As the Combiners took center stage in 1986, the largest combined form to date was revealed: Predaking. The combined form of the animal-themed Predacons, Predaking’s bulk resulted from each member of the team being roughly the same size - each larger than the team leaders of the “Scramble City” Special Teams.
Origins
Predaking (and all of his component members) were designed by Teruo Kitamura. Predaking’s US Patent, titled Robotic-humanoid toy assembly (aka Transformers G1 Predaking) was filed on December 13, 1985 (U.S. Patent No. USD295652 S).
Description
Predaking is both tall and bulky, the largest of the Combiners released in the US during G1. He features a relatively homogeneous color scheme of orange, black, and yellow, with gold stickers and red and gray highlight plastics. Unlike most combiners of the time, his body is made only of built-in parts, and he does not feature any additional armor accessories. His massive feet each feature two huge cannon barrels for toes, and his detailed, articulated fists feature sculpted armor and large spikes protruding from each knuckle. He uses Divebomb’s wings as a backpack, spanning impressively over his shoulders. He weilds a long single-barreled cannon on his Divebomb (nominally, left) arm, and can wield any of the individual member’s swords or guns in his fists, excepting those that have details hanging down close to the grip, or whose posts are not adequately long. In this mode, he can raise his arms at the shoulder or move his hips (though this is inadvisable, see Razorclaw’s Collector Notes).
Collector Notes
Most of Predaking’s physical weaknesses are mentioned in the members’s individual articles, though care should be taken when removing the limb figures from Razorclaw. Always depress the catch button before removing the legs.
Variants
Predaking’s individual members each had two major variants. See the members’s articles for more.
Availability
Predaking was available worldwide (except the United Kingdom) in 1986, sold as five individually boxed team members. In Japan, he was available in a Predaking gift set in 1986. He was available in the US again in 1987. Predaking was re-issued in Japan in 2004, nearly identical to the 1986 metal-bodied giftset version. He recieved a second Japanese reissue in 2010, branded with the “Welcome to 2010” logo. This version again uses the metal bodies, and features a redesigned sticker sheet, as well as metallic gold replacing his yellow parts, and metallic shades of his other plastic. A similar version was released in the US in 2013’s Platinum Edition Predaking.
Redecos & Retools
Predaking’s mold has never been re-used.
