I love Rex, I own two as I brag with every opportunity that presents itself, but I will not deny that Ares looks easier to pose and less fiddily. He seems to have the most play value. Mine are display pieces so play value means little to me. It's just been catching my attention that so many people are selling their's lately. And I hope I'm not just enough of an MMC fanboy that I'm not seeing things with the figure that I should.

But I would ignore me to some extent, they found a box of old photos of my mom that haven't been seen in thirty years, so with her gone and seeing those I've been kind of melancholy, and its seeping into a lot of things.

 

A case of life imitating art? Lol

 

To each their own but I don't see how Ares looks any easier to pose. If anything they look about the same but owning Herd and Uranos doesn't give me that much confidence. I'm not trying to pull off some dramatic pose with Red but damn if he's not the most solid footed combined I have.

 

Not that surprising really. Reviewers get a lot of these figures free or with early access from retailers or designers and we expect them to give unbiased thoughts? Yeah, right. The day those guys start bashing a figure hard is the day the figures stop showing up at their door without them paying for it themselves. For all we know there are agreements in place that restrict certain negative comments in order for the figures to keep flowing their direction.

...and now preparing for incoming barrage of comments from reviewers (I still love and appreciate what you guys do nevertheless).

 

Purple Power will do the trick without damaging the plastics, I'll do it tomorrow to mine and see what they look like bare.

Same here, except I own all three and quality and build wise,Rex is the clear winner. Proportionately, Warlord wins but he cheats with lots of parts forming. And I still don't feel Ares as a Predaking... Which is why he will be a BW combiner when I'm done with him.

 

You have my sympathy. I don't mean to imply it's the same, because it's not, but my father passed away five years ago and recently, I saw someone who reminded me of him at my workplace and I had to go out back to regain composure.

With respect to seeing things with Feral Rex that you should...well, everyone is their own judge of their collection. Others will see things differently than you and you will see things differently than them. At the end of the day, if you're honest, does Feral Rex give you what you want out of the toy? That's all you need to be concerned about.

As a community of TF toy collectors, we're very fortunate to have a thriving 3rd party toy scene to provide options for us when the official offerings don't quite give us what we're looking for.

The fact that we have 3 very different takes on Predaking in the 3rd party scene is a wonderful thing! We have options!

Warlord gives us an updated G1 Predaking toy.

Feral Rex gives us a contemporary vision of G1 Predaking in toy form, almost IDW-esque, unfettered by the budget constraints of mainline toy designs.

Ares gives us an imaginative deviation from the G1 character design in toy form, not slavish to the G1 Predaking but familiar enough to enjoy as a more "not-Predaking".

What I do is embrace the positives that others express in their views of their chosen unofficial Predaking(s) and be happy that others are enjoying their toys.

Whatever negatives others have, I consider them at face value and if useful, I'll keep them in mind(ie. the QC issues with the early Beasticons(Warhawk in particular), the trick to putting the knives into Fortis' and Bovis' hands, and the stumpiness of Ares' default leg configuration.).

 

People value things differently. Me I am always happy to have a figure take a hit on ease of handling if it means better aesthetics and more functionality/posability.

TFC's stuff has always sold on ease of handling, that's their bread and butter when it comes to why their stuff appeals to people. But they compromise in a lot of other areas to maintain that so I will never be a "huge" fan of every decision they make. Which is ironic given I'm on my way to finishing a 2nd and 3rd combiner of theirs. haha

But I think if they end up putting out an abom and mmc does too I'm certainly not double dipping again and I could see mmc learning a lot from Rex and their next combiner being truly astounding.

 

Wise words spoken here. Buy and collect because it gives you enjoyment and happiness. Don't let criticism and negative feedback ruin your fun. As valid as their criticism may be, you and you alone shall determine whether you want to sell/get rid of your collection and not because "everyone else is doing it".

Keep collecting and be happy.  

 

Very well stated. I never felt hype about Rex specifically, I tend to get hyped up about combiners in general. I stated before I'm considering selling Rex, though I am undecided. I'm doing exactly what you said about taking time to make sure my feelings are level, not to high or low. At this point I'm leaning towards keeping Tigris and selling the others. Of the 5 he is the one that actually enjoy. I do appreciate the Oppenheimer sword though as I've previously stated. I plan to finish Ares, maybe I will love him, maybe I won't, but I believe in deciding for myself, which is a part of why I may be selling Rex. To expensive if I don't love him when I may others.

 

Even better would be a "paint adhesion" report afterwards. MMC plastic is among the toughest I've found, when it comes to getting paint to stick.

 

Lacquers stick to it no problem, they stick to everything.

 

Firstly, thank you for messaging to let me know that you'd mentioned me and asking for a legitimate response. That's so beyond respectable, and appreciated. As for the question itself, I'd be glad to explain my "heel turn" if you will:

Originally I was enamored with the sheer look (and it's STILL gorgeous to look at) and size of it, but once that initial hotness wore off, it was time to start playing, photographing, etc. etc., and that's when I came to the realization that it's probably the least functional combiner on my shelf, and at $500+shipping, that's a tough pill to swallow for something with the functionality of a statue to me.

This is something that I've posted for some time in this thread and any other forum (not literal "forum", but just conversation) that I've been asked my thoughts on him in. It's just more apparent now because I'm being asked consistently having Ares and him side-by-side.

So, it has nothing to do with a "heel turn" as the individual robots are some of the best third party toys money can by (and why I haven't just sold it), or getting something new (although new toys and standards will always eventually come along that enamor people more). My thoughts of Feral Rex are 100% concerning Feral Rex and his functionality as a gestalt.

I'm also not a person that needs people to like what I like or dislike what I dislike as people have the rights to their preferences without me calling them out just for being different. No one should have to justify their likes or dislikes simply because someone has a different opinion.

Blatant lie.

I wish this post was imitating constructive conversation.

 

I do have to say, Feral Rex isn't as fun to play with in combined mode as I was expecting...

Maybe it has to do with how awesome each individual figure is - expectations that the gestalt would be just as amazing were quite high.

It's still gorgeous and i'm glad I have it, but actually playing with it is pretty tough...

 

With all respect, what's the lie, blatant or otherwise?

While you explained your change in feeling towards Rex regarding the "heel-face turn", the fact is your feelings DID change rather dramatically.
Considering the span of time within which that change occurred it could fairly be labelled "sudden".
And as far as harshness, when you compare your own feces favorably to Rex that's hardly constructive criticism.

 

I miss the old TJ, the one with a sense of humor. The one who appreciates references to a common interest (heel turn --> wrestling) as light-hearted banter.

 

No, they didn't change dramatically. There's nothing sudden or "huge" about my change of feelings. Look at the date of the quote Dek posted... it really doesn't take months to come to a conclusion about the functionality of a toy.

Due to simply having TACT I haven't hung around in this thread bitching about what I dislike about the toy on a regular basis (note me not being active in this thread for a while), because THAT isn't constructive towards anything as no matter how much I complain, he's not going to be able to suddenly hold his sword at all angles in a stable manor, bend his arms 90% at the elbow, lose the unnecessary joints in his thigh area, stop wanting to do the splits the second I move one of his legs, etc. etc.. Not my style. I asked if I was doing something wrong with the sword positioning: Nope. Asked if I was doing something wrong with the elbows, and CenoKibble helped me to get them to go as far as they can go, even asked someone to make a video tutorial on how to pose the legs and whatnot. All here in this thread. None of these issues are anywhere near "new" just because they weren't brought up in dramatic fashion.

 

It occurs to me that I really wish MMC would sell standalone Talon wings so I can keep Felisaber in winged tiger form

(Yes trying to change the subject)

 

Maybe pick up a dazzling Hexatron set to experiment with, if you can find one at a reasonable price, or the chromed stag cleavers? Presumably MMC uses the same chroming process on Leo's cannons, and as a standalone accessory it won't be as bad if you mess up somehow. There have been videos recently on how to remove the chrome from Leader Jetfire, so the process itself has been fairly well explained.

 

That would be awesome since any of the arms/Leo can hold the backpack.

(promoting your change of subject).