So this years Botcon Set (2015) ...

[GoktimusPrime]

When pretenders were out in the shops, I ended up buying a couple of the smaller ones, and they were OK.

The smaller Pretenders came out in 1989 and were actually better than the larger 1988 Pretenders. IMO one problem with the 88 Pretenders isn't just that they're Transformers inside human/monster looking shells, but that the robots inside aren't very good Transformers in their own right. They transform from robots to... umm... folded up robots. Tack on some wheels or wings and call it an alt mode. They're more like Cosplaying contortionists. The 89 Pretenders were generally better because their alt modes looked like alt modes. Bludgeon's alt mode is clearly a tank and Bumblebee is a VW Beetle etc. The very first Pretender that I got was Waverider; it was a birthday present and I remember opening it and playing with it before I bothered to read the tech specs. I honestly thought that the alt mode was a spaceship. You can imagine my surprise when I eventually did read the tech specs and discovered that it's meant to be some kind of sea-faring submersible!

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

The smaller Pretenders came out in 1989 and were actually better than the larger 1988 Pretenders. IMO one problem with the 88 Pretenders isn't just that they're Transformers inside human/monster looking shells, but that the robots inside aren't very good Transformers in their own right. They transform from robots to... umm... folded up robots.

Ha ha ha. Yeah that's true. But the smaller ones did need a significant chunk of their alt mode. AS an ecample, I had Longtooth and Pincher. Long tooth had a cool vehicle mode, but without the backpack it didn't work.

[GoktimusPrime]

Ha ha ha. Yeah that's true. But the smaller ones did need a significant chunk of their alt mode. AS an ecample, I had Longtooth and Pincher. Long tooth had a cool vehicle mode, but without the backpack it didn't work.

Neither of them are nearly as bad as Gunrunner. My Longtooth is missing his accessory, but he's still transformable as a vehicle. Pincher would be a legless and tailless scorpion, but at least the head, body and arms are still there. Doubleheader would be a wingless jet (still capable of interstellar flight at least) -- you get the idea. Gunrunner on the other hand is utterly useless without his accessory. His accessory is the alt mode! All Gunrunner does is fold up as undercarriage stowage. The accessory can still transform into a jet in its own right without Gunrunner! It actually looks more like a jet without him because there isn't that chunky undercarriage.

And of course, those smaller Pretenders were cheap carded figures, whereas Gunrunner was a more expensive boxed toy! I didn't bother getting Roadgrabber after I got Gunrunner because I was so off-put by Gunrunner in '88, but Roadgrabber is by the better of the pair. In hindsight I should've bought him instead of Gunrunner; I've since acquired Roadgrabber for free anyway -- but yeah, if you're gonna spend money on either of the Pretender Vehicles, don't pay for Gunrunner! That toy was rubbish even by 1988 standards.