After wanting them for years, I finally got the TFC Predacons for Christmas. I love them! They're so cool and fierce-looking. For months I've been transforming them, fiddling with them, tinkering around with their weapons, posing them, etc. They're awesome. Anyway, yesterday I finally assembled TFC's Predaking for the first time. It took me hours, but he's awesome too! I love him, he rocks.



He's not perfect though...

The combiner ports and pegs:
Man, are those hard to work with. Just like with Hercules, and Energon's Maximus combiners, it's very difficult to get those pegs to pop securely into those ports -- especially without throwing your carefully-transformed components into disarray. Argh! No wonder, and thank heavens, Hasbro walked away from these in favor of the much more user-friendly peg/port system of Combiner Wars. Anyway, I got them to work and now my Predaking stands tall and proud! But are there any tips on how best to work with these finicky pegs?

The sword(s):
Ares' sword is okay. It's big, but not very exciting. The five smaller weapons are fine, too, I guess, but I don't like that there's no way to stow them on the beast modes. I actually bought CombsToys' W-01 "Bastard" sword as an upgrade. The combined sword looks great with Predaking, but I was dismayed to find that the individual blades don't work well with the TFC Predacons -- the handles are a bit wider than standard 5mm, and/or have protrusions that prevent them from fitting in the Preds' closed-fist hands. Most of the blades can be mounted somewhere on the beast-forms, but again, the pegs are not always exactly 5mm. Frustrating! Anyone tried to make this cross-company pairing work?

The cannon:
It's "yuge"! Again, good for Predaking, but doesn't really fit anywhere with any of the Preds, not ever Razorclaw, in either mode. Do not like. I set it aside. I'll give it to some other big Transformer I have. I do wish TFC's guys came with weapons comparable to those of Feral Rex. The blades/sword and guns/cannon are much cooler that what TFC's guys came with. Still, that's not a huge problem.

The wings:
TFC's Divebomb has glorious wings. I love how the "feathers" can come off and be used as swords, and I love the look, just awesome. But when attached to Ares' back, they flummox me a bit. First of all, they kinda get in the way of the back cannons -- or do the cannons get in the way of the wings? Anyone got a solution to this? Second issue: I'm finding it hard to connect the wings in a fully stable way, and that results in Predaking's neck-and-head assembly becoming dislodged. Is there a good way to secure the wings-and-neck parts?

I'm probably re-treading familiar ground here. I bet these issues have been discussed in this very thread before, but I simply can't read through the 400+ pages. So please forgive my late-to-the-game, redundant queries. And thanks!

 

Ah. Checking some videos about Phobus and Ares revealed to me that there are two parts on Nemean's back that raise up to reveal two hidden ports for the longer pegs of the wing-pack. Well, THAT was hard to find! At least the backpack is more stable now. Phew!

 

Can't do much about the swords for the Ares bots but you should look into Professor Heisenberg's Royal Arsenal Weapon Set.

Gives the limb bots their G1 weapons. You'll need to buy two sets to give them each a pair of blasters (as per G1 Predacons) but it's worth it.

Looks like Toydojo still has them.

Professor Heisenberg Royal Arsenal Add-On Weapons kit for Feral Rex

 

Nice, thanks!

 

Is this big guy scramble city?

 

You can only switch the left limbs to the right side and vice-versa, but he's compatible with the others TFC's combiners (sans Poseidon) so you could mix and match him with those sets.

 

Yup Lider Optimus is right. The limbs can switch sides but don't scramble city. I believe Poseidon is the first TFC combiner with scramble capabilities.

It should also be noted that Predaking was never scramble city. The Predacons were all the same sized (roughly voyager) but each member formed a very specific limb.

If they were to be scramble city then in theory any of the members could become the torso (ala Voltron Force style).

 

It looks like I'll have to design my own, then.

 

I am tired of waiting for a Hasbro Predacon set so just bought a set. Good price. TFSource had setnon sale for about $330, unused my $40 credit and used credit card for another $10 off. I don't think I will combine, strictly individual bots. Looking forward to my first TFC purchase.  

 

Not sure why you would want to but hey it's your toys  

The two leg bots lack the built in elbow part that the arm bots come with but I am sure you could use their thighs like all the other combiners previously did. So it might be doable with very little modes needed.

Individually the Ares set has a lot of charm. They just lack good looking weapons but there are sets out there you can purchase to give them their G1 looking weapons.

 

Ares is now on sale for $200 on BBTS.

 

This sword is more stable to hold.

 

Is that one of the ToyWorld Dinobot swords?

 

Yep. Sold of my toy world dinobots but keep the sword as it look nice, so give ares a try. Look wonderful better than his old heavy bulky sword

 

Ares is a great figure. I prefer Feral Rex over him for different reasons, but this is a very solid take on Predaking. I do feel that the bot modes are the weakest part of the set. They're not bad, just look a little dated when compared to their Hades and Poseidon. The lack of good weapons doesn't help, either. What I do love about this over Feral Rex is the detailing. It's not overly busy and there's definitely some cohesion to it. Also, the beast modes are amazing. I've considered repurchasing Ares just to display them that way. The combined mode is very imposing too.

 

Oh, the irony in your word choice.   I actually quite like this set, very distinct look, just wish they'd stay together better.

 

It's very top heavy. It might have the worst weight distribution of all of its combiners.

 

Absolutely. I think their bot modes are fine, as good as MMC's, but it's in alt modes that they really stand out.

 

Just some advice please, is TFC Ares worth buying it looks a nice set and the preadacons look nicely detailed

 

Short answer, no. Save your money for Feral Rex.