First up, we have Waverider/Diver. He was the first one I got in a huge lot right when I restarted collecting G1. Luckily I had a shell sitting in my parts bin as the one I got with the complete figure was pretty badly discoloured.
His inner bot turns into a "submarine" of sorts. Most of the regular Pretenders fall short in the alt mode department.
The second one is Cloudburst/Phoenix. His whip is fairly difficult to find unbroken. Got him just a couple weeks ago along with the car dasher.
Lastly, we have Landmine/Lander. He was sold as a mail away in Japan and is pretty rare. He is one of the reasons I decided to not worry about the boxes and just get the figures for the Masterforce Pretenders. I got him a while ago from a TFW member.
He turns into a car I guess.
Personally, if I hadn't watched Masterforce, I probably would have skipped Pretenders minus a couple stand outs like Bludgeon and Thunderwing. But as it stands, I have a slight appreciation for them, and they do look decent in group shots.
The photography looks nice on these guys.
ReplyDeleteI think your last statement says it best for me. While I don't have any Pretenders myself, if I hadn't watched the Masterforce series, I would have thought these guys were some kind of joke. I don't know what it is, but for some reason I am fixated that we can only see there eyes from behind their mask and that really bothers me! That, and how fat their suits make them look.
That being said, if I came across them at a REALLY good price I would consider getting them just because of their history, but that's it. Bludgeon would be my pick out of the lot but that would be more so for how he has been depicted on the comics that makes him so great for me.
Cheers,
Joe
The big problem is that there aren't a lot of good priced ones anymore lol. I've been searching everywhere for a Thunderwing under $200, found one, and it's on it's way to me, but it took a while.
DeleteSeems like the Pretenders have always gotten a bad rap. I have fond memories of Marvel #52 that heavily featured Landmine and Cloudburst, however, and the rest of them have grown on me over the years.
ReplyDeleteMan, I've always loved the Pretenders. They're one of my favorite subgroups. For awhile, they were the biggest part of my collection. I'm still missing a few of the second wave Pretenders and some small Pretenders, but the prices on the ones I don't have have gotten ridiculous. It's not like Groundbreaker had a fictional history to back up his huge price. I'm still confused about their prices.
ReplyDeleteI, too, have gotten some Pretenders. I got STARSCREAM, JAZZ, GRIMLOCK and BUMBLEBEE, and most recently, LANDMINE, CLOUDBURST, IGUANUS and WAVERIDER. The other eight original Pretenders are on the way.
ReplyDelete