The Energon Pub

[Seibertron]

Where are the damn swords????

[Evil Eye]

Nope. All the nice photography in the world can't hide the disappointment.

[Bronzewolf]

Predaking ROCKS. I'm so excited. Everything just looks perfect. No, it's not the exact same thing as the G1 toy, but it's a really nice update. Great looking, sleek combined mode, and the limbs don't sacrifice as much as Devastator's did. I miss the days of Thrilling 30, where things could be slightly modernised and wouldn't be crucified for it.

[Sabrblade]

He's shorter that Devastator?!?!

[Evil Eye]

Honestly? My problem is it isn't modernized enough. "G1 with knees" can work if the original figure was really good anyway (see the Decepticon Targetmasters) but with Predaking, with his unbearably doofy beast modes, questionable robot designs and proportions and...interestingly proportioned combined mode courtesy of Razorclaw being too damn small for his own good, you need to do a hell of a lot of modernizing to make him look even passable. As is, the robot modes are forgettable, the beast modes are actually painful to look at and the combined mode, whilst better proportioned than his G1 self and impressive in size, is painfully lacking in other areas (notably having details that aren't just squares) and doesn't even have his big ol' sword, not to mention how much the combined mode compromised the individuals just because they felt some obsession to keep them all the same size in spite of the fact that plain and simple doesn't work for a five-man traditional combiner and ARGH.

And on top of that, all three 3P offerings suck too. TFC looks cool but has terrible build quality, UT's looks decent but again, not brilliantly built and looks iffy not combined, and MMC's, whilst the best built, has some iffy design features (notably the enormous feet).

[Wolfman Jake]

He's shorter that Devastator?!?!

Probably because Devastator has that much more mass to work with. Predaking only has 5 voyager figures making up its bulk while Devastator enjoys 6 voyager figures altogether. Predaking doesn't really look that much shorter than Devastator, to be honest. They'll be bookending my display of Decepticon combiners, so the height difference will be even less noticeable for me in hand.

[KVO Prime]

I'm excited for Predaking but a lot of things are sad:

Divebomb's alt mode head size
Predaking's waist size, lack of spiked knuckles, NO SWORDS

this is going to be a 3rd party dream come true...

[Alpha Dominus]

Boy. That's a lot of cubes.

[WreckerJack]

Wish they had magazines like that in English. My Japanese is not good enough to read all of that.

[fenrir72]

Fight or Flight.

On the fight aspects, Predaking is already a done deal. Unless there'll be a running change on parts that turn out iffy (like God Ginrai's ankles etc or Trypticon's exploding hips) what you see is what you get. So fighting this behemoth is futile.

Too bad no swords and Takara seems not to be making one since the "unification" business model with Hb.

Flight.

Disappointed? Then don't buy him and avoid the stressor to your psyche aka the Predaking thread.

[CrashDummy]

Honestly? My problem is it isn't modernized enough. "G1 with knees" can work if the original figure was really good anyway (see the Decepticon Targetmasters) but with Predaking, with his unbearably doofy beast modes, questionable robot designs and proportions and...interestingly proportioned combined mode courtesy of Razorclaw being too damn small for his own good, you need to do a hell of a lot of modernizing to make him look even passable. As is, the robot modes are forgettable, the beast modes are actually painful to look at and the combined mode, whilst better proportioned than his G1 self and impressive in size, is painfully lacking in other areas (notably having details that aren't just squares) and doesn't even have his big ol' sword, not to mention how much the combined mode compromised the individuals just because they felt some obsession to keep them all the same size in spite of the fact that plain and simple doesn't work for a five-man traditional combiner and ARGH.

And on top of that, all three 3P offerings suck too. TFC looks cool but has terrible build quality, UT's looks decent but again, not brilliantly built and looks iffy not combined, and MMC's, whilst the best built, has some iffy design features (notably the enormous feet).

Those Preds look very spot on to me. Their very oldscool. And I think they were all about the same size to each other on the G1 show. I'm not 100% sure on that but I've been meaning to rewatch season 3 again. At least the good episodes. Though Predaking shoulda had spiked fists and a sword.

[Coptur]

I am disappointed as I wanted the Predacons to be in the same scale as the other combiners.

I'll only pick up Predaking when the price drops dramatically and if i miss him i won't cry about it...well at least not in public

[AlphaBass]

It doesn't look.....bad, but it doesn't look enough to displace my G1 Predaking, so, I'm good.

[joevill]

This looks amazing!

[Emerje]

Wish they had magazines like that in English. My Japanese is not good enough to read all of that.

Back in the day we used to have a bunch of different magazines like ToyFare, Lee's Action Figure News and Toy Review, and Tomart's Action Figure Digest among others. Early ToyFare magazines came with posters and I had them all over my bedroom wall in the 90s like most teens had bikini babes. Unfortunately all of these magazines no longer exist. Japan has a different print culture since people spend so much of their time commuting on trains giving them more time to flip through magazines and manga anthologies.

Emerje

[Ironhidensh]

Wish they had magazines like that in English. My Japanese is not good enough to read all of that.

Back in the day we used to have a bunch of different magazines like ToyFare, Lee's Action Figure News and Toy Review, and Tomart's Action Figure Digest among others. Early ToyFare magazines came with posters and I had them all over my bedroom wall in the 90s like most teens had bikini babes. Unfortunately all of these magazines no longer exist. Japan has a different print culture since people spend so much of their time commuting on trains giving them more time to flip through magazines and manga anthologies.

Emerje

God, I miss Toyfare. We had a flood in our basement a few years ago, and my comic book box with every single issue of ToyFare printed (maybe save 2 or 3) was destroyed. I legit shed a tear over it.

[chuckdawg1999]

Where are the damn swords????

Something tells me this brand cohesion between Hasbro and Takara was driven by Hasbro's concerns over lost sales from Takara's "Better" versions. I'm sure if they were left to their own devices, swords would be the start of what Takara would improve.

[-Kanrabat-]

Where are the damn swords????

Something tells me this brand cohesion between Hasbro and Takara was driven by Hasbro's concerns over lost sales from Takara's "Better" versions. I'm sure if they were left to their own devices, swords would be the start of what Takara would improve.

Still, a Takara one would be much more expensive. Plus dealing with shipping and customs.
Meh, there WILL be a 3P upgrate kit / weapon pack soon enough. ¯\_ツ_/¯

[ZeroWolf]

Where are the damn swords????

Something tells me this brand cohesion between Hasbro and Takara was driven by Hasbro's concerns over lost sales from Takara's "Better" versions. I'm sure if they were left to their own devices, swords would be the start of what Takara would improve.

Still, a Takara one would be much more expensive. Plus dealing with shipping and customs.
Meh, there WILL be a 3P upgrate kit / weapon pack soon enough. ¯\_ツ_/¯

This is true plus there's still sdcc to come...

[beastwarsbrah]

I like him, I don't like the thighs hanging off the backs but I will still probably get him at some point.

Unless it's been confirmed by Hasbro that this will be an online exclusive I would think that it will at least show up at think geek. Those are usually found in malls in the us, I dont know if they are anywhere else.

[CrashDummy]

I must admit Predaking's tiny waist is bugging me a little bit.

[shajaki]

Hasbro interviewing a potential photographer:

H-"Have you ever seen A toy, in your entire life?"

P-"Nope, not even familiar with the concept."

H-"You're hired."

[-Kanrabat-]

>Large hips
>Tiny waist
>Ample bosom

So, it's Predaqueen then?

[Evil Eye]

>Large hips
>Tiny waist
>Ample bosom

So, it's Predaqueen then?

What are you talking about, there's nothing remotely-

...

Congratulations Hasbro, you gave PREDAKING more womanly proportions than TR Arcee.

I would totally buy an actually intentionally female set of amazonian Predacons though.

[-Kanrabat-]

I would totally buy an actually intentionally female set of amazonian Predacons though.

Will Exclusive-Chan do it?