It's interesting how different companies approach these collaborative projects. Hasbro has designated Optimus Prime, Megatron, Bumblebee, and Starscream as the main characters of Transformers, and indeed, it's those four in the crossover. If Mattel had that same attitude this would probably be Starscream Armor Beast Man, which wouldn't be a *bad* fit, but instead they did something much cooler. For half of his existence Scare Glow was barely a character at all, coming as he did at the very end of the vintage line, but he quickly became a cult fave once adult He-Fans started revisiting the franchise in the early 2000s and finally made his animated debut in MOTU Revelation. Scare Glow is a ghost--Starscream is sometimes a ghost. Starscream's ghost can possess other bots (including Waspinator in that one episode of Beast Wars!), so is he possessing Scare Glow, or is Scare Glow possessing a still-living Starscream?
I'm just kidding, this is Scare Glow wearing *Starscream Armor*, because that's the conceit we're going with. The heroes of Eternia met the Turtles and the Thundercats, but there are no actual Transformers in this story, they're just wearing armor inspired by them. You can decide if he sounds like the late great Tony Todd or the late great Chris Latta.
Like Skeletor, Scare Glow's torso is entirely new. The red part is molded separately, creating a great layering effect and giving it some depth. Actually, other than his hands and thighs all of Scare Glow's parts are brand new. His face, upper arms, and lower torso are molded in glow in the dark plastic, as is tradition. It's not as bright as the standard Scare Glow but you gotta appreciate the effort. Also he glows blue instead of the more common green--perhaps to better evoke Starscream's ghost.
Furthering the connections to The Transformers: The Movie, in which Starscream takes the first step toward becoming a ghost, Scare Glow's armor has the crown, shoulder pads, and cape from Starscream's coronation as Decepticon leader, moments before being wasted by Galvatron. The purple cape evokes Scare Glow's typical garb, which is probably the reason for its inclusion. If you want a more basic look, all of these pieces are removable. The crown is made out of soft plastic For Safety Reasons, so the points will warp if you don't store it properly.
Most of his accessory budget goes to the coronation gear, but Scare Glow is still armed with two null rays, which are surprisingly versatile. They can be plugged into his shoulders to complete the Starscream look, or he can hold them as a pair of twin axes, or he can hold them as guns (there's even a hollow space for his thumbs to go for a better grip), or they can plug together end to end to make a staff evocative of Scare Glow's signature halberd. This last one isn't mentioned in any of the marketing material for some reason, maybe because of how rigid the null rays are being a breakage concern, maybe because it looks kind of daft. But hey, I'd rather have the option than not. They can also plug into his back using the same ports as the cape, another undocumented feature, possibly accidental.
I don't have any other "Ghost of Starscream" (or indeed, Coronation Starscream) figures in my collection, and I love both characters, so I'm tempted to say this is my favorite of the MOTU X Transformers crossovers. He just ticks so many boxes. It's real close between him and Optimus Prime Armor He-Man, but either way the second wave was much stronger than the first. Didn't stop it from going to clearance too! Crossovers are on pause for the rest of the year, but I'd love to maybe see one more wave with Beast Man/Soundwave (a stronger thematic pairing) and Teelita-1. We're also still supposed to get a Transformers X MOTU item from Hasbro, so my favorite special interests aren't done with the mashups yet.
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