I've owned this toy for a very long time, but lately I've been ordering pieces here and there to replace parts that I either broke (accidentally) or customized (on purpose), so I thought I'd spend a little time talking about him.

I've gone on record as loving the Action Masters. A lot of people dismiss them as awful "Transformers that don't transform," even though this is patently false. Every single Action Masters product had some transformable aspect, whether it was an accessory or sidekick character or vehicle (similar to the M.A.S.K. toy line). But more than that, during a time when the cartoon was off the air and the toy line consisted entirely of nobody characters I had no fondness for and no attachment to (no G1 fan is going to tell you that his favorite character is Strikedown or Repel or Direct-Hit, especially since I made up one of those names, and you might not even recognize which one at first blush), the Action Masters were the first assorment to bring back characters like Soundwave and Wheeljack and Prowl and Shockwave, all characters who I already knew and loved. Hasbro probably would have cancelled the G1 toy in 1990 no matter WHAT they did, but ressurecting recognizable characters with strong fan appeal was absolutely the correct way to go. I mean, just look at how successful the toy line is in 2024 based on revisiting G1.

So the Action Masters were sold at various price points, and Starscream was part of the "Action Blasters" assortment, a figure packed with a low price point vehicle that retailed for about $6.99 or so. He comes with the Turbo Jet, a vehicle that transformed from a high-speed jet fighter to a missile launcher shaped a bit like a weaponized throne. How appropriate for Starscream!

All the Action Masters were realized as action figures, with the intent of being able to put them into the cockpits of the various vehicles in the line, like G.I. Joe figures. This means that most of the protruding design elements, which would have precluded their ability to fit into vehicle cockpits, had to go. Starscream's distinctive back-mounted wings were eliminated entirely, instead shrunk down to tiny fins existing as molded detail on his shoulders. The air intakes on his shoulders were significantly shrunk down as well. Like every Action Master, he's got seven points of articulation (hips, knees, shoulders, head), with legs attached to the body using a G.I. Joe style O-ring.

You'd think the twin missiles that came with Starscream would have been designed to plug into the sides of his arms somehow, since that was the character's signature weaponry. However, the pegs for the missiles are too small for the holes in his shoulders, so unless you modified the missiles (which I eventually did), there's no way for him to wear them that way. Feels like a pretty big oversight to me!

An interesting aspect of the designs for many Action Masters is that they looked to the next most recent release for design cues and color schemes. The version of Starscream sold as a Pretender in 1989 was a low-budget design that made some concessions due to its simple construction. The gauntlets needed to be blue, but the arms were one piece so they just made both arms completely blue. The feet also needed to be blue, but the lower legs were all one piece so they just made each lower leg entirely blue. This ended up being the model for the Action Masters color mapping as well, who was given blue arms and legs with black gauntlets and boots, more closely resembling Thundercracker than Starscream. (He was molded in only two colors of plastic, blue and grey. The red upper body was realized entirely with paint.) The figure looks like the character, to a point... only if the Pretender figure was the only other version of Starscream you were familiar with.

However, this was the first articulated Starscream figure, one who could actually be posed like an action figure. He was fully self-contained, without fists to lose or wings that constantly popped off like the 1984 release, and he doesn't have incredibly fragile parts like the Pretender version. It really wasn't until the release of the Earthrise toy in 2020 that we finally got a version of the character who resembled his cartoon self but was also a transformable toy in its own right.

He sits upon the Turbo Jet as if it were a motorcycle that could fly, rather that a true jet fighter in which he inhabits the cockpit. (His box art is rather deceptive, and depicts the size relationship between pilot and vehicle quite differently. The vehicle in the artwork looks about twice as large, with respect to Starscream, than it actually is!) It's dark grey with light blue VTOL wings, armed with two missiles that mount under the wings. A correctly-stickered toy is liberally decorated with bright fluorescent orange and yellow labels, a real sign of the times. Starscream drives the vehicle by grasping onto a stering wheel with two peg-grips, a delicate piece of equipment that ended up breaking on my original copy. (For some reason, the steering wheel is a very hard to find piece. Almost none of the Action Master Starscream toys on eBay have this piece intact.) There is also room for a second Decepticon to stand on the rear fuselage, with foot-pegs that would allow him to balance precariously on the top of the craft behind Starscream.

The Turbo Jet transforms into what the instructions refer to as a mobile missile launcher, and what his tech specs call a "battle chariot." Starscream can remain seated inside the vehicle when transforming from one mode to the other. The sides of the jet swing down, using the same landing wheels, while the foot plate pops off and reattaches in a different position to give the vehicle more height. The nosecone fips down and out of the way, and the rear thruster section flips up with a spring-loaded trigger and ends up sitting above Starscream's head. The wing missiles can now be inserted into the jet thrusters to serve as launchers (note: they don't actually launch). The large undercarriage laser cannon could serve as Starscream's handheld weapon, the only such armament he can use. The engine cover can also pop off and be used as a handheld shield.

The figure got a 1991 redeco in the European market as Thundercracker, sold with a vehicle that turned into an exo-suit. He was produced in one of the most delightfully hideous color schemes ever conceived of for an official Transformers toy.

This was a surprisingly difficult collectible to piece together and complete. I bought the toy back in 1990, but as I said, I eventually painted Starscream into colors closer to the cartoon, customized his missiles so he could wear them on his arms, and I also accidentally broke the steering bar on the jet. I've been collecting parts one at a time to build an intact unit for The Collection with a capital "C," and it's been an interesting journey. The steering bar seems to be the piece that goes missing the most, but I found an auction for it in a lot with a extra foot plate for $17. I ended up replacing the Turbo Jet main body for about six dollars (the auction called it the "Torbo Jet" so I don't think too many people saw it) and got new missiles for about ten bucks a pop. A little spendy, but it beats the asking price of $100 or more to replace the entire toy.

Zob (finally watched the Adam Sandler movie with the giant space spider, because TikTok keeps showing me clips, and the algorithm clearly knows what I like)