Seaspray

"Function: Naval Defense"? What, he's guarding belly buttons? "Be unyielding as the ocean waves and your enemies shall fall." Displays a zest for his job unmatched by fellow Autobots. Loves the ocean and its creatures. Loves the thrill of naval battle. It may be time for me to step back from Transformers, because they're obviously not making the proper impression on me right now. Like, I was really looking forward to this Walmart-exclusive "retro" Seaspray, because it would be a nice replacement for the Revenge of the Fallen homage figure... compltely forgetting I own the Titans Return Legends Class update! And like, if something can fall out of my brain that completely, what am I even doing here? I need to get back on the BotBots train. The Retro line began as rereleases of Generation 1 molds with intricate, cartoon-inspired paint, but this year it changed plans, going instead for new molds, decorated to copy the old toys. The first release was a repaint of this Bumblebee, but Seaspray gets to be the first all-new sculpt. That's why he has a single black visor and a blocky head, instead oa a more rounded helmet and glowing blue dots for eyes. Being one of the Minibots, Seaspray has always been a very square robot, something this toy honors: the legs and torso might as well be made out of Lego, for all the curves they have, but then the feet and arms are smoother and softer. There's major boat kibble on on his shoulders, basically enclosing his head in a hollow frame. The 1985 figure had an angled box on its chest (designed to hide the head in vehicle mode), and while the same thing is present here, it's upside down, with the angled part pointing up instead of down, so it looks more organic, so to speak, and not like a chelf installed on his abdomen. The old one never had a weapon or anything, because that wasn't something the Minibots did (though the Titans Return version did use that stomacch kibble as a removable blaster), but Retro Seaspray is armed with a tiny silver pistol. It can be held in either hand, or plugged onto a post up above his shoulder. The articulation is a massive improvement, with rocker ankles, hinged knees, swivel thighs, swivel/hinge hips, swivel waist, up-and-down hinged wrists, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel/hinge shoulders, and a balljointed head. The ball is so far inside the head, though, that the joint is funtionally just a swivel. Kind of a shame, since in real life he'd be spending half his time craning his neck and trying to see around those pylons boxing in his head. Converting the figure is obviously going to be more complex today than it was 40 years ago. Turn the head around backwards, spin the forearms the same way, lift the flap on his back, spread the panels on his sides, open up the back of the heels and fold the extra piece out of the left heel, hinge down the sides of the feet from underneath, bring the two "toe" parts from under the feet as well, point the feet down, lift the head/shoulders up and over and swing the arms around, tip the waist back and fold the legs to bring the two halves of the toy together, drop the rib panels down to the sides, tuck the arms up, close the panel underneath to secure the rear of the boat, plug in the small side panels to lock evrything together, and rotate the former chest kibble to face forward. It's a lot to list, but easy to understand. As always, Seaspray changes into a hovercraft. It's a simple, somewhat cartoony design, with colors lifted straight from G1: mostly a bright blue along the front and bottom, with two yellow stripes on the top (the visible remnants of the robot's legs) and for the risers in the back, with the upper half of the back end being white. The black windows on the front have always been there, but the matching ones up on the roof in the rear are new. The propellers are black as well, and free-spinning, and like we said before, the gun can plug onto the rear area of the hovercraft for storage purposes. Walmart's Retro Seaspray is a good figure, and a very nice update of a 1980s classic. It's especially nice to see something in the line that isn't just a repaint, but a new mold. I probably would have still wanted to get it even if I hadn't dumbly forgotten about Titans Return, but I might not have grabbed it the very first time I saw it. -- 11/25/25 Have you ever forgotten something you bought? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.