Here’s something really exciting. Proving that good things
come in small packages, DX9 has produced a Legends-scale trio of G1 Seekers
Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp, packaged them all in one excellent
throwback style box, and managed to get them out to the market for about $60.
Amazing.
This is not the Coffin’s first experience with the third
party Legends class, as last Fall Iron Factory’s Wing of Tyrant Clone figure
was a very pleasant and generally unexpected surprise. It is only natural then
that these Seekers be compared to that one from time to time, and as good as
Clone is, there is no contest to be had.
Let’s begin with the packaging, a very fun long box with
very Diaclone/pre-G1 artwork. The three figures come packaged in jet mode,
partially visible through plastic window next to very blocky late 70’s/early
80’s/all of G1 styled artwork. From the minute you hold the box in your hands,
you can tell that this set of figures is a real love letter to the originals,
or that at barest minimum, someone took great pains to make the throwback
appearance feel legit, and not just
look cool. 
True to Seeker form, this set is one figure in three
different paint jobs, so the commentary here applies to all of them. Each
figure is really well jointed and posable, with ball joints in the shoulders
and forearms, as well as in the hips, but the shape of the upper leg prohibits
much forward leg movement. The arms are jointed in different ways at the
elbows, because of the way the arms transform for jet mode, which is a really
different and ingenious design different from any other Seeker design that comes
immediately to mind. There are only two problematic body parts: the head and
the feet. The head sits a little far back on the torso, and when viewed from
certain angles it looks like the chest protrudes super far out in front of the
figure. The head actually sits right in between the shoulder pylons, so it
isn’t really a bad placement or anything, so much as it is just a byproduct of
the size of the jet mode cockpit. And the look is only compromised from certain
angles; a straight ahead angle in not one of them. Looking from the side or the
top down makes the head look oddly placed, but that’s about all. The feet fold
down on hinges from the calf, and are attached to the jet engine which, again
true to Seeker form, becomes the robot heal. Because the jet engine is itself
on a ball joint to facilitate posing, it can occasionally result in a less than
stable or flatfooted stance, although this is easily rectified. The ball joint
in the engine is not very tight, so posing can get a little bit fidgety, but is
not weak once a pose is attained. This engine ball joint is also quite
literally the only weak joint on any of the three figures in this set, as the
others are all almost concerningly solid. The elbows in particular: they need
to be rotated a little during transformation, and they are stiff. They don’t
feel so stiff that they may break, but they are stiff.
Otherwise, the null rays plug into the shoulders and remove
to plug in under the wings, as is Seeker typical. The wings are a single flip
up piece that have the tail fins attached, and those fold away in a super cool
way that allows them to fill out the mass at the rear of the figure. The calves
are achieved by swinging a panel down towards the feet, and this is a really
neat step, definitely something different for a Seeker transformation. Maybe
it’s the tightness of the joints, maybe the size of the figure, but
transforming these figures is sometimes stressful, due to the amount of force
needed to do so. Nothing ever feels loose, or like it’s being stressed, but
concern does arise. As a robot, the DX9 Seeker is essentially the same size as
the Iron Factory Seeker, with DX9’s being more slender and G1ish, while the
Iron Factory version a slight bit squatter and bulkier, aesthetically closer to
the Seeker bodies portrayed in the IDW comics circa 2014 or thereabouts. 
The jet mode is enormous for a figure of this size,
completely dwarfing the Iron Factory Seeker mold. The DX9 jet mode also does an
infinitely better job of hiding the robot underneath, as the arms fold inwards
at the shoulders to fill out the underside of the jet fuselage, instead of just
pegging on to the side of the body or something, another oh-so-typical Seeker
transformation step. But, the large size of the jet is accomplished by not requiring
the legs to compress at all between modes: there are panels that swing up and
down the calf to effect legs or accommodate the feet in alt mode; the wings
flip over as one solid piece. The waist doesn’t need to be compacted at all.
The nose folds out of the chest into a long fuselage section, so the overall
plane is rather big. And it is an excellent F-15, a total G1 accurate alt mode.
There are no flaps or control surfaces on the jet mode, so the wings are a
solid part. A trio of ridges on the underside act as landing gear, which is
helpful, as the long fuselage section leaves the jet unbalanced if laid on a
flat surface, as it tilts forwards slightly.
This trio of figures is really outstanding, and initial
reactions to them out of the box were overwhelmingly positive. This small third
party scale is not exactly the kind of thing I’d ever thought would be of
interest in the Coffin collection, and whether or not they gain more of a foot
hold here is yet to be seen. Some thing on my third party shopping list had
been a set of these small Seekers and Coneheads, and when Clone arrived, it was
thought that the Iron Factory versions would be the ones that were hunted. But
after literal minutes with these, that initial plan was jettisoned, and the DX9
Conehead three pack went on that list instead. I suppose, this is not really
meant to say in any derogatory way that the Iron Factory Seeker is bad, but that
the DX9 is just so much better. Not sure that they can mix, which was sort of an
early version of the plan as well: DX9 for the original trio, Iron Factory for
the Coneheads. But DX9’s are just too good. And now, whenever images from the
DX9 War Giant set surface, I find myself glancing at them just a little bit
longer, or ever so slightly more seriously than I had done the last time, and I
have caught myself a few times clicking through etailer listings for other War
In Pocket figures, just sorta checking out what there is. You know, in case I decide
I really like them. Just in case.
And, since we are on the topic of the Legends class, the
Hasbro Scout/Legends/Cyberverse size class has gotten a lot of praise over the
years for some interesting designs and honestly solid figures, sometimes ones
that have felt better than entries in the Deluxe class. And while some
recognition is warranted, figures like the DX9 Seekers show that third parties
are beating Hasbro even areas that the official brand had been doing
objectively well in. This size class may have peaked during Prime, when it was labeled as Cyberverse
and delivered a whole other level of quality and complexity than what was
expected from the cheapest price point. And some of the figures in this scale
have been good, while others were the smallest members of combiner teams during
Combiner Wars, and were good ideas
that never really worked out as well as they were hoped to. The biggest
drawback to third party figures in this scale is their price, as single figures
generally go for over $30 at online stores, while this three pack was $60, but
it is the same toy three times. At $30 each, figures like the DX9 Seekers are
pricey, but they absolutely are of quality. If you look at figures like Minos
or Phobos, or even some Masterpiece figures,
and say, “that is a figure that costs $100,” and then look at one of these
Seekers and say, “this is a $30 figure,” it can be hard to really justify the
price, regardless of quality. 
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