Titans Return gave us some truly amazing molds and reimagined a lot of classic characters as Headmasters but am I wrong in thinking that the actually Headmaster kinda got the short stick?

With the possible exception of Hardhead everyone else was kind of a let down. Brainstorm reused Blur, Chromedome reused Deadend and Blur. And Highbrow's design was so lazy it was almost like Takara didn't even care. Even Fort Max borrowed heaviler from Metroplex. How did the star characters in a line become merely background characters?

 

Chromedome did NOT use Dead End, they simply share similar transformation cues and only shared some small parts with Blurr. You have to remember that the Headmasters were some of the first toys from this line, so of course they will look a little bland in comparison to later toys.

 

I'm actually very happy with them, Titans Return is one of my fav lines. Highbrow looks good and Fort Max is one of my fav toys!

 

Well...for me, I've always preferred 3rd party headmaster figures to HasTak, but at least HasTak released some updated products for the Headmasters, so they gave us something, but Toy World and Fansproject- I think- had them cornered way before HasTak got back to it.

I mean, take your pick- ya know? You can get headmasters from several different companies, in different scales, and alot of them- if not all of them- are pretty good- so finding your preferential Headmaster design, I'd say, is definitely easier than it used to be.

 

Sharing the same engineering as Dead End is still using Dead End.
And I didn't suggest that they were bland. Merely that they borrowed from other molds instead of the other way around.

 

We've been over this. He's as much using Dead End as Energon Starscream uses G2 Smokescreen.

Also, I don't get your criticism of Highbrow. I'll give you Brainstorm, though. I like the figure but it doesn't feel like a star fighter so much as a "hovercar with some small wings."

 

No, its not. A Dead End toy was used for a mock-up of Chromedome, but the two share no parts or engineering aside from some transformation cues. They are not redoes or anything of the sort. And the problem with that is...? We still got headmaster toys of characters who outside the TF fandom arent well known. Many who haven't gotten toys since the 80's!

 

Brainstorm is the one that stands out, really (and on a lesser note, because they're not an OG headmaster, Nautica). I love the Blurr mold, but it definitely doesn't work as a submarine or a spacecraft. Still like the toys, though. Just less than Blurr.

Chromedome's a respectable carbot, nothing wrong with that. At least they didn't use the Breakdown engineering with some of its iffy proportions. Well, that's what I think; I'm sure there's someone out there that would have preferred that (and I'm sure there's way more that would have preferred a different transformation scheme).

Highbrow actually surprised me, head connection aside.

Then again, I was more looking forward to the Decepticon Headmasters, so the Autobot Headmasters' faults didn't stand out until other folks mentioned it and I had to really think about it.

 

Psst. Highbrow reuses a fair bit from Scourge.

Highbrow is very simple, but I imagine part of lacking any extra flourish with his transformation may have to do with sharing a wave with Chromedome, Mindwipe, and Weirdwolf rather than Takara didn't really care. Hell, all seven Deluxe class Headmasters received entirely different face sculpts based on their appearance from The Headmasters. (I think Fort Max's Cerebros got one too. Certainly different electronic sounds)

I do agree that Brainstorm deserved his own mold, but he still manages to make the Blurr mold work for him for the most part.

 

Transformation is part of engineering IMO

 

I strongly disagree. I wouldn't say that anyone became a background character or got the short end of the stick so to speak.

Here's why:

Brainstorm is an improvement on an already solid mold in Blurr.

Chromedome is an outstanding figure. While he has a similar Transformation to Dead End, nothing else is shared at all. He borrowed a couple of minor parts from the Blurr mold. With that said, he stands strong on his own.

Aside from the bobblehead issue which is easily fixed, Highbrow is a good toy.

Fort Max is a HUGE improvement over Metroplex. I was never a fan of Metroplex's skinny, skeletal body. And that's not the worst of it. The face straight up looks like a skull. Fort Max is an improvement over nearly every aspect over Metroplex.

You can't fault HasTak for vastly improving on some of the molds they already had.

CW and TR have easily been the two BEST Classics lines we've EVER received from HasTak

 

What bothered me the most was that true headmaster characters like Apeface, Fangry and Horribull did not get proper bodies but non headmaster characters did.

 

To be clear - I'm not saying any of them suck. I just feel like they weren't they focus of the line that they deserved to be.

 

I'm not dissatisfied with the headmaster toys in themselves. Brainstorm should have had xwings, Highbrow should have had a way to make the rotors click fast, the autobots should have had twin guns, skullcrunchers tail and legs could have been better, mindwipe should have had his speakertowers, the hasbro versions should have had Rebirth faces, they should have all been voyagers and i'm still waiting for Apeface and Snapdragon. But i really do like the toys we got. I just wish the voyager slots had been reserved for the headmaster characters.

 

No. Besides, a lot of the figures or concepts from this line haven't had a figure for 30 years, that alone makes it awesome.

 

And we should still get the junior headmasters.

 

Exactly!

 

Headmasters? Nah. JUNIOR Headmasters? Heck yeah, they got shorted. My kingdom for a Hosehead...

 

Yes.

"Let's make a headmasters line, except delegate 50% of the headmaster characters to dinky little $5 toys that only include the heads"