The original Transformers cartoon ended with the three part The Rebirth. After that it was just reruns until Beast Wars. Except in Japan where The Rebirth never aired and they instead had three original series - The Headmasters, Super-God Masterforce and Victory.
Each of these series needed an Autobot leader to rival Optimus Prime. For Victory that leader was Star Saber. A transformer whose bio reads like bad fan fiction. He's smarter, stronger, braver, kinder than any other Autobot ever! Well, apart from in the IDW-verse where he's a homicidal zealot.
Star Saber is actually the name of the fully combined form of Saber and the V-Star. Think Optimus Prime and his trailer, only they're futuristic space jet combiners. And also a Brainmaster, meaning Saber has an even smaller robot inside of him. He's a matryoshka doll Transformer. Seriously, is there anything Star Saber is not!?
This review will start with Saber - who is a complete Transformer in his own right - then move on to Star Saber.
Saber
Vehicle mode:
Saber's alt-mode is a futuristic jet fighter. While it is an accurate update to his G1 toy I find the proportions on this jet a little off. The nose cone seems too large compared to the rest of the jet. And the wings feel a little too small.
It's not bad, not by Transformers standards at least. There are a lot of Transformers with jet alt-modes that come off a lot worse than Saber.
The jet-mode has a working cockpit for Saber's Brainmaster partner. The Brain of Courage fits snugly into the space left for him. It's nice to see this feature worked into the toy without it having a negative impact on it in other modes.
Transformation:
The transformation for Saber is pretty simple. Firstly remove the Brain of Courage from the jet mode cockpit. Remove the nose cone and set that aside. Fold up the rear wings and pull down on the thruster sections to extend the legs. Then flip down the red pieces surrounding the landing gear to form his feet. The intakes on the back of the legs rotate around to a different set of intakes (this isn't essential in Saber's robot mode. It's meant more for Star Saber).
With the legs done you can move on to the upper body. The white sections on either side of the jet flip up and out to become the arms. They are then extended by flipping the lower halves out and down, then flipping out the hands. The cockpit window slides down the back and the main wings fold in to get them out of the way.
Robot mode:
Saber's robot mode will be faceless at this point. That's what the Brain of Courage is for. Opening up the flap on his chest reveals a second cockpit for the Brain of Courage. Plug him in then close the door. It's geared so that the cockpit will slide up into the torso and raise Saber's face into place. It's a simple thing but has a really cool effect.
Saber is a very striking robot. The combination of red, white and blue is very eye catching. I like the inversion from Optimus Prime with Saber's torso being blue and his legs being red. With his wide chest and powerful looking arms and legs he looks very heroic.
The jet-mode nosecone can attach to either shoulder as a shield. This pairs well with his sword. The guard is designed to look like the jet nosecone scaled down. The reason for which will be more apparent in his fully combined robot-mode. He can hold it well but his arms sadly aren't articulated enough to pose him doing any really fancy sword fighting poses.
Instead of the sword Saber also comes with a gun. The grip is quite large to allow for it to be held comfortable by the fully combined Star Saber but the designers put a notch in the grip for Saber to be able to hold it securely. He can get an decent two-handed grip on the gun which is a big plus. Single handed the gun looks comically large for Saber.
Star Saber
V-Star:
The V-Star isn't really anything on it's own. It's big and can store most of the unused accessories when not in use. And that's about it. It's main purpose is to be combined with Saber in both vehicle and robot modes.
Vehicle mode:
The V-Star acts as a booster rocket for Saber's jet mode. Think those rockets NASA use to get the space shuttles into space.
The jet mode connects via a spring loaded catch on the V-Star. The rear wings need to be folded down and the front wings folded up for the jet to fit between the boosters. There's a small button on the top of the V-Star to release the catch and detach the jet.
Combined things look a little better. With a defined cockpit section the the whole thing looks more like an actual vehicle. It all holds together very well.
Transformation:
You'll want to start with Saber and the V-Star separate when transforming to Star Saber. Starting with Saber you need to remove the nosecone and extend the legs. Fold the rear wings up and flip the intakes around to the flatter dark grey side. The Brain of Courage should be removed from the jet cockpit (if it's in there) and placed into the robot mode cockpit. Slide the cockpit glass down and fold the main wings up as you would in robot mode. The jet mode now gets folded in half using the leg joints.
Seperate the front and rear halves of the boosters on either side of the V-Star. The rear sections will swing down and in and lock into place to form the legs. You will need to rotate the thighs to get all the joints lined up properly for robot mode. The feet are straight forward - just a couple of hinges to unfold from the around the thruster exhausts. Fold up the wings against the legs to get them out of the way.
The arms simply need to be extended down. Like the legs you may need to rotate joints around the right way. The lower half of the center section is on a double hinge. Lift the red module up on it's arms so it's out of the way. Swing the rear section up and two plugs should fit snugly into two plugholes behind each shoulder. There's another small panel that will fold up on a similar double hinge to plug in the the upper back and hide the gap left by the arm the red module is on.
There are two dark grey hinges on the front of the V-Star that need to be opened up. Saber's balled up jet mode will plug into the gap in the torso. Then close the grey hinges and fold down Saber's rear jet mode wings to complete Star Saber's torso.
The last step is really cool. Flip up the grey sections on the red module. This is Star Saber's head. The arm it's on will allow you to lower it down over Saber's head to complete the robot mode. There's a little spring loaded clip on the arm so once the helmets down you can unclip the arm and swing it onto Star Saber's back.
Robot Mode:
There is a lot less blue to Star Saber's robot mode than Saber's. He's mostly red and white with some blue and yellow accents. Like his smaller self he still has a very heroic silhouette.
The face sculpt on Star Saber almost looks mean. Probably meant to be righteous anger. He's going to go smite Deathsaurus for some evil dead or another. It's a really nice head design. Similar enough to Optimus Prime that you can see the inspiration without just being a copy.
The nosecone of the jet becomes the guard on a much bigger version of the sword Saber carried. Star Saber can use the smaller one if you want but it's not nearly as impressive as the massive sword he's intended to wield. The blade is a separate piece stored in the V-Star. The nosecone contains a short grip that tabs firmly into Star Saber's hand. A second two-handed grip is included that clips into the nosecone section when the short grip is in it's vehicle mode position.
Star Saber also has a large shield. The center part of the shield can slide out to be replaced with a piece to convert it into a display stand for the vehicle mode. He holds the shield well and - in theory - has plenty of articulation to take full advantage of his weapons of choice.
A massive sword wielding robot should be able to use his massive sword and shield, right? Die cast parts in his feet make him very stable. Multiple hinges and swivels means he has a big amount of range in his arms. He can easily get a two-handed grip on his sword.
Sadly these joints aren't as tight as they should be and tend to sag. Especially when holding his shield. Which is a real shame because he'd look great on shelf with his sword and shield raised high, ready to take on a horde of Decepticons. Instead I've had him standing straight with his arms by his side because that's where they always end up.
Final Thoughts:
Unless you're a big fan of the character I'd hardly call Star Saber an essential purchase as part of a Masterpiece collection. He looks nice but the joint issues are disappointing. Star Saber is by no means a bad toy but I think a Masterpiece Optimus Prime or Ultra Magnus would work better as the leader of a collection of Masterpiece Autobots.
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