Thanks to TFSource‘s recent Customer Appreciation Week sale all three of ToyWorld’s Conehead Seekers have arrived at Junkion HQ. The included six display stands along with the ones from my original Assault (aka Thrust) and Spaceracer (their masterpiece style Cosmos) have been put to use on my Masterpiece Decepticons shelf.
One thing that seeing my shelf put together makes clear is that there are too few official representatives in the Decepticon ranks.
Here’s a version of my Decepticon shelf with Takara’s version of Ramjet to really show off the size difference between the two interpretations.
I picked up Assault shortly before beginning this blog and was happy enough with the figure to put the other two on my wish list until additional funds became available. Not to rub it in for those who missed it, but the appreciation sale dropped the price for all three figures to what you would have paid for a single figure with shipping. Unfortunately for my budget this deal was too good to pass up.
Since we’re on the subject of TFSource I’d like to relate my experience purchasing my first ToyWorld Conehead from them. For anyone who hasn’t purchased one of these figures they are shipped in a brown box labeled with the figure name that contains two stands in plain brown boxes and the figure in a full-color box. I purchased mine just as we were discovering that ToyWorld had shipped Assault in Combustor’s outer box and vise-versa. So, I opened my package with great anticipation only to discover the the wrong figure. I let TFSource know and they quickly emailed a return shipping label so I could send it back for an exchange.
When Assault finally arrived I unpacked it but couldn’t figure out why there were two different sized missiles. Upon closer inspection I realized that there was a molding error on one where not enough plastic got injected so the barrel just ended in a stump.
It was beautifully painted though! I again contacted TFSource’s customer service and they immediately sent out a replacement.
These are great figures with nice deep colors and a design that solves two of the biggest flaws with the MP-3/11 mold with a chest that locks together very tightly and much less back kibble.
They are, however, not perfect; they do not scale well with the MP-3/11 Seekers and tower over them and most of the other Masterpiece figures. Their biggest flaw is with the feet, there are no heels and the toes are on a ball joint – the joint holds fine when posed but the slightest tap can knock it out of balance. The Coneheads are also pinheads with taller, thinner heads than the official versions.
One feature that straddles the line is that there are so many deep panel lines molded into the wings that applying faction stickers is a concern.
Before their designers split into Zeta Toys, ToyWorld announced that they would release versions of the original Seeker trio. According to Qingtianzhu on the TFW2005 Forums, ToyWorld still intends to release the other three Seekers and, via the same source, that they own their existing molds including the Coneheads.