SO excited - been waiting since 2016! I've always felt other seeker molds feel like they're going to break, where as the TW Coneheads just felt like high-quality hand candy. I'm selling my MP-11s for these.

 

Jet modes are nice, but still not the 'sleek' robot mode I'd want to represent Starscream and company.

 

Jet mode is fantastic, but DEAR ME, What are those PROPORTIONS in Bot Mode?

 

Ill scope up the trio. After dealing with Hound, Takara isn't getting any of my money for their overpriced and QC riddled figures

 

The QC hasn’t continued to be as bad as hound btw. Black Convoy, Arcee, Spinout and Tigatron have all been very good. Just to let you know.

 

I had been considering the new MP-52 Starscream because I didn't think these would happen at this point. I wasn't excited about it with how expensive it is and how Takara has their their quality dive, but it at least looks better than MP-3/11 and MTs options. I was slightly worried they might be taller than Megatron, but after seeing the picture @pilot00 (thanks) shared a couple of pages ago it looks like that without the cone they should be similar height at the head which is fine. Assuming these end up the same as their coneheads we will finally have QUALITY Seekers for an MP collection. I hope the faces are better than the Coneheads, though looking at the Trainbot faces we saw a month ago my hopes are not high on that.

I can't say it will be "better", but we can already see the neck/head joint will be different and should be much simpler since it doesn't have to fold around from the cone of the jet.

For that type of thing I judge based on why the sacrifice was made and what alternatives there are. The front landing gear is there because having it further back would interfere with the nosecone folding inside the chest and hiding completely in bot mode. That leads to a much better bot mode design than it hanging off the back (MT) or having a large backpack hump to hide it in the back (MP-3/11/52). For me that is totally worth it, though obviously opinions will differ.

I can't speak on the timing on this announcement, but these have been in the works since at least 2016 if not earlier. Raiden they had the first prototype already made 9 months before Takara's announcement. Who knows how long Takara knew behind the scenes which might have leaked, but given Zeta was already to a prototype they had to have been working on it at least 2 years before Takara announced theirs, and showed nothing so probably hadn't been active on the project as long.

Unicron again had a prototype and with the engineering had to have been in the works for a long time, they probably just felt pressured to announce it when they did due to people desperate for a Unicron would be forced to tie up several hundred dollars in the Hasbro one with no alternative for a Unicron at the time if they didn't.

Pilot00 posted this picture a couple of pages ago. Without the addition of the jet nose on top they look like they will be approximately the same as MP-36 at the head (approximating where the head is to the jet intakes on the new pictures). I can't imagine they will make all new molds to make them smaller when they can be using 80% or so of the Conehead ones for a much cheaper price.

 

Well, now. I loved the Coneheads, in spite of the faces. If this does finally pan out, I may well finally get the original Seeker trio in my collection.

 

I am starting to wonder, I I should ditch the idea of scale. I mean My Shockwave IS the Cloud 9 one which is a behemoth comparatively, I might as well as have all six seekers be level to Megatron.....

Thoughts?

 

Should you ditch scale? I mean if you want to them sure go ahead. Less to worry about and more to focus on other things about toys that interest you.

 

I mean not exactly ditch it, but in this instance ignore it for the shake of aesthetics.

 

It’s your collection, no rules need be upheld.

 

I know, I just would have liked some opinions is all.

 

If the scale starts to bother you pose them in an action or attack stance. The only time scales really becomes an issue for me is if I ever decided to pose everything in a boring A stance.

 

I just use a very rough relative personal scale. Like Megatron is bigger than Optimus, decepticons are bigger than autobots, and so on. If a figure looks cool and is roughly the size I want em in, I’ll grab em. If you can ignore a random scale chart made up decades ago and just go with what you want, go for it.

 

The way I look at scale and similar issues is like the Pirate's Code in Pirates of the Caribbean. It is more of a suggestion than a rule. I have very few stringent requirements (Bumblebee needs to be small, Dinobots need to be big), and everything comes down to do I feel like they look good together. In general (with a few exceptions) I feel characters being "too big" is much better than them looking "too small". I have the TW release of the Coneheads, and they are definitely the best quality seekers that have been made, and other than their faces I really like how they look. Whether they are too big or not simply isn't a consideration for me. If they were absurd, like Megatron came to their waist, it would be, but not where they are basically the same head height, or even a little bigger. I struggle a lot with MP carbots, and XTB Stunticons, because they just look WAY too short next to Optimus/Motormaster. They just don't look good together. That said people who are stringent on "scale" will never stop telling me that Takara got the carbot size right, no matter how wrong it looks. And since "no one will replace the whole group" (I would) I know no one will ever make them in a good size which makes me sad everytime I think of it.

 

I understand your way of thinking. I really do. For example I always considered Arcee to be shorter than most S3 cast. When FT released theirs I was like    Despite knowing that there were shots aplenty were she was tall enough. I always thought that MMC did her on the right scale so I went that way (the black deco also helped to blend in with my SG Autobots), and then TT also released her at that scale....Ultimately what I am trying to say is, that I like SOME times scaling to be accurate, some other times not (for example Arcee and/or the triple changers, I want them taller than Megs and Prime), but it appears I feel the Seekers as made by TT were 'correct' (scale-wise). Makes sense?

 

So my logic is:
Keep my Maketoys seekers on my 1984 shelf

i am going to get Toyworld/Zeta toys version of Starscream for my 1986 shelf since he’s bigger and display him as Emperor SS with crown.

 

I have, and I think I enjoy my figures more for it.

 

So most of my collection is scaled - JJ-02 Superion scales comparably with CW Devy, PoP Predaking, and OS Jinbao Bruticus. But I have the RH Seekers, which are a good size above MP-36. In some cases, scale is nice (the DX9 Stunticons, which I just pulled the trigger on btw, should be imposing to the Autobots - the XTB ones seem kinda meh. They should be a threatening team size-wise to match their personalities).

Part of me would trade the RH Seekers for something a bit truer to scale, but those things are magnificent looking in alt mode. So really it goes to what you're looking for. If you're producing a stop-motion cartoon, then it would be silly to have Megatron smack a 20% taller Starscream around (funny, yes, but silly mostly). But if you're collecting figures that you like, that look awesome, and make you say, "My, that's a magnificent beast", then toss scale out of the window and collect what you want.

 

I'm so glad these have been revived. They're imperfect (the head seems a bit small, for example), but every other Seeker mould is imperfect too, and I'd prefer they're imperfect whilst having interesting and clever engineering as well as a nice amount of detail, instead of that piece of crap MP-52 mould that throws everything on the back and then introduces more kibble just to hide all the parts on the back, or the overly cartoon MakeToys mould, or just... whatever they were thinking with MP-11.

Here's hoping these turn out well.

Now if only they'd show us more of Predaking.