Conehead

France! We come from France!

Conehead is a tongue-in-cheek fan term for the Seekers that were released in 1985—Thrust, Dirge and Ramjet. Though the toys were virtually identical to the original Seekers, their animation models were given a distinctive transformation that left the jet nosecone pointing up, hence the nickname. Another difference is that their wings don't flip up to appear as part of the upper body, and instead seem to be part of their legs. (Thrust's wings do change orientation—the leading edge of his wings faces down in robot mode, unlike the other two—but they remain part of his legs.)

The animation models for the Conehead Seekers were designed by Floro Dery, whereas the season one Seekers were done primarily by Japanese designer Shōhei Kohara. The name "Coneheads" is taken from an early "Saturday Night Live" sketch about a pointy-headed family from outer space France.

A simple way to remember which of the core six G1 Seekers are Coneheads, is that the names of the Coneheads are real words, as opposed to made-up words such as "Starscream".

Fiction

Generation 1

The Transformers cartoon

If Dan Aykroyd was a robot *sigh*

The Coneheads arrived on Earth sometime during the war along with Blitzwing and Astrotrain. A generic Conehead appeared in "Five Faces of Darkness".

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

Among the three Aerospace Extermination Squadron units that went after Getaway, there was one conehead. War Within: The Age of Wrath

G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers

At least one conehead was among the Transformers captured and enslaved by Cobra, who modified him into a Rattler aircraft. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #2 Though they were eventually released from Cobra's control, the conehead was killed by an energy beam fired by the out-of-control SPS Satellite. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers #6

Since Cobra painted all their Rattlers blue, the identity of the conehead is unknown. He couldn't have been one of the main trio anyway, as Dirge, Ramjet and Thrust were all seen on Cybertron later on. G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers II #1 The Art of War #5

Animated

"Now Swindle can't tell me apart from the bright orange one!"

Swindle gave the lying Starscream clone a cone shaped helmet in order to tell him apart from Sunstorm. Decepticon Air He later created Dirge and Thrust and outfitted them with the same type of helmet. The AllSpark Almanac II

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe

An anonymous conehead stood guard at Trypticon when Destro arrived through the M.A.S.S. Device. Funeral for a Friend A yellow conehead participated in the attack on Metroplex and battled the G.I. Joe forces in the sky. Everybody Hates Metroplex

Cyberverse cartoon

Tweedledee and Tweedledirge.

Bumblebee film

Plot details for Bumblebee (film) follow. Spoilers have expired, you may remove this tag

Bumblebee

Games

Transformers: Devastation

Several generic Conehead-style Seekers were encountered by the Autobots during Megatron's plan to cyberform the Earth. There were three types encountered: Warriors (standard), Heavy Weapons (use missiles), and Elites (use swords).

Transformers: Devastation

Transformers: Bumblebee Overdrive

Purple Coneheads were among the Decepticons defending their multiple bases against Autobot invasors. Transformers: Bumblebee Overdrive

Toys

Generation 1

The original Coneheads had normal Seeker heads.

• Decepticon Planes (1985)

• Dirge
• Ramjet
• Thrust

The original Coneheads featured retooled Seeker wings for each individual, but the same head sculpt for each of them.

Classics

Timelines Thrust

• Deluxe (2006)

The brand-new Seeker mold had its head retooled to look more show accurate as a Conehead. Ramjet was released in the Classics toyline while Thrust and Dirge were part of BotCon 2007. Thrust was retooled to look like the original toy, but Dirge was just redecoed from the Ramjet toy.

Classics mold: Seeker

Hasbro: Classics Starscream Skywarp Ramjet Universe (2008) Acid Storm Starscream Generations Thrust Dirge Thundercracker Fun Publications: Timelines Thundercracker Dirge Thrust Ramjet (Generation 2) Thundercracker (Shattered Glass) Bitstream Hotlink Sunstorm Nacelle G2 Starscream TakaraTomy: Henkei! Henkei! D-02 Starscream D-04 Ramjet Skywarp Thundercracker Gentei! Gentei! Dirge Thrust United Skywarp Starscream Thundercracker Dirge Ramjet Thrust Million Publishing: Henkei! Henkei! Starscream Ghost Version

Masterpiece

Masterpiece Ramjet

A larger-scaled update of the original Seeker mold. Originally issued as Starscream in 2005, then extensively retooled and redecoed in 2016 as Ramjet, Thrust, and Dirge, each with uniquely tooled wing and tailfin pieces.

Template:MPSeekerMold

Notes

• During Generation 2, a desert-themed redeco of the Ramjet mold was proposed as a new character, Sandstorm. Another mock-up deco variant of the Ramjet mold in sky colors is also known to exist, this may or may not have been intended as a new character. Possibly, these would have been coneheads as well.
• In their Generation 1 Italian release, all three coneheads featured names related to birds of prey: Thrust is Rapax, an African eagle; Dirge is Sparviero, a sparrowhawk; Ramjet is Nibbio, a kite.
• In Cyberverse, Ramjet and Dirge are coneheads, but Thrust is not. Whether this indicates a body change at some time, as the first two have only been seen in flashbacks while Thrust has only appeared in the present, has yet to be seen.