Review #30: The Classics Seeker Mold
Ah, the Classics Seeker mold. First introduced in 2006 as part of the initial round of Deluxe class Classics figures, this mold has been around for a long time and has seen many, many uses. But really, no mold has more re-paint potential then this one. And, unlike many other molds, with this one the fans actually want many of the repaints! And so this review will be looking at no less than fourteen figures that use this mold!
Because of that, I am splitting this review onto two pages. On the second page you will find some... (ahem) ...less than official representations of the mold. But we'll be getting to that in due time. First, on this page you will find the six main characters to use this mold. (There have been many other official uses of this mold, but many of the others were rare convention exclusives while I typically limit myself to what is available at retail.) Shall we get started?
Because of that, I am splitting this review onto two pages. On the second page you will find some... (ahem) ...less than official representations of the mold. But we'll be getting to that in due time. First, on this page you will find the six main characters to use this mold. (There have been many other official uses of this mold, but many of the others were rare convention exclusives while I typically limit myself to what is available at retail.) Shall we get started?
Part I: The Original Seeker Trio and The Coneheads
We'll look at these guys in two sets of three, starting with the original trio from the first season of the G1 animated show, and whose original toys were a part of the 1984 toyline. Starscream (the grey jet) and his associates, Thundercraker (the blue jet) and Skywarp (the black jet).
Starscream and Skywarp are both from the 2006 Classics line, although only Starscream was available separately. Skywarp came in a two pack with the previously reviewed Classics Ultra Magnus. For Thundercracker, most fans had a long wait. A somewhat differently decoed version of him was part of a 2007 very expensive Botcon (a Transformers convention) exclusive set. Then in 2008 there was a Takara release, that would of course be expensive to import and reportedly had many quality control issues. Finally, 2011 saw him get a mass market release in the U.S. as part of the Generations toyline, making him the last of the main six Seekers to be released to stores in America. (It only took half a decade to get all of them!) |
In jet mode, they look good. They are obviously Transformers, but they hide most of their robot parts away nicely. The underside of the jet is a bit blocky and bulky, but I have seen jet based Transformers that are far worse offenders in this area. The only angle where it is even slightly an eyesore is from straight on, where there is a big hole that will be filled in by the cockpit when these guys are transformed into robots. But even that is only a minor issue at most.
The jet modes have non-rolling landing gear, at most useful to make sure that they sit at a proper angle when placed down on a flat surface. The rear landing gear are to little rounded nubs towards the back of the jets. The forward landing gear does fold away. Oddly, it does not come from under the cockpit like one would expect, but rather there are two little wheels that fold out from the front of the base of the jet. At first this might throw you off a bit. It does seem like an odd choice. But I could see why they did it, as because of the transformation there really is no place to put the landing gear in the standard area one would expect to see it.
The missiles under each wing do have spring loaded launchers. Of course, as is standard with domestic toys, don't expect the launchers to be super strong. Still, they are a bit more powerful then many more recently designed toys. These ones actually will shoot, which is not something you can always count on these days.
The jet modes have non-rolling landing gear, at most useful to make sure that they sit at a proper angle when placed down on a flat surface. The rear landing gear are to little rounded nubs towards the back of the jets. The forward landing gear does fold away. Oddly, it does not come from under the cockpit like one would expect, but rather there are two little wheels that fold out from the front of the base of the jet. At first this might throw you off a bit. It does seem like an odd choice. But I could see why they did it, as because of the transformation there really is no place to put the landing gear in the standard area one would expect to see it.
The missiles under each wing do have spring loaded launchers. Of course, as is standard with domestic toys, don't expect the launchers to be super strong. Still, they are a bit more powerful then many more recently designed toys. These ones actually will shoot, which is not something you can always count on these days.
These three (as well as everyone else we will be looking at today) feature Reprolabels galore. Here it is to make the figures look much more like their G1 selves, which is especially handy in the case of Starscream and Skywarp, as the early Classics toys took a much more abstract approach to homaging the characters they were doing.
Starscream actually needed paint removal. Although, Reprolabels did provide a set of masking stickers for the faint of heart. I thought I'd be daring and try my hand at the removal, however. I was at first a bit dismayed when I noticed that there was paint inside of the panel lines that I couldn't get to, but the lines left behind inside of the detailing began to grow on me, so in the end I didn't mind it. Starscream's detailing included new red stripes for the wings, new detailing for the tail section, new Decepticon logos, and chrome detailing made to match that found on the G1 toy.
Skywarp also had some paint on his original deco that clashed with Reprolabels's desire to make him look more like his G1 self. Unlike with Starscream, however, the masking detail was built right into his stickers rather then as a separate sheet, and one of the selling points on their website proclaimed, "No paint removal required!" Much like with Starscream, the main points here were entirely new stripes for the wings, some new tail detail, and some chrome detail that matched that of his G1 toy.
With Thundercracker, by this point Hasbro had long ago realized that, when designing toys that homage the original G1 toys, maybe it would be an awesome idea to have a deco on the toy that at least vaguely resembled that of the original toy! Thus, Thundercracker's changes are not as drastic. He had some new tail detail (this time just for the inner sides of the tail to match the detail already painted on the outer sides), the standard Seeker chrome detail, and a Decepticon symbol for his nose. His sticker sheet also had Decepticon symbols for the wings, but the ones that were already painted on the wings were quite sufficient for me.
Pretty solid jet modes. How about them robots, then?
Starscream actually needed paint removal. Although, Reprolabels did provide a set of masking stickers for the faint of heart. I thought I'd be daring and try my hand at the removal, however. I was at first a bit dismayed when I noticed that there was paint inside of the panel lines that I couldn't get to, but the lines left behind inside of the detailing began to grow on me, so in the end I didn't mind it. Starscream's detailing included new red stripes for the wings, new detailing for the tail section, new Decepticon logos, and chrome detailing made to match that found on the G1 toy.
Skywarp also had some paint on his original deco that clashed with Reprolabels's desire to make him look more like his G1 self. Unlike with Starscream, however, the masking detail was built right into his stickers rather then as a separate sheet, and one of the selling points on their website proclaimed, "No paint removal required!" Much like with Starscream, the main points here were entirely new stripes for the wings, some new tail detail, and some chrome detail that matched that of his G1 toy.
With Thundercracker, by this point Hasbro had long ago realized that, when designing toys that homage the original G1 toys, maybe it would be an awesome idea to have a deco on the toy that at least vaguely resembled that of the original toy! Thus, Thundercracker's changes are not as drastic. He had some new tail detail (this time just for the inner sides of the tail to match the detail already painted on the outer sides), the standard Seeker chrome detail, and a Decepticon symbol for his nose. His sticker sheet also had Decepticon symbols for the wings, but the ones that were already painted on the wings were quite sufficient for me.
Pretty solid jet modes. How about them robots, then?
Well, they look like the original G1 seekers, all right. Even before the Reprolabels were added, these were decent representations of the characters. But the stickers certainly do amp up the nostalgia factor significantly. All of them have the chrome inside of their shoulders, on the little turbines inside of their chests (that are also the forward wheels on the jet modes), on their knees, and on their feet. Thundercracker's paint job gave him a little Decepticon logo on his chest, and I liked how it looked. So I used some extra tiny Decepticon logo stickers I had to give the same to Starscream and Skywarp. Finally, all of them had some stickers that played with the colouration of their missile launchers a bit.
So, they look good. How about poseability? Well... it is, I must admit, a wee bit sub-par by today's standards. It was pretty good for 2006, but I feel that we've certainly advanced our expectations a bit since then. (I seem to recall similar feelings in my reviews for some other 2006 molds, such as Hot Rod or Jetfire.) The heads are on swivels, but are hampered greatly by the massive shoulders (which, as an iconic part of the original Seeker design, were unavoidable) and the nosecone hanging off of the back of the head between those shoulders. The shoulders are well articulated and the elbows can move 90 degrees. There are no swivel joints to be found in the arms, which would have been nice. No waist. The legs can bend forward and backwards, or move outwards, at the hips and also bend at the knees. The knees and elbows are rather stiff joints and don't bend smoothly, but rather will stop at a few points or at fully (90 degrees) bent.
So, they look good. How about poseability? Well... it is, I must admit, a wee bit sub-par by today's standards. It was pretty good for 2006, but I feel that we've certainly advanced our expectations a bit since then. (I seem to recall similar feelings in my reviews for some other 2006 molds, such as Hot Rod or Jetfire.) The heads are on swivels, but are hampered greatly by the massive shoulders (which, as an iconic part of the original Seeker design, were unavoidable) and the nosecone hanging off of the back of the head between those shoulders. The shoulders are well articulated and the elbows can move 90 degrees. There are no swivel joints to be found in the arms, which would have been nice. No waist. The legs can bend forward and backwards, or move outwards, at the hips and also bend at the knees. The knees and elbows are rather stiff joints and don't bend smoothly, but rather will stop at a few points or at fully (90 degrees) bent.
There is something of a problem with the arms. Well, not in the arms themselves, but with what is located right behind them. The wings are rather flush up against them. This wouldn't bother the arms by themselves, but one must also take into account the somewhat oversized "null ray" missile launchers that, worn on the arms, is another iconic part of the Seeker aesthetic. There are two possible solutions to this. You can fold the wings back a bit, which looks weird, or the pegs on the launchers can also fit into their fists for handheld weapons, which also looks weird. (If only the null rays were a smaller size that didn't go above the shoulder like that! I have seen a few third party replacement options that do fix that, but while I would not object at all to having such a thing, my frustration has never outweighed my lack of desire to spend money on such a thing.)
So somewhat limited poseability, especially disappointing if you want your Seeker to be aiming his weapon at something but don't wish to compromise his aesthetic, but enough good poses can be found that these toys are not a total frustration in this department. I'd be rather more disappointed if this was a brand new mold right out of Hasbro's design office, but when I temper any disappointment with knowledge that this articulation was more standard when this mold originally came out.
That's about all there is to say on these three, I suppose. So onto the trio of Coneheads! No, not Beldar, Primat, and Connie. Dirge, Thrust, and Ramjet!
So somewhat limited poseability, especially disappointing if you want your Seeker to be aiming his weapon at something but don't wish to compromise his aesthetic, but enough good poses can be found that these toys are not a total frustration in this department. I'd be rather more disappointed if this was a brand new mold right out of Hasbro's design office, but when I temper any disappointment with knowledge that this articulation was more standard when this mold originally came out.
That's about all there is to say on these three, I suppose. So onto the trio of Coneheads! No, not Beldar, Primat, and Connie. Dirge, Thrust, and Ramjet!
In the original G1 toyline and cartoon, the second year saw them take advantage of the transformation scheme of the original Seeker mold to release three more toys using it that had distinct differences from those that came before. There were two things that they did. They took advantage of the fact that the wings were entirely separate pieces, made some new wings, and slapped them onto the jets. Also, they took advantage of the way in which the head for the robot transformed to, by not entirely completing the process, giving these three new characters their distinctive conehead look.
Here, these same modifications were made to the Classics Seeker mold, although in this case since the wings are integrated parts of the toy rather then just pegged onto the rest of the toy, this was a slightly more involved process. Also, while we will obviously get a better look at the heads when we view the robot modes, a side effect of the redesign for them on these toys can be seen in the somewhat stubbier noses.
Ramjet (the white one) was released in 2007 in a later wave of the original Classics line. The others, most fans had a wait on. Like Thundercracker, Thrust (the red one) and Dirge (the blue one) were first domestically released in the 2007 Botcon exclusive set. That Dirge was a straight repaint of Ramjet rather then having his own unique wings. Thrust, while having unique wings, had different ones then the ones seen here, and frankly I think the ones here look better. Therefore, apologies to those who did get the super expensive Botcon set, but this was definitely a case of good things coming to those who wait. 2010 finally saw general retail releases of these two as part of the Generations toyline, and with wings that are very evocative of the unique ones their original G1 toys sported.
Here, these same modifications were made to the Classics Seeker mold, although in this case since the wings are integrated parts of the toy rather then just pegged onto the rest of the toy, this was a slightly more involved process. Also, while we will obviously get a better look at the heads when we view the robot modes, a side effect of the redesign for them on these toys can be seen in the somewhat stubbier noses.
Ramjet (the white one) was released in 2007 in a later wave of the original Classics line. The others, most fans had a wait on. Like Thundercracker, Thrust (the red one) and Dirge (the blue one) were first domestically released in the 2007 Botcon exclusive set. That Dirge was a straight repaint of Ramjet rather then having his own unique wings. Thrust, while having unique wings, had different ones then the ones seen here, and frankly I think the ones here look better. Therefore, apologies to those who did get the super expensive Botcon set, but this was definitely a case of good things coming to those who wait. 2010 finally saw general retail releases of these two as part of the Generations toyline, and with wings that are very evocative of the unique ones their original G1 toys sported.
Much like with the original Trio, the one that was part of the Classics line had the more creative re-imagining of the figure's deco. It wasn't quite as extreme here, however, and when Reprolabels sought to make him more G1ish, they didn't need to remove or cover up anything, rather they just added to what was already there. Of course, they gave him the typical Seeker chrome touches, including additional, blue striping on the wings and tail. He also got a Decepticon logo on his nose as well as one on each wing.
Thrust and Dirge were in need of less attention, but still look much better for their additions. The standard Seeker chrome, of course. Thrust gets additional chrome on his vertical turbines. Both get additional detailing for the sides of their tails. They both get Decepticon logos for their noses, and both also get them for their wings although much like Thundercracker, I was happy with the ones that came painted on Dirge's wings. (It is my understanding, however, that some Dirges had a paint error on their Decepticon logos. For those who do have such Dirges, these stickers would be most handy.)
Thrust and Dirge were in need of less attention, but still look much better for their additions. The standard Seeker chrome, of course. Thrust gets additional chrome on his vertical turbines. Both get additional detailing for the sides of their tails. They both get Decepticon logos for their noses, and both also get them for their wings although much like Thundercracker, I was happy with the ones that came painted on Dirge's wings. (It is my understanding, however, that some Dirges had a paint error on their Decepticon logos. For those who do have such Dirges, these stickers would be most handy.)
It comes as no surprise that the robot modes continue looking awesome. Esthetically, the only one that isn't entirely awesome is Dirge, whose wings stick out rather far on the side of his legs. But even with that minor detraction, he's still pretty darn good.
Thrust's turbines are removable pieces, and have a few different areas they can be positioned on the robot mode. They could go on the backsides of the wings, or on the tails. I like to keep things simple, however, and just leave them where they were for jet mode. |
Articulation is mostly the same as the original unmodified version of this mold. The head, even though it no longer has the piece of cockpit hanging off of the back of it, because of the shape of it snug between those shoulders doesn't move much more then it did on Starscream. There is one place that at least Dirge and Ramjet see a vast improvement, however. Since they don't have the wings positioned flat against the back of their arms, those arms don't have the same restrictions on movement that other uses of the Seeker mold have. Hooray!
The additional stickers seen in robot mode are pretty much the same ones (with appropriate colouration, of course) as on the first three figures we looked at. Dirge, like Thundercracker, had a small Decepticon logo on his chest, and Thrust and Ramjet have, like Starscream and Skywarp, had one added via a tiny extra sticker.
I know technically I'm only about half way through things here, but I thought I'd finish up the first page by presenting a comparison photo. I've decided I've had enough fun with Sailor Moon, so Maxwell Smart gets to come out to play now as I do a size comparison using a Get Smart DVD box set. Starscream (in robot mode) and Thrust (in jet mode) are here for you to look at. (Starscream, just for fun, is wielding the MS‑01 Mega‑Gun from my last review.)
I'll present some final thoughts on these last six figures, as well. The Classics Seeker mold is a mold that in hindsight could be better, but was pretty good for the time and despite its flaws it holds up well. As far as the specific characters being represented here, even before the Reprolabels provided modifications, these were decent updates. Especially the more recent offerings. But with the Reprolabels, they're downright perfect recreations of G1 goodness. |
So that's all of the official offerings I have to look at. So what will you see when you move onto the next page? Well, I made it clear in a previous article on this website that I am very much against bootlegs. Bootlegs bad! Well, humans can sometimes be hypocritical... and on the next page you will find a plethora of pictures of eight bootleg Seekers that I have. Mold-wise they are identical to Starscream, so I won't need to comment too much on the mold in general. But once we get there, I may comment somewhat on the quality (or lack thereof) of implementation, the colour schemes, and the general looks of them. So, let us leave the quality, official figures behind and take a brief walk on the dark side, and take a look at the second part of the Classics Seeker mega review with a look at bootleg Seekers. Courage!
Continue to The Classics Seeker Mold, part II.
Continue to The Classics Seeker Mold, part II.