I must admit I have always been a fan of the original conehead seekers. I realised from an early age that some figures were rip offs as they were just repaints. However, the 3 coneheads had different moulded wings and more interesting colour schemes. I recall my grandmother getting Dirge and Thrust down with her when she visited. I had to choose between them. I went for thrust. Later I bought Ramjet. I never did have Dirge : (

23 or so years later and finally I have my Dirge. I already had Starscream and ramjet Classics figures which are amongst the best updates to the original toys (my only gripes being the shite undercarriage and Starscream’s oversized guns) so when hasbro then Takara release the two remaining cone-heads I was a bit annoyed by the prices. hasbro, in a very short sighted move made theirs’ botcon exclusives and Takara’s are over priced (averaging about $70usd for a deluxe is unacceptable).

So when I saw hasbro releasing a completely new ROTF called Dirge my interest piqued. He is a delightful little bastard of a figure. His jet mode is very cool and very sleek - a futuristic VTOL harrier like jet. His transformation is completely new and thogh his nose cone turns into his arm, hasbro have made sure to include enough throwbacks to the original seekers to make him a proper homage. for example he has a little transparent chest panel that harks back to the original conehead’s cockpit for a chest, has little shoulder pads and of course the conehead. He does look a bit aquatic in his robot mode - and his different arms make him seem a tad unbalanced at times but hey he is a decepticon unbalanced is a prerequisite for joining their ranks.

Figure rating - 7.5/10

Thrust is a repaint of the ROTF breakaway figure. That figure was interesting mainly as a playable character in the ROTF game. His original beige and brown colour scheme was not the most attractive. The maroon red and black redeco suits the mode better and looks better as an evil character - Breakaway looked a bit comical at times Thrust looks a bit better. He doesn’t have the amount of throwbacks that the Dirge figure, in fact other than the fact they transform into planes and are red there’s little else to make a connection. There is a lot not to like in this figure from the top heaviness, the amount of kibble and the rather small head, however whole is greater than the sum of its parts and the figure isn’t that bad - just not excellent and not a must have. However, he does make an interesting inclusion in my classics line up. There are way too many autobots anyways.

I’ll give this one a passing grade of 6/10.

So what has the new year brough the flying amphibian. Lots of physical misery so far. A clear sign of my aging is the fact that for the first time in my life i’ve suffered from serious heartburn. Most uncomfortable. Adds to the insomnia and now the bad cold that I can’t shake. AlsoI have to go to the dentist cos of a rotting tooth. Damn my chocaholism.

So I’ve had to console myself with a couple of new toys. Namely: Bludgeon, Dirge, thrust and Optimus Prime. The latter was a special edition version of the universe classics deluxe version. I did not want that one dammit. I wanted the voyager version (ie larger version). T’was my mistake - a clear sign of senility I guess. I also picked up the total film magazine instead of the empire because I mistook one for the other. Again, aging. At work I sent the wrong artwork to the wrong person.. Also bought a new iMac. All these will be reviewed in separate posts.