The Energon Pub

Don't criticise me for the lumpy paint job: it was intentional. The first time Predaking transformed in the cartoon I noticed his rough surfaces and immediately wondered how I would replicate it on the toy that I had not yet purchased, but what a disappointing figure it was. A dragon mode with almost no articulation and a totally inaccurate colour scheme (as usual). The dragon's spring-loaded neck meant that when you aren't holding the lever his head points straight up. The left and right upper jaws were molded into the lower jaw so it had fangs pointing down as well as up, which looked very odd.

In the animation his wings fold up very small in robot mode but this isn't possible with the toy. If you swing them back he becomes too heavy to stand properly. The toy comes with two guns that attach to the forearms but in the cartoon his arm transforms. I didn't like the way this weapon looked (and he only deployed it twice, briefly) so I made something with a passing similarity that I think looks more interesting.

Dragon Mode Fixes:
-Added ball joints between each tail segment;
-Removed plastic filler from tail and wing spikes;
-Covered holes in tail with ice cream tub cuttings;
-Ball joint added to wings;
-Outside upper jaws removed from lower jaw, which was split into two. Ball joints added to outside upper jaws and lower jaws;
-New neck added.

Robot Mode Fixes:
-Ball joint neck added;
-Hands given the ability to close fully;
-Elbows given slightly more range of motion;
-Gun made from one of his weapons.

All the pics can be seen here.

I wouldn't say "lumpy", but the textured finish does look accurate to the CGI model. I don't know if this is intentional, but the "rusted" look really adds character to the figure.

Love the way you made the weapon.

Man, he looks awesome next to Megatron, and practically dwarfs poor old Steve.

In all honesty, this is auction quality stuff. Great job!

That's genius using TM Megatron's tail for the new neck. It looks perfect. Can I ask how exactly you got the tail to look like that, structurally speaking?

While I may be vocal in other instances about my dislike of the BH line I have to say WOW!!! You have done an amazing job. If toys of this caliber were actually available in large quantity I would actually break down and purchase something from the BH line. Skywarped_128 is right, this is auction quality. Beautiful job on all the modifications and I absolutely love the textured paint job. As a painter/cabinet finisher I know what a pain it can be getting the right look that you have envisioned. You pulled it off very well indeed.

Sodan-1 wrote:That's genius using TM Megatron's tail for the new neck. It looks perfect. Can I ask how exactly you got the tail to look like that, structurally speaking?

-separated each segment with a saw;
-Added ball joints between each tail segment;
-Removed thin plastic filler from tail spikes with the saw;
-Covered holes in tail with plastic sheet from an ice cream tub;

Does that answer your question?

This is absolutely fantastic! I love the finish on him and the mods you made are brilliant. Outstanding work

I would have never considered putting so much time/effort into this mold, but this is fantastic! The color scheme is well chosen, the texturing is well executed and the articulation mods are implemented exceptionally well. This is still not a figure I want, but I can certainly appreciate the effort and talent that went into this mod.

hokieken wrote:I would have never considered putting so much time/effort into this mold, but this is fantastic! The color scheme is well chosen, the texturing is well executed and the articulation mods are implemented exceptionally well. This is still not a figure I want, but I can certainly appreciate the effort and talent that went into this mod.

Thanks, I really appreciate the kind words.

I wouldn't recommend this figure to anyone, it takes so much work to make it worth having on the shelf.

Mykltron wrote:

Sodan-1 wrote:That's genius using TM Megatron's tail for the new neck. It looks perfect. Can I ask how exactly you got the tail to look like that, structurally speaking?

-separated each segment with a saw;
-Added ball joints between each tail segment;
-Removed thin plastic filler from tail spikes with the saw;
-Covered holes in tail with plastic sheet from an ice cream tub;

Does that answer your question?

Yeah, that sounded pretty comprehensive. Cheers.

And bravo on the figure. Truly inspiring stuff.