Takara Tomy Website Update: Alternity Starscream & Skywarp

Starscream looks more like Breakdown in those colours.

I still think Starscream looks like Tigatron.

They look so bad...

oh well, I said the same thing about Alternity Bumblebee. In his case though, I was able to rationalize it by including him with my Alternator collection. Not so with these guys.

Next to Convoy, these are the best Alternity releases to-date, IMO. I really like these. Looking forward to the obligatory repaints

They look cool, but they're not Seekers.

Counterpunch wrote:They look so bad...

oh well, I said the same thing about Alternity Bumblebee. In his case though, I was able to rationalize it by including him with my Alternator collection. Not so with these guys.

I can rationalise these by including him in my Alternity collection!

I'm so looking forward to getting Skywarp.

meh starscream doesnt really look like himself the best it can do is slightly remind of starscream

but skywarp reminds me of. . .shockwave. . .

Mykltron wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:They look so bad...

oh well, I said the same thing about Alternity Bumblebee. In his case though, I was able to rationalize it by including him with my Alternator collection. Not so with these guys.

I can rationalise these by including him in my Alternity collection!

I'm so looking forward to getting Skywarp.

Haha, me too.

I can't pass up on this mold, the alt mode looks great.

Neah, I'm just not seeing the seekers in these guys.

And shouldn't Skywarp be black?

RiddlerJ wrote:Neah, I'm just not seeing the seekers in these guys.

And shouldn't Skywarp be black?

Black cars are so passé, after Megatron and Optimus/Nemesis...

I only have Optimus in red, planning on getting silver Megs, then I'll see what else I end up getting. Maybe Skywarp since I have so many of him as it is

Why are they so....weird? I mean, aside from the overly-purpleness of Skywarp, they're great until you look at the head molds. They just kill it.

Also, are these the same toy images we've seen in scans before? Why do they keep showing such bad images of the Alternity line? They're not exactly selling them very well. I almost passed on Bumble until we saw actual reviews.

I know, I know... Japan.

I don't mind the seekers being cars, but I can't abide by Skywarp being replaced by Grimace.

I did pick up the Nemesis Prime variant because I have a pretty nice team of guys in that color scheme, but overall I'm just not impressed by Alternity.

EPIC WIN. Screamer will join Black Convoy, Blade Megatron, & Cliff most surely. As for the designs, i'm still sticking with my homage theory. Convoy=G1(Red), Megatron=G2(Blue, just a strange look for him), Cliff/Bumble=Movieverse, Screamer/Skywarp=Beast Wars. That's my theory and i'm sticking to it.

RiddlerJ wrote:And shouldn't Skywarp be black?

That would help his cause greatly. I like Skywarp much better than Starscream, but Starscream just looks better here. Plus I just noticed they actually have the same head mold, Skywarp's V-brow is just the same purple as the rest of his head so it doesn't stand out as much. Anyhow, I just canceled my order for Skywarp. Only getting Starscream...

I cannot wait for these.

Skywarp looks kind of...pink.

Starscreams head reminds me of Great Fighbird from the Takaara Brave series. Nice to see Takara remembers.

these are the ugliest things i have seen in years,...and i love a great many of the newer designs....these are just plain awful....no cash from me on these guys.

Starscream's head looks to be based on the g2 blackbird version, or the machine wars version (They are the same)

I guess I'm in the minority here then, because I absolutely LOVE these two figures. The car mode is just plain awesome and I think the idea of having car based seekers is beyond awesome. They look great to me and I'm hoping for a general release of Thundercracker. However, I have a bad feeling he's going to be an exclusive of some sort and I'm going to have to pay an arm and a leg to complete the trio.

Wow, these suck-diddly-uck.

I'm just not seeing Starscream and Skywarp in these. While they look good, their color schemes are not of those - if the purple would be more blueish purple with white head, I'd say it would make a great Thunderblast, however.

skywarp looks more ratbat to me...that oddly enough makes me want him more.

I think I'll pass.

Ok...fine. Alternity line....whatever. There is something not quite right about TFs named Starscream and Skywarp that transform into cars. There is a "simple logic" breakdown there that I just can't get behind.

I've already applied for a day off the day these guys get released! I'll be doing an extensive review of these guys.

They are coloured like Breakdown and Shockwave.

Diem wrote:I've already applied for a day off the day these guys get released! I'll be doing an extensive review of these guys.

What date is that?

Kibble wrote:

Diem wrote:I've already applied for a day off the day these guys get released! I'll be doing an extensive review of these guys.

What date is that?

If Amazon Japan are to be believed (and they're usually pretty good about this sort of thing) the 29th May.

Diem wrote:If Amazon Japan are to be believed (and they're usually pretty good about this sort of thing) the 29th May.

Bummer...BBTS has Starscream listed as April, but they have Skywarp listed as May and I can't imagine they'd be released separately. Any chance you know the Ghost MP SS release date? Might be wise to have these items shipped together. Don't know that I can wait if it's more than a month apart, though. Too bad the MP isn't the fig to be released sooner because I'm not in a huge hurry for that since I already have the mold.

Kibble wrote:

Diem wrote:If Amazon Japan are to be believed (and they're usually pretty good about this sort of thing) the 29th May.

Bummer...BBTS has Starscream listed as April, but they have Skywarp listed as May and I can't imagine they'd be released separately. Any chance you know the Ghost MP SS release date? Might be wise to have these items shipped together. Don't know that I can wait if it's more than a month apart, though. Too bad the MP isn't the fig to be released sooner because I'm not in a huge hurry for that since I already have the mold.

The nearest I can find to a date for Ghost is late July. Don't quote me on that though.

Diem wrote:The nearest I can find to a date for Ghost is late July. Don't quote me on that though.

BBTS says June, so late July is probably right. Thanks.

WolfDawg wrote:I guess I'm in the minority here then, because I absolutely LOVE these two figures. The car mode is just plain awesome and I think the idea of having car based seekers is beyond awesome. They look great to me and I'm hoping for a general release of Thundercracker. However, I have a bad feeling he's going to be an exclusive of some sort and I'm going to have to pay an arm and a leg to complete the trio.

You and me both! I love the design of this incarnation of SS & SW.

I can understand people not liking the look or disliking the way these are "Seekers" with no jet alt mode, however. I also think Blurrz is spot on with his observation that they look like PatLeeformers as the artwork makes them look fairly puffy/bulky.

Despite the possible aesthetic issues, I won't give up on the Alternity line. I recall that the photos and video footage of Alternity Bumble/Cliff misrepresented the appearance of the figures greatly. Once I see Alternity SS and/or SW in person, I'm sure they'll look better.

I don't know what it is about the Alternity line but I really like the styling of the figures. I was worried at first that it would be similar to the movie-verse figures but the aesthetic is unique. It's almost an anime/ghost in a shell/Akira element in all of the figures which is nice. The Binaltech line was a favourite of mine and there is a nice link to these and the original Gen 1 cars. I'm shrinking down my collection but I'll see if I can fit these chaps in.

JetfireUK wrote:I don't know what it is about the Alternity line but I really like the styling of the figures. I was worried at first that it would be similar to the movie-verse figures but the aesthetic is unique. It's almost an anime/ghost in a shell/Akira element in all of the figures which is nice. The Binaltech line was a favourite of mine and there is a nice link to these and the original Gen 1 cars. I'm shrinking down my collection but I'll see if I can fit these chaps in.

I think part of the apprehension some have over the Alternity line is that the bot modes are more mechanically overt in design, which is a trait the movie-verse designs possess. However, the Alternity designs do not go as far over to the alien robot side as the movie-verse designs and retain more familiar features, especially the Bumble and Cliff figures, which have homaged their G1 designs significantly.

I'm big Seeker fan, and I've been a diehard Starscream fan since I was 5 or 6 during G1 (I still think Bruticus is the coolest combiner solely because Starscream "created" them on the cartoon). I'll buy basically ANY Starscream figure even if I don't like the design (Animated, Machine Wars, Movie-verse), but I seriously do love the design of these new figures. I was hoping to have them at the end of this month because I heard they were coming out in April. The wait until May (possibly June if you factor in shipping) is going to be a long one. Still, I'm looking forward to your review and opinion of the figures Diem.