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Pretender Vehicles

Posted by:
Perceptor at 2009-03-09 7:38 pm   (site update)
Imagine you're a cybertronian jet and you want to disguise this fact so you build a Pretender shell ...  Now imagine the shell is a non-Earth-mode armored car!  Okay, so maybe it's not the best war strategy of all time, but such was the case for the two newest character page additions to Unicron.com: ROADGRABBER and GUNRUNNER.  You'll find each now available in the 1988 Section.  Hey, this was the 80's, no one said it had to make perfect sense!  On the upside each car converts to a heavily armed battle station!

Stay tuned, we have a very interesting week of Transformers news to come!

Comments
dr-fan/mai-lover said,  - 2009-03-09 20:20:00
prtenders-vehcles-huh
ive-naver-of-anything-like-this
befor-in-my-life
Sabrblade said,  - 2009-03-09 20:30:06
I'm getting an Action Master-vibe from these guys.

I wholy agree that this is not the best war strategy of all time. XD
Jumpercliff said,  - 2009-03-09 21:32:42
Nice! Again, need to be updated in Universe.

Guest voice actor ideas (for my ideal show, in an episode with homages to Bullitt (1968), Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and the drag race scene from American Grafitti (1973)):

-Vin Diesel as Roadgrabber

-Josh Duhamel as Gunrunner
starscreamer said,  - 2009-03-09 21:45:18
the pretenders are very interesting.
Sidewinder said,  - 2009-03-10 11:53:55
I think it would have been more interesting if the vehicle also transformed into a robot, kind of like a mech unit for the smaller transformer, who in turn also has his own vehicle mode. Imagine how that would be in battle:

"Okay, we beat the big robot that turned into an armored car. Wait, his chest is opening. A smaller robot has appeared. Its cool, probably just a head master or weapon master or something...wait...the little guy just turned into a jet and is strafing us. Dang it..."
Bass X0 said,  - 2009-03-10 12:38:00
Thats clearly Divebomb in the Stormbringer issue.
Sabrblade said,  - 2009-03-10 15:10:30
Sidewinder, that idea has already been used for the Mega Pretenders (Thunderwing, Crossblades, Vroom) and Crossformers (Black Shadow, Blue Bacchus).

Of those characters, Thunderwing does have a page:
http://www.unicron.us/tf1989/toypix/thunderwing.htm
Overhaul said,  - 2009-03-10 15:14:09
Sidewinder; There actually were two Pretenders who had transforming shells: Thunderwing and Vroom, with the former of those two being able to combine with the shell in both vehicle modes (well, more like latch onto).
From the images I've seen, their shells' transformations were pretty simple (not to say the inner robot transformations aren't).
As for Pretenders in general, I can see the purpose of the regular ones as explained in various comics (as advanced techno/organic armor, as a remotely operated body to use, as a means to change ones' appearance to that of an organic life form [assuming the shells have the mass shifting properties that Transformers like Soundwave have]), but I can't see the purpose of the vehicles. Other than Hasbro's attempt to put more toys out there.
I do wonder what a modern day Pretender figure would be like... but then maybe we'll find out with a movie Pretender based on rumors of who is it, Rumble being rumored to be a female Pretender?
Another guy I'd like to see would be a good version of Bludgeon (by good, I mean having a cool inner robot). Don't suppose they might to a crack at it when (and if) Universe shifts back into gear after the movie...
Sabrblade said,  - 2009-03-10 15:42:48
Overhaul, did you miss my post?
Bass X0 said,  - 2009-03-10 16:02:49
Gunrunner actually does make a brief cameo in Stormbringer - however its of his back. Its still him though which is better than a pic of someone else (really, what happened to accuracy here?). Its on the thirteenth page of #2.
Overhaul said,  - 2009-03-10 19:39:59
Sabrblade,
Yeah, I did. You posted about four minutes before I did, and since I did a little research before publishing, I didn't see your go up. Sorry ;-).
Considering you know of a few characters I missed, what's the difference between the three former characters you mentioned, and these "Crossformers"?
Sabrblade said,  - 2009-03-10 20:18:58
Just the names, the color schemes, the non-organic appearance of the Crossformers' Pretender Shells as opposed to the organic look of the Mega Pretenders' shells, the fact that the Crossformers' shells are treated more like their robot modes instead of just shells, the two of them being mercenaries, the fact they showed up for only one episode, and a few other things.


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