It's amazing to think that it's been six long years since the last (non-bishoujo) female Iron Factory release. Back in 2015-2018, it was these cool little fembots that first got me into the 3rd Party Transformers market. They were relatively inexpensive, very well made, tiny, and just a little bit cute. (Not so cute to be considered "cutesy" though). I got hooked pretty fast and had hopes that I would see all my favorite characters in this line. Once we got a great Elita One, I thought for sure Chromia and the rest would be coming. But no, the last new lady was 2018's Shrike's Feather (Slipstream) and then fast forward to 2023 when that Slipstream mold was reused in this awesome 3-Pack of female Seekers. I know Slipstream is considered a female Starscream, but seeing an actual properly-colored female Starscream is very cool. (This concept should totally carry over into the mainstream Transformers). I hope to see many more females in this line after the hiatus. Finger crossed! Let's check out the Wing Guard trio below!
Here are the three seekers from the Wing Guard set. Unnamed homages to Skywarp, Starscream, and Thundercracker.
Note: all three figures in this set have interchangeable heads (plus there is a bonus fourth head), They all have the same helmet sculpt and the same purple eyes. The difference is the mouth expression. I like all the headsculpts except the one paired with Skywarp. It's supposed to be a shouting expression I presume, but it looks more like a blow-up doll.
These figures are homages of the three most popular Decepticon Seekers: Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp.
This three-pack comes with one extra head (with the light purple eyes on the right).
It's advertised as a replacement/upgrade head for the 2018 Shrike's Feather figure (head shown here with the red eyes).
I always like to list all the female releases in this line since they can be tricky to research:
IF EX-16 Pink Assassin (Arcee) 2016
IF EX-16A Alleria (Elita-1 - released with IF EX-14 Ultimate Commander) 2017
IF EX-16H Dark Assassin (Combiner Hunters Arcee - released with IF EX-24 Cannon Chariot) 2017
IF EX-16N Night Assassin (Nightbird) 2016
IF EX-05 Windsaber (Windblade) 2015
IF EX-05C Windsaber (clear pink) (Windblade) 2015
IF EX-05H Windsaber (Hunter -Gold Details) (Windblade) 2018
IF EX-27 Shrike's Feather (Slipstream) 2018
IF EX-27G Wing Guard (3-Pack: Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp) 2023
IF-EX-78 Samurai Blackarachnia (Blackarachnia) 2024
Time for some Group and Comparison Pics!
Here are the Wing Guard ladies with the two other female jets from the line: Windsaber and Shrike's Feather.
And with my whole Iron Factory gang. Back Row Left to Right: Pink Assassin (Arcee), Night Assassin (Nightbird), and Alleria (Elita-1). Front Row Left to Right: Windsaber (Windblade), Wing Guard Purple (Skywarp), Wing Guard Red White and Blue (Starscream), Wing Guard Blue (Thundercracker), and Shrike's Feather (Slipstream). I believe I'm only missing three: a black deco of Pink Assassin, and two decos of Windsaber (one with gold highlights and one in translucent pink).
Cheers!
Black Arachnia will be IF-EX-78 not IF-EX-28... Hopefully someone like bigbadtoystore will carry her. She looks amazing, just like a Yokai Demon spider.
ReplyDeleteGood catch. That was just a typo on my part. I just fixed it. I'm curious to see if that stylized demon look will be a new theme or if Megatron and Blackarachnia are one-offs.
DeleteThat's... that's uh... ...a hell of a pelvic cradle they have.
ReplyDeleteIt looks almost wrong on Starscream, painted red like that.
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