Transformers questions by newbies, and not-so-newbies

[roller]

ive read in some places that the g 1 cartoon was meant to be an advert for the toys

In the return of optimus prime he is coloured white to show that he has the immunity to the hate plague, is it possible that white was chosen to tie in with the ultramagnus cab robot?

who voiced pretender jazz?

[Pipesqueak]

What's the deal with Pretenders in general? I thought they were supposed to allow tfs to pass as humans but i looked up Bludgeon (after reading the thread about a titanium design for him being dumped) and found he had a skeleton face - hardly a good way to blend in to the population. And the bot inside him turned into a tank, so does that mean Pretnder bots were capable of g1 megatronesque mass shifting? Otherwise it would be one tiny tank...

[dirge]

Pipesqueak, that was the original premise. However the Autobots were generally humans and the Decepticons were monsters - at least in 1988, during the first series.

The second series in 1989 gave us I think only four human shells - Vroom, Pincher, Crossblades and Skyhammer (inner shell). I wont count Doubleheader since two heads make for a fairly poor attempt to hide amongst the crowd.

Bludgeon fits into the Decepticon's monster theme. The only Decepticon I can think of who had a human shell was Strangehold - who was 1989 vintage actually.

[roller]

i bet BM Megatron used G1 Hardhead as a template for the tank drone design, they are so similiar. Coincedence? I think not

[liegeprime]

The Decepticons Pretender shells were not meant for camouflage (is my spelling correct?) but rather they used it for added firepower, and armor and shock value ( a psych warfare kinda thing) thus they used the theme of monsters, spikes and all. Such was not the intention for that particular technology when on the autobots end of the spectrum, its for disguise as these shells allow them to "shrink" ( read:mass shift) into humanoid sized, well ....humans as seen in the japanese TF series Pretenders. This is so they can operate easily on earth without drawing much attention. Decepticons couldn't care less hence monsters - good for causing mayhem and wanton destruction.
As always the varied way of thinking is very much evidently displayed by both factions with regards to the technologies they use, pretender shells included. Take for example in the G2 Marvel comics. This was thought of by Prime himself with regards to "warworld" - A mobile moonsized battle fortress of mish mashed stolen technology from dozens of conquered planets by the decepts. Prime states in his thoughts - were the Warworld is concerned, He ( in extension autobots) are thinking communication, while Megatron ( in extension decepticons) is thinking weapon.. which pretty much exemplifies it up with regards to views of the gimmicks/ technology for each side. Hope this helps.

[GoktimusPrime]

Takara initially came up with the idea of having Transformers that could transform into humans, but when they threw the idea at Hasbro, Hasbro suggested instead that they keep the Transformers as vehicles, but envelop them in human-looking shells. Then somewhere down the line a decision was made to make the Decepticons look like monsters.

In the G1 series "Super God Masterforce" (effectively G1 Season 5 - spoilers ahead now!), it explains that the Autobot Pretenders modelled their shells after humans to integrate with humans whereas the Decepticon Pretenders modelled their shells after monsters in order to frighten humans. Remember that the Pretenders came to Earth thousands of years ago, before the advent of mass public schooling/education back when people would have been highly superstitious so they would have absolutely believed that the Decepticon Pretenders were actually demons/monsters with little to no means of combating them with pre-gun age weapons (not even a ballista can be loaded with Sabot rounds! Although I'm sure that the Decepticons would have been susceptible to Fetchez la vache trebuchet attack ).

You can see here how the Autobot Pretender shells allowed them to be robots disguised as humans in the G1 cartoon.


(that's right, Phoenix (Cloudburst) looks like Wolverine )

In the Marvel continuity, they were never robots in disguise (not on Earth anyway). Zarak and Vorath came up with the technology as a biotechnological experiment (something which Nebulans seem to excel in considering that they were the ones who devised Headmaster, Targetmaster and Powermaster technologies) and made the Decepticon Pretenders, who looked like giant monsters (why not?). Optimus Prime - who was a 1337 cyber character (existing only in cyberspace at the time) h4X0r'D the Decepticons' computer and pwned the technology back to the Autobots, who then used it to create Autobot Pretenders - who were giant humans in armour. In spite of this, the Decepticons still fell for their ploy! (when one of the Decepticon Pretenders complained that the Autobot Pretenders looked too big to be humans, Scorponok replied with something like, "Fool! That only makes their cowardice greater!" - yeah right) - the feint didn't last long... soon after the Decepticons began their attack, the Autobot Pretenders came out of their shell and thanks to battlefield leadership from cyber-prime (online) the Autobots managed to prawn the Decepticons z0mg!!111!1!!1~!11

There have been a few times the Autobots' Pretender shells have worked as disguises - but never on Earth. It worked on the planet Femax, where Cloudburst and Landmine met these giant Amazonian women - whose queen wanted to do Shnoo-Shnoo with Cloudburst. She got real mad when she found out that he was really a robot who didn't possess the correct... err... equipment for which to perform Shnoo-Shnoo with her.



Now remember that the only Pretenders who were released in Japan (as Pretenders) were Landmine (as Lander), Waverider (Diver), Cloudburst (Phoenix), Submarauder (Gilmer), Skullgrin (Dauros) and Bomb-Burst (Blood). All other Pretenders that were released in the Hasbro market were not released in Japan - with the exception of the Pretender Monsters (released as Dino Force) and 2 of the Mega Pretenders (significantly retooled and released as Crossformers) - but neither of which are classified as Pretenders in the Japanese line/continuity, so they don't count.

The 1989 Pretenders (the line including Bludgeon) was never released in Japan. I once had a Japanese fan look at my collection and was drooling over my 1989 Small Pretenders... they're not really awesome toys, but the fact that they were never released in Japan made them really special for him (much like a Western fan's reaction to say Raiden or Lio Kaiser) - speaking of which, when the same Japanese fan saw dirge's Lio Kaiser, although he did think it was cool and enjoyed playing with it, he didn't have a fan-fap over it like he did with the 1989 Small Pretenders!

But yeah, in the Marvel continuity the Pretender shell acted more like a suit of armour that could be deployed as a remote-controlled autonomous unit to either reinforce the host Transformer in battle, or be used as a decoy. The only downside is that whatever is felt by the shell is also felt even more acutely by its owner. If the shell sustains a mortal wound or is destroyed, the owner goes into temporary stasis lock.

"Fetchez la vache!"
"Quoi?!"
"Fetchez la vache!"
(Monty Python and the Holy Grail)

[Pipesqueak]

Thanks guys - so fast and so comprehensive!

[Bartrim]

I wont count Doubleheader since two heads make for a fairly poor attempt to hide amongst the crowd.

.

Not in the Shoalhaven

[GoktimusPrime]

Or Sesame Street



I really do like how Doubleheader talks through his two heads separately in an attempt to form coherent sentences and sometimes ends up confusing himself! It's a cute quirk.

[dirge]

Not in the Shoalhaven

Dammit. I have to clean the Diet Lime Coke® off my desk now. Priceless