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Seekers


KFGatri

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I constantly read people complaining about repaints, mainly about the ubiquitous Bumblebee redecoes (which even as a BB fan myself I find ludicrous) but also repaints in general. Yet there's one set of repaints that's not only accepted but demanded by the fandom: the Seekers.

 

Every time a Starscream comes out, in any line or franchise, people start demanding 2 to 7 repaints of the toy, even before it's released. I can see it if the media supports the reuse (G1, Animated), but this happens every line. Even if we've already gotten Seekers - there's been Seeker repaints of the voyager movie Starscreams, but when the deluxe mold came out, people wanted all 3 of the originals in that scale. Yet, even when the media supports multiples, generally only one or two get real characterization - Starscream & Ramjet in G1 stood out for me, and Starscream and Slipstream in Animated. And we didn't get Slipstream. :tflaugh The others were mostly background characters to me at least, and the animators constantly coloring Screamer, Warp & TC like each other didn't help matters. That probably contributed to my feeling that they're "Starscream and the other two."

 

I can understand it a little - when the reissues were coming out, I jumped on the chance to get a complete set. And when the classic set was completed at Botcon, I was annoyed, but not as angry as a lot of people. (For one thing, the interesting Seekers, Starscream & Ramjet had been general releases.) And I got the eventual retail versions, but it was more a "nice to have" than "have to have" thing. There are actually many other characters I'd rather have before the Decepticon sky goons.

 

So what I'm wondering here is: Why are the Seekers considered a "must-make" set of repaints? Because that's how it was in G1? (I thought it was a cash-grab by Hasbro back then, honestly.) I understand the appeal (classic repaint scheme and all), but why are the Seekers so passionately demanded?

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In G1 they actually bothered giving each of the 6 seekers a personality of their own, which kinda justifies in people's minds the obbsession to buy at least 6 of such mold.

 

I can't complain though, as I love the classics mold for SS and therefor own it this many times:

 

Classics Starscream

Universe 2.0 Starscream

Skywarp

Ramjet

Thundercracker

Dirge

Thrust

Acid Storm x 2

Henkei limited edition Thundercracker (bought that befre hasbro announced theirs)

And soon I'll have the KO Ghost of Starscream too :yay

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In G1 they actually bothered giving each of the 6 seekers a personality of their own, which kinda justifies in people's minds the obbsession to buy at least 6 of such mold.

 

 

Well, as I said, to me it was Starscream, Ramjet, and 2 sets of interchangable goons.

 

I can't complain though, as I love the classics mold for SS and therefor own it this many times:

 

Classics Starscream

Universe 2.0 Starscream

Skywarp

Ramjet

Thundercracker

Dirge

Thrust

Acid Storm x 2

Henkei limited edition Thundercracker (bought that befre hasbro announced theirs)

And soon I'll have the KO Ghost of Starscream too :yay

 

Oh, it is a good mold, and I've picked up all of the domestic retail releases myself. Heck, I wouldn't mind a few Seekers from the Legends G1 Starscream to boost my mini-Decepticon ranks a bit. I'd prefer other characters, though.

 

What I don't get is the obsession with having every franchise's Starscream released as at least Thundercracker & SKywarp as well, and preferably as the coneheads too. Like most, I want as many of the G1 characters reimagined in Classics/Universe/etc. as possible, and tossing out a Seeker or two every year is a good way to boost the line economically.

 

But all the other franchise ones that never appeared in major media puzzle me. (And yes, I know they've appeared in the comics, but they're too marginal to count. The comics industry is dieing and in fact seemingly trying to commit suicide.) Why do we need movie TC and SW from the voyager Screamer mold, and then again from the deluxe?

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Ah well, that all comes down to molding a new figure.

hasbro want to reuse most of their molds as more than one character, to justify making the mold, or the character in sevral sizes.

 

Believe it or not if it weren't for repaints, we wouldn't get half of the new molds out there

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Ah well, that all comes down to molding a new figure.

hasbro want to reuse most of their molds as more than one character, to justify making the mold, or the character in sevral sizes.

 

Believe it or not if it weren't for repaints, we wouldn't get half of the new molds out there

 

Oh I know. It's more the fans' thinking I'm trying to figure out here. Most repaints elicit the reaction, "A repaint? WTF? Why can't you give us new figures instead of reusing the same ones Hasblo?" But this is a case where the redecos are not only accepted, but people complain if we don't get Starscream redone in blue, black, etc. Even if the rest of the Seekers are non-show characters.

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Beyond what has already been explained, one must be a Seeker fanatic to understand the Seeker mania. To some, it's about a swarm of an armada that can topple even the most insurmountable of odds. Perhaps it's about a uniform squadron of beings that are led by the most arresting character in the series from the outset. In all honesty, it's about the expanded universe's description of the characters to me. I've been a huge fan of all of the comic books. Reading these stories, one would find that each seeker has a distinct personality with a role to play. Wiki each of the six seekers, then Wiki Sunstorm, and you'll get a good idea of why Seeker completists shat bricks over "Games of Deception".

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Its just because of the characters themselves. Fans are more inclined to drop a dollar on a repaint of Starscream as Skywarp as opposed to buying a repaint of Hailstorm as Mindset. People love the characters of Skywarp, TC and the coneheads that they don't mind. I'm guilty, I'd love to have a full set of Seekers but I wouldn't give a crap if these toys were meant to resemble anyone else. The same rings true with Prowl, Smokescreen and Bluestreak. I own all the Universe incarnations and I'm fine with it.

 

Not to hate on repaints tho (as much as I used to) because Hasbro has gotten really good with them. Swapping out heads and doing a superb job with the paint in general goes a long way. Sunspot's paint scheme (repaint of Nightstalker) is gorgeous even though it's otherwise identicle and especially Generations Thundercracker and Dirge. The paint is freakin great. My only complaint as far as Hasbro's new take on it hasn't bore much fruit. They got a zillion alternate heads for the Scourge and Perceptor just lying around in a warehouse somewhere. At least they managed to squeak out Junkheap and Wheeljack (thank god) tho.

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The seekers are different because so many people loved those figures during g1 and people tended to have different favorites.

 

I think part of it started back in Armada when Starscream was first brought back and then we got a couple of g1 seeker repaints. Hasbro did this a few times kind of frustrating people who really just wanted a full updated set of seekers. The more Hasbro teased but only delivered a few, the more hungry we got to get a whole team.

 

We eventually got that whole team with the classics Starscream mold. It wasn't easy either, because if Hasbro had their way, then it probably wouldn't have gone this far but the fan demand was so incredibly intense that Hasbro did something it doesn't easily do, they went back and gave us those last seekers after repeatedly stating they wouldn't because of the convention exclusives. Hasbro doesn't give in like that too often, so the pressure had to be huge.

 

Now I'm happy. If they don't do another complete set for another 20 years...so be it!

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Now I'm happy. If they don't do another complete set for another 20 years...so be it!

 

That's a long time to wait!

 

 

I'm exhausted from all the bitching it took to get the rest of these seekers made. I still wouldn't mind a full masterpiece seeker set, but that's more money than I want to put up for. Too many other interesting things to get and too little money.

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