Piranacon (Transformers - Generation 1) Review

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Piranacon (Transformers - Generation 1) Review

Piranacon
Transformers - Generation 1 (Hasbro)Behold, a truly unique combiner team! In the Scramble City vein, no less. What's so cool about it? Let's dive in!
Full disclosure, I don't actually have the giftset as it was sold. Poor old Nautilator was left out of that one, probably for price reasons. It is the first 6-member team since Devastator, after all. Naturally, I had to pick him up, so this will cover the full team regardless.
As a team, they're certainly eye-catching. Lots of salmon pink, seafoam green, and a smattering of black, grey and silver. The limb-bots suffer from the usual odd proportions and egregious kibble from these sorts of teams, while Snaptrap makes the best of his larger size (and pricepoint) with fairly nice work all around.
Altmodes are quite fun across the board- a murderous tortoise with teeth is one thing, but it's flanked by a quadripedal coelacanth, a hunched bipedal shark, and a straight-up ridiculous squid kaiju. Plus a fairly normal lobster and manta, but at least they're all sporting guns.
Speaking of which, all five limb-bots also have a Targetmaster mode, essentially halfway to the limb mode with the character's weapon stuck on the front. Each came with a two-part stand, handy for swimming poses, and the shaft bit looks like a gun barrel as well, so that can make for a more intimidating gun mode if you wish.
All this customization can lead to paralyzing indecision when setting them up for display; the gestalt form is the worst offender, unless you just go for the classic layout. But why do that when you can load it up with all the smaller ones' weapons, taking full advantage of the various holes and slots? Put that big ol' rifle on the shoulder, Overbite's pistol on the chest plate. Load up your chosen rifle-bot with everything that'll fit. Make Gundam Heavyarms look like crap.
Or stick with a more savage look with just the sword, and leave Nautilator floundering in the background. It's your toy, do what you like.
Anyway, this team takes the cake for offering a hell of a lot of options, looking surprisingly good in 2 out of 3 modes (all 3 for Snaptrap, not so much for Seawing), and managing to look intimidating in Miami Vice colors.