Okay it's time for another review, but this time we go back to the year 1987, which introduced us to a whole new "evolution" in the Generation 1 line = enter the Headmasters.

Today we'll have a look at Autobot Headmaster Chromedome.  
He is brown and beige futuristic car with extensive red highlights, and unlike other futuristic Transformers, Chromedome looks distinctly like a car, despite not being modelled on an actual model - at least I have absolutely no clue what it should resemble.
The main block of the car is brown, the sides and rear are beige. The roof, centre rear panel and a panel on the hood are red, as well as the twin cannons mounted on the roof. He has a transparent windshield and it's is dark enough that you can't really see much more than light through it, so his headmaster nebulon companion Stylor is basically hidden in car mode.



The transparent canopy opens up to reveal a seat for Stylor, (you have to remove the guns before it can open). It's a nice gimmick, since it allows you to lock the canopy closed, reducing the chance of it popping open and Stylor going AWOL - now we know that headmaster heads are infamous of doing that.
Chromedome has pretty good moulded detail in this mode, including a quite 1980s stepped sunshade on the rear end (I'm sure most of you remember that concept), and a bunch of mechanical detail on the side panels/doors (?). The red hatch on the hood can be opened up, but it only reveals the robot mode's empty tech-spec-meter, so you might as well leave it down.



There's not really all that much play value in this mode other than push and roll and let the roofmounted blasters do the talking against incoming enemies.The wheels do roll, albeit they're entirely made of plastic with ridges so he's not going to roll very far unaided, which is a bit dissappointing... he won't roll on a wooden floor - you need a carpet for that.

Overall,  Chromedome has a decent car mode. The colours work, I like the fact that it clearly looks like a car - but what car is still beyond me. There's a solid and sturdy feel about this car mode too, everything fits nice and proportions are good, and he feels quite heavy for a plastic car of this size. The play value is somewhat limited, but not really any less than you'd expect.

In robot mode Chromedome is still beige with red highlights, but with a a grey head. His chest and legs are brown, his arms and feet are beige, his groin is red as is the centre of his chest. The head is grey with an orange mouthplate. However I think colourscheme works quite well - it's gives him a bit earthern feel to it.

His guns are red and fit into the holes on his so called hands, because Chromedome doens't actually have hands, but rather a clever designed mould, that imitates hands very well in my opinion.



Probably the biggest problem with  all Headmasters is that without the partner, the robot is useless. So whatever you do, keep those nebulons safe :shock:! He reveals his chest mounted spec-meter - click in the head, which will cause his specs to appear SPD 5, STR 6, INT 10.

The headmaster gimmick is what carries the figure on in play value, because Chromedome is the standard G.1 brick to play with. Only the arms articulate up and down. But then again, it wont be fair to compare it to now-a-days superarticulated bots. G.1 figures require imagination when playing with them, and I have no hard time with that.
Overall I like his robot mode, it's standard articulation when comparing G.1's with eachother.

Stylor his little sidekick has arm and leg articulation (allowing him to sit) and is quite nice as a headmaster, and is in fact more poseable than Chromedome. Stylor has a grey torso and head with an orange face and the colours work nicely with eachother - just like the giant head he becomes.



Chromedome is actually nice toy. Both Chromedome and Stylor have good colour schemes, and Chromedome looks good in both modes. However, there's only limited play value here - and it's no secret that a lot of it revolves around the Headmaster gimmick, which is really the whole idea of the toy.

Overall.
So if you're a Generation 1 (headmasters) fan, you should like Chromedome, simply because he's one of the better large Headmasters, although fans of the new more poseable TransFormers toyline, probably won't like him.

+ Stylor is one of the better moulds of Nebulons
+ Good colourscheme for both
+ Good alternate recognizable car mode
+ Nicely detailed
+ Very stable robot mode, doesn't tip forward or backwards
+ All accessoires can be mounted in either mode
+ One of the best headmaster figures
- Not much play value in car mode
- Chromedome could have had leg articulation, at least by the knees
- /+The lines largest force is also it's largest downfall. If you loose the head, you loose the figure.

I give Chromedome a 7.5 out of 10.  

Unlike a lot, I actually like Headmasters - but then, the only reason people hate them is the whole "tiny humans for heads"-aspect, and I think of it from the Japanese point of view

Nice review. Chromedome looks like a decent bot...speaking of which, he really DOES look to be in good condition, no playwear to be seen. Where'd you get it?

Yup I think the "Nebulon" (US) and "all robot" (Jap.) aspect of the Headmasters and Targetmasters are two different but good approaches to the concept.

I got this Chromedome from Frank aka Predaking, there was a bit paint chipping on the hood and on Stylors face, but that was something which was "fixable" with the right paint However my camera ran out of battery so I couldn't include some "repaint" pictures, but I managed to match colours very very close (90%-95%) to the original paint   Only under very bright light like halogen light you can see the difference, under normal lighting circumstances you'd probably never notice if I didn't tell you.
As soon as my camera has recharged I'll take a snapshot.

May I ask what kind of paints you use for this purpose?
Nice review,btw

Humbrol enamel paint, the same paint I use for painting my aircraft modelkits

What you need now is the reprolabels sheet

Indeed


Here's some repaint pictures. I really had to get close and get the flash as bright as possible for you to notice the differences.

Excellent review, my friend -- detailed and informative, without being too text-heavy.

I for one loved the "human drivers" aspect of Headmasters (and to some extend, Targetmasters) -- I had lots of fun back in the day, imagining I was either Quig on Siren or Haywire on Blurr.

Thank you I'm trying to find the balance so it won't get too boring and nor too "thin".

I always loved Headmasters. I remember my father thought I was nuts when I picked my first Headmaster Skullcruncher over the sixchanger Quickswitch in the toystore ! but hello he didn't have a head that could transform  
I have nearly all the large headmasters now, just missing Weirdwolf, Mindwipe and Highbrow.
My favorite headmaster of them all is Hardhead with Skullcruncher coming in as a very close 2nd

The large Targetmasters are cool too, but I never understood why they never added just arm articulation to them.

You mean you have even Fortress Maximus?

Yup complete with box. Won him in a drawing competition back in 1989  and I got 2x Scorponoks.

Hey, cool!

I obtained a loose Fort Max from a college buddy of mine, who also won his in a drawing contest (now in Joona's collection). My buddy didn't remember much of the details about the contest, so I didn't know it was in 1989? I don't remember it being announced myself (as I would surely have entered) so any and all info you have about it would be great.

Well I don't know if the drawing competition was in the whole of Denmark. But this drawing competition was at our local toy store and kids all over came to hand in drawings, and as many as they wanted. I'm pretty sure it was in 1989 or perhaps 1990, but I still have the original photo (to be used in the local newspaper) taken of me outside the store with the hughe box.
However my drawing they kept, - and it was Powermaster Optimus Prime in super robotmode I had drawn.... man that day was THE best - we never even knew what the 1st prize was, I only hoped to win a set of Micromasters then I'd be happy. But when I got in they store and they said I won, they brought me to a hughe box covered with somekind of large wollen sheet, and when they took it off, I couldn't believe my eyes  

I think it was country-wide, because my buddy used to live "in the sticks" somewhere here up north. I still don't remember it happening in Vejle (I may have entered, though, as I used to enter all kinds of drawing contest at that time; will have to ask my mother if she remembers anything), but I do remember my Fætter BR having a Fort Max in the window display, and a few inside marked at 1,000.- DKK... but that was during the great "cleansing of the warehouses" days, when Hasbro was clearing their unsold stock around... 1990?

I'd love to see that picture, man. Just blur out your face, if you're too embaressed...

I'll see if I can find the picture somewhere in the pile of photoalbums at my parents... I'm not sure if they also still have the newspaper cut-out.

Your post brings back memories  I was in a Lego competition in a store back in the day myself. The contest was to build the fastest car that was to roll down a ramp. I spent several days adjusting it to fit within the limits, using weighted bricks used for boats to evenly distribute the weight, etc. I expected to win, but lost by a hair's breadth to someone with a strange vehicle using about twenty double "moon rover" wheels (I used large, heavy Technic wheels). But I did win the second largest formula racing set

At that very same Fætter BR I around 1986 entered a LEGO contest as well, which was basically "build what you want". I made a large humanoid head, which was remote controlled to open and close his mouth -- and wiggle his nose. (yes, I was into Muppets back then as well... )

Won 2nd place, which I was very proud of. The winner had made a large life-sized chainsaw, which looked really good. My head didn't look that good (the colors were all mixed-up because I didn't have enough bricks in the same colour), but they thought it was very imaginative.

My mom still has that paper-clipping...

Hehe, I also entered a LEGO-contest where you were supposed to build a fast car. It was held at Stor & Liten which later was bought by BR. I won first prize, but no photos or newspaper clips :/ I got a barrel (yes, a barrel ) of random LEGO pieces, and a huge space station set. Oh, happy days...

Well when I was 12years old I actually for a very brief period tested and reviewed a toy for the LEGO company !. I remember I got the newest prototype toy from their Technics line, which was a large red helicopter.
I remember I had a paper where I would write down how easy it was to build, and if the instructions were correct ( I remember it had one error, a brick was coloured red where as it should have been grey). I would write how long it took to assemble, and what strengths and weaknesses it had - I remember pointing out the landing gear was to weak to carry the weight of the helicopter. I had the toy for 1month where I played with it etc, and there after a representativ came and got the papers i wrote along with the toy. And as thank you for my testing a got some Technics 6wheeled racer.
It was a large 4 rotorbladed helicopter with and extendable towline.

awesome! I don't remember that model. Was it ever produced?

Yup, it came on to market about 2months after I had it for reviewing/testing

Great review man! Cool that you won that drawing competition! I'm just curious, aksed my brother he can't remember that Fortress Maximus were ever released in Sweden. None of his friends had him. Somone knows if he ever were availible here?

No, Fort Max was never available commerically in Sweden -- only as a contest price at some point. I'm basing this on what Lars told me once, but I may remember it wrong... Lars?

Yes, that's right. The importer back in the 1980's, PlayMix, decided not to release Fortress Maximus in Sweden for some reason. Quite odd, since they also handled the Norwegian market and the toy was made available there. PlayMix shipped out ten Fortress Maximus figures to Norwegian stores - five to Oslo, five to other cities in Norway.
In Sweden we only got the figure as a contest prize. If I remember the details right I think there was a total of six Fortress Maximus figures given out on two different occasions.

Would (any of) you happend to know how many of him (Fort Max) came to Denmark ?. I never saw one except the one I won, but I do recall seeing Scorponok in BR Odense and Legekæden in Skagen for about 1100DKk at that time ( I remember Scorp. was very expensive).

Yikes! Yes, that was incredibly expensive. In Sweden Scorponok was surprisingly inexpensive, compared to other Transformers. Standard retail price was 399 SEK, which is exactly what Metroplex cost (I had expected that Scorponok would cost more), and only 50 SEK more than Optimus Prime (after the price increase in 1986-87), Ultra Magnus and Galvatron.
The most expensive Transformer in Sweden during the G1/G2 period was Laser Rod Optimus Prime, who cost 499 SEK. In more recent years that price has of course been matched or exceeded many times.

Yea, I don't know if it was an error or what. I never saw the pricetag of the one in BR because it was stashed on the top shelves along with Ultra Magnus, but the one at Legekæden I do remember because me and my father both looked at it and the pricetag said 1-1-0-0,-, and we couldn't believe it was so incredibly expensive. I'd expect it to be in the price range of 800Dkk or so. I remember that Ultra Magnus cost about 500Dkk at my local toy store. The cheapest TransFormers toy I recall cost about 50Dkk like the minibots and so, but moving to toys like any little combiner price was from 60 to 75Dkk. I remember paying 150Dkk for Inferno at the local toy store.

But then again the prices in different toy store can vary a hell of a lot. Just e.g in December I bought Cybertron Primus for 280Dkk in TRU, but in BR it was still listed at 699Dkk.

I remember Fort Max to be priced at 1000,- at Fætter BR, and they had at least 4 standing there -- besides the one in the window display. I have no idea how many Fort Max'es were available in Denmark, but it seems odd to me that only Vejle would get a few for retail. Regarding the contest, I have absolutely no idea. If you could win one in Esbjerg, and my buddy could win one in Fjerritslev (rather small town in the northern part of Jutland), I could imagine that maybe 1 store in each town would offer one. Unless there was a fixed number available for the contest in general... I have no idea, basically.

Ah, that sucks. If he would have been released in Sweden my brother would have gotten him. Adn by the way, why weren't Trypticon released in sweden? Or were he? As I can recall it he wasn't. Yes, as my mother can recall it Scorponok were cheap compared to other Tf's. Big Evil robots seems have been cheap in Sweden. Overlord only costed 329:-

No, he wasn't.
There were lots of toys that weren't available over here. It's probably a bit of an exaggeration, but I made a rough estimate at some point that Sweden missed out on 1/3 of all the G1 Transformers released in the USA.
As for Trypticon, was he released in Europe at all? I have a faint memory that he wasn't(*). And if the toy wasn't available in the UK, then we didn't get it either. We have always been dependent on the UK releases.

(*) Italy doesn't count, as they have always been an anomaly with their connections to both Hasbro and Takara.


Fortress Maximus didn't get a retail price in Sweden for obvious reasons, but at the time of the first contest PlayMix gave him an approximate value of 1000 SEK.

To the best of my knowledge, Trypticon wasn't released in Europe (outside Italy).

Hey, I've got that helicopter! I remember it took quite a while to put it together and damn it looks cool!

This is getting quite offtopic already...

I don't recall the currency difference between the Swedish, Danish and Norwegian "krone" back in the mid '80s, but charging 1100 Danish for Scorpy was immensely OTT. At my local shop it cost NOK 598 (guess which moron didn't buy back then and had to fork up $350 for a MIB one a couple of years ago ). Still, the original Norwegian retail price was a premium over the Swedish price. As for Optimus Prime and Metroplex, they both cost NOK 498. Actually, to afford my Metroplex, I picked potatoes in a field for a couple of days. Ah, the memories...   .
As for Ultra Magnus, Galvatron and Sixshot, they all cost NOK 355.


Knut Ingar

Me neither, but it was much closer to 1:1 in those days. It wasn't until the late eighties/early nineties that the exchange rates started to diverge, so I never bother to recalculate when I compare Scandinavian prices from the eighties - it's not worth the trouble.
A very rough estimate is that the SEK/NOK rate fluctuated between 1:0.99 to 1:1.01, while the DKK/SEK rate stayed within 1 DKK to 1.05-1.07 SEK at the very most.