Pretendaaaah!

[GoktimusPrime]

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.

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!

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

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

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 )

[Hursticon]

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.

[Oilspill]

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

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?!

[Bartrim]

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

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

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.

[5FDP]

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

Hasbro got it right with Bludgeon IMO.

^ This

[1AZRAEL1]

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.

[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?

[liegeprime]

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?

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.

[optimus1]

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.

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