The Energon Pub

So I'll preface this by saying I don't particularly care about particular "styles" or accuracy to media- I follow the William James school of thought and just collect toys I like and that suit my sensibilities. As such my Optimus Prime is the DotM Voyager (who only replaced my RID Prime because that ancient figure was literally falling apart) and my Megatron will be a customized Universe Dropshot with a new head. I'd also like to say that this is a "long game" plan, as for reasons I won't go into I can't just go out and buy a bunch of TFs tomorrow. As such, I'm afraid I'll have to pre-emptively decline any generous offers from people wanting to unload figures onto me, for now. Sorry!

Anyway, I have a problem. I have no good modern Seekers. I have an original Armada Starscream, which looks cool but is a brick, a 2007 Movie Thundercracker, who has a cool robot mode but a terrible vehicle mode, and no Skywarp at all. As such I need to get some actually good ones- but the question is, which ones? Again, style isn't a huge concern- what I care about is a good looking, well built and decently poseable set of Seekers.

My only real criteria are:
>Must be no larger than Voyager scale
>Must have a reasonable jet mode (no worse than a CW jet)
>Must be decently poseable
>They should have some variation on their classic colours even if the sculpts aren't G1 at all. So for instance, Starscream ideally should be some shade of red, as I'm not very keen on beige/silver Starscream. The exact shade and layout of red doesn't matter (I really like the TRU deco of Cybertron Starscream for example) but red must feature predominantly in the deco. Obviously this can be accomplished via customizing, but if I'm buying a toy that was supposed to be Starscream to begin with then obviously it would be preferable to buy one that's already mostly red.

Now anyway, I have a few ideas for mold setups, including custom solutions, as I like customizing figures.

The first idea is to go with three repaints of CW Skydive. I have one nearly fully disassembled, and parts exist on Shapeways to convert the mold into a very good looking Seeker. In addition, this would allow for them to combine, which is cool. There are a few disadvantages to this solution. The first is that CW Skydive is quite expensive on the aftermarket now, which combined with the cost of Shapeways heads, wings and weapons would make this a fairly costly endeavour. The second is a minor gripe- they would not have their distinctive chest-cockpits due to the combiner ports, though this is a fairly insignificant issue that doesn't bother me too much.

The second idea is to get Cybertron Voyager Starscream (either the Takara deco or the TRU 2-pack version in burgandy) and have a Deluxe Thundercracker and Skywarp. I would get two more Voyager Cybertron Starscreams to repaint, but they're fairly rare and expensive, and more complex to disassemble than a CW Deluxe. Also, having Starscream being a Voyager whilst his underlings are Deluxes fits in well with the Seekers' depiction in Cybertron/Galaxy Force. I wouldn't go for Cybertron Thundercracker and Skywarp as that mold kinda sucks. I'd probably either get the FoC Deluxes, or again do the CW Skydive repaint idea (which would mean I'd only have to buy 1 more Skydive instead of 2). There are still issues with this plan though. The first is that AFAIK Cybertron Starscream isn't hugely poseable in the arm department. The second is deciding on a mold to use for TC and SW. The FoC mold is a good one, I think, and would go well with Starscream, but at that point I might as well just get FoC Starscream. Arms Micron TC and SW are cool looking but require stickers or paint for detail, and are quite expensive. The CW Skydive custom idea could work, but then Starscream would be the odd man out who couldn't combine, which would be a bit weird.

The third option is to go fully or partially Third Party for my Seekers. I won't buy KOs for various reasons, but I have no issues with 3P toys. There's 3 options for Seekers- iGear's Raptor Squadron, the upcoming Planet X FoC styled Seekers (well, we're getting Starscream so hopefully that means a Thundercracker and Skywarp is on the way) and Maketoys' upcoming Cross Dimension Seekers, which also come with bits of dead Dinobot as trophies/weapons/armour (which is AWESOME). The upside is that 3P stuf is usually very good quality- the Raptor Squadron got good reviews, and Planet X and Maketoys make really good products. The downside is that they are very, very expensive.

By the way, I'm not going to bother with the Classics Seeker mold, as not only is it quite pricey on the aftermarket, but it's also seriously dated and a bit derpy looking IMO.

Anyway, what do you guys think? Are there any molds I've not considered that would be good (including potential customs)?

Every one wants some good seekers - the problem is some might argue that they actually still have yet to make some.

Yep. They can't avoid making voyagers forever when they know we all want them. And they'd better get it right! The leaders look nice on a shelf, but their legends counterparts are far more fun. I quite like Generations Armada SS with the FOC other two. It makes him look nice and pompous.

RAR wrote:Every one wants some good seekers - the problem is some might argue that they actually still have yet to make some.

Has this "some" person never seen the chug mold? Those are all excellent.

I don't really have an answer, but....
Whats wrong with the myriad of Classics Seekers? And also, I seriously don't know why everyone hates the FOC Seekers so much. I certainly don't see the need to "improve" on them by getting a set of pricey PX's.

The Raptor's.... just don't suit any of my tastes. Coupled with the fact that they are another pricey 3P thing, I've ignored them.

However these MT's you speak of, I've not seen. Pics?

shajaki wrote:However these MT's you speak of, I've not seen. Pics?

This is veering into off topic, but ...
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attachmen ... .27612844/
and, to give an idea on scale it'll likely be the size of their Prime (just a guess on my part)
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/attachmen ... .27609330/

TBH, they seems too large and expensive to me. Buuuut you get what you pay for to a certain extent. Paying top dollar for something you know you'll enjoy even when something newer comes out is worth it IMO.

I'm not perfectly happy with my CHUG Seekers (for the usual reasons), but I have a whole army ... if I replace them it'd have to be with something really great.

I'm genuinely curious as to what the solution to this problem was. Which seekers did the OP choose? It didn't sound like anything blew his mind.

Optimum Supreme wrote:

RAR wrote:Every one wants some good seekers - the problem is some might argue that they actually still have yet to make some.

Has this "some" person never seen the chug mold? Those are all excellent.

If this some person is me then they have 30+ of those already and they are a bit small.

I would rather like KBB to do a decent downscaled MP seeker - as at least an option even though I don't much like the MP seeker mould some of the KO version have some minor improvements that make them suck a bit less than usual and MP-10V is a little cutie.

The problem isn't so much the size as much as it is making complete sets - leader class is a bit to big - and there is some issues I have with the CW Leader seekers being castrated to much when they changed it from Jetfire's mould.

I've always really liked the Cybertron Voyager - but he's not available in all the colours unfortunately, the Armada Mould likewise and it's not especially appropriate anyway.

I keep wondering if Hasbro is eccentric enough to mildly remould Blitwing/Megatron and do them as seekers. It maybe the wrong kinda jet but at least it's the right size and their is precedence with Cloud Starscream.

But all I want is a Voyager F-15 that is a wee bit more poseable than the Generations Deluxe mould and not as finicky as the "official" MP moulds.

If you have ever seen Radamanthus by TFC from their Hades Combiner he's in the right sort of ball part for size and complexity that would please me.

I like toys bigger than Voyager scale to have a reason to be that big that is why for me MP seekers are a bit to big. - they are fine if MP is all you are interested in but I like the sort of Deluxe / Voyager scale as the default as it's been for decades and only the characters larger than that who deserve it - that was why I've not even bothered buying CW Megatron as he was also a bit big - though he's retrospectively a bit more useful as they make more leaders of Popular characters - but I don't really think that is the best use for the size class.

shajaki wrote:I don't really have an answer, but....
Whats wrong with the myriad of Classics Seekers?

I've never been a fan of the Classics Seeker mold (though given I don't own any I can't really comment). Articulation is pretty limited, proportions are ever so slightly off, later releases suffer from mold degradation, and they're quite costly on the aftermarket, at least here in the UK. Now I don't mind paying more for a better product, but I can't justify paying upwards of £30 for what is, ultimately, not that amazing of a figure. I will say he nails the G1 look, and the jet mode is pure class. Whilst I'm not sure I'd want my "main" Seekers represented by them, I'd take a 5-pack of generic "Air Warrior" Seekers from that mold.

And also, I seriously don't know why everyone hates the FOC Seekers so much. I certainly don't see the need to "improve" on them by getting a set of pricey PX's.

I think the main dislike for them comes from the somewhat off plastic that was used during FOC, and also the fact if you turn them sideways you can see right through them. I have considered them but something puts me off and I'm not sure what.

The Raptor's.... just don't suit any of my tastes. Coupled with the fact that they are another pricey 3P thing, I've ignored them.

The things that got me about the Raptors were the fact they're Voyagers, the neat jet modes and awesome robot modes. That said I hear they're prone to breakage so maybe not.

However these MT's you speak of, I've not seen. Pics?

I don't know if they're actually making these though, they might just be sketches.

I'm currently leaning towards a Seeker trio made from CW Skydives actually. I saw a really good Thundercracker done using a Shapeways upgrade kit.

Black Hat wrote:I think the main dislike for them comes from the somewhat off plastic that was used during FOC, and also the fact if you turn them sideways you can see right through them. I have considered them but something puts me off and I'm not sure what.

Yes there is poor quality in that era of TF's, but I always thought the seekers were beefy and well put together - contrary to the rest.

shajaki wrote:

Black Hat wrote:I think the main dislike for them comes from the somewhat off plastic that was used during FOC, and also the fact if you turn them sideways you can see right through them. I have considered them but something puts me off and I'm not sure what.

Yes there is poor quality in that era of TF's, but I always thought the seekers were beefy and well put together - contrary to the rest.

Huh, well that's actually good to know. I'll definitely consider them as a fallback if my custom project fails miserably.

What about these guys?

That Starscream lacks knees.

Thanks for the shoutout man! And i am glad ou caught that in the end, I just want to have fun with cool toys. So I will approach it the same way with this question (you already know what my favourite seeker molds are anyways). While it is not my faourite mold, I do think the FOC seeker would be the best fit for your collection. My main beef with it is its style. Its no sleek in robot or jet mode and the transformation is quite lackluster. BUT of all the seeker molds out there, this is the one which works really well in a classics aesthetic with maximum articulation, especially if you are avoiding the classics mold. The FOC Seeker mold has a great G1 style head which works really well when you have all 2 together. And it works well since its basically a version of the tetro jt from the first episode and they would scale fine with cybertron Dropshot (smart thinking by the way, that mold does make a cool megatron).

Also, while I greatly dislike the FOC line in general, I must admit that the seekers always did feel more solid than the rest of that line. The light and cheap plastic that feels off was more something I felt with Soundwave, Grimlock, Jazz and Shockwave. The seekers did feel apart and more in line with the WFC line, quality wise.

In the end the FOC seeker mold is a very affordable way to have some well articulated seekers in one's classics collecion with some very nice design callbacks.