The Energon Pub

News Credits: 3 · Thu Jun 01, 2017 9:53 pm

I missed out on Roadblock for $61 on eBay, thanks once again to a snipe at 20 seconds left! :BANG_HEAD:

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The Hunt continues, I guess....

Fri Jun 02, 2017 3:53 pm

Some of my last g1 toys were pretenders. I had (and still have) Thunderwing, Bludgeon, and the future yellow menace himself, the not yet overexposed and only on his third toy (four if you count year 1's red variant), Bumblebee. I'm not sure if I had them before or after they were introduced in the comics. If after, they weren't around long enough to have influenced me on which ones I bought, the cons just looked cool to me, and I liked the idea of Bee's car mode looking a little more realistically proportioned, and robot mode having a face, at the time.

News Credits: 3 · Fri Jun 02, 2017 7:28 pm

So you didn't completely miss out, Optimum! My last TF was honestly Trypticon, so I missed out on Headmasters, Pretenders, Beast Wars, etc.

I remember seeing the Pretenders in the Marvel comics, but even those couldn't prompt me to buy the toys themselves -- I had gone to fully embracing an NES controller by that time.

If you still have 'em, please feel free to post pics!

News Credits: 3 · Sat Jun 03, 2017 5:26 pm

I'm totally torn -- I can't quite decide if I'd rather pursue Double Pretender Optimus or Ultra Pretender Roadblock....mainly cuz the latter is old, expensive and has gold plastic.

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Anyone with either one who wants to share their thoughts? Or even if you have neither, which one would make the better addition to a very small collection.

News Credits: 241 · Sat Jun 03, 2017 5:35 pm

The Optimus Prime one I consider the ultimate in-joke figure, and has more things going for him:

- Trukk? Munky? He's both!
- the shell is based on an abandoned Double Pretender concept, which has two robots hide inside a single shell. Two such figures are known: the gorilla with two possible decos, and a spider.
- the original was BotCon Oilmaster, based on Gen. Swerve and Flanker and had Construct-Bots weapons. This fellow suitably is a retool of him, with Flanker as Hi-Q, his Powermaster partner, and has Gen. Orion Pax's gun instead.
- At this point he's easier to get, and probably cheaper too.

News Credits: 3 · Sat Jun 03, 2017 9:31 pm

Very true, Jelze -- I was thinking Optimus definitely has a lot going for him (definitely for all the reasons you listed, as well as looking pretty cool!), and I can imagine will get harder to find as the years go by....but there's something about bargain hunting bit by bot for Roadblock. I've even considered only getting his robo-shell and using Finback inside (blasphemy!)....

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Thank you for those Munky facts!

News Credits: 3 · Sun Jun 04, 2017 9:27 pm

So I was ready to commit to Optimus and the Ape-X armor, but went for broke and made an offer for a nearly complete Roadblock....and he accepted!

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These are all I got for pics; the missing pieces are the dual-gun and one of the plasma blasters.

News Credits: 241 · Sun Jun 04, 2017 11:05 pm

An unbroken Roadblock?! :shock:

News Credits: 3 · Mon Jun 05, 2017 1:23 am

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:An unbroken Roadblock?!

EXACTLY Jelze! I know that gold is fragile, so I will treat him like Mr. Glass -- and never try to put a gun in his hand lol

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But seriously, Roadblock's inner robot is definitely the hardest to come by on its own -- never see him solo, in fact.

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Fri Jun 09, 2017 2:37 pm

News Credits: 3 · Fri Jun 09, 2017 4:44 pm

Love the soft colors on your Octopunch, MG!

As a fellow fan of the monsterbots, I find myself wanting more beast modes....or more Pretender-shell monsters!

I really liked the TR Twinferno (Doublecross!), but couldn't help but be a little disappointed by Repugnus only getting a TM.

Fri Jun 09, 2017 8:43 pm

bodrock wrote:Love the soft colors on your Octopunch, MG!

As a fellow fan of the monsterbots, I find myself wanting more beast modes....or more Pretender-shell monsters!

I really liked the TR Twinferno (Doublecross!), but couldn't help but be a little disappointed by Repugnus only getting a TM.

Don't wanna derail the Pretenders theme of this thread talkin Monsterbots but yeah, I was sorely disappointed in the Repugnus offering. I went ahead and bought Megatooth for my MB fix. It's a remarkable figure and highly recommended. Gonna buy the whole team of course. Twinferno was a more respectful homage but still doesn't cut it for me either. I'm goin BIG for my MB team.

News Credits: 3 · Fri Jun 09, 2017 10:15 pm

I've seen Megatooth, MG, and that's what he should be in terms of size!

Looking at the 1988 and 1989 TF catalogue/checklists, those were some good toys I missed out on -- until now.

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It seems 1988 had all the flavors we've seen with Titans Return. So perhaps in Power of the Primes we can get a true Pretender redux!

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Or not.

Sat Jun 10, 2017 7:08 pm

There's a seller on Shapeways that sells replica G1 accessories quite cheaply.

Pretender wise, he's got guns for Carnivac, Vroom, Crossblades, and Octopunch.

He's also got crab legs for Octopunch and rotor blades for Crossblades. I recently got the gear for Octopunch and I was well pleased.

There's a seller on Ebay called Spurtreynolds1984 selling a lot of replica G1 accessories very cheaply. Loads of Pretender accessories and weapons.

I also saw someone here mention Fasttrack's guns. Hes got a replica set of 2 going very cheap.

Wouldn't surprise me if it's the same guy on both sites.

Well worth a look.

Sat Jun 10, 2017 7:43 pm

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I have most of my Pretenders from when I was a kid.

I also customised updates of some inner bots: Stranglehold, Thunderwing, Catilla, Cloudburst and Landmine.

Thunderwing, Landmine and Cloudburst are all using their G1 accessories.

News Credits: 3 · Sat Jun 10, 2017 10:49 pm

Thank you for sharing, Windsweeper! I loved seeing your collection, and those customs are really cool! I especially love how you did Thunderwing -- and can only imagine what he'd look like with the TM from the Siege set.

I got the Octo crab legs and acetylene torch gun from Shapeways too! Definitely satisfied with them - he didn't have Finback's harpoon gun.....yet.

Sun Jun 11, 2017 4:36 am

Thanks for the kind words Bodrock. I'm hoping to pick up that box set myself at some stage and see how that Thunderwing would look.

Hard to believe my G1 Pretenders are nearly 30 years old. Furman gets a lot of credit for his portrayal of Thunderwing but I really liked what Budyiansky did with Cloudburst and Landmine. They're one of my favourite duos in the franchise.

I also liked his portrayal of Skullgrin as not just another Decepticon thug and his befriending of humans.

Cloudburst was one of my first transformers and one of my favourite bots. I got Landmine the following Christmas simply because of the Mecannibals story. Both of their inner bots are quite cool.

I've always wanted updates of the inner robots hence my customs. Im hoping Titans Metalhawk is the start of a trend.

I'd love to see retools of Blurr and Brainstorm as inner robot Pretender characters especially Skullgrin and Bombburst.

I've always liked Pretenders but not the modern toys where they blend the robot and shell.

News Credits: 101 · Sun Jun 11, 2017 12:32 pm

I just made a mad trade into a new local geek store and I scored myself two of my most wanted in one fell swoop. Bludgeon and Thunderwing! And as an unexpected bonus, I also got the ridiculous but fun Crossblade and the cool Roadgrabber.

I'll go back to that store soon to grab even MORE of his pretenders. Guess I fell in love!

News Credits: 3 · Sun Jun 11, 2017 12:59 pm

Hey Windsweeper - I remember reading the comics up until Ratchet & Megs got mish-mashed, so there were some comics I had with the Pretenders.

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I really dug Skullgrin's characterization as well, so that's a big reason I'm hunting for him.

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But I never read Furman's take on Thunderwing or even IDW's "Stormbringer" -- I only know the events thanks to TFWiki! I just think Thunderwing's oni-face looks wicked/cool.

I thought about picking up Cloudburst, since he can be found relatively cheap - and I like his whip. To be honest, though, I am prioritizing Cons, and the more kaiju-lookin', the better.

I'm not a fan of Pretenders being more like the "standard" Transformers, either - I would love to see how Takara would do a Masterpiece. Or even an attempt from the 3rd parties (MMC?!).

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Yeah, I also like the idea of new Pretenders for existing characters. A Brainstorm humanoid would be especially interesting...and perhaps be a Double Pretender!

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News Credits: 3 · Sun Jun 11, 2017 1:02 pm

-Kanrabat- wrote:I just made a mad trade into a new local geek store and I scored myself two of my most wanted in one fell swoop. Bludgeon and Thunderwing! And as an unexpected bonus, I also got the ridiculous but fun Crossblade and the cool Roadgrabber.

I'll go back to that store soon to grab even MORE of his pretenders. Guess I fell in love!

OMG AWESOME TRADE, Kanrabat! We have one geek store here, but they ridiculously over-charge and they're not in that excellent shape you got there! ;)^

And please - more pics!! =P~

News Credits: 101 · Sun Jun 11, 2017 1:42 pm

bodrock wrote:OMG AWESOME TRADE, Kanrabat! We have one geek store here, but they ridiculously over-charge and they're not in that excellent shape you got there!

And please - more pics!!

Of course, that was one epic trade. And I have MORe unwanted stuff to unload to get even MORE. I have my sight on the Wolf one, Skullgrin, and maybe some others.

Anyway, have a lazy copy/pasta from another thread, edited into a review / comparison of both of my mega pretenders:

G1 Mega Pretender Crossblades

The pretender shell is human, with clothes and armor bits. I always find it a bizarre concept that a GIANT FREAKING ROBOT can pass off as a regular human.

How can you hide the human bits for the vehicle mode?
Well, you don't. Not even from the side, with hands and boots clearly in-your-face.

And the underside is just the guy, unchanged, hiding his face.

And the super combined mode is total junky madness...

The underside manage to be even sadder.

Still Crossblade is a lot of fun in his silliness. I LOVE IT! When I saw him in store, he made me laugh so hard, I just had to get him.

Just for comparison, here's another Mega Pretender. But this one is incredible. One of my most sought after Holy Grail,
THUNDERWING:

Being in the same class and generation/line as Crossblade, Tunderwing manage to hide almost everything of his "bot mode".

Even from under, the only bit you see are the arms. incredible. :shock:

His transformation is also much more complete and involved.

Really, Thunderwing is one of the BEST G1 figure ever. Lots of playability, lots of fun, and solid. I'm so lucky to have found him in such a PERFECT shape, 100% complete. He's tight all over, not yellowed, and the stickers are just perfect!

...

I WANT MOAR!!!

News Credits: 3 · Sun Jun 11, 2017 10:54 pm

I also think Crossblades looks like fun, but eBay & Etsy offer him piece-meal, or over-priced.

Same with Thunderwing.

I'd pay a decent amount for one in the condition you found Kanrabat!

News Credits: 101 · Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:20 am

Looking above, I now notice that Thunderwing miss a lot of labels. So what I'll do is to order a sheet from ToyHax and just put what's missing in Reprolabels, keeping the originals.

But before ordering the labels, I'll wait this Friday for my next batch of pretenders to see if I miss any other labels.

News Credits: 3 · Mon Jun 12, 2017 9:55 am

-Kanrabat- wrote:Looking above, I now notice that Thunderwing miss a lot of labels. So what I'll do is to order a sheet from ToyHax and just put what's missing in Reprolabels, keeping the originals.

But before ordering the labels, I'll wait this Friday for my next batch of pretenders to see if I miss any other labels.

Nice - I looked for reprolabels for Finback and Octopunch, but no luck. Roadblock's was available! But he's not set to arrive till the 23rd or so. His dual-gun and one other gun are already here to make him 100% complete when he arrives.

Do you have to clean any of them, Kanra? If you did, is there a concoction you'd recommend? Finback's face has some grime....

News Credits: 101 · Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:40 pm

bodrock wrote:
Do you have to clean any of them, Kanra? If you did, is there a concoction you'd recommend? Finback's face has some grime....

My pretenders were sparkly clean. I was lucky.

If the grime is just accumulated dust, you can use a hard, dry painting brush. Brush the grime off vigorously and it should come off pretty easy without damaging anything. I use an 1" hard brush for artist and it was pretty effective. If it's any other dirtiness, use wet Q-Tips or a damp cloth. Be very, very careful to use only damp Q-Tips or cloths so that no water drip anywhere. Not on the labels nor any metal parts. Be sure to dry everything after.

Get to work!