Can we see a Transformers/Scooby Doo crossover where the "monster" turns out to be a pretender and everyone would've just been more surprised if it were real??
Honestly, the concept of Scooby-Doo crossing over with a franchise where stuff like monsters are real is always kinda hilarious. Like, imagine them doing a normal plot in a fantasy setting and the villain, still trying to do whatever shennanigans, is just like, a werewolf. Or a transformer. Or a werewolf transformer because why not. (And no. I don't mean a pretender, I mean a Cybertronian Lycanthrope.)
Mainly by digging into the horrifying implications, and making them more horrifying with a fem fatale Decepticon who would probably do all sorts of unsightly things with Sam's body as she jabbed into his brain for the Allspark data.
So Japan got the concept right with them actually being able to fit in via their disguise and then Bayformers followed this smart decision albeit with a horrifying take.
I found it kinda funny in Rotf that Sam almost got destroyed by a Pretender. I mean, my thoughts were like "Holy cow, Yandere robot girl! Starscream is doing it again!"
Groundbreaker was my favorite year-one Pretender. His vehicle mode -- just as abstract -- resembled Hot Rod's with a nosecone and the engine in the back.
The Pretender vehicles even missed their *own* concept. Anyone who bought early 1988 Transformers got a catalog sheet with various gray "Coming Soon!" silhouettes. Half of the regular Pretenders (3 Autobot, 3 Decepticon) and the 2 Vehicles wouldn't arrive until later 1988. In the preview paragraph, it described Gunrunner (Autobot with a shell that looked like a cross between a 2000-2005 Saturn VUE and a G.I. Joe VAMP) and Roadgrabber (Decepticon with a insect-themed roadster shell) as having vehicle shells that could fit _any_ Pretender robot. Problem is, the shells barely accommodated their own robots. (On the upside, Gunrunner could not only fit in a folded-up position, he could also be made to sit up as if he was driving his SUV/shell!)
in the marvel comic that It was to hide as armored humans and the decepticons were supposed to think they'd be just regular humans. So the autobots faked their human cowardice which worked...until it was time to use the technique to to mentally control shells separately to take the decepticons by surprise when it was time to strike.
What kstanni87 said. When Scorponok arrived on Earth, previous Decepticon activity had alarmed the Earth's governments into considering *any* Transformer a threat. In order to carry out missions, he developed the Pretenders because he figured human militaries with units prepared for Cybertronian attacks wouldn't know how to respond to organic aliens. Optimus Prime, reduced to a copied computer program, learned of the Decepticons' plan and copied the files for the Pretender process and shared the data with Fortress Maximus's Autobots. The Autobots' plan only worked because Scorponok's Decepticons had little to no interaction with Earth humans. (So 15-20' tall Earthlings didn't seem weird at all!)
American interpretation is still extremally dumb. I can buy Cybertronians developing Terminator style cover for minicons (and what would make more sense headmasters) living among humans, then some nonsense about weird shells.
I guess the Masterforce version is the closest to being my favorite, since the Autobot Pretenders are actually human-sized and there's actually importance in them passing for humans right down to having civilian clothes when they're not in action. If the American cartoon had continued, a similar portrayal probably would have been the best way to go. Maybe an introduction similar to the Marvel comics where there's some kind of Anti-Transformer movement on Earth and a team of Autobots decide to disguise themselves as a team of space marines so they can continue defending the Earth from the Decepticons, who in turn have disguised themselves as monsters created from a mutation or a genetic experiment gone wrong.
I only recently heard about this whole "Pretenders" concept. The scene from Revenge of The Fallen makes a lot more sense to me now. Pretty interesting that this whole idea has faded into near obscurity over the years.
6 лет назад+245
Honestly I was never a fan of the Pretender concept. Also seeing comments below, I do hope you make a Basics on technorganics man!
I think pretenders would make good use for transformers when they are exploring or visiting other planets. The Decepticon pretenders can be used to scare the planet’s inhabitants.
When they introduced the pretenders is when I lost all interest in these toys as a kid. As toys, I could not understand why any kid would want these clunky figurines. But after hearing your take on the Japanese storyline, it sounded halfway interesting.
My favorite part about the Victory Dinocons was that the director of the series thought the toy altmodes were terrible. So the Dinocons just, like... never transformed.
I’ve owned Landmine since I was a kid and never knew what the hell was going on with that weird body armour, or even his name until this video. Amazing. Thanks so much Chris!
Awesome basic story. I remember this line. I always hoped they would have come out with a cartoon for this line. I really enjoyed this toyline in the 80s/90s. I had a few of these myself. Great job with this. I subbed your channel
I love your transformer channel. The best so far. Keep doing your thing, exploring all these concepts that interweave between Japanese an US transformer lore. Wonderful. You got a new subscriber.
🎵🎶Pretenders Transformers They Have The Power To Surprise!🎼🎵🎶 some of the Autobot Pretender outer shells kinda reminded me of the Knight characters from Visionaries Knights of the Magical Light
A thought just occurred to me recently. With the original Pretenders line all turning into humans in futuristic armour or fantasy monsters, they look like they would be more at home next to He-Man than to Optimus Prime. So I wonder if maybe Masters of the Universe was outselling Transformers at the time, and Hasbro intentionally set out to make figures with a similar aesthetic to catch up?
Would be good to see hasbro doing more crossover figures such as TF x Star Wars or TF x TMNT as pretenders or something like that or even TF x masters of the universe (assuming the hasbro Mattel merger were to ever happen)
Grimlock, Bludgeon, and Skullgrin will always be my faves!. I always loved the mental controlled shells concept as it made sense cybertronians tactics were super advanced and just awesome!
Could you do a Basics for the following: Humans- the fleshy pals that tag along for better or for worse Beast Wars- the era that redefined so much Combiners- when one bot isn't enough The War- why are they fighting in the first place The Insecticons- the ravenous swarm Theme Songs- The songs that tell the story.
Oh man, I remember having this old comic where a Pretender, Skullgrin, was a movie-star and he fought a half-naked paraplegic chick who shot electricity. I don't know where I have this issue, but I am almost certain that it's not some kind of hallucination!
From a pure play aspect, these toys took everything up a notch by turning a single toy which was already two toys in one to three toys in one and even more when you add in all the variations of combination possibilities with some of the combiner sets. Even a triple changer could only be one toy at a time.
The Masterforce take on the concept explains pretty much everything about the Beast Era: downsizing in the great upgrade, the development of organic beast modes, and even the Organic Core in Beast Machines.
Watching the bayverse movie blind.. I actually like Alice Pretender lol. It was a nice surprise and I didnt think there could be a modern adaptation of such complicated concept
I think the movie version was the only one to really illustrate how dangerous Pretender tech could be. If only they emphasized the infiltration and assassination aspect of it...
Yesss, I'd love a basics on Sixshot. I just picked up his Titans Return figure recently while exploring a local comics store. I really enjoy him, but I hate that I know so little about him. I have no idea what his character or personality is like (aside from the snippets I read from the TFWiki)
I know this vid is old, but I like the techno-organic disguise as seen with Alice. Alice was my introduction to the pretender concept back in 2009 and she's my favorite Revenge of the Fallen character.
I think the Master Force approach to the Pretenders is the coolest, but then again, I'm going to feature Metalhawk and many others differently in my fanfiction, so I don't know if the Pretender gimmick will exist.
1:06 The 2nd Pretender to be revealed, the Decepticon, has what appear to be twin hydrojet intake rotors on the cheast. 8:28 so does Alice. I wonder if that was her earlier form.
I did like the Japanese take on the pretenders. I remember the DVD release had a translation mix-up too. At one point when one of the junior Headmasters is bleeding and when another sees it he shouts "Bomb-Burst!" Since Bomb-Burst's name in Japan was "Blood."
Thanks for this Chris! These new prim masters did get me curious about the pretenders. Skullgrin just has such a cool design which you would never expect to see in the transformers universe. I hope someone oversizes those guys
I loved PRETENDERS when everyone hated them. THUNDERWING & BLUDGEON where stand out characters and my favorite two of them. I like the Primemasters toys however, its still not good enough and I'd really love to see a modern take version of these.
Julie Ann mogg freind oprtimus Optimus Prime Julie Ann mogg 41zr iove oprtimus prime friend Julie Anne Williams family and family and friends for the family that we love and 😍 our family we are blessed to be in this world we love each and every single thing we
The only way it got people interested again is because is because of how much people hated it they started watching all the old stuff again because they want to forget the movies
Awesome investigative Journalism! While I wasn't a fan of Pretenders as a toy concept for Transformers, I was definitely a fan of some of the characters. My tops would be: 1-Bludgeon (master of Metallikato) 2-Lord Thunderwing (Matrix bearer!) 3-Skullgrin (the actor!) 4-Alice (best female character in the Bayverse)
Transformers Legacy, Some of the Pretenders gotten a upgrade to just being their transformer body. I recently got Boom Burst, and Iguanis. I still have Skull Grin from 1987 Pretenders, He will also have a Legacy Former in 23
fun fact, and image to the first pretenders can be found in transformers animated, when prowl and the chief of police went to track down a kidnapped sari sumdac, they found meltdown had been experimenting with DNA in a more twisted way to make humans have the ability to transform. but they didn't quite work and the ones that survived were misshapen chimera humanoids, one of which was a bat that bears a resemblance to one of the earlier decpticon pretenders.
Pretenders were crap. Their shell had no articulation and didn't transform. The inner robot was tiny to fit inside the shell. They didn't "pretend" to be anything. Robots as humans in mech suits, how sneaky. Robots as monster in battle armor. The only "pretending" going on was hiding my disappointment in getting one of these for christmas.
The first big Transformer I had as a kid was Mega Pretender Crossblades. He was a fun toy. Since his shell transformed as well it was like having two transformers in one.
The easter egg dialogue regarding Alice as a 'pretender' and Cogman a 'headmaster' leads me to think that MAYBE the movies were once amazing scripts that Michael Bay chop-shopped. A man can dream.
i liked the G1 comic approach where they were they were armor shells to enhance combat abilities. disguise just doesnt seem to be a strong purpose for them
Awesome video mate. I remember seeing the first wave of Pretenders in Tesco back in 88 when I was 13 and bought Skullgrin on sight with my paper round money. Fast forward to the present and a 43 year old man-child with two Decepticon Pretender tattoo sleeves on my arms and a large back piece depicting Thunderwing. Always loved the abstract designs of the Decepticon Pretenders and through the years have manged to obtain most of em including Metalhawk. I'm stoked that they have come back in some sort of capacity in the latest Power of the Primes line, the tiny Skullgrin is awesome. Look forward to your next videos.
I loved my Cloudburst. I also used him for Juggernaut when playing with my superhero figures. I had about seven Pretenders. They would be ideal for Monoformers.
The only pretenders that I'm familiar with is Crosshairs Productions' concept of them, when the robot form transforms into vehicle form the human shell will appear inside the vehicle. I highly recommend watching Transformers Broken Mirror and Ascension, they're brilliant and deserve more attention
Dude I came across your channel and watching the Basics great show and my first comment I was a kid when this toy line the pretenders came out and man I thought they where lame way back when but really I do love your work thank you so much for reminding me of my childhood.
Thanks to growing up in the beast era and only getting G1 through my uncle showing me the movie and some other things, I had no idea the movie was referencing anything besides beast modes with "Alice"
Fun fact for dutch TF collectors: there is a shop in Amsterdam called "game over" that sells some G1 bots, a custom collorswapped version of the black green mercenary bot and yes the reason why im dropping it here...some pretenders (or just the Shell idk they are unpackaged but iguess they do house the bot)
One thing I would love to see is a Frenzy/Rumble Pretender. As in, Frenzy and Rumble combining and transforming into the two halves of a regular looking human to infiltrate places crawling with real humans and blend in with the crowd. And I just think them posing as Soundwave's vehicle mode's driver would be neat.
I actually liked the comic's take on Pretenders, the technology could be used as an effective force multiplier (literally) and the shells came with their own bio-organic repair and support systems that allowed horribly mutilated cybertronians to be reactivated. Seriously, they may have forced Ratchet into helping out, but Pretender tech allowed them to bring back what was left of Starscream after he tried to munch the Underbase. He was pretty much just a charred metal skeleton at the time.
You know what I actually kind of like the idea of the pretenders! The whole idea of one being doubling up into several sounds neat, reminds me of sound wave. They do seem to make for realatively poor disguises all things considered, but the idea of them being the precursors for techno organic cybertronians or even the maximals ANS predacons is a very interesting concept to me! I can’t speak for how well the toys were though.
I must say you are videos have helped explain to me what some of these Transformers from the movies really are all about since many of them I thought we're strange to be in the Transformers movie. With the robot Alice it does make sense now along with some of the other Transformers from the movies.
Concept wise I like the Masterforce take on the Pretenders, even though I like the 1989 Pretenders more so then the 1988 figures. What is also odd is that The Pretenders have always been my least favorite "gimmick", yet I have so many of them in my collection, reason why is that they were always on sale when I was a kid. In my opinion the Classic Pretenders have the best "robot inside", especially Bumblebee (my favorite G1 Bumblebee), but my god I hate the shells. Thunderwing, Bludgeon and the Monster Pretenders would be my favorite "outer shells" out of all of them. And as always another awesome video and I can't wait for the next one.
While I do loathe the Pretenders as a line and a concept, it would be interesting to see Takara make at least one of them in the Masterpiece line. An outer action figure with all the articulation and posability of a Marvel Legends figure, with a Masterpiece Transformer tucked up inside. Be that MP Bludgeon, Thunderwing or Metalhawk...
The Masterforce season was great until the introductions of the Godmasters. Seriously, as soons as Ginrai entered the scene, it was over for the Autobots Pretenders and Headmaster Juniors. A series where human children would learn to be Transformers and where Transformers would learn to become better humans would have been more interesting than the "Plot to defeat Ginrai " for every episode!
My version is that Pretenders are a creation of Liege Maximo. Here's the story. Maximo wanted to conquer the universe through any means necessary so he used his powers to integrate organic material into his CNA. He would use this power to turn his descendants into beings who could transform into any alien species in order to conquer it for their master.
Hahaha seeing Apeface just reminded me of one of his lines: "Noble Autobots make me wanna Puke!" I'm watching a lot of origins videos atm which is how I came across this.
Can we see a Transformers/Scooby Doo crossover where the "monster" turns out to be a pretender and everyone would've just been more surprised if it were real??
Honestly, the concept of Scooby-Doo crossing over with a franchise where stuff like monsters are real is always kinda hilarious. Like, imagine them doing a normal plot in a fantasy setting and the villain, still trying to do whatever shennanigans, is just like, a werewolf. Or a transformer. Or a werewolf transformer because why not. (And no. I don't mean a pretender, I mean a Cybertronian Lycanthrope.)
Fred removes the mask only to find out the suspect is a Headmaster.
only if it's animated so we can get more Welker talking to himself.
@@DeisFortuna Like Steeljaw(RiD)?
@@disposable_hero1725 So, he’ll get Vietnam flashbacks to Zombie Island?
Pretenders are one of the few things the live-action films took the concept of and improved upon in a logical way.
... and then took q big crap all over it
And then they made the pretender try to fuck Sam and kill him, when it could've killed him ages ago in many different ways in many different times
Mainly by digging into the horrifying implications, and making them more horrifying with a fem fatale Decepticon who would probably do all sorts of unsightly things with Sam's body as she jabbed into his brain for the Allspark data.
@@TJDious it improved upon it
@@ilikepigeons6101 mix of both I love the concept and idea of Alice as a character but they kill her off way to soon for it reach it’s potential.
So Japan got the concept right with them actually being able to fit in via their disguise and then Bayformers followed this smart decision albeit with a horrifying take.
I hope in the new timeline of live action we Will have a good concept of pretender transformers
I like pretenders being infiltration units. Makes sense for decepticons to infiltrate the cozy relationship autobots have with humans.
I found it kinda funny in Rotf that Sam almost got destroyed by a Pretender.
I mean, my thoughts were like "Holy cow, Yandere robot girl! Starscream is doing it again!"
"Abstract vehicle modes." That's the politest way to describe ...those I've ever heard.
Groundbreaker was my favorite year-one Pretender. His vehicle mode -- just as abstract -- resembled Hot Rod's with a nosecone and the engine in the back.
My favorite pretenders are the beast Pretenders, I just like animals
"And Pretender Vehicles which seem to miss the point of the concept" 😂😂😂 I'm dying
like why? the theme song about regular transformers already said robots in disguise with the disguises being vihicles!
The Pretender vehicles even missed their *own* concept.
Anyone who bought early 1988 Transformers got a catalog sheet with various gray "Coming Soon!" silhouettes. Half of the regular Pretenders (3 Autobot, 3 Decepticon) and the 2 Vehicles wouldn't arrive until later 1988. In the preview paragraph, it described Gunrunner (Autobot with a shell that looked like a cross between a 2000-2005 Saturn VUE and a G.I. Joe VAMP) and Roadgrabber (Decepticon with a insect-themed roadster shell) as having vehicle shells that could fit _any_ Pretender robot. Problem is, the shells barely accommodated their own robots. (On the upside, Gunrunner could not only fit in a folded-up position, he could also be made to sit up as if he was driving his SUV/shell!)
Lylacor tell that to the actionmasters
Lol
It is really cool and flattering that my art keeps popping up in these videos! You even used my art from the Collector’s Club Beast Wars story!
Matt Frank Really? That's actually pretty cool. May I take a guess and say you also did work for... IDW?
Oh my gawd. It's Matt Frank!
Joshua Rosario yeah he did
@@joshua7529 Its mattfrank, the most well known IDW artist
Sup. I love the comics you made of Godzilla. WAIT
"Hasbro focused on the battle advantage of a giant human shell"
What advantage is being a giant human over a giant metal construct?
in the marvel comic that It was to hide as armored humans and the decepticons were supposed to think they'd be just regular humans. So the autobots faked their human cowardice which worked...until it was time to use the technique to to mentally control shells separately to take the decepticons by surprise when it was time to strike.
What kstanni87 said. When Scorponok arrived on Earth, previous Decepticon activity had alarmed the Earth's governments into considering *any* Transformer a threat. In order to carry out missions, he developed the Pretenders because he figured human militaries with units prepared for Cybertronian attacks wouldn't know how to respond to organic aliens.
Optimus Prime, reduced to a copied computer program, learned of the Decepticons' plan and copied the files for the Pretender process and shared the data with Fortress Maximus's Autobots. The Autobots' plan only worked because Scorponok's Decepticons had little to no interaction with Earth humans. (So 15-20' tall Earthlings didn't seem weird at all!)
American interpretation is still extremally dumb. I can buy Cybertronians developing Terminator style cover for minicons (and what would make more sense headmasters) living among humans, then some nonsense about weird shells.
It's a giant human IN ADDITION TO a robot.
One where you feel it’s pain.
I guess the Masterforce version is the closest to being my favorite, since the Autobot Pretenders are actually human-sized and there's actually importance in them passing for humans right down to having civilian clothes when they're not in action. If the American cartoon had continued, a similar portrayal probably would have been the best way to go. Maybe an introduction similar to the Marvel comics where there's some kind of Anti-Transformer movement on Earth and a team of Autobots decide to disguise themselves as a team of space marines so they can continue defending the Earth from the Decepticons, who in turn have disguised themselves as monsters created from a mutation or a genetic experiment gone wrong.
2:43 a pretender inside a pretender with other pretender. . . , PRETENDERSEPTION!
"I'm a dude, playin' a dude, disguised as another dude!"
ridden with gold plastic too
always love the Japanese approach that completely tosses out any realistic method of it working in favor of cool factor
I only recently heard about this whole "Pretenders" concept. The scene from Revenge of The Fallen makes a lot more sense to me now. Pretty interesting that this whole idea has faded into near obscurity over the years.
Honestly I was never a fan of the Pretender concept. Also seeing comments below, I do hope you make a Basics on technorganics man!
Your accounts picture is cool looking
So I am not alone :) Same here, for me it was a step down. I like classic G1 characters the most
basically the pretenders led to the organic shell transformations from beast wars.
5:15 Since when did Wolverine become a Transformer?
Bruh
Lol
XD
So the Decepticon pretenders inspired our legends about fantastical beasts, but did they also tell us where to find them??? lol
fAnTaStIc BeAsTs AnD wHeRe To FiNd ThEm
Megatron- "What the hell are you"
Thunderwing "We..... are Thunderwing"
I think pretenders would make good use for transformers when they are exploring or visiting other planets. The Decepticon pretenders can be used to scare the planet’s inhabitants.
When they introduced the pretenders is when I lost all interest in these toys as a kid. As toys, I could not understand why any kid would want these clunky figurines. But after hearing your take on the Japanese storyline, it sounded halfway interesting.
I think some of it’s appeal at least that it was technically multiple toys in one
My favorite part about the Victory Dinocons was that the director of the series thought the toy altmodes were terrible. So the Dinocons just, like... never transformed.
I'd love to see an episode of "The Basics" specifically covering Monstructor 😍
I love these Basics episodes. The pretenders were always some of my favorites.
I’ve owned Landmine since I was a kid and never knew what the hell was going on with that weird body armour, or even his name until this video. Amazing. Thanks so much Chris!
3:22
8:36 so... I guess you could say she was only *pretending* to like him
Awesome basic story. I remember this line. I always hoped they would have come out with a cartoon for this line. I really enjoyed this toyline in the 80s/90s. I had a few of these myself. Great job with this. I subbed your channel
Hey in the Japanese version the pretenders actually look like humans(basically human version of the beast wars transformers). They even get drunk.
Transformers get drunk in japanese G1 from time to time. Hardhead got drunk in Headmasters. Galvatron went on a drunken rampage in Beast Wars 2.
@@masterfarr8265 but pretenders is the first time they got drunk on human drinks. And the pretender shells didn't help much.
I have to say I prefer the pretenders as a disguise, but if it done right, like how the Revenge of the Fallen and Takara did it.
If she was a decepticon the whole time, how did her parents enrol her in college,she have got to be a human some time in the movie.
I love your transformer channel. The best so far. Keep doing your thing, exploring all these concepts that interweave between Japanese an US transformer lore. Wonderful. You got a new subscriber.
The Power! The Power! Of Pretender Transformers!
I've been quietly humming that to myself for days after working on this episode. XD
I can't stop humming this weird Hybrid of the G1 and animated opening.
🎵🎶Pretenders Transformers They Have The Power To Surprise!🎼🎵🎶 some of the Autobot Pretender outer shells kinda reminded me of the Knight characters from Visionaries Knights of the Magical Light
@@stephenharrell9624 Wait wait wait wait hold on what about meltdown from Transformers animated hes a pretender he made he made 2 pretenders
The poooooowerr! The poooooowerr! Of pretenders!
My boy Metalhawk! Masterforce was my favorite transformer series.
I got Doubleheader as a gift when I was in hospital and only had the use of one arm. Let me tell you, he was a bugger to transform.
A thought just occurred to me recently. With the original Pretenders line all turning into humans in futuristic armour or fantasy monsters, they look like they would be more at home next to He-Man than to Optimus Prime. So I wonder if maybe Masters of the Universe was outselling Transformers at the time, and Hasbro intentionally set out to make figures with a similar aesthetic to catch up?
Unlikely, Masters of the Universe was firmly on the way out at that stage - 1988 was its last year.
it might have been TMNT
Would be good to see hasbro doing more crossover figures such as TF x Star Wars or TF x TMNT as pretenders or something like that or even TF x masters of the universe (assuming the hasbro Mattel merger were to ever happen)
Grimlock, Bludgeon, and Skullgrin will always be my faves!. I always loved the mental controlled shells concept as it made sense cybertronians tactics were super advanced and just awesome!
Could you do a Basics for the following:
Humans- the fleshy pals that tag along for better or for worse
Beast Wars- the era that redefined so much
Combiners- when one bot isn't enough
The War- why are they fighting in the first place
The Insecticons- the ravenous swarm
Theme Songs- The songs that tell the story.
I promise you that TWO of those are going to be done before February is over!
Yay! And thanks in advance
Oh man, I remember having this old comic where a Pretender, Skullgrin, was a movie-star and he fought a half-naked paraplegic chick who shot electricity.
I don't know where I have this issue, but I am almost certain that it's not some kind of hallucination!
Wouldn't it be cool if we had a series focusing classic pretenders hiding out on earth
From a pure play aspect, these toys took everything up a notch by turning a single toy which was already two toys in one to three toys in one and even more when you add in all the variations of combination possibilities with some of the combiner sets. Even a triple changer could only be one toy at a time.
I love this series. Keep it up, man. I'm learning a lot about Transformers lore because of your channel.
The Masterforce take on the concept explains pretty much everything about the Beast Era: downsizing in the great upgrade, the development of organic beast modes, and even the Organic Core in Beast Machines.
*About to pull trigger*
( New Basics Video ).
Me "Finally, something to live for..
Shrek 5 in 2019.
Elijah Blechman
Yea dat 2
Edgy.
Watching the bayverse movie blind.. I actually like Alice Pretender lol. It was a nice surprise and I didnt think there could be a modern adaptation of such complicated concept
Oh yeah,I remembered reading a comic book on them. I was confused at first,until I read further and understand what they really are
I was JUST thinking last night about how cool it would be to have a Basics episode on Pretenders!
I think the movie version was the only one to really illustrate how dangerous Pretender tech could be. If only they emphasized the infiltration and assassination aspect of it...
I am surprised that you haven’t done StarScream yet. I personally find him a very interesting character.
HEY CHRIS, I CANT WAIT FOR YOUR NEXT EPISODE, HOPE IT IS THE BASICS ON FEMALE CYBERTRONIANS.
we are getting new FEMALE CYBERTRONIANS in potp
Elijah Blechman which female cybertronians?
Golden Freddy 's Family diner For now we know that we’re getting Elita-1, Moonracer, Slash and Novastar.
Dark Scream OH COOL.
The basics on Sixshot or you could do the basics on the Japanese G1 cartoons as a whole.
Yesss, I'd love a basics on Sixshot. I just picked up his Titans Return figure recently while exploring a local comics store. I really enjoy him, but I hate that I know so little about him. I have no idea what his character or personality is like (aside from the snippets I read from the TFWiki)
The Japanese continuity is fascinating to me, it would be fantastic if you did a basics on Headmasters through Transformers Go.
Well, you got both
I know this vid is old, but I like the techno-organic disguise as seen with Alice. Alice was my introduction to the pretender concept back in 2009 and she's my favorite Revenge of the Fallen character.
Yeah she's cool and I hope she comes back in another tf series
I think the Master Force approach to the Pretenders is the coolest, but then again, I'm going to feature Metalhawk and many others differently in my fanfiction, so I don't know if the Pretender gimmick will exist.
1:06 The 2nd Pretender to be revealed, the Decepticon, has what appear to be twin hydrojet intake rotors on the cheast. 8:28 so does Alice. I wonder if that was her earlier form.
Bomb Burst?
Masterforce handled pretenders the best.
Have you seen werezillia revew of it?
I did like the Japanese take on the pretenders. I remember the DVD release had a translation mix-up too. At one point when one of the junior Headmasters is bleeding and when another sees it he shouts "Bomb-Burst!" Since Bomb-Burst's name in Japan was "Blood."
Thanks for this Chris! These new prim masters did get me curious about the pretenders. Skullgrin just has such a cool design which you would never expect to see in the transformers universe. I hope someone oversizes those guys
I loved PRETENDERS when everyone hated them. THUNDERWING & BLUDGEON where stand out characters and my favorite two of them. I like the Primemasters toys however, its still not good enough and I'd really love to see a modern take version of these.
The Alice transformers pretender is a awesome concept too transformers 2:-)
there is nothing awesome about any of those movies....
@Starscream91 let him think what he wants to think
Julie Ann mogg freind oprtimus Optimus Prime Julie Ann mogg 41zr iove oprtimus prime friend Julie Anne Williams family and family and friends for the family that we love and 😍 our family we are blessed to be in this world we love each and every single thing we
We should get more pretenders in the Live-Action universe, especially one that sided with Autobots.
The only way it got people interested again is because is because of how much people hated it they started watching all the old stuff again because they want to forget the movies
Awesome investigative Journalism!
While I wasn't a fan of Pretenders as a toy concept for Transformers, I was definitely a fan of some of the characters.
My tops would be:
1-Bludgeon (master of Metallikato)
2-Lord Thunderwing (Matrix bearer!)
3-Skullgrin (the actor!)
4-Alice (best female character in the Bayverse)
I love the take on masterforce
Sad that masterforce was not a great show.
Prime Masters: wears a shell so their power can't be abused. Their shells: Literally turn into weapons that anyone can pick up and use!
Thanks man! I found a pretender (no shell) at a yard sale and I had no idea who he was!
EDIT: I got land mine
Transformers Legacy, Some of the Pretenders gotten a upgrade to just being their transformer body. I recently got Boom Burst, and Iguanis. I still have Skull Grin from 1987 Pretenders, He will also have a Legacy Former in 23
I also still got Optimus Prime from Target Masters.. just the cab.
fun fact, and image to the first pretenders can be found in transformers animated, when prowl and the chief of police went to track down a kidnapped sari sumdac, they found meltdown had been experimenting with DNA in a more twisted way to make humans have the ability to transform. but they didn't quite work and the ones that survived were misshapen chimera humanoids, one of which was a bat that bears a resemblance to one of the earlier decpticon pretenders.
I was asking for this episode but remembered it existed
Pretenders were crap. Their shell had no articulation and didn't transform. The inner robot was tiny to fit inside the shell. They didn't "pretend" to be anything. Robots as humans in mech suits, how sneaky. Robots as monster in battle armor. The only "pretending" going on was hiding my disappointment in getting one of these for christmas.
The first big Transformer I had as a kid was Mega Pretender Crossblades. He was a fun toy. Since his shell transformed as well it was like having two transformers in one.
The easter egg dialogue regarding Alice as a 'pretender' and Cogman a 'headmaster' leads me to think that MAYBE the movies were once amazing scripts that Michael Bay chop-shopped.
A man can dream.
The Alice I was thinking about was something from resident evil
i liked the G1 comic approach where they were they were armor shells to enhance combat abilities. disguise just doesnt seem to be a strong purpose for them
Ive been watching your videos for a while now and it’s amazing it’s so impressive
Awesome video mate. I remember seeing the first wave of Pretenders in Tesco back in 88 when I was 13 and bought Skullgrin on sight with my paper round money. Fast forward to the present and a 43 year old man-child with two Decepticon Pretender tattoo sleeves on my arms and a large back piece depicting Thunderwing. Always loved the abstract designs of the Decepticon Pretenders and through the years have manged to obtain most of em including Metalhawk. I'm stoked that they have come back in some sort of capacity in the latest Power of the Primes line, the tiny Skullgrin is awesome. Look forward to your next videos.
I loved my Cloudburst. I also used him for Juggernaut when playing with my superhero figures. I had about seven Pretenders. They would be ideal for Monoformers.
3:33
So... It's just Transformers: Stands?
Jotaro Prime, wielder of the Joespark and leader of the Jo-bots, leads the Jobots in a battle against DIODE and his followers
Obama loves you for saying this
Autobot Pretenders: Imperium Legionaire Astartes
Decepticon Pretenders: Chaos Space Marines 😃😃
Ultrapretenders were my favorite toys in those days.
The only pretenders that I'm familiar with is Crosshairs Productions' concept of them, when the robot form transforms into vehicle form the human shell will appear inside the vehicle. I highly recommend watching Transformers Broken Mirror and Ascension, they're brilliant and deserve more attention
yeah it's a great show.
The Cybertronians species consist of
OG Cybertronians
Titans
Minecons
Triple-Changers
Combiners
Dinobots
Predacons
Inecticons
Pretenders
Please do a basics on the stunticons
Dude I came across your channel and watching the Basics great show and my first comment I was a kid when this toy line the pretenders came out and man I thought they where lame way back when but really I do love your work thank you so much for reminding me of my childhood.
Thanks to growing up in the beast era and only getting G1 through my uncle showing me the movie and some other things, I had no idea the movie was referencing anything besides beast modes with "Alice"
Fun fact for dutch TF collectors: there is a shop in Amsterdam called "game over" that sells some G1 bots, a custom collorswapped version of the black green mercenary bot and yes the reason why im dropping it here...some pretenders (or just the Shell idk they are unpackaged but iguess they do house the bot)
One thing I would love to see is a Frenzy/Rumble Pretender. As in, Frenzy and Rumble combining and transforming into the two halves of a regular looking human to infiltrate places crawling with real humans and blend in with the crowd. And I just think them posing as Soundwave's vehicle mode's driver would be neat.
I actually liked the comic's take on Pretenders, the technology could be used as an effective force multiplier (literally) and the shells came with their own bio-organic repair and support systems that allowed horribly mutilated cybertronians to be reactivated. Seriously, they may have forced Ratchet into helping out, but Pretender tech allowed them to bring back what was left of Starscream after he tried to munch the Underbase. He was pretty much just a charred metal skeleton at the time.
Y'know what would be a neat idea for Bayformers? Making Cogman as both Pretender *and* Headmaster.
You know what I actually kind of like the idea of the pretenders! The whole idea of one being doubling up into several sounds neat, reminds me of sound wave. They do seem to make for realatively poor disguises all things considered, but the idea of them being the precursors for techno organic cybertronians or even the maximals ANS predacons is a very interesting concept to me! I can’t speak for how well the toys were though.
This video was very informative and gave me a better understanding of the Pretenders.
I must say you are videos have helped explain to me what some of these Transformers from the movies really are all about since many of them I thought we're strange to be in the Transformers movie. With the robot Alice it does make sense now along with some of the other Transformers from the movies.
In the Transformers Animated cartoon, Two of Meltdown's experements resemble the pretenders Bomb-Burst and Submarauder.
Good to know more info on the only transformer I had for the longest time when I was little.
I like the Masterforce version, it is the most logical one.
Concept wise I like the Masterforce take on the Pretenders, even though I like the 1989 Pretenders more so then the 1988 figures. What is also odd is that The Pretenders have always been my least favorite "gimmick", yet I have so many of them in my collection, reason why is that they were always on sale when I was a kid.
In my opinion the Classic Pretenders have the best "robot inside", especially Bumblebee (my favorite G1 Bumblebee), but my god I hate the shells. Thunderwing, Bludgeon and the Monster Pretenders would be my favorite "outer shells" out of all of them.
And as always another awesome video and I can't wait for the next one.
I prefer the disguising aspect, Masterforce did it pretty well in my opinion.
This has given me a lot of inspiration
While I do loathe the Pretenders as a line and a concept, it would be interesting to see Takara make at least one of them in the Masterpiece line. An outer action figure with all the articulation and posability of a Marvel Legends figure, with a Masterpiece Transformer tucked up inside. Be that MP Bludgeon, Thunderwing or Metalhawk...
Holy shit I had that green ultra pretender as a toy for YEARS. I never knew it was a transformer I just thought it was a sweet looking car 😂
The Masterforce season was great until the introductions of the Godmasters. Seriously, as soons as Ginrai entered the scene, it was over for the Autobots Pretenders and Headmaster Juniors. A series where human children would learn to be Transformers and where Transformers would learn to become better humans would have been more interesting than the "Plot to defeat Ginrai " for every episode!
I thought it was stupid when I saw it in the film, but now I have to give bay and company some credit.
Turns out he took a stupid concept and made it actually work
My version is that Pretenders are a creation of Liege Maximo. Here's the story.
Maximo wanted to conquer the universe through any means necessary so he used his powers to integrate organic material into his CNA. He would use this power to turn his descendants into beings who could transform into any alien species in order to conquer it for their master.
So was Leige maximal as small as a human?
I remember getting the Pretender Decepticon wolf toy for my birthday. As I recall though the shell itself wasn't very flexible
Now that I've been getting back into Transformers properly, I think the Pretenders are really fun characters!
Hahaha seeing Apeface just reminded me of one of his lines: "Noble Autobots make me wanna Puke!" I'm watching a lot of origins videos atm which is how I came across this.
The Autobot pretenders in the lost space thing look like Spartans
jgfjgfify yeah I agree
Well there was always Stranglehold who had that bare chested gladiator thing going.
Can we get a The Basics on Nova Prime? I really don’t know anything about him, but that’s probably just me