Pretendaaaah!

Recently we all got excited with ROTF Bludgeon and a lot of us are now eagerly awaiting the new Thunderwing toy; as much as I really like the homage, I'd like to see some Pretender-inspired toys based on the inner robots rather than just the shell (which isn't the real Pretender... imagine if they made a Bumblebee toy with the robot mode based on his Pretender shell :p). I know the 1988 Pretenders had uninspiring anorexic inner robots, but the 1989 Pretender robots were pretty decent; and it's the 1989 Pretenders that we've seen remakes of (I don't think we're likely to see a reimagining of Gunrunner anytime soon. :p)

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22.../pretendah.jpg

Skullgrin is kinda. He's mostly an homage to the inner bot, but with the skull from the outer shell. OK, so he's just a repaint, but I think that was what they were going for with the tank mode.

PS. Would love a better homage to Skullgrin's original inner bot (at least the alt mode),as the dual-laser thingy tank-mode has potential to look very cool.

Anyway, do you have any pics of the '89 pretender inner bot modes. I'm too busy (read: lazy) to search, and when I think of inner pretender bots, I can only clearly remember the likes of Skullgrin, Bomburst, Landmine, etc etc which are all incredibly boring.

Is Snarler an '89 pretender? He would be something different to throw into the current line.

I wish they'd simply focus on other things besides Pretenders. I never liked the concept.

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Originally Posted by jaydisc

I wish they'd simply focus on other things besides Pretenders. I never liked the concept.

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No, I didn't like it either, but the new re-imagining of it doesn't involve a shell - so I'm quite happy that we're getting the new versions of some of the more interesting pretenders (like Bludgeon and Thunderwing).

i didnt really like bludgeon...

i would like to see a modernisation of catilla or chainclaw carnivac or snarler...

i think its time we saw some more beasts.......

Pretender bots would be nice, but I'd rather Has/Tak do some headmaster/targetmasters in the vein of classics.

Universe Cyclonus' nightstick was a step in the right direction- but after bay movie engineering - i'd hope that the moulds would be more refined than g1 headmasters. By that I mean imagine a current voyager sized tf with a headmaster head that doesn't look too blocky or out of place and looks good.

And yes my agenda is a re-do of Fort Max- although that is 99.9% not going to happen at this rate. And even if done, probably wouldn't live up to expectations.

i thought it was pretender?

I want to see a newer version of Bomb-Burst, a Vtol Jet with vampiric look/motif:D and yeah the beast Pretenders need to have newer versions too really.

There should be an option of a combined concept of the innerbot and outer shell really.

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Originally Posted by Autocon

i thought it was pretender?

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listen to what they say here

The Pretender shells are the more memorable parts because those got the starring roles when we saw them in the comics.

The robot mode homage to the shell and the vehicle mode homage to the inner robot (as per ROTF Bludgeon) works best and I would be quite happy to see more of those.

But if it had to be one or the other, as per this poll, the shell wins out over the inner robot.

If there were three Pretender homages I could get made they'd be:
An ROTF style Octopunch robot (with diving bell helmet head) that turned into a realistic submarine.
A Beast Wars style Carnivac who turned from purple/gold (with white trim) robot to wolf
A Metalhawk with a robot mode combining shell and robot elements that turned into a fighter jet.

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Originally Posted by Oilspill

Anyway, do you have any pics of the '89 pretender inner bot modes. I'm too busy (read: lazy) to search, and when I think of inner pretender bots, I can only clearly remember the likes of Skullgrin, Bomburst, Landmine, etc etc which are all incredibly boring.

Is Snarler an '89 pretender? He would be something different to throw into the current line.

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Skullgrin, Bomb-Burst, Landmine and Snarler are all '88 Pretenders.
Here are some pictorial example of 1989 Pretenders:
Bludgeon
Stranglehold
Octopunch
Thunderwing
Longtooth
Doubleheader
...as you can see the 1989 Pretender robots don't suffer from being all lanky and anorexic like the 1988 Pretenders. They also have better looking alt modes too. A lot of the '88 Pretenders transform into ambiguous looking "WTH?!" alt modes, whereas the '89 Pretenders' alt modes are instantly recognisable. e.g. when you look at Bludgeon's alt mode it is undeniably a tank. Compare this with say Waverider's alt mode... that's meant to be a submersible?! I got that toy for my birthday in 1988 and I just played with it as a jet. It was only later when I read the tech specs that I found out it was meant to be a sub. And even in G1 canon there was at least one moment where Waverider's alt mode was portrayed as a jet ("On The Edge of Extinction")... that shows you how ill-defined the 1988 Pretenders' alt modes were; even official canon sometimes didn't know what the hell they were meant to be! :p

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Originally Posted by jaydisc

I wish they'd simply focus on other things besides Pretenders. I never liked the concept.

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I like the concept of Pretenders. They weren't terribly well executed in 1988, but they got better in 1989 (and cheaper too! :D).

IMO the best Pretender toy made was Bumblebee. No other Pretender robot toy impresses me as much as Bumblebee. The alt mode is clearly a VW Beetle and in many ways - unlike the other Classic Pretenders, Bumblebee is arguably an improvement over his predecessors. Unlike 1984 Bumblebee his Beetle mode isn't super-deformed - neither is Goldbug's, but of course, Pretender Bumblebee has more articulation than either '84 Bumblebee and Goldbug (although having more articulation than a Throttlebot isn't hard ;))

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y22...lscream013.jpg

Personally, I think the shells are what they should be based off as they are the defining reason why the gimmick existed in the first place but also because they are what stand out in people's memories - at least in mine anyway. ;)

I do agree with Paulbot though, in that the new figures should have a Bot mode reminiscent of the Pretender Shell and it's Alt mode should be based on the Inner Bot's Alt mode.
I feel that the resulting figure would end up being far better IMO than ones based purely on the Inner Bot, but that's just my opinion - any new Classics-verse figures that harkens back to G1 at all gets a tick in my book. ;)

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Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

Skullgrin, Bomb-Burst, Landmine and Snarler are all '88 Pretenders.
Here are some pictorial example of 1989 Pretenders:
Bludgeon
Stranglehold
Octopunch
Thunderwing
Longtooth
Doubleheader

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Cheers for the links. Yeah, I'm all for robotic animal alt modes, but then sometimes the shell has much cooler character design. I mean, who doesn't want a half-human, half-walrus cyborg transformer?!

Longtooth with the outer shell used as the basis for robot mode would be cool. For the record I love Bludgeon and think it's a great idea:)

Yeah, +1 for the alt-mode based on inner robot and robot mode based on shell count option. Hasbro got it right with Bludgeon IMO.

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Originally Posted by Bartrim

For the record I love Bludgeon and think it's a great idea:)

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Originally Posted by Ode to a Grasshopper

Hasbro got it right with Bludgeon IMO.

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^ This :D

I think Bludgeon was a good one, and am really liking Thunderwing. So I would say I prefer the shell, but I like the idea of having a transformable drone instead of just a plane drone that we are getting with Thunderwing.

Pretender Monsters / Monstructor :)

I'd love to see how this would be tackled, perhaps via Powercore Combiners? Or hopefully through proper transforming combiners based on the pretender shells?

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Originally Posted by optimus1

Pretender Monsters / Monstructor :)

I'd love to see how this would be tackled, perhaps via Powercore Combiners? Or hopefully through proper transforming combiners based on the pretender shells?

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goodness please no!! Monstructor already got gipped in G1 let him have proper figures this time... PCC version will just seal the coffin shut for this character even more.

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Originally Posted by liegeprime

goodness please no!! Monstructor already got gipped in G1 let him have proper figures this time... PCC version will just seal the coffin shut for this character even more.

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Yeah I actually don't want them PCC style. It's just what is more likely if Hasbro ever resurrect them :(

Unless TakaraTomy choose to go their own way and recreate the Dinoforce :D

I would _love_ for TOMY to reissue Dinoking. Not sure if it'd be worth their while reissuing Monstructor though, since the toys and character were never released in the Japanese market, and even if it were done as a limited exclusive set (e.g. eHobby) the problem would be that the Pretender Monsters have entirely different shells from Dinoforce that would need to be redone. Unless they reissued Dinoking, with Dinoforce shells, but in Monstructors colours. And Hasbro would never put in the effort to modify a reissue Dinoking for a proper Monstructor reissue. At best they'd just reissue Monstructor with Dinoforce shells and give it some weird name in an attempt to justify it (like "Apex Armour Monstructor" :/ :p)

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Originally Posted by liegeprime

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Originally Posted by optimus1

I'd love to see how this would be tackled, perhaps via Powercore Combiners? Or hopefully through proper transforming combiners based on the pretender shells?

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goodness please no!! Monstructor already got gipped in G1 let him have proper figures this time... PCC version will just seal the coffin shut for this character even more.

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Yeah I agree... Power Combiners, as far as being gestalts are concerned... just suck. Some of the Commander figures are okay, but yeah... the combining gestalt feature is just all kinds of fail. The G1 Micromaster gestalts are better gestalt toys than the PCCs!!

Shells. I want classics Longtooth!

I never grew up with the Pretenders, as I was only born in 1987, and came in TFs when the show started syndication, and the Classic characters were being released (and a little bit of Action Masters). I even remember seeing another kid at school with a Rodimus Prime and a Blaster, and imagined that they must have had a father who bought it from overseas. (And was rather jealous - the only thing my lousy father brought from overseas was a GameBoy :P :D )

Anyway, the long story short is that the resulting exposure I have had to the Pretenders has been through their characterisation in the Super God Masterforce cartoon, and the comics.

With that in mind, I'd vote for new interpretations that had the robot mode reflect the shell, and a vehicle mode that reflected the inner robot. Two ways in which this has been done include what we have seen in Bludgeon & Thunderwing. Also, what we saw in the Stormbring comic, where the characters heads reflected their Pretender shell, but the body and vehicle mode reflected the inner robot.

I like the idea of vehicle modes that represent the inner robot and robot mode representing the shell.

However i'd like to see a Pretenders line for the 21st century. In the same line as Classicsverse, 88 and 89 pretenders revamped and improved.