Originally written November 2019.
Way back in 1984, the creators of the original Transformers cartoon had a problem: The Decepticons were supposed to start the show as equal or greater in numbers to the Autobots, but the toyline had barely half the amount of villains as it did heroes. However, the toyline itself presented a solution: Since Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker were the same toy (and same animation model) in different colors, more color variants of them were created for the show, and used as villain crowd filler, and generic grunts. Called the Seekers in later media, these generics went unnamed, had no lines, and never did anything of real consequence in the show except be there to pad out the numbers. Over the years, though, some of these background seekers have been given names, personalities, roles in future stories, and actual figures by Hasbro and Takara.
In the sixth episode of the cartoon, Divide and Conquer, a team of Autobots returns to Cybertron to find a component they need to repair the wounded Optimus Prime. When they get there, they’re briefly thwarted by a team of three generic, unnamed, dialogue-less Seekers nicknamed the “Rainmakers,” for their ability to create acid rain. The sum total of their screen time is maybe two minutes, at best.
Years later, the green one would get an identity as Acid Storm, as well as several toys (including a Masterpiece!), along with appearances in IDW’s comics and the Cyberverse TV show. The other two would eventually get names and identities as Ion Storm (the blue one) and Nova Storm (the yellow one), in a Transformers Collector’s Club Facebook Profile (long story), but no mainline toys, until Transformers: Siege.
There was a pretty good Starscream toy in Siege, as I already reviewed, and where Starscream goes, Seeker repaints usually follow (also, see that review for detail on the figure). This particular Starscream was based on his Cybertronian design in the show’s first episode, where he changed into a triangular “Tetrajet” instead of his later F-15 mode, but still had F-15 parts on his body thanks to them not wanting to design a separate robot mode for a few minutes of screentime. Since these three Rainmakers also changed into Tetrajets, it made sense to finally give them some toys in this line, which they did in a Toys ‘R Us exclusive three-pack (Target exclusive in the US).
Here’s an interesting thing about this three-pack: At $99 Canadian, it cost the same as the Refraktor Reconnaisance Trio I reviewed awhile back. But while those are three Deluxes with $10 of extra stuff thrown in, this set’s technically a discount, since three Voyagers would normally retail for $120. As I’ll get into below, though, there’s reasons for this discount. Also, I’ll get into what Earthrise, the next Generations line, means for these guys at the end.
Robot Modes
So, as I mentioned in my previous review of Starscream, the base body these three use is an excellent figure. It’s a faithful rendition of the traditional cartoon design you know and love (shoulder wings, arm guns, cockpit chest, shoulder towers), without many liberties, which is notable considering it changes into something completely different, and has to fake most of these parts (By the way, you’re supposed to flip the thrusters on their backs down so they’re facing straight back,whereas in the box, they’re pointing up). The serious headsculpt of the design, which was a bit offputting for the sly, snarky Starscream, works better on these three, as grim, serious troopers. Their eyes still glow really nicely if you hold them up to the light, too.
They’re also extremely poseable and solidly built, with ankle tilts, waist joints, arms that are bendy enough that they can cross them, movable, expressive wings (my favorite bit), and no trouble staying standing. And they’re just as tightly built as the first release of the mold, no degredation here, though on my copies, their null ray accessories feel a bit less secure in their arms than on Starscream.
It’s the colors that’s the big difference, and not to beat around the bush: These figures are cheaper than they usually would be simply because they have less paint, and they have less paint because they’re replicating the cartoon’s block colors. In addition, the three of them share the exact same set of paint apps between them, with only the base plastic color being changed. For what it’s worth, once I got them in hand, they don’t look nearly as plan as I expected. They still have paint apps on their chests, wings, and feet breaking up the monotony, they just noticeably have a lot less deco than the mainline Seekers. It does highlight one specific problem on them, though: The now-familiar Siege battle damage, realized here as grime coating their lower arms and lower legs, is the exact same “random” pattern between the three of them, and it brings the set down to see it replicated exactly. I wish they’d sprung for a different pattern, or made it randomized. One upshot of the plainer decos is that they make the the intense Siege over-detailing that was very obvious on Starscream way less visible here.
So, aside from their decos, each of these three is a blinding, bright primary color, which you’re either going to love or hate.
Acid Storm is a ridiculously eye-searing shade of green, looking like a toy out of the early 90s to my eyes. He looks fluorescent, toxic and dangerous, and it’s my favorite deco out of the three because of it.
Nova Storm, (a girl according to the Transformers Card Game), is a sunny shade of yellow, and is often confused with the more orangey Sunstorm because of it.
Finally, Ion Storm’s a sky blue, and comes across as a less-decoed Thundercracker (though in person, I can attest that Thundercracker’s blue is brighter).
As an on-record fan of the garish stylings of Generation 2, I fall squarely into the “love” category for all of these decos, though I do wish Ion Storm did more to distinguish himself from his fellow blue Seeker.
Transformations
Like Starscream, these pull off the miracle of being a shellformer replicating a never-intended-to-exist-in-physical-space transformation that manages to not be fiddly or difficult to transform. The Starscream iteration of this mold had a design flaw in that the robot mode chestplate liked to come off really easily when it was moved, and it seems as though they’ve tightened the joint this time, as they stay on a bit easier (but can still come off if you’re not careful). Once again, though, it’s not really the big deal the Transformers Internet seems to think it is, and you can just pop it back on.
Vehicle Modes
Right off the top: The fact that all three of them have the same battle damage deco repeated across them is really obvious in this mode, since they each have the same burns on the left side of the nose, and the same four large marks on the left wing, and so forth.
Aside from that, though, despite having less paint apps than Starscream, they look far less plain in this mode, thanks to the grey apps all around them, and the Decepticon symbols on their wings.
They still change into a group of alien jetfighters that make me think of old Star Wars Expanded Universe vehicles, They also manage to look really cohesive thanks to their details being 80 percent shell. They also still have obvious robot legs and arms on the bottom, but they’re still just as fun to grab by the hand and swoop around. And now there’s a fleet of them!
Overall
So, this is an odd set, but it’s one I like. They’re basically a team of generic mooks for your Autobots to beat up on (literally their role in the start of the Bumblebee movie), but they’re made of a solid, fun mold, so they’re an impressive team of mooks. And yeah, they cheaped out on the paint job, but a) they did it to make it accurate to the source material, and b) the price tag actually reflects what they left out.
There’s another angle to this, and that’s the spectre of the upcoming Earthrise toyline. When Starscream came out, I called him “the best Starscream on the market,” especially if you’re in the market for his original G1 iteration. However, the sequel to Siege, Earthrise, will be taking the cast off of Cybertron, and giving them their original Earth modes, meaning we’re going to get, so far, an Optimus Prime that changed into a proper Earth truck, and a Starscream that actually changes into his traditional jet fighter mode, plus whoever else they decide to redo. Thus, if you want your Definitive Generations G1 takes, Siege may now be considered obsolete, along with these figures. However, there’s three things to consider that give this set merit: Firsly, as characters go, these are some deep cuts, and it’s unlikely they’re going to be redone in Earthrise, or any time soon, really. Secondly: If you’re a stickler for cartoon accuracy, these Cybertronian forms are what they actually looked like onscreen, so any future updates would be less accurate. Thirdly: This is a really good, solid mold that’s worth owning in some form, and as far as troop builders go, it makes for a fun, colorful one.
(2021 update: And lo and behold, these three didn’t get an Earthrise version, as expected, meaning this set’s still valid. The Siege Seeker tooling’s worth owning in some form, and these mooks are as good a way to do so as any!)
