General Information:
Release Date: March 2011
Price Point: $19.99 (varies depending on retailer)
Retailer: General (Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart etc.)
Accessories: Harpoon launchers x 2, Harpoon missiles x 2
*Images and text below from Transformers.com:
DEEP DIVE loves the sea. Floating on the calm, dark blue waters of the deepest ocean with land nowhere in sight, he can finally relax and reflect. Far away from DECEPTICONS and AUTOBOTS alike, he contemplates the true meaning of life. He appears outwardly calm, but inside his mind roils with philosophical concepts both complex and mundane. One day soon, when the war finally ends, he hopes to share his thoughts with his fellow warriors, and show them that there are more important things in life than mere victory.
Roll out for some serious robot action! Press the button to reveal this figure’s robot allegiance and then prepare him for a fight. Your DEEP DIVE warrior figure features feet that convert to “flippers” and double harpoon launchers that are sure to give his opponents extra trouble. When it’s time for combat, convert him into hovercraft vehicle mode so he can speed right into the heart of the battle! Ages 5 and up.
Deep Dive is a name that fans have seen before in Transformers history, but this time around he's a much bigger figure and in a different line to boot. Deep Dive is a redeco of Sea Spray from the "Hunt for the Decepticons" line. This review will focus on the changes made to this figure for this release. Check out Sea Spray's review for a detailed look at the sculpt.
Robot Mode:
Sea Spray's colors were a homage to his Generation One namesake. This time around, the designers decided to go in with an original paint scheme, so he is not based on the Cybertron Mini-Con either. I think it's safe to say this Deep Dive is an original character all his own. As with many redecos nowadays, the color swaps are not exactly one to one, but in general the white parts on Sea Spray have been replaced with green, the grey parts with gold, gold with black, the blue parts with black and the translucent blue replaced with translucent yellow. The result is a much more military looking robot than Sea Spray. These darker shades remind me of some type of nighttime sea assault specialist who attacks unseen in the night. The black is especially nice as it gives Deep Dive a mysterious appearance. Not all the blue plastic was replaced with black however. The hands and elbow joints for instance are a dark shade of grey and the same color is used for the flippers. I like it when some colors are varied on redecos and not a simple one to one exchange.
Paint applications really help sell the figure however. While some of his joints such as the hips and shoulder pieces are cast in red plastic, the deco takes things one step further with bright red paint used on parts such as his thighs, forearms, waist, feet and head. One of my favorite details is the red on the edges of the turbines over his shoulders. Not only does it contrast wonderfully against the black plastic, but it makes him look somewhat "sportier". What's neat about most of these details is that they were unpainted on Sea Spray, meaning not only are the plastic color replacements not a strict one to one, but the deco scheme was also changed for this figure. Silver paint is used for some parts as well such as the raised panels on his chest and the top of the "rebreather" on his head. Again, these were details that were not painted in the same way on Sea Spray, so it's cool to see some deco variance. A color that deserves to be mentioned is green. On several parts, green paint is used to provide variation on panels sculpted in another color. For instance, the back panel is cast in black, but half of the panels are painted green. The forearm panels where you attach the weapons are also painted green despite being cast in black. On Sea Spray these panels were left unpainted, so it's neat to see some variation on that count as well. Rounding out the deco is dark grey paint on the "helmet" portion of his head and a heat sensitive rub symbol on the left side of his chest.
All of Deep Dive's joints are nice and tight and the weapons still fire without a problem. The flippers work as well so it appears on this go around the tooling for this figure is still in good shape.
Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
- Detach the launchers for now.
- Swing the panels on the back of each foot up.
- Swing out the green panel in the back of the figure and straighten it out so the robot head looks like it is resting on the green panel.
- Swing the black panels attached to the turbines up and rotate the turbines around.
- Swing the arms up so they are out to the sides.
- Flip the black panels (with the hole to attach the launchers) up from the forearms.
- Rotate the forearms around and tuck them in so the panel you just flipped out aconnects to the shoulder armor.
- Swing each arm in to cover the robot head.
- Connect the forearm pieces with the pieces connected to the turbines.
- Rotate each robot leg so the knees face each other.
- Rotate the lower part of the legs around.
- Swing the waist piece down and rotate each leg around.
- Swing each leg in, connecting the sections from the legs to the ones from the arms.
- Attach the launchers to the holes on the sides of the vehicle.
Vehicle Mode:
I commented that the robot mode looked like Deep Dive was some nighttime warrior, and the vehicle mode enhances this perception even more! In this form the gold colors are hidden, so green and black are dominant colors, with the green focused in the center and the black focused around the edges and on the turbines. The translucent yellow also gets more attention here since it's right in the front end of the vehicle. The colors worked well in robot mode and I'll argue they work even better in this mode since the gold isn't there to break them up.
The same paint colors seen in robot mode appear here. The silver from the robot chest panel combines with the silver from his shoulder armor to form an "L" shaped pattern on the top of the cabin section. Red paint is seen on the front end of the vehicle and on the edges of his turbines in the back. A bit of black paint is also seen on the top in this mode, created from the combined shoulder armor pieces of the robot form.
The back portion of the vehicle is made to accommodate most Scout Class vehicles (and even a couple more compact Deluxe vehicles). This functionality is intact on Deep Dive including the little ramp at the back. His missiles still attach to the sides nice and tight as well.
Final Thoughts:
Deep Dive is a cool redeco of Sea Spray. I enjoy how different the two look from each other, not just in small color details but also overall tone. Sea Spray is like the white Knight of the sea while Deep Dive looks more like the dark loner. Highly recommended!
