New Galleries: BotCon 2013 Rainmakers Sunstorm, Bitstream, and Hotlink

Some very nice seekers right there

Really nice redecos here.

What on Earth is going on with Bitstream's Bio Card? The bars say one value while the numbers say another!

This mold is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time)

Give us Redwing and another 20 decos and I will buy them all.

Rated X wrote:This mold is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time)

The classic's starscream mold was fine for it's time. The engineering is dated. The molds had to been tweaked to prevent it from being degraded from overuse. The only reason it's still "good" is because it's the only decent scaled F-15 g1 style seeker. It's endearing by default. For Christ sake he has energon hips.

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

Rated X wrote:This mold is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time)

The classic's starscream mold was fine for it's time. The engineering is dated. The molds had to been tweaked to prevent it from being degraded from overuse. The only reason it's still "good" is because it's the only decent scaled F-15 g1 style seeker. It's endearing by default. For Christ sake he has energon hips.

We just recorded the next podcast and this is pretty much what I said about it. Let's let it go out with G2 Starscream to it's honorable resting place in Valhalla or whatever since they seem to insist on not making a new production mold from the master (or they used the master as the production one in which case it's totally boned.)

ScottyP wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

Rated X wrote:This mold is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time)

The classic's starscream mold was fine for it's time. The engineering is dated. The molds had to been tweaked to prevent it from being degraded from overuse. The only reason it's still "good" is because it's the only decent scaled F-15 g1 style seeker. It's endearing by default. For Christ sake he has energon hips.

We just recorded the next podcast and this is pretty much what I said about it. Let's let it go out with G2 Starscream to it's honorable resting place in Valhalla or whatever since they seem to insist on not making a new production mold from the master (or they used the master as the production one in which case it's totally boned.)

I only have the classics skywarp, and while I like it quite a bit, I would prefer a more modernized/slightly stylized version of it.

Hellscream9999 wrote:

ScottyP wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

Rated X wrote:This mold is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time)

The classic's starscream mold was fine for it's time. The engineering is dated. The molds had to been tweaked to prevent it from being degraded from overuse. The only reason it's still "good" is because it's the only decent scaled F-15 g1 style seeker. It's endearing by default. For Christ sake he has energon hips.

We just recorded the next podcast and this is pretty much what I said about it. Let's let it go out with G2 Starscream to it's honorable resting place in Valhalla or whatever since they seem to insist on not making a new production mold from the master (or they used the master as the production one in which case it's totally boned.)

I only have the classics skywarp, and while I like it quite a bit, I would prefer a more modernized/slightly stylized version of it.

I want one last version of this mold so we round out on an even number and I get the one that I've wanted the most ... how about Takara Transformers Legends Sunstorm done right with white forearms and whatever other goodies Takara wants to do to make it slavish to the G1 toy or to the Masterpiece figure. I've waited almost 10 years for a proper Sunstorm and we still don't have one yet! I'm contemplating buying an extra Nacelle and an extra BotCon Sunstorm so that I can swap the limbs at least, but then the missiles won't be the right color and nor will the launchers.

ScottyP wrote:

SW's SilverHammer wrote:

Rated X wrote:This mold is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time)

The classic's starscream mold was fine for it's time. The engineering is dated. The molds had to been tweaked to prevent it from being degraded from overuse. The only reason it's still "good" is because it's the only decent scaled F-15 g1 style seeker. It's endearing by default. For Christ sake he has energon hips.

We just recorded the next podcast and this is pretty much what I said about it. Let's let it go out with G2 Starscream to it's honorable resting place in Valhalla or whatever since they seem to insist on not making a new production mold from the master (or they used the master as the production one in which case it's totally boned.)

I think when the last classics seeker comes out, people should take a crappy ko version (or the most valuable version if you want to be a dick) spray paint it silver and give a viking funeral.

I still want Red Wing. Things like G2 Sandstorm would be great too.

Randy

Powered Convoy wrote:I still want Red Wing. Things like G2 Sandstorm would be great too.

Randy

I could do without Red Wing altogether, but G2 Sandstorm would be interesting. What I'd really like to see is Fun Pub or e-Hobby or someone do G1/G2 versions of Nacelle and G2 Sandstorm to legitimize them more. It's OK to get modern updates of old concepts, but I'd still like to get my hands on the original version that was never released. An homage of something that was never released is a bit of a stretch to me.

Wonder how long until a Skittles meme with all the Seekers will surface, they come in pretty much every color of rainbow now!

Gearslide wrote:What on Earth is going on with Bitstream's Bio Card? The bars say one value while the numbers say another!

My guess is that since since his bio states he's a super hacker the numbers are what is skills are in cyberspace while the bar represent what his skills are in the real world. That is my guess.

More likely it's a mistake.

Now if only the Masterpiece Starscream mold can be repainted into these characters. (Or I might customize instead, there's always that option.)

I wasn't impressed when I first saw images of Tarantulus, but this gallery has really changed my mind. Looks awesome

We seriously need a decent Voyager class Seeker mold. We've had every single colour under the rainbow for the dated as hell, too small Classics figure, quite a few variations on the MP figure, which is good but too big for a Classics collection, and now we've got 3 Leader class Seekers...which are practically the same size as the MP figure.

Goddamnit Hasbro. Just give us decent Voyager class seekers already. And no, those craptacular Cyber Series figures don't count.

I'd like Redwing but I can repurpose the Takara Armada Starscream into him. I'd love a Rotorstorm from the Skyhammer mold with an appropriate head and a spare for the previous MW Sandstorm. It only seems right to me. Really hope we're gonna get that SGBW Megatron too.

Seibertron.com is proud to presents its newest gallery Transformers Subscription Service 3.0 G2 Starscream. The figure of course uses the Classics Starscream mold which by unofficial counts may actually be the bajillionth use of the mold. The figure's deco mimics that of the original G2 Starscream however you have to provide your own lights and sounds. Will this be the last use of this versatile mold? It's hard to say but until then you can click on the images below to see the full gallery.

Convention & Club Exclusives G2 Starscream

I know we've been told that this is the last time we'll ever see this mold.

I know that a lot of collectors are ready to see it retired because it's outdated.

I'm still going to miss this mold.

Pretty neat. I mean, I won't get it, but it is a cool colour scheme.

Having recently been converted to the idea of the Seekers being deluxes I'm actually considering picking up some Classics Seekers, probably starting with a cheaper one to see if I even like the mold. Out of interest, how big is it? Could someone post a picture of a Classics Seeker next to, say, CW Skydive?

This mold is G.O.A.T. !!!

(Greatest of all time for the non hop hop fans)

Such a shame to see this mold go because the Armada Starscream mold doesn't hold a candle to this one. Cmon, TFCC give us a god damn Redwing (the character you created) and I wouldnt mind a G2 Sandstorm from the Ramjet version of the mold either...

Rated X wrote:This mold is G.O.A.T. !!!

(Greatest of all time for the non hop hop fans)

Such a shame to see this mold go because the Armada Starscream mold doesn't hold a candle to this one. Cmon, TFCC give us a god damn Redwing (the character you created) and I wouldnt mind a G2 Sandstorm from the Ramjet version of the mold either...

How about a proper Sunstorm with white instead of black?

Whilst there is no doubt that the Classics Seeker mold is a good one, it is dated as all hell, and the Deluxe Armada Starscream mold is objectively better- especially in the articulation department.

Myself, I'd like to see 'em bring out a Gunpla-style model kit version of the Classics Seeker mold, complete with all the launcher/wing/head variations on the sprues. Considering it'd be unassembled and unpainted, and cast entirely out of grey plastic (with the exception of the light piping/cockpit, and obviously any non-plastic parts like springs, pins, screws and polycaps) the "one box builds any kind of Seeker" still probably wouldn't cost much more than £20, and that's being pessimistic. Granted you'd need modelling and painting skills to build and finish them, but I think it'd be worth it. Heck, I'd buy 12 (though obviously not all at once). In fact, proper transformable Transformers model kits in general would be awesome, it's just obviously the Seekers would be the best application of that because, with all the various recolours, retools and the trillions of generics that appeared in the cartoons and comics, you could theoretically get an infinite amount of characters out of just one product. Get on it Hasbro!

Still wish we got Redwing but oh well G2 Starscream is a good way to end the mold.

thank god this mold needs retired. it started to show its age 5 years ago.

Good looking end to a fine mold. It really put its miles up that's for sure

It began with G1 Starscream, and ends with G2 Starscream.

Mkall wrote:I know we've been told that this is the last time we'll ever see this mold.

I know that a lot of collectors are ready to see it retired because it's outdated.

I'm still going to miss this mold.

I miss deluxe seekers figures

Rated X wrote:This mold is G.O.A.T. !!!

(Greatest of all time for the non hop hop fans)

Such a shame to see this mold go because the Armada Starscream mold doesn't hold a candle to this one. Cmon, TFCC give us a god damn Redwing (the character you created) and I wouldnt mind a G2 Sandstorm from the Ramjet version of the mold either...

I'd LOVE a G2 Sandstorm from that, I only ever got the exclusive skywarp version from a long time ago, it's a pretty nice mold, but I wouldn't mind seeing a larger and sleeker version.

Seibertron wrote:How about a proper Sunstorm with white instead of black?

My homey. Although I've been wanting Sunstorm from the FOC mold. He's shown in the comics that way (for all of maybe three panels) and he looks awesome.

My G2 Starscream is an example of shoddy QC. Loose bits everywhere, paint slop, stress and possibly cracking at the pins. First time I've been thoroughly disappointed with a sub or club figure as far as QC goes.

As the secret is not really a secret any longer, given our news reporting over here, Seibertron.com is proud to the present the latest addition to the TFCC Subscription Service 3.0 set - mystery figure Nightracer with Shakar!

Redecoed from the Generations Legend class Tailgate figure, Nightracer sports a black and blue paint scheme, as does tiny Shakar (with some added yellow). Also included in the gallery offerings below are comparison and full looks at BotCon 1995 Nightracer, and the Whiz-Bang variant homaging the Go-Bots of old. Take a look at a preview below, and click on any of the images to view the full galleries.


Convention & Club Exclusives Nightracer
















Convention & Club Exclusives Shakar








BotCon Exclusives Nightracer












Convention & Club Exclusives Nightracer (Whiz-Bang variant)

What gun is that?
Also, on the Seeker mold subject: They need to come out with a suitable updated mold, yeah. This one got alot of use but it's time to let them cook up a worthy successor.

We should have gotten Redwing...

But instead we got this...

Rated X wrote:We should have gotten Redwing...

But instead we got this...

Yes, because a generic who existed for all of ONE PANEL in a comic with no lines, characterization or anything else, and only got a name because of the nagging of an overly obsessed fan TOTALLY deserves a new toy more than one of the first ever female Transformers toys, who also happened to be the creation of Raksha, one of the organizers of BotCon 1995. You'd get on just fine; she's a major GEEWUNer who hates Beast Wars and everything that followed it.

Seibertron wrote:

Rated X wrote:This mold is G.O.A.T. !!!

(Greatest of all time for the non hop hop fans)

Such a shame to see this mold go because the Armada Starscream mold doesn't hold a candle to this one. Cmon, TFCC give us a god damn Redwing (the character you created) and I wouldnt mind a G2 Sandstorm from the Ramjet version of the mold either...

How about a proper Sunstorm with white instead of black?

That would be nice. But I do give them a free pass on that because they did gang mold their sunstorm with the other 2. Maybe e hobby will pick up the mold and do its variants. Just because funpub made the incredibly poor decision to stop using the mold, doesnt mean hasbro or takara wont use it again. This mold is money in the bank. Personally, my proper Sunstorm itch was scratched by CHMS a long time ago. But I hope this mold makes a comeback. Funpub has gone against their word before like they did with "no more UT molds".

Delta Magnus wrote:

Rated X wrote:We should have gotten Redwing...

But instead we got this...

Yes, because a generic who existed for all of ONE PANEL in a comic with no lines, characterization or anything else, and only got a name because of the nagging of an overly obsessed fan TOTALLY deserves a new toy more than one of the first ever female Transformers toys, who also happened to be the creation of Raksha, one of the organizers of BotCon 1995. You'd get on just fine; she's a major GEEWUNer who hates Beast Wars and everything that followed it.

Don't forget that Red Wing was also shot in the back of the head and was not shown again after that.

Nice. Wipe-Out looks good.

This mold for Nightracer is starting to grow on me. Too bad they couldn't remold the head. I like the round helmet she had in the comic as opposed to this pointy square one.

That paint scheme is just so gorgeous!

Botcon 1995 Nightracer: one of few toys I have no plans on ever opening because, I mean, why? Own so many Spychangers! Might grab that Whizbang version one day to have one out, and leave the real deal sealed up. Guy I bought it from had set it up like a bagged/boarded comic and that's been a great way to keep it nice!

What gun is she holding in these shots? I've had that gun for ages and have NEVER figured out where it came from?

The gun I gave Nightracer is an extra Action Master Jackpot gun I had in my gigantic tub of extra/miscellaneous Transformers parts from the Seibertron.com Store. The smaller peg is actually broken on it, but the larger 5mm peg is still in tact which worked out perfectly for ol' Nightracer here. It's a really close shade of blue to the blue plastic used on Nightracer. Not a 100% match, but it's really damn close.

It's interesting that the Club chose that Nightracer not match Krok's color scheme. I guess they wanted her deco to match the comic rather than the original toy?

megatronus wrote:It's interesting that the Club chose that Nightracer not match Krok's color scheme. I guess they wanted her deco to match the comic rather than the original toy?

Why would Krok and Nightracer have to match, period?

megatronus wrote:It's interesting that the Club chose that Nightracer not match Krok's color scheme. I guess they wanted her deco to match the comic rather than the original toy?

Her colors are based on the deco that the original 1995 Nightracer toy was intended to have, as its yellow parts were instead supposed to have been blue.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

megatronus wrote:It's interesting that the Club chose that Nightracer not match Krok's color scheme. I guess they wanted her deco to match the comic rather than the original toy?

Why would Krok and Nightracer have to match, period?

Who said they have to match, period?

Sabrblade wrote:

megatronus wrote:It's interesting that the Club chose that Nightracer not match Krok's color scheme. I guess they wanted her deco to match the comic rather than the original toy?

Her colors are based on the deco that the original 1995 Nightracer toy was intended to have, as its yellow parts were instead supposed to have been blue.

Good to know. I still think it would have been fun for the set to match... but not bummed at all. Delivery #6 turned out real nice either way.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

megatronus wrote:It's interesting that the Club chose that Nightracer not match Krok's color scheme. I guess they wanted her deco to match the comic rather than the original toy?

Why would Krok and Nightracer have to match, period?

They should both have the yellowish green plastic, like Krok has. Instead, they went with the color scheme that Raksha apparently wanted originally for Nightracer, but Hasbro presented them with the yellowish green with black instead of blue and black like she had wanted.

With that said, I would have preferred to have the yellowish green myself because that's what the original toy was. I'm not sure I understand the point of doing it like Raksha originally wanted/intended for Nightracer to be because now the new toy doesn't really look like the original toy, which is all I care about and I'm assuming most of you would have preferred to have it look like the original toy as well. I also think it's odd to have made an anagram of Raksha's name for the Mini-Con/Micromaster figure. I'd get it more if Raksha was was still a prominent person in the Transformers community after the 90s or if Transformers names were commonly derived from prominent people involved with the Transformers brand.

Altogether, it strikes me as an homage that is a real big stretch with some very odd fandom ties to people who, to the best of my knowledge, aren't involved with Transformers much any more.

Though I will second someone's comment above that Raksha and Rated X have some similar views regarding their passion for G1, though Raksha's take on the Decepticons being the real good guys is definitely a different angle, one which I don't think Rated X would care much for.

If you aren't familiar with Raksha, check out this article she wrote for my Trans-Forum fanzine that I did pre-Seibertron.com during the late 90s. Her article from the June 13th, 1997 issue of Trans-Forum was titled "The Real Heroes of the Story".

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/the-real-heroes-of-the-story/18267/

I figured the yellow would have been a prizing factor for the appeal of the toy, but in the defense of the all-blue group, the clone Nightracer made her debut in 2012, sporting no yellow at all:



That said, since she's the clone and therefore has not to match the template in color or form, maybe the original can be made after the colors of the original BotCon toy?

Seibertron wrote:With that said, I would have preferred to have the yellowish green myself because that's what the original toy was. I'm not sure I understand the point of doing it like Raksha originally wanted/intended for Nightracer to be because now the new toy doesn't really look like the original toy, which is all I care about and I'm assuming most of you would have preferred to have it look like the original toy as well.

I think it's neat that we finally have a toy of Nightracer in the deco she was meant to have instead of the one she got. Sure, it means that this character now has two decos to her name, but her new toy having the original planned deco gives her a look that we never got in toy form before and doesn't take away from the 1995 toy still having its deco.

I liken this situation to the Tripredacus Council toys we're getting for BotCon next year. Sure, they aren't in the decos of their original toys, but they are in a deco based on something else that we never got before and doesn't take away from the original toys having the decos they had.

And, well, there is the 2012-2014 TCC comic fiction that had her in the original planned deco, both in the G2 GoBot body and in the Tailgate body, so there is some fictional precedence:



Plus, Shakar's deco does pay some homage to the 1995 Nightracer toy deco with its yellow paint apps.

Seibertron wrote:I also think it's odd to have made an anagram of Raksha's name for the Mini-Con/Micromaster figure. I'd get it more if Raksha was was still a prominent person in the Transformers community after the 90s.

Altogether, it strikes me as an homage that is a real big stretch with some very odd fandom ties to people who, to the best of my knowledge, aren't involved with Transformers much any more.

I'm told she's still friends with some of the Fun Pub Club staff and has been a dealer at the BotCons of recent years.