PREDAKING! Is all that needs to be said.

I went on about this guy briefly when he arrived.  I have played and I have enjoyed, What a beastly beast man!  No wonder the Predacons are the baddest of the combiner groups!

My initial thoughts on how good this would be were tinged by the blockiness of G1 toys in general.  I could swear that G1 Ironhide and Ratchet weren't such poor toys when I was a kid...  That is the sort of apprehension I have when looking at most of these re-issues that come out now.

The Predacons are blocky, however, they kind of need to be.  They are full of yummy die caste metal and are about the equivalent size to a deluxe class Transformer now.  Best of all, they combine!  Predaking. He is big, and chunky.  He has articulation!  This I found most surprising, the wrists have a swivel joint on them and since the elbows are the hips of Rampage and Divebomb, they can actually bend (a bit).  Considering the size and weight of Predaking.  Due to the weight, he doesn't have much in the way of leg movement.  Meh, neither do most of the combiner types of Tfs actually.  No loss.

The colours work really well, lots of black, gold, and orange and since the individual characters all have the same colour scheme, it fits brilliantly!  Best of all, this re-issue (as there was the first re-issue was in December 2004) is much shinier than his previous versions with lots of golden shiny stickers of awesome!

Individual robots are quite nice as well.  Razorclaw, the leader and also a Lion has a nice shiny mane, a Doubleshock gun and a Sonic Blade.  As well as the shortest arms in the group.  His head reminds me of a lion pup, which I think is cute.  Not much int he way of movement, slight bit at the hips, his waist can turn and the arms move up and down.  Oh and Knees can move due to transformation.  If you fold his tail down in robot mode he gets a little willy....  The lion is a good mix of colours, manages to look like a lion (with sabretooth fangs though), has limited leg movement, but lots of blasters!

Rampage, function, Gunner, who is a tiger, comes armed with a 60,000 Volt Lightening Rifle and a 5000 degree eat sword.  Actually, he has 2 rifles.  Only one is held in Robot mode, but the spare can be left on his shoulder.  he is pretty much the same body as Razorclaw, with a few different moulded bits and cat head (and willy).  Same movement possibilities in both modes, but his arms are longer.

Tantrum, function, fueller. I love this guys name, I think Tantrum and the Dinobot's Slag are both awesome characters! He Transforms into a buffalo and is armed with a Catalytic Carbine and an Electron sword. Again, a block toy, like Headstrong, they transform almost the same. tough as nuts and grumpy too. I love him. Not so much metal in him as Headstrong though, he forms the other foot of Predaking.

Headstrong, function, ground assault, who is a rhinoscerous and looks really tough, is very blocky with articulation in his arms only. this guy is a block. Nice big chunk of metal on his back though which I think is required to give some balance to Predaking, as Headstrong is a leg. Oh and his beast mode weapon is one of Predaking's feet, which I think is a mortar. Robot mode weapons are Super Blade and Plasma guns.

I just realised I didn't take any photos of Headstrong in Rhino mode.  Hence the group shot.  I will later and update this post.

Finally, but not least, Divebomb, function Aerial Assault.  Transforms in an Eagle.  Definitely the best looking robot out of all the Predacons, he has the best proportions and sexiest wings of all.  Sadly he also has the most boring and basic transformation sequence into a somewhat chunky, not terribly aerodynamic bird.    And his face is in the bird's mouth.  Oookay!  good articulation though with movement in legs, arms and knees as well as waist.  He comes armed with a scoped laser rifle and a laser sword.

 The back shot of robot mode is almost exactly the same as the back shot of eagle mode, just with longer legs...

 Divebomb gets extra shots because you can have him in bot mode without his wings.

Of course they combine to form Predaking!  his is massive, easily current leader sized in height and much much much wider.  He is pretty heavy and has good movement in the arms, as I said before.  Awesome, just awesome.  Just a little whinge in that his face isn't all that detailed, but meh, who cares about that and he uses Razorclaw's sword, which looks a little small.  The sheer majesty of seeing this guy in combined form is  just WOW!  I also like the way that the gun is Razorclaws gun, but it transforms as well.  Predaking is armed with a Photon Sabre, Sonic blade, Denkou rifle (Lightning rifle) and a 'foot hurricane.'  Jeebus.

I like this set very much.  It is awesome.  Pretty, well coloured, large and impressive Predaking is a worthy addition to and Transformer fans collection!  Oh yeh!  Probably the largest of the combiner groups as well.  Now I just need to get some G1 Dinobots for settling those grudge matches! 

Rest of the pics.

Group shot before sticker application.

All the bits and pieces.  They come with a red-eye sticker sheet.

Group shot post-stickers.

Weapons rack (?)

Size comparison.  Quite a bit taller than Piranacon!  Menosaur would be embarrassed.

Spikey punch!

Nice new artwork for the box.  Sadly it doesn't have flip up window.

Back of the box.

Head shots.

All the eyes stand out a bit, except for Razorclaw.  I might use the red stickers for him alone.

Dead Master would be pleased with this result.  Good work Predaking!