While I do have a selection of G1
original toys from my younger days, I don't necessarily remember
playing with them. I don't know how common that is. I think I was a
shelf-stacker and comics nerd from the early days. One toy I do
remember is Seaspray, one of the minibots, and at least half of that
was due to mine having a minor breakage on one fan. Today, I look at
his singular revamp, Sea Spray from the TF2010 line. Let's just say,
they changed a few things.
The Context
Transformers was in a bit of an odd
place in the 2010/11 period just after Revenge of The Fallen. The
latter bits of the ROTF line had seen characters like Bludgeon and
Lockdown(1) appear, starting a slow transition from bayverse
aesthetics to something more in line with whole
Classics/Universe/Generations style. It was a good time, as the brand
was awash with movie money and a willingness to experiment. The oft
decried over-complexity of ROTF toys also phased out. Into this came
Sea Spray, an obvious homage to the G1 minibot of almost the same
name, although his exact fictional placement is somewhat confused.
Hasbro was been pretty definite that this is Seaspray, note the lack
of a space, but his only appearance was in a bayverse comic, and he
does have a certain movie styling. As far as this article is
concerned, either is good, and I'm sticking with the Sea Spray
parsing of the name for convenience.
Hovercraft Mode
Let's acknowledge the first, and
biggest difference, his size. Sea Spray is in the tradition of a
minibot being bumped to larger size class, something that has
affected Bumblebee, Warpath, and most famously Powerglide. G1 purists
tend to get worked up about this sort of thing, and its a classic
example of how properly borked scale is in transformers. Both the
original and today's focus are cargo hovercraft, which can be around
25 metres or so long. Maybe that shouldn't be represented in the
same pricepoint as a Volkswagon Beetle? Once you get over that
hurdle, you realise that they made full use of the voyager budget to
create a good vehicle mode. Of particular note is blue plastic used
for the air skirt, its covered in endless tiny wrinkles to look like
material under pressure. The colour choices are of course evocative
of the G1 version, but they are rationalised, yellow becoming gold
and the blue being a darker tone. Just so we don't forget who this
is, the words “SEA-S.P.RAY” are decaled in three places, there
was a trend towards this back then, and some nice silver picking out
details. Its overall shape is different too, the cockpit area being
more aggressively designed, hinting at the robot mode, and exposed
cargo section. While definitely effective in its use plastic colours
and restrained use of paint, its not perfect visually. There's a case
of Visible Head Syndrome, you don't want to look at the underside,
and my ageing example has developed three different shades of white. What can he do? Well, a not
inconsiderable amount. The cargo area can take scout class and
smaller toys, featuring a ramp, although its specifically intended
for the contemporary Breacher mould(2). This perhaps isn't that
exciting on paper, but just use your imagination, and think of
amphibious landings. There are rolling wheels, and articulated fan
assemblies. I'm slightly disappointed you can't make the fans turn by
breathing on them, but OK. In terms of more aggressive features, he's
got 2 water effect missile/harpoon launchers, and a set of six rungs
for C clip accessories, but they are painted, so maybe take care.
There's enough to be going on with here. Then you transform him and
things get very interesting.
Robot Mode
Back in Generation 1, Sea Spray was one
of the chubby Autobots. Not that there's anything necessarily wrong
with that, but he seemed to gain a few pounds with his animation
model.
Source: TFWiki, Copyright Sunbow and
Hasbro etc.
Yeah, there are bulky robots. There
are stock robots There are robots whose vehicle modes add mass to
what are average proportions. There's robots whom Floro Dery drew.
And there's that. The dude is fat. Now look at how this dude turned
out.
Dude got buff.
Now, it should be pretty obvious why
this is a Radical Regeneration. In addition to being a bodybuilder's
“after” photo, this isn't one of those toys that seeks to mimic
the look of a toy from thirty years ago. The colours are there, but
in different ratios, joined by grey and black. The fans are behind
his shoulders, but are less overt, and you can position them out of
the way. If anything, the overall appearance, and especially the
legs, suggest a bayverse toy, although one of the less busy examples.
However, the designers have added in a new design influence that not
only fit the character, but hint at his status as an oceanic dork
that blows bubbles when he speaks. He's now patterned after a scuba
diver, the head very predominately features goggles and a breather
mask, but its not just that. Segments of the air skirt have become
oxygen tanks, and in something that amuses far, far, FAR, too much,
flip-out flippers. This big, muscular dude, whom duel wields harpoon
guns, walks about in blue flippers that make an undignified slapping
noise as he walks. Its extremely difficult to be badass while scuba
diving. Seriously, do an image search on it. But it all works. And
it helps that there's a generally level of competency here. He's got
26 points of largely ratchet-based articulation, needing some
refinement in the arms, but more than enough for posing. He retains
harpoon launchers and C clip functionality, all moving to his arms,
where its most useful. As the 5mm ports end up on the forearms, you
can actually give him both launchers on the same arm too.
Conclusion
When you get right down it, Sea Spray
is a great toy, from one of the better years in the brand. Not
perfect, just look at those elbows, but very much all you'd want from
a voyager. And the reinterpretation of the character is endlessly
interesting to me. Its like he grew up, or in some strange and far
flung reality, he was given the Matrix and now leads the Autobots.
Maybe they made a checklist of all the essential things about the G1
character, and replaced the word “joke” with “Rob Liefield”.
And this, more than anything, silly as it is, makes Sea Spray
awesome.
Foot notes
- Yes, Age of Extinction did not introduce the character. This version was more of a direct port of the Animated version.
- Whom need not concern us just now, but trust me, he's excellent in his own right.
No comments:
Post a Comment