New Images of Transformers Power of the Primes Predaking in Figure Oh! Magazine

Where are the damn swords????

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.

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).

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...

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

Black Hat wrote: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.

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

WreckerJack wrote: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

Seibertron wrote: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- wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Seibertron wrote: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...