Originally written September 2020.
So, Earthrise, eh? With only three waves, and all of Kingdom leaked in advance, it kind of feels like it came and went. But a lot of it has yet to show up in Canada, and the second and third of the Seekers have only just shown up locally, so let’s have a look at them.
Honestly, I feel a bit like I got played with Siege. I bought into it assuming that the “Cybertronian” theme was going to stick around for the remainder of the trilogy, instead of Earth modes being released immediately after that. (This is probably why they didn’t want Kingdom to leak like it did, knowing we’re going to get a full set of Beast Wars updates soon has made me reconsider a lot of purchases). So, several Siege figures have had immediate Earthrise do-overs, and now people are asking if it’s worth the upgrade. I went in on a few of them, like the Seekers, so maybe I can answer that.
Back in Siege, they released a really well-done voyager Seeker mold, the first time a mainline figure had tried to accurately replicate the G1 Tetrajets with their impossible pyramid-to-f15 robot scheme. As is expected of a Seeker tooling, they released a LOT of them. And then, they immediately made a new mold in Earthrise, a Seeker with a proper Earth fighter jet mode.
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, and the new Earthrise Seeker molds work on two levels: They’re updates of the G1 cartoon models. However, they’re also heavily modelled after the Classics Seeker mold. Back in 2006, when the Ongoing Nostalgia Line first began, the Classics line made a Deluxe-sized Starscream, and over the next decade, proceeded to repaint and retool him into all the colors of the rainbow. In fact, if you collected Transformers from 2006 to 2012, you definitely owned or handled some copy of this figure. The Earthrise Voyager copies the transformation and general engineering of the figure, but adds a bit more poseability (namely ankle tilts), and fixes a few tiny issues with the design (the head is now on a separate joint from the nosecone, the wings don’t bump into the weapons in robot more thanks to extra joints and smaller weapons.) So, if you liked that figure, you’ll like this one.
Anyway, back to he present I’ve got the new Starscream, and the Toys R Us exclusive Skywarp/Thundercracker two-pack, so let’s compare them to Siege Starscream and Thundercracker (I never picked up Skywarp, and I sold the Rainmakers).
Robot Mode
Despite sharing zero parts and having a whole different transformation, the two different molds, at a glance, replicate the same character model with largely similar proportions, so the devil’s all in the details. It’s worth noting that in the Earthrise one, details like the chest cockpit and shoulder pylons are functional parts of the alternate mode, whereas on the Siege one they’re fake kibble created to imitate the design, so there’s an argument to be made there about form and function.
I like the Earthrise headsculpts better (both closed-mouthed and yelling varieties). They’re more expressive, while the Siege ones are kind of flat looking, and the smirking face always looked kind of off to me. On the other hand, the Siege one has lightpiped eyes, and this one does not.
When it comes to the body, the Siege mold is notoriously covered in a lot of busy sculpted tech detail, or “greebling.” Meanwhile the Earthrise version is much smoother, though not undetailed.
In the back, both sculpts have backpacks of spare alternate mode parts that honestly come out to be about the same, though at least the jets on the Siege one look like they serve a purpose, unlike the Earthrise hanging cockpit.
Proportionally, the Siege one has an edge. It’s got a more humanoid torso, while, thanks to the upscaled Classics engineering, the Earthrise iteration has a more bulky torso, with unsightly gaps on the side.
Since they’re imitating the same character model, the colors on both molds are about the same, with two big exceptions: The Earthrise Thundercracker and Skywarp have actual silver paint on their torsos, instead of Siege’s greys. On top of that, the infamous damage scouring from Siege, present on the arms, legs and wings of the Siege mold, is completely absent on the Earthrise mold, so if you dislike that look, Earthrise is the clear winner.
Let’s talk poseability. In the abstract, both molds have largely the same points of articulation, with the same range, save for a few key differences. The Earthrise Seeker is a bit more stable, thanks to its flat feet, as opposed to Siege’s clampy ones, though the Siege one is hardly unstable. On the other hand, Siege has forward and backward ankle tilts on top of the side to side.
While they both have hip joints, the Siege ones are more unrestricted, whereas the Earthrise ones are blocked by a hip-skirt that has to lift up. Plus, the Earthrise mold is missing a waist joint entirely thanks to the torso.
The arms have nearly identical joints, but the Siege ones can unhinge at the shoulders, which has the advantage of letting the Siegekers cross their arms, something the Earthrise ones (Eakers?) can’t do.
Both have poseable wings, but in different ways. The Siege seeker has one single joint at the shoulders that lets them move in various directions, while Earthrise has a joint halfway through the wing, letting them fold back, on top of the swivels where they need the body.
In terms of gimmickery, they both have removable arm-mounted null rays, in addition to weapon mounting points on their bodies. They’re in slightly different places, and Earthrise has a couple extra on the legs, but they come out to about the same in my book.
Transformations
It’s a little hard to compare transformations, because they are 100 percent different between the two molds, since they’re trying to do different things.
The Siege seeker is a pure shellformer. You ball him up, and build a Tetrajet around him. However, it’s a well-engineered shellformer, where everything works and fits together. The one exception is the robot mode chestplate, which doesn’t want to stay on its hinge at all when you reposition it. You can easily pop it back on, and once it’s in place in either mode, it stays on, but it’s still a little bit annoying, and a problem the Earthrise one doesn’t have.
Meanwhile, the Earthrise mold has a nearly identical transformation to the 2006 Classics Deluxe, which is itself just the G1 transformation without the partsforming the originals were notorious for. Compress the arms and legs, stretch out the cockpit, and reposition the wings. It’s worth noting that it does a few things different from the 2006 transformation, namely having the legs transform differently, and the arms do a complicated, muti-part collapse instead of the simple fold-in of the old one, which it honestly took me awhile to parse out from the instructions. Here’s what they should look like:
Unpopping that torso (as shown above) is also scary, because of how it clips onto the body. I worry about the fragility of it long-term, while I have no such concerns with the Siege mold.
Jet Modes
Once again, these two figures are trying to do quite different things. One is a Star Wars-looking spaceship, the other is a human fighter jet.
Being a shellformer has one advantage, and it’s that the Siege spaceship looks more cohesive and complete from above, compared to how panelly the Earthrise one is, but it pays for it with the blatantly folded up robot parts visible from basically every other angle, including the back, whereas the Earthrise jet is cleaner overall, even considering the robot parts visible from the bottom.
The arms folding out of sight really helps. Plus, it’s a way bigger alternate mode, whereas the Siege one is kind of tiny.
The colors are, again, largely the same, just distributed differently. They even share clear yellow cockpits. The big difference is, again, that the Siege one is covered in blast damage, while the Earthrise one is nice and clean.
Gimmick wise, neither does much but look nice. It’s worth noting that the 2006 Classics Deluxe mold had unfoldable landing gear, while the Earthrise Voyager mold does not. They both, however, still have their trademark null rays, which can be mounted under their wings, or on other ports on their bodies. The Siege seeker has four ports underneath, meaning there’s not much variety when it comes to mounting points, where the Earthrise one has six on its underside, plus one uptop, allowing for more variety.
Overall
Overall, I’d say that the Siege Seeker Mold has better construction, in that it’s poseability and transformation are better, and is a more original idea. But aesthetically, the Earthrise one looks better, especially in jet mode, and handles better to me, and I think I like it a bit better as a complete package. If you’re thinking of an upgrade, I’d say it’s worth it, though I wouldn’t count the Siege one out just yet.
Here’s the thing. The Siege mold got redone as the classic trio of Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker, but also as Red Wing, Hotlink, and the Rainmakers trio. The Earthrise one is also available as the original trio, but its other releases are a whole different ballgame, since it’s getting redone as the Coneheads instead (Dirge, Ramjet and Thrust), as well as the unreleased Generation 2 seeker, Sandstorm. So while the original trio will exist in both, I don’t expect any of the other repaints will be shared between the two toolings. So, no matter which you go with, it’s possible to own some Siege and Earthrise seekers without doubling up on characters.
2021 edit: Amusingly, the Siege Seeker tooling has proven to have a longer half-life, with the Netflix Sparkless Seeker, Shattered Glass Starscream, and Premium Finish Starscream all coming out after this, while the Earthrise tooling got only one more use, as Generations Selects G2 Ramjet. Basically, while I still like the Earthrise mold a bit better, it’s easier than ever to just own one (or more) of each, and have them be totally different characters and ideas.
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