General Information:
Release Year: February 2007
Retailer: General (Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart etc.)
Price: $9.99 (Average depending on retailer)
Accessories: None
Tech Specs:*
Motto: "The enemy's weakness is his uncertainty."
Generally speaking, even the most evil MINI-CON robots are more light hearted than their larger cousins, the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS. But not these guys. Everywhere they go, they move as if with some dire purpose, their glowing eyes scanning the landscape for potential prey. These robots live to hunt, and are always on the prowl, no matter what their actual mission is.
The second team of all beast Mini-Cons is on the side of evil. The Predator Attack Team takes three forms used previously in other Transformers lines but puts a new spin on them being micro-sized.
| Strength: 6 | Intelligence: 6 | Speed: 6 | Endurance: 5 | Rank: 5 | Courage: 9 | Firepower: 4 | Skill: 8 |
Beast Mode:
Most eagles in the Transformers line have been good guys. Silverbolt from the Magnaboss team is one example. This time however the bird goes bad with Dreadwing - a Decepticon Mini-Con. Like his real life counterpart, Dreadwing has an impressive wingspan for a Mini-Con. About five inches across, this is one impressive looking bird.
Dreadwing's sculpt is choc full of details. On the top side he has plenty of sculpted details that look like mechanical feathers. What I like is the way they are not just one straight line of vertical line designs. Instead there are seven distinct "sections" of feathers on each wing, some extending back further than others. The tail feathers are huge and have a nice angle to them that is raised in the middle angling downward. The sculpted pattern on the underside of the figure is basicaly the mirror image of the top, but it is nice to see details were not neglected there just because they are not easily seen without flipping the figure over. The bird head sculpt looks a tiny bit organic with its curved shape, but the angled eyes are definitely tell-tale signs that this is a robot in disguise.
Dreadwing is cast in brown plastic. His head and lines on his wing are painted a light red. Metallic light blue runs along the top edges of the wings and a purple Decepticon symbol can be found on the top of the left wing. I would have liked to see the robot eyes painted something (maybe the light metallic blue) but that's my only real beef with this deco.
There are really only two points of articulation in this form, the legs which are ball joints. This isn't a huge deal since the wings look plenty majestic as they are. There are two Mini-Con Powerlinx points on the undersides of the wings, one on each wing.
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Separate the forward sections of the wings from the back sections.
- Swing the forward wing sections forward.
- Swing the wingtips up to form the robot legs.
- Rotate each rear/tail feather section down so they form an "X" pattern on the back.
- Swing down each beast mode leg to form the robot arms.
- Flip the robot head forward.
Robot Mode:
Dreadwing's robot mode is every bit as cool looking as his beast mode. Here his wing and tail feathers form a nice X pattern on his back that look like wings he can still glide on in this form. His robot head looks very reminscent of Silverbolt's head with an oval shape, angled mouthplate and angled eyes. His upper arms look like they overlap the thinner, lower arms, giving the appearance of a cloak. His shoulder joints are round with holes that look like some type of gun battery. His chest has some basic angled line details leading to the legs. Although the legs are thin and mostly detailed with feather details, he has some tech details sculpted on the sides of his upper legs to give them a mechanical look.
Most of this robot form is the unpainted underside of the beast mode so there are not a lot of paint applications. The head is painted red with a silver face and that's really it. I would have liked to see a bit more done here, perhaps metallic light blue on the claws.
Dreadwing has seven points of articulation. His head can really only swivel back and forth, and seems to have trouble staying facing forward. It tends to flop down or up.
| Strength: 7 | Intelligence: 6 | Speed: 5 | Endurance: 7.5 | Rank: 4 | Courage: 9 | Firepower: 5 | Skill: 7 |
Beast Mode:
Overbite is a wolf in beast mode. Like his "design cousin" Cybertron Snarl he is meant to represent a mechanical wolf, but has design features that give him a sleek, almost organic appearance. Almost every section is curved, with few hard right angles. The head has a nice sculpt, with a wolf's elongated face and two fangs hanging off his upper jaw. The ears have small horizontal line details sculpted into it. The head leads to raised sections on the forward body that would be the fur on a real wolf. Three layered sections go down his spine while the sides have inset sections that look almost like a faux fur pattern. The rear legs have a really nice sculpt, with several circles representing joints and a piston design on the back. There's a pattern of lines on the knee joint that look almost like tires.
Overbite is sculpted in black plastic. His eyes are painted metallic red. Metallic purple is used on the "fur" patterns on the front section and on the front of the hindlegs. A silver Decepticon symbol is painted onto the left side towards the front. While simple, I like the choices of colors for this guy. It gives him a mysterious appearance, and the colors are classic Decepticon symbol colors.
The beast mode has five points of articulation, two on each hindleg and then the tail (which can move up and down). The forelegs are pretty much stuck in place.
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Swing the tail up.
- Extend the lower hindlegs back and swing the legs back.
- Split the top half of the beast mode's front half and rotate each half around to form the robot arms.
- Rotate the lower body around so the legs angle forward.
Robot Mode:
As one would expect, much of the limbs and main body of this mode are just carry overs from the beast mode. In this form however you get to see certain details more clearly. For instance on the lower legs there are sections of horizontal lines and the aforementioned 'tire-like' details are more visible. The robot head has a helmet design with sharp "claw" like design elements on the sides. The way his arms are shaped they give the impression of him being jagged and dangerous in design thanks to the points formed from his fangs, ears and the shoulders. The "chicken walker" type feet give him a look that evokes some type of mythical creature. With some more organic detail, this guy would have fit right in with the Beast Wars.
While Overbite's robot mode was overwhelmingly black in color, this form consolidates the colors together. The robot head is painted red with white eyes and a black mouthplate, contrasting heavily with the rest of the figure. The purple parts from the beast mode are more visible here and more up front, specifically on the arms and legs. The chest has a bit of white on it as well. This color pattern works really well and really keeps the figure from looking too plain.
In robot mode Overbite has seven points of articulation, including waist articulation thanks to his transformation. His arms are ball jointed but can't really swing back due to their design. Overall, not bad articulation for a Mini-Con.
| Strength: 7 | Intelligence: 4 | Speed: 7 | Endurance: 8 | Rank: 4 | Courage: 9 | Firepower: 5 | Skill: 7 |
Beast Mode:
Snarl is a tiger in beast mode. His design is interesting as the front end is a bit larger than the rear. It's as if most of the power of the character is located in the front. He is also blockier in certain parts than one would normally expect. The head has a very squared off look at the mouth, but then angles back into smoother lines on the slope of the forehead. His back is oval shaped and sleek, but his forelegs are much more squared off and blocky. The mid section then becomes sleek again leading to his rear legs that are a bit more rounded.
There's quite a bit of small detailing on this figure. On the head, sculpted lines take the place of whiskers. His paws each have lines dividing them into segments. The sides of the legs have some rectangular details that look like armor plating with circles resembling bolts inside of them. The top is a bit smoother and curved, with lines sweeping back. Th emid section has a lot of vertical line details overlaid a "K" shaped skuplted detail. The rear angles outward from the middle leading to the legs. The tail is interesting in design, having several small segments that look like armor plating.
Snarl is cast in orange plastic. Black and metallic red are used for his details including stripes on his face and legs. A black Decepticon symbol is painted onto his left shoulder. The prototype showed on the official Transformers web page had a slightly nicer scheme with green eyes and a Decepticon symbol on the back in purple. I'm guessing cost issues kept an extra paint color from being used.
Snarl's posability is really limited. His tail can move up and down and his mouth can open and close. The left, rear leg can raise (which kind of makes for a funny image) and that's about it. The Mini-Con Powerlinx port is on the right side above the rear leg.
Transformation to Robot Mode:
- Swing the front of the body up.
- Swing the front legs up, and rotate them around to the right side.
- Swing the inner halves of the robot legs down.
- Swing the rear section of the beast mode down.
Robot Mode:
There are two influences from previous Transformers on this figure. The overall design is slightly reminscent of Lioconvoy, particularly the rear section of the beast mode becoming his left shoulder and arm. Lioconvoy of course had an actual arm for his right arm with the beast mode head as his shoulder, but the general idea of the front and back halves forming the arms is still there. The head design is slightly reminscent of Cheetor's head design, with a central crest and an "M" shaped piece coming out to the sides (Cheetor's was more of a V shape). The chest design has a raised hourglass shape on it with horizontal line details inside. The upper legs are pretty much hollow since the lower legs fold out from them. The lower legs have some line details on them that make them look a bit like paws.
Snarl has seven points of articulation in this form. This counts the ball jointed rear beast mode leg, which here looks like it is meant to act as an arm. The beast mode mouth also opens up to reveal a small blaster inside which is a nice little touch.
The only new color detail revealed is black for the face. I really would have liked to see more deco, even if it was just more black. The chest and legs look really plain.
Final Thoughts:
The Predator Attack team runs the range of being impressive to a bit disappointing. Dreadwing is no doubt the star of the set with Overbite right behind him. Snarl is weak, but really only needed more deco to be a bit more impressive. Overall a good set, but nowhere near as strong as the Dinobots. Recommended mostly for Dreadwing and the novelty of having more beast-based Mini-Cons.
