Pretender Stranglehold

Box scan from Botch the Crab

Stranglehold is awesome.  Look at the picture above, just...look at it.  First off the gladiator vibe that he's giving off is just great.  Secondly, there's that mustache.  Look at it.  Stare at it.  Let it's power draw you in.

LOOK AT IT!  It's as though Burt Reynolds donned a helmet and said "Let's do this."

Scan from tfwiki.net

Every instance of Stranglehold that can be found on the Internet depicts him with his awesome 'stache.  Apparently it's a holdover from his days as a wrestler on Cybertron?  I'm not sure, but nothing, and I mean nothing, says "macho" like a kickin' mustache.  Or glorious pecs.

Stranglehold's function is enforcer, and that's pretty much what he did in the comics - he enforced the will of Bludgeon.  Need some Autobots beaten?  Call Stranglehold.  Need puny fleshlings squashed with a ball and chain that only existed in the comics?  Stranglehold's your guy.

Scan from tfwiki.net

Obviously, these are not the reasons I bought Stranglehold as a kid.  I bought him because he was a Transformer and I needed more Transformers.  Stranglehold does hold the distinction of being the last Pretender I purchased as a kid.  As should be familiar to those of you who have read my previous posts, I lost a bunch of Stranglehold over the years.  This is what I had left: inner robot, brawn buster rifle, helmet, and the rhino back.  Missing: concussion blaster and shell.  The shell isn't that hard to find, but it's a little harder to find one without the all of the scratches on the head from the helmet.  While the concussion blaster isn't exceedingly rare, the freaking price had always scared me away.  I've seen that little thing go for anywhere from $25-$45 dollars.  Ridiculous, but I had so much fun completing Bomb-Burst, my Protectobots and a few others that I decided to bite the bullet on this one.

I really don't have much to say, other than enjoy the pictures of my newly re-completed Stranglehold.

East bound and down, loaded up and truckin'

Talk about poseability!