#29: Wildfly (1989)

Wildfly is one of those few Transformers that up until about 10 years or so ago (whenever the Dreamwave More Than Meets the Eye guides came out) I didn't even know existed. I don't think the Pretender Monsters ever got as far as York, if I'm being honest. If they did, I don't ever remember seeing them in any of the shops I bought Transformers from. Which is a real shame, because I would have loved them. Micromasters that are also Pretenders that also combine? Sign me up!

For those that don't know what Pretenders were, they were Transformers who also had an organic shell that looked like humans (Autobots) or monsters, demons, etc (Decepticons). The gimmick never really took off; mainly because Western fiction never really knew how to deal with them. Hence, Transformer sized humans. Japan got it perfectly, but that sadly wasn't available in the west until about 2006.

Pretender Monsters were scaled down Pretenders with a rubbery shell (all the others had been plastic). They could also combine into the 'mighty' Monstructor (about the size of a deluxe toy now), who was multicoloured and awesome. According to the Dreamwave bio, he exuded a force field that sapped lifeforce. This makes him even more awesome to me. Of course, I didn't find out about this until 2002 or so. If I'd have known circa 1989 about this, well, I would have a Monstructor.

I think a lot of people at IDW think this too, as they've made him their official 'first combiner', as opposed to, say, Devastator. Wildfly obviously is a part of this, although he's never had much characterisation in their comics. This is very much the same for any other comic he's appeared in (two others; Marvel G1 for ONE story, and the last GI vs Transformers for Devil's Due), Monstructor has been the main guy, the rest of them have just sort of been there. As is often the case, this is a bad thing, as Wildfly's Tech Spec bio, whilst not being the most maddeningly interesting or even original, still has merit, and in the context of the other Monster Pretenders, could have been used to great effect.

They toy is a Micromaster in a rubber shell; that's pretty much it. He transforms into what is a bird because HASBRO SAYS SO, and his shell is some form of vampiric ghoul (it was never really ever made that clear).Obviously he's made more to combine with the others or live in his shell, so I'd wager not much effort was ever really spent on his robot or alt-modes.

I think I like Wildfly and his brethren so much because I've never seen them in person. They're almost like forbidden fruit, or a living dinosaur. I want them, because I will probably never have them. Monstructor is so ridiculously expensive if you can find him, the chances are it's something I'll never own. Which makes me wish sometimes that I HAD never known about him.