Brainstorm is one of those characters who would normally be considered one of the smartest dudes in TF history, if only for his IDW incarnation's involvement with whatever stories he did. I mean he did receive a new Voyager figure with a different form of engineering for the Headmaster gimmick, but in the G1 cartoon and in Headmasters, he wasn't that significant beyond his head sculpt having a more youthful head sculpt than the mouthplate with eyes that Hasbro did. That doesn't mean I won't treat this guy like trash, so now it's time to take a look at the Retro Headmasters release!
Here is Brainstorm in his jet mode, a pretty sleek and faithful take on the alternate mode he took the form of in general. It's got the unique attributes that make Brainstorm who he is, from the twin-barrel nosecone to the smaller wings and the big cockpit. The color scheme is accurate, though there should be two tailfins instead of one. In fact, the figure might be a little too familiar for those that are reminiscent of Transformers lore beyond this toy, though I'll mention that later and instead say that the front has a bit of an ugly bit thanks to the landing skid.
The gun can be stored underneath, and while the fists are exposed underneath, at least the figure has some method of keeping them from getting visible elsewhere.
The cockpit can open and reveal the Titan Master within (as always), revealing itself to be Arcana! He's painted nicely and has limbs colored separately from the rest of him, so nothing else to say beyond that.
The transformation is very familiar to that of Blurr, and I'll get to that in a bit as mentioned yet again. The legs transform similarly to how Blurr's would, as does the chest, arms, and backpack, albeit with the touches of the HeadTitanMaster gimmick and the wings. Now some would normally leave the wings untouched in robot mode, but I decided not to have the ones on robot mode feel drowned out by the size of the real wings. And speaking of, this guy ends up looking good in robot mode! I like the color scheme on him, the arms have the distinct Brainstorm look to them, and the legs, despite feeling a bit baggy, are decent in terms of proportions. The only ugly things on him are how the feet look as well as how far back the front of the jet is on his back. It's just so awkward and unwieldy but we'll get into how that works.
Head sculpt is beautiful in terms of appearance, as Brainstorm has a nice matte white helmet and the yellow face complementing the mostly blue, gray, and white body. It's a good color pallette if you ask me, and the articulation itself is also very good! It's got the same points as always, but unlike Chromedone, his wrists swivel, and unlike Hardhead, his waist can swivel! His gun can be held in his hand, and while the front of the vehicle mode can be removed and be a shield (which I didn't show for a specific reason)...
...it can come off and be a little patrol drone of sorts! Arcana can hitch a ride on it and make everything so fun and almost Micromastery...despite being a modern toy made for the people that'd only put them on shelves rather than play with it like days of old, but it works!
In terms of other uses, let's first go over the first-ever version of Brainstorm, which is part of a Titan Force 3-pack made in SDCC 2016. He came along with a clear Sentinel Prime and a Fort-Max-themed Windblade using the RID15 Warrior mold. He's more close to the IDW version of the character, which gives him pastel blue to contrast the dark and light grays around him. You can see what I was talking about of him holding a chunk of the altmode as a shield. Funny enough, the UK called him Charon.
This is the Walgreens version of the figure, which is more toy-accurate and sort of works in a way like the Retro Headmasters version does, but the colors are a little more faded on this version because Hasbro was trying so hard to mimic nostalgia. Either way a neat way for people to get the mold even if it introduced fans to Walgreens (a store that has had some Transformers toys exclusively released over there!)
And this is Hardhead as he appeared in the Legends line, with a more anime-accurate deco such as the more vibrant blue, black wings, and white arms and legs. The blue weirdly matches the shade of the toy's pics that I took, but in-hand, the RH version is more or less the same as with the Walgreens one. He comes with a Drone Partner named Synapse, a redeco of the vehicle accessory Brawn had in Titans Return.
For the figure he was originally retooled from, this is Blurr!...who is much more desaturated in this mode. Weirdly, the rest of the Titans Return figures were mostly nice and vibrant, so it was weird seeing Brainstorm have a more monochrome deco that makes him look like he stepped out of that Netflix WFC show. For those wondering, his Titan Master was named Hyperfire, a renamed Haywire who isn't a Targetmaster this time (and hasn't gotten a WFC Battlemaster at all!). He was good for the time and was the best Blurr figure ever, but since then, he was replaced with...
...Takara's Blurr from Legends, given a much more accurate rendition of the character! Of the three Autobot Cars in the 86 line, Blurr looked the least out of place with the rest of a CHUG display as he was actually on-point with the character model, which is something that nearly worked for Kup and isn't quite right with Hot Rod. He was a good figure until the SS-86 figure came out, although I like the arm kibble on this guy better. I also just noticed that Brainstorm's actually shorter than the SS-86 guy.
For some fembot action out of the mold, this is Nautica! This IDW-original character may not be a favorite of mine, but I will admit that for what they could do, Hasbro did a solid job of recreating how she'd look in the line despite looking a little more beefy and masculine than the character actually was. She's also got some new turbine wings to make her a little more distinct, and her Titan Master is named Parsec.
And finally, here is Arcee! This was an NYCC release that is given even more retooling to make her more feminine than with Nautica, including the shoulders and the painted chest. She's not a repaint of Chromedome as the G1 line intended, but she's a not-too-shabby take on the character that would probably make for a better G1 Arcee figure than with either the T30 figure for the backpack or the Earthrise figure for how cheap it felt. Plus, Arcee was a Headmaster in The Rebirth so it makes sense she'd become one.
Here he is the guy who was not only going to have been reused for Arcee but was also someone she danced with within The Headmasters, and it's Chromedome! These two are at equal height, and it's always nice to see more unique Autobot squad members in the line with guys like these. I especially love seeing how Brainstorm looks a little more youthful while Chromedome has the more heroic head sculpt thanks to The Headmasters. And that's proof that despite being a shit sequel to a shit cartoon, Headmasters has a redeeming point in the form of the new Autobot heads! So overall, with Brainstorm not having as much of a prominent release as the other Autobot Headmaster characters he hung out with, you might be happy to get this guy if you're a completionist, a big Brainstorm fan (which makes sense given what he's done in IDW), never got the figure like I did, and if you want the Legends face sculpt.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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