The Seeker comparison thread

[Shockwave]

Ok, so now that all the hallabaloo over Thundergate has abated and everyone has the seekers and we now have at least three versions of each one, I thought I'd do a comparison thread for the various versions available. The reviews will not focus so much on the quality of the mold itself or if it's worth buying, but instead will focus on the differences between versions (worth may be mentioned in that context). Since ealier this year I had the Botcon 2007 set for a couple months I went ahead and took side by side pics for comparison. I'll start with Thundercracker:



Here we have pictured from left to right: Botcon 07, Henkei and Generations. Personally, my favorite of the 3 is Generations which is by far the cheapest and easiest to find. The silver is the brightest, the blue is... blue er (for lack of a better term), the logos are (in my opinion) facing the right way and are very visible. The Henkei release is a close second except the logos are (again, in my opinion) upside down and without any paint app to frame them like the Generations one, they just blend in with Thundercracker's color scheme. The Botcon one doesn't even have logos and while the color scheme is a little closer to the original G1 toy, the Generations version just pulls that off so much nicer. My recommendation if you have the means to get any of these three, get the Generations one.

Thrust:



Of the three of these I think I actually like the Botcon one better. The wings and tailfins are smaller than the other two versions and it somehow feels more proportionate. And the color works better on this one too. The colors on the Generations version are very similar to the Botcon one to it's credit, and if one can't afford the Botcon one it makes a nice stand in. I do like the orange canopy better on the Generations one but that doesn't outwheigh the wings. I also do like the versatility of the wings on the Henkei and Generations releases but it makes the wings feel too big. Fortunately, it's not something that's really noticeable unless the three versions are right next to each other.

Dirge:



Dirge: Well this is one case where the Botcon one is so obviously the worst of the three, it actually being a repaint of Ramjet. I have to agree with Dom on this where if I had been a huge fan of the character I would have been pissed about this, especially with how well Thrust was done in that set. The Henkei one feels like it's trying to mesh the cartoon aesthetic with the wierd striping from the Classics Seekers and not really succeeding at either. The Generations one is certainly the closest to the original toy and to me stands out as the best version of the three because of it. The blue is brighter, the wings are the right shade of brown and the black contrasts nicely to the rest of the toy.

[Onslaught Six]

I don't think any of us have all three versions of any of the others, but at this point we've all seen enough pics to judge what we want out of this.

I never actually looked at all three at once before, but you're completely right, Generations Thundy is obviously the best colour scheme. I don't like the way the stripes on the Botcon toy just "end" before the wings are done. The silver on his shoulders on both previous versions is distracting and doesn't work. On the other hand, while he has the best overall colour scheme, he's missing some paintapps that would put him over the top--the legs in particular. But on the other hand I'm pretty sure his lack of extra leg paint makes him consistent with at least one Hasbro Starscream and with Classics Skywarp.

Thrust is a different bag. I think I definitely prefer Botcon Thrust out of them all; his red is brighter and I think his wing moulds are better too. I like the way the bombs are closer to his body than on the Generations toy, although he shouldn't have the bombs in the first place since G1 Thrust had machine guns like the first-gen Seekers. When it comes to the robot modes, though, I think I definitely prefer Generations Thrust; his more-red waist plays out better in distinguishing him from the other Seekers without changing everything.

Dirge is almost a no contest--the Botcon toy is entirely inappropriate, simply reusing Ramjet's wings. The Henkei toy has a more interesting wing pattern and paintapps that resemble the stickers on the G1 toy, but the blue on the wings instead of red 'really' throws the whole thing off and makes him...not look like Dirge. Despite the wings being entirely wrong for his vehicle mode, they actually look pretty good on Dirge's robot mode, especially with the added black that Generations Dirge lacks. He also has the bombs that Dirge should logically have--it's closer to his original long missiles than the machine guns. The grey on Henkei Dirge is also particularly offsetting, and I always liked Generations Dirge's black thighs for some reason despite it being entirely inconsistent with every other Seeker.

So overall, I think I actually prefer the Generations releases of each. They just play out to my preferences better, I think. The Henkei toys are trying too hard to be radically different for no reason (I didn't even mention the chrome) and the Botcon toys are trying but they just fall short of the mark. Now, if any one of these variations was released worldwide in the first place as the 'single only version' of this mould as this character, I don't think anyone would be too disappointed, but given the plethora of choices...it's kind of weird that the cheapest option is actually usually the best.

[Shockwave]

Shit. I forgot to mention that my Henkei ones had the Reprolabels stickers applied to them so the details on the upper legs, feet, intakes and such aren't actually painted on.

[Dominic]

Maybe this should be the "the comparison of Seekers Hasbro screwed us on" thread?


Maybe it is a question of forbidden fruit, but I still favour BotCon Thundercracker. The striping looks a bit brighter. And, I recall the blue being a bit nicer than the "Generations" figure. Henkei is, without question, the worst. Hell, it is the worst pressing of that mould, and one of the worst figures in my collection. I have seen knock-offs of comparable, if not superior, quality.

BotCon Thrust is for the most part the best of the 3. The stickers over the screws are a bit cheap. But, I can live with that on a short-run BotCon toy. "Generations" is a good enough, but definitely inferior, substitute. The Henkei toy is not bad. But, it really only compliments the "Henkei" Dirge or "Classics" (US) Ramjet. The Japanese Ramjet would have been out of place next to "Henkei" Thrust and Dirge.

BotCon Dirge is terrible. Honestly, I would have been pissed off had Dirge been a favourite of mine. Recolours for BotCon toys are one thing. Half-assed recolours are another. The mass released US Dirge in "Generations", (assuming one managed to avoide the error sigil variant), is the best over all, with the Henkei figure being an interesting, if hard to place, curiosity.


Dom
-really not happy with Henkei Thundercracker.

[Shockwave]

I know Scourge has at least three Starscreams, one of which he bought from me so he might be able to do a comparison on those. Not sure if anyone has both Skywarps or Ramjets.

[Onslaught Six]

Shit. I forgot to mention that my Henkei ones had the Reprolabels stickers applied to them so the details on the upper legs, feet, intakes and such aren't actually painted on.

I only have the club's G2 Ramjet; I'm pretty satisfied with him as my default Ramjet.

[Shockwave]

Y'know, I would have to say that that one is actually my favorite Ramjet. But then, the Botcon 2011 Thundercracker is also my favorite of those as well (although when I took the pics, he was only speculated and had not been released yet). I'd still like to someday get side by side pics of the other Seekers but that day will be a long time coming.

[Dominic]

I might be able to help with some of that.

I *had* both Ramjets. I sacrificed the US released figure to make my G2 Ramjet, so I guess that tells you which one I preferred. (I was able to make a complete set of all 6 in G1 colours, I opted for that, rather than an otherwise mismatched set.)


Dom
-has 2 Starscreams.

[138 Scourge]

I know Scourge has at least three Starscreams, one of which he bought from me so he might be able to do a comparison on those. Not sure if anyone has both Skywarps or Ramjets.

No sir, I just have the one Starscream. And only one version of any of the Seekers, really. In every case but the Starscream I got the easiest and cheapest version I could, because that's just good enough. And going by the pictures here, I think I stand by that. All my regular retail Seekers are just fine.

[BWprowl]

Man, those photos don't do the Henkei guys any favors, what is *up* with that shade of grey on them?

Of all those, Thrust is really the only one I've ever been too interested in getting (and I have Generations Thrust, so), and even then I'm put off by his shade of red (I prefer Thrust to be maroon-er, rather than red-er). Though part of me also still wants Botcon Thundercracker since his blue strikes me more as the shade he was in AHM. Parts of that deco are pretty lame though, particularly the all-blue launchers and the stop-stripes. Dirge is a no-contest for me, the Generations version is just *so* pretty, love the shade of blue they went with on that one, and it looks aces next to all the gloss black.

What about the other three Seekers that didn't get lineups like this? Admittedly, your options for Skywarp are limited, and you're screwed either way you go (unless you're awesome like me and bought that Classics two-pack at retail because you knew you wanted Skywarp that much). But Ramjet's got some decent options (Classics one is okay, but the Club G2 version rocks all kinds of faces). As for Starscream, you've got the bizarre-deco'd Classics version to contend with, but the Universe version remains one of my absolute favorite uses of the in-my-opinion overrated mold; it's a really pretty toy.

Which version of Acid Storm's our favorite?

Maybe this should be the "the comparison of Seekers Hasbro screwed us on" thread?

Screwed us out of them by...giving us options and selling many of them at retail? You're a hard man to please, Dom.