Monstructor Part VII - Monstructor

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Finally, we're at the "big" guy, Monstructor, which if you've seen him before or if you already own him, you know that he's not that big.  In fact, he's woefully small.  Still, I have him, and I'm pretty pleased with myself.  One quick note, however.  The box art that I'm using for Monstructor isn't his actual box art.  Monstructor was never released as a giftset anywhere, so he never actually received box art.  What we see above is a recolored Dinoking.  It was all part of a project to get Monstructor some box art.

I'm not going to go into Monstructor's history in the fiction, because as I've stated before, I don't really like him as a character anymore.

I don't care how cool he looks

What do you get when you combine six small Pretenders?  A gestalt!

Here's Monstuctor in all of his glory.  It's funny how Slog's arms are still visible, but everyone seems to use those as extra T-Rex like appendages, so I'm good with that.  If you could distill the early 90's into one figure, Monstructor would be that distillation.  Notice the color blocking on each figure?  Or the outrageous, almost garish choices of colors?  This is truly a product of it's time.  Yes, I know that he was actually released in 1989, but this was truly a precursor of things to come.

One thing that may shock some of you is that Monstructor really isn't a brick - he actually has some articulation!  His head doesn't turn, and his arms can only move up and down at the shoulders, but he does have some hidden articulation thanks to his combination scheme.

Run, Monstructor!  Run!

That's right, Monstructor has leg articulation!  I've officially decided that he is now the Forrest Gump of the gestalts, running everywhere.  Don't expect to see any shots of Monstructor's arms moving.  GPS prevents that thought from even entering my head.  I'm surprised that I had the courage to move his leg into the above condition.

Have you ever noticed how short Monstructor is?  I've been told before that he's short, but I never really appreciated just how small until I compared him to some other figures.

Here is Monstructor with the grandfather of all combiners, Devastator.  Monstructor comes to Devastator's waist.  That's pretty small.  What about in comparison to a Scramble City type fustilateral quintrocombiner, you make ask?  Take a look for yourself.

How about that?  He's at Menasor's waist as well.  He's just a puny guy.  I feel bad putting in my gestalt cabinet.  Still, he is a combiner, so that's where he will stay.  Say, I wonder how he fares when compared to the Micromaster combiners?  I'll have to get one of those and check it out.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with myself for getting Monstructor.  He was the last US G1 combiner that I needed, and now I have that category completed.  Thanks to the constant stress I'm under over the ticking clock of crumbledom, I can definitely state that I will no longer buy any figures that I can't pose or touch thanks to GPS.  I just feel bad that I have something that I can only stare at, and not touch.  It makes me feel like I'm a kid again and looking at my dad's stereo.

There you have it, after nearly two months, Monstructor is done.  And thus ends the first set of figures that I bought thanks to the influence of someone else.  One thing that I realized while doing all of these Monster Pretenders is that I don't think I'll be doing individual posts on fusilateral quintrocombiners again unless they've done something in the fiction.  I'd really like to thank flywheels for his input on this purchase.  I wonder what the next figure will be?

Monstructor Part IV - Birdbrain

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We're at the halfway point!  Which better part of Monstructor to talk about than his midsection?

Birdbrain has the distinction of being the one Pretender Monster to appear in the Dreamwave comics.  He was in the Age of Wrath  mini-series that turned out to be a single issue.  According to his TFWiki profile, Birdbrain was a member of Ratbat's Ultracons.  This was surprising to me, as I don't remember this at all.  I mean, who show's Pretender Monsters any kind of love?  Other than that, Birdbrain was only ever featured in the Marvel issue "Rhythms of Darkness!" and all of those IDW issues where Monstructor showed up.  Like the rest of his team, there were no speaking lines.  Naturally.

Have you ever seen the movie Labyrinth?  Birdbrain's outer shell reminds me of a creature from that movie.  Maybe more of a creature from The Dark Crystal; definitely a Jim Henson creation.  I think it's just a stupendous design.  For some reason, I keep picturing Birdbrain waddling around chasing Jennifer Connelly and singing.  Maybe I have issues.  Or have a thing for Jennifer Connelly.

Obligatory junk in the trunk reference.

Birdbrain's torso accessory stores on the back of his shell.  I didn't think to look up his instructions before the photo shoot, so it's on incorrectly.  Don't worry, some Sharkticons showed up at my door and, uh, "showed" me the error of my ways.  It will never happen again.

Things go a little south when Birdbrain is separated from his outer shell.  He's, naturally, tiny.  Because of his alt mode, his arms are permanently bent.  The black and purple color scheme works really well.  Speaking of alt modes...

I have no idea what that is.  For some reason, I want to say it's a rhinoceros.  Birdbrain's box art suggests something more bird-like.  Wow.  His name is Birdbrain, so that should've clued me in.  I can be slow at times.  According to his TFWiki profile, he's an alce; something I've never heard of.  An alce is apparently some sort of wingless Griffin.  See, Transformers can teach our children new things.  I still say it's a rhino.

All that remains to be covered are the lower extremities and then we're on to the combined form of Monstructor!  Will the following posts continue to veer into oddball territory, or will I be able to pull it back together?  Check back next week to find out!

Monstructor Part III - Wildfly

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So far I've covered Slog, Monstructor's chest, and Bristleback, who forms an arm.  Let's look at another arm - Wildfly.  This is actually my second Wildfly.  Since I bought the Pretender Monsters as a set, I wound up with a second one.  I've had 24 years to formulate a review on him, so we'll get started.

Like every other Pretender Monster, Wildfly hasn't done anything in fiction.  Here's the sumary:

"Rhythms of Darkness!" TFWiki.net

He was apparently so much of a jerk that Icepick threatened to kill him in "Rhythms of Darkness!", so Wildfly has that to be proud of.  And then in the IDW comics, he was driven insane by Jhiaxus's machinations to create the first ever gestalt.  So yeah, these late in the line guys get all of the love.

Wildfly is red and yellow, which somehow works.  His gun is longer than his arms, which means that when his arms are posed straight down, the side with the gun is lifted up a tad.  The unique thing about Wildfly is that while the other limbs and Birdbrain are essentially based on two molds, Wildfly is not.  He's unique!

Looking at these pictures, I'm fairly certain that I have his legs transformed incorrectly.  No matter, it still works.

A vast, predatory bird

Flip up the bird face, push the legs up and fold the talons down and you have a...something.  It's a winged creature, that's for sure.  With tiny wings.

Judging by his profile art, I'd suggest that he's a demonic falcon, but what do I know?  All I know is that his tech spec doesn't say what his alt mode is and I've been thinking about it for over two decades. 

Just as Wildfly's alt mode is ill-defined, so is his Pretender shell.  It's a winged ghoul of some sort.  There is a downside to this newer figure that I didn't notice until after I had started taking pictures.  Wildfly's shell features numerous spots from degradation, I suppose.

If you'll click on each picture, the spots are really noticeable.  And all over.  I have no idea what caused them, but there you go.  It's a shame because I was actually thinking about flipping this Wildfly and keeping my original so that I might get a figure that I didn't currently own.  C'est la vie.

Up next, we'll look at Monstructor's torso - Birdbrain!  In the meantime, if you know what Wildfly transforms into, let me know.  Please.  I really want to know.

Monstructor Part II - Bristleback

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Welcome to Part II of my seven part series on Monstructor.  This time I'll be covering Bristleback, the other part of the GPS Pretender Monster duo.  There's so much gold plastic on this guy.  Without further ado, let's get on to Bristleback!

Bristleback, like the rest of his Pretender Monster brethren, has pretty much had zero presence as an individual in fiction.  I'm sure that there is fan fiction out there featuring Bristleback, but I'm staying away from it.  His only Marvel appearance was in "Rhythms of Darkness!" and I can't even remember if he had a speaking part!  He'd been featured in the IDW comics, but he still didn't speak.  However, at least he was shown as an individual.  Kind of.  His role in the IDW comics is to basically be there and then form Monstructor.

www.tfwiki.net

 Man, looking at Bristleback's box art, I can't help but feel a little gypped by the actual figure.  That monster mode is sweet looking.  Here's what the actual figure looks like.

Not awesome

Yeah

Does anyone know what Bristleback is supposed to be?  If you do, please tell me.  Judging by the box art, I'd say some sort of winged wolf.  Judging by the figure, I'd say a flying pig with a fin on it's head.  Either way, he has an alt mode.  I just wish I knew what it was.

You know, I know that the Pretender Monsters are "small" Pretenders, but the other "small" Pretenders such as Bludgeon, Longtooth and the rest all have somewhere for their weapon to attach while in their alt mode.  It's a feature that I wish the Pretender Monsters had.

Want to know how brittle Bristleback is?  Even the TFWiki's picture of Bristleback is suffering from GPS!  As much as I tried, mine has a few side effect of GPS.  There are some cracks on the hind legs, right where the rivets are.  They appeared after I moved them too much.  Guess who's not getting touched ever again?

"Freeze!"

Bristleback has a very simple transformation, thank goodness.  The great thing about G1 figures that suffer from GPS is that they all feature the simplest transformations imaginable thanks to their being so late in the line.  Anywho, Bristleback is armed with an electrostatic pulse rifle and he can only hold it in an upright position.  His arms will only lower if he's not holding that gun, which was a surprise.

Squirtle?

 Here we have Bristleback's monster shell.  It's kind of a turtle monster.  Actually, it's reminiscent of something from the Power Rangers or a Godzilla movie.  Bristleback is not in the shell.  For some reason, the seller packed Bristleback in his shell and I was desperate to get him out to inspect him.  Once out of the shell, there was no way he was going back in.  Like the rest of his crew, Bristleback's accoutrement can store on the back of the shell.  The fist becomes another cannon.

I will say that the person that designed this shell did a fairly remarkable job.  Bristleback's shell is perhaps my favorite of the Pretender Monsters.  It's just a great sculpt.  I can actually picture this thing crawling (well waddling) out of the ocean to kill me.

Rear View

I've read reports about these shells getting slimy over time, and I'm happy to report that I have yet to run into that issue with any of my Pretender Monster shells.  Although, I'm sure that eventually they'll get slimy.

Thus concludes our look into the Pretender Monster called Bristleback.  Join us next week at the same Trans-time on the same Trans-blog for continued coverage of the Pretender Monsters.