A CAN30$ CW sized "Predaking" from AliExpress. What can go wrong? (A review)
Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2023 3:03 pmThere's a very cheap CW sized "Predaking" that appeared on AliExpress recently. That was what I was waiting for such a combiner for a long time. And here is is! It's a KO of some 3P toys but still.
Right when I began unpacking, I could feel that the plastic is very cheap and hollow. Dollar Store quality. Then where unpacking the lion, of course something had to be broken right out of the box.
I had to drill and dremmell, then put in a new bolt with a nut. I'm a genius so the repairs were effective and invisible.
Then, the guns came in "super gun mode." Disassembling it was a TIGHT nightmare. Of course something had to break. The repairs are ugly this time around, but works.
This team have SIX members. The yellow tiger is the bonus member. He can be an arm. Everything can peg on the beasts. I have no idea how to deal with the "giant hammer" so it's like this.
Here's all the beasts. They all feel cheap, but the tightness is ridiculous. I had to loosen some things with a screwdriver. After taking the pictures, I reversed the ox and rhino legs because they were misassembled. It was an easy fix by popping off and on the limbs from the balljoints. The hollow side of the beast legs had to be inside, of course.
Then, the bot modes.
The transformation was SCARY to do due to the over-tightness of everything. The bots are not that poseable but they do the job.
The feet of every bots are pegged hard onto their shins. Plus, the instructions are useless so I had to figure out the weird twists and turns required to transform them. Of course, once I got to the bird, a foot had to break.
That will not stop me so I used a the tail missile from the "commander" class Predaking from Prime Beast Hunters. I cut and drill the thing to make a new foot shaft. Then I dremmelled things around to facilitate the feet transformation on that guy. The results are not pretty, but everything works perfectly.
As for the combined mode, he's a bit back heavy but you have the option to just plug in the bird's wings. But even with the whole bird on, the combiner is stable. The legs cannot pose at all and the arms can barely rotate. At least, he'll never ragdoll like a Combiner Wars, nor bow down on its own like the G1. The overall look is fantastic.
As for combining the swords and guns, you're on your own. The instructions tells nothing. I had to shave down some plastics off the guns handles to make them less tight, but the swords were fine.
And a comparison to the G1 Platinum Edition:
Overall, is it worth it? For me, it was less than 70$CAN shipped, so, much cheaper than a retail Leader. I'm skilled in customising Transformers and to repair them so all the kinks were not a big problem for me. Plus the overall combiner looks nice and works well with CW. However, it's not something that will endure heavy play.
So, if you're not afraid of potential breakages and you can deal with them, go for it for that price. For everyone else, however, beware.
TlDr; You get what you pay for.
Right when I began unpacking, I could feel that the plastic is very cheap and hollow. Dollar Store quality. Then where unpacking the lion, of course something had to be broken right out of the box.
I had to drill and dremmell, then put in a new bolt with a nut. I'm a genius so the repairs were effective and invisible.
Then, the guns came in "super gun mode." Disassembling it was a TIGHT nightmare. Of course something had to break. The repairs are ugly this time around, but works.
This team have SIX members. The yellow tiger is the bonus member. He can be an arm. Everything can peg on the beasts. I have no idea how to deal with the "giant hammer" so it's like this.
Here's all the beasts. They all feel cheap, but the tightness is ridiculous. I had to loosen some things with a screwdriver. After taking the pictures, I reversed the ox and rhino legs because they were misassembled. It was an easy fix by popping off and on the limbs from the balljoints. The hollow side of the beast legs had to be inside, of course.
Then, the bot modes.
The transformation was SCARY to do due to the over-tightness of everything. The bots are not that poseable but they do the job.
The feet of every bots are pegged hard onto their shins. Plus, the instructions are useless so I had to figure out the weird twists and turns required to transform them. Of course, once I got to the bird, a foot had to break.
That will not stop me so I used a the tail missile from the "commander" class Predaking from Prime Beast Hunters. I cut and drill the thing to make a new foot shaft. Then I dremmelled things around to facilitate the feet transformation on that guy. The results are not pretty, but everything works perfectly.
As for the combined mode, he's a bit back heavy but you have the option to just plug in the bird's wings. But even with the whole bird on, the combiner is stable. The legs cannot pose at all and the arms can barely rotate. At least, he'll never ragdoll like a Combiner Wars, nor bow down on its own like the G1. The overall look is fantastic.
As for combining the swords and guns, you're on your own. The instructions tells nothing. I had to shave down some plastics off the guns handles to make them less tight, but the swords were fine.
And a comparison to the G1 Platinum Edition:
Overall, is it worth it? For me, it was less than 70$CAN shipped, so, much cheaper than a retail Leader. I'm skilled in customising Transformers and to repair them so all the kinks were not a big problem for me. Plus the overall combiner looks nice and works well with CW. However, it's not something that will endure heavy play.
So, if you're not afraid of potential breakages and you can deal with them, go for it for that price. For everyone else, however, beware.
TlDr; You get what you pay for.
