Transformers 2010: Predaking (reissue)

Several years ago a close friend of mine asked me to help him sell some unwanted Transformers on eBay. One of the items he had was the Transformers 2010 reissue of Predaking. This was the box set that was released by Takara Tomy in Japan as part of the 25th celebration of Transformers. This set would later be released by Hasbro as part of their Platinum series.

Before I put Predaking on eBay, I had snapped several pictures as I planned to do a side by side comparison with the vintage G1 piece. This never happened as time go away from me. This was also before I had a decent set up for photography so these pictures are of a lesser quality than what I prefer to feature on the blog.

Most collectors and fans of Transformers should already be familiar with these molds anyhow, so I'll just point out the changes made for this release instead.

In typical Takara fashion, the packaging for the Predacons looks gorgeous. Had this been mine, I would've found a way to display the box. A few things to notice. First off the lack of a designation number. The vintage giftset was given the number D-78. New artwork. To me this is what makes this box look so darn good. I like the original box art, but there is just something about this comic style art. The handle on the top of the box is actually a carry over from the original.

vintage

What is your preference? Vintage packaging or the 2010 reissue packaging? In my book you really can't go wrong either way.

Another change can be found on the inside of the box. Long gone is the beautiful styrofoam tray that securely held everything in place, replaced with a more eco friendly plastic insert shell. You may have noticed the box opens from the front versus from the side. I particularly don't care for this as it makes the box less sturdy. My friend actually used transparent tape to keep the front box flap closed because the box was so unstable.

The other change as you may be able to tell are the colors of the actual Predacon figures. All of the yellow plastic bits have now been replaced with gold. The reds and oranges appear to be the same shade as the vintage G1. This makes the 2nd reissue for the Predacons at this time so a change was needed in order to make it stand out from the previous release and from the vintage piece. I like the change, but I'm sure the G1 purist easily passed up this release.

Razorclaw

Headstrong

Tantrum

Rampage

Divebomb

I know the Predacons have always been a highly sought after group of toys and very popular with the collectors, but I just don't care for them. Never had really. I had several of them growing up, both the metal and die-cast versions. When I finally was able to combine them to form Predaking...well I was impressed by his size, but give me one of the Scramble City combiners any day over the Predacons. The only individual Predacon that I think is a great figure in both forms is Rampage.

While this team may not be one of my favorites, I do like the addition of the gold plastic. Dare I say I like it better than the vintage version with yellow plastic?

I was glad I was able to hold this version of Predaking in my hands as it really is a thing of beauty, but with the high original price tag I skipped this release. I was surprised when it was announced that a similar version was being released by Hasbro and that Amazon.com would be carrying it. Hasbro took the Beast Hunters Optimus Prime sword and cast it in a matching gold plastic for Predaking to wield, but other than that it's basically the same as this 2010 reissue by Takara Tomy.

If you are one of the few Transformers collectors that don't already own a version of this toy, check out Amazon for the Platinum version, or BigBadToyStore or TFSource for this 2010 reissue by Takara Tomy.

Transformers 3rd Party: Unique Toys - War Hawk

When newcomer to the 3rd party Transformers market, Unique Toys, announced they were making a new "Predaking" fans went crazy.  Then resin images were shown of their first 'bot, War Hawk, some of the fans that were clamoring before started to back off.  I was reserving my thoughts until I saw the final product and even though I never placed a pre-order for War Hawk, I was tempted.

Of course not that long after Unique Toys' announcement, Mastermind Creations also announced their plans for their own take on "Predaking".  I wonder how many canceled pre-orders BBTS had for War Hawk?

I can appreciate what Unique Toys was trying to do here with the packaging, but look at all the wasted space!  Turns out this release was rushed through production and subsequent releases featured a large window showcasing the toy inside the box.  I like the box art and the gradient fade and grid lines harken back to the days of G1.

I love how the box art of War Hawk wraps around the side of the box.  On the other end in comparison is an image of the actual toy.  Beneath the image is a gold War Lord logo of sorts.

The back of the packaging just looks really drab and unexciting to me.  It doesn't help that the little bio doesn't make a lot of sense.  "No member of the War Hawk as struggled with a sense of identity quite like War Hawk".  Huh?  So is War Hawk a team name or the name of the individual character?

Inside the box you'll find a clear plastic tray holding War Hawk along with his sword and a fist for the combined mode, War Lord.  You also get a combination instruction book / comic book and a tech spec card.

Instructions are well laid out and the line art makes it easy to follow the transformation directions.

I don't recall who the artist is that supplied the art for the comic portion of the instruction booklet, but it's nicely drawn.  It seems the inker however laid it on thick in some areas though.  By the worst part of the comic is the dialog.  If this isn't a good example of "Engrish" I don't know what is!  Nice attempt though and I would like to read all the parts to the comic to see how the story turns out.

  

I love trading cards so I'm really enjoying that many of the 3rd party companies are including tech spec style trading cards such as these.  While some companies are producing thick plastic, credit card like, cards, these are just your standard thin cardboard.  The rounded corners give the card a playing card feel.

To be honest I was surprised at how small War Hawk turned out to be and how "simple" he seems.  Many have described Unique Toys' version of the Predacons as G1 toys with more articulation.  I can see that now.  Color wise it looks good.  The orange and black look great, however the fists and feet are cast in a different shade of orange.  A lot of people early on also reported very sloppy paint applications to the chest and eye visor.  My sample seems to be worry free.

The wings each attach to the back via a small black peg.  This allows for a lot of articulation independent from the other wing.  Articulation for the rest of the figure is done quite well, but it still reminds me of a G1 figure so don't expect FansProject type articulation here.

One aspect that I really applaud Unique Toys on is the individually articulated feathers on the wings.  Being able to spread each feather out a bit gives the toy a little more sense of realism.  War Hawk's only weapon is a sword and it looks great.  The black hilt and red stripe in the center of the blade puts the sword over the top.

War Hawk's robot head is not contained inside the mouth of the eagle, but underneath it.  I kind of wish the designers would have made the eagle head to lie down flat behind the robot head.  As is I think it looks like he's wearing one of those old dunce hats.

The robot head itself has a great sculpt, features red eyes and a yellow face just like his G1 counterpart.  Side by side with G1 Divebomb you can see how Unique Toys take on the Predacons are stylish, but simplistic upgrades.

I often forgot to show off the scale of toys I review so I grabbed Henkei! Ironhide off the shelf so everyone could get a better idea of the size.  As you can tell War Hawk is basically deluxe size.  For this reason alone some people complained that the asking price was too high.  (and yes I realized I have his legs in the wrong position in this picture)

Eagle mode is where I feel this toy really falls flat on it's face.  Granted G1 Divebomb was never my favorite Predacon, the eagle just looks so boring.  Transformation from robot to eagle is also very simple.  The eagle claws fold up inside the legs and during the transformation I noticed that one of the claws was the wrong one!

I don't know if this was a wide spread issue or not, but this is just another example backing up the rumors of War Hawk being rushed through production.

Top down back view

More articulation in the wings and legs when compared to G1 Divebomb, but the eagle mode still fails to impress me.

War Hawk's longer legs allow for "elbow" articulation in arm mode. That one small feature I'm sure goes a long way once the arm is combined with the rest of War Lord.

The large hand for the combiner is no longer stuck in a fist.  The wrist and fingers are all on ball joints allowing for great poseability.  The thumb is on a hinge joint.  Each finger sports two points of articulation in the knuckles.  What I don't care for are the large spikes protruding from the top and bottom of the hand.  Also the little nubs on the back of the fingers along w/ the claw tips are pretty sharp so use caution when playing w/ this toy.

I really wanted to like this toy, but there are just too many things about it that disappointed me.  For that reason I'm glad my friend lent me his figure to review because I would have been severely disappointed if I had paid $75 for this toy.  I applaud Unique Toys' vision and it seems they have learned a few things with subsequent releases in this War Lord series.  However if you want a new "Predaking" to add to your Transformers collection, spend the extra money and go for MMC's Feralcons or even TFC's version that is now underway.