In Masterforce, yes. In Marvel's take the Decepticons were (mostly) daikaiju and the Autobots were (mostly) giant humans in their Pretender shells. Takara's backstory makes more sense.

 

Ok, so I've let the news & hype settle in a bit.


- Pretender Liege Maximo/Skullgrin : Although disappointment about their size lurks within my fanboy subconscience, I think their reintroduction as PrimeMaster pretender shells is genius.

Because, if it would have been voyager sized for example, fans would probably expect:
A. Full articulation of this voyager sized pretender shell.
B. A proper fully articulated scoutclass sized Skullgrin robot inside.

Now, ponder about the amount of development costs and time A and B would require - while at the same time, consider the fact that this would also nullify the point of having a little PrimeMaster in this pretender SKU.

So yeah, I can definetely see why Hasbro went this route, since these PrimeMaster Pretenders pretty much form the foundation of the wideline PrimeMaster playpattern.

The only nitpick I will throw at these PrimeMasters is the paint used for their specialty power icon : I think it would have been waaaaaaay better if they would've used a special paint with a fluorescent effect or some sort of sparkle effect. Flat paint is just a bit of a missed opportunity. See magical paint such as Glonation: Bright Time Glow Paint | Glow-in-the-Dark Strontium Aluminate Paints - GloNation

- Legends Beachcomber : Solid effort. Complementary to Bumblebee & his HulkHogan brother and Brawn.

- Deluxe Jazz : Highly refreshing altmode which oozes LeMans24 race. Robotmode seems partially influenced by Pretender Jazz, rather than the season 1&2 Diaclone mold. The translucent headlights and lightpiping in his headsculpt feature a really cool shade of plastic. Use of the combiner peg is a big unknown at this time.

- Deluxe Dreadwind & Darkwing : As a super Dreadwing fan I'm hyped and slightly disappointed at the same time. I have no problems with them being deluxe sized at all - this will make them nicely proportionate to Leader Overlord. It will also ensure, plenty of mass consumers will more likely purchase this dynamic duo. If they would have been voyagers, I doubt most parents would buy these as a duo. Deluxe class just makes way more commercial sense here.

Their overal deco and colorlayout works really well to evoke that Dreadwing feeling. I also don't have a problem with them being CW retools in principle ; as I can clearly see the retooling which enables them to conjoin into Dreadwing mode. Dreadwind's wing assembly folds back to line up with Darkwing and Darkwing's folded nosecone assembly lines up nicely with Dreadwinds tailfins.

Yet, as much as I appreciate the retooling which is there, some aesthetic hallmarks are missing, such as Dreadwind's rounded tube-shaped forearms and his lowerlegs could also use resculpting to feature his typical 1988 style dual nub knee pads. Similar thing goes for Darkwing.

Here's to feeble hope, Takara will go the extra mile to resculpt these parts - although I am pretty sure they will be colored as Buster & Hydra.

- Voyager Starscream : I am not a fan of this. I can see how his combiner port functions resulted into these proportions....but overal, it just looks awkward. Little cosmetic adjustments which would help alleviate this problem a bit, would be to paint the armor platings on his forearms gray - because it now looks like a giant solid block of blue. The giant stumpy feet also don't help his proportions. Smaller feet might not have covered those combiner ports entirely, but I would accept that rather than these blockfeet.

- Leader Rodimus Prime : I've never been a real fan of his as a character design - but I can recognize this as a decent effort. Actually, I think I like the deluxe Rodimus in here, better than the TR deluxe Hot Rod, who is by no means a bad looking bot himself.

Combined mode, seems slightly compromised... but it will probably suffice just fine in a semi dynamic pose on the shelf. The winabago mode actually looks good too.

 

Beachcomber, Darkwind, Dreadwing... They obviously still want my money...  

 

Nope. Fullgrown Transformers dude  

 

Marvels comic had a lot of scale errors. I prefer Takaras as well, because the concept is they have the shell to blend in, they won't blend in if they're giant!

 

Well that just means the concept was bad, not the designs or the gimmick.
That's some backwards reasoning right there.
Doesnt make much sense for giant robots to magically become the size of humans.
Besides. The fiction doesnt matter, thats just dumb marketing. The toys were roughly voyager sized in G1, they should be the same size now. Some people just like being the dog in the manger.

 

i really hope they release a armada optimus prime and a ginrai it is the same concept after all

 

Except when they go to the planet of giant warrior women.

 

I concur that TR OVERLORD seems to have been crated with the awesome ability to hold to Power masters simualtaniusly . I love it ! And as far as STARSCREAM goes - yuck . He looks as if he were a character from the MEGAMAN series ...look at those hideous proportions .... I hope to god that he is not a torso bot....but if so then it`s all most a garuntee that we will be getting ABOMINUS ....Hopefully PREDAKING ... And fingers crossed ... MONSTRUCTOR ...considering we have a PRETENDER gimmick , even if it`s a sad example ...... but PRETENDERS they are .... Oh yes and PIRANACON ....beccause we all know TT is going to go for a MASTERFORCE theme .....   Oh happy times we live ...

 

That was a good planet to go to  

 

they look to be saving the combiner element of the line for hascon. that starscream is a defo combiner and that jazz, dredwind and BLACKWING (darkwing) are all combiners

 

Yeah , I know it`s his horn ...It just serves as a thumb I would suspect.

 

"The fiction doesn't matter"
"Doesn't make sense for giant robots to magically become the size of humans"

nice b8 m8, i r8 8/8

 

Hopefully we see a statue of Quintessa

 

Now we're just playing the "this matters more to me" game. You're basically elevating your opinion because you prefer the larger size of the older figures but how is that better then an opinion based on Masterforce continuity? It's not. Both are just opinions.

I'm in the camp that likes how the Pretenders were reimagined. There was no way that Hasbro/Takara could release voyager size Pretender shells with great engineering and articulation and be under $100. I'm actually a fan of some of the Pretender shell designs so I like that they're not getting forgotten. I can't wait for Octopunch to eventually get revealed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

They haven't done head tweaks like that, but it's possible they would retool the titan masters to engines and give him two extras.

 

I'm just biased into thinking anybody not liking them to get updates accurate to the original toys is one of those people who never liked Pretenders in the first place.
To me the toys are what made me love Pretenders. If you're a fan of Masterforce i can imagine apreciating this reinterpretation. And yeah, it would be very fitting to the cartoon.
I didn't mean to play that game  
Wish there was a place i could watch a good sub of the show, still haven't seen it.

 

So is this the only stuff that\'s going to get reveals for SDCC? I wanted to see more pics of the PotP gimmick in action and some more pics of Rodimus in his deluxe robot-only form.

 

So what exactly is the gimmick for the line?  We got titan master matrix cores for the titan master class, legends are the same as TR, deluxe class is CW limb bots, Voyager is CW torso bots, and leader class is super modes?  Regardless, I\'m loving what I\'m seeing.  Especially that Dreadwing duo, Rodmius, and Liege Maximo (skullgrin).

Those activators are neat.  Nice to be getting more of those.

Cogman, Nitro Zeus, Voyager Megs, and Infernocus are definant gets, and I\'ll get MP Prime if I can find him and have the money.

With all these awesome releases, it\'s getting hard not to buy transformers... Which, ironically, is making it hard to buy transformers, because my money only goes so far and my bank account REALLY needs repleneshing...

 

you hit the head on the nail. the line gimmick is the previous line gimmicks, head masters have become power masters because there is no longer a need for removable heads. though apparently we still may get a few more headmasters regardless.