The Energon Pub

Burn wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:This was a very intense thread bodrock, I never knew the pretenders had this much love for them and it pleases me to see roadblock getting the attention he so rightly deserved. Now to invent a time machine and save mine from the car boot sale...

It's almost like, they're not as obscure as some members in other threads like to believe ...

For all those "kids" that were introduced to Transformers with the 2007 movie, they are obscure azfak.
Seriously, at my local geek store the owner say that most kids coming at his store ask for a Bumblebee and the owner point them:

They say "who the heck is he?"

And then they point: "THAT'S Bumblebee"


That baffle him but eh, what can we do? Zerowolf is at least a 80's kid. Plus, pretenders were common un Europe but not in North America. And finally, most classic cartoon aired were the American ones that had no Pretender ever.

Let's face it. We are getting old and we are no longer the majority. So that's why I'm thankful to the Prime Masters. It's a great way to introduce the VERY OBSCURE designs to the new generations.

Oh I knew what he was getting at when he called them "obscure", but lets be honest, as you pointed out, outside of Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, most figures would be obscure to young fans these days.

But I don't look at them being obscure, I just see Hasbro taking advantage of both kids and adults when it comes to the Prime Trilogy. Adult collectors have been able to fill up their "neo-G1" shelves, and kids have been given a variety of characters and gimmicks. They don't care that they've never heard of the characters before, they're just getting toys!

Burn do you have any people in particular in mind when you say that

From my travels over the Internet i know some older fans didn't like the pretenders because they attributed them to transformers falling from grace (despite back then it was quite hard to keep a single toyline going for such a long time) this is all anecdotal anyway but just worth remembering that it's not just new fans who would say that they are obscure. I think there was still somethings that could still be done with the idea. Like this: a autobot inner robot that hides in an outer robot that pretends to be a con

People blaming Pretenders for the fall of Transformers are idiots.

Action Masters came after Pretenders. An entire sub-line dedicated to Transformer characters that don't **** transform!

Hah, AM Prowl was my only prowl for the longest and had joined with Cobra to destroy the transformers for taking away his transformation abilities.
I am thinking my next purchase will be in the pretenders classics line. Either starscream or jazz to join up with my late addition pretenders. Pretenders to the throne, maybe?

I quite like the look of pretender starscream, though I do wonder why the designers stopped at that one and said "yes! That's what starscream would disguise himself as" got my eye on a pretender grimlock as well at the moment.

Burn@ the only action masters that interested me were the elite ones that still attempted to transform and the ones who came with the battlesuits that doubled as vehicles but only because they looked like other figures could fit in there.

Action masters were a complete misstep, even if they actually put the effort in and gave the figures unheard of articulation at the time the line still spelt doom. Luckily Hasbro Europe tried to rectify that by bringing over some of the Japanese exclusive molds (even if they didn't bring over their accessories needed for combination in the case of the three brain master cars)

I'm very glad that brought back into the modern world "obscure" characters. Metalhawk being a PRIME example. I mean GOOD LUCK finding the original!

As for the Action Masters, I have ALL of them except two small bots. I love their derpyness. I see them as the "Hero Mashers" of the early 1990's.

Guess what? I'd like to make the ULTIMATE "hated" custom. An animal Pretender shell that contain.... An Action Master!

-Kanrabat- wrote:Guess what? I'd like to make the ULTIMATE "hated" custom. An animal Pretender shell that contain.... An Action Master!

I wouldn't call it hated.

Simple bio is the character was badly damaged to the point they can no longer transform and actually require the regenerative properties that the shell offers.
(In my head I like to think of the Pretender shells as walking CR Chambers)

-Kanrabat- wrote:I'm very glad that brought back into the modern world "obscure" characters. Metalhawk being a PRIME example. I mean GOOD LUCK finding the original!

As for the Action Masters, I have ALL of them except two small bots. I love their derpyness. I see them as the "Hero Mashers" of the early 1990's.

Guess what? I'd like to make the ULTIMATE "hated" custom. An animal Pretender shell that contain.... An Action Master!

Regarding metalhawk, would that be finding him at all, or finding him in one piece

As for hated custom, I wouldn'tthink that would be the most hated...can't think what the most hated would actually be. Them again one that couldn't transform might not be too off the mark gauging reaction in other certain threads (when it wasn't turned into a copyright battle)

ZeroWolf wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:I'm very glad that brought back into the modern world "obscure" characters. Metalhawk being a PRIME example. I mean GOOD LUCK finding the original!

As for the Action Masters, I have ALL of them except two small bots. I love their derpyness. I see them as the "Hero Mashers" of the early 1990's.

Guess what? I'd like to make the ULTIMATE "hated" custom. An animal Pretender shell that contain.... An Action Master!

Regarding metalhawk, would that be finding him at all, or finding him in one piece

The gold of the inner robot is actually die cast (imagine that!), not gold plastic with GPS For that matter, TR Metalhawk (want him!) is gold-colored plastic, but no GPS.

As for hated custom, I wouldn'tthink that would be the most hated...can't think what the most hated would actually be. Them again one that couldn't transform might not be too off the mark gauging reaction in other certain threads (when it wasn't turned into a copyright battle)

I can't think of anything more hated, but I will say that Double Pretender Optimus Prime is pure genius when it comes to ticking boxes, good or bad

Wait so pretender metalhawk wont crumble away? Nice Wonder how much that would set me back...

-Kanrabat- wrote:For all those "kids" that were introduced to Transformers with the 2007 movie, they are obscure azfak.

I was introduced to the fandom through the 2007 movie

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:For all those "kids" that were introduced to Transformers with the 2007 movie, they are obscure azfak.

I was introduced to the fandom through the 2007 movie

I was re-introduced to Transformers because of the 2007 movie. However, I began my collection properly only at the HFTD line when Generations Drift and HFTD Terradive were in store. Those two were my first non-Optimus, non-Sarscreams.

As for the pretenders, I never knew they were a thing until I stumbled onto a random video on Youtube. BombBurst was my first. The tailfin on the bot head was broken however. I also sold it. Some years later, the Pretender bug bit me hard and the rest is History!

ZeroWolf wrote:Wait so pretender metalhawk wont crumble away? Nice Wonder how much that would set me back...

Metalhawk and Blackshadow both are Japan exclusives. Very limited ones....
So......

Both are extremely rare to find. And when you find one, it's either just some broken bits that's worth over 100$ or a 100% complete one that come with the box and everything for over 2000$US. I'm not even kidding.

Those two are not for low class plebs like us.

Hah good old futurama, I sort of knew that but it's nice to dream like dreaming that an original grand maximus would be affordable or despite being released in the UK, a G1 overlord didn't sell for ridiculous amounts.

It's things like that why I keep my grails more down to earth, like one of my first was obtaining magnaboss, which was swell till silverbolt broke thanks to gps

ZeroWolf wrote:Hah good old futurama, I sort of knew that but it's nice to dream like dreaming that an original grand maximus would be affordable or despite being released in the UK, a G1 overlord didn't sell for ridiculous amounts.

It's things like that why I keep my grails more down to earth, like one of my first was obtaining magnaboss, which was swell till silverbolt broke thanks to gps

Seriously, both G1 Metalhawk and Blackshadow are my "Grail-in-case-I-win-the-Million". Appart that, I tend to nope'd hard at anything above 300$CAN.

I need to save up some of my money and finally buy the G1 Complete Monstructor set I have been watching on Ebay forever. I can do it, just gotta have the will to not buy more Beast Wars and new figures..

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I need to save up some of my money and finally buy the G1 Complete Monstructor set I have been watching on Ebay forever. I can do it, just gotta have the will to not buy more Beast Wars and new figures..

You only need an iron will. GO FOR IT!

But be warned of GPS...

-Kanrabat- wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I need to save up some of my money and finally buy the G1 Complete Monstructor set I have been watching on Ebay forever. I can do it, just gotta have the will to not buy more Beast Wars and new figures..

You only need an iron will. GO FOR IT!

But be warned of GPS...

But I don't have an iron will, especially when things like TM2 Jawbreaker, the rest of the original BW cast, some studio series, and some PotP figures are out there.......

Gaahhhhhhhhh I have been watching that set since last July I am 99% sure. It has a small imperfection, but it is the only complete one I can find. So expensive, but my TFsource haul is gonna be that bad once Greatshot finally comessssssss

A complete monstructor set? Does that include the shells? How much does that go for d-max

ZeroWolf wrote:A complete monstructor set? Does that include the shells? How much does that go for d-max

Yes complete, with a crack in the waist combiner thing, but it will still hold the combined mode. It is $325 on Ebay, and it's the cheapest of the complete Monstructors

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I need to save up some of my money and finally buy the G1 Complete Monstructor set I have been watching on Ebay forever. I can do it, just gotta have the will to not buy more Beast Wars and new figures..

You only need an iron will. GO FOR IT!

But be warned of GPS...

But I don't have an iron will, especially when things like TM2 Jawbreaker, the rest of the original BW cast, some studio series, and some PotP figures are out there.......

Gaahhhhhhhhh I have been watching that set since last July I am 99% sure. It has a small imperfection, but it is the only complete one I can find. So expensive, but my TFsource haul is gonna be that bad once Greatshot finally comessssssss

I know dis pain!

I'm finally done with my personal PretenderQuest and Beast Hunt, so I can seek out more random vintage and PotP figures.

Beast Wars is so much more affordable than the G1 Pretenders....unless you're wanting Japan-exclusives. But isn't that always the case?

I had a hard time finding a good complete rampage for a good price, sorted it now but it wasn't as cheap as the time I paid £50 and got about ten good figures, including the ultra class Optimus Primal. He was such a fun toy.

Nice, ZeroWolf! I would say that ultra class Primal would be the CHUG figure I would've gone for if I hadn't scored MP32 for a reasonable price.

I'd say complete, G1 Pretenders tend to go for MP-level prices! I'd handle them both about the same, though -- like delicate glass.

Primal is such a good figure, I just wish I had gotten him when he came out as he would have blown my young mind. Great pictures as always, slash looks like she's always supposed to be in there.