AllNewSuperRobot wrote:While alien lifeforms is one way to go. I also appreciate you didn't go down the extremely creatively lazy "colony" route that latter IDW (and HasTak itself) has gone down.
I think you misunderstood me: I said
alien world, not colony world. You know, expand the Transformers universe and the planets/people they interacted with besides human, Nebulan and Quintesson (or heck, make them Nebulan or Quintesson; we barely know anything of their native fauna anyway aside from a few scenes of Quintessa in the 86 movie).
Also, what's exactly "lazy" about the colony worlds? On the contrary, I think it has a lot of untapped potential on exploring alternatives to the usual Cybertronians we tend to see, both physically (different designs, unique altmodes and special abilities/weaknesses developed to survive their environment) and socially (different values, social structures and belief systems). I wish they had explored it a lot deeper than they did, where it's usually just giving them an alt-mode theme or planet-wide obsession.
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I also think there is a potential solution in what was done with the Pretenders in Stormbringer.
Where they went from this:
To this:
Keeping certain identifying design motifs in place. But blend all the elements together and upgrade the whole thing.
Eh, I'm not too fond of that approach. It works on more humanoid Pretenders like Bludgeon and Thunderwing, but otherwise it creates a lot of Cons with animalistic traits and appearances that don't match their alt-modes or abilities, and end up clashing with the more humanoid majority of Cybertronians. It feels the same as the Bayverse and
RiD2015 Decepticons, which looked so monstruous or animalistic compared to the Autobots it feels like they're different species rather than factions.
If it's to strip Pretenders of their organic look entirely, I'd mostly prefer the other alternative used by the Autobots in the rest of IDW: make the Pretender suits additional armor for dangerous environments.
RodimusPrimeUkraine1 wrote:Nothing is wrong with how the origional pretenders were were! They were special.
I agree; apart from the lack of articulation and unconvincing altmodes, I actually like the concept (well, except the Pretender Vehicles; having robots that already turn into vehicles disguise as
other vehicles is just stupid). Honestly, I'd be glad if the only toy updates were a better designed robot/vehicle and fully-articulated "shells" they can ride like mechas.
If anything, my main complaint is only in terms of keeping the premise consistent: if the Pretender shell is meant to disguise themselves on predominantly organic worlds like Earth, why do most of the non-Beast Pretender Decepticons except Stranglehold (and the Autobots Doubleheader and Longtooth) look like monsters or alien creatures you'd never find on Earth?
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