Monster Pretenders

The Monster Pretenders are a group of fictional Decepticons in the Transformers franchise. The team is the last of the traditional combiners from the Generation 1 series and is one of the few non-Micromaster combiner teams to have six members (the others being the Beastforce, Constructicons, Multiforce, Seacons, and the Trainbots).

Transformers: Generation 1

Members

• Birdbrain: the team's aerial specialist, with advanced scanning equipment to pick up his prey.
• Bristleback: a bitter, twisted Decepticon. He only has his shell as he rusts in Earth's atmosphere, and lost his agility because of it. This means he will take out his frustrations on anything at hand.
• Icepick: the team leader. Enjoys destroying things to make way for even more spectacular constructs in the future.
• Scowl: armed with a lethal array of sonic weapons, he took on his shell primarily to create a more intimidating appearance.
• Slog: an artist, he views the Autobot wrecks he makes as combat art in action.
• Wildfly: utterly sadistic and destruction orientated, he will destroy anything to amuse himself, and will always go for the most base, violent course of action in any situation.

Outside of their Pretender shells, the team combines to form Monstructor.^[1]

Marvel Comics

The Monster Pretenders made their only Marvel Comics appearance in issue #67 of the US comic, appearing as soldiers of Galvatron in a nightmare alternate future where Unicron had destroyed Cybertron and Galvatron had conquered Earth. While they believed the ranting Galvatron was insane, they were unwilling to confront his power. While searching the ruins of New York City for surviving Autobots, Icepick was destroyed by a human booby trap. They did not appear again in the main storyline.^[2]

Dreamwave Productions

Birdbrain was a member of Ratbat's Ultracons faction in the third War Within series from Dreamwave Productions.

Devil's Due Publishing

The Monster Pretenders appeared again in the fourth G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers crossover from Devil's Due Publishing. Coming to Earth with Bludgeon to take it for themselves, they were shot down and made a deal with the serpent cult Cobra-La to save their own lives, receiving their shells in the process. Cobra-La used them to attack the ship containing the Autobots on Earth, slipping past their defenses because of their shells and disabling Prowl, Skids and Sideswipe. Recalled to Tibet to deal with a G.I. Joe incursion, the team formed Monstructor, beating the Joes back because of its life-draining field. However, having battled Decepticons before, the Joes were able to call on the Laser squad, who destroyed Monstructor by focusing fire on his head. The Monster Pretenders were last seen plummeting into the snow unconscious. With the eventual defeat of Cobra-La and Unicron their fate beyond this is unknown.^[3]

IDW Publishing

The Monster Pretenders made their debut in IDW Publishing's The Transformers: Spotlight issue featuring Optimus Prime. The story explains that they are the first combiner, an experiment of Jhiaxus from the distant past. The combination process was flawed however, and turned the group evil. When Nova Prime and Jhiaxus disappeared, Omega Supreme put them in a dimensionally displaced prison. They eventually escaped and sought revenge against Omega. As Monstructor, they nearly destroyed him, along with Optimus Prime until Prime took advantage of a weak connection point, separating Monstructor and knocking the group out. Prime put the group in the care of Jetfire to try and cure their condition.^[4]

In the follow-up Spotlight issue on Arcee Jetfire's efforts to rehabilitate them had proven unsuccessful. The penal facility in which they were imprisoned was then attacked by the Combaticons, acting on behalf of Banzai-Tron, who successfully took the six Monstructor components for the Decepticons. Banzai-Tron did not have long to enjoy his success, as his facility was attacked by the forces of the Dead Universe, who freed Monstructor. His creator then installed a neural implant which made him little more than a drone, defending the Nega-Core on Rotan. He was last seen being attacked by Banzai-Tron's forces shortly before Arcee severed his control (The Transformers: Revelation).

His fate is unknown, but in The Transformers: All Hail Megatron, set a year after the events of Revelation, the Constructicons are able to combine into Devastator, implying that the Monstructor Six again fell into Decepticon hands and were studied in order to reproduce the combiner technology.

Note: the group does not have Pretender shells in this continuity, nor are they Decepticons, having been imprisoned before the Great War.

Transformers: Victory

While the Monster Pretenders never appeared in any of the animated series, the remolded versions of their toys, known as Dinoforce, appeared in the Japan-exclusive series Transformers: Victory.

Toys

The six Monster Pretender toys were unique among the Pretenders — small robots with monster alternate modes, housed within shells made from soft rubber. They were eventually remolded into the Japanese exclusive toys known as the Dinoforce.

References

1. ↑ Bellemo, Mark (2007). Transformers: Identification and Price Guide. Krause Publications. p. 227. ISBN 0-89689-445-2. 
2. ↑ The Transformers #67 by Marvel Comics (June 1990)
3. ↑ G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers: Black Horizon #1-2 by Devil's Due Publishing
4. ↑ Transformers Spotlight: Optimus Prime by IDW Publishing