Transformers: Titans Return Chromedome

Wave 2 of Titans Return Deluxes kicks off with the mnemosurgeon IDW made famous, Chromedome, or what is perhaps his more accurate name, Headmaster Dead End. This figure is basically the same as Combiner Wars Dead End, only with the Headmaster gimmick taking the place of the combining one. The transformations schemes are the exact same; the arms and legs are the exact same; the car hood backpack is the exact same. Loyal readers will remember my extensive writing on the Dead End mold, so I should like the slightly different version, right?

Well, yeah, I do. But Chromedome here is not without things to complain about. But first . . . 

Chromedome is a pretty good figure overall, albeit not a very exciting one. There is a repaint of him coming in one of the next waves (Getaway) that will be absolutely skippable unless you’re going complete on the line. And while some people are a bit down on Chromedome due to mold fatigue, I think there’s more about him that lets me down than that. Sure, I am tired of the base toy as well, but Chromedome is so . . . brown. So much brown. And where he’s not brown, he’s tan. For people who thought Blur and/or Scourge were too monotone, whew.  And it’s that brown too, that kind of unflattering brown. The toy only has a couple of splashes of other colors, and the most noticeable is the face. 

Just as with G1, Stylor is the Titanmaster partner here, but the Chromedome face is heavily, heavily in the IDW style. It is a good looking face, as pretty much all of the Titans Return heads are, but it and the red of the chest are the only real things that you eye catches on with the figure. I know that some people online have been doing some fairly extensive work on the reuse of Titanmaster bodies and such, but that’s far deeper into the line than I am interested in going, so I’m not paying too much attention to the individual little guys. Anyway, the IDW style face sculpt is a terrific idea, as for better or worse, Chromedome is now that guy from the comic, more than any real character otherwise. I’ve mentioned before the idea that an issue for these *-master toys is that they aren’t really characters in the US continuity, so updated versions of them may be preferable to, but are not on the same excitement level as, established G1 dudes. My own experiences with the Titans Return figures have mostly been missing any kind of narrative connection; like I’m not eager to recreate that great scene with Hardhead and Skullcruncher because there really wasn’t one. Instead, I’m getting toys of either all-new characters, or figures of the More Than Meets the Eye cast. I’m good with both of these options. But it is a strange feeling to have an upgraded version of a thirty year old figure in my hand and realize that I can author any personality for it that I want, since there is not a strong inherent one. I know some people will find that blasphemous, but they are my toys, and I will play with them how I want. I’ve seen the “Rebirth” episodes of G1; I own and have watched Headmasters. I know these guys were major characters in their series, but I am completely able to have them exist independent of that knowledge. 

Chromedome retains his ‘futuristic’ car mode, which is a very rectangular, not very sleek one. And, it’s brown. So much for the future, huh. The car mode now is as it always was, a decent looking car but nothing real cool or flashy, a sort of “good enough” mode. Stylor sits in the cockpit, which is one of the not so great things about the figure. The canopy is formed from a pair of translucent hinged plastic pieces that, in robot mode, peg in to the backs of the legs, becoming protruding lumps. There are reports of this effecting poseability, but I’ve not had any issues as far as that’s concerned. It would prevent Chromedome from sitting in a chair properly, but. The plastic pieces peg into the car body very snugly, to the point that it is difficult to unplug them to open the cockpit, and because the parts are translucent plastic, there is some worry involved that gripping them too firmly will cause them to shatter.  The pieces also swing upwards are very long plastic bars, so when you have the cockpit open, they jut upwards into the air and seem too far away from the car body. There are ways to adjust the parts so they don’t simply stick up in the air, though. 

The weapons consist of the pretty good Blur rifle and a second, flat laser piece which the Blur rifle plugs into. The combination results in a weapon station for the Titanmaster figure. This time, the weapons attach to the roof of the car via a pair of plastic tabs rather than any plug or peg, and the result is not the most stable. I’ll say that the Titanmaster seat works pretty well, but the larger weapon doesn’t work that well with the robot. It has three pegs by which Chromedome can hold it, but the two on the sides make it sit perpendicular to the forearm. This is not a good profile for the robot. The third peg is located on the top of the weapon, so Chromedome can hold it underhand. Or, it can be turned upside down, and held in the hand that way, which is the best look for the piece. As far as the Titanmaster turret mode, again, I have no interest in that, but the combo of parts here are pretty neat looking.

One thing that is a bother about the robot mode is that the car hood is just empty plastic that swings down into a backpack, a carryover from the Dead End figure. There’s nowhere else for the part to go, and it needs to be hollow space so that it fits over the robot shoulders in car mode. A necessary evil, but its being understandable does not make it preferable.  I think this issue is another one of those things that sticks out as ‘bad’ because we did get this basic toy like nine times in the previous line, so by now, we’re all well aware of its faults and successes. Also, strangely, the wheels are translucent plastic, and that makes them look cheap. My guess is that they’re supposed to evoke TRON lightcycle type wheels, but they simply look unfinished. 

And Titans Return Chromedome succeeds on all the same fronts as Combiner Wars Dead End does, as well as being successful at being a Headmaster figure in the modern age. I think that’s something that is actually troubling about the toy, the notion that there is no strong individuality about it, nothing that makes it a unique addition to a collection. When I bought Hardhead, I knew I was all in on the Autobots; and when i knew I was all in on Autobots, I knew I had to buy that horrendous Rewind to go with Chromedome. I got Rewind first, and I think that some of my total disappointment with that figure clouds my enjoyment of Chromedome a bit, which is not Chromedome’s issue whatsoever.

The big question on everyone’s mind I’m sure is “How do those two look together?” And the answer is a staunch “Meh.” This is also not because of Chromedome, because he looks fine by himself or in a group; Rewind is so bad that he ruins the pair. It’s the comical forearms that kill it. If Rewind had less blocky and dumb forearms, or more in the way of arms in general, they’d look fine as a pair.

 In the long run, this Chromedome is a perfectly fine figure, but is probably the first of the Titans Return Deluxes that I feel slightly let down by due to the over use of a mold that I’m a big fan of. I suppose it was about time there was a dud in this line, for me at least, since I’ve found everything else before and after Chromedome to be a win. And this is not a bad toy, just one that is not as exciting or impressive as the others; and this second wave is full of impressive toys, furthering the idea that Chromedome is the poor cousin. A repaint is coming, and looks even weaker than the original: an unusual thing to say the least.