Did you like them using the standard robot mode for their inner robot form, or would you have preferred them to have also gained new robot modes based on their Pretender toys?

 

The only good toy is maybe Bumblebee, so, I dunno.

 

I was content when I was younger. Now it's irrelevant since it's not gonna change.

I'm just glad they were in the comics.

 

The pretender designs are kinda awful, ngl.

 

I thought Grimlock was good. Jazz is undeniably the worst obviously.

 

I’m glad they remained in their old bodies in the comics. Too bad the Pretender shells were apparently destroyed during Matrix Quest.. and Starscream just left his in a closet somewhere in Jersey.

 

It made him all powerful.

Until it didn't.

 

I'd rather Pretenders not show up in the comic (or any fiction for that matter) at all, but then that would mean Bludgeon couldn't be in the comic so I'm very conflicted.

 

I always got the impression that the Pretender Heroes were intended to be "the same" as the original characters/figures. The Hero versions are no less (and in Bumblebee's case, MORE) show-accurate than the original versions of the toys.

 

Ratchet had installed a failsafe.

 

Oooh. I like this.

 

I liked that they came back in their original forms. I even found the pretender Technology (as it was presented in the Furman written comics) to be kind of cool. Unfortunately, their original introduction was kind of a mess. It was obvious Bob Budiansky didn't really know how to incorporate them into the TFs universe in a logical way. That's not bashing Bob- I'm actually a huge fan of his work on Transformers, but it was an odd concept to begin with. Transformers who are pretending to be giant humans, and giant beasts? I did however like what he did with SkullGrin in the Monstercon From Mars Issue. As a result of that issue I am actually a fairly big fan of Skullgrin. I was kind of annoyed a few months ago when I read the G2 run of comics, and he was introduced only to be killed a fraction of a second later...

Had the Pretenders been introduced on an Alien world that was populated by giant beasts, and giant humans maybe it would have made more sense, but they were introduced on earth. So, it didn't make sense at all.

The pretender concept in Masterforce was probably one of the best conceptualizations for the idea. The pretender shells were human sized and consisted of Transformers who no longer wanted to fight in the TFs war. So they went into hiding as regular humans. However, the pretender beasts in the series were just ordinary Decepticons who had outer shells for some weird reason. So, one aspect of the technology made sense, while the other aspect of the technology made none.

I thought that that was pretty clear in the comics. That Ratchet had kept Starscream's personality intact, and at the proper time it would reassert itself. Hence he would eventually turn back into his normal cowardly self. I remember Megatron going berserk over the fact that Ratchet messed with Starscream. Megatron said something to the effect of "What have you done to my creation?!", and Ratchet laughed it off.

Furman was pretty thorough back in those days. It wasn't until Regeneration one that he wasn't. I remember him giving explanations about things that occurred in Regeneration one in his on line blog, and not in the actual comic. There were quite a lot of arguments about things like that on his blog. Not only arguments between fans, but between Furman, and fans. Some of the fans were outright jerks, but some did bring up legitimate problems with the comic. If I remember correctly it was actually a fairly volatile place at times while Regeneration one was being sold.

 

If you're a long time marvel UK reader regeneration one was an insult to the fans. Those incredible epics and some of the two parter were glossed over and a lot of folk were pissed. For me the biggest gripes I had were the ignoring of the history between galvatron and ultra magnus and the return of scorponok. Yes it was zarak that died blah blah blah but it was a flimsy excuse.

The dna key that makes you an autibot or con was a joke too. I only kept three issues from it. Issue 85, 0 and 100. The rest I binned.

 

I was not a long time reader of the UK comic. However, I heard about it for years in the original Marvel Letters column. There were people in the United States that were able to get both and would write in about both TF US &TF UK. So, I did know a little about it. When the Titan Trades came out in the very early 2000s I bought all of them including the UK reprints. I was amazed at how well it fit in (for the most part) with the US continuity. It actually improved upon some things (Like the origin of Bumblebee becoming Goldbug) and filled in some loose ends that weren't resolved in the US comic. So, when I heard that Regeneration one was ignoring the UK run I was really annoyed. I mean, just about everyone that was going to be buying Regeneration One (by that point) had read both the US and UK TF comics. I'd estimate that the percentage of US readers that had read the UK run by that point was probably around 90-95%. So, even before Regeneration One had started I was already let down.

I was initially looking forward to the Return Of Scorponok. His marvel incarnation was one of my favorite characters throughout the entire series. He was flawed, he didn't always believe in the Decepticon cause, he and Optimus Prime pretty much ended the Autobot vs Decepticon war on earth. After the Underbase Saga it's pretty evident that the war on earth had become a kind of Cold War type of scenario. Yes, there we're little skirmishes, but nothing like the full blown war that had proceed it. So, when he came back in Regeneration one as a generic bad guy, who was aware of all of the sacrifices that Zarak made, but he (the Real Scorponok) was just a run of the mill generic bad guy trying to take over Cybertron I was let down.

The CNA key was terrible. It reminded me of the "Attack of the Autobots" episode of the cartoon. Even as a child I hated that episode. The thinking for that episode probably went something like this "We're gonna turn the good guys bad, but you know that by the end of the episode they will be good again, and all will be forgiven". What's odd about that episode is that it was written by David Wise who also wrote "The Key to Vector Sigma" and "War Dawn" which are two great episodes.

You kept more of the Regeneration One series than I did. I had almost the entire run, and sold it on ebay. I even had the free comic book day issue, and I still didn't get much for all of it. I think that I just about broke even. That series (aside from its amazing art) really disappointed me.

If I can get back to the pretenders for a moment.

Does anyone know why in the US we got the Monster Pretenders instead of Dinoforce? To be honest after seeing how Dinoforce were portrayed in the Japanese cartoon. I am glad about the change. I actually kind of dug the Monster Pretenders as they were presented in 'Rhythms of Darkness".

 

Maybe Hasbro figured that monsters were more recognizable as bad guys. The dinosaurs in the line had been good guys and Hasbro didn't want kids confusing them with the Dinobots in new forms.

 

This was my experience exactly. Damn those lucky letter writers who got the UK series!

 

As a resident in Ireland we got marvel UK. At it's height it sold 200000 copies a week. Can you imagine idw having those sales now? Only judge dreadd had similar numbers.

The In the national interest storyline was where the UK title started gathering pace which lead to target 2006 an absolute watershed for the comic. The fact that furman disregarded this and the other stories including Prey, wanted galvatron legacy of unicron and space pirates when writing regeneration was so galling. In fairness though the Marvel uk/us run did become convoluted with the two megstrons and unicron turning up in 1991 and not 2005 added to it. Regeneration was the final nail in the coffin

As a side note the pretenders featured in some good stories. My favorite pretenders are thunderwing octopunch, iguanas and bludgeon and of those characters octopunch was my personal favorite. .

 

you think the gene key concept could be improved on? it reminded me of beast wars' shell programs except way stupider, lol...

 

Nope. The whole gene key should never have been an option. It also didn't fit in with the overall run that regeneration was supposed to be a part off. Being a bot or a con is a philosophy not because of a gene key. Hence bots like jetfire could go from being a con to a bot and vice versa and it be a personal choice. It was so left field.

 

I don't know if I entirely agree.

In US #76, Swoop asks Grimlock if the earlier conflict with Prowl was a smart idea, stating that the war is over and that they should be working to peace. Grimlock replies with something that was never followed up upon. A statement that the war was never about controlling the planet, never about resources. That Primus thought he had created a perfect species, but he was wrong. I think, and I'm working on memory here, that Grimlock even referred to it as a war about genetics.

If RG1 referes to this then it does link up with existing Marvel and it was a plot thread that was previously left unexplored. But if it does...then I really hate what Furman did with that original idea and I'm happy he never got to explore it in the original run, because I hated everything about the Genekey story. (I always interpreted Grimlock's comment that since the Matrix was Primus that every TF was a small sliver of Primus and thus all aspects of him were represented in the TF: the majority good (the Autobots) and a few very, very noble since he was a God (although a very manipulative one), and a smaller part bad (the Decepticons), because he also had a dark side, while a few were on the line (Grimlock).)

Marvel Jetfire wasn't alive when he was a Decepticon. He was operating on a program, a Decepticon program, but not a living Transformer. No doubt the Autobots reprogrammed him to be an Autobot before Optimus matrixed him. It thus wasn't a choice in case of Jetfire, but programming.