The Energon Pub

[DMSL]

The more i see the less i like this figure. It seems a very rushed design with all the combiner parts just hanging down their backs.

I think the set would have been better if Razorclaw was a Leader class figure and had Predaking's legs incorporated inside him. There is simply no excuse for Divebomb's hideous beast mode.

[SpikeyTigertron]

I will say... seeing the fists plug into the feet... makes me feel better about the missing spikes on his fists. But I still think the lack of a sword (Vitorion recolor or otherwise) is a missed opportunity, or a cheap shot for an SDCC/HasCon set.

[SpikeyTigertron]

The more i see the less i like this figure. It seems a very rushed design with all the combiner parts just hanging down their backs.

I think the set would have been better if Razorclaw was a Leader class figure and had Predaking's legs incorporated inside him. There is simply no excuse for Divebomb's hideous beast mode.

The problem with upscaling Razorclaw is the fact they're trying to maintain the same robot scale for all the preds (which they had in the original).

As far as Divebomb is concerned, I think it's rather creative way to solve the "Long Haul" problem. Sure the beast mode looks a little weird, but the bot mode is clean. It's also better than I'd assumed Razorclaw basicall eviscerated himself and was going to be super hollow, spreading the torso love around is going to make for a much more *solid* figure.

[Qwan]

Personally, I'm extremely worried about how hollow (and potentially flimsy) Predaking's legs are going to be, looking at these images and the way it seems like Tantrum and Headstrong transform into legs. Not only do his entire shins seem to be held together by a pair of tiny tabs in the middles (at the individuals' hips) meaning they could collapse backward with a light breeze, but the lack of mass on the backs makes it look to me like Predaking's center of mass is actually going to be behind those joints and the ones in his ankles. I hope my analysis is wrong, but this does not seem at all safe or stable to me. Doesn't look that great from a lot of angles either...

That said, his combined mode and Razorclaw's robot mode (and only those) do look overall cool and nicely-proportioned. They seem powerful but still lithe, befitting their predatorial nature. If I end up somehow finding this for a low enough price - like 50% off kind of low, considering he'll be a good $250-300AUD+ around here - I might pick it up. But a Devastator-level, home-run, instant-buy Titan combiner, he certainly is not for me.

[SpikeyTigertron]

To everyone their own (due to budget constraints) but I keep hearing everyone talking about waiting till these hit 50% (was the same story with the Combiner War sets). Don't you think that *this* behavior is part of what gets the box sets cancelled? Or end up with situations where folks miss out on the velocitron set because "oh it'll be around later"?

[angtre]

The combined mode isn't so bad, even if it's missing the spiky knuckles.
The single components... meh. I'm quite fond of Divebomb, while the others don't convince me.
Maybe the problem this time is too much screen accuracy... a shame they didn't model the whole pack on their less blocky "Call of the primitives" appearance.

[Aimless Misfire]

High quality images of a low quality toy. I couldn't wait for Hasbro's Predaking but after seeing those beast modes there is no way I'm gonna drop my hard earned money on that abomination. Look what they did to poor divebomb, that's supposed to be a bird? Slap some wheels on it & it looks more like a train car with wings. It looks like it's meant to be a piece of Energon Omega Supreme.

This is where Hasbro loses money to the 3rd party companies & the 3rd party companies lose money to the KO companies. Because I'm totally satisfied with Jinbao's oversized Ferel Rex.

[Qwan]

To everyone their own (due to budget constraints) but I keep hearing everyone talking about waiting till these hit 50% (was the same story with the Combiner War sets). Don't you think that *this* behavior is part of what gets the box sets cancelled? Or end up with situations where folks miss out on the velocitron set because "oh it'll be around later"?

To some extent yeah, I'm sure that has an effect (though how large or small that effect might be is certainly debatable). In this case specifically though, I'm not going to pay full price for this toy because I just don't think it's worth that price. There is arguably a risk that if huge numbers of people buy this at steep discounts then stores might be more cautious carrying big Transformers like this in the future, but I'm not going to pay over what I think a figure is worth, just to support the possibility of getting something I do like later on.

Voting with one's wallet is tricky, because there's really only two choices on the ballot: "Buy" and "Don't Buy". The choice not to buy can be interpreted so many different ways by so many different entities, that it's impossible to be certain you're getting your actual point across (e.g. 'I don't like this particular Titan-class toy' compared to 'I don't like Titan-class toys in general and won't buy any of them'). The best we can do, IMO, is buy things for the price we think they deserve and let the rest sort itself out, since the actual business conclusions are so far out of our hands anyways.

As for missing out, that's almost certainly going to happen to me. A half-off sale on anything is all but inconceivable round these parts ("HUGE SALE! UP TO 15% OFF SELECTED ITEMS!!" is a common Australian sight), and that's if Predaking even shows up at the few retailers who a) carry Titans and b) don't still have Trypticon on their shelves. But again, if I don't see him for the price I want, ah well! Not a huge loss for me. 'Security markups' are all well and good - I paid an extra 20% to get TLK Scorn and Nitro the one time I found them, and don't regret it at all - but past a certain point it's just not worth it. (I also never got to obtain either of the TR box-sets despite wanting a few figs from each, so I've well and truly made my peace with missing out on big items.)

...Sorry for the huge writing, it's late here and I've been away from the boards for quite a while so I have a lot to say. The perfect storm for rambling, if you will.

[-Kanrabat-]

Holy crap that PotP Predaking is NICE! It's also pretty genius that part of the torso is from both arms bots. I can also forgive the "leg backpack" on the bots so we have a kick-ass combined mode.

This is one set that I will not wait to be on sale. As soon that I see it in store:

[Emerje]

My biggest concern with waiting is that without TRU these guys will basically only be available online for most of us. That means more competition for the online supply. Would be nice if Hasbro found another physical location to stock these like Sam's Club.

Emerje

[SpikeyTigertron]

Sam’s Club or Costco would be interesting. I could almost see Barnes & Noble stocking some. They’re not shy with some of their collectible prices.

[william-james88]

My biggest concern with waiting is that without TRU these guys will basically only be available online for most of us. That means more competition for the online supply. Would be nice if Hasbro found another physical location to stock these like Sam's Club.

Emerje

I don't understand, how is more online competition a bad thing? The combiner wars sets ended up selling pretty cheap and were only available online in the US.

[Graviton]

My biggest concern with waiting is that without TRU these guys will basically only be available online for most of us. That means more competition for the online supply. Would be nice if Hasbro found another physical location to stock these like Sam's Club.

Emerje

I don't understand, how is more online competition a bad thing? The combiner wars sets ended up selling pretty cheap and were only available online in the US.

I think he meant competition between buyers.

[Rated X]

No regrets on buying Feral Rex here. Just like Hasbros Devastator, this oversized and kibbly combiner has no place in my CHUG collection which encompasses cartoon scale as the primary standpoint.

[-Kanrabat-]

No regrets on buying Feral Rex here. Just like Hasbros Devastator, this oversized and kibbly combiner has no place in my CHUG collection which encompasses cartoon scale as the primary standpoint.

"Cartoon scale" as in related to each others as they appeared in the cartoon? That's an idea though I'm pretty sure some compromises had to be made. Especially because the scale was pretty all over the place in the G1 original cartoon.

[william-james88]

No regrets on buying Feral Rex here. Just like Hasbros Devastator, this oversized and kibbly combiner has no place in my CHUG collection which encompasses cartoon scale as the primary standpoint.

If CHUG had a consistent scale, we wouldn't have a star scream for every single size class.

[Evil Eye]

Egads that is...not good. The individual robots are all pretty miserable looking, the beast modes are absolute jokes and the combined mode, whilst better than the individuals, is still questionable. Hollow bits everywhere, lacking key elements of Predaking's design (the knuckle spikes being particularly egregious), and no sword. Also, despite being huge, the hands are barely more articulated than the HFGs of CW, and PALE in comparison to the now positively ancient Armada Unicron's grabbers.

I feel a lot of the issues would have been nullified if they'd just used some common sense and made Razorclaw bigger than the limbs. Sure it might not have been 100% accurate, but it would have made a better product.

The worst part is there isn't even a particularly good 3P alternative. Feral Rex, whilst the best of the lot, suffers from questionable beast modes, an oddly proportioned combined mode and some rather weirdly placed partsforming (Razorclaw's lion stomach has to partsform onto Divebomb's wings when he goes from beast to robot for some reason?), Ares LOOKS good but is a QC nightmare that collapses under his own weight, and War Lord is just a mess. Maybe Maketoys will make a Predaking someday- everything I've ever bought of theirs has been absolutely fantastic.

[Evil Eye]

No regrets on buying Feral Rex here. Just like Hasbros Devastator, this oversized and kibbly combiner has no place in my CHUG collection which encompasses cartoon scale as the primary standpoint.

If CHUG had a consistent scale, we wouldn't have a star scream for every single size class.

This, pretty much. Scale in Transformers is very much in the eye of the beholder, with CHUG especially. I personally like the fact the same characters get done in different sizes, it allows options depending on taste. The actual execution of those figures is another story but in theory it's a good idea.

I've always found (even with MPs) that trying to get scale "right" is a fruitless endeavour. There's the Sunbow scale chart, which is ultimately the only consistent source of scale for the series, but the chart was only very loosely adhered to. If you want a collection scaled around their actual appearances in the series, then until someone learns how to circumvent the laws of physics and make IRL mass shifting materials, then you're SOL. The Seekers for example- they were usually about the same size as whoever they were standing next to at the time, which leads to a lot of awkwardness when you realize that they are simulatenously the same size as a car-bot and the much larger Megatron. Do you make them Deluxe or Voyager? Or for MPs, do you make them Car sized or Leader sized? Personally I believe the solution is to get a happy medium that "looks right" or at the very least just use the scale chart, because again, it was the only consistent source of scale in the cartoon.

TLDR: Expecting cartoon accurate scaling, ESPECIALLY in CHUG with its fixed price points, is a fool's errand.

[-Kanrabat-]

TLDR: Expecting cartoon accurate scaling, ESPECIALLY in CHUG with its fixed price points, is a fool's errand.

This.

So much this.

[Rated X]

No regrets on buying Feral Rex here. Just like Hasbros Devastator, this oversized and kibbly combiner has no place in my CHUG collection which encompasses cartoon scale as the primary standpoint.

"Cartoon scale" as in related to each others as they appeared in the cartoon? That's an idea though I'm pretty sure some compromises had to be made. Especially because the scale was pretty all over the place in the G1 original cartoon.

Theres some wiggle room, but cmon now....

Both Devastator and this Predaking were made bigger than the other combiners for no other reason than being "fan favorites". Just because starscream is my favorite seeker, doesnt mean than that I need a big ass starscream towering over all my other seekers. Devastator got his ass handed to him by Bruticus. Predaking was the nemesis of sky-lynx so the whole big for nothing thing makes zero sense. One rule I have is all my combiners gotta be the same size. People love to sugarcoat the ground hasbro walks on. I dont. Bigger doesnt mean better. And offical doesnt always mean its the best take. On the other hand, Hasbro did a great job on Abominus....

[Evil Eye]

Devastator I agree shouldn't be that huge. I'm happy with my Maketoys Giant for that very reason. Predaking though? He's always been bigger than the other combiners- the toy was monstrous by G1 standards, and IIRC in the cartoon he towered over the others.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

To everyone their own (due to budget constraints) but I keep hearing everyone talking about waiting till these hit 50% (was the same story with the Combiner War sets). Don't you think that *this* behavior is part of what gets the box sets cancelled? Or end up with situations where folks miss out on the velocitron set because "oh it'll be around later"?

well, see, while I may want a figure, I may not be willing to pay a higher price for it if it isn't that good, which this has 2 of the 3 modes being not very good, and it's a bit more applicable here with a $150 toy.

As for the Chaos set, I never saw it, and as far as I know, people did NOT wait for it to get clearanced, it was almost impossible to find in many areas. Same with how quick the Siege set sold out on BBTS.

The G2 combiners were cool, but they were niche, and as far as I know, the people who wanted them got them, it was only the people on the fence or even who just found the sets interesting on sale prices that got them.

If a toy is great and it is one on my want list, I will get it. but if it isn't that good, I will not mind waiting and focus elsewhere for the time being.

[chuckdawg1999]

Devastator had 6 figures and a weapon for the big guy and cost $100. Predaking is 5 figures no weapons and costs $150. I just don't get it

[TF-fan kev777]

Devastator had 6 figures and a weapon for the big guy and cost $100. Predaking is 5 figures no weapons and costs $150. I just don't get it

I'm pretty sure Devy was also $150, at least at regular price. There were sales that got him down to $100, but not right away.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Devastator had 6 figures and a weapon for the big guy and cost $100. Predaking is 5 figures no weapons and costs $150. I just don't get it

Devastator was $150 too