The Energon Pub

Oh man, I leave the net for a while to deal with some stuff and I come back to that...monstrosity hah. I don't recognize it, is it from Beast Wars? And I always assume pretenders where the pre-cursor to the beast tech, it wasn't ever officially labeled as such?

I think furman made a connection of sorts in the early idw stuff.

Ah, that would probably explain my connecting it, I'm pretty sure I still have some idw beast wars stuff in my basement.

I see the connection, Aces -- and from a toy perspective, it seemed like the next logical step....especially if you consider the Pretender Beasts.

But yeah, I recently picked up Ikard & the Tako Tank (from the Japan-only Beast Wars II), so I had to have them face the aquatic Decepticon Pretenders.

As you can see, it's a fairly large vehicle....and much like the Pretenders, the Tank does not transform -- but there's tentacle articulation!

Even Octopunch couldn't do that.

I keep forgetting I want to give more attention to Iguanus -- but somehow Bomb-Burst keeps getting all my time.

Poor springer...

I do like ikard, his colours are a lot funkier then jobclaw.

Iguanus & BB (and friends/foes)Happy Memorial Day!

Nice pics bodrock! Poor bludgeon, looks like he's got his work cut out for him

Thanks ZeroWolf! Bludgeon definitely does have death knocking on his door.

Thanks to the Perfect Effect add-ons, I am very happy with this RotF incarnation of him -- but I'd still love to get the original someday.

I haven't picked up any new Pretenders in quite awhile -- they've more than doubled in price on eBay! But I am having fun with what I got.

They aren't so badly priced here in the UK but I can imagine the shipping rates to the US wouldnt make them any better for you.

ZeroWolf wrote:They aren't so badly priced here in the UK but I can imagine the shipping rates to the US wouldnt make them any better for you.

Pretenders seem to have been more common in Europe than in the USA. Thus the lower prices. Best example is Longtooth, who is around 250$CAN 100% complete in all the North American listings, but 100$CAN less for one listing from Denmark. Even with the higher shipping cost, it's still way less expensive.

However, nothing can beat the 90$CAN that Longtooth cost me... in trades. Same thing with Thunderwing, Bludgeon, the other Mega/ultra pretenders, Carnivac and Octopunch. The rest were around 60$CAN. And still in trades. Gosh, last year my luck was just incredible! Eh, we never know. It may happen to you guys sooner or later.

Yeah, Kanra definitely had the best hauls!! How's that shop treating you these dsys? The prices still reasonable?

My favorite one got demoted due to rising peices....but deals can still be found. I prefer hunting at this "antique mall" near my comics shop -- gotten plenty of cheap Beast Wars, but not a single a Pretender yet, unfortunately.

bodrock wrote:Yeah, Kanra definitely had the best hauls!! How's that shop treating you these dsys? The prices still reasonable?

My favorite one got demoted due to rising peices....but deals can still be found. I prefer hunting at this "antique mall" near my comics shop -- gotten plenty of cheap Beast Wars, but not a single a Pretender yet, unfortunately.

Well, my geek shop is now all tap-out. The prices are not good and they never were. It'S just that for some reasons, he stopped caring when he was pricing the Pretenders when he opened his shop. He started with a massive G1 collection some dude sold him and the Pretenders and Action Masters were the last ones he took care of. He was a bit tired then and never cared to double check. Also, pretenders are not popular in North America so he didn't sold any for the 3 months he was open when I found that store.

His random TF inventory was still lacking and I was overflowing with unwanted TFs. When I learned that he was open for store credits, I took my chances. Because I love oddballs, the Pretenders caught my eyes. Then I learned that ALL of his pretenders were priced at 90$CAN plus taxes. Making some grossly overpriced while others were incredible deals. The rest is History.

....or is it? Because he really wanted to get rid of all of his Action Masters, he proposed me a deal. 1:1 trades. Meaning 100% store credits! Plus the prices were at 30$CAN for ALL simple figures, 50$CAN for ALL small vehicles, 60$CAN for ALL large vehicles and Elites. Because of that, I have ALL the Action Masters minus two characters (notably the supre rare and expensive Sideswipe) and two or tree accessories!

But now... Now he's pretty full and I have NOTHING left that I want to get rid of. Making buying from him only if I don't want to wait for an online item and pay ridiculous shipping fees. Oh well, there will be another opportunity down the road.

You may have been Jelly of my last year pretenders deals. But it's NOTHING compared to what thecollector75 got and is reviewing:



Also, Pa ndacun have the other pretender GRAIL, Black/Sky Shadow (review in Chinese):



So jelly of both, I'll dissolve, sludge around, and start eating people.

I want those two G1ers so bad, Kanra! Totally jelly. ;_;

Nice reviews, would be nice to be afford them

ZeroWolf wrote:Nice reviews, would be nice to be afford them

Oh, we CAN afford them... if we stop buying figures and toys for a year or two.

Went to my local geek store yesterday and made yet another trade. I gave him my yellowed RiD Omega Prime (Magnus and Optimus) plus my two "OC combiners" made of Sky-Linx + 4 Mirages, and Cyclonus + 4 Blast-Off. I got around 2/3 of what I paid for. Meaning I got 150$CAN overall so it's not too shabby. Adding an extra 20$CAN from my pocket, what did I get?

Finally PotP Alchemist Prime (yay!), G1 Pretender Pincher and G1 Pretender Doubleheader. ALL 100% complete!



But not.... Doubleheader was missing his tiny grey gun. I noticed too late. It's not even on Ebay! So I contacted my salesman and I'll trade in Doubleheader for a (truly) 100% complete Sky-High. He's closed on Sunday and Monday so only the day after that I'll be able to trade him in.

Anyway, on to Pincher!



I like him quite a lot. The shell is a great sculpt and have nice details and paint. I only wish the visor of his helmet had paint or stickers. But small pretenders no longer had a sticker sheet so... At least it's accurate.



You'll never guess what the inner bot transform into.



"Oy. M'name Pinchah. So let's cawm to dah pub and grab a paint, mayte!"



The inner storage. I derped and forgot to show that the small green gun store on that peg inside the shell leg. Brilliant.



Inner bot is cute but lack a bit of colors. The scorpio backpack is "complete" and can act as a separate figure. Like a nasty assassin drone or something. Lame and neat at the same time.




Size comparison with a current deluxe. Small pretenders are indeed small.



The scorpio look amazing and creepy. But he's a good guy! Small pretenders don't have stickers nor even painted faction symbols. So the only way to tell whenever they are or is by looking at the card. Weird. Because I'd be sure this NASTY alt-mode belong to a Decepticon, not an Autobot.



Overall, Pincher is well worth getting. He's brilliant and have lots of play value.



How about Alchemist Prime? He's pretty well done and I'm very glad to have him. My only gripe is the Prime Master don't follow the same color pattern as the original inner bot. Like for Skullgrin. Oh well.



Only Bomburst need his "mini-me". Let's hope it will not be a "tail-line" figure.



My local geek store have only 4 pretender left. Two incomplete, Starscream that I already have, and one more that I find not interesting. That's it. So in two or three days, I'll show you the (maybe) last pretender I'll ever get from him.

Out of curiosity, which is the one you're not interested in?

The toy shop I worked in before never put stock out like that, the manager decided that anything rare would go straight to eBay. Though he always had to put it at his 'price' never mind what everyone else was selling. As usual he rarely sold anything.

ZeroWolf wrote:Out of curiosity, which is the one you're not interested in?

The toy shop I worked in before never put stock out like that, the manager decided that anything rare would go straight to eBay. Though he always had to put it at his 'price' never mind what everyone else was selling. As usual he rarely sold anything.

It's Splashdown. And I think it's not complete either because I don't remember having seen a sword. Forgot to mention that he also have Skyhammer, but it's a GPS mess already broken at several places. So truly, his last pretender is Sky High and I'd get him Tuesday night. He sold all the other good ones to some guy oversea. So unless he get the missing parts somehow or buy another lot, it will be a while before I get another pretender... unless I see a very interesting EUROPEAN listing. Despite the shipping, they have the best prices. Pretenders were more common over there I guess.

Indeed, I've seen a lot of good ones, some that have missing parts but at the price, it's still tempting. Some of the most common I've seen is the classic pretenders

ZeroWolf wrote:Indeed, I've seen a lot of good ones, some that have missing parts but at the price, it's still tempting. Some of the most common I've seen is the classic pretenders

I swore to myself that I'll NEVER ever buy an incomplete G1 figure. No matter the price. Because to be worth it, it must be complete and hunting down the missing acessories is stupid. They are either unavailable at all and/or are stupidly expensive. Like often 1/3 of the value of the WHOLE figure. So, fokkit. 100% complete or bust.

Meanwhile, on 4chan /toy/ ....

My eyes...I can't un-see it!

Got myself the second half of my previous deal. After returning the incomplete (and possibly uncompletable Doubleheader), I took one of the two very last COMPLETE pretenders my geek shop has. I had to chose between Waverider and Skigh High. Because both were priced at 80$CAN with taxes, the choice was easy. Skigh High is usually worth around 150$US wile Waverider barely go over 60$US. Plus Sky High have a MUCH more interesting altmode. Plus HIS BIO IS AWESOME.



The shell itself is a bit plain looking, but still awesome in it's own way. Unfortunately, many labels are peeling off so I'll have to go to Toyhax for a Reprolabels sheet.




Dunno why, but Sky High look like John Candy. Both the face and the gut.



Here's all the accessories and how the inner bot tuck inside the shell.



Inner bot is standard big pretender drone, but he does the job.




Altmode is pretty solid for a "pretender drone" vehicle.





Overall, Sky High is pretty awesome... especially for the price I paid!

I need a few more Pretenders in my life. Sky High does look pretty decent too!