Photon sailer
The photon sailer (光子帆船 kōshi hansen) is a type of spacecraft that "sails" along on rays of light from stars. It's at least in part built with super death steel.
Fiction
[edit]Japanese Generation 1 cartoon continuity
[edit]Beast Wars II cartoon
[edit]The Seacons sailed their photon sailer to Gaia to gather the planet's valuable Angolmois Energy. The arrival of their ship in the Sea Continent was picked up by the scanners of the Yukikaze and the Lio Convoy Unit immediately flew out to investigate. While the Seacons were at work amidst some ruins on the seafloor, the Maximals got an idea of their whereabouts because their ship lay at anchor nearby a cloudy spot in the water. A fight between the two groups followed that the Seacons, joined as God Neptune, were dominating until Diver and Scuba stole the unmanned photon sailer. While Scuba was at the wheel, Diver was in the crow's nest taunting God Neptune. As per expectations, God Neptune abandoned the battle to give chase and reclaim his ship. At a sufficient distance from the shore, Scuba and Diver abandoned the vessel, which they had rigged with Angolmois Energy, and it exploded moments after God Neptune managed to catch up. The Space Pirate Seacons! The Seacons could keep their photon sailer afloat, but didn't have the materials to repair the damage and thus were stuck on Gaia. While they were considering their situation, Dirge and Thrust flew by to gain intel on the new arrivals. Evidently having not seen a sailing ship before, they were confused about the purpose behind the large pieces of fabric hanging from the masts, although that held their attention only for as long as it took for the Seacons to spot them and open fire. By this time, Scylla had snuck off and she acquired an unwanted suitor in Bighorn. He followed her back to the photon sailer and fought Terrormander, Sea Phantom, and the sea itself to reach the ship. It all led to a big beach battle between the Maximals and the Seacons and Starscream and BB that didn't end prettily for anyone. The Seacons regrouped on their ship and concluded that they were dealing with two teams hostile to each other, both of which could provide them with the materials needed to fix their ship if they played their cards right. The Tentacular Scuba
During a meeting on shore, Halfshell tricked Megastorm into a deal to eliminate all of the Maximals in return for what would amount to all of the Predacons' Angolmois Energy. Later, at the photon sailer, the other Seacons had a good laugh at Megastorm's foolishness and readied themselves for battle. However, Megastorm sought to save face by killing Maximal and Seacon alike with explosives, which ended up backfiring and gave the Seacons pause. They regrouped on their ship and discussed the likelihood that Megastorm had tried to off them, enjoying another hearty laugh at the knowledge it was mostly him who got caught in the explosions. Megastorm's Reckoning After Megastorm's bumbling, Galvatron contacted the Seacons aboard their photon sailer and negged them into going after the Maximals for free to prove they weren't incompetent losers. Despondent but a team through-and-through, the Seacons came up with a plan to trap and destroy the Maximals. Halfshell got all choked-up about how much his crew cared and began crying. This triggered everyone else to cry and their tears together sunk the ship. They got it back to the surface before they put their plan into action and it is where Moon arrived when he came down to Gaia. Desperate to save the Maximals but unable to interact directly with anyone, the Seacons' flag gave him an idea. He realized that the Seacons had a reputation and that meant that the Insectrons would know to jump into action if he'd bring them their flag. To get them to understand that the Seacons were to be found in the Sea Continent, he used his own oil to draw the continent on the flag. Moon's plan worked, leaving all involved puzzled at just how the flag made it all the way over to the South Continent. Showdown in the Sea Now desperate to get off Gaia, the Seacons accepted a deal from the Predacons to hunt down he Maximals in return for super death steel to fix their ship with. The operation got waylaid when the Jointrons tricked Scylla off the ship, but Sea Phantom and Terrormander retrieved her. In the middle of the coastal battle between the three Jointrons and the three Seacons, Halfshell and Coelagon arrived on the photon sailer and turned the battle into one between Tripledacus and God Neptune. Face the Setting Sun
Whether through the Predacons or other means, the Seacons got their hands on materials to repair their ship, but this still left them short on the energy needed to escape Gaia's atmosphere. This intel reached Lio Convoy, who went over to the photon sailer to offer Halfshell energy if the Seacons would leave peacefully. Halfshell counterproposed to fight Lio Convoy one-on-one for it and Lio Convoy accepted. Neither party was aware that Starscream and BB were in a submarine nearby eavesdropping on the conversation and Lio Convoy specifically didn't get to hear Halfshell explain to his crew that he planned to show up as God Neptune. The one-on-one fight, consequently, was chaotic and ultimately cut short by an explosion of Angolmois Energy that forced everyone to retreat to safety. During their escape, the Seacons snatched up the energy capsules Lio Convoy had brought along in case he lost and used it to power up their ship. They made it out of the Solar System, but got swallowed by the void The Final Battle generated by Nemesis. Scylla found the time to sent out an SOS, but it didn't do the crew any good. The Artificial Planet Nemesis
Death would not be the Seacons' fate. Rather, they came under the influence of Nemesis and were made to act as its first line of defense. Their one and only task was to intercept the Maximal Mobile Base. They did with radio silence and cannons primed, getting the first hit in and many more, which forced the Maximals to make an emergency landing onto a nearby asteroid. The Seacons followed them and deboarded to engage in close-combat, during which the Maximals knocked some sense back into them. After explaining what had happened to them, the Seacons donated their ship's energy to the Maximals' effort to reach Nemesis. They accepted that they'd be stuck on the asteroid for an indefinite amount of time. Revenge of the Space Pirates
Beast Wars Neo cartoon
[edit]After Unicron's defeat by Big Convoy and his Maximals, the Seacons steered their photon sailer to Cybertron to assist in rebuilding the planet. Graduation Ceremony!!
Generations Selects Special Comic
[edit]The Seacons teamed up with another Space Pirate named Duncan God Neptune comic 2 to harvest proton energy. Seacons comic 5 He betrayed them and aside from leaving them for dead may have destroyed their photon sailer if the debris floating around the Seacons was what was remained of their ship. Halfshell, the only one left standing, was approached by a messenger from Primus and offered a chance at survival for all of them if he did exactly as told. Halfshell accepted God Neptune comic 2 and if the Seacons' ship was truly broken, it either got fixed or he was given a new one. In any scenario, the photon sailer Halfshell got to use came equipped with lots of medical machinery meant to keep the Seacons alive and infuse them and others with Angolmois Energy. As per his instructions, Halfshell fetched a badly defeated Turtler from Earth in the year 2020 and brought him on board to the Precursor World of 2050. Seacons comic 5 Together, the two sought out Galvatron and brought him on board too, offering to give him power to match Optimus Prime in exchange for the Angolmois Energy inside him. As soon as Galvatron floated quietly in a reconstruction pod, Halfshell infused Turtler with Angolmois Energy Seacons comic 5 and sent him out to battle Optimus. Seacons comic 2 Turtler and his newly-formed Seacon drones did very well, which pleased Halfshell as he observed the battle from the safety of the photon sailer. Turning to his suspended crew, he declared he Clone Seacon Combination Experiment a success. Seacons comic 3 Now certain Angolmois Energy was safe to use, he began administering it to his own crew. What he hadn't accounted for was Galvatron's suspended form Seacons comic 4 reviving into Super Megatron Seacons comic 5 and escaping with vengeful destructive force. With the Angolmois Energy-infusing equipment destroyed and close to death himself, Halfshell was about to accept that this truly was the end, Super Megatron comic 1 only to see his crew become revived after all as enough Angolmois Energy had been pumped into their systems. Super Megatron comic 2 They left in secret and the first one to realize they weren't dead was Turtler, because he went looking through the wreck of the photon sailer to pay his respects and found no bodies. God Neptune comic 1
Beast Wars II comic
[edit]The Seacons' photon sailer ran low on energy and the crew was forced to land their ship on Gaia in search of more energy, with Scylla being sent out to scout. When the squid thought she found love with the Maximal Scuba, the Seacons organized an extravagant wedding by the photon sailer for the Maximals and Seacons both to attend. In the wake of love triangle hijinks involving Bighorn, Scuba, and Scylla, the Predacons attacked, hoping to destroy the Maximals. They were beaten back and Scylla gave her goodbyes to her suitors, joining the rest of the pirate crew as they left the planet on their ship. Realize the Forbidden Love!
Notes
[edit]- The Space Pirates from The Headmasters used a ship that looked very similar to the photon sailer, and functioned in a similar way.