As a kid, I only owned a handful of Transformers/Gobots and G1 Skullgrin was one of them. He was also the only Pretender I had growing up. I enjoy the notion of recreating obscure characters from Japanese G1 and watching the entire Super-God Masterforce anime last year only reinforced that idea. I may be in the minority here, but I love the concept of Pretenders. I'm not going to judge Hasbro/Takara's engineering limitations from over 20 years ago, but I do believe the concept can have more success today. I bought Skullgrin's inner bot for $3 shipped off eBay months ago and got to work. As you can see, I kept the head and torso more or less intact. Everything else is new. Unfortunately, I DO NOT plan on recreating the shell gimmick, but I will at least attempt to create Skullgrin's beast form as a separate figure, which will feature bits and pieces from Beast Wars and Marvel Legends figures. The rest of the Super-God Masterforce Pretender cast (Metalhawk, Phoenix, Lander, Diver, Blood, and Gilmer) will be redone as well. I'm only going to be attaching newer WIP photos to this post, but you can check out the older WIP photos on my Facebook artist page: Mr. Dremel's Photos - G1 Pretender Skullgrin/Dauros | Facebook Work done thus far: Ball-jointed head New ball-jointed arms from Classics 2P Prime Waist with a swivel joint New ball-jointed legs with actual knees that can also swivel (upper legs from RID Hightower, knee joints from neo-shifter joints, lower legs from Gundam kibble) Work that still needs to be done: Attaching tank treads from Energon Steamhammer to both legs Finishing up legs/adding proper feet 2 guns from Classic Jetfire's fast pack 1 sword from a Lego Knight kit
very nice!i like the pretenders 2 but the way they were executed was terrible..so u have the others coming 2 thats awesome....lots of super god masterforce goodness lately
When you re-do the shell, are you going to try to update the look of it? I always thought that the Skullgrin/Dauros toy looked a little cheesy, and not scary enough.
Looking great! Do you plan on adding some treads to the outside of each lower leg, or is he now more of a hover tank? - Alty
Love. It. I think with the right parts, an enterprising kitbasher could get a working pretender shell going.
Thanks! He will be getting some treads. It seems that the ones from Energon Steamhammer are the best look and size that I'm trying to achieve. Just have to figure out a way to attach them. I've always wanted to collaborate with someone here, but I doubt any of the bigger names would have an interest right now. That's okay with me. I mean, I've been planning on creating a separate pretender form from various Marvel Legends and BW parts anyway. It might not be a shell, but it'll at least capture the aesthetic.
