TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:

Alternate Mode:

Box Art:

Blackjack's review: Acid Storm

Name: Acid Storm
Alligeance: Decepticon
Subgroup: Seekers, Rainmakers
Function: Rain Man

Starscream. Skywarp. Thundercracker. Dirge. Ramjet. Thrust. Sunstorm. Teh Seeker jets! Well, since the Season 1 Decepticons in the TV series only consisted of Megatron, Soundwave, the three Seekers, Rumble, Laserbeak, Ravage and three Reflectors--Shockwave is on Cybertron, Buzzsaw and Frenzy wouldn't appear until later--it is not surprising that the animators created many generic Seeker jets and Reflector lookalikes. While mainly purple, blue and shades of green, a trio of Cybertron-bound Seekers, seen in the episode Divide and Conquer, were notable. The main generics were lavender-purple, with others somewhere around that shade, but the trio were outrageous. One is lemon green, one is bright purple, one is bright blue. It burns out your pupils!

Anyway, they did create an acid rain cloud, halting our Autobot friends--Bluestreak, BB, Ironhide and Trailbreaker--from delivering a life-saving device to Optimus Prime. Chip Chase, a wheelchair bound human, somehow managed to talk and give an inspiring speech that lets Trailbreaker defeat the Seekers. How an acid rain is able to corrode metal and not affect a human boy is beyond my understanding.

Now I have a weakness for obscure characters. Be it Reflector or Scrounge or Kick Off or "Starfall" (my pet name to the lavender seekers--I also adapted it into our RPG) or Grindcore or Full Tilt or Gizmo or Blackjack or the completely evil and ignored emperor of destruction--Banzai-tron, these guys are Transformers too! I like those who don't have toys, like Devcon or Scrounge or piano-guy from Target 2006, and Acid Storm, when I learnt of his nature, was near the top of my must-have list.

Firstly, he's a redeco of the excellent Classics Starscream mold. Well, having encore Skywarp and TC around, they leave something to be desired. Second, Acid Storm is an interesting character. From the little we know, he can summon acid rain, and is stationed on Cybertron. He is partnered with Yellow-guy and Blue-guy. Both have many other names in TF fiction, including Lemon Drop, Hydro Storm, Lightning Storm, Crayon, Thundercracker-wannabe, Monsoon and others. Our RPG's official names are Downpour and Thunderhead, if you must know.

Anyway. I bought this toy, and I don't regret it... much.

Preliminary names for Acid Storm include Acid Rain and Rainmaker. All three are spoken at one point or another on the Seekers, but they probably refer to the rain cloud they're making. Rainmaker is the group name, by the way.

ALTERNATE MODE
Acid Storm turns into a F15 Eagle. A much more accurate version than the G1's, nevertheless it still feels not as sleek as G1 seekers. Thankfully not painted in neon lime green, it instead features a kind of a camo paint job. So for once I'm glad it's not show accurate. Geewuns everywhere will cry. Green is still the main colour, with streaks of yellow and brown.

Most shockingly, the nosecone is baby blue. This detracts from the overall feel of the paint job. And no, it isn't rubber. So whatever you do don't chew on it. You might break your toy.

Acid Storm can attach his Hyperion3 cannons under the wings. Hyperion3 is a reference to Monzo, a Transfan and frequent net user. When will one of us get this treatment, I wonder?

ROBOT MODE
Acid Storm's robot mode is definitely one of the best. But then, I say that about all Seekers. If you must know, I think this mold has been painted for Starscream twice, Ramjet (with a retool), Skywarp and Acid Storm. And we've got TC, Thrust and Dirge as club exclusives.

Acid Storm's robot mode handles the colour spread more professionally. The baby blueish colour is a nice match to the green, unlike the nosecone. It might just be me, but Acid Storm's paint job is very fascinating. Probably a result of the majority of TFs having whites and blacks and reds and yellows and blues... Like, only a few like Hound and the Constructicons had green in early G1.

As with Starscream, the null rays, I mean Hyperion3 cannons, can be hand held, shoulder held and stored in wings. Poseability is excellent in robot mode, and is a great leap from those iffy G1 Seeker toys. Oh, and this mold has real shoulders and elbows and wrists and knees and thigh joints! Definitely a marked improvement from the G1 mold.

Acid Storm has the standard G1-Seeker face mold, meaning the same with Starscream and the other two. What I wish they've done is let the nosecone be stored. The way it hangs from the head's behind, while not entirely noticeable from the front, hinders the head poseability somewhat. No big loss though.

All in all, a detailed robot mode, a Seeker at that. If you missed the former releases, now is a good time to get it. Yes, I know they're releasing Starscream. Will it hurt to get both?

DURABILITY 7/10 not the strongest toy out there but quite durable.
FUN 9/10 he's a Seeker dammit
TRANSFORMATION 4/10 simple an' quick, effective too. Unlike some recent toys... Prowl, Sunstreaker, Octankor and Ironhide all come to mind...
PRICE 7/10 a Deluxe ain't bad...
OVERALL 9/10 as a toy. But this is a mold that saw repaintings a lot of times, and if you have an earlier reproduction it's no sense unless you don't have the mold or a mad completist.