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I got a Dream Factory version of HFTD leader Starscream. My thoughts-
Plastic quality- very good, on par with what Hasbro used back then.
Colors- vastly improved over the official release. Less brown & gold mixed in, less chance of GPS affecting it down the road.
Paints- more detailed than the official version. Tattoos have black & white sections and may stick to the final film closer than Hasbro did. They didn't have to soak various gold parts in gray paint since those parts are gray now so a lot of wires and vents get painted. The pop-put weapons are painted silver. They even did those lavender cheek markings that are apparently there in the movie but Hasbro never painted on, even though they look a bit strange. No Decepticon symbols obviously, but the F-22 Raptor markings are better copies of the real ones as a trade-off.
And they did an "MPM" movie 1 version with camp spots & wind edges in case you don't like the tats.
Retooling- The fingers are 3 separate pieces now. I would have preferred wrists(the major shortcoming of the toy to begin with) but I don't see them doing that without an extensive redesign as the weapon panel hinges leave no room for an inner wrist peg.
QC- On par with Hasbro. My only gripe is some wiggle room in the leg joint ratchets, but I recall HFTD had a similar problem. It stands fine and poses fine. Paints are super clean, I wish Hasbro could do paints this good. I only see one possible paint rub on a back tattoo but with how random they are it's hard to tell.
I have read/heard some having issues with the electronics, possibly due to the battery slot being a bit too long. AA batteries aren't made to an exact standard size, some have shorter + terminals. Putting a small piece of foil in to bridge the gap may be needed. Mine came with batteries in and works fine, same sound chip Hasbro used. LEDs may be a bit brighter too.
