Mega Pretender
- Mega Pretenders are Transformers from the Generation 1 continuity family.
<table align="center" style="border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tr> <td width="20" valign="top" style="color:#B2B7F2;font-size:35px;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;text-align:left;padding:9px 10px 0 10px;"> “ </td><td valign="top" style="padding:4px 10px 5px 10px;font-family: 'lucida console', arial, sans-serif;"> Inside one, there's the other - then they both transform and combine to form another! </td><td width="20" valign="bottom" style="color:#B2B7F2;font-size:35px;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;text-align:right;padding:10px 10px 0px 10px;"> ” </td></tr> <tr> <td colspan="3" style="padding-top: 0"> <p style="font-size:smaller;line-height:1em;text-align: right"><cite style="font-style:normal;">—Mega/Ultra Pretenders commercial jingle</cite>
</td></tr></table> The Mega Pretenders take the Pretender concept a step further. Not only do their inner robots transform, but the outer shells do as well. Shell and robot can also form a combined vehicle mode for extra power.
The Mega Pretenders are:
- The Decepticon Thunderwing
- The Autobots Crossblades and Vroom
Fiction
Marvel Comics continuity
<div style="width: 90%; margin: 0 auto .2em auto; background-color:#efefef; border: 2px solid #eeeeee; padding: 2px; text-align: left;">Note: Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.</div>
Eons ago, Thunderwing was an understudy of the demented Megadeath on Cybertron. He already had his transforming Pretender shell at the time. The Magnificent Six!
In the months before the coming of Unicron, Thunderwing rose to prominence in the Decepticon ranks, eventually becoming the leader of the Decepticon army. Assault on the Ark! He mostly remained ensconced within his Pretender shell, only leaving it when he needed to shake off the deadly and disorienting effects of fire-retardant foam. The Big Shutdown!
The jet mode of Thunderwing shell was capable of interstellar travel, allowing him to fly from deep space to Cybertron. There, Thunderwing met his end from the explosive energies of Unicron. On the Edge of Extinction!
In a post-apocalyptic future, Crossblades was one of a handful of Autobot survivors on Earth. In an attack on the Decepticon Powerbase, inside his shell, he took out the enemy's shield generator, but when Laserbeak destroyed his shell's vehicle mode rotor assembly, he crashed and was destroyed. Rhythms of Darkness
Commercial appearances
The Mega Pretenders shared a commercial spot with the Ultra Pretenders. The animation showed the robot forms of Vroom and Crossblades emerging from their humanoid-mode shells, with shells and robots both transforming to vehicle modes.
Toys
Generation 1
- Mega Pretenders (1989)
- Crossblades
- Thunderwing
- Vroom
- The three Mega Pretender toys were sold boxed. Each has a transformable outer shell and a small transformable inner robot. The shell and robot can combine to form an enhanced vehicle mode, such as a sidecar for Vroom's motorcycle mode, or an extra-long nose for Thunderwing's jet form. Unlike the earlier Pretenders, the robot modes are not entirely encased by the shell, suggesting a function more based on armor and added strength rather than disguise.
- Thunderwing and Crossblades were retooled for the Japanese market and released as the Crossformers.
