Monstructor Part II - Bristleback

www.botchthecrab.com

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.