The Energon Pub

[shajaki]

[shajaki]

Sooooooooo.... opinions?

I'm interested. He's obscure, colorful, and looks great combined.

But the individual bot modes aren't all that impressive, isn't all that big, and is esspensive.

[Evil Eye]

He's a redeco of their Dinoking (which makes sense as Monstructor was redecoed into Dinoking with new shells), presumably with some fixes as their Dinoforce had some build issues. I believe those robot modes are minorly mistransformed.

I have to say, if he was going for cheaper on the aftermarket and I knew the build was solid, I'd be tempted. Sure, he's not hugely impressive looking but Monstructor and his components never were. Probably my biggest issue is that without the shells, they could be anyone. They look fun for sure though. personally I'd prefer Monster Pretender updates where the beast modes were styled after the old shells and the robot modes and combined mode were subsequently gribbly and organic like a BW figure due to being made of bits of monster.

HOWEVER, I will say that whilst they (the FP toys, not the original characters, who deserve a cool update) have the personality of a stale cracker, they would make superb army-builders/generic Decepticon drones/attack beasts. Their lack of distinguishing features actually kinda helps them out in that regard, and if I had the money and space I'd buy three boxes to use as a legion of Decepticon grunts. Alas, I do not have the money or space, so I won't.

TLDR: Hopeless as Monstructor, kinda cool as generics, maybe on clearance.

[Glarryg]

Love the wacky color scheme, and the Monstructor face, but I'm still finishing the Dinoforce version of this team, so if I buy this set it'll be a ways down the road. Still, it's not a "no" from me.

Glarryg

[Rated X]

The more I look at this the more I want it. It will definitely be something to look out for on black friday. I could care less about the shells. I bought the dinoking version and totally skipped the shells altogether. In my opinion, these guys can get away without any reference to the shells, unlike say Skullgrin. Its the combiner that really defines them.

[shajaki]

So you already have one of these, and like it/this enough to double dip? That's a good sign!

[Rated X]

So you already have one of these, and like it/this enough to double dip? That's a good sign!

Well let me say this about the Dinoking figures...the aesthetic is very cartoon accurate unlike fansproject menasor which I regret buying. However there are a couple of them that are a bit frustrating to transform (mostly the waist shark looking thing) They have very sharp edges. You could hurt yourself with the wings of the bird or the trolls horn. But they sure are cool and im loving the colors. Double dipping depends on the price. Ive never seen the shells in person, but from the few clips ive seen of the cartoon, my opinion is that the shells dont really define who the characters are. Even less in thr case of monstructor considering he is toy only not ever in a cartoon. Im not sure if the shells were relavant in the comic.

[Evil Eye]

TBH I'd agree with you if it weren't for the fact the Monstructor "base" robots were so boring outside of their hilariously loud colours that quite frankly, if they're "defined" by that they need redefining. It's the same with a lot of pretenders really. People don't remember Skullgrin as the grey and magenta "tank", they remember him as the demon warrior with a cow skull for a head.

I mean really, what's going to stick in people's minds. This red, tentacled Mancubus-looking horror...

...Or this black and gold rectangle?


Even the combined mode was kinda trash, really. Like, considering his awesome backstory (eldritch abomination that possesses the six Monster Pretenders to form his gestalt body) he really isn't very intimidating...

When I think "Monstructor" what I want to think is "Barely robotic aberration made of twisted cables, pulsating flesh and razor-sharp spines and held together by pure evil". Not "Small box man that had a run-in with a truck full of kids' poster paint". Again, the basic concept for the Monster Pretenders, and their shell designs, were awesome. The actual combiner, less so.

[Rated X]

TBH I'd agree with you if it weren't for the fact the Monstructor "base" robots were so boring outside of their hilariously loud colours that quite frankly, if they're "defined" by that they need redefining. It's the same with a lot of pretenders really. People don't remember Skullgrin as the grey and magenta "tank", they remember him as the demon warrior with a cow skull for a head.

I mean really, what's going to stick in people's minds. This red, tentacled Mancubus-looking horror...

...Or this black and gold rectangle?


Even the combined mode was kinda trash, really. Like, considering his awesome backstory (eldritch abomination that possesses the six Monster Pretenders to form his gestalt body) he really isn't very intimidating...

When I think "Monstructor" what I want to think is "Barely robotic aberration made of twisted cables, pulsating flesh and razor-sharp spines and held together by pure evil". Not "Small box man that had a run-in with a truck full of kids' poster paint". Again, the basic concept for the Monster Pretenders, and their shell designs, were awesome. The actual combiner, less so.

Well maybe the actual robot combiner defines the character "monstructor" for me because of personal reasons. To be more blunt, by the time monstructor came out in 1989, I was already 13 and had outgrew collecting toys. I only know about how the character monstructor was portrayed on comic book covers that I never actually read the contents. (just seen pictures online) Not to mention how ridiculous the shells were portrayed in the Japanese cartoon where they were basically dino-riders. Keep in mind im not a vintage toy accuracy guy to begin with. Its the advances in engineering and cartoon aesthetic that got me back into G1 characters and collecting them. If they were still bricks, I wouldnt be in this hobby. The cartoon or comics is the primary reference for my collection. Toy accuracy only comes into play for characters like G2 newer molds where you have no other fictional reference but the stinking bricks.

[Evil Eye]

That's fair enough, I guess, but the Monster Pretenders not only had a very minor role in the comics (they weren't present in the cartoon at all) but they also had their shells, so for true media accuracy they'd HAVE to have the shells represented somehow. I understand not caring about the shells as actual big ol' rubber shells, I'd be in the same boat if I were buying this set, but remember that is ultimately just subjective personal preference. Some people (myself included) love the old G1 toy designs, and especially the characterful toy bios that the wonderful Mr Budiansky wrote for them, and whilst you're more than entitled to not agree with that sentiment, your opinion- like mine- is not an objective truth on the "right" way to update a plastic blob monster.

Doing figures with minimal media presence is tricky. If the toys looked nice enough (see: G1.5 and G2) then the best solution is to draw on the toys as the main influence but to style them so they still look "right" with the rest of the toyline they're released in, be that a predominantly cartoon or toy based line. Obviously with figures who didn't look very good to begin with, some more artistic license is needed, though fortunately most G1 figures had some good elements to their design to base an update on, and in the case of the Monster Pretenders it's their shells.

The FP one looks like it'll be good for people who want a more literal (if slightly refined) interpretation of the inner bots. But I will say, an update (3P or official) that fuses the shell and inner figure aesthetics ROTF Bludgeon style would be extremely welcome.