This article is about the group of Decepticon jets. For the Mini-Con, see Seeker (Energon).
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Well, they keep the toy-repainting fans off the streets, at least.
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 grey 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 dialogue from the first issue of The War Within from Dreamwave, making it "official" after years of controversy. It has subsequently appeared in many other places such as on toy packaging, books, and in other stories.
In Generation 1, there were six Seekers given names and characterization: Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Thrust, Dirge, and Ramjet. The last three are usualy 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, whereas the season one Seekers were done primarily by an unknown designer in Japan.
Aw, not "When Continents Collide" again...
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, and 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 getting more careful, or likely just plain having more "actual" Decepticons to work with as the 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.)
One for all, and all for one.
There is a seventh official Seeker who has been retroactively inserted into Generation 1: Sunstorm, an orange Seeker who started his existence as an e-Hobbyexclusive toy, inspired by one of the nameless generic Seekers from the first episode of the Transformers cartoon. (He was only available with an Autobot toy also based on a first-episode cameo.)
Unnamed Seekers appear in the following episodes:
More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1 - In the "return to Iacon" scene on Cybertron 5 to 7 Seekers appear (wide shots depict a group of 5, but the close-ups give us 7 distinct color schemes.) The first three are (as far as colors are concerned) Skywarp, Starscream (with a deeper voice), and Thundercracker. Most visable behind them are a lavender Seeker with a flamethrower pack, a Blue-but-distinct-from-Thundercracker Seeker who holds his arm gun like a rifle, and the yellow/orange Seeker who would become Sunstorm. A second almost-Thundercracker lurks in the background in one shot. File:Seekers2.jpg
You talking to me? Or him? Or the other one?
More Than Meets the Eye, Parts 2 & 3 - At least 6 different Seekers of various shades and decos of blue and at least or 4 of various shades and decos of lavender (two with Black tailfins as jets, two with white). Also a blue varient (seen in the picture above) missing his wings and shoulder vents appears in part 3.
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 Ultimate Doom, Part 3 - Two blue variants, and one really nice looking pine-green Seeker appears.
Five Faces of Darkness - One all grey Seeker, one with Onslaught's coloration, and one with Silverbolt. Also the interesting Conehead variant. All pictured above.
Dark Awakening - One Season 1 style Seeker with Dirge's colors appears next to the actual Dirge.
Puffy stickers - A sheet of TF puffy stickers featured a rare generic with a Starscream based colorsheme. He is pictured above as well.
Unicron Trilogy Seekers
In Armada, the Starscream/Thundercracker/Skywarp trio returned in an alternate incarnation, although they were never officially designated as "Seekers" in this continuity family. All three even used the same toy mold, though 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 came out 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 and 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 came back in a form heavily inspired by the War Within Starscream design (itself based on the "tetrajet" (see below)), and Thundercracker got 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.
Alternate terms
The most obvious alternate name for these Transformers is Decepticon jets. While usually clear enough from context, this term has the weakness that there are many Decepticon jets who are not "Seekers".
For every Saturn 5 rocket, there is a Flying Pyramid of Doom.
The same Transformers are also sometimes referred to as tetrajets. This makes reference to their Cybertronian forms as seen in the cartoon episode "More Than Meets the Eye" and a handful of other episodes set on Cybertron. In these forms, their vehiclular modes are shaped somewhat like tetrahedra, or "triangular pyramids" (that is, a pyramid with a triangular base).
For a time, the term Skyraider saw increasing popularity. It comes from European Generation 2 marketing. When Starscream and Ramjet were released in this line, their packaging referred to them as Skyraiders. The UK Generation 2 comic also featured some character profiles (much like the old Transformers Universe comics), and those profiles for Starscream and Ramjet used the word as well. It is a relatively small leap to extend usage to all similarly-built Decepticons. The push to use "Skyraider" was largely founded on the idea of using an official term instead of one that was, seemingly, coined and used only by fans. When Simon Furman made use of "Seeker" in The War Within, however, this primary motivation was lost.
A final, joking alternate name is non-blunderscrounge. Used infrequently and only for the sake of silliness, this term originated in a post to alt.toys.transformers by the fan, Sky Shadow. In a discussion of the term "seeker", Shy Shadow suggested that all Decepticon jets who do not share the body design of Starscream be called "blunderscrounges", making Starscream himself a "non-blunderscrounge".
History of term "Seeker"
Although the most well-known name for these Decepticons, the wide use of the term "Seeker" is still somewhat mysterious.
The only known, documented use of the term is from the 1984 JCPenney holiday catalog (sometimes called a "wishbook"). On the page which shows the Christmas season's available TFs, the following entry is found: "Decepticon Silver Plane. Airplane with sensational F-15 styling scours the countryside searching for Autobots. When they're found, the Seekers set out to destroy them. Transforms to an exciting robot with hi-tech weapons and Decepticon logo." A photo of Starscream and Thundercracker is displayed.
It has been rumored, but not demonstrated, that the term "Seeker" was used in some other early promotional materials. If so, then the term must have been handed down by Hasbro at some point. It hardly seems possible that the term could have been invented by a lowly copy writer at JCPenney who also just happened to decide to capitalize it. Still, though, if this catalog is the only primary source in which the term appears, it seems strange that it could have inspired the entire fandom to use the term. "Seeker" was in wide use among internet Transfans even in the early 1990s, when the fandom was just getting off its feet. Did somebody in the days of the Transformers email list have a memory of the word from when they saw this catalog at age 10 and start the trend? It is probably impossible to know at this point.
Apocryphal origins
It is sometimes claimed that "Seeker" is derived from a line of dialogue in the first episode of the G1 cartoon, in which these jets are referred to as "hunter-seekers". This line does not exist.
The term "hunter-seekers" is used in issue 17 of the US comic, "The Smelting Pool!". However, the Decepticons it is applied to are shown only in their flight modes, which look nothing like the "Seekers" we are familiar with. In fact, the Conehead Seekers make their first appearance in this same issue, and their Cybertronian flight modes appear very similar to their Earth jet forms (if not completely identical), and completely different from the craft which are referred to as hunter-seekers. The only real connection between the hunter-seekers we were shown and the "Seekers" is that there's more than one of them and they fly.
This article is a featured article, and considered to be one of the most informative on this wiki.
