRON and the AUTOBOTS. With a mighty array of weapons, including his fearsome Null ray cannons, he is second to none in aerial combat and skill with an Energon blade. STR 7.5 INT 7.5 SPD 9 END 8 RNK 8 COUR 6 FRB 9 SKL 8 Avg 7.875 Okay, I can see them giving him less raw power in this smaller version, but making him dumber, and less courageous? Feh. Especially since the Legends of Cybertron tiny version has the same stats as the Supreme. The Key Code is the same, so no new info. Planet Key: Standard Decepticon version of the Cybertron Key, essentially identical to the one the Supreme version has. Robot Mode: Covering this one first, since he's packaged in this mode. And I'll start by noting that there are no electronics. Nor did the Galaxy Force toy have electronics. There were early plans for them, but no version of this toy ever had them implemented fully. 7" (18cm) tall, in a color scheme that is more reminiscent of G1 Ramjet than anything else [Later note: well, the color balance is closer to G1 Thrust, but Ramjet's delta wing shape tips the matter in its favor for me]. The chest, shoulders, backpack and lower legs are a maroon plastic with silver and gold paint accents, plus some black paint to balance things. The central torso block, arms, head and thighs are black plastic (the forearm armguards are maroon plastic with silver paint, though). The jet thrusters and nose cannons are medium gray. The cockpit, swords, missile and gun trigger are a cloudy transparent purple. The gun is black plastic with a maroon muzzle. In general, the look is as if you took the regular Cybertron Starscream, replaced the light gray with maroon and the red with silver. Most of the black and gold are the same. The purple pods on either side of Supremescream's head are gold here. Poseability is pretty good. The head turns, but not the waist. The shoulders are a mix of a swivel and a slight bit of "in-out" joint with one ratchet click either direction. The elbows are hinges that go 90 degrees, although putting the gun in a hand limits that to 45 degrees. The chest guns do NOT move in this version, another example of being a different mold rather than a scale-change. The hips are universal ratcheting joints, there's a swivel above the knee, the knees themselves are ratchet hinges. The ankles have some poseability for transformation. The Key gimmick involves some pretty clever engineering. Inserting the Key into the slot on his backpack drives a number of levers and stuff that end up releasing the swords in his shoulders to spring out. And this is done without limiting the range of motion for the shoulders! The blades themselves are pretty rigid, and there's no safety breakpoint where they cna pop off. The Key itself will stay in very firmly regardless of how far it's pushed in. To give him a ranged attack, he has a separate 2" (5cm) long gun with a 3" (7.5cm) missile. Loaded, the whole thing is just under 4" (10cm) long. It has a 5mm peg handle, can fit in either hand or in a peg hole under Starscream's backpack. It conceals nicely if not loaded, but there's really no good place to store the missile. Transformation: Pretty much identical to that of Supremescream, but with two major differences. One, his gun stores on his underside between the legs, in a peghole that's not quite accessible in robot mode. Two, the tail sections simply fold up on the sides, rather than the somewhat more involved way Supremescream's does. There's a few other little differences, like the fact the nose tip doesn't fold under in robot mode. The wings don't hold in position as well as the Supreme version's do, but a lot better than the Legends version. Vehicle Mode: 8.5" (22cm) long, 7.75" (20cm) wingspan, roughly delta shaped. The robot head blends in fairly well. There's three small wheels on the underside that roll pretty well, although on any uneven surface there's a good chance the gun will trigger. Not much more to say on this mode. Overall: If this were sold on its own, I'd recommend picking it up, it's different enough from the Supreme version. But by packing it with an unchanged Vector Prime, TRU made it not worth the money unless you don't have Vector Prime yet. Dave Van Domelen, caught up again, if only for the briefest of intervals.