Preditron

Preditron is a Decepticon or Predacon from the Generation 1 continuity family.

Preditron is the one on the right.

Preditron's frightening countenance and powerful beast mode belie a bot who is not what he seems. Although he is a master of warfare in all of its forms, well-versed in battlefield tactics, and utterly unafraid to lead the charge when the situation calls for it, he is also an honorable and eloquent leader. Preditron respects his men, and, unusually, respects his enemies and ideological rivals as equals. Indeed, among the lying, cheating, squabbling ranks of the Decepticons and Predacons, Preditron stands out as an unusually moderate member of the faction, although he remains steadfastly devoted to the cause. Do not mistake this genteel behaviour for weakness, though—if provoked, his rage is a terrible thing to behold.

Fiction

Wings Universe

Preditron led the Destrongers from Kaon. Faced with an increasing threat from the Elite Guard, the warlords began organizing into a war council to pool their resources. During one meeting, they reviewed footage of the Elite Guard wiping out some of Megatron's men. Straxus and Shockwave noted that the Guard would hound the Decepticons to the last man, Preditron demanded to know if the pair thought the Decepticons should cower from their foe. Straxus responded by making veiled threats. At the next meeting of the council, Deathsaurus sent along his lieutenant, Falcon, with a box containing an important message. The message turned out to be a bomb, which killed the council members present. A Team Effort

INSIRT continuity

Preditron's memories were stored at the Vestigial Cortical Complex alongside those of Bloodron, Ragnarok, and Verminator. Timeless

Beast Wars: Uprising

Preditron was the first Predacon. He was forged alongside Maxima, the first Maximal, and although circumstances beyond their control forced the pair into becoming enemies, he credited her as the inspiration for his Predacon Manifesto that would go on to shape the postwar Predacon movement. The Predacon Manifesto Unlike many Predacons, he respected the Maximals as equals; he knew Silver Bolt, as they had practically been forged together, and met Tigatron when he founded the Tripredacus Council—however, the ambitious trio of Ram Horn, Cicadacon, and Sea Clamp eventually usurped his position on the council and had him imprisoned within Fortress Maximus. Derailment He stayed there for many centuries until Lio Convoy's Resistance freed him; Head Games although he came to find Lio Convoy a stuffed shirt, he nevertheless joined the Resistance alongside Cheetor, and the pair used their political clout to help rally the troops behind friendly lines for two stellar cycles. Preditron adopted a powerful jurassanoid alternate mode after the "Beast Upgrade" hit Cybertron, but was left ambivalent by the news that the Tripredacus Council had formed the Independent Predacus States and doubted that the council were up to the task of leadership.

While Preditron and Cheetor were on assignment near Valvolux, Preditron grumbled about not being able to take part in the actual fighting. Following that, the two travelled to Safe Zone Alpha Two, a Resistance base in Protihex, where they met up with the local commander, a Maximal named Ikard. The meeting didn't go too well, as Ikard revealed they'd been forcing captive Micromasters to fight in their own version of the Games, something to which both of them took exception. Once left alone, Cheetor vowed to stop it, with Preditron advising him to contact Resistance High Command, while he approached it from a different angle.

Said angle was the Predacon Ser-Ket. After tracking her down to her quarters, he had a spark-to-spark about her, having determined she was what he felt was a true Predacon. He pressed her, inquiring about her history, telling her she reminded him of Maxima herself, and told her they had the chance to set things right. As he left to meet up with Cheetor, he came under attack from Gaidora. The two fought claw-to-claw, only to be ambushed by the Predacon's superior, Ikard, who made note to put him with the POWs for the next day's game. When he came to, it was in a cell, near ones filled with bickering Micromasters. Not exactly welcomed warmly by his fellow inmates, he determined he had become inconvenient to the Resistance. He managed to convince the groups to listen to him and go along with a plan of his, to refuse to fight when the time came, make the crowd try to kill them and realize what they'd become.

The next day, things didn't go well, some of the Decepticon prisoners not trusting the plan. So Preditron reassured them by saying he had people on the outside. Fifteen cycles into the game, he stumbled upon Roadhandler's corpse. As he did, he also found Torque, in much worse shape than the night before and muttering about a new upgrade, as his body forcibly altered itself, followed by Roadhandler's body reviving and altering itself too. He managed to destroy what had once been Roadhandler, but Torque overpowered him, and nearly killed him before the timely arrival of Ser-Ket. She informed him there were more of the creatures, and by the time they'd gotten to the edge of the arena, the creatures were spreading among the crowd. Preditron volunteered to form a perimeter between the creatures and the crowds, but it swiftly turned out to be a moot point, as hundreds more burst into the arena. Fortunately, the three were able to buy enough time for everyone not infected to get free. Once done, Cheetor mentioned Lio Convoy was apparently behind Preditron's attempted assassination. Preditron just retorted that Lio's priorities were about to change. Safe Spaces

As the Vehicon Apocalypse unfolded, Preditron, Cheetor and Ser-Ket fled on the Star Dasher. Cheetor's suggestion was to head to the Maximal Nation, over Ser-Ket's decision for them to go to "their own kind". Preditron felt going near the 'bots who wanted him dead wasn't practical. Despite some fire as they entered Tyrest, they managed to get in safely after proving they weren't Vehicons. On arrival they made their way to the Maximal High Council to inform them of what was happening, Preditron defending Cheetor's character in his own unique way, as well as pointing out neither the Resistance or the IPS wanted him, so he spoke for neither faction. Afterward, he took a shuttle back to the Predacus States with Sky Shadow.

He wound up at Nova Cronum, as the Predacon advance on the Grand Mal, the heart of the Vehicon machine, was going badly. Taking command, he gave a stirring speech that roused the battered soldiers back into action. Unfortunately, this drew the attention of the Tripredacus Council, who came out from their secure bunker to meet with Preditron personally in their combined form. They demanded he surrender to them, and Preditron refused. He tried to fight the combiner, but his raw strength was no match for Tripredacus, and he was beaten to death.

On the upside, Cicadacon and Sea Clamp didn't last long enough to enjoy what they'd done, since the former was killed by a vengeful Ser-Ket, and latter by a disgruntled Ram Horn. He was used as an example to rally the remnants of the Predacon troops in the violent battle that followed. Derailment

Preditron was eventually honored by the Preditron-class space ships, one of which was the Rusty Mace. The Inexorable March

2019 IDW continuity

Preditron fought Halonix Maximus in the Cybertronian hinterlands during the Age of the Firstforged. Tremors

Toys

Go-Bots

• Preditron (Invisibility Force, 2004)

The first true Go-Bots villain, and he doesn't even get to be a new character! Beast-Bot's "unruly" alter-ego is a heavy retooling of Big Adventures Cheetor, transforming into a clear-blue, black, and orange wolf in a single-ish step. Mold modifications include a new head and tail, and slight alterations to the pins holding his torso together.

The original version of this mold was also used by Hasbro to make Go-Bots Tigertron as well as Takara's Rescue Hero Go-Bots Chuck and George.

• More information on Preditron at TFU.info

Armada

Dinobot probably writes fan-fic about this guy.

• Predacon with Side Burn and Skid-Z (Max-Con, 2003)
  • Accessories: Tail/whip

Armada Predacon is a retool of the Beast Wars Mega Class Transmetal Megatron mold, transforming from a metallic T. rex to a robot mode with organic-looking parts; his T. rex mode has a third "flight" configuration. Two Mini-Con Powerlinx plugs were also added at the hubs of his turbine fans, as well as the parts that become his robot-mode shoulder-armor. He is one of only two Armada toys to be released with two Mini-Con partners (the other being Sideways); he came with Side Burn and Skid-Z.

In an undocumented bit of extra play value, Predacon can attach energon stars to the outside of his legs (though the original Megatron toy cannot, as the corresponding part is too small on that version of the mold).

Predacon was released in Japan as a "USA Edition" exclusively through the Toys"R"Us website.

• More information on Predacon at TFU.info

Notes

• You may find it odd that this page contains a disparate wolf toy and a dinosaur toy, but while Jesse Wittenrich wrote the Wings Universe incarnation of Preditron simply intending him as the Go-Bots character transplanted into a Generation 1 setting,^[1] Jim Sorenson took inspiration from both Go-Bots Preditron and Armada Predacon while writing the Beast Wars: Uprising incarnation of Preditron.
• Uprising co-writer David Bishop stated that he envisioned Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation while crafting Preditron—an honourable warrior disappointed that his people don't live up to their abstract ideals.^[2]
• The artwork seen at the top of this article depicts Preditron in a color scheme based more closely on the unfinished deco seen in Armada Predacon's stock photography instead of the finalized deco of the actual toy. This was probably a result of TFWiki, for the longest time, using said stock photography instead of in-hand photos of the real toy to visually represent the Armada Predacon toy. Whoops.

References