Cool pics! If only those new headmasters were compatible with the original figures - as your photographs show, they would be quite acceptable stand-ins for the original heads.

 

I took these pics a few weeks ago before I had to pack my collection away prior to putting my apartment on the market.

G1 Pretenders:







G1 Actionmasters:

 

Christ, I forget how many Pretenders there are actually were!

 

...rad!..

 

God, there really were a lot of Pretenders weren't there! I never realised until you laid them all out like that!
Mind you, I'm not really sure if owning that many Pretenders should be something you should be proud of or not @Blitz Wing!  

 

I hope your joking   lol , I`m so damn jealous of the contents of those pics it`s unreal .

 

Ha! No - I am joking! Although you have to admit Pretenders can be pretty fugly! I actually own a few and I do like them... I just don't feel like they fit into my collection. Skullgrin, Submarauder and Snarler are particular favourites.

 

Dont know why I didnt find this thread earlier, its like sex for me.

Anyway I started the long process of finding and repairing my G1 collections as well.

Here are two images of my G1 repaired Onslaught. He had his shouldier joints replaced, his legs disassembled and reassembled to fix the looseness, and I replaced one broken tid bit inside the leg that is used to peg the leg robot in combiner mode, and shaved some plastic inside his hands so they can finally after 30 years come out fully. All spare parts came from another junker which left me with a heap of parts and a fucked up (paint wise) and loose mess. But I think Ill fix that one too somehow.

 

I find that they actually grow on you. The '88 Autobot class is pretty bland, but they make up for that with their cool weapons. The '88 Decepticons and pretty much all of the '89 Pretenders all have cool looking shells.

The only American released Pretenders I still need to collect are Vroom, Roadblock, Stranglehold and Octopunch.

 

Got two of those guys: Bumblebee and Starscream and both need repairs. BumbleBee needs the piece between his legs (that sounds ankward) replaced and starscream the pegs where the wings clip.

Some of them were really good some were really attrocious! I cant for the life of me look at Grimlock for example.

All of them were fun without exception though.

 

Jeeze, there's some missing from that picture?! There's so many in it that I didn't even realise! And yeah, everyone should have their very own Burt Reynolds action figure as part of their collection!

 

I never felt like they didn`t fit in , in fact I all ways saw them as just a part of the evolution of what I happened to love . BLOOD , A.K.A BOMBBURST , BLUDGEON , THUNDERWING , BUGLY , OCTOPUNCH and STARSCREAM are a few of my favs  

 

I can definitely see them fitting in as part of the lines evolution after things like the Headmasters, Targetmasters and Monsterbots. Unfortunately I sold all of my versions of them on, so now i'm just left with basically Diaclone/Microchange molds and pretenders. The change in aesthetic is... jarring!  

 

Octopunch is probably my favorite Pretender, with such a great shell AND inner robot. I think it wins just slightly over Bludgeon. I'd recommend getting Stranglehold eventually too. The shell is kind of ridiculous, but the inner robot is great.

 

I really love Longtooth. Not a popular opinion. But yes, Octopunch and Longtooth are my favourite of the '89 Pretenders.

Now that the Decepticon '88 Headmasters are out the way, I thought I'd start on another trio of G1/Titans Return comparison shots.

So here's a funny thing. I hate the G1 Blurr figure. The '86 Autobot cars always had a special place in my heart due to their key, dramatic role in Target:2006 and I loved the character in the movie , as I was always drawn to 'fast' characters when I was a kid, but the toy. Oh my days, what a gimpy looking figure. The facial sculpt makes him look like he's feeling a bit sorry for himself, as if he's been put on monitor duty while everyone else goes down the pub. "No, that's ok. You guys have a good time. I'll be fine...I guess" he says as he stares forlornly at the monitor, trying to put on a brave face while Wreck-Gar starts quoting lines about the Bluer Peter garden being vandalised.

and it's not just the face. His whole figure seems, flat, droopy, oddly proportioned and uninspiring. I resented the shield. As far as I can remember he was the first Transformer I came across where the accessory was essential to the vehicle mode (The seekers were a whole other pain in the ass. Those were integral bits to both modes rather than just being an accessory) so when he put his shield down somewhere else and tried to transform him you were left with this...thing. Cool gun though.

Now, one thing I never had a problem with was his colour scheme. So I couldn't get my head round why everyone was saying the Titans Return figure had such a crappy deco and the Takara version was so much better. I couldn't stand the Takara version. That colour scheme just seemed so fussy and formal, like he was being made to wear his Sunday best...for monitor duty most likely.

I love the Titans Return Blurr. I think he's fantastic. he was the first TR deluxe I got and I was genuinely wowed by how well put together he was. The 'bot mode had all the charisma the original G1 lacked. The vehicle mode was so in line with what Blurr's vehicle mode looked like in my mind's eye that it was almost Masterpiece class in it's just pure simple rightness. I'd enjoyed Combiner Wars, but after playing with this I knew I was going to love Titans Return. And I did.

 

Blurr Blaster and Wheelie...The most annoying characters of G1. So much annoying I still remember that I was in extacy when Galvatron nearly (sadly only nearly) blew them up in five faces of darkness.

And that 'monitor duty' face suits him fine. He indeed was placed into a thankless role while the rest of the Autobots had fun in the galactic olympics.

Still I understand the figure let down. I suffered the same with Galvatron. "Heres a ton of brick. It sticks a connon up his face so it transforms. And he does some angry noise....Yeah have fun".

 

Oh god, totally. I'd look at my friend's Galvatron (and to a lesser extent Ultra Magnus) then look back to my comics and feel so let down.

 

Μagnus cant deal with articulation now....

 

Only ones I need are Groundbreaker and Carnivac  
And be careful about Vroom, his awesomeness will overwhelm you. Everyone needs a little Vroom in their life  

To be fair, Galvatron is actually one of the more articulated G1 toys. But my major issue with him was the huge size difference between him and Rodimus Prime. Now, when you grow up a G1 fan, you learn to accept differences in scale, so it typically didn't bug me. But these were the leaders of their respective factions, and one looked like a child next to the other.

 

The quintessential toy (articulation wise) of the G1 line was Optimus Prime to be fair. If Rodimus does better, well you have to pardon me, but I never heard of it or owed one.
But compared to Prime, Galvatron is a brick. With a beard and an agry voice but still a brick.

I agree to the rest of your post except that I am on the hate Rodimus train (Luxurious VIP seat I might add, and extra green phlegm reserved to spit on his face from Day one of his appereance). Then again I liked Hot Rod.