BotCon 2013 Rainmakers Set Revealed: Sunstorm, Bitstream and Hotlink

great thanks. now the only official sunstorm we get is going to be about 100 bucks for a 10 dollar toy. thanks for nothing ya pricks.

Ah, so the REAL Rainmakers are orange, blue, and purple. Yes, I see. Wow, you can almost hear the prices of the CHMS Rainmakers going into free-fall.

I kid, of course I want these guys as bad as anyone else now! An official Sunstorm was long overdue, but does this constitute an official retcon that Sunny's supposed to be the fluorescent yellow guy in Divide and Conquer and not the darker yellow guy in MTMTE part 1? Or is there a new acid-rain attack in the comic?

I guess the two new names imply hacking ability...maybe they're actually Snow(den)-makers? Seriously, those names would make more sense if they were giving us MP Rumble/Frenzy repainted into generic cassettes from MTMTE, but whatever. As long HasTak keeps using this mold to give us more colors of the rainbow until it breaks...and then fixes it so they can do even more! Otherwise, the KO companies will lap you by knocking off these exact color schemes too. But I swear, I'll save up to splurge on the real deal this time. Just as soon as I get all the other stuff I can't afford this year.

Bumblevivisector wrote:Ah, so the REAL Rainmakers are orange, blue, and purple. Yes, I see. Wow, you can almost hear the prices of the CHMS Rainmakers going into free-fall.

I kid, of course I want these guys as bad as anyone else now! An official Sunstorm was long overdue, but does this constitute an official retcon that Sunny's supposed to be the fluorescent yellow guy in Divide and Conquer and not the darker yellow guy in MTMTE part 1? Or is there a new acid-rain attack in the comic?

I'm guessing this set IS the three alternate colored seekers in MTMTE pt. 1. Why they are calling them the "Rainmakers", I have no idea. So, of the "real" Rainmakers from Divide and Conquer, we still only have one officially, Acid Storm.

so wish I could afford to get these guys

The names of the Rainmakers are finally revealed!

Bitstream and Hotlink, huh? Odd names for colors such as those.

Wolfman Jake wrote:

Bumblevivisector wrote:Ah, so the REAL Rainmakers are orange, blue, and purple. Yes, I see. Wow, you can almost hear the prices of the CHMS Rainmakers going into free-fall.

I kid, of course I want these guys as bad as anyone else now! An official Sunstorm was long overdue, but does this constitute an official retcon that Sunny's supposed to be the fluorescent yellow guy in Divide and Conquer and not the darker yellow guy in MTMTE part 1? Or is there a new acid-rain attack in the comic?

I'm guessing this set IS the three alternate colored seekers in MTMTE pt. 1. Why they are calling them the "Rainmakers", I have no idea. So, of the "real" Rainmakers from Divide and Conquer, we still only have one officially, Acid Storm.

If that's true, then we still don't have an official name for the blue Rainmaker, since Bitstream would be the guy holding the one baby-blue gun next to Sunstorm and Flamethrower-warp. Fair enough, since it should be Ice- or SomethingElse-storm. This is still gonna' further confusion as to whether Sunstorm was the yellow Rainmaker all along, since the orange Dreamwave-era color scheme doesn't match him or the MTMTE guy.

And is Hotlink just one of the guys we've been calling "Air Warriors" for a decade, or was someone darker purple in the first episode? Been a little while since I watched it...so off to the TFWiki Seeker page!

The design of this set is absolutely brilliant!

-The Colors are from the trio of seekers in More than Meets the Eye Part 1.
-The names (sans Sunstorm) are from seekers from the Exodus book.
-The name of the trio is from a separate group of seekers which you can remake visually by swapping out Hotlink for Acid Storm.
-The set makes the CHMS rainmakers become redundant.

Now Slipstream is pretty much the only seeker who hasn't had a use of the Classics Seeker mold.

Looks good to me. Obviously they didn't think doing Acid Storm was necessary since we already got him. So they lumped in "generic purple Seeker". Now what we need is a 3rd party flamethrower pack to go with them!

Also, the prices for the CHMS KOs have already plummeted to earth.

Edit: They could easily just say Sunstorm and Bitstorm are also a part of the Rainmaker team with Hotlink just not appearing in that particular episode. Not really a problem.

Gearslide wrote:

-The set makes the CHMS rainmakers become redundant.

-Redundancy becomes abstract where troop-building is concerned.
-The CHMS rainmakers and burnt-yellow Sunstorm still stand stubbornly corporeal, show-accurate, and in different color schemes than these guys.

Not attempting to do the three Divide and Conquer seekers in better likenesses than the illegal competition implies that, if anything, FunPub might be afraid of redundancy working the other way around. Well, except Acid Storm, who would've been an official redundancy, and was probably the real reason, as Gauntlet suggested. CHMS Acid Storm just cannot understand how that Universe guy is supposed to blind Autobots with that ugly camo job.

Oh well, even if this set immediately becomes impossible to find at any price, these three color schemes might just find their way to Carob Island sooner than we think...

Very nice colours. I'll have to get them somehow.

Bumblevivisector wrote:

Gearslide wrote:

-The set makes the CHMS rainmakers become redundant.

-Redundancy becomes abstract where troop-building is concerned.
-The CHMS rainmakers and burnt-yellow Sunstorm still stand stubbornly corporeal, show-accurate, and in different color schemes than these guys.

Not attempting to do the three Divide and Conquer seekers in better likenesses than the illegal competition implies that, if anything, FunPub might be afraid of redundancy working the other way around. Well, except Acid Storm, who would've been an official redundancy, and was probably the real reason, as Gauntlet suggested. CHMS Acid Storm just cannot understand how that Universe guy is supposed to blind Autobots with that ugly camo job.

Oh well, even if this set immediately becomes impossible to find at any price, these three color schemes might just find their way to Carob Island sooner than we think...

I think you're right on all counts.

The market for more expensive Seekers that look more like the KOs must be pretty small. After all, why pay $100+ when you can get the same for under $30? Or if you already have them to begin with? Not everyone is so against KOs that they'll want to replace them with something that looks too similar. These look very different and still work.

Also agree with troop building. With the Seekers ANY color scheme is valid as a generic. If I had room for a dedicated Seeker display, I wouldn't toss out my CHMS KOs just because they're "redundant". Right now my display has both Acid Storm and his CHMS counterpart and both Sunstorms .... there's room for more.

The more the merrier when it comes to classics Decepticons as there just seems to be more Autobots. I'd love to have these three standing right next to my CHMS Rainmakers, Sunstorm, Air Warrior, Black Death, gold/silver/black chrome seekers (if I had the money to buy those at the time)and yellow/silver Sunstorm (if CHMS wasn't out of him when I ordered) not to mention my hasbro seekers and Acidstorm (if I had him). I'd even keep that lesser quality pink seeker and the horrible quality orange Ramjet I have right next to them and if I had Botcon Dirge and Shattered Glass/G2/Action Masters Thundercracker and TFCC G2 Ramjet they'd all be there too. Yeah the mold really isn't that good anymore when compared to figures released at that same time and the ones released now but it's still a good mold overall. There's also something about having a part of a display where you have more than 20 of the same mold just in different colors that appeals to me.

As for who they're meant to represent, it looks like the MTMTE team. And as someone else pointed out, if you swap the purple one for Universe Acidstorm then you can have the Divide and Conquer team too. As for why the color/roster changes, there is a span of several million years between the two episodes so maybe one gets replaced or they change colors or it's two different teams entirely or who cares? Awesome is awesome.

Now I need to disassemble that CHMS Lambor I made that's supposed to resemble Breakdown (which is really redundant with CHMS doing their own and TFCC having one and Fansprojects having their own version and the Hasbro Asia one) and the all black one I made that's supposed to be Scamper and reassemble them and the other six I still didn't assemble and have an army of Sideswipes to battle my army of Starscreams. For anyone wondering, I bought 15 Lambor kits total and I assembled more than half already so I have quite the army of Sideswipes as it is.

Prior to this, I was hoping for Sunstorm in the next subscription service offerings.

I hate to say it but I immediately thought Cybertron Series Skywarp and Thundercracker and Starscreams true color when I saw these 3 lined up.
Recycling Sunstorm again was a huge mistake in my opinion and naming the other two in the manner they did, so far removed from their G1 counterpart Acid Storm, just utterly screws up the whole vibe and continuity of these characters. I'd have more respect for them if they had simply named them Moe, Larry and Curly. What they did here was a slap in the face of all the fans looking forward to this set. If I had had my heart set on purchasing this set and had my money put aside for this, I'd be pissed! Yeah, the figures look good. I'm a huge fan of the Classics Seeker mold but they really should have paid better attention to detail as far as the names go and should have thought ahead about how much they just devalued the Sunstorm figures that have come before. Giving 'Storm the Movie 'Bee treatment is a bad idea.

T-Macksimus wrote:I hate to say it but I immediately thought Cybertron Series Skywarp and Thundercracker and Starscreams true color when I saw these 3 lined up.
Recycling Sunstorm again was a huge mistake in my opinion and naming the other two in the manner they did, so far removed from their G1 counterpart Acid Storm, just utterly screws up the whole vibe and continuity of these characters. I'd have more respect for them if they had simply named them Moe, Larry and Curly. What they did here was a slap in the face of all the fans looking forward to this set. If I had had my heart set on purchasing this set and had my money put aside for this, I'd be pissed! Yeah, the figures look good. I'm a huge fan of the Classics Seeker mold but they really should have paid better attention to detail as far as the names go and should have thought ahead about how much they just devalued the Sunstorm figures that have come before. Giving 'Storm the Movie 'Bee treatment is a bad idea.

Actually, Sunstorm appeared with Bitstream and Hotlink in Generation One's very first episode, "More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1", seen here.



Acid Storm didn't appear until "Divide and Conquer".



Sunstorm has only twelve toys since his first toy as an eHobby exclusive, and throughout other lines (Universe (2003), Animated, and Kre-O, to name a few) this BotCon exclusive included in the count. He is far from Movie Bumblebee Syndrome.

Mindmaster wrote:
Actually, Sunstorm appeared with Bitstream and Hotlink in Generation One's very first episode, "More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1", seen here.

Ah, after 24 years, that generic purple seeker gets a toy.

Also, the Classics starscream mold's not degraded yet?
What was the rumors about Classics (voyager) Prime's mold degrading, hence United Prime was Deluxe?
That rumor was probably debunked, since United saw Ultra Magnus.

Maybe Sunstorm, Bitstream, and Hotlink didn't do their usual "Rainmaker" thing in MTMTEp1 because there were other Decepticons in the field and on the ground who could be damaged by their acid rain? Maybe Acid Storm was sick that day, or is just off camera? I bet we'd see him if the Cybernet Space Cube had an HD widescreen aspect ratio back then. The only thing that really bums me out is that Universe 2008 Acid Storm severely clashes with the decos of the rest of his alleged compatriots.

Wolfman Jake wrote:Maybe Sunstorm, Bitstream, and Hotlink didn't do their usual "Rainmaker" thing in MTMTEp1 because there were other Decepticons in the field and on the ground who could be damaged by their acid rain? Maybe Acid Storm was sick that day, or is just off camera? I bet we'd see him if the Cybernet Space Cube had an HD widescreen aspect ratio back then. The only thing that really bums me out is that Universe 2008 Acid Storm severely clashes with the decos of the rest of his alleged compatriots.

That, or the Rainmakers are a subdivision in the Seeker army, similar to Force Recon in the Marine Corps, SEALs in the Navy, and Rangers in the Army.

gavinfuzzy wrote:Ah, after 24 years, that generic purple seeker gets a toy.

*29 years.

Also, the Classics starscream mold's not degraded yet?
What was the rumors about Classics (voyager) Prime's mold degrading, hence United Prime was Deluxe?
That rumor was probably debunked, since United saw Ultra Magnus.

I haven't heard those rumors. If they are true, guess we won't be seeing a reuse of said mold here in the States.

Mindmaster wrote:

gavinfuzzy wrote:Ah, after 24 years, that generic purple seeker gets a toy.

*29 years.

My mind just died. For the past week or so I though the 25th anniversary was coming up. Then I looked at the Universe 2 boxes.
Wow. My mind died the past week.

Mindmaster wrote:

gavinfuzzy wrote:Also, the Classics starscream mold's not degraded yet?
What was the rumors about Classics (voyager) Prime's mold degrading, hence United Prime was Deluxe?
That rumor was probably debunked, since United saw Ultra Magnus.

I haven't heard those rumors. If they are true, guess we won't be seeing a reuse of said mold here in the States.

Also, these dudes are supposedly NOT rainmakers.
And, hasbro supposedly claimed that Sunstorm was NOT the yellow Rainmaker
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Rainmakers

gavinfuzzy wrote:Also, these dudes are supposedly NOT rainmakers.
And, hasbro supposedly claimed that Sunstorm was NOT the yellow Rainmaker
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Rainmakers

But if these are not Rainmakers, then why are they called "Rainmakers" here? Not getting on your case, it's a genuine question.

There is still a rather big misunderstanding when fans talk of "mold degredation." Yes, a mold will degrade and eventually break after so many uses, but new ones can be made again and again. Everything is designed on computer now, so the original data is seldom lost. The question of if a mold gets remade as more to do with if the price of recasting the mold will be offset by the sale of the new product. If not, it may not be done. In the case of the Classics Seeker mold(s), they get used so extensively that Hasbro/Takara are almost sure to make their money back and then some each time they recast a new mold to produce more product.

Mindmaster wrote:

gavinfuzzy wrote:Also, these dudes are supposedly NOT rainmakers.
And, hasbro supposedly claimed that Sunstorm was NOT the yellow Rainmaker
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Rainmakers

But if these are not Rainmakers, then why are they called "Rainmakers" here? Not getting on your case, it's a genuine question.

No idea too. Click that wiki article. Few years ago, Hasbro said Sunstorm is not a rainmaker.

Now they go back on their word?

Or maybe they just did not know what to call this group of not-seekers.

Rainmakers is sort of generic enough it fits.

But when i say rainmakers I mean the 3 bright coloured dudes from "Divide and Conquer".

BotCon tweeted this earlier today: Lets talk the "Rainmakers"... Please consider the term for the Troop Builder set to be a little more generic for this offering.

What I take from that is that none of these guys are actually Rainmakers. Maybe they are just using the name for trademark purposes?

Wolfman Jake wrote:There is still a rather big misunderstanding when fans talk of "mold degredation." Yes, a mold will degrade and eventually break after so many uses, but new ones can be made again and again. Everything is designed on computer now, so the original data is seldom lost. The question of if a mold gets remade as more to do with if the price of recasting the mold will be offset by the sale of the new product. If not, it may not be done. In the case of the Classics Seeker mold(s), they get used so extensively that Hasbro/Takara are almost sure to make their money back and then some each time they recast a new mold to produce more product.

Well i guess that means we'll see another 3 billion Starscream repaints.

Bullycon wrote:What I take from that is that none of these guys are actually Rainmakers. Maybe they are just using the name for trademark purposes?

That makes sense. I wonder if this means that Acid Storm will soon be joined by his fellow Rainmakers...

gavinfuzzy wrote:Well i guess that means we'll see another 3 billion Starscream repaints.

I don't mind at all. Seekers were the Vehicons of Generation One: the more the merrier!

I wouldn't mind to see even Slipstream come from the Seeker mold. The TFSS Slipstream is a good figure, but a little expensive for my taste.

gavinfuzzy wrote:Well i guess that means we'll see another 3 billion Starscream repaints.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for STARSCREAM!

This just means now that there are more than merely three Rainmakers. These guys are all Rainmakers, but not THE Rainmakers we saw in "Divide and Conquer". They are now retroactively all part of the same group, with only three of its members having shown us what Rainmakers are capable of before now, leaving three of their other ranks having not yet gotten their time in the sun, er, rain.

I already bought these 3 off eBay, it's cheaper than me flying to attend Botcon, I guess! That 'Rainmakers' thing just seems to be an error, or perhaps an earlier intention to produce them before they realised that Acid Storm had already been done. Anyhow, I'm really pleased we have the 3 un-named seekers who appeared in the first episode. I always liked the colour scheme of the turquoise and purple one. I am disappointed that Sunstorm does not have white forearms, however. But overall, this looks to be a great set.

And the Club balls' it up again!

So the three G1 Seekers to sport those colours were never referred to as Rainmakers? Hasbro have said that Sunstorm was never actually a member of the Rainmakers? And Acid Storm's bio names him as a member? And yet somehow the Club has managed to ignore all of that. Is that right?

Maybe it's the knowledge that they'll be next to impossible for me to obtain subconsciously affecting my opinion, but I don't think they look all that amazing.

I do get fed up of these endless debates about sunstorm/rainmakers.

the slight difference in the animation model (from a show rife with animations errors from beginning to end) and people trying to create two characters...really they're both yellow give the rainmaker post to sunstorm it make sense does it not. Hasbro have likely changed their mind on that comment like they're always changing things within the transformers franchise why not this one.

Even the rainmakers term was fan made for crying out loud, i'm not here for endless debates with ifs', buts and maybes'.

the fact with these 'characters' they were only just space fillers for the sake of having fillers in episodes.

to me hasbro current 'official' stance (from a few years ago will be ignored)

Acid Storm
Sunstorm
Bitstream
Hotlink
Slipstream
....Link

Yes name another random coloured seeker end it with link and you have a team of six with a working theme

ELITE Team
Starscream
Thundercracker
Skywarp

'Cone' Heads (they don't refer to themselves as this)
Dirge
Thrust
Ramjet

Just a heads up for any poor sap like myself who's trying to get these guys on ebay - The same buyer seems to be the highest bidder on almost every auction. Even on the secondary market, the scalpers are taking no prisoners with these.

I see no problem with FunPub expanding the Rainmaker team to include 3 more generics. Or with them just merging the teams (maybe the comic will clear that up).

Wreckgar wrote:Just a heads up for any poor sap like myself who's trying to get these guys on ebay - The same buyer seems to be the highest bidder on almost every auction. Even on the secondary market, the scalpers are taking no prisoners with these.

Yeah, bite the bullet, and get in early I reckon. There are a couple of 'buy it nows' doing the rounds, that's what I did - it takes a lot of time and energy to track multiple bids, especially if they are being scalped or shill-bidded up.

All I can say is, wow. The Classics Starscream mold has gone through hell and back; 3 BotCons (2007, 2011 and 2013), 8 times US retail, 6 times Japan and an additional 6 for Asia. What a trooper.

As for these "Rainmakers", they're a nice extra, but not really mandatory for me. Deco layout's the same (in fact, I think they match Henkei Starscream's) just different colors. Kinda the reverse of last year's Junkions: same colors but different heads.

If I were to get them, they'd really be labeled "generics", as I have the Hasbro versions of all 6 original Seekers, each with a different pattern on the wings, making them unique.

I'd like to have these but I doubt I'll ever be able to afford them. The CHMS seekers will have to do which is okay since I have 20 seekers including repaints.

grimdragon2001 wrote:so wish I could afford to get these guys

Ditto.

I wonder why Hasbro doesn't produce these for retail, as a sub-generations line. With the exorbitant prices some of these TF's get on eBay, I am saddened by how the majority of the profit will go to the poachers and not Hasbro itself.

I can't figure out the business model. Hasbro should want to flood the market and reap as many sales as it can, but when it comes to collectors, it seems to go the limited route.

Metrosuplex wrote:

grimdragon2001 wrote:so wish I could afford to get these guys

Ditto.

I wonder why Hasbro doesn't produce these for retail, as a sub-generations line. With the exorbitant prices some of these TF's get on eBay, I am saddened by how the majority of the profit will go to the poachers and not Hasbro itself.

I can't figure out the business model. Hasbro should want to flood the market and reap as many sales as it can, but when it comes to collectors, it seems to go the limited route.

Do parents want to buy a whole fleet of jets for their kids, all the same toy just in different colors? No.

How did the names Bitstream and Hotlink come about?

Any board member at botcon willing to try and grab a set for me?

Stormrider wrote:How did the names Bitstream and Hotlink come about?

I believe they were mentioned in one of the Transformers Novels.

Mkall wrote:

Stormrider wrote:How did the names Bitstream and Hotlink come about?

I believe they were mentioned in of of the Transformers Novels.

Yep, in "Transformers: Exodus".

Mindmaster wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Stormrider wrote:How did the names Bitstream and Hotlink come about?

I believe they were mentioned in of of the Transformers Novels.

Yep, in "Transformers: Exodus".

Thanks

Well, I broke down and bought a set on ebay for around $200 shipped. I just can't resist that Seeker mold, although I'm still waiting for these guys (in proper colors, note the particular shade/tone of the blue one and the white limbs etc.):

I've got the purple CHMS seeker (3 of them) and he's colored perfectly to match the middle one I think. He just needs a hose attachment which can be arranged (were I stickler for weapons accuracy with these guys). But that blue. No one has done one in THAT shade of blue, especially with white extremities. I foresee a custom on the horizons. I just have to paint match what is essentially Ultra Magnus' cartoon shade of blue (darker/less pastel than the G1 toy).

It's funny, I never did buy into the CHMS Rainmakers and only got the standalone orange Sunstorm which has the white arms etc. I still have too many damn Seekers though (Henkei, Classics, Asia Exclusive 3 packs etc.). My fleet is getting pretty large at this point with at least 2 of every 'official' G1 Seeker and now more 'subsequent' Seekers.

Geez, I wish you woulda waited. I'm here to say Big Bad Toy Store has preorders for $144. Which is better than ebay prices right now and possibly the lowest these guys will go for. Unless they prove to be massively unpopular.

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/prod ... ode=retail

Anyway, I look forward to add these guys to my collection. I have many of the CHMS guys, but you can't really have too many Seekers. That's the great thing about them that the original series did - any color scheme can work as a generic in your collection.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Metrosuplex wrote:

grimdragon2001 wrote:so wish I could afford to get these guys

Ditto.

I wonder why Hasbro doesn't produce these for retail, as a sub-generations line. With the exorbitant prices some of these TF's get on eBay, I am saddened by how the majority of the profit will go to the poachers and not Hasbro itself.

I can't figure out the business model. Hasbro should want to flood the market and reap as many sales as it can, but when it comes to collectors, it seems to go the limited route.

Do parents want to buy a whole fleet of jets for their kids, all the same toy just in different colors? No.

Tragically, that's absolutely right. At my favorite TRU, a brother and sister (about 5 and 7, respectively) were walking from action figures to Lego with their mom, the tyke holding Armada/Universe Ramjet, with those extra minicons for nothing beyond the $20.00 Voyager price. Probably their best exclusive in the entire Unicron Trilogy. But then the girl realized, "Wait, he already has that guy, only he's black and called Skywarp," to which the mom responded by putting it back and substituting it with three clearance Built-to-Rule sets for the same price; a great deal to a parent's logic, but jeez that kid was so clearly let down that I give him credit for not crying.

No, legions of repaints are for us collectors, not kids. It's just a law of economics.

Finally bit the bullet and got these guys for $185 shipped from a retailer.

Toy Arena wants $220 for these.
missed out on BBTS and TF source's 145. sad. =/

I think the main draw of these guys for me is the bio cards. =X

For those of you interested in the BotCon 2013 Rainmakers souvenir set, it looks like the first set to sell out at the show. This info was tweeted by BotCon yesterday. They also added that it was the largest run ever done for a BotCon souvenir item.

Give it a year and this set will be going for $60 to $80 on ebay.

You know, hasbro might aswell make a line that's just repaints of the classics seeker mold. They'll still go like hotcakes.