Robots in Disguise: Predacon 3 Pack
How do you sell three figures who already sold as Transmetal II figures late in the
Beast Wars lineup and then later sold as releases for Car Robots (Japan exclusive)? Put them
in a three pack I guess. Apparently three basics = one mega (which would make a deluxe worth
1.5 basics I suppose). Taking the mega price point into consideration ($14 at Wal/K Mart, $15 at
Target/TRU, $17 at KB), the rough price of each one is around that of a basic, so the prices
work out.
In this package you get Dark Scream, Gas Skunk and Slapper, previously released as TM2s
as Nightglider, Stinkbomb and Spittor. Dark Scream and Slapper have been recolored completely,
but Gas Skunk retains the colors of Stinkbomb pretty much completely. Personally I think the
new color schemes of Slapper and Dark Scream are large improvements, and uh, well, Gas Skunk looks
the same. Anyway, I'll review them separately and evaluate the package as a whole now.
Dark Scream
Dark scream's beast mode is some sort of deranged flying squirrel mode. He's colored mostly a
light blue (teal sort of) with gray and gold accents. This is a vast, vast, VAST improvement
over his original TM2 color scheme of ugly oranges and blue. Of course, being a basic he doesn't
do a damn thing. Actually, his wings are hinged and nailed in such a way that they look like they should
open up or flap or SOMETHING, but they don't (believe me, I spent a while trying to open them
friggin' things).
Transformation isn't too tough once you get it down, but there is a lot of flipping and
twisting and all sorts of fun stuff. Also, you should note, that when going from robot to
beast mode, you need to first turn his head around before you can do his body flipping stuff,
otherwise it won't work very well.
Robot mode is pretty good looking, though Dark Scream carries a massive backback, though
he can stand with some effort, though the backpack limits the number of poses. You may want to
flip down his tail to give him a third leg sort of deal here. Also a nice feature is his
tail can hold his sword. Hey, he's just a basic, remember?
Gas Skunk
Gas Skunk has changed the least from his TM2 incarnation. Only some paint has been added to him. If you
already have Stinkbomb, then it's really debatable if you should get this package because you
will pretty much be paying for something you already have.
Skunk mode is pretty neat looking, except his front legs are way too long. Because of this
he sometimes ends up falling on his skunk ass (heh, skunk ass). It's pretty ugly too, actually,
now that I look at it. I'm starting to wonder how he could have ever been a maximal.
Transformation is something else. For a basic it's really complicated and reminds me a lot
of Silverbolt (Beast Wars Silverbolt). Stuff flips and spins and it's quite tough even with
the directions, though once you know how to do it you shouldn't have any problems really.
Robot mode is pretty good looking, the only major kibble his his beast back, which hangs like a
cape from his robot body. Oh yeah, and his tail is now on top of his head. Yeah. That
alone makes him look so stupid you want to scream. Fortunately it's attached via a ball joint,
so you can easily yank it out, though he then is half the skunk he used to be and he can't even
hold the thing in his essentially useless hands. Ah well.
Slapper
Slapper's beast mode is supposed to be a frog I believe, but it succeeds more in being weird
looking red thing with huge front legs and not so huge back legs and a weird blue thing that
comes out of his back. I don't get it. Even so, it really grows on you, and looks pretty cool
after a while (I especially like the green eyes).
Transformation is pretty neat, and a lot of fun to do actually. You spin the entire top half
of his body around and split him open and flip around his robot head which is on a few hinge joints
and you end up with a weird, but cool looking hunch back figure. Spiffy.
Slapper's robot mode reminds me of and Egor sort of character, he can even emulate that limping sort of thing
he does so well. Slapper also suffers from very slight kibble, only his shoulder pads might be
considered to be it, and they don't look half bad, so you may even consider him kibbleless. His
little blue claw serves no purpose at all, it doesn't even move that far.
The only real drawback to slapper is his lame weapon, which is his frog tongue. It sucks
royally. However, there's a notch to stow it on his skid plate (his lower frog jaw) in robot
mode, which is an added bonus and keeps it from looking dumb in his hand. All in all, Slapper
is the best one from this set, neato.
So, how do I rate the set as a whole? Well, the price is certainly right since you get
all three basics for their proper prices, and the quality of the three of them is pretty
good as well. The major thing you should take into consideration of course is if you
have these already or not. If you have one I'd say pick it up, but if you have two it's
probably better to find the third TM2 instead of springing for all three.
