Things you never realised about Transformers (toys etc)

[UltraMarginal]

Geordi LaForge is Doc Greene in Rescue Bots?!

I know right, how awesome is that! I wish he'd been part of the Rescue bots panel at Botcon 2014.

Yes, and Luke Skywalker is Chief Burns' brother.

I didn't know that, I almost expect Hamill to be the new Welker in 20 years or so. guy is everywhere.

[Metallikato]

Just noticed Brawl's handgun in his character model is based on an M2. I can't remember how well that actually translated into the animation of the G1 cartoon, but it's a nice touch.

[CoRDS]

mp28 can store his guns on his back in robot mode just behind his shoulders

[Paulbot]

Pretenders, hey? Would be a logical progression of the Prime Trilogy gimmicks.

1. Combiners
2. Headmasters/Targetmasters
3. Pretenders

There's an inter-playability theme to all of them.

Huh. Until Verno's comment tonight I have never thought about putting first year Pretender inner robots into other Pretender shells. In theory Cloudburst might fit in Skullgrin's shell? Carnival could sit in Catilla's. And so on right? I had several as a kid but never even thought to put Landmine in Sky High's shell.

[Krayt]

mp28 can store his guns on his back in robot mode just behind his shoulders

Pic?

[GoktimusPrime]

Huh. Until Verno's comment tonight I have never thought about putting first year Pretender inner robots into other Pretender shells. In theory Cloudburst might fit in Skullgrin's shell? Carnival could sit in Catilla's. And so on right? I had several as a kid but never even thought to put Landmine in Sky High's shell.

I used to do this when I was a kid, but the interchangeability on Pretenders varies. Some can change shells better than others, because the shells are essentially form-fitted to the individual robot. Some make it difficult to close the shell halves while others fit in snugly. So it's not quite as universally interchangeable as the Headmaster, Targetmaster and Powermaster gimmicks; those gimmicks were intended to be interchangeable ("Cross Head On!") whereas if any Pretender can fit in another's shell, it's more of a happy accident.

[SuspectimusPrime]

Huh. Until Verno's comment tonight I have never thought about putting first year Pretender inner robots into other Pretender shells. In theory Cloudburst might fit in Skullgrin's shell? Carnival could sit in Catilla's. And so on right? I had several as a kid but never even thought to put Landmine in Sky High's shell.

I used to do this when I was a kid, but the interchangeability on Pretenders varies. Some can change shells better than others, because the shells are essentially form-fitted to the individual robot. Some make it difficult to close the shell halves while others fit in snugly. So it's not quite as universally interchangeable as the Headmaster, Targetmaster and Powermaster gimmicks; those gimmicks were intended to be interchangeable ("Cross Head On!") whereas if any Pretender can fit in another's shell, it's more of a happy accident.

Sounds like an unused/missed opportunity for the fiction?

It would have been very advantageous for Pretenders to be capturing and hijacking opposing faction's shells and then impersonating them. Headmasters swapping out heads and gaining even more awesome powers and strength increases makes zero sense.

[prjkt]

Sounds like an unused/missed opportunity for the fiction?

It would have been very advantageous for Pretenders to be capturing and hijacking opposing faction's shells and then impersonating them. Headmasters swapping out heads and gaining even more awesome powers and strength increases makes zero sense.

I kinda imagine that to be similiar to the "body-gloving" used in IDW/MTMTE - gain the advantage of a new alt-mode...

And while the original pretenders weren't designed to be interchanged, who's to say any potential new attempt wont be different and operate on this interchangeable concept.

With a heavily modified Dead End/Streetwise mould being used for Chromedome, I'm not imagining a combining headmaster in a pretender shell. And it's be someone stupid too, either totally obscure, or Bumblebee.

[GoktimusPrime]

Sounds like an unused/missed opportunity for the fiction?

It would have been very advantageous for Pretenders to be capturing and hijacking opposing faction's shells and then impersonating them. Headmasters swapping out heads and gaining even more awesome powers and strength increases makes zero sense.

The Pretenders' shells were psychically synced with their host Transformers. This allowed the hosts to remotely control their shells as extensions of themselves, so if they were separate from their shells, it would act as their own personal backup. The downside to this was that whatever damage was done to the shell would be felt by its owner, and critical damage was so intense that it could render the owner unconscious. The greater the critical damage, the greater the mental feedback. Bumblebee was knocked out for some time after Thunderwing blasted his shell. Carnivac allowed Spinister to destroy his shell (to make the Mayhem Attack Squad believe that they had killed him), and the pain that he felt from the destruction of his his shell was so intense that it nearly killed him.

So I doubt that, canonically speaking, Pretenders can swap shells since they seem to be 'imprinted' onto their owners. In G1 Anglophone continuity anyway.

[Verno]

What do we have here? Looks like a kicked off a little debate

As much as I'd like the third part of the Prime Wars trilogy to be all about beasts (and I don't just mean Beast Wars characters -- the Dinobots and G1 Predacons are long-overdue for the Generations treatment), I'm becoming more inclined to think it would be a gimmick-based line like Combiners and Headmasters, with an interchanging playability, and the only real G1 gimmick for them to draw on is Pretenders.

Given the technology available and design prowess these days, I'd be inclined to think they'd be along the lines of the Mega Pretenders and Ultra Pretenders, with both the external shell and inner robot having the ability to transform.

The sometimes organic or bestial nature of the Pretenders would be a logical segue into a line of Dinobots, Predacons and more Beast Wars toys!

But this is all just the musings of a madman.