Eagle's Claw punch?

I know what this looks like from the videos...but what is it like in game?
Has anyone picked the punch over the kick?

I really don't want the kick but the punch looks kind of ridiculous (at least it the video).

Any thoughts?

Not sure what you are asking, but it does look ridiculous. You are taking one of the coolest looking powers and substituting a punch that would be barely effective in a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

I'm curious...what attack chains do you use?

I'm really having a hard time picking the attack powers in MA...Thunder Kick is extremely lame on the animation...Eagle's Claw is almost a no-go because I do not want to flip in the air like an acrobat and the punch animation is obviously out of the question.

It's unfortunate, I had wanted to see that animation used for a punch attack for a while now, and finally got it on an attack I like...and it's Eagle's Claw, which already has a super cool animation. That said, if you have some sort of philosophical opposition to the whole slow-jump-wuxia feel of the standard EC animation, and/or you're playing for more of a bruiser feel, the alternate animation looks pretty nice.

Unfortunatly, EC is too much fluff for me and always will be. It's too slow animating, and the damage and secondary effects - despite balancing - does not earn it a place for my MA/SR. It *looks* fantastic, but the animation also kills the damage for me. I've been criticized for this logic before, but I still think when the "chuck" of damage is delivered durring an animation is important in any attack chain for "smoothness." Not in terms of long-term DPS, tho, that's more mechanical/baked-in, but in some instances for short "combos" (finishing a leut quickly with as little moves possible) and overall feel, it is important for me.
Classical EC animation: longish jump -> damage -> back flip -> next attack. Modern varient: LONG animation (up front) -> damge -> next attack. I think it can initiate a smoother attack chain, but I cant figure out a good recharge to make it consistant, so I end up like King Snake - attacking with whatever power is up. I like chains, so I ended up dropping it for CAK, storm, crane (adding thunder and dragon's tail to taste for puchy-kickyness). This maybe revised after I hit 50- if I get there.

The only punch animation that I actually like is the alternate for Storm Kick. It's a quick gut punch, almost like a quick "one-inch punch" styled strike. But in order to get it, I would have to give up the spinning heel kick animation, which I wasn't ready to do.

Cobra Strike's alternate uppercut animation isn't bad either, plus if you can put in Kinetic Combat proc for the occasional KD, but I still prefer the more Asian martial art-styled strike of using an open palm.

The CAK animation, a leaning hook punch, is probably the best alternate animation in comparison to the original kick animation, though it is still kinda meh compared to the gut punch and uppercut.

EC is the same animation of stun from energy melee isn't it? YAh I never liked that animation, it does look like a ball-throwing motion, lol.

Yea, the only new animation I like better than the old is the one for CAK. Course that one wasn't hard to improve upon.

See, I went for realism with my MA/WP. The character is "me", so I stuck with animations I could actually physically perform in real life (which is everything but the original Storm Kick and Eagle's Claw, and if Storm Kick were not a jumping kick I could do that too)

I haven't gotten to Eagle's Claw yet, so I'll see how it looks in action when I get there. I could perform the original CAK, but I wouldn't, because it's the most awkward looking kick I've ever seen, that leaves you wide open for a counterstrike in the middle of it. So, I opted for the punch.