Mega Pretender

Mega Pretenders are Transformers from the Generation 1 continuity family.

I have, like, five different modes! Hey, I know... why don't we not use me in fiction ever!

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 The Transformers comics

Yeah, he's actually got a little bitty robot in there. Isn't he just the cutest thing?

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 toy doesn't include the ghostly demonic black head. It doesn't look quite this awesome, either.

The jet mode of Thunderwing's 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 tried to take out the enemy's shield generator, but when Laserbeak destroyed his shell's vehicle mode rotor assembly, he crashed into the shield itself and was destroyed. Rhythms of Darkness!

Classics

The Mega Pretenders Metalhawk, Crossblades, and Vroom operated out of the Skyhammer with its pilot. They fought both Decepticons and Evil Autobots from the negative polarity universe at the Ironworks. Their universe was destroyed by the evil Ultra Magnus and his Terminus Blade interacting with the Rarified Energon beneath the 'Works. Only the intervention of the negative polarity Soundwave saved their Earth, transporting the world into the negative polarity universe near their Cybertron. Invasion

In time, that Cybertron emerged as the threatening Order-Bringer Primus, and Classics Earth was revealed as a second Light God known as Gaea. In order to transform and fight Primus, Gaea transported the human population of Earth and their entire infrastructure to an untamed Earth in another dimension, where mankind never evolved. The Autobot Mega Pretenders and Fortress Maximus were sent along with humanity as their guardians. The Future Buried... Using their Pretender shells, Mr. Hawk, Mr. Vroman, and Mr. Cross lived among the humans with Spike Witwicky to keep the peace. Assembly

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

The Transformers

Vroom

• Mega Pretenders (1989)

Crossblades

Thunderwing

Vroom

• Known designers: Kōjin Ōno (TakaraTomy), Masakatsu Saito (concept artist)

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.

Thunderwing and Crossblades were retooled for the Japanese market and released as the Crossformers. Vroom was considered but ultimately not used in Japan.