Set Price: $15 U.S.
Overall Rating: 7.6

(NOTE: Because this set is composed of repaints, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the set and the color scheme, and merely compares it to the original versions of these molds. For a review on the original Beast Hunters commander class Optimus Prime toy, go here. For a review on the original Beast Hunters commander class Predaking toy, go here.)
 

Optimus Prime

Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Commander
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Dull brick red, light dull milky grayish blue, dark blue, greenish black, light milky gray, and some silver, teal, light metallic silvery blue, red, light sky blue, and light metallic bronze
Individual Rating: 7.7

    Optimus Prime's color scheme this time is actually an homage to Thunderclash, a primarily European-market toy from the tail end of G1/early G2. Except for the blah light milky gray segments for the front grill, upper legs, weapons, and a few other minor parts, this color scheme is completely different from Optimus' classic scheme-- a rarity in this day and age. The combination of dull pale grayish blue and dark blue on the front section of the truck/top section of the robot looks great, with both colors contrasting and complementing each other at the same time. Meanwhile, the back end of the truck/lower robot legs is a dull brick red, which serves as a nice "warm" color to go against Optimus' otherwise "cool" colors. All three of these plastic shades are rather nice-looking, non-primary colors that you don't see that often, and aren't at all loud AND have quite a bit of originality. There's also quite a few paint apps-- most of the dark blue is paint, but there's also some nice silver on Prime's smokestacks and the "bars" that form the top of the back end of the truck mode, which always serves as a nice accent color on TFs. There's also some light silvery blue paint on the wheel hubs to color up that black a little bit (which is oddly a bit of a greenish shade-- not sure I'm fond of that, but it's only on a few pieces). My favorite paint apps, though, have to be the ones on the front of the chest-- the red windows contrast extremely well with the dull grayish blue, and the dark blue outline around the front windows looks REALLY awesome. The teal used for parts of the waist, the headlights, and a Thunderclash-like Autobot-eagle symbol on the top of the chest also look fantastic and contrast against the duller shades of blue very nicely. In keeping with Thunderclash's scheme, Optimus also has a little bit of bronze on his robot face and lower arms. All in all, it all comes together marvelously without looking too busy.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Optimus Prime.

Predaking

Allegiance: Predacon
Size: Commander
Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Color Scheme: Black, dark dull purple, light reddish orange, and some silver and metallic gold
Individual Rating: 7.4

    Predaking isn't as much of a redeco as Optimus Prime is-- this version's black plastic is in the same areas as on the original release of this mold, as is the silver paint on the dragon and robot heads and the tail weapon. The main differences here are that the original's orange has been replaced with a dark, dull purple, while the original's light gray has been replaced with a somewhat bright reddish orange. The purple and reddish orange go extremely well together, and the latter is used just enough to serve as a great accent color without being so prevalent as to look obnoxious. The reddish orange also goes nicely with the black. The purple doesn't provide the contrast against the black that the original's orange did, however, and thus doesn't provide the visual "pop" in beast mode that the original had, though in robot mode Predaking looks considerably better with the purple less prevalent and the red-orange more so. Most of the yellow paint on the original has been replaced with a really nice shade of gold, which is also used with some silver paint to great effect on Predaking's robot waist. All this said, this mold still desperately needs some paint on its wings, and it doesn't look like it's going to get it, unfortunately. One of the more popular theories on what this scheme is homaging is the 2001 "Robots in Disguise" Megatron, but I find that a bit far-fetched. I think it's just a recolor without homaging anything in particular.
    No mold changes have been made to this version of Predaking.

    This "Predacons Rising" Commander class 2-pack is a mild recommendation if you don't have either of these molds (or even if you already have a version of the commander Beast Hunters Optimus mold) and don't care about show-accurate colors. Neither mold is particularly outstanding, but both color schemes are quite original. Optimus' Thunderclash-homage color scheme looks extremely good, with the colors complementing and contrasting against each other extremely well, and he's got lots of paint apps too-- this is my favorite release of this mold, no question. I don't think Predaking's colors this time around QUITE measures up to his original color scheme, but it's darned close and still largely good.

Reviews by Beastbot

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