Cloudburst

The next evolution of Transformers stealth technology is here (or...was here in 1988)! This is the Generation One Pretender Cloudburst. The gimmick with the Pretenders was that a Transformer was inside of an outer organic shell. The shell could split open to reveal the robot inside and reassemble to fight along side the Transformer.

Cloudburst was an Autobot who transformed into a jet fighter. He was a slick looking figure. The shell had a nice red color with an inner robot who was red and black. The transformations on the Pretender figures were all super simple. With Cloudburst, you flipped the legs over his body, flipped out the nose cone, turned the head, and flipped out the wings. Like I said, super simple, but the Pretenders were a fun gimmick.

It is really too bad the animated series ended in the U.S. in 1987. It would have been great to see the Pretenders on the small screen. Cloudburst did appear in the Japanese exclusive animated series Transformers: Super-God Masterforce that featured the Power Masters (God-Masters in Japan), Pretenders, Headmaster Juniors, and the awesome Overlord. In Japan, Cloudburst was called Phoenix.