The Energon Pub

Hi everybody! It's been a while since the last time I posted something on here. I have two things that are on my mind and would like to discuss. This way I won't have to create two different topics. Here goes:

Ever since third party companies have been doing stuff for the Transformers line, we have had upgrade kits for older figures, updated versions of targets masters, headmasters, combiners, triple changers, dinobots, and even action masters. (yes, I consider any non-transforming transformer as an "Action Master. Even revoltech.) but no pretenders. (not yet anyway) What I would love to see are some updated pretenders. Instead of the shells splitting all the way in half, there would be a section on the back you could remove and then store the robot inside. That way articulation wouldn't have to be sacrificed. If I'm not mistaken, I believe the larger pretenders were made like that.

The next thing I want to discuss is something that's been getting on my nerves a little bit. MULTIPLE VERSIONS OF THE SAME CHARACTER(S) BEING RELEASED AROUND THE SAME TIME. I know all the third party companies are in competition with each other and maybe with Hasbro/Takara too. That's cool and all but at least be original with it. We've got three Predakings, two Devastators, at least two Omega Supremes, and several Ultra Magnus' on the way. I am in no way bashing third party companies. I really do thank them for giving us stuff like this but I just wish some of these companies wouldn't do the same characters that other companies are doing and give us something different...like pretenders or maybe some of the Brave characters that never got toy releases. Maybe we could even get some third party Beast Wars figures. Sorry this was so long but I felt it needed to be said.

3rd Party Pretenders would be cool to do. If that were to happen, I would definitely want better articulation and alt modes for the inner robots. The IDW comics have great representations of the Monster Pretenders and I would love to see them used. I would also love to also see Thunderwing.

I hear yeah regarding the multiple renditions of the same character. I don't mind the competition but I find it difficult to keep track of all of them. Also, I don't like how we have to order the figures relatively quickly after they are released before the market dries up. That gives not much time to review the toys and no time to wait and see what the competitors will make.

Pretenders was a crappy gimmick when G1 was going downhill in the late 80s. Same thing with action masters and micromasters. Even powermasters were a bit silly. I like whst hasbro and funpub has done with some of the pretender characters. I can do without the shells. I never felt that a giant alien beast was much of a disguise. For that they might as well just be a robot.

Stormrider wrote:3rd Party Pretenders would be cool to do. If that were to happen, I would definitely want better articulation and alt modes for the inner robots. The IDW comics have great representations of the Monster Pretenders and I would love to see them used. I would also love to also see Thunderwing.

I hear yeah regarding the multiple renditions of the same character. I don't mind the competition but I find it difficult to keep track of all of them. Also, I don't like how we have to order the figures relatively quickly after they are released before the market dries up. That gives not much time to review the toys and no time to wait and see what the competitors will make.

I guess it's all a game and us fans are just trying to play "keep up." Something else I want to see is more of the larger Autobot cars released. A while ago a third party company (can't remember the name right now) released an Ironhide/Ratchet with rubber tires and like a bajillion accessories. Later they were re-released with different head options and a lot less accessories. Even though I wasn't too keen about the price I wished I would've scooped one up. Hopefully the same company will release some of the other season1/2 cars in a similar fashion.

Rated X wrote:Pretenders was a crappy gimmick when G1 was going downhill in the late 80s. Same thing with action masters and micromasters. Even powermasters were a bit silly. I like whst hasbro and funpub has done with some of the pretender characters. I can do without the shells. I never felt that a giant alien beast was much of a disguise. For that they might as well just be a robot.

Lol nice. I respect your opinion on the different sub-lines. I think the reason why I like Pretenders so much is because I grew up in the 90's and there were all kinds of "organic creature" action figures around (including Beast Wars) Adding a robot into the mix would've been a bonus for me, although I do get what you're saying about most of the shells not being good disguises.

Judas_Warlord wrote:

Rated X wrote:Pretenders was a crappy gimmick when G1 was going downhill in the late 80s. Same thing with action masters and micromasters. Even powermasters were a bit silly. I like whst hasbro and funpub has done with some of the pretender characters. I can do without the shells. I never felt that a giant alien beast was much of a disguise. For that they might as well just be a robot.

Lol nice. I respect your opinion on the different sub-lines. I think the reason why I like Pretenders so much is because I grew up in the 90's and there were all kinds of "organic creature" action figures around (including Beast Wars) Adding a robot into the mix would've been a bonus for me, although I do get what you're saying about most of the shells not being good disguises.

I don't know about the cartoons, but in the comics, the Prentenders are not meant to be disguises but enhanced armor. The Decepticon monster Prentenders were designed to cause terror in their enemies. Iguanus's title is Terror Trooper. Pretender characters didn't sit high on my respect list until I read the DW and IDW comics. The comics are worth the look if you haven't had the opportunity read them. They do a good job explaining the Pretender shell technology and expressing the outer shells' attributes and invulnerability. The artwork and side effects of the shells add well to the stories (not to overlook that the monster pretenders belong to an occult).

I do like what Hasbro and Takara have done with some of the Pretender toys such as Skullgrin and Bludgeon. But I would be interested to see a 3rd party take it to the next level with outer shells. I don't want outer shells to look and feel like WWF wrestler toys. To get me interested, the outer shells would need full articulation and look well proportioned (no Teletubbies, please). I am not that interested in the Autobot Pretenders, just the Decepticons.


Here are a few comic examples:

I'd certainly like to see some of the Pretenders characters get 3rd party, or Hasbro updates. I'm not too beholden to the original gimmick though, and liked what was done with Bludgeon and Skullgrin. A Stormbringer or TFPrime videogame version of Thunderwing would be cool. The bigger, later Pretenders were less organic than the earlier ones any way, and the Decepticon Pretenders in general could probably work fine without their shells being given the full treatment. That said, any Stranglehold update would have to keep his moustache or I'd be the sad bunny.

As to a proper update of the outer-shell+inner robot concept, I'm sure it could be done, but can't think of a good way that wouldn't result in either a huge, unwieldy and expensive shell or tiny and unsatisfying inner bot. There was a customiser on the forums making Pretenders out of Scout class bots and I think mostly superhero figures, and it worked okay for a custom project but would likely be quite pricey as a 3rd party venture, and I'm not sure there's enough interest in the characters to warrant it.

Funpub had the right idea making a shell for an existing Legion Mould.

Stormrider wrote:I don't know about the cartoons, but in the comics, the Prentenders are not meant to be disguises but enhanced armor. The Decepticon monster Prentenders were designed to cause terror in their enemies. Iguanus's title is Terror Trooper. Pretender characters didn't sit high on my respect list until I read the DW and IDW comics. The comics are worth the look if you haven't had the opportunity read them. They do a good job explaining the Pretender shell technology and expressing the outer shells' attributes and invulnerability. The artwork and side effects of the shells add well to the stories (not to overlook that the monster pretenders belong to an occult).

That's one thing I like about the comics. They give obscure/unpopular characters a chance to shine. (Even if it is only a one page profile in the MTMTE book.) About the occult thing, I was watching an episode of Super God Masterforce and while the Destron Pretenders were killing people on a boat, it was mentioned that they were demons. I think that was either the first or second episode.

RAR wrote:Funpub had the right idea making a shell for an existing Legion Mould.

I think I saw a picture of it. That was the Gorilla, right?