For Predacons there is...
G1 Predacons = Decepticon sub-group with Decepticon insignias. They were techically just Decepticons. They were just as much their own group as the Constructicons, Stunticons, Insecticons, or any other Sub-group from the G1 era.
BW Predacons = Decepticon decendents with Predacon insignias. They never really made it to the states but there are of course Predacons with Vehicle modes in the Japanese Beast Wars series and the Bot Con "Dawn of the Futures Past" exsclusives all have vehicle modes. So it was never really a requirement for Beast Wars Maximals and Predacons to have beast modes in fact the only real defineing factor was that they were alot smaller than their ancestors.
RID Predacons = Any bad guy with a beast mode with Predacon insignias. The RID Predacons all had to have Beast Modes as their defining factor as they were just as big as the Autobots and Decepticons. This may only be in the U.S. dub of the series I'm not sure but this was implyed when they were scanning alt modes for the Decepticons and one of the protoforms allmost scanned a bird Sky-Byte said the protoform would of come out as a Predacon if that had happened. Allthough apperently Decepticons are allso more powerfull and a character with both beast and vehicle alt modes can be either one depending on how powerfull they are sence Megatron was a Predacon and when he changed to Galvatron he proclaimed that he was then a Decepticon. (even though that never showed up on his toy.) I would assume that if they had any good guys with Beast alt modes in the series they would be Maximals but we never saw any beast characters on the heroic side.
Armada Predacon = A toy only character who was a Decepticon and not the first character to be named after a G1 Sub-group. (BW Dinobot and I still think it'd be funny considering his Dawn of the Futures past alt mode if his Pre-Earth name was Constructicon.)
Animated Predacons = Technorganic Decepticons with Decepticon insignias. Allthough never actully refered to as Predacons in the series, EVER, the title of the Episode implys that Blackarachnia and Waspinator were indeed Predacons. This may of just been intended to be a refrence to their BW names sakes as Animated was notorious for adding in refrences to previous incarnations of their characters includeing makeing Wreck-Gar throw his G1 alt mode at Bumblebee. Both characters were technorganic so it's possible that they might be considered Predacons for that reason where as the Dinobots would not be considered to be Maximals because they were completly robotic. But that does make me wonder sence Sari was technorganic as well, would she be a Maximal? They never really gave her any kind of Cybertronian title but I would think if Technorganic robots like Blackarachnia and Waspinator are Predacons than Sari would have to be a Maximal.
So, yeah, why do Predacons have to be so confusing?
Maximals have never offically exsisted outside the Beast era so there's really only one version of them however they have 2 different insignias as the Maximal logo changed from Beast Wars to Beast Machines. Never really quite sure what the point of that was. Predacons could technically have 2 symbols as well but one of them would be the Decepticon insignia. It was worn by Predacons so why not.
It seems every new series that reuses the Predacon name has entirely different definitions of what a Predacon is but there has been much use for the Maximal name. What is up with that?
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