In the Transformers Universe, my favourite character hands down is Starscream. In 1986 when people cried from the death of Optimus Prime, I cheered! When Galvatron turn Screamer into a pile of rust and stepped on his crown, I will admit, I did tear up. There was no character in the original series that I could gravitate towards more. Not only was he second in command, but had his own troops that would be affectionately known as The Seekers, but Starscream and some of the best lines one character could ever have. Sure, both the toy and cartoon characters were identical outside of the obvious paint jobs, and well let us not forget the "Coneheads" with their different wings and one very important transformation step left out, but in the end Starscream was and always has been my favourite.
Now part of the time spent collecting Transformers is not the hunts in store or online, but actually seeing how the toy works in real life. Some of us do not have the luxury of tons of disposable cash or sponsorship, so we look to online reviewers of the toys we want or did not know we wanted. One such reviewer I have bookmarked is Cybertronian Beast, you can check out his You Tube page just by clicking on the link. Recently he posted a video of KO Seekers and a quick couple of emails back and forth, I was able to gather the location of the figures and where to pick them up and so I shall review for you. I present to you Transformable Robot!
There were three to choose from, one yellow, red and purple. The purple one is slightly different as it comes with Thrust's wings. In a simple bubble card back, with no instructions or writing on the back at all, these figures come packaged in their F-15 alt mode.
Everything is there, one F-15 KO Seeker, two Fists, 2 short Missiles, 2 long Missiles and what is not shown is two Launchers, and a front Landing Gear! I enjoy the fact that the cockpit canopy opens, but the nose cone looks a little off. It appears they moulded in upside down.
Transforming these figures brings back fond memories of some of the seekers I had as a child, and nothing has changed here. The plastic quality is exactly what you would think of a cheap KO. The chest piece is not die cast and the nose cone is not rubber. There is noticeable plastic flash that was not trimmed away, but the joints are surprisingly tight and the figure does stand upright quite easily.
If you are familiar at all with the original G1 toy, nothing new here at all. It is a little transformation mixed in with partsforming. First pop the wings off, next you pop the canopy on its hinge from the fuselage. Now you are free to move the arms out from the main body and rotate them outwards and around. Separate the nosecone from the canopy and using the hinge joint and feed the nose through the opening created by moving the arms out of the way, and take the cone and flip up and over. This is the difference in steps between a Conehead and a Seeker, if you wish to display in the traditional Seeker look, flip the cone back, if not you have a Conehead. Take the fists and place them on the arm stubs, remove the cannons from the wings and place then in the holes on the sides of the arms. Place the wings back on the body but switching their sides, right wing in jet mode to left side in alt mode and visa versa. Flip the feet down and if you have a traditional seeker, take the side elevators and rotate them 90 degrees with the flaps facing the front of the robot.
As I said a very simple transformation, it will perhaps take you longer to read the instructions versus doing it, but each time I transform them I have a grin on my face. There is something to be said about the toys from my past that cannot be replaced by the 100 step transformation that have become common place these days. No head, waist, elbow, knee, foot or hand articulation, you get one and that is the shoulder.
The head sculpt is plan, but the details are there, but as you can see the overall fit and finish from these photos as it is not on par with the original releases that these seekers are inspired from. The right foot on Seeker Red clearly shows the separation in the two pieces.
The figures come with their stickers already applied but in the wrong areas. The pin striping is in the correct spot and almost spot on, but the knee stickers have been placed on the wings where the Decepticon symbol would normally be. Now there is an additional sticker application on the Purple Seeker, harking back to the inspiration of where these figures came from.
Now having played with these figures, I cannot help but smile. I now own three classic seekers that I did not spend an arm and a leg on. They were only $2.50 each, and I gathered the three different ones that were available on the shelves.
As I held them I recalled an episode of the original Transformers series titled 'Divide and Conquer' and this is when my creative juices began to flow. In that episode Megatron calls to Cybertron and instructs three unnamed seekers to halt the Autobots from their task of gathering a part to repair Optimus Prime. In 80's cartoon fashion, of course they failed in their task.
Here is a screen capture from that episode, and you see the three unnamed seekers. We know that the green one would later to go on and earn the name 'Acid Storm'. What am I planing on doing is cleaning up the plastic flash left behind, repairing any noticeable gaps and blemishes and swapping out the red cockpit glass on the Yellow Seeker and placing it in the Purple Seeker. The reason for that is to set him apart from the others as the "leader". Once the stickers have been removed and the parts ready for paint, I will be paying my own homage to this episode. With a fresh coat of paint, some Reprolabels I believe that I was have a unique addition to my collection that will most definitely be a conversation piece.
I will keep you posted on that project, maybe an update or two as it progresses, but in the meantime I am gathering my thoughts for my next review and looking to my shelves and wonder which one of them will be in the spotlight.
TheRealRonin
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Now part of the time spent collecting Transformers is not the hunts in store or online, but actually seeing how the toy works in real life. Some of us do not have the luxury of tons of disposable cash or sponsorship, so we look to online reviewers of the toys we want or did not know we wanted. One such reviewer I have bookmarked is Cybertronian Beast, you can check out his You Tube page just by clicking on the link. Recently he posted a video of KO Seekers and a quick couple of emails back and forth, I was able to gather the location of the figures and where to pick them up and so I shall review for you. I present to you Transformable Robot!
There were three to choose from, one yellow, red and purple. The purple one is slightly different as it comes with Thrust's wings. In a simple bubble card back, with no instructions or writing on the back at all, these figures come packaged in their F-15 alt mode.
Everything is there, one F-15 KO Seeker, two Fists, 2 short Missiles, 2 long Missiles and what is not shown is two Launchers, and a front Landing Gear! I enjoy the fact that the cockpit canopy opens, but the nose cone looks a little off. It appears they moulded in upside down. Transforming these figures brings back fond memories of some of the seekers I had as a child, and nothing has changed here. The plastic quality is exactly what you would think of a cheap KO. The chest piece is not die cast and the nose cone is not rubber. There is noticeable plastic flash that was not trimmed away, but the joints are surprisingly tight and the figure does stand upright quite easily.
If you are familiar at all with the original G1 toy, nothing new here at all. It is a little transformation mixed in with partsforming. First pop the wings off, next you pop the canopy on its hinge from the fuselage. Now you are free to move the arms out from the main body and rotate them outwards and around. Separate the nosecone from the canopy and using the hinge joint and feed the nose through the opening created by moving the arms out of the way, and take the cone and flip up and over. This is the difference in steps between a Conehead and a Seeker, if you wish to display in the traditional Seeker look, flip the cone back, if not you have a Conehead. Take the fists and place them on the arm stubs, remove the cannons from the wings and place then in the holes on the sides of the arms. Place the wings back on the body but switching their sides, right wing in jet mode to left side in alt mode and visa versa. Flip the feet down and if you have a traditional seeker, take the side elevators and rotate them 90 degrees with the flaps facing the front of the robot.
As I said a very simple transformation, it will perhaps take you longer to read the instructions versus doing it, but each time I transform them I have a grin on my face. There is something to be said about the toys from my past that cannot be replaced by the 100 step transformation that have become common place these days. No head, waist, elbow, knee, foot or hand articulation, you get one and that is the shoulder.
The head sculpt is plan, but the details are there, but as you can see the overall fit and finish from these photos as it is not on par with the original releases that these seekers are inspired from. The right foot on Seeker Red clearly shows the separation in the two pieces.
The figures come with their stickers already applied but in the wrong areas. The pin striping is in the correct spot and almost spot on, but the knee stickers have been placed on the wings where the Decepticon symbol would normally be. Now there is an additional sticker application on the Purple Seeker, harking back to the inspiration of where these figures came from.Now having played with these figures, I cannot help but smile. I now own three classic seekers that I did not spend an arm and a leg on. They were only $2.50 each, and I gathered the three different ones that were available on the shelves.
As I held them I recalled an episode of the original Transformers series titled 'Divide and Conquer' and this is when my creative juices began to flow. In that episode Megatron calls to Cybertron and instructs three unnamed seekers to halt the Autobots from their task of gathering a part to repair Optimus Prime. In 80's cartoon fashion, of course they failed in their task.
I will keep you posted on that project, maybe an update or two as it progresses, but in the meantime I am gathering my thoughts for my next review and looking to my shelves and wonder which one of them will be in the spotlight.
TheRealRonin
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