My adventures in Seacon-nery...Sean Seacon-nery.

Hey Everyone! I'm finally back with a new post, and the reason it took so long is I was specifically waiting to make a big post about these guys when they came. That's right...it's time for some Seacon goodness as I present my in depth review of the Transformers Collectors Club Seacons!

It took a looong time to get them and quite a few pretty pennies, but let me say now, it was worth it. This set is AWESOME. It's the best of G1, without any of the bad. It's retro without being outdated, with a great deco and lots of playability. They're just plain fun! With all the figures and modes for each, you really get a lot from this set. It really feels like something special, a really nice collectable. Not to mention that I love the colors of these guys, and add to the fact these guys were brought back from cancellation after FOUR years, and you have a great set that any Transformers fan would be proud to have in their collection. Piranacon is massive, impressive, and a very nice piece. Now, as everyone knows I'm not a huge booster of G1, if fact it kind of annoys me sometimes, but I love these guys a lot. Kudos to Fun Publications!

Packaging- This is really nice. The windows let you see inside to the cool beast modes. The eighties style gift box design is very nice and retro, yet the new colors let you know this isn't your father's Seacons...or, rather, the Seacons you used to own. Not to mention that inside is the wonderful foam that I love. The way it hugs my Transformers tight...it feels so safe and nice...anywhoo, I digress, it's a very nice box. But let's get to what really matters! The Bots!

I'll go individually with each of them, their three modes, the decos and just in general talk about them. Now, to be fair, I can't really talk about posability like I usually do because they're G1. As cool as these guys are, they're not posable at all. Only moving arms up and down and opening and closing the beast mouths(a nice touch). That's all. So, they really don't compare to the awesome posability of Animated. That doesn't mean they're bad, of course not, they're just from a time when toy technology was not as advanced. So, it wouldn't be fair to judge them by todays standards.

Same goes for their transformations. All six are INCREDIBLY simplistic, nothing close even to Cybertron Scouts. Again, it's not a negative, they're just from an earlier time and in fact, there is something charming about the basic transformations. However, it's not fair to judge them like comparing Animated Ultra Magnus and Megatron. So, no talking of transformation and posability. What I will be talking about is Design, deco, and and a couple of other things. So, let's get to it!

SNAPTRAP
Beast mode- A killer turtle. It's so unusual it's awesome. He's got massive cannons and massive shells, on small trunks of legs. He's like a tank. I really love the turtle design, especially the head. The ridges on his head and legs give him a really great texture. Not to mention his jaw swings down low so he can live up to his name. Add that to his cannons, and you've got a dangerous reptiles. And as a really neat added effect, moving the switch on his back makes the guns move! It's very nice. Hasbro took what could've been a silly animal and made it really dangerous looking, very appropriate for a Decepticon. He looks even more dangerous when you take his HUGE yellow cannon on his back. It's a little to much yellow for me, but since there is no paint on the weapons and this one has to be big so Piranacon can use it, it's forgivable. Lots of details on him, especially on the mechanical shell. I think the deco is great on Snaptrap, mostly purple with some shiney metallic blue. The cannons and..um...tail blades are yellow. It's a very deep purple, and it works really well wth blue. It's a very dark scheme, but it's broken by the bright yellow. Normally this would be a problem, but since its very symmetrical it compliments Snaptrap's paint instead of detracting from it. All in all, Snaptrap is one dangerous and cool looking beast.

Weapon mode- He doesn't have one...He's the torso.

Robot mode- A great design, I particullary love his head sculpt. Especially the faceplate. It's very Prime-esque, which is cool to me because a cool, regal, Prime-style head wouldn't be expected on the leader of a random DECEPTICON combiner group, much less one that turns into a turtle. I don't know why, but it really gives Snaptrap crediblity as a leader. He's ver imposing, with wide shoulders making him very strong looking. He's very back heavy, what with the hind turtle legs swinging back. That's the only negative of his design. However, by giving him one of his huge Piranacon based weapons, it balances him out, fixing the problem. So THAT's why the gun is so big. He's very immense, and he looks very good, very much like a leader of a team of killers like the Seacons. Color wise-he has much more metallic blue now, with quite a bit of black. The purple is now kept to a minimum. The black looks very nice, i's like a matte black, which looks nice. The colors looked good as a beast, it lookes even better here, much more darker and dangerous. The only snafu here is his hands are bright yellow, which really stick out. I would have preferred they kept that only to the cannons, but it's a small quibble. Lots of nice details on him too, like the designs on his legs and chest. Snaptrap is definatly one cool toy and one of my favorite Seacons.

OVERBITE

Beast mode- He's a shark, with legs and arms. It's an interesting design, and I like it. I mean, it's a little awkward, but obviously he needs legs to make his robot mode arms. And you can't give a shark legs and not arms. So, it makes sense anyway. Honestly, Overbite's the least interestingly designed Seacons to me, but that's only because sharks are kinda overdone. When you think of sea creatures for battle robots to turn into, it goes to the Shark a LOT. Sky Byte, Cybershark, Hammerstrike, to just name a few. It makes sense, sharks are cool, but surrounded by other unique things like a monster lobster just sorta makes Overbite boring to me. It's an ok design, though. He definatly has the darkest scheme of the Seacons, with NO bright colors at all. He's dark purple, metallic blue, and black. It's the best part about him. Even his evil yellow eyes seem darker. Some details that standout for me on Overbite is the metallic blue parts painted on his arms, the yellow eyes, the blue head orb, and the black squares on his back. Even though he's not my Seacon he still looks cool.

Weapon mode- It's basically the shark mode laid out with his head up revealing a gun. It doens't really scream seperate mode to me, but there are things you can do with the arms to make it look more different. It's not as different looking as Tentakill's and Seawing's weapon mode, but it does look better then Nautilator's. So, it's not bad. Not great, but not bad.

Robot mode- Robot mode is pretty standard. Colors carry over from beast mode, although we get less purple and a lot more blue-grey. The design is ok, kind of plain, the shark arms stick out of his feet but I would rather they do that then remove them and possibly loose them. In general, the smaller guys don't have a much detail in robot mode as Snaptrap, but they each have something pretty cool about them, usually the chest. Like Overbite's riged chest. It's neat and it makes him stand out among his comrades. Also worth mentioning here are the headsculpts of the little guys are painted really well and you can make out the detail! I wasn't expecting that, but you can actually make out each of their faces. Anyway, back to Overbite. His robot mode has cool colors if a little one note (mostly blue.) It's got some cool details on his face and chest, but his design is a little bland. So that's sharkboy in a nutshell. Oh, and to be fair, I should mention my Overbite has stress on one of his shoulders. I'm sure it's not widespread, just thought I'd mention it.

NAUTILATOR

Beast mode- Aaaaah Nautilator! I love this guy! He's constantly berated as being the worst Seacon, he was left out of BW II, and he's always been made fun of. I think he's awesome! Especially his beast mode. Like Snaptrap, they took something that could be silly, a lobster, and made it look very dangerous and cool. I love the design of his beast form. The claws are huge and they gave him a distinct head with eyes and a mouth. No huge antenna or bulgy eyes here. He's really detailed as well. From the segmented tail to the very detailed claws, he's got a lot. His head, too, has ridges and looks very armored, and I also very much enjoy the tube and line details that run under his eyes. He's really cool for a giant lobster! I know I'm gushing a little too much about a Seacon limb, but I've always had a thing for unique crazy animals, and here something as silly as a lobster is made to look very menacing. Well, relativly. Menacing for G1. To be fair, the colors are a little monotone on him, almost all white, with orange claws and orange back. However, it's broken up by his purple legs, yellow eyes, and the nice black paint on his head. Oh, and did I mention the tip of his claws are black? It's such a little thing, yet it's so cool that Fun Pub added it. If only it was on the bottom too. Oh well. Have I mentioned I love this guy?

Weapon mode- Ok, ok, for all my loving of his beast mode, Nautilator has the worst weapon mode. As much as I love his handheld weapon and it's three barrels, all you do is outstrech his tail. Honestly, I don't even know if it consitutes as another mode. No, Old Nauts won't be the gun with my Piranacon.

Robot mode- Nautilator's robot mode isn't as cool or special as his beast mode, but it's still pretty nice. The design is pretty standard, two arms and two legs. Unfortunatly, he's very back heavy due to both his legs and claws folding back. In fact, the legs can't even fold all the way back unless you put the claws up so the fit inbetween the lobster appendages. So yes, he's back heavy unless you remove the claws (which I don't want too), but other then that, the design is pretty standard. His chest is fairly detailed though, just like Overbite, and like his shark brethern you can also make out his face clearly. So he does have some nice molded details. As for his deco, he's now mostly orange, but he still retains white on his legs. The purple remains on his legs and it's there on his head. The yellow moves from his eyes to his face. So, the deco doesn't change much. It's still a little monochramatic, but I enjoy it. So, long story short, I love his beast mode, his weapon mode is dumb, and his robot mode is ok. Something else odd about his robot mode...the head seems to be farther back then it should be. Eh probably something that has to do with combining. Like I was saying his robot mode is a little average but still awesome enough to make him my favorite Seacon.

SEAWING

Beast mode- Here, we get the first manta ray, Depth Charge's ancestor. And despite having legs which is a little wierd, he looks sooooo cool. Design wise, he's very technological with lots of awesome details. The square in his face looks odd, but Seawing makes up for it with his great deco. His wings are painted with both orange and yellow, but they are washed together to create a very nice effect. It's things like that which make the Seacons a really special collectors set. And each of the molded ridges and effects on his wings are painted black, making a great contrasti. His body is mostly white with a black tail, and the head is black which makes his yellow eyes stand out great. I just realized that all the Seacons have yellow eyes...that's great...but, back to the reivew, Seawing is designed very well. The only problem being his square face. But the really nice color scheme makes up for it. And if you want detail, look no farther then the ones etched right into his wings! Awesome!

Weapon mode- Actually, Seawing has on of the best weapon modes. His hands guns have an interesting design, which helps out his targetmaster mode. The upturned wings, the manta head turned around, those all contribute to make this form look less like an animal streched out and more like an actual weapon. Unfortunatly, with MY Seawing the hole on the front is to big to fit the guns snugly. So, that elminates HIM as a weapon in my Piranacon.

Robot Mode- With an intriguing beast mode, has a very stout robot mode. He's very short, the shortest of them all. He's not as detailed as Nautilator or Overbite, although he does slim down in the middle, giving him more of a chest effect. Meaning, whereas Overbite and Nautilator have square bodies which have the legs coming out of them, Seawing's body curves down, and THEN meets his legs. Not saying that one or the other is better, just pointing out how it makes Seawing different from his comrades. Conversly, a negative detail of his is that the ray jaw hangs in his crotch. Seawing does look cool with his wings out strectched, and that way you can move the tail all the way back and he isn't back heavy that way. But, it's weird, I don't think that's how it's supposed to go. I think you're supposed to put the wings all the way back, which makes him back heavy and the tail can't go all the way down. But neverminding that, despite his jaw crocth and his shortness, the uniqueness of his robot mode makes him stand out. The manta ray head as his legs is a nice visual design, and something none of the other Seacons have. So for Seawing, he's got a unique if flawed robot mode, a nice beast mode and a cool weapon mode. It's only his few flaws (aforementioned shortness, square manta head, crotch jaw) that make him behind Nautilator, Skalor and Snaptrap in my Seacon list.

Whew! I've gone pretty indepth on those four and I'm not done yet! Still more Seacon fun to come, but seeing as I've been writing a while and Silverstreak and Sideswipe literally just arrived in the mail, I'm gonna take a break and save Skalor, Tentakill and Piranacon himself for another blog post. Keep an eye out for part 2!