Predator (subgroup)

The Predators are a Decepticon subgroup from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Ain't no men.

The Predators are a team of Decepticons, most of whom transform into jets. The group spent 2412 meta-cycles in the Skomiloch Territories, during which time they reformatted their bodies to better adapt to the unique environment of that system. Modifications include: super-dense armor plating, camouflage decoes suitable to local geography, and green-hued optic filters to adapt to the prevailing color spectrum.^[1] Their Autobot counterparts are the (mostly) automotive Turbomasters.

Their ranks include:

• Skyquake, the leader and huge jet-thing.
• Stalker, the ICBM launcher tank.
• Falcon, the Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk.
• Skydive, the Northrop YF-23 Black Widow II.
• Snare, the Grumman X-29.
• Talon, the McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle.

Fiction

Predator Air Attack!

With Supersight, the Predators found Flash speeding through the Desert, and, as the Turbomaster raced back to his base to warn of an impending Decepticon attack, Skydive and the other aerial Predators followed behind, allowing the unwitting Autobot to show them the way to their target. During the attack, Stalker finally clashed with his mortal enemy, the legendary Rotorstorm. And as his troops bravely fought against the autobots, Skyquake was in Skyswoop, commanding his troops at a safe distance. Predator Air Attack!

2005 IDW continuity

The Predators, under the command of Skyquake, are a force almost entirely devoted to aerial dominance. While Skyquake's intimate circle consists of the more 'well-known' Predators, there are many other members of the unit, all of whom have adopted the form of jets.

Skyquake led a force to the Skomiloch Territories to put down local resistance to the Decepticons' star harvesting efforts. After crushing the resistance, Skyquake set up a mini-empire there, ruling the area for 2412 meta-cycles while managing to stay on good terms with Decepticon High Command and Megatron himself. While there, they made adaptations to their bodies to suit the unique local environment. Snare's personnel evaluation

At the height of the cross-galactic Decepticon uprising, Skyquake and his Predators were charged with securing Garrus-9 as an important element of Megatron's long-term plan. Overlord had other ideas. Most of the lower ranking Predators who saw Overlord arrive were scared senseless—likely due to his infamous reputation—and their fears were proven true when Overlord casually gunned down their commander following a disagreement. Overlord's sudden arrival allowed the Predators to tip the odds of the ongoing battle even further in their favour, resulting in utter victory for the Decepticons on Garrus-9.

It's possible that, while not strictly part of the official unit, that the Decepticons who were liberated from Garrus-9 also joined the Predators.

Three years later, the Predators remained on the planet under Overlord's command, engaging in mindless slaughter. Some of the Predators, such as Snare, were growing sick of it... but none dared stand up to the sociopath. Last Stand of the Wreckers #1 Eventually, Snare released Impactor in hopes that he would bring the Autobots to defeat Overlord. Last Stand of the Wreckers #2

When Impactor returned with the Wreckers in tow, many Predators lost their lives to Ironfist's cerebro-centric bullets. Last Stand of the Wreckers #3 Stalker captured and tortured several of the Autobots and fatally wounded Snare for betraying the Predators, but was in turn killed by Springer. Last Stand of the Wreckers #4 After the Wreckers successfully defeated Overlord, the remaining Predators fled from Garrus-9, likely feeling quite relieved. Last Stand of the Wreckers #5

Ask Vector Prime

The Multiforce fought the Predators in the Skomiloch Territories after they were displaced from their native time by a dimensional shock. Ask Vector Prime, 2015/06/01

Toys

The Transformers

Snare (actually technically Flare Jet but hey)

• Known designers: Andy Couzens (Hasbro), Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy)

The Predators were part of the final year of products in the original Transformers toyline in European, Australian, and Canadian markets. They were the "headliner" Decepticons, with their leader Skyquake apparently being the leader of all the Decepticons at the time, though Europe/Australasia was a little liberal when it came to handing out "Leader" Functions and "10" Ranks

The Predators share the team-wide tiny-missile-launching shtick of their Autobot counterparts the Turbomasters (though the Predator launchers are entirely uniform across all the toys where the Turbomasters got bespoke launchers). However, they also have the "Megavisor" gimmick to unify the team further, allowing the smaller jets to physically link with the larger ones, putting small clear-plastic slides into the larger toys that reveal tactical "scope" images inside the larger toys' view-scopes.

In at least France, the Netherlands, and Belgium, the Predators were referred to as Scope Masters.

The four small Predator jets were released without major changes in Takara's Operation Combination line as the "Jet Corps", a completely new set of characters. The only notable difference is that the Jet Corps's missiles are slightly different in detail. Skyquake was also released in Japan that year, but presented differently from the small jets: he was still in the European packaging, now with some legal-info stickers in Japanese added to it. This was an early precursor of Takara's subsequent "USA Edition" imprint.

The Predator toys have not aged well. The Megavisor gimmick relies on very strong springs meshing into Skyquake's gold plastic segments, with a high risk of breakage that only grows each year. Similarly, their handheld missile launchers are made entirely of the "bad" gold plastic, and between their strong springs, tiny fist posts, and trigger mechanisms that rely on pressuring an entire side of the launcher, it's a gamble to ever attempt using them. In the 21st century it's best to just sort of imagine the Predators using all their features.

Notes

• While Skyquake's toy was absent from the Operation Combination imprint (his European-packaging release in Japan came the following year), he was likely the "model" for the Operation Combination storyline's ever-unseen head bad guy Scrash.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Predator (プレデター Puredatā)
• Dutch: Scope Master^[2]
• French: Scope Master

References