Piranacon (G1)
| This article is about the American Seacon combiner. For the Japanese Seacon combiner, see King Poseidon. |
| The name or term "Piranacon" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Piranacon (disambiguation). |
- Piranacon is a Decepticon combiner from the Generation 1 continuity family.
When it comes to combiners, most suffer from the same problem: an inability to agree on anything while in their super-robot form, resulting in limited intelligence and limited effectiveness. Such is not the case with Piranacon. The Seacons who compose Piranacon can all agree on one thing, they love to hunt. In fact, they love it so much, that once they combine, they absolutely will not stop until they've either run out of energy or been destroyed. This has gotten to be such a problem that their commander, Snaptrap, has been forced to activate an automatic timer upon combination, forcing Piranacon to disassemble after a period of time. Despite this one set-back, Megatron considers Piranacon an ideal warrior and wishes he had more Decepticons like him.
Piranacon is the combined form of:
Fiction
Commercial animation
Who's that new Transformer with Powermaster Optimus Prime? Why, it's Doubledealer, the Powermaster Mercenary! And, uh, he's also talking to Piranacon! Well, we hope that's addressed at some point. Doubledealer commercial
Marvel Comics continuity
Shockwave sent the Seacons to attack Galvatron when the future Decepticon neared the Decepticons' island base and threatened his position as Decepticon leader. When the six warriors failed to put a dent in Galvatron, they combined into Piranacon and renewed their attack. Even in this massive form, after a long and brutal underwater battle, Galvatron defeated them. Blasted into their component parts, the Seacons were abandoned where they fell. Enemy Action!
Soon after their island base was relocated to the Arctic, Piranacon's might was called upon again. A mysterious starship had entered their airspace, and this potentially hostile action had to be answered with a show of strength. Piranacon assembled and grappled the edge of the starship as it landed, but he was called off when Starscream announced that these were no intruders, but a second group of Decepticons led by Scorponok come to visit. Piranacon set the starship gently on the ground. Cold War!
Devil's Due G.I. Joe vs. The Transformers comics
The Seacons formed Piranacon as a response to the Predacons assaulting Nautilator and wrestling in on their part of the Gladiator Zone. The Seacons' combined form proved inferior to Predaking, however, and Piranacon was defeated and nearly killed. He was saved due to the intervention of Serpent O.R., who recruited both combiners into his Decepticon army. The Art of War issue 2 Soon afterwards, Piranacon helped capture a group of Autobots and G.I. Joes who had arrived on Cybertron in search of Serpent O.R. During an assault on an Autobot peace ceremony, Piranacon helped Predaking and Menasor fight Omega Supreme. The Art of War issue 3 After the three combiners disabled the giant Autobot, Piranacon started hunting down civilians until Optimus Prime steered Sixshot into crashing into his face. The Art of War issue 4
Toys
Generation 1
- Piranacon (Seacon giftset, 1988)
- The Piranacon giftset is unique among Scramble City-style combiner giftsets in that it does not include all the members. For some reason—possibly cost concerns—the set includes only Snaptrap, Overbite, Seawing, Skalor and Tentakil. Nautilator is not included.
- This mold-set was redecoed to make Beast Wars II God Neptune, and with the addition of Lobclaw was released in Japan as King Poseidon.
Timelines
- Piranacon (Seacon giftset, 2008)
- A redeco of the Generation 1 mold above, Timelines Piranacon was available exclusively as an Transformers Collectors' Club-exclusive giftset containing all six Seacons in new color schemes. This set, unlike the original US giftset, includes Nautilator.
- The toy is packaged with a reproduction of the original Generation 1 Piranacon instructions, which show Skalor as the right arm, Seawing as the left arm, and Nautilator as the right leg. However, the box art and on-package photos show Nautilator as the right arm and Skalor as the right leg, while the accessory layout gives the right fist to Seawing and the left fist to Nautilator.
- This toy was originally intended as an exclusive set of Energon-series Terrorcons, but was shelved due to a lack of retailer interest. The team were called the Piranhacons and their combined form was Piranhaking.
Transformers (2010)
- Decepticon Piranacon (Seacon giftset, 2010)
- The Piranacon giftset was released as an exclusive for several online toy merchants (BigBadToyStore in particular). Unlike the previous 1988 version gift set, the set now includes all the Seacons: Snaptrap, Overbite, Seawing, Skalor,Tentakil, and Nautilator.
- The set is packaged in a way reminiscent of the Hasbro Masterpiece style transparent display box. The toys are fully combined in Piranacon mode, holding Overbite's Targetmaster mode in his right hand and Snaptrap's newly chromed "incendiary sword" in the left. The decals are already pre-applied unlike previous re-issues in the Commemorative and Encore lines. Aside from the inclusion of Nautilator, the set also includes seven metallic finish biocards (the seventh being for Piranacon).
- Just like the previous use of the mold set, certain degradations of the mold are very obvious, especially in Nautilator's hip area, although the 5mm holes and pegs have been readjusted somewhat from the much degraded state they were in on the Timelines release. The pegs and holes on all figures still are not exact fits in all cases, however.
- Noted differences from the original set, aside from the chromed sword, include: some mold colors have been changed and Snaptrap's head has apparently been moved from a black plastic sprue to a green one. The head change is likely a holdover from the Timelines run, as it was not the case on Halfshell. Previous screwed on connectors have been changed to riveted points. The stickers also appear to have been remastered after a fashion, as new highlights and gradients have been added to almost all stickers, as well as just being remarkably crisp and vibrant in general.
Notes
- Originally, as shown at OTFCC 2004, Piranhaking was to have his own, original box-art. However, the box-art of the Timelines Piranacon is a recolored version of his original art instead of that newly-commissioned piece. Piranhaking's unused art appears to have been drawn by Dan Khanna.
