We're back to reviewing the Retro Headmasters once more! Now, Highbrow is one of those characters who doesn't quite get as much attention as the other guys do. Chromedome's obviously a major protagonist in The Headmasters show on top of having status as the boyfriend of Rewind in IDW's comics. Brainstorm, on the other hand, was given some spotlight in the IDW series for his unique character attributes and was the only one of the original four to receive a faithful toy before Titans Return (Chromedome and Hardhead were repaints of pre-existing figures while Highbrow instead had a Hunt for the Decepticons mold), and Hardhead's pretty much great for the tank design and his role as the strong one. That doesn't mean that there are no interesting things to say about Highbrow, though. Let's see how he turned out in this review!
Here we have Highbrow in his vehicle mode, a twin-propellor helicopter of made-up design. As far as design choices are concerned, it does look like the weakest of the Autobot Headmasters. The bulk of the vehicle mode is too clunky and unrefined, the wings look too small, and I don't think the propellers are long enough to give it the flight capability it's known for. The coloring of the vehicle is pretty simple, but it doesn't feel as uniform as it should be. I do appreciate that some paint apps are on the fuselage as well as parts of the wings, but that's about it. If you notice how my copy's guns are placed, they're using the rectangular slots to make use of the faux landing gear. The cockpit opens up to reveal our Head/Titanmaster buddy, Xort!
The Headmaster himself is cast in 3 different colors of plastic, with some paint apps for the gray and silver on the head. He's about the same as with every other Titans Return toy. That being said, I noticed that the hips aren't attached with a pin like with the other figurines are, and they use friction instead. Were they like that in Titans Return?
Transforming him is pretty simple, with the only really interesting thing being how the spine goes up the chest. It's nothing all that special, but it does what it needs to if you're not as picky over a toy's basic transformation as I am. The robot mode of this guy does feel the least altered from the G1 toy if I'm being honest; while Chromedome was given a similar skeleton to Dead End, at least he as well as Brainstorm and Hardhead look refined by comparison. He's quite basic by comparison, and while that won't make him the worst toy ever, he's still pretty lacking as far as the robot mode is concerned. I also don't like how the cockpit is slapped on his back as well as his propellers just being left unattended at the back of his shoulders. Pretty dumb if you ask me.
Head sculpt looks very nice, especially with this being the Takara Legends face plate instead of the Hasbro one (which is more toy-accurate while this is more accurate to the Headmasters show). The differences between this head and the Hasbro one are not that prominent, to be honest. His articulation is not too shabby, with the same head movement as with every figure in the line he originates; the shoulders move around on ball joints, the elbows swivel as well as bend, and the hips move front and back as well as in and out. The thighs swivel and the knees bend. He can hold his guns as a Transformer with 5mm hands would normally do.
The weapons can be combined to form a seat cannon that a Titan Master can sit on, and while you may open the chest for a bit of a Tech Spec Easter Egg, it won't really be anything special.
As far as prior uses are concerned, they were only used for Highbrow and no one else. This is the Hasbro version, which doesn't look that different apart from the added paint apps for the cockpit trim and his Hasbro toy-accurate head. Stuff like the paint not being used on the tail propellor is odd as hell, though.
And this is the Takara version of Highbrow, which has different colors that are even closer to The Headmasters as well as the head we have here. The vehicle accessory that came with Loudmouth is named Cargot, a trend of included incentives to justify paying more for a Deluxe.
For a size comparison, here he is with all of the other Autobots included in the line. They look great as a team, especially considering how prominent they were in the Headmasters show, despite not being a fan of it. Weirdly, they remind me of King of the Hill's Hank (Chromedome), Dale (Brainstorm), Bill (Hardhead), and Boomhauer (Highbrow). Maybe it's because I crosswired two interests of mine. As for Highbrow himself, he is by no means a bad toy, though he does feel a little lacking compared to the other guys, especially Brainstorm and Hardhead impressing me the most of them all. If you got the Hasbro version, you probably don't need him since there's no major difference between that and what we have here.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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