Cliffbee.com ROTF Seaspray Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Seaspray
Series: Movie Tie-ins
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Hovercraft

Thanks to fatbot for loaning me Seaspray for this review



HOVERCRAFT MODE
Height: 6cm Length: 19cm Width: 9.5cm

   A blue, white and bronze hovercraft with a large grey tray at the back, Seaspray has transparent blue windows and transparent blue missiles in the black launchers mounted on either side. There's some silver at the front and silver text both on the roof and on either side reading, "SEA-S.P. RAY. There's also a silver Autobot logo stamped on the roof. The cushion is blue while the cabin at the front is white and the turbines at the back are bronze. While the intended tribute is quite obvious, the end result isn't a particularly strong tribute, thanks to the decision to replace yellow with bronze. The actually colour scheme works quite well, mind you.

   This is a fairly realistic looking hovercraft, I guess from the tray area at the back we can assume it's designed to transport trucks or tanks or something similar. It has a sense of scale about it, thanks to the smallish windows on the cabin. With very visible missile launchers and this scale, I guess it's fair to say this is a military hovercraft designed to carry tanks or APCs - although the colours don't fit that role since they're trying to tribute the Minibot of the same name, who was a civilian hovercraft. There's a nice sculpted texture on the cushion.

   Play value is relatively simple for a toy this size. The turbines can pivot out to the sides to allow for a larger payload and the back edge of the tray can fold down as a ramp - but both of these are by products of the transformation. The missile launchers fire the missiles quite well and there are four bronze wheels underneath which allow him to roll along fairly well. I'm not going to test, but I'm assuming this toy wont float - in fact given the front-heavy nature of it, I suspect it would sink nose first quite quickly (I'm not going to test this theory - not on a borrowed toy).

   While the alt mode and basic colours suggest Seaspray and the ridiculously awkward badges make sure you spot the intended tribute, this toy only mildly resembles that Minibot. Between the switch to a military hovercraft and the loss of yellow, there's just something missing, so this doesn't quite capture the character. Having said that, it's a well executed hovercraft, and I don't think we've seen a military hovercraft Transformer before. It's perhaps a little plain, but this alt mode is solid nonetheless.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Split the front of the cushion and twist out & forward to form legs. Rotate the legs & knees, straightening the legs. Flip the groin up over the cabin, fold out the heelspurs & stand him up. Unclip the rear section and fold the sides out to form arms, revealing the head. Fold the rear section up onto his back, rotate the turbines up behind his shoulders. Fold in the panels which covered the head, rotate the arms down into position. Fold out and rotate the missile launchers on his arms and you're done.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 18cm Width: 14cm

   A white, bronze and blue robot, Seaspray has white on his torso, upper arms and feet while his head, hands & boots are blue. His forearms are bronze with blue armour while the ankles are also bronze. For some reason there's a flat grey on his hips. The head is blue with a transparent blue eyepiece surrounded by gold paint, which features a very useful lightpipe. Instead of a mouth, Seaspray features a breathing apparatus with silver hoses coming out from either side. The Autobot logo and awkward badge are now on his chest while the black launchers (with transparent blue missiles) are visible on the outsides of his forearms. Again it's a decent colour scheme but the tribute is fairly weak.

   This bulky robot doesn't really remind me of the G1 character, although there are distinct reference points in the turbines behind his shoulders. The head is very aquatic if not really similar to that of the Minibot - the eyes resemble a diving mask and the breathing apparatus mouth is obviously aquatic. The generally bulky shape of this robot mode isn't something you'd generally associate with a Minibot (well, maybe Brawn), but works well enough since the toy is in proportion with itself. The name badge on his chest looks ridiculous, but the attached missile launchers look good, as do the turbines.

   The play value is pretty good in this mode. The missiles fire nicely and the launchers can be aimed thanks to arm poseability. There are blue flippers which can fold out from underneath the feet, adding yet another aquatic element to this toy - while the tribute doesn't really work, the execution of this theme is excellent. The turbines themselves (ie the blades inside) actually turn, although it's pretty hard to actually get in there and spin them.

   Seaspray has good poseability, although it's perhaps a tad below what we might expect of a relatively gimmick-free toy at this scale. His head turns while the waist is fixed. His shoulders swing and lift out to the sides while the elbows are hinged with rotators. The hips swing and lift out to the sides (both joints are ratchetting) while the ankles are hinged with lateral twists allowing the legs to split while the feet rotate and stay flat on the table (a nice touch). Some knees joints would have been nice, but the transformation prevents this.

   A good robot mode with an excellent theme and some interesting features such as the attached missile launchers, face, spinning turbines and flippers. The poseability is a little limited and I really do wish the tribute didn't fall so flat, but as a name reuse this is a good toy.

VARIATIONS

   None that I'm aware of. Shattered Glass Octopunch is a repaint of Seaspray.

OVERALL

   A solid toy despite a tribute that really fails, Seaspray has a good if straightforward hovercraft mode and a well put together robot mode. The aquatic theme in robot mode & choice of alt mode tell us that this toy is inspired by the G1 character, but there's not really a whole lot of semblance, which is a shame. Nonetheless, the theme in robot mode is enough to make that mode work well aesthetically. A good toy overall, although not one to grab purely because you like the G1 version of the character - 7/10

"Transformers" and other indica trademarks of Hasbro and/or Takara.