[Greenskar]

Just saw a combined mode shot of the toy on the digital copy of Gameinformer magazine for Feb. I have to say I was disappointed. Disappointed that I never bought the Fans Project version when it was more affordable and ended up with the best version.

Now for the rest of us that want an affordable Bruticus to put on display, we all know we're going to pick this bad boy up anyway. There is no direct link I can send you guys for a look, if you want to see it you'll either need to subscribe for the digital subscription or wait a few weeks or so until images appear online. So I'll do my best to describe what my gripes were with the combined mode only based on what I saw.

Mistransformed- Or at least I hope so. There are way too many gaps in places there shouldn't be, such as the distance between the arms and the sockets that plug into Onslaught's shoulders. This made him look very awkward.

Spaghetti thighs- seriously, bulky shins because of the alt modes of Swindle and Brawl and these Thin-ass thighs that plug into them and make the combined mode look flimsy as shit.

BFG on Vortex- There appeared to be a gun/cannon of sorts plugged into the hand of Vortex. This unfortunately blocked the view of his forearm and hand and distorted the full view of Bruticus' left arm in combined mode.

No Dual cannons- the trademark dual cannons that protrude from the back of each shoulder were nowhere to be seen in the pic. May have been on purpose to build suspense.

Thin Torso- May have been a mistransformation, otherwise, looks very thin and contrary to the CGI model in the actual FoC game.

I seriously hope we get better images of the combined figure soon. He's scheduled to hit retail this aug/sept. Feel free to ask more questions and I'll answer as best I can.

[DogFashionDisco]

I got that issue in the mail today and saw the same article. They look pretty cool.

[Greenskar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DogFashionDisco

I got that issue in the mail today and saw the same article. They look pretty cool.

was there a full pic of the combined mode in yours? I had to hit the slideshow option on digital in order to see it.

[DogFashionDisco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greenskar

was there a full pic of the combined mode in yours? I had to hit the slideshow option on digital in order to see it.

The article is a 2-page spread. The picture of Bruticus is his upper torso.

[Crazy Jetty]

Well... personally, I think all the game designs are shit. There hasn't been a single one that looks remotely decent.
The game designers have no concept of designing transormation schemes. Or of designing good homages.
Seriously, dead end is a behemoth, while Brawl here is a scrawny little guy.
Bumblebee looks like a VW Beetle that was designed 200 years from now, instead of an alien vehicle that existed millions of years ago. And he has absolutely no relationship to his Prime design, when they're supossed to be the same character.

Hasbro wants us to think of the games and Prime as this neo G1 continuity, yet they send such mixed messages with the games doing a terrible job at homaging the G1 characters (Precious few are recognizable as who they're supossed to represent. The only thing about Swindle and Brawl that look remotely like their namesakes are their colors. If you showe dthem to me without telling me who they were, I'd not recognize them at all.
And on the Prime end, everyone takes their cues from the movie designs.
So yeah, terribly mixedsignals.
The neo g1 angle so doesn't work.

As for the toys... I'm trying to judge these as new characters, new continuity, and not as pre-earth updates. But it's hard. I really dislike Prime. And the games have not done anything that's impressed me. And the first set of WfC figures were massive fail.
But I'll reserve casting a real opinion on these when we knopw more about them.

[Greenskar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DogFashionDisco

The article is a 2-page spread. The picture of Bruticus is his upper torso.

yeah, that's too bad. I was hoping you got to see the combined mode too. It's avail only in digital apparently.

[Greenskar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy Jetty

Well... personally, I think all the game designs are shit. There hasn't been a single one that looks remotely decent.
The game designers have no concept of designing transormation schemes. Or of designing good homages.
Seriously, dead end is a behemoth, while Brawl here is a scrawny little guy.
Bumblebee looks like a VW Beetle that was designed 200 years from now, instead of an alien vehicle that existed millions of years ago. And he has absolutely no relationship to his Prime design, when they're supossed to be the same character.

Hasbro wants us to think of the games and Prime as this neo G1 continuity, yet they send such mixed messages with the games doing a terrible job at homaging the G1 characters (Precious few are recognizable as who they're supossed to represent. The only thing about Swindle and Brawl that look remotely like their namesakes are their colors. If you showe dthem to me without telling me who they were, I'd not recognize them at all.
And on the Prime end, everyone takes their cues from the movie designs.
So yeah, terribly mixedsignals.
The neo g1 angle so doesn't work.

As for the toys... I'm trying to judge these as new characters, new continuity, and not as pre-earth updates. But it's hard. I really dislike Prime. And the games have not done anything that's impressed me. And the first set of WfC figures were massive fail.
But I'll reserve casting a real opinion on these when we knopw more about them.

Wow, you really didn't like the first figs? Well, Maybe I just like more because Symbiote gave mine a new paint job, lol. But I had no gripes about the molds. I loved the game too so I just wanted representations of the games, not G1 updates or anything to that effect.

But I definitely agree with you on Prime. I haven't bothered to watch or care about the figs because I really don't like the look.

[Crazy Jetty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greenskar

Wow, you really didn't like the first figs? Well, Maybe I just like more because Symbiote gave mine a new paint job, lol. But I had no gripes about the molds. I loved the game too so I just wanted representations of the games, not G1 updates or anything to that effect.

But I definitely agree with you on Prime. I haven't bothered to watch or care about the figs because I really don't like the look.

Well, just to make everything absolutely clear, I have no issues with the story of the games (I just hate being forced to play a video games in order to follow a story. I'm not a gamer, and moreso, I hate the type of game that WfC/FoC are. But that's nothing against the story itself). Just the character designs. I wished they'd gotten someone who has real and genuine experience designing transformers, like Don Figueroa, Nick Roche, or Guido Guidi.
The designs do a terrible job at representing the G1 versions of the characters, *and* the Prime versions of the characters.
Most of the designs are not physically possible from any sort of engineering standpoints (Arcee, anyone?). They go for what they think looks cool, whether it's possible or not. And in my eyes, those end up looking bland, boring, and extremely generic.
That translates into the toys 100 percent, for me. WfC Prime looks only slightly less boring than Prime Prime (I wish they'd called that series something else).
But maybe I was spoiled by Don's excellent WWI designs.

[Exodus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greenskar

Just saw a combined mode shot of the toy on the digital copy of Gameinformer magazine for Feb. I have to say I was disappointed. Disappointed that I never bought the Fans Project version when it was more affordable and ended up with the best version.

Now for the rest of us that want an affordable Bruticus to put on display, we all know we're going to pick this bad boy up anyway. There is no direct link I can send you guys for a look, if you want to see it you'll either need to subscribe for the digital subscription or wait a few weeks or so until images appear online. So I'll do my best to describe what my gripes were with the combined mode only based on what I saw.

Mistransformed- Or at least I hope so. There are way too many gaps in places there shouldn't be, such as the distance between the arms and the sockets that plug into Onslaught's shoulders. This made him look very awkward.

Spaghetti thighs- seriously, bulky shins because of the alt modes of Swindle and Brawl and these Thin-ass thighs that plug into them and make the combined mode look flimsy as shit.

BFG on Vortex- There appeared to be a gun/cannon of sorts plugged into the hand of Vortex. This unfortunately blocked the view of his forearm and hand and distorted the full view of Bruticus' left arm in combined mode.

No Dual cannons- the trademark dual cannons that protrude from the back of each shoulder were nowhere to be seen in the pic. May have been on purpose to build suspense.

Thin Torso- May have been a mistransformation, otherwise, looks very thin and contrary to the CGI model in the actual FoC game.

I seriously hope we get better images of the combined figure soon. He's scheduled to hit retail this aug/sept. Feel free to ask more questions and I'll answer as best I can.

Which line does he come out for? Generations or ??

[Greenskar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy Jetty

Well, just to make everything absolutely clear, I have no issues with the story of the games (I just hate being forced to play a video games in order to follow a story. I'm not a gamer, and moreso, I hate the type of game that WfC/FoC are. But that's nothing against the story itself). Just the character designs. I wished they'd gotten someone who has real and genuine experience designing transformers, like Don Figueroa, Nick Roche, or Guido Guidi.
The designs do a terrible job at representing the G1 versions of the characters, *and* the Prime versions of the characters.
Most of the designs are not physically possible from any sort of engineering standpoints (Arcee, anyone?). They go for what they think looks cool, whether it's possible or not. And in my eyes, those end up looking bland, boring, and extremely generic.
That translates into the toys 100 percent, for me. WfC Prime looks only slightly less boring than Prime Prime (I wish they'd called that series something else).
But maybe I was spoiled by Don's excellent WWI designs.

Different tastes I suppose. I love G1, but I'm not a die hard. I don't care for the Bay movie designs outside of Optimus, I liked the Transformers Animated before it was canceled and the toys were good too, but I do like what they've done to the Dinobots in FoC game and hope they come out with figures based on these versions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exodus

Which line does he come out for? Generations or ??

Generations.

[Crazy Jetty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greenskar

Different tastes I suppose. I love G1, but I'm not a die hard. I don't care for the Bay movie designs outside of Optimus, I liked the Transformers Animated before it was canceled and the toys were good too, but I do like what they've done to the Dinobots in FoC game and hope they come out with figures based on these versions.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a diehard Geewunner, either. That was the era I grew up in, but there's so much that's just as good, if not better.
The Bayverse so far is the only fiction that has absolutely no redeeming value, IMO.
The Beast Era is my favorite, followed closely by Animated (One more season, and a few more excellent toys and it'd have replaced BW).
RiD and G2 comes up really close after.
Hell, the UT had some wonderful toys, excellent characters, and brilliant concepts. It's only downfall was relying on Takara to provide the bulk of the fiction (Dreamwave's Armada/Energon comic was one of the best TF comic series out there).
Even Prime has *some* unrealized potential. (It's hurt most by very poor CG, and not living up to it's overblown reputation storywise).
And I'm certainly not against new takes, or new concepts. IDW's comics were brilliant until the trainwreck of AHM.
Just that design wise, the games fail at everything they try to do.
Though I will say I do love their idea for the dinobots' story.

Quote:

but I do like what they've done to the Dinobots in FoC game and hope they come out with figures based on these versions

I wouldn't hold my breath. Supossedly, Hasbro said somewhere that there are only 8 FoC being made. Bruticus here is fiive of them, and the other three are supossedly Shockwave, Jazz, and Optimus.

The game designers also said something in an interview that Hasbro refused to allow them to use the dinobots. They said they were staying away from them as a franchise. And they had to fight tooth and claw to be allowed to put them in the game.
So if that's true, I can't imagine hasbro having *any* plans for any dinobots for the forseeable future.

They've also "supposedly" told FP the same thing reguarding Beast Wars, when FP tried to propose more beast era characters.
Take this one with a grain of salt, as Brian and Pete lie about things they don't want to do them. So they may be looking to place the heat on Hasbro and off of Brian when he rejects the council's set ideas.
On the other hand, that also sounds like Hasbro, lately.

[DogFashionDisco]

This discussion got confusing fast, haha. I'm a novice Transformer fan, obviously.

[Greenskar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy Jetty

*Snip*

Yeah I heard about all that drama regarding Hasbro not wanting Dinobots and all that other mess. I don't have much faith, but you can imagine how stoked I'd be if they busted out with that surprise.

Although to be honest, after I got my TFC Hercules completed, I honestly don't care for Hasbro/Takara anymore beyond the Masterpiece Line. Third party figures, while expensive, seem to offer the best representations of these characters in my opinion. I think I might end up getting the Insecticons now too from Fans Project. If I ever found FP Bruticus complete for $200 I'd snatch him up real fast, but I will not pay $400 for it since only two of the figures are amazing and uniquely constructed by FP.

Dude, if you only knew how long I've been waiting for an IDW based Starscream in his F22 alt mode. THAT's what I want.

by the way a pic of this new Bruticus toy has finally been posted on TFW: FoC Onslaught Figure - Page 23 - TFW2005 - The 2005 Boards

Let me know how off I was about what I claimed to see in the OP.

[trebleshot]

Well, I'm a sucker for combiners so I'll be getting them all eventually. I've almost completed the entire PCC run (a few more on their way and I'm done), so that should tell you something. Having said that....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy Jetty

Well, just to make everything absolutely clear, I have no issues with the story of the games (I just hate being forced to play a video games in order to follow a story. I'm not a gamer, and moreso, I hate the type of game that WfC/FoC are. But that's nothing against the story itself). Just the character designs. I wished they'd gotten someone who has real and genuine experience designing transformers, like Don Figueroa, Nick Roche, or Guido Guidi.
The designs do a terrible job at representing the G1 versions of the characters, *and* the Prime versions of the characters.
Most of the designs are not physically possible from any sort of engineering standpoints (Arcee, anyone?). They go for what they think looks cool, whether it's possible or not. And in my eyes, those end up looking bland, boring, and extremely generic.
That translates into the toys 100 percent, for me. WfC Prime looks only slightly less boring than Prime Prime (I wish they'd called that series something else).
But maybe I was spoiled by Don's excellent WWI designs.

They weren't designed to be pre-G1 figures, necessarily. In fact, the WFC characters take most of their design cues from the movies anyway. Besides, I could point out a ton of G1 toys that couldn't possibly transform IRL the way the show or toy depicts it. I think you may have been spoiled by Don's work, because I feel you're being overly harsh on what amounts to fantastical designs. Who says they have to make sense or be realistic? Alien technology should be enough of an explanation. Where is your suspension of disbelief?

As far as continuity is concerned, I treat all WFC stuff as a separate universe from both G1 and the Bay films, regardless of what Hasbro says is or is not canon. Hell, half the time they can't decide on that anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy Jetty

Hell, the UT had some wonderful toys, excellent characters, and brilliant concepts.

It also had a bunch of shit toys and crappy concepts. I love combiners, like I said, but even I can honestly say that the Power Link/Super Link was shite. Interesting concept, poor execution. And talk about bad combined modes.

Quote:

Even Prime has *some* unrealized potential. (It's hurt most by very poor CG, and not living up to it's overblown reputation storywise).

Bad CG? Are we even watching the same show? And are you watching yours in HD or standard?

Sorry, I don't see what's bad about it. From my experience, it looks great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greenskar

by the way a pic of this new Bruticus toy has finally been posted on TFW: FoC Onslaught Figure - Page 23 - TFW2005 - The 2005 Boards

Let me know how off I was about what I claimed to see in the OP.

I think he looks fine for a combiner made of five distinct molds. Just look at the original G1 combiners: Devastator and Defensor looked like single massive robots but were practically statues, Superion was gangly as shit, Bruticus and Menasor had skinny thighs, Menasor and Abominus had hugh gaps between their shoulders, and Monstructor was the TF equivalent of Pluto (the planet). The only one who looked good combined and still had decent size and articualtion was Predaking.

Granted, FP may have set the bar extremely high with not-Bruticus, but I have to give some praise to Hasbro for at least making something like this. I have seen and made posts for years asking them to design a combiner using five deluxe molds as the limbs/torso (or a voyager as the torso).

At any rate, it's certainly a step up from the Energon and PCC combiners.

[Crazy Jetty]

@Trebleshot,
yes, the CG is terrible. Overanimated comes to mind. Megatron is a flippin bobblehead anytime he speaks. Prime climbing up the mountain in one of the pilot episodes was hilariously bad. The animators have no consistancy when it comes to shadows and colors, and through 90% of the series none of the characters actually occupied the backgrounds they supossedly exist in.
The animators also have no real grasp of gravity and weight.
So yes, Prime's CG is terrible. It's all flash and no substance. Looks pretty but when you put them all in movement, then the illusions shatter.

I'm not even going to comment on your responce to my saying the UT had redeeming qualities, Because in doing so you missed my point.

Quote:

Who says they have to make sense or be realistic? Alien technology should be enough of an explanation. Where is your suspension of disbelief?

When A character has this huge bulky car, and then transforms into an extremely slender and almost frail robot in a way that is not physically possible (*cough*arcee*cough*) that shows the designers have no concept of what they're doing, and thus kills my suspension of disbelief.

You also seem to have missed where I acknowledged that this is a separate continuity from G1, and is not the neo g1 hasbro wants us to believe.

@greenskar,
yegads, that thing is an absolute trainwreck!

And I'm with you on the IDW seekers. But that was back when IDW was good. Would love to see more of EJ Su's designs, and would prefer those to many "classics" we've gotten.

[Greenskar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by trebleshot

Well, I'm a sucker for combiners so I'll be getting them all eventually. I've almost completed the entire PCC run (a few more on their way and I'm done), so that should tell you something. Having said that....



I think he looks fine for a combiner made of five distinct molds. Just look at the original G1 combiners: Devastator and Defensor looked like single massive robots but were practically statues, Superion was gangly as shit, Bruticus and Menasor had skinny thighs, Menasor and Abominus had hugh gaps between their shoulders, and Monstructor was the TF equivalent of Pluto (the planet). The only one who looked good combined and still had decent size and articualtion was Predaking.

Granted, FP may have set the bar extremely high with not-Bruticus, but I have to give some praise to Hasbro for at least making something like this. I have seen and made posts for years asking them to design a combiner using five deluxe molds as the limbs/torso (or a voyager as the torso).

At any rate, it's certainly a step up from the Energon and PCC combiners.

Damn dude all of the pcc's? I've been out of the TF game too long I guess. Damn Marvel. I wouldn't even have got Hercules if Symbiote hadn't got me the first one as a gift to begin the slippery slope, lol.

You aren't kidding either. In comparison to combiners of previous generations this is definitely better, there is also the accounting side of the business that factors in so while most on here complain about the designs and corner cutting, including me, I also appreciate the way they worked around cost hurdles to bring something like this to retail. Until you've had to actually create and manage a budget for a manufacturing project in production operations you just really have no idea what kind of hurdles, constraints and bottlenecks you face trying to accomplish this for an affordable price to mass consumer market.

I will no doubt grab these...now the question is, do I wait for the Takara repaint or just grab these Hasbro ones?

[trebleshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy Jetty

@Trebleshot,
yes, the CG is terrible. Overanimated comes to mind.

I'm sorry, I just don't see how that's possible. It's an animated show. It's not meant to mimic reality. It doesn't even have to resemble reality.

Quote:

Megatron is a flippin bobblehead anytime he speaks. Prime climbing up the mountain in one of the pilot episodes was hilariously bad. The animators have no consistancy when it comes to shadows and colors, and through 90% of the series none of the characters actually occupied the backgrounds they supossedly exist in.
The animators also have no real grasp of gravity and weight.
So yes, Prime's CG is terrible. It's all flash and no substance. Looks pretty but when you put them all in movement, then the illusions shatter.

Again, it's an animated show. Physics are routinely disregarded in most types of animation. Would you also criticise the Cars movies for ignoring physics? Or how about the movie Up?

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying you're wrong for having that opinion, I'm simply trying to understand the reasoning behind it better. Also, if all you've seen is the 5-episode pilot, you really should watch some of the later episodes. Especially towards the end of season one.

Quote:

I'm not even going to comment on your responce to my saying the UT had redeeming qualities, Because in doing so you missed my point.

I think I may have. My comment was to show that no TF line or series is without fault. I re-read your post to be sure, and nowhere do you state that you were only listing the redeeming qualities for the UT (or for any series). In fact, you added that the only fault with the UT was the fiction supplied by Taraka. I was pointing out that the fiction wasn't the only problem with the UT.

Quote:

When A character has this huge bulky car, and then transforms into an extremely slender and almost frail robot in a way that is not physically possible (*cough*arcee*cough*) that shows the designers have no concept of what they're doing, and thus kills my suspension of disbelief.

Arcee turns into a motorcycle - certainly not a bulky car. If anything, I figured you would take issue with the mass shifting that she apparently does when going from a small bike to a robot only slightly shorter than Bumblebee (who's a muscle car).

Quote:

You also seem to have missed where I acknowledged that this is a separate continuity from G1, and is not the neo g1 hasbro wants us to believe.

No, no, I caught that. I was simply responding with my personal opinion about its continuity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greenskar

Damn dude all of the pcc's? I've been out of the TF game too long I guess. Damn Marvel. I wouldn't even have got Hercules if Symbiote hadn't got me the first one as a gift to begin the slippery slope, lol.

Lol, yup. Just two more 5-packs (Dinobots & Stunticons) and two more 2-packs (Heavytread & Salvage) and I will have them all. To be fair, it's a relatively small subline and most of it I got on sale at one point or another. Once I get the last of them, I will see about taking group shots and posting them in the TF catch-all thread.

And I would love to pick up Hercules but it's too expensive for me to justify the cost right now. I might do it if I could spread the costs out over the year. It may be something I'll have to get at a Con in the future.

Quote:

You aren't kidding either. In comparison to combiners of previous generations this is definitely better, there is also the accounting side of the business that factors in so while most on here complain about the designs and corner cutting, including me, I also appreciate the way they worked around cost hurdles to bring something like this to retail. Until you've had to actually create and manage a budget for a manufacturing project in production operations you just really have no idea what kind of hurdles, constraints and bottlenecks you face trying to accomplish this for an affordable price to mass consumer market.

I've had to deal with something similar while designing networks, so I completely understand when things get compromised due to budget restraints or other factors. That's one reason I'm a little more forgiving when it comes to TF designs than most.

Quote:

I will no doubt grab these...now the question is, do I wait for the Takara repaint or just grab these Hasbro ones?

Get them both and you can mix-n-match.

But seriously, wait for the Taraka version to see if it has a game-accurate deco. But beware of the Random Chrome Fairies.

[Crazy Jetty]

@treble,

Quote:

Arcee turns into a motorcycle - certainly not a bulky car. If anything, I figured you would take issue with the mass shifting that she apparently does when going from a small bike to a robot only slightly shorter than Bumblebee (who's a muscle car).

She doesn't in the game. The designers made her a pink car. Very bulky that in no way could possible transform into the slender tiny robot mode they gave her.
We were talking about the game at that point.
(Which is another failing of this continuity, there's absolutely no relationship or continuity between the games and Prime, in reguards to character designs. But that's not relevent to the conversation at hand).

And as for the show's cg, yes, Pixar does tend to acknowledge that their characters have weight, and do acknowledge that some form of physics exists in their world.
That's the difficulty and why I hate CG as a medium. When you leave the cell type cartoons and move into CG, you begin to have to acknowledge a whole different set of principals. I have no problem with Jazz doing handstand breakdancing in the G1 cartoon (As little as I like the sunbow cartoon), or Prowl doing all those insane ninja moves in Animated. But Ratchet or Optimus doing them in Prime as easily as a traditional cartoon character pretty much kills the suspension of disbelief. When you start to put you characters into a more realistic environment, then you have to start to adhear to more realistic laws of physics.

@greenskar,

Quote:

In comparison to combiners of previous generations this is definitely better

I would disagree on this front, for one single reason. JRX/Railracer. Strong team theme, strong individual toys (Not perfect, but strong), and the best combined mode produced yet.
'nuff said. :P

(Personal opinion is that Magnaboss and Tripredacus are leaps and bounds better than this guy too, but I won't enter that to relevency)

[Dragonclaw]

I'm a sucker for combiners, but the use of a deluxe for the torso just makes him look awkward IMHO. The gorilla arm look just loses it for me.

[trebleshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crazy Jetty

She doesn't in the game. The designers made her a pink car. Very bulky that in no way could possible transform into the slender tiny robot mode they gave her.
We were talking about the game at that point.

Ah, for some reason I thought we had switched from WFC to Prime. But I feel obliged to point out that G1 characters were notorious for doing the same thing - Megatron being a prime example.

Also, the vehicle mode was probably designed for another character and rather than render a new vehicle for her, they re-used one with a palette swap. Are there any other characters with the same vehicle mode in the game? (I've been attempting to avoid spoilers, so I haven't seen that many screen caps/pics of the game).

Quote:

When you start to put you characters into a more realistic environment, then you have to start to adhear to more realistic laws of physics.

Not necessarily. If you are going for realism (such as in a live-action movie), then I might agree. But if you're doing an animated show, there is room for artistic license. And given that they are aliens, I feel it's perfectly acceptable for them to perform acts that would seem to defy physics.

Quote:

I would disagree on this front, for one single reason. JRX/Railracer. Strong team theme, strong individual toys (Not perfect, but strong), and the best combined mode produced yet.
'nuff said. :P

Don't you think it's a little unfair to compare a 3-member combiner to a 5-member combiner? There is far less compromise to the various modes with the former than the latter.

IMHO, I think Predaking is the best 5-member combiner we've gotten so far. Based on your criteria, I'd even go so far as to break it down even further:

2 bots: ANI Safeguard
3 bots: BW Magnaboss (w/RiD Railracer as r.u.)
4 bots: RiD Landfill
5 bots: G1 Predaking (w/G1 Defensor as r.u.)
6 bots: G1 Devastator
7 bots: ROTF Legends Devastator