The resemblance between the legend and the original one is pretty good and the new on beats the original's articulation with a head that turns slightly, hips that swing to the sides and ball jointed knees & shoulders. Unfortunately one of the knee joints on mine is a little faulty so I can't bend the knee into the precise position needed for the toy to stand properly. I will keep my eyes peeled for a replacement that does.
Transformation: inventive. Fold the nosecone up from behind the head, then fold the head back and down so it's between the robot's legs. Fold each arm up so it points straight up and turn so the inner side of the arm faces forward. Fold the guns on the arms forward to become the back of the jet. Fold the wings on the back of the legs down. Fold the legs up alongside the body so the wings on the legs become the tailfins. Plug the tab on each leg into the slot on each wing.
Starscream's vehicle mode is a surprisingly accurate representation of the F-16 jet, albeit one with a thick undercarriage. Landing gear is provided by the knees & feet raising the bulk of the plane up.
Apart from the knees on mine this is a great little Legend. Nice reworking of the Transformation sequence.
The first EZ Collection wave released alongside Dark of the Moon uses the western Reveal The Shield Legends as it's base and adds in new repaints of the Revenge of the Fallen Legends Optimus Prime & Megatron. Of the RTS toys Optimus Prime & Trailbreaker (Trailcutter) are essentially the same as their RTS versions albeit swapping the rub signs for faction symbols. Megatron too is broadly similar to his RTS version but there's one major difference: the EZ Collections lacks the orange safety tip on the cannon/gun barrel that RTS Megatron has, making the Japanese version more desirable. Prowl is missing, replaced by the similar looking Universe Legends Jazz, which hadn't been previously released in Japan. The Bumblebee in the set is different from the Goldbugesque RTS version and is very similar to the original Universe Legends Bumblebee, which also hadn't been released in Japan before, although the mold was repainted as Henkei Cliffjumper which in a three pack with minor repaints of Universe Legends Beachcomber and Brawn.
But what of RTS Starscream?
Starscream finds himself repaint as Thundercracker, swapping grey plastic for blue with a painted silver chest & faction symbol tampographs. It's an obvious repaint of course but it seems a little odd to be getting a hench jet before the main bot is done.
It is of course the first repaint of the Starscream toy and has appeared in Japan without any hint of a Western release. When the first ones appeared on eBay they were £9.50 compared with the £7 the seller was asking for the rest. I bought one then, and Megatron was the same price. They were then relisted at £10.50. Then £12.57. Then £18.55..... The last two that sold went for £21.44 & £24.50 with them now being listed for a massive £27.56 as at August 5th 2011! Madness, utter utter Madness. I wish I'd bought a few more when they were sub tenner. I'm looking at Wave 1 Case that BBTS have for $160 (These toys are sold blindboxed in cases of 24 with each toy appearing three times) and wondering if it's worth buying one....
Thundercracker? Looks fab and stands better than Starscream. But this is a £3-£4 toy, it's not a tenner toy even at import prices and it's certainly not worth paying the best part of £30 for! I predict a western version in early 2012 and the howl of fanboys who overspent on the Japanese toy.
The case photo also shows TWO of the Starscream mold. I'm guessing that one of them would be a Japanese version Starscream and the other probably Skywarp or Sunstorm. I can't really see Thundercracker being carried over to a second case as some people are hoping but his initial appearance instead of Starscream was a big surprise anyway so I won't be so shocked if Takara bowls us a googly and does something odd here too!