Seeker (body-type)
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| This article is about the group of Decepticon jets. For the Mini-Con, see Seeker (Energon). |
The term Seeker refers to Decepticon jet troopers who all share the same body style. That is, the Decepticons in Generation 1 that looked like Starscream, but in different colors or with minor variations in wing and head shapes, and also the Decepticons in later franchises such as Armada where similar "families" of jets appear.
The word "Seeker" hovered a long time in a strange gray area between official and fan-coined terms. It seems to have originated in extremely obscure official or semi-official writing, but somehow became widely used among fans. In 2002, the term appeared in dialog from the first issue of The War Within from Dreamwave Productions, making it truly official after years of controversy. It has subsequently appeared in many other places such as on toy packaging, books, and in other stories.
- Japanese name: Jetron
Generation 1 Seekers
The originals
In Generation 1, there were six Seekers originally given names and characterization: Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Thrust, Dirge, and Ramjet. The first three, the season one Seekers, had animation designs done primarily by an unknown designer in Japan.
"The Coneheads"
The last three Generation 1 Seekers are usually designated as Conehead Seekers by fans for their distinctive transformation that leaves the jet nosecone pointing up. The animation models for the Conehead Seekers were designed by Floro Dery,
And all the rest
In the Generation 1 cartoon there were large numbers of generic, unnamed Seekers in addition to the named characters. They came in a wide variety of colors, from extra duplicates of Starscream or one of the other named guys, to original and distinct looks all their own. They seem to have formed the bulk of the Decepticon forces on Cybertron, as well as among Megatron's initial troops on Earth. They gradually became less common, perhaps as a result of casualties... or the cartoon's production team becoming more careful, or more-likely having more "actual" Decepticons to work with as the toy line expanded. (Extra Reflector units and alternate color cassettes were also used along with these Seekers, early on, to fill out the comparatively thin Decepticon ranks.)
These unsung Seekers would be recognized years later in Heroes of Cybertron toy form as the Air Warriors (all using the common lavender/white color scheme). Soon afterward, the Dreamwave Generation 1 comic series introduced an army of similarly-colored Seeker drones.
Around the same time, another background Seeker was also given a new life through toys and Dreamwave comics: Sunstorm. This yellow-orange Seeker was a nameless background character in the first episode of the Transformers cartoon, until e-Hobby turned him into an exclusive toy (available with an Autobot also based on a first-episode cameo). Now Hasbro can't get enough of him. Another generic Seeker was given attention: Acid Storm. Like Sunstorm before him, he was based on one of the background Seekers from the original cartoon, in this case the episode "Divide and Conquer" (see below).
Unnamed Seekers with their own distinct color schemes appear in the following episodes as noted below:
- "More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1": - In the "return to Iacon" scene on Cybertron, five to seven Seekers appear (wide shots depict a group of five, but the close-ups give us seven distinct color schemes.) The first three are (as far as colors are concerned) Skywarp, Starscream (with a deeper voice), and Thundercracker. In a following shot, we see a lavender Seeker with a flamethrower pack, a medium-blue Seeker with white trim, holding his arm gun like a rifle, a yellow/orange Seeker who would become Sunstorm... and lurking in the back, a very dark-blue Seeker with white trim barely visible, but there if you look.
- "More Than Meets the Eye, Part 2" and "Part 3" - The motherlode of unnamed Seekers. Especially if you like variations of blue and lavender. Crowds of them appear at the start of the final battle. At least six different Seekers of various shades and decos of blue and at least or four of various shades and decos of lavender (two with black tail fins in jet mode, two with white). Also, a blue variant (seen in the picture above) missing his wings and shoulder vents appears in "Part 3". (The infamous "Lady in Purple" a piece of well known fanon, for possibly being female due to weak line strength in the art also appears here)
- "Divide and Conquer" - Avert your eyes! One deep blue, one eye-burning bright green, and one garishly bright yellow. This trio is often referred to by fans as "the Rainmakers" because they started an acid rain shower to irritate a group of Autobots. The green jet in this grouping was made into the Universe Acid Storm character, whose name was initially supposed to be "Rainmaker," then "Acid Rain."
- "The Ultimate Doom, Part 3" - Two blue variants, and one really nice looking pine-green Seeker appears.
- "Five Faces of Darkness" - One all-gray Seeker, one with Onslaught's coloration, and one with Silverbolt's. There's also an interesting Conehead variant. (All of which appear in the main image above.)
- "Seeker with Dirge's colors appears in jet mode in the attack on Autobot City in the movie, and next to the actual Dirge in the episode.
- Puffy stickers - A sheet of Transformer puffy stickers featured a rare generic with a Starscream-based color scheme. He is pictured above as well.
- "Return to Cybertron" - This relatively obscure Sticker Adventures tale gives us a brief glimpse of a Seeker with a Thundercracker/Skywarp mix; blue body, purple tailfins and wing stripes. You can't tell much more about him, given that he is A: partially obscured and B: exploding.
Unicron Trilogy Seekers
According to one minor source in Armada, when any Transformer converts to a jet, he is called a "seeker. But the closest specific characters to the Generation 1 Seekers are this universe's own Starscream/Thundercracker/Skywarp trio. All three even used the same toy mold in their first release, although Skywarp was heavily retooled from the others (including getting an entirely new-mold Mini-Con partner). While new Decepticon-allied jet characters named Thrust and Ramjet were released in Armada, they each had their own unique molds. However, whereas Ramjet was simply the Mini-Con partner of Tidal Wave, Thrust was a bulk who even had a VTOL engine in jet mode, a conehead and vertically-oriented wings in robot mode. Although Thrust's original toy was green, redecos looked a bit more like his G1 incarnation.
Though only Starscream appeared in the follow-up franchise, Energon, several Seekers appeared in the final portion of the Unicron Trilogy, Cybertron. Starscream was back in a form heavily inspired by The War Within Starscream design (itself based on the "tetrajet" (see below)), while Thundercracker received a completely different body. A Skywarp was also released as a redeco of Thundercracker.
Further, the Legends of Cybertron Starscream toy, a tiny, simplified version of his main toy, was redecoed three more times: Skywarp as a giveaway at ComicCon 2005, Ramjet as a giveaway at BotCon 2005, and Sunstorm as part of the last wave of the LOC line at retail.
Live-action movie franchise Seekers
In the second issue IDW's The Reign of Starscream series, a sequel to the 2007 live-action movie, the movieverse versions of Starscream and Thundercracker are referred to as Seekers for the first time. However, according to writer Chris Mowry, in this universe the term Seeker has more to do with the skill sets that they possess than with the body-type that the two thus far identified as such happen to share. He describes the Seekers as a crack unit of Decepticons under Starscream's command akin to the "United States Navy SEALs", possessing superior tracking and detection skills and a high-level of firepower, who can "just get things done better than anyone else." Knowing Starscream, he reminds everyone of this fact every chance he gets.
