I'm just going to say it. I love this commercial. The slime, the monster hands, the spooky ooky atmosphere. It's perfect! Monster Pretenders were a super cool team of smaller toys with gross rubbery monster Pretender shells. The team combined to form Monstructor, a behemoth among robots. If the rubbery shells weren't gross enough on their own, as they age, they tend to mold! That's probably not the greatest, but you can definitely appreciate the toys living the gimmick. Of all the teams that could use an update, THIS is the set that could really use one.
Part of me wants to think that they could half do it. Maybe instead of the Pretender shells, it could just be robotic monster alt modes or perhaps the robot modes that resemble the Pretender shells like they've done in the past. I might even be ok if they didn't combine, just throw me a freaking bone already Hasbro!
"Control sound, and the faintest whisper can be the fiercest weapon."
Function: Sonic Saboteur
A terrifying, merciless warrior who signed on as a Pretender when he realized he didn't scare anybody with his appearance! With his menacing new outer shell and his steel-shattering, hypersonic, stereophonic implants, his bark now matches his bite! His supersonic hearing capabilities enable him to pinpoint even the quietest sound! Enclosed creature/robot is armed with dual-sonic disrupter gun.
"Strike fear into your enemy, and you've won half the battle."
A flying fury of flashing fangs and tearing talons. He's a one-robot wrecking crew who has been known to reduce high-rise office towers into rubble within seconds, just for laughs! Also gets his kicks snapping wings off commercial airline jets. His enclosed creature/robot is armed with a high-powered, laser-sighted, photon rifle for intense air-to-surface assaults!
Between the various monsters of the post movie toys, The Pretenders, and a few un-produced concepts, somebody at Hasbro/Takara clearly was taking cues from the spookier side of things. It's not just Transformers either. Masters of the Universe introduced the Evil Horde, who took the army of Halloween decorations concept of He-Man's villains to new levels. Hasbro had the Inhumanoids, Tonka had the Supernaturals, Kenner had Ghostbusters, and Mattel introduced Mad Scientist. Movies like The Monster Squad and Teen Wolf were popular among kids. There's a bunch of other examples, but I think you get the my point. Clearly, I wasn't the only kid in the late 80's into monsters.
Check out the attached commercials above and the print ad below for the Pretender Monsters. Hasbro's clearly selling the monster shells above the robots. The very top commercial is the Italian ad. Notice how they're selling the Monster aspect super hard with slime oozing off the already gross rubbery skin. Then you get the awesome monster hands ripping apart Scowl's shell to show the Transformer robot who also turns into a monster inside. I particularly love the scary Monsters logo at the end of the ad. I swear they were copying Mad Scientist ads a little here, and good on them.
The second ad is the American one and it's not very different, though the monsters are presented without slime, monster hands, and scary logo. Not sure why, they made for a better commercial and Hasbro was clearly selling the monster aspect. Both have that great original animation with Pretender Starscream (sans shell) lowering them into the vats of goo to create these new Monster Pretenders. I truly love the original animation made for Transformers toys around this era. Not only because the show was in reruns at this time, but it's pretty great looking. Maybe Hasbro was trying to not looks so much like Mad Scientist here, even though the shells do match up design wise.
I really wish the Monsters would make a comeback. A cool team of Monsters that made for a great combiner, whats not to love? Considering the amount of slime, monsters, and generally gross toys out on shelves you'd figure Hasbro would jump on the bandwagon again with new versions. I'd figure anyway. Mostly because I want that to happen. So very badly.
Christmas in July, Halloween in May. Summer is the prelude to Halloween and I've got monsters on my mind. With so much of my focus on smaller Transformers (and fortunately Hasbro feeding this need) I find myself really wishing they'd do something like the Monster Pretenders again. Not just because it's something I'd personally love (maybe 95% why), but as Generations has been focusing on late G1 the past few series, I think this would be a great fit and add a little variety. That and monsters are hip daddy-o, monsters are on the rise in popularity. Godzilla is doing so well in America that Toho is setting up offices here to capitalize after the deal with Legendary expires in 2020. You damn well know I'm excited about that.
This Italian commercial from GiG's Transformers line calls the Monster Pretenders just Pretender Monsters. This works really well as it flows a little better than Monster Pretenders as a name. At the time I'm thinking Monsters in my Pocket were on shelves as well as other 'gross' toys, so obviously GiG was marketing towards that market with this cool as crap commercial with monster hands ripping away the monster shell. Not to mention that AWESOMElogo. I am so freaking jealous of that logo and with the way GiG sold these guys. So freaking jealous.
It's kind of genius in a way, if they really sold well, they could release multiple color variations so you could make your own Monstuctor and even get some cool slime add on for the shells. Just imagine a world where Transformers became a cool monster line. I do often admittedly, but as the line has had so many damn monsters in it already... why didn't it?
He has taken sculpture out of the art studio and
transplanted it onto the battlefield. In his Pretender guise, he
can whittle an Autobot warrior into an abstract wreck within minutes.
He considers his carved-up conquests to be renowned masterpieces.
His diamond-steel alloy talons can tear through any material known
to man or robot. Enclosed creature/robot is armed with a magnetic
repellor-attractor which rips iron-bearing opponents into microscopic
pieces.
"Control sound, and the faintest whisper can
be the fiercest weapon."
A terrifying, merciless warrior who signed on as
a Pretender when he realized he didn't scare anybody with his appearance!
With his menacing new outer shell and his steel-shattering, hypersonic,
stereophonic implants, his bark now matches his bite! His supersonic
hearing capabilities enable him to pinpoint even the quietest sound!
Enclosed creature/robot is armed with dual-sonic disrupter gun.
