Poseidon is definitely the combiner set where TFC found its way. Hercules will always have that mantel place for being the pioneer. Hades will always have great robot and alt modes. But they just couldn't get their game figured out until Poseidon. I love my TFC Piranacon--he looks awesome in any format, solidly built, great style! And let me be biased because he's the only OTHER (mostly) complete combiner I had when I was a kid, so there's definitely that connection. But I don't care. Such a good set.

 

Absolutely have to combine! It is sturdy

 

My bank account would not mind a month (or 3…) delay for the reissue from BBTS, but I’m super excited to get this set again. This is the only thing I’ve really regretted selling. Looking forward to having the big blue and pink bastard on my shelf.

 

I got the reissue from TFSafari this summer. They are all individual boxes. The set pictured above is specifically for the black redeco.

 

Are these being reissued individually or as a box-set?
I just want P-05 Deathclaw.

 

Both? Check showz or bombusbee. I know i saw individual bots being sold.

 

Individual are available. I've ordered these from a combination of ShowZ, Bababobo, and Uncle Billy as individual items.

 

So after sitting in my home for a few months I have finally started to open my boxes, beginning with SeaWing/Mantarazor/Kraken. Always my favorite of the Seacons, at least by his bio. The figure is nice. Was afraid to transform him without a good video (every one that I found was fish to bot, and he comes in bot mode), but once I started it was pretty easy to figure out. Wings give some good display options. My one gripe would be that he can't use or store all of his accessories, and the ray mode is a bit on the chunky side. I prefer my SeaWing to be sleeker (though I also appreciate the lack of limbs in beast mode).

 

Yeah, Seawing has probably the worst beast mode. But 5 of 6 members' are good!

And you're right that most videos are beast-to-bot, when the opposite is harder and how they come out of package.

Pre-tip:
Watch Skalor's belly in beast mode----very easy to "line everything up, but the last two flat plates won't go in"---don't force it, it means the beast head/neck isn't in beast mode position, but an "easier to click into, and very similar" limb mode position. Try alternate bot leg/knee angles to see if you can adjust the head-to-belly spacing.

 

I still haven’t been able to get Skalor’s belly right…

 

Yeah, it takes a bit of fiddling. @David Hingtgen is right, you just need to mess around with the other bits until the belly panels are in an optimal position. Easier said than done, but it requires a ton of patience

 

I may transform mine tonight, and try to take some pics of how to get it lined up. (If I can figure it out! It keeps slipping away if you don't do it regularly)

 

I can imagine. I've only done it once and it took a few tries to get it aligned right.

 

Thanks for the advice as Skalor/Gulf/BigBite is tonight's opening.

Yesterday I did Cyberjaw/Overbite/Jawbreaker. Even though I was very into sharks as a kid, leading me to becoming a marine bio major (Seacons were probably the last TFs I purchased before going to college), I was never a big fan of the design. Can't say why.

It is another decent mold, with some interesting quirks in the transformation. I do love that TFC had two four-limbed robot sharks that could transform into robots and limbs, and yet they opted to give Rippersnapper/Leviathan a completely different design. Unfortunately, I think that is the superior design to Cyberjaw, so he suffers a bit in my eyes for that.

 

To be fair, Cyberjaw is a much older design than Leviathan. I had not initially intended to collect the whole set, picked up more because they were fun, and was going to stop at five. Then I found that I needed Cyberjaw for the other foot so I picked him up. Surprisingly, I didn't resent him for that, lol.

I consider their Seacon set pretty impressive as all five limbs share the same core engineering but through a few little tweaks end up being very different alt modes. It's pretty cool how they pulled that off.

My only issue so far is that Bigbite's clear pink pieces keep cracking off. The tiny fin on the rotating hinge on his back was broken on arrival, and a few days ago I was transforming him to bot mode and one of the big fins cracked at the ball socket. Not a big deal as I just keep them snapped together and tucked in his back instead of splayed like wings, but still a little off-putting.

 

I am not sure the time matters a lot as I can't think of any engineering tricks in Rippersnapper that wouldn't have been available for Overbite. To me the big difference is Overbite sticks closer to the original beast mode, and there's nothing wrong with that. Rippersnapper's beast mode is so... whatever it is, I know a lot of people somehow missed that he was a shark monster in the first place. TFC had a lot more leeway to reinvent Rippersnapper, and they did so spectacularly. It also helps that Rippersnapper only needed to change into an arm, while Overbite is an arm, a leg, and a gun.

 

Skalor's little dorsal fin is definitely an area of concern. I think I popped it off and sanded the hinge area smooth just a little, but it's been long enough I don't remember for sure.

 

Conceptually one can definitely see how there was the same base idea of "build a bot around the same brick with joints" as Combiner Wars, but this was done way better. And I agree that the difference seen in TFC's Rippersnapper is due in part to "less requirements."
Poseidon is such a stout monster... can't wait for Satan to be finished for comparison/contrast.

 

It's less about technology evolving than technique evolving. The clientele for transforming 3rd party figures was far less demanding in years past. Not to mention, you usually do a better job once you've learned lessons from your previous builds. Sure, the necessary gun mode may have been a factor, but I feel budget may have been a bigger one considering the shared engineering here that isn't present on the Satan set.

 

Events made me skip Tuesday but I did Bigbite/Skalor/Gulf yesterday.

I have a weird relationship with Skalor. As a burgeoning marine bio major I was very excited for the Seacons, but you had a shark, sea turtle, manta, lobster, squid, and... a carp. Ok, later - much later- learned he was supposed to be a coelacanth. OK, but I don't buy it. Tilefish... Wolfish... maybe? Still, it was big and pink so "carp" in my head. With legs. And arms. But that's an issue with half the clan. Anyway...

For some weird reason, just as I was left cold by the sharktastic Overbite, Skalor just kept drawing me back to him. I never could figure out why. The same is true of the Generations Selects figure a couple years ago. He's just so ridiculous, and I dig it. Bigbite is no different.

Three bots in and I can definitely see some common engineering (though I haven't looked for part sharing yet), but I am more impressed with Bigbite than Mantarazor and Cyberjaw. It wasn't quite love at first sight. His robot mode seemed kinda plain. Then I transformed him into beast mode and saw what a silly honking monstrosity he is. How does one not love that? But then I put him back in robot mode and I realized how glorious it was to be so plain. His alt mode is half giant toothy fish head! And yeah, its there in robot mode, but you have to look for it to see it in the calves. He isn't just wearing it like an oversized hoodie the way his prior incarnations did. Bang up job there!

And again I have to say how happy I am to see this team shares the Terrorcons design philosophy more than CT's Predaking. Much easier to pick up and fiddle with, and once you get the gist directions aren't really needed.

OK, so on to #4 - Ironshell!