Review: #39
Name: Sea Spray
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Autobot Alliance (or Hunt for the Decepticons)
Year of Release: 2010
Size Class: Voyager (Wave 1)
Variations: the Japanese version has brighter yellow and blue, and it was also repainted as Reveal the Shield Deep Dive
HOVERCRAFT MODE:
Sea Spray transform into a hovercraft, just like his namesake, in fact, this toy is a homage to that character. He features two missile launchers on either side, the transparent baby blue plastic used here is really nice.
You can clearly see the head from behind as there is a gap at the back of the cabin, a bit lazy here in my opinion. The fans are independently able to move, and are quite well jointed. There are little fans in there that you can spin, which is surprising.
There are four little plastic wheels on the bottom so you can roll him along. The bronze and blue plastic used here is a little too dark, he looks way better with the vibrant colours of the Japanese release. His cushion is also textured, and I think overall a very attractive colour scheme.
A major selling point for Sea Spray is that he is capable of 'transporting' Scout classed vehicles on his bed. He is supposed to be partnered with Breacher (the picture above shows Breacher on the back, and the front of Breacher actually fits into the gap where his head is quite snugly), much like Sunspot was to Mindwipe. If you look at the underside though, all the parts are bunched upon the front, leaving a huge gap in the middle, coincidentally, this is what you would expect of a real hovercraft...
TRANSFORMATION:
Not hard, definitely not hard at all, but still satisfying. Sea Spray is fairly blocky and everything is pegged into place in vehicle mode, so you would need a little bit of force to start the process. You can also leave the missile launchers in their place while transforming, no need to detach them. It's a fairly good transformation, with the placement of parts, the whole back of the hovercraft collapses into a tight back pack. Overall, it is a transformation that you would get bored of though.
ROBOT MODE:
Sea Spray's robot mode is very blocky, very different than the mostly spindly and skinny Movie aesthetic of other toys in this line. He retains the same colour scheme, but bronze is a lot more prominent. Again, the bronze is a bit too dark, if it was brighter Sea Spray would be more stunning.
I like how the air cushions on his back resemble scuba tanks (there are other various elements that resemble scuba divers, but I'll cover them later). The silver ladder rungs on his shoulders are actually C-clip joints, so you can attach some weapons on there if you wish.
Sea Sprays looks like he is wearing some sort of breathing apparatus, and the head features a wicked lightpipe. It's also well jointed, in addition from side to side movement, he can lift his head up too. I like how the fans is now on either side of his shoulders, they look imposing there.
There's a gimmick linked to the feet, you can leave them as they are for 'normal' robot feet or...
You can flip out the flippers underneath, this is the third and final element that resembles scuba divers. Speaking of the feet, it has movement in two planes, that's unexpected, but welcomed.
Instead of having Sea Spray holding his harpoons (the missile launchers), you can leave them in the sockets for the vehicle mode, now situated on the underside of his arms.
Sea Spray is decently sized, although looking a bit flat from the side. He matches Breacher quite well, too bad that they don't have an unofficial combined mode like Mindwipe and Skystalker.
Poseability is... okay, most of my gripes in this area. The elbows are really weird and situated too high up. The ratcheting joints for the shoulders are too far apart so even if you click it up once, it's too far up and hard to get it to look good. It would be good if the heelspurs are flat against the table, but they're not, and to make matters worse, they are rounded, making Sea Spray to lose balance sometimes. Still, it's a good solid robot, a bit mediocre and underwhelming, there's nothing here that sets him apart from other figures.
OVERALL:
I only got Sea Spray coz he was cheap (lower than half price), but I don't regret it. He is a solid toy, a bit normal and dull perhaps, but there are no glaring flaws. He is easy to transform between modes, and I like how his bed in hovercraft mode can carry scout classed vehicles (legends also work, but they seem to be a bit small). Some little tweaks would have improved this figure a lot, but he is still nice.
--------------------
The gallery on seibertron.com provides some good views on this figure.
Credit: the pictures and text are all my original work, but I've linked a few pages to TFwiki.net.
Some reviews on other Transformers can be found on this page.
