I'll start with any issues with the set as this is probably what's worrying anyone waiting on their own. My set did have some poorly applied stickers and Overbites weapon does not peg in securely in beast-mode. I've also found the weapon stands are very hard to get the smaller Seacons to plug into. Personally these are very minor things and overall the set is fantastic.

The packaging is similar to that of the Hasbro releases of Masterpiece Starscream and Skywarp. It shows of Piranacon very well. If you plan on keeping him MISB Piranacon will display very nicely.



On one side of the box there's some great artwork very similar to that seen on the Universe 2.0 packages. On the otherside and back of the box there are photos of the Seacons. These are not 100% accurate to the figures you get (i.e. Overbite's no longer purple, Snaptrap has a green head) but it's not really that big of a deal.





I think everyone should be familiar with at least one of these two molds so here's a comparison for size.



I was surprised to find Piranacon held in place not by twist ties but by string. There was not a single twist tie in the whole thing.



Stored neatly in the bottom of the box are all of the individual weapons, weapon stands, the instructions and Tech Spec cards. For some reason Skalor's beast-mode to robot-mode instructions are missing - the instructions jump from "2) Decepticon Tentakil" to "4) Decepticon Seawing". They also consistantly show Tentakil weilding Skalor's weapons.



Piranacon looks great combined. The chrome on the sword and chestplate are very nice. The chest plate was very stiff initially when trying to fold the "wings" down so I'd recommend taking a bit of care. Piranacon is a little taller than the only other G1 combiner I have, Bruticus, and is also wider.





As a scramble city combiner you can mix'n'match limbs with other combiners. I found the Seacon limbs were required a little more force to plug into Encore Onslaught, and the Encore Combaticons were a little loose in Snaptrap. They still stayed in place once plugged in, but weren't quite as secure.




Individually they all look great in robot- or beast-modes.





I would highly recommend these guys to anyone who doesn't have a version of them already.

 

Thanks for the review. The pics look great. I can't wait for my set to arrive.

 

Thanks for the review. I was wondering about the quality on the stickers. I did not realize the overbite color and the snaptrap head are different from the original release.

 

This set is an absolute bargain for anyone remotely interested in Seacons. Thanks for the review!  

 

IIRC Skalor's instructions flow right on from Tentakil's (just placed to the left) so they are easy to miss.

Yes quality on these guys isn't too great, stickers are already put on and some are a bit wonky, I've got 10 sets and not one is perfect. Some of the gun pegs don't fit properly into different holes (lol ur mom) and there are a few gaps between plastic panels that should line up which is probably a sign of serious mold degradation or poor QC. I guess quality isn't really much different to the TFCC ones.

Considering the price it's a total bargain.

 

Can't wait for mine to arrive! Thanks for the pics.

 

falldown, thanks for a well presented and informative review!! while not the quality of the vintage toy will allow me to have em as a nice pile to just fiddle with, i like flipping between the beast and robo modes, takes just seaconds! pun intended...

 

Thank you falldown master of the fedora!

your review makes me happy I Preorders our finny friend!

 

My set arrived today, and I have to say they're even better than I thought they'd be, as far as QC goes. My semi-random thoughts:

1. The QC on these guys was much better than my TFCC Seacons. I didn't have to use clear nail polish on any of the smaller members' guns to make them stay put in weapon mode (TFCC Overbite and Seawing, I'm looking at you two.)
2. Skalor is another shining example of improved QC... his lower leg section locks into place, and that joint stays tight, even when he is in leg mode. On my TFCC Seacons, I had to either turn Skalor 180 degrees or put him on the other side if I wanted him to be a leg.
3. There *was* bit of flash in Snaptrap's right hand that kept anything from fitting in there... but once I forced the sword in there, the flash was gone, and while still a tight fit, he will hold the gun or sword fine. There were a few other tiny bits of flash as well
4. The plastic, particularly Snaptrap's legs, feels a bit "softer" than the TFCC one.
5. He still stands much more upright if Nautilator is used for his leg. But, he doesn't flop over if Skalor is used for one instead, unlike my TFCC set.
6. The super robot fists seem to use much sturdier sockets for holding on to whomever is the gun. A different type of rivet is used to attach them to the fists.
7. Nautilator is still a lousy arm.  

The instructions puzzle me. Hasbro obviously made them from "scratch" (not a single image borrowed from the original vintage instructions), and while I'm glad they actually put in a full set of instructions, there are several odd things about them:

1. The instructions actually show the way-old image of TFCC Piranacon, back when he was going to be Piranhaking, sold by Wal-Mart. The picture showing you how to disassemble him doesn't match his packaged configuration. I''m thinking they're actually what the "Piranhaking" instructions would have been.
2. Difficulty 4 out of five? Are they serious? I think ROTF Prime has more joints in him than all six Seacons put together, literally.  
3. It's already been mentioned that they show Skalor and Tentakil using the same guns.

I just had to add a picture of him and TFCC Piranacon:


Plus, one of him alone:


You may have noticed the stickers on TFCC Piranacon - they're from Reprolabels, and I wonder if they could be persuaded to make a "booster" set of stickers for the G1 Seacons; made up of the additional stickers they made for the TFCC set....

 

Twist Ties are a thing of the past, gone from all new boxed TFs and the most recent carded ones (Generations) I've bought this year. They're replaced by these paper things.

So looking forward to this set.

 

Not entirely. Leader Starscream still has twist ties, very heavy gauge ones in fact, probably because he's such a massive toy, the weight of which could possibly break the paper ties.

I wouldn't be surprised if Battle Ops Bee had metal ties, too, but I didn't look at the packaging that closely when I last looked at one.

 

Thanks for the review! Think I'll buy just one of the Hasbro reissue and hope Takara does an Encore release so I can the G1 Packaging~~~

 

Anyone interested in comparison pics with TFCC seacons and God neptune?

 

I hope that the seacons I have on pre-order don't get here till Aug 31st cause that for me would be great but who knows it seems when anything comes in-stock unexpected.

 

YES!

Can we get one of God Neptune holding Nautilator in weapons mode ?

 

Holding the reissue Nautilator I take it? I can sort that by tonight.

 

biodegradable at least.

 

Nice review. I like this image

 

Hasbro is just following the latest "Green" trend. That's how I see it. Should the Green craze ever subside (or lesson), I suspect you'll see the old ties again. However, if these new ties cost less, that obviously lessens the odds that we see the plastic ones return.

All said, I like the newer ties. Far easier on my fingers.

 

far easier just to snip too. i prefer them, i hate the wire and plastic twisty ties for some reason.