Chromedome is one of those characters who would have varying reasons to be popular in America and Japan; for the US, he's known for his radically different personality in the IDW comics as well as his connection to Rewind, who is usually known as Blaster's Cassetticon while in Japan, he's the main character in The Headmasters anime (a continuation to the American G1 cartoon). Me? I see him as a Hank Hill type of guy for no real reason beyond me trying to squeeze some King of the Hill influences into The Headmasters. But aside from those two pieces of media, I know him more from the fact that he exists and is now the spotlight of the toyline called Retro Headmasters, where Titans Return molds are given toy-accurate decos and Legends Titan Masters based on the anime. Let's see how Chromedome holds up in a WFC-era of Transformers expectations!
Here is Chromedome in his vehicle mode, which is the original vehicle mode with elements of the IDW design. Design-wise, it's fairly blocky and kind of reminds me of the Playstation vehicle modes, but it does fit the post-movie character designs of G1. The front kind of reminds me of a nose for some reason. In terms of the color scheme, brown and beige are weird on a car and in a Transformer in general, but the red paint apps make it work in a weird way. Maybe it's because this is a color scheme exclusive to Chromedome, but it's a deco that'd normally look kind of ugly yet fits him nonetheless. I also like the wheels, with the metallic brown paint going with the clear wheels.
The design is very much what it is in terms of being faithful to the G1 toy but with the modern attributes that the Titans Return line did...which is weird to describe. I feel that POTP and aspects of Earthrise were "G1 with knees", but Titans Return really didn't have that feel. Combiner Wars was the only 2015-onwards Generations line that didn't feel like "G1 with knees" since these are massive upgrades from the little rubbish figures, and Titans Return really wouldn't have that sort of feel of "G1 with knees" with everyone but 4-5 guys. Maybe it'll be easier to mention some characters in their reviews.
The weapons can plug onto the sides with the 5mm ports, but it is nothing new in terms of storage. The latter is good for having other characters play with him.
You can open the cockpit up to reveal Stylor, who is the Nebuloid partner of Chromedome (unless you're thinking about the Headmasters anime and see this as his head-stage form). The details on this guy aren't too shabby, and aside from having a beige torso to break up the blood-red, his face is orange (but not exactly painted up like it should. Like all Titan Masters, the head and shoulders are all on ball joints while the hips and knees bend as part of the gimmick.
The two weapons can be put together so Chromedome can have a cannon to use if he wanted to be a little riskier with his actions...maybe his Transtector would drive for him!
The transformation eerily familiar to that of Combiner Wars Dead End, what with the similar leg transformation, chest hinge, and arm engineering. Many would say that he is actually a heavy retool of the guy without the Combiner Wars-specific parts like the 5mm foot/hand connector or the ratchet joint within the chest, but he's actually sharing parts from Titans Return Blurr, aka the most reused figure from Titans Return! The resulting robot mode has the same proportions as Dead End, but I have to confess and say it makes Chromedome feel unique yet not as sleek as his character design is. He wasn't beefy and wide in either G1/The Headmasters or in the IDW continuity, but this robot mode does have the perfect balance between resembling both versions of the guy while resulting in a more roided design as a result of having engineering similar to that of Dead End. Also, Dead End had a flimsy hinge for the windshield while Chromedome's legs have two windshield halves. As for the coloring, it's meant to resemble how it appeared in the G1 toy, though the brown insignia kinda looks funny next to the red one on his chest.
Head sculpt is actually that of the Legends version, which closely resembles how it appeared in the Headmasters anime; regardless of how I feel about the show, I like this head sculpt more than the Hasbro one, as it has a little more personality and gives him somewhat of a leader feel while not exactly being like Optimus Prime...it's funny how he looks more like the leader than Rodimus does. Since the Titans Return figures have varying points of articulation, I'll cover how each of them works because they're not as consistent as the WFC guys. His head is on a ball joint like with all Titan Masters, the shoulders are on ball joints as well as hinges for moving up and down, the biceps swivel, the elbows bend (though they break up the sculpt), and the hands curl in. The waist swivels, the hips are on ball joints, the thighs swivel, and the knees bend. He, like most Titans Return figures, lacks ankle pivots, something the WFC line revolutionized.
In terms of reuses, this is the original Hasbro version, which depicts him as a mix between his original G1 design and his IDW counterpart's details. His head is closely that of the IDW version and his Titan Master is unpainted. At least the paint apps look good on both figures, though the back window looks funny for being too dark next to the clear ones. Some variants had the Legends Titan Master figure.
This is the TakaraTomy Legends version of Chromedome, giving him a deco more faithful to The Headmasters, as well as having the nicest of the minifigures we've covered for the guy. He comes with an additional Partner Drone named Moguru, a repaint of Nightbeat's accessory. For those wondering, the Hasbro version of Chromedome was actually repainted in a small set for Wonder Festival 2017, allowing people to have the original tooling with nicer paint apps for the humanoid mode.
And for any uses not made for Chromedome, this is Breakaway, a renamed Getaway now as a Head/Titan Master instead of a Powermaster. The tooling of the figure is the same as with the other figures, but the deco does do a decent attempt at breaking up the color scheme and making him look like Getaway. The head is new, though I wouldn't blame you if you didn't think it was that different from Chromedome's.
And let's go to the weapons real quick; they can be held in his hands with no problem, or you can combine them. Pretty self-explanatory. But overall, Chromedome is a pretty solid figure in the line, even if he may not quite feel like the same Chromedome people wanted from G1 or his IDW appearance. To me, he's fine as he is, and having the Takara Legends headsculpts is a win to me because I like it more than the regular one. That being said, if you are a completionist, a Chromedome fan, someone who missed out on the other versions of the guy, or wanted to own the new head sculpt, then I would only recommend this figure for those reasons; those that have prior versions of the guy may not need him, but on the plus side, he comes with nice G1 packaging.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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