Both Autobots and Decepticons have Pretenders. The original six Decepticon Pretenders, which resemble monsters, are Iganus (possible co-group leader), Bombburst (possible co-group leader), Submarauder, Skullgrin, Bugly and Finback. The original six Autobot Pretenders, which resemble humans, are Landmine (group leader), Cloudburst (possible second-in-command), Waverider, Groundbreaker, Skyhigh and Splashdown.
Many other Pretenders soon followed. Starscream, Bumblebee, Grimlock and Jazz were recreated as Pretenders. More groups of Pretenders were formed. The second group of Autobot Pretenders were Pincer (leader), Double-header and Longtooth. The second group of Decepticon Pretenders were Bludgeon (leader), Octopunch and Strangehold.
Pretender beasts consist of Carnivac and Snarler (Decepticons), and Chainclaw and Catilla (Autobots).
Ultra Pretenders, who were Transformers with transforming Pretender shells, included the Decepticon Thunderwing and the Autobot Crossblades. [Note: Crossblades was seen in an alternate future ('Rhythms of Darkness') in the US comic in his Helicopter Pretender shell mode. He did not open his shell during this saga and was destroyed in the attack on a Decepticon base.] The robot in vehicle mode and the shell in vehicle mode can also combine.
Article submitted by Joel King.
While the Decepticons' shells were designed after grotesque alien creatures, the Autobot shells resembled giant humans. When the Decepticon Pretenders tracked Optimus back to Ethan Zackary's lab, they underestimated the Autobots because of their "weak fleshling" appearance. With the battle coordinated by Optimus Prime, the Autobots were able to drive back the Decepticons. The Autobot Pretenders remained part of Fortress Maximus's crew, and continued on to serve Optimus Prime when he was reborn as a Powermaster.
Soon after the Underbase Saga, former Headmaster Spike Witwicky was tracked down by the Decepticons. Carnivac and Snarler, the new Pretender Beasts, used their enhanced animal senses to track Spike by the scent he left on his Headmaster helmet. Spike was able to easily defeat the Beasts after he recombined with Fortress Maximus.
Shortly thereafter, Megatron revealed that he had survived a previous brush with death and had developed new Pretender technology. Ratchet was having a severely stressful time trying to rebuild all the Autobots damaged by Starscream's Underbase power, and was tricked into going to Cybertron for new equipment by the Sports Car Patrol, who were pretending to be Autobots. As part of their ruse, the Patrol let Ratchet bring the deactivated bodies of Grimlock, Jazz and Goldbug to fix.
When he arrived, Ratchet was forced by Megatron to revive Starscream in a prototype Pretender shell. The shell would rebuild Starscream's ravaged body and brainwash him into serving Megatron. Ratchet did comply, but secretly placed his comrades' deactivated bodies in three earlier model Pretender shells Megatron had on display. The results were Grimlock, Jazz, and a renewed Bumblebee becoming Classic Pretenders. Because of tampering by Ratchet, Starscream's new programming failed, and he cowardly defected to Scorponok's Decepticons.
Grimlock, Jazz, and Bumblebee remained on Cybertron long enough to gain a reputation as Autobot freedom fighters. Lord Thunderwing, a Mega Pretender himself, decided the Autobots could do without heroes, and sent his Mayhem Attack Squad, the Pretenders Bludgeon, Octopunch, and Stranglehold, to destroy them. The battle between the two groups carried over from Cybertron's surface to its inner most chambers, where a stray shot from Octopunch awoke the sleeping god, Primus. The scream Primus emitted was what drew the Chaos-Bringer Unicron to Cybertron. A teleportation beam brought both sides to Earth, and the Pretenders joined their respective Earthside armies.
Thunderwing was the only known Decepticon who possessed a link with the Matrix, like Optimus Prime's. Using the remaining members of his Mayhem Attack Squad(the Triggercons and Targetmasters Duo), Thunderwing tracked the Autobot teams on their Matrix Quest. The MAS battled the Autobot Triggerbots Override, Dogfight, and Backstreet and the Pretenders Pincher, Longtooth and Doubleheader. They also captured the Headmasters Siren, Nightbeat and Hosehead, and left the Classic Pretenders for dead on the moon VsQs.
Thunderwing defeated the Matrix's guardian on VsQs, and he and his crew used the Classic Pretenders shuttle to sneak aboard the Ark. The Matrix, however, had begun to take over Thunderwing's mind. The Matrix had recently been exposed to negative emotion for the first time, and it hungered for more. It completely overtook Thunderwing, using him as a host body. Nightbeat was able to spear Thunderwing with the shuttle's harpoon gun, then turn off the hanger bay's artificial gravity, sending the shuttle, Thunderwing, and the Matrix tumbling into the void.
Thunderwing and the Matrix returned during the battle with Unicron. Only the former, pure Matrix could harm Unicron, who was total evil. Thunderwing was torn to pieces by Unicron, and the Matrix was returned to Optimus Prime, who brought forth its good spirit and destroyed Unicron.
In an alternate future where Galvatron ruled America, a number of previously unseen Pretenders arrived. Galvatron's main footsoldiers were the Pretender Monsters Icepick, Slog, Scowl, Wildfly, Birdbrain, and Bristleback. These Pretenders had the ability to "phase out" of their outer forms, exiting their shells without opening them. Of the seven remaining Autobots, two were Pretenders: the Pretender Beast, Chainclaw, and the Mega Pretender Crossblades. Chainclaw was destroyed by Galvatron and Crossblades sacrificed himself to take down the Decepticon's base shield.
Article submitted by Matt Parrish.
Carnivac, Snarler and Catilla were members of Bludgeon's Mayhem Attack Squad, and Carnivac and Catilla defected to the Autobots. Snarler later killed Catilla, and Carnivac got his revenge, later becoming Springer's second-in-command of the Survivors and Autobot Earthforce.
Article submitted by Matt Parrish.
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