James Roberts has a knack for making readers love “minor” Transformers characters more than the traditional main cast, and nowhere is that more evident than with his take on Chromedome, the Transformers Headmasters character who uttered about six words in the original US cartoon.
In the wonderful More Than Meets the Eye comic by IDW, Chromedome is a Mnemosurgeon, meaning he can read the minds and retrieve memories of others. But what makes Chromedome even more interesting and endearing… wait. No. “Endearing” isn’t strong enough a world. What made the MTMTE comic-reading fandom fall completely bat-nuts in love with Chromedome is his relationship with Rewind. Together, Chromedome and Rewind have become one of the only genuine Cybertronian “couples” in Transformers fiction, and their relationship is seriously one of the more special things to come out of this comic — or any comic — in a heck of a long time.
Because of the expert characterization writer James Roberts has bestowed upon Chromedome, the character has risen above his roots and rocketed to the top of many Transformers fans’ wishlists for the Generations line. When Hasbro’s Generations line started releasing characters and designs from the IDW comics, I started crossing all my fingers and all my toes for a Chromedome and Rewind announcement, and an announcement finally did come — they were to be part of the Transformers Collectors’ Club exclusive subscription offering for 2014, and they would both be repaints with new heads. Hrm.
At first, there was outrage. Skids, Swerve, Tailgate, et al were getting retail-level releases on brand new, dedicated molds, but we’d have to pay an insane premium to get our beloved Chromedome and Rewind? And as repaints? This was, of course, a calculated move to get folks to sign up for the subscription because these two were by far the most fan-demanded figures at the time, repaints or not.
So, after a whole lot of “grrr-grumble,” Chromedome is finally out (with Rewind following close behind next month), so let’s see if the Transformers Collectors’ Club did him justice.
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Chromedome’s packaging is basically just a brown mailer box with a foam insert that protects him from shipping trauma. It’s almost as bare-bones as you can get. Inserted beneath the foam insert is his bio card and instructions, and that’s pretty much all you get in terms of “identifying features.” I’m totally fine with this packaging approach, to be honest. I wish more companies, especially third-party teams, would adopt such an approach because I love not having to worry about what to do with the packaging, and unless your product needs to be eye-catching as it sits on a retail shelf, there’s no need for elaborate packaging, so this is pretty much perfect.
It sounds as though this figure may be from the time just leading up to MTMTE, when Chromedome and Prowl were partners. This period has been referenced in flashbacks in the comics, but during that time Chromedome resembled his G1-self much more than this particular figure does. I mean, there are definitely some similarities, but it’s the deco that can take credit for that rather than the mold.
Chromedome is a repaint of the Transformers: Prime Wheeljack figure that came out a couple years ago. It’s a curious choice to serve as a body for Chromedome because, in the comics, Chromedome’s design is unique, to say the least. There’s not a lot here that resembles the comic body, but the new head sculpt and new paint job do help. I mean, this looks like Chromedome, but it also ends up looking like a mash-up of the IDW and G1 versions of the character (similar to what we got with Generations Whirl), which is cool, but it’s kind of annoying at the same time. I want a straight-up MTMTE Chromedome for my Lost Light shelf, so this figure is just missing the mark.
The new head sculpt is fantastic. It’s clearly based on Nick Roche’s design and it is packed with personality. Although the sculpt is great, I think it may be the wrong color — the “helmet” part, that is. In the comics, his helmet and his arms are both an ever-so-slightly off-white color, but here they’re a tan that match his upper legs. In the original promo images, his helmet was white, so when I opened him, I was shocked to see that it’s a tan color. At least his helmet and arms match in color, but I really wish they were white or a light grey. And it may just be the color, but a lot of the sculpt detail gets lost unless it’s viewed close up. He may need the panel-line treatment with a Gundam Marker.
One of the more identifiable features of the MTMTE Chromedome is those big wheels on his shoulders. In order to recreate that look, I borrowed a couple wheels from Generations Scoop and kitbashed something I think is serviceable. The grey pieces come from a Lego City set, and I just wrapped a rubber band around the wheels. They’re both held in place with some Museum Putty so as to not make this a permanent mod. I mean, it’s not perfect, but I think it works with the body well enough, and with these in place, he does look more like the MTMTE Chromedome that I wanted.
Chromedome is decently articulated since he shares a body with a Prime swordsman. If you have Wheeljack, then you know what to expect. His breakdown is as follows:
- Ball-jointed head, shoulders, and hips
- Hinged elbows, knees, feet
- Swivel wrists
His alt mode is an Earth-based alt mode, which is consistent with the other IDW Autobots that have been released so far. This, again, is curious because in the comics they have distinctly Cybertronian alt modes, so it’s a bit strange to get something more organic-looking in the Hasbro line. Chromedome’s alt mode is actually not too far off from his original G1 alt mode, so this mold works well enough here. I would have loved to have seen his Cybertronian alt mode, but that’s pretty much a one-and-done design with little hope for mold reuse. Then again, I thought the same thing about Hasbro’s Swerve, but they still found a way to use that mold again, so maybe it’s still possible.
For accessories, Chromedome comes with two swords that aren’t really necessary, but they’re here because they came with Prime Wheeljack and made perfect sense with that figure. These are getting tossed in the box never to be seen again. He also comes with Stylor, which is pretty darn cool. In the original Headmasters series and on the G1 figure, Stylor transformed into Chromedome’s head. But since there’s been no evidence that Chromedome’s a Headmaster in the IDW comics, Stylor is now a Targetmaster, more or less. He turns into a crossbow-type thing that Chromedome can wield. As is the case with the swords, I’m not sure how often Chromedome will be wielding this crossbow on my shelf, but it’s cool to see Stylor worked into this set. He has very little articulation outside his transformation — his arms swivel at the shoulders; that’s about it, so he’s not the most exciting figure in the world. Pretty standard for a Targetmaster, though.
In terms of value, I’m not sure what to think. I definitely paid a premium to get him, but seeing as how he isn’t really accurate to either version of the character people know best, it’s tough to feel as though the price was 100 percent justifiable. I didn’t join the subscription and just bought Chromedome as a single from Big Bad Toy Store, so it may have been cheaper for me to have just signed up for the sub, but there were too many other figures I didn’t want. Chromedome and Rewind seem to be the sub’s key anchors this year, though, so I’m sure a lot of subs were sold to people who wanted just them. It’s crazy to me that two such major characters were part of an exclusive sub, but at least we got them, even if they aren’t the exact figures we wanted.
So I would recommend this figure. It’s the closest thing to an MTMTE Chromedome we’ve got right now, and with the kitbashed wheels in place on his shoulders, he looks pretty darn good on my Lost Light shelf.
