Transformers questions by newbies, and not-so-newbies

I'd say it would be a closely guarded secret that Tarantulas and Tripredacus are not Children of Primus.

<<<SPOILERS AHOY>>>

References are:
1/ When Tarantulas was attempting to destroy the Ark, it was mentioned that doing so would kill all the Autobots and Decepticons inside, thus destroying both Maximals and Decepticons. Tarantulas then said that it would only effect Transformers descendant from Autobots and Decepticons and that he and the Tripredacus Council have different origins.
2/ Megatron once referred to Tarantulas as "Unicron's Spawn."
3/ We know that during the Beast Wars era Unicron was engaged in a quest to rebuild himself by gathering Angolmois Energy (aka Dark Essence). The Blentrons were his heralds and he also possessed Galvatron, Shokoract and even Vector Sigma. He eventually tried to convert Cybertron into his new body, similar to what he did in G1 during "The Legacy of Unicron" when he enslaved the Junkions to rebuild Junk into his new body.

from the dialogue in Agenda it sounds like the writers hadn't made the Council non Decepticons/predacons yet

who is more cartoon accurate? Botcon thrust or Gentei thrust? same with dirge

The Tripredacus Council were clearly established as Predacons, even referring to Megatron as a rogue.

but there not really predacons are they?

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Originally Posted by roller

but there not really predacons are they?

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Depends on what you consider an actual Predacon.
It could be simply a being who agrees with the Predacon ideology, or simply someone who fights for them.
Or it could be just the original 5 Predacons from G1, and everyone else is just a minion

Tripredacus are Predacons as much as Tarantulas is a Predacon. As far as the political faction is concerned, they are all Predacons. They serve the Predacon cause on the surface but ultimately serve Unicron.

They're not like the Blentrons who are clearly and exclusively serve Unicron (and thus bear his insignia) and don't pretend to be allied with any other factions. Tripredacus and Tarantulas are basically agents that Unicron has seeded within the Predacon ranks to hamper the Predacons' efforts to fully unify and cooperate with the Maximals (and thus fulfilling Primus' will). They are also not like Galvatron and Shokoract who are Children of Primus but whose Sparks were controlled by Unicron.

Being a Predacon is also an ethnicity for they are Transformers who are the descendants of Decepticons (whereas Maximals are descendant from Autobots, hence why they hold political power on Cybertron since the Autobots won the Great War). Even Predacons who defect still ultimately consider themselves to be Predacons - e.g.: Dinobot & Blackarachnia.

So in an ethnic sense, Tarantulas and Tripredacus aren't Predacons, but in a (socio-)political sense they are.

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P.S.: A couple of years ago I wrote a fictional essay about the Predacon cause here.

anyone know where i can find a picture of the back of the box for Universe 2 Inferno?

ta

Some quick Q's for anyone:
1) not everything that comes off evilbay from taiwan is a KO, right?
2) howcome I cant find any animated voygers or classics2.0? (is everyone's local shelves as bear as mine?)
3) ebay seller shingstar1982: autobot or decepticon? (STL I'm looking in your direction...)
4) Shingstar1982 has animated skywarp for $AUS50 (free postage). thats ok isnt it?
5) which is better: animated shockwave or animated skywarp?

Cheers.

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Originally Posted by klystron

Some quick Q's for anyone:
1) not everything that comes off evilbay from taiwan is a KO, right?
2) howcome I cant find any animated voygers or classics2.0? (is everyone's local shelves as bear as mine?)
3) ebay seller shingstar1982: autobot or decepticon? (STL I'm looking in your direction...)
4) Shingstar1982 has animated skywarp for $AUS50 (free postage). thats ok isnt it?
5) which is better: animated shockwave or animated skywarp?

Cheers.

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1. Correct. There were some G1 reissues exclusive to Taiwan. More info here. This seller seems to specialize in them.
2. Not too sure. Although this report from Bumbleb33 is a bit scary.
3. He's got good prices but offers little to no deals in bulk orders or combined shipping.
4. A$50 is RRP. To some, that's fine. Others wouldn't consider paying RRP :rolleyes:
5. Shockwave! Unique mold ;-)

UPDATE To question 3: His feedback seems to indicate he's a crappy packer.

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Originally Posted by klystron

Some quick Q's for anyone:
1) not everything that comes off evilbay from taiwan is a KO, right?

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Yeap. In recent times, they've seemed to be able to grab a lot of old stock and flog it off on eBay. How, I'm not so sure but I did buy some two packs a long while back from there and they were all legit and service was good. They don't offer combined shipping though

Quote:

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Originally Posted by klystron

2) howcome I cant find any animated voygers or classics2.0? (is everyone's local shelves as bear as mine?)

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I can't speak for Rockingham and I don't hunt much anymore b/c of work but I've seen a lot of older Voyagers around. Bulkhead, Grimlock, Lugnut and the like. I'd like to see the newer ones though. THe Classics 2.0 Voyagers are most easily found at K-Mart or TRU.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by klystron

3) ebay seller shingstar1982: autobot or decepticon? (STL I'm looking in your direction...)

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He's good. Solid. But u have to buy a lot plus haggle BEFOREHAND to get a saving in shipping. I just won a few items from him that I'd been meaning to chase down.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by klystron

4) Shingstar1982 has animated skywarp for $AUS50 (free postage). thats ok isnt it?

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DEfinitely. That's RRP now. Given that u have to otherwise hunt and wait for sales, that's not bad at all.

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Originally Posted by klystron

5) which is better: animated shockwave or animated skywarp?

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If ur a massive Seekers fan, I think Skywarp. But without Thundercracker it's not the same having only two.

Easily tho, purple Animated Shockwave rules.