SPACER
SPACER
Admiral Scathe's Predator was the third and final ship to release in the original Pyrates toyline. This ship released during the third wave of Pyrates toys. The set has 104 pieces, three figures, and is set #3619.
The Predator is the flag ship of The Buccaneers faction. Much like The Stormstalker, The Predator is a sloop style vessel. The ship's model is based heavily on Captain Cutlass' Stormstalker, with a few modifications here and there.
The ship sports a very nice red, grey, and silver color scheme. It really sets it apart from other ships in the series. The ship features four cloth sails, two aft and two fore. Its figurehead is a silver lion with chains that loop back around to the hull itself.
The ship only has one mast, topped with a flat style crow's nest and a flagpole bearing the Buccaneers flag.
Unlike The Stormstalker and The Phantom, The Predator does not feature a transformer. Instead, the area where the Vault of Transformation sits on The Stormstalker is replaced by a large central cannon. In fact, the only cannon The Predator comes with. Which I think is kinda odd. I always pictured The Buccaneers would be armed to the teeth. But hey, maybe not. In fact their cannon doesn't even come with traditional ammo. It comes with a red, specialized harpoon piece instead. One that's different from the old harpoon pieces we used to get.
Admiral Scathe's Predator is much more simple than the other two ships in the mainline series. There's really not any big play features to go over. What you see on the box is pretty much what you get. It does come with a rowboat and a chest full of treasure as accessories though. It also features a zipline, a rat, and some skulls for decoration.
Admiral Scathe's Predator only comes with three figures. The smallest amount of figures to come in any pirate ship from the Pyrates toyline. The set features two Buccaneers and on Sea Marauder. The first Buccaneer is none other than the man of the hour himself, Admiral Scathe.
Admiral Scathe is the leader of the Buccaneers and the captain of this ship. He wears a tan shirt decked with pistols as well as green pants. He wears a tricorn hat with some sort of insignia on it and has a pointed black beard. He wields a sabre in this set.
There's also Steve Scabard, another member of the Buccaneers crew. He serves as Scathe's right hand man. He wears a black privateers jacket with curly black hair. He also sports a wicked scar down the left side of his face. He wields a cutlass.
The final figure of the set is Brigadoon Blackburn. A burly and rough Sea Marauder. He has a tattoo on the left side of his face and sports a crew cut hairdo. He wears a green jacket and wields a black pistol.
The Predator started out life as a Sea Marauders vessel. In the past it had been owned by the allied Captain Sabrehook and served as his primary vessel during his pirating career.
The ship was stolen from Sabrehook after Scathe (Then simply known as Mr. Scathe, the arms expert of Captain Cutlass' crew) conspired with Steven Scabard the former Vice Captain of Sabrehook's crew. The two of them worked together to oust Sabrehook and his few loyal men. Sabrehook and his men were left stranded on an empty island, while Scathe made off with his ship and more than half of his crew.
After Scathe stole The Predator and founded The Buccaneers, he lay low for a while. While the Privateers, Sea Marauders, and Skeleton Crew battled for supremacy, Scathe lay in wait. Preparing, building his crew, and most importantly revamping The Predator.
Admiral Scathe made many modifications to The Predator to turn it into a demon of a ship. She was outfitted for war and made to be the ultimate ship sinker. Her sail structure and lightweight design made her the fastest ship in the water. Her crimson sails stained with the blood of her enemies. She was armed to the teeth with weapons. And most importantly, featured a deadly weapon made custom for Scathe.
The Predator was outfitted with a powerful gun at her prow. This weapon was named the Plutocannon. Designed by specialist blacksmiths at Nassau, this cannon was made to be the most deadly weapon on the sea. It was built as a swiveling turret style gun, able to fire upon all sides. The cannon featured two seperate modes. "Destroyer Mode", which was powerful enough to sink entire ships in a single blast. And "Capture Mode", which fired a powerful harpoon. The harpoon was connected to a winch and could be used to drag ships in close for hand to hand combat.
In the trailers for the unreleased sequel to the Pyrates promotional CDROM movie, we can see prototypes of Admiral Scathe's Predator in action.
Though we only have a few snippets of footage at the moment, its enough to get a glimpse into the kind of ship The Predator was before release.
The ship looks even more similar to Captain Cutlass' Stormstalker in the prototype. The finished ship still resembles it greatly, but its visible even moreso in the prototype.
The hull lacks its signature red and silver color scheme. Instead it has a dark red hull with silver accents. The ship shares the crow's nest and cannon placement of Captain Cutlass' Stormstalker. It even has The Sea Marauders flag on its flagpole! Though the figurehead still seems to be unique at least. The lion!
The ship lacks its large forward mounted cannon as well. Notably, the sail placement is different from both The Stormstalker as well as the finalized, released version of Admiral Scathe's Predator. The sails in this version lack the double fore sails, and instead the secondary aft sail is much, much larger.
In the teasers we can see Admiral Scathe as well as who seems to be Sam Shackleton aboard the prototype ship.
This version of the ship was also present at the 2005 toyfair. Although barely any decent photos of that exist.
