Kodansha’s annual Transformers Fanbook returns for 2026 with another magazine-exclusive figure, and this year it is a translucent Starscream that fans have nicknamed “Ghost Starscream.” Official in-hand images and a transformation video were posted on July 15, 2026 by the TV Magazine official channel, following the initial reveal on July 10.
Source: TV Magazine Official Channel / Kodansha
The bonus figure is a clear redeco of the 2023 Legacy Evolution Core Class Starscream, the small 3.5-inch mold that converts into a fighter jet. As the in-hand images show, it is not a full clear-plastic run: the chest stays Starscream red and the arms and legs keep their solid grey, while the wings, cockpit and lower legs are rendered in translucent plastic. The light blue null-ray cannons complete the ghostly look, a deco that echoes Starscream’s turn as a spark-ghost in the classic 1980s fiction.
The figure comes packed with the Fanbook itself, a 36-page Japanese “mook” (magazine-book) that Kodansha is releasing on July 31, 2026. TFormers lists the price at 2,600 yen, roughly 27 US dollars, and the book is already up for pre-order on Amazon Japan. As with past years, the magazine mixes franchise retrospectives, games and quizzes with feature pages, and the pack-in figure is the main draw for collectors outside Japan.
Ghost Starscream continues a run of Fanbook pack-in exclusives that has become an annual event: the 2024 issue carried a Bumblebee “Shining Thunder” version and the 2025 issue included a Silver Tank Megatron. Each has been a redeco of an existing Generations-scale mold rather than new tooling, so import collectors weighing this one already know the base engineering from the widely available Core Class Starscream.
There is no Western retail release announced. Like the earlier Fanbook figures, this Starscream is expected to reach North American collectors only through import shops and the secondary market after the July 31 street date in Japan.