Here I go, busting into the second wave of Titans Return Deluxes and I decided to go with Chromedome first. This is an interesting wave for me as I happen to own the Fansproject unofficial versions of each of the figures in this assortment and I’m excited to see how Hasbro’s versions turned out. Still, I’m going to try avoid comparisons, because it’s only fair to evaluate these new bots on their own and not how they stand up to far more expensive third party figures.

I’m still not a huge fan of this card art and layout, but I sure was glad to see it on the pegs when I stopped in the local Wally World for some groceries. These Deluxes have been really tough to find in my area and forget about any of the larger boxed figures. I had to go online to get the first Deluxe wave, so stumbling across all of wave two in one shot at an actual brick-and-mortar store that is not known for having anything good ever was quite the pleasant surprise. Chromedome is packaged in his robot mode, but as always, we’re going to start with his alt mode.

In auto mode, Chromedome does a beautiful job recreating, and slightly tweaking, the look of the original G1 toy. I was never sure what they were going for with this design, but I’ve always experienced a weird retro-future-muscle vibe from it. Nonetheless, I liked the creativity in alt modes that spewed out of the waning years of G1 and this design still reflects that. This new version is a little better proportioned and lacks those awkward arm-pylons on the sides as well as making the hood near the windshield a little less bulky and awkward. The mold consists of some panel lines, but nothing too crazy. Overall, I think fans of the character will be pleased.

The toy retains that same distinctive brown, tan, and red deco that no one in their right mind would ever think to put on a car, and yet obviously somebody did. Most of the deco here is achieved through colored plastic, although the paint on the roof and side panels is a very nice high gloss shade of red and the headlamps are painted blue. You also get some silver and red tampos on the hood, which replicate the original toy’s stickers, and a bold Autobot emblem. The cockpit is hinged so that it can either open by swinging straight up or you can sort of lift it and hinge it backwards to give it a more stylish way of opening.

And speaking of stylish, meet Stylor, Chromedome’s little Headmaster buddy. His robot mode is pretty standard stuff with articulation in the shoulders, hips, knees, and neck. His deco matches that of his larger robot chum. Unfortunately, Hasbro didn’t spring for any paint apps on this one, which was one of the most impressive things to me about the first wave of figures. I liked the tiny painted faces. Also, the red plastic looks kind of cheap. Aesthetics aside, Stylor does sit comfortably in the driver compartment of the vehicle.

There are two weapons which can plug into the sides of the car mode in a few combinations. One is a standard gun, while the other becomes a sort of sidecar gun for one of the tiny bots to ride in. You can also plug the regular gun into it and there are tabs on the roof where it can plug in as well.

Transforming Chromedome feels really familiar and that’s because the figure borrows heavily from the Combiner Wars Stunticon engineering, particularly Dead End. The half-elbow hinges in the arms, the way the legs unpack, and the chest plate that folds down to cover a non-existent combiner link. In that sense, this figure feels like a throwback to a line that just ended, but does that make for a bad robot mode? Not exactly.

I actually like this robot mode quite a bit, but then I was overall rather fond of the CW Stunticons. Chomedome is a very solid update to the original figure. The hood packs away neatly on his back and the the canopy parts fold up on the backs of his legs. Chromey suffers from some hollow forearms, but the legs aren’t have panels to fill them out better than most of the wave one figures. I’m also happy to say the robot mode features some very nice red and silver paintwork, which feels like a big step up from the lack of coloring on some of the figures from the last assortment.

Stylor makes for a great looking portrait. Yeah, the red back kind of makes it feel like the face and “helmet” is tacked onto the head, but it works well enough for me. I like the coloring, particularly the blue visor and orange face plate, but my figure has a bit of mold flashing that needs to be cleaned up.

Of course, the guns can be wielded in robot mode and even combined if you want something bigger and kind of goofy looking.

Chromedome is a solid figure and I’m happy to have him, but after seeing the Stunticon style engineering so many times throughout the Combiner Wars run, it feels a little cheap and sleazy to get a retread of it again in Titans Return. Yes, I do respect and admire Hasbro’s ability to design molds that can be re-purposed, and while it definitely works here as Chromedome, it doesn’t feel terribly clever. Considering how popular this character has become from the near-perfect comic run of More Than Meets The Eye, I think this is a figure where the mileage may vary greatly and some collectors aren’t going to be nearly as forgiving as me.

It’s another Transformers Thursday here at FFZ and today I’m checking out the final figure in the first wave of Deluxe Class Titans Return figures, Skullsmasher and his little head-forming buddy, Grax. Yes, somewhere along the way Hasbro must have lost the Skullcruncher trademark, but it’s close enough. Let’s see if I can make it through the whole Feature without calling him Skullcruncher by force of habit! As for Grax, well, apparently they managed to hang on to the name of the original G1 Skullcruncher’s Nebulon, because it remains unchanged.

Here’s a quick look at the package before I tear it open and have to deal with those goddamn plastic wires. I got nothing new to say about the package itself, other than it keeps the figure minty fresh until it gets to me and I guess that’s really all I’m looking for here. Skullsmasher is packaged in his robot mode, but crikey, we’re gonna check out his croc mode first!

So, allow me to go on record, probably not for the first time, by saying how much I love whenever G1 did animal alt modes. They always had that appropriately cybernetic look to them like a machine approximation of an animal form, rather than the creepy and off-putting real animal forms of the Beast Wars era. In a lot of ways Skullsmasher here captures that beloved aesthetic, much like the G1 figure he’s based on. The croc mode is very angular, it’s covered in panel lines, and it features some great spikes and ridges all over. The deco relies almost entirely on colored plastic, from the pleasingly rich and slightly metallic green to the cheaper looking and almost neon red, and the the odd gray pieces. There are some painted panels on the sides and a Decepticon emblem on top of his head. It’s an uncharacteristically garish deco, but one that should satisfy the G1 purists. Overall it works just fine for me.

I really dig Skullsmasher’s croc head. The diamond shaped eyes are reminsicent of Dinobot eyes and I really dig the way some of his teeth mate with the opposite jaws when the mouth is closed. Open up the mouth and you get treated to a full display of teeth and a segmented tongue.

When Skullsmasher is just sitting there in croc mode, I think he’s great, but picking him up and playing around with him reveals a lot of problems. The plastic here feels super cheap to me. Like knock-off cheap. Especially the red stuff. The way the tail pegs onto the body is a tenuous connection. If I try to pose it to the left or right, it usually pulls out. The two halves of the croc’s hind quarters don’t like to stay tabbed together at the top either. The rest of the figure features some decent articulation. The hind legs are attached to the body with ball joints. The front legs swivel where they meet the body and again just below the hinged elbows. Unfortunately, if I swivel the lower part of the leg enough, it’ll pull right off. Finally, the head is ball jointed, and of course the jaws are hinged.

Grax is a pretty cool little dude with a black and green deco and some nice paint on his tiny face. These guys all have the same articulation, which includes hips, knees, shoulders, and head. He’s an expressive little guy and of course he has that ubiquitous exposed screw right in the middle of his chest.

Despite not being a conventional vehicle, Skullsmasher has a compartment inside him for Grax to ride in. The door is made of a weird rubbery plastic and blends into the croc’s back pretty well.

The instructions don’t really outline any other modes, but if you pull off his tail and flip it upside down it forms a little gunner station with a seat. This can be pegged back into the croc’s ass if you want to make Grax a… wait for it… tail gunner! There are also some tiny foot pegs on Scullsmasher’s front legs for the little guys to ride on rather awkwardly.

Transforming Skullsmasher holds few surprises and his robot mode even less… unless you count his legs constantly popping off at the hips a surprise. In keeping with the three figures that preceded him in this wave, he looks pretty damn good. He’s nicely proportioned and very reminiscent of the original G1 version. You even get the hatch on his chest that flipped down on the original figure to show the stats when you plugged in the Headmaster. I do like the way the croc legs on his lower legs serve as heel spurs to stabilize him. The deco doesn’t change much from the croc mode. You just get a little more gray showing and some paint details on his chest. The lack of Decepticon emblem on his chest, however, irks me to no end. I might have to go into my stash of stickers to give him one.

From the back, Skullsmasher includes the expected croc head kibble backpack, which really isn’t too bad. On the downside, the tail is just sort of an extra piece. You can actually peg it into his back, but than the bulk of the kibble becomes ridiculous.

He can hold it as a shield or sword or bludgeon, or whatever you want to call it to pretend it isn’t just a left over tail. Also, if you leave the gun in it, it can serve as an awkwardly large gun tail thing. None of these options are really ideal for me, so I just plan on putting it behind him when I display him. Thankfully, the gun comes out and can be used as a stand alone weapon.

Grax forms a fantastic head and holds his form quite well. Once again, you can plug any of the heads into him. Head swapping isn’t a gimmick I’m fond of and my other little head guys are buried in the other room so pardon me if I don’t actually show it this time.

Now, when I first started playing with him, I thought I was going to be able to make it out of this review without having to comment on my figure being all loosey-goosey like so many others seem to be. In truth everything on mine is actually pretty solid, except for those ball joints in the hips. They’re not completely useless, he can hold himself up, but if you give him too wide a stance, he’s likely to crumble. Also, the red plastic on this guy still feels rather cheap.

There’s no denying it. Skullsmasher is the only disappointing figure in this wave for me. I think it comes across in how brief this Feature is compared to the others. I didn’t have nearly as much fun shooting him as the other offerings of this wave. But, he’s not a terrible figure by any means. It’s just that when compared to the three shining examples that came before him, he’s just weakened from too many nagging little issues. I’m certainly not sorry I bought him, but I am glad I didn’t lose my patience and pay a premium for him, because he wouldn’t have been worth it. And even after ending this assortment on a slightly sour note, I’ll still say that this is one solid wave of figures and I’m really excited to get my hands on some more. Thanks to a nice score at the local Wally World, which typically has the most poorly stocked toy aisles I’ve ever seen, I was able to grab the entire second wave yesterday. So come on back next Thursday as I start digging into those with a look at Chromedome.