Blog: Toy photography. Mostly mine. Also, whatever else I'm on about. Me: Name's Luke. I'm in my 20s and live in Arkansas. I also blog about old buildings and disappearing stuff here.
Starscream (Transformers: Fall of Cybertron; Hasbro; 2013)
This is a great starscream figure. He doesn’t have his trademark arm cannons, but the excellent reproduction of the neutron assault rifle from FoC will have to do. Plus you’ll need him to recreate scenes from John Barber’s Robots in Disguise series. (Now where’s our Metalhawk?)
Fave Voice Actor: Chris Latta
Generally remembered for voicing both Starscream and Cobra Commander, Latta also voiced a slew of other G1 characters such as Wheeljack and Sparkplug. But there’s really no comparison to the G1 Starscream voice: Several have come close, but none have surpassed.
(Latta died in the 90s. One of his last roles was Moe the Bartender on some early episodes of The Simpsons.)
Favorite Pairing: Starscream and Megatron
It doesn’t matter if you’re shipping them or just watching them, Megs’ and SS’ relationship is so fucked up you can’t help but enjoy it. You’re never quite sure if Starscream wants Megatron in bed or just dead. Starscream is constantly trying to kill Megs and become leader, but there’s this strong undercurrent that he really just wants Megs’ approval, which he never gets.
The relationship has ended with Starscream dead or near-dead a healthy number of times…
…but there have also been times when Megatron has actually rebuilt him, and that adds another weird layer to the whole thing.
“Because I love him, that’s why!”
It’s not a healthy relationship, it’s a twisted one, and that’s what makes it so interesting. Megs/SS moments can be found in almost any TF series that features them, and if you haven’t yet, I’d recommend reading Nick Roche’s Spotlight: Megatron that came out a few months ago for one of the best explorations of that relationship I’ve ever seen.
It’s good.
Seekers (Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Acid Storm, Ramjet, Thrust, Dirge; Transformers; Hasbro, 2006-2010)
Concentrated nostalgia.
So this is the Megatron from the new IDW Spotlight: Megatron one-shot, which is astoundingly good news for us comic readers. But what’s funny is the Starscream seen in that comic is kinda based on the Masterpiece toy, which of course will tower over this figure…
Starscreams (Transformers: G1; Revenge of the Fallen; Heroes of Cybertron; Animated; Classics; Kre-O)
Here are a bunch of Starscreams for your pleasure!
The Kre-O model is huge. I plan to reconstruct him into some sort of semi-transforming gerwalk mech for the Kreon to pilot.
Starscream and Blackout (Transformers; Hasbro; 2007-2009)
These two guys mean nothing but trouble.
“Command Performances!” (Marvel Transformers #19)
“That looks like it hurts,” I told the other boy in the children’s section at the Boothbay Harbor Public Library. I pointed at the comic I was reading, something called “The Transformers.” The cover showed a big robot blasting a smaller robot with a laser.
“No, that’s silly,” the other boy replied. “Robots can’t feel pain.”
Months later, the public library gave me their copy of Transformers #19, my first ever run-in with the robots from Cybertron. I had read it cover-to-cover so many times that the cover had given up and fallen off. Soon, I picked up Transformers #77 at our local drugstore - the only issue of the comic I ever saw on shelves. I was in love. By the time my dad rented a VHS copy of “S.O.S. Dinobots,” there was no turning back.
Unfortunately for me, it was 1991 (or so). The original Transformers line was in its death throes. None of the characters I grew to love from the Marvel comic and the Sunbow cartoon could be found in stores any longer. At fleamarkets, toy dealers shook their heads and said, “those toys just aren’t worth any money.”
For the remainder of my childhood, it was a desperate search for evidence that my favorite franchise ever existed at all. “Do you have any Transformers?” I’d ask any kid I met. Any toy that transformed, anything at all, was fair game. Hell, I’d watch episodes of “Challenge of the Go-Bots” just to scratch my transforming itch.
Twenty years later, things aren’t too different. I still scour the world for toys, just not as desperately as Luke, Ages 6-12. Fortunately my hobby didn’t die in 1992.
Which brings me back to Transformers #19. The pages of that comic are concentrated nostalgia: Each panel contains an image that’s burned into my head, each character a collection of shapes and movements that fling back to my childhood. I’m going to discuss a few of those panels and the odd memories they bring, along with toys of the associated characters.
(Complements to my wife for helping me with the photo up there!)
Starscream (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Hasbro, 2009)
The movie Starscream never clicked with me until RotF. Even though that movie was a complete rust-yard of a mess, at least - at least - it had some good scenes of Starscream-Megatron banter. I think my favorite was this, from after the final battle with Prime and the Fallen:
“Not to…call you a coward, master…but…sometimes, cowards do…survive.”
Toy Room: Transformers Animated Shelf
(Look for: Starscream, Blitzwing, Lugnut, Megatron, Optimus Prime, Earth Mode Optimus Prime, Blackarachnia, Ultra Magnus, Waspinator, Oil Slick, Ratchet, Shockwave, Soundwave)
As I’ve said before, this series interested me not at all - until I picked up the Optimus Prime toy and watched a few episodes of the show. Then I was immediately won over.
By the way, please don’t think Blackarachnia’s position here is advocating for some sort of shipping or whatever. She’s just leading Optimus on.
