Takara Transformers Legends Individual Headmasters Chromedome, Hardhead, Brainstorm and More

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I have a premonition, the seven deities have spoken to me. Takara will do a possible limited edition set of Headmaster heads, the highlight of which are the Hasbro versions of Chromedome, Brainstorm, and Hardhead, color coded for the Legends bodies.

Ya know chuck, if you get that feeling, maybe you should contact news. It was only an hour between this post and the news breaking

In other words, they're just Takara redecos of the Hasbro-faced versions of Chromedome, Hardhead, and Brainstorm, as well as three Hasbro-only Titan Masters that Takara hasn't released yet.

Pretty cool. I'm glad Japan gets this option.

...also, is the Brawn head blue? And if so...why?

Speaking of Brawn, both he and Flywheels/Skytread are using their original Japanese names of "Gong" and "Flywheel" in this magazine scan.

So basically a set of six Hasbro-exclusive heads. Pretty cool their names leave no ambiguity on who they are: Clobber is "Grimlock" and Skytread is "Flywheel" (no "s" for his Japanese name). Of course, Brawn is named Gong and putting him in the set is a clever way of getting around the whole "double character" thing for the main line.

Have they given up on packaging Titan Masters with Legends figures, then? Or are there just so many different Titan Masters compared to Legends figures that they were left over with a few after pairing up every Legends mold with a Titan Master?

Kurona wrote:Have they given up on packaging Titan Masters with Legends figures, then? Or are there just so many different Titan Masters compared to Legends figures that they were left over with a few after pairing up every Legends mold with a Titan Master?

Its the second reason.

Kurona wrote:Have they given up on packaging Titan Masters with Legends figures, then? Or are there just so many different Titan Masters compared to Legends figures that they were left over with a few after pairing up every Legends mold with a Titan Master?

This appears to just be a way to get three Hasbro version heads out in Japan whose larger main line toys already have Japanese version heads, as well as three Titan Masters whose being body-less heads wouldn't make sense in the main line. Think of this as just something extra done in addition to the main line's offerings.

william-james88 wrote:

Kurona wrote:Have they given up on packaging Titan Masters with Legends figures, then? Or are there just so many different Titan Masters compared to Legends figures that they were left over with a few after pairing up every Legends mold with a Titan Master?

Its the second reason.

Actually it makes me wonder why Brawn is included, as he's the only non-repeat in the set. Is his pretool already lined up?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Kurona wrote:Have they given up on packaging Titan Masters with Legends figures, then? Or are there just so many different Titan Masters compared to Legends figures that they were left over with a few after pairing up every Legends mold with a Titan Master?

Its the second reason.

Actually it makes me wonder why Brawn is included, as he's the only non-repeat in the set. Is his pretool already lined up?

Well, it wouldn't make sense for him to be just a head in the main line. Putting him in this convention exclusive allows him to see some form of release in Japan while also allowing his Legends class mold to potentially get released in the main line.

Sabrblade wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Kurona wrote:Have they given up on packaging Titan Masters with Legends figures, then? Or are there just so many different Titan Masters compared to Legends figures that they were left over with a few after pairing up every Legends mold with a Titan Master?

Its the second reason.

Actually it makes me wonder why Brawn is included, as he's the only non-repeat in the set. Is his pretool already lined up?

Well, it wouldn't make sense for him to be just a head in the main line. Putting him in this convention exclusive allows him to see some form of release in Japan while also allowing his Legends class mold to potentially get released in the main line.

Why wouldn't it make sense?

Kurona wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Kurona wrote:Have they given up on packaging Titan Masters with Legends figures, then? Or are there just so many different Titan Masters compared to Legends figures that they were left over with a few after pairing up every Legends mold with a Titan Master?

Its the second reason.

Actually it makes me wonder why Brawn is included, as he's the only non-repeat in the set. Is his pretool already lined up?

Well, it wouldn't make sense for him to be just a head in the main line. Putting him in this convention exclusive allows him to see some form of release in Japan while also allowing his Legends class mold to potentially get released in the main line.

Why wouldn't it make sense?

Because everything needs an explanation in-story.

Sigma Magnus wrote:

Kurona wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Kurona wrote:Have they given up on packaging Titan Masters with Legends figures, then? Or are there just so many different Titan Masters compared to Legends figures that they were left over with a few after pairing up every Legends mold with a Titan Master?

Its the second reason.

Actually it makes me wonder why Brawn is included, as he's the only non-repeat in the set. Is his pretool already lined up?

Well, it wouldn't make sense for him to be just a head in the main line. Putting him in this convention exclusive allows him to see some form of release in Japan while also allowing his Legends class mold to potentially get released in the main line.

Why wouldn't it make sense?

Because everything needs an explanation in-story.

They can just put out any excuse plot. If they wanted to put them in the main line, they wouldn't let "oh well this doesn't make sense with the story" stop them when they have things like Megatron as a headmaster with a Galvatron transtector.

Kurona wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Kurona wrote:Have they given up on packaging Titan Masters with Legends figures, then? Or are there just so many different Titan Masters compared to Legends figures that they were left over with a few after pairing up every Legends mold with a Titan Master?

Its the second reason.

Actually it makes me wonder why Brawn is included, as he's the only non-repeat in the set. Is his pretool already lined up?

Well, it wouldn't make sense for him to be just a head in the main line. Putting him in this convention exclusive allows him to see some form of release in Japan while also allowing his Legends class mold to potentially get released in the main line.

Why wouldn't it make sense?

Because every body-less head that Takara has included with a Legends class mold in the main line thus far has had precedence for being just a head. Cancer, Shūta, Bullhorn, Apeface, and Nightbeat are all pre-established Headmasters with no need to explain how they're just heads, as being "just heads" is a part of who and what they are (especially in Japan's take on Headmasters being heads piloting lifeless bodies rather than bodies who decapitate themselves). Brawn, Grimlock, and Flywheels, however, don't fall into that same preset category.

Sabrblade wrote:

Kurona wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Kurona wrote:Have they given up on packaging Titan Masters with Legends figures, then? Or are there just so many different Titan Masters compared to Legends figures that they were left over with a few after pairing up every Legends mold with a Titan Master?

Its the second reason.

Actually it makes me wonder why Brawn is included, as he's the only non-repeat in the set. Is his pretool already lined up?

Well, it wouldn't make sense for him to be just a head in the main line. Putting him in this convention exclusive allows him to see some form of release in Japan while also allowing his Legends class mold to potentially get released in the main line.

Why wouldn't it make sense?

Because every body-less head that Takara has included with a Legends class mold in the main line thus far has had precedence for being just a head. Cancer, Shūta, Bullhorn, Apeface, and Nightbeat are all pre-established Headmasters with no need to explain how they're just heads, as being "just heads" is a part of who and what they are (especially in Japan's take on Headmasters being heads piloting lifeless bodies rather than bodies who decapitate themselves). Brawn, Grimlock, and Flywheels, however, don't fall into that same preset category.

Is there anything that necessitates that? It's just been a trend because the first line of Titan Masters happened to fit into that category. There's no reason they couldn't break that trend like in the US if they wanted to.
Plus, saying that they didn't warrant an explanation has one little contradiction -- Nightbeat. He's a new character for Japanese-speaking audiences and his comic had an explanation of who (or rather, what) he was in this.

Kurona wrote:Is there anything that necessitates that? It's just been a trend because the first line of Titan Masters happened to fit into that category. There's no reason they couldn't break that trend like in the US if they wanted to.

Keeping the confusing ones out of the main line avoids the confusion of "Wait, why is Grimlock just a head now?" and makes it so a new explanation doesn't need to be given for the main line (especially for someone like Grimlock who is supposed to stay whole, head and body, in future-setting JG1 fiction).

Kurona wrote:Plus, saying that they didn't warrant an explanation has one little contradiction -- Nightbeat. He's a new character for Japanese-speaking audiences and his comic had an explanation of who (or rather, what) he was in this.

Considering how lore-rich a lot of the Legends line stuff has been, I feel confident in thinking that the line's intended Japanese audience of hardcore fans is at least aware of the American character origins for the Headmaster Juniors' original toy molds (as in, that Minerva's toy was originally Nightbeat), with possibly at least a rudimentary understanding of those characters (like, that Nightbeat is a detective).

Why Hasbro? Why?????????????!!!!!!!!!!

Takara really knows how to give good head......masters!

how about hasbro release all the takara legends headmaster only counterparts in a multipack too

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Cool, but not $30 cool.

Wish I could buy a seperate Legends Blurr head to replace mine that got a bit ruined.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Wish I could buy a seperate Legends Blurr head to replace mine that got a bit ruined.

Wha' happened?

fenrir72 wrote:

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Wish I could buy a seperate Legends Blurr head to replace mine that got a bit ruined.

Wha' happened?

quoted from tips and tricks thread

Carnivius_Prime wrote:I need help.

I was trying to finally fix the super loose antenna on my Titans Legends Blurr (cos even a slight breeze would make it slide back down into his head ruining his look) and so I tried my usual superglue trick which was going fine and I was pulling and pushing the piece so it wouldn't get stuck. Then the phone range and I managed to answer it and kept pulling/pushing Blurr's antenna but it was a very stressful phone call about my health issues and at some point I subconciously put Blurr down and put full attention into the phone call and when it was over... I picked up Blurr and his antenna is now stuck half way. :/ How can I fix this? I've tried pulling at it with pliers, using a scalpel on the inside where the strut of the antenna meets the inside of his head. I tried unscrewing the front piece to gain access to the inside of the head but not even my small screwdrivers were able to loosen the screw at all.

So gutted as I love this figure.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Wish I could buy a seperate Legends Blurr head to replace mine that got a bit ruined.

Wha' happened?

quoted from tips and tricks thread

Carnivius_Prime wrote:I need help.

I was trying to finally fix the super loose antenna on my Titans Legends Blurr (cos even a slight breeze would make it slide back down into his head ruining his look) and so I tried my usual superglue trick which was going fine and I was pulling and pushing the piece so it wouldn't get stuck. Then the phone range and I managed to answer it and kept pulling/pushing Blurr's antenna but it was a very stressful phone call about my health issues and at some point I subconciously put Blurr down and put full attention into the phone call and when it was over... I picked up Blurr and his antenna is now stuck half way. :/ How can I fix this? I've tried pulling at it with pliers, using a scalpel on the inside where the strut of the antenna meets the inside of his head. I tried unscrewing the front piece to gain access to the inside of the head but not even my small screwdrivers were able to loosen the screw at all.

So gutted as I love this figure.

I know the feeling! Next time just use "wipe and shine" using the fix I suggested (use a pipette). It adds resistance without the permanent damage of super glue.

fenrir72 wrote:

I know the feeling! Next time just use "wipe and shine" using the fix I suggested (use a pipette). It adds resistance without the permanent damage of super glue.[/quote]


yeah. It don't look too bad from a distance but you can see in this pic it's stuck halfway and looks a bit chewed and some paint come off the top of Blurr's head from trying to prise it out. Still a great looking figure but just slightly damaged (but greatly dropped in resale value if I was to resell it).

Cyberpath wrote:Cool, but not $30 cool.

And that's only if you live in Japan and have access to a satellite store. Most of us here don't and so we can all get ready to pay upwards of 60$-$70 at BBTS or eBay.

Just like the last satellite exclusive http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/prod ... ode=retail

william-james88 wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:Cool, but not $30 cool.

And that's only if you live in Japan and have access to a satellite store. Most of us here don't and so we can all get ready to pay upwards of 60$ at BBTS or eBay.

And it's not like we can't already get these six headsculpts in the Hasbro markets anyway.

Ironically, this is the opposite of what I wanted - I wanted a Takara Hardhead... head that matched Hasbro's colours

Skipping RobotKingdom and hopefully my new "agent" can get me those heads at a more affordable price.

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:Cool, but not $30 cool.

And that's only if you live in Japan and have access to a satellite store. Most of us here don't and so we can all get ready to pay upwards of 60$ at BBTS or eBay.

And it's not like we can't already get these six headsculpts in the Hasbro markets anyway.

But them Takara versions have more paint details.

Exclusives are lame. Often feels like trying to get more money out of the fans for lesser product and us mere mortals are forever denied a full collection (made even worse when it's like the one member out of a team you already have all the other members of, or the only figure of your fave ever character or only one of a high quality). bleh

Kurona wrote:Ironically, this is the opposite of what I wanted - I wanted a Takara Hardhead... head that matched Hasbro's colours

Heh I would have liked Takara's Hardhead body with Hasbro's head.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Exclusives are lame. Often feels like trying to get more money out of the fans for lesser product and us mere mortals are forever denied a full collection (made even worse when it's like the one member out of a team you already have all the other members of, or the only figure of your fave ever character or only one of a high quality). bleh

Kurona wrote:Ironically, this is the opposite of what I wanted - I wanted a Takara Hardhead... head that matched Hasbro's colours

Heh I would have liked Takara's Hardhead body with Hasbro's head.

Just like what Takara did with UW Defensor among others. But then again, it's not just Takara as the entire hobby scene in Japan is so waaaaaaay out there. How nice it would be to actually live in Japan (and have mucho dinero at the same time)

This will give you another option if you have Chromedome, Hardheaded, & Brainstorm's Takara releases & are looking for a figure to put inside the extra weapons they come with.

fenrir72 wrote:

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Exclusives are lame. Often feels like trying to get more money out of the fans for lesser product and us mere mortals are forever denied a full collection (made even worse when it's like the one member out of a team you already have all the other members of, or the only figure of your fave ever character or only one of a high quality). bleh

Kurona wrote:Ironically, this is the opposite of what I wanted - I wanted a Takara Hardhead... head that matched Hasbro's colours

Heh I would have liked Takara's Hardhead body with Hasbro's head.

Just like what Takara did with UW Defensor among others. But then again, it's not just Takara as the entire hobby scene in Japan is so waaaaaaay out there. How nice it would be to actually live in Japan (and have mucho dinero at the same time)

But then you would lose out on the ton of Hasbro exclusives. Just looking at Titans return, you wouldnt get Buzzsaw, Rumble, Stripes along with all the different coloured Titan masters. You would never get the small apeface vehicle coloured as Apeface. You still couldnt get crosscut or Offroad, or any of the G2 CW sets and never get victorion.

And forget about ever seeing toys in stores, most Japanese collectors have given up and just collect by preordering off amazon japan.

And Carnivourus, I dont think its that much money, its only $30 in japan, sounds reasonable, at $5 a head, no? After that the price us westerners will pay doesnt go to Takara at all, it just goes to all the middlemen. Like no joke, BBTS will have to actually buy these at full price in japan, have them shipped to the US and then charge higher to make a profit off them, like they do with the other special campaign figures like that giraffe TRU Prime. Exclusives truly suck because of their lack of being accessible but not the price. Them being inaccessible to us means that we have to pay someone to get it for us, hence why the price goes up, but no one is really making any money off that in and of itself. If it was distributed locally wherever you are, it would only cost $30.

william-james88 wrote:And Carnivourus, I dont think its that much money, its only $30 in japan, sounds reasonable, at $5 a head, no? After that the price us westerners will pay doesnt go to Takara at all, it just goes to all the middlemen. Like no joke, BBTS will have to actually buy these at full price in japan, have them shipped to the US and then charge higher to make a profit off them, like they do with the other special campaign figures like that giraffe TRU Prime. Exclusives truly suck because of their lack of being accessible but not the price. Them being inaccessible to us means that we have to pay someone to get it for us, hence why the price goes up, but no one is really making any money off that in and of itself. If it was distributed locally wherever you are, it would only cost $30.

Still gotta buy the whole pack even if you just want one head though.
But still not as bad as ME WANTING SCROUNGE BUT NO WAY BUYING THAT COMPUTRON PACK... even saw it in Forbidden Planet in Cambridge the other day. £124.99 when all I want is the little yellow guy who shouldn't cost any more than a tenner...

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Still gotta buy the whole pack even if you just want one head though.
But still not as bad as ME WANTING SCROUNGE BUT NO WAY BUYING THAT COMPUTRON PACK... even saw it in Forbidden Planet in Cambridge the other day. £124.99 when all I want is the little yellow guy who shouldn't cost any more than a tenner...

I get that part, for sure. But Takara has been doing it a lot with these new toys. You get their version of crashbash with legends mindwipe but then you have to buy legends shockwave to get the head that would come with it. They have been packaging everything together in this line so this is par for the course. hence why I much preffer Hasbro's strategy for the TR line where we can all purchase whatever we want and not forced to pay more just to get something, unlike what happened with Scrounge.

william-james88 wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Exclusives are lame. Often feels like trying to get more money out of the fans for lesser product and us mere mortals are forever denied a full collection (made even worse when it's like the one member out of a team you already have all the other members of, or the only figure of your fave ever character or only one of a high quality). bleh

Kurona wrote:Ironically, this is the opposite of what I wanted - I wanted a Takara Hardhead... head that matched Hasbro's colours

Heh I would have liked Takara's Hardhead body with Hasbro's head.

Just like what Takara did with UW Defensor among others. But then again, it's not just Takara as the entire hobby scene in Japan is so waaaaaaay out there. How nice it would be to actually live in Japan (and have mucho dinero at the same time)

But then you would lose out on the ton of Hasbro exclusives. Just looking at Titans return, you wouldnt get Buzzsaw, Rumble, Stripes along with all the different coloured Titan masters. You would never get the small apeface vehicle coloured as Apeface. You still couldnt get crosscut or Offroad, or any of the G2 CW sets and never get victorion.

And forget about ever seeing toys in stores, most Japanese collectors have given up and just collect by preordering off amazon japan.

And Carnivourus, I dont think its that much money, its only $30 in japan, sounds reasonable, at $5 a head, no? After that the price us westerners will pay doesnt go to Takara at all, it just goes to all the middlemen. Like no joke, BBTS will have to actually buy these at full price in japan, have them shipped to the US and then charge higher to make a profit off them, like they do with the other special campaign figures like that giraffe TRU Prime. Exclusives truly suck because of their lack of being accessible but not the price. Them being inaccessible to us means that we have to pay someone to get it for us, hence why the price goes up, but no one is really making any money off that in and of itself. If it was distributed locally wherever you are, it would only cost $30.

Win some lose some. Wonderfest (I'm not just on TFs btw). No shagging the Hb stuff as my recent binge purchase attests to, I was just lucky. The other Hb releases are just as rare.Even in Singapore when RID was released, I'm again speaking of Singapore back in 2002, I couldn't find a single Fire Convoy available. I had to get one in an Orchard Rd specialty shop located above an adult good shop.

Titans Devs? Zilch! Titans Metroplex? Zilch 6 shot? Zilch G2 Titans check, but that was a fluke last Christmas.

Hb's distribution just suxx! So reason why I go online, I am assured of the product availability.

Also, Akihabara? AKIHABARA!

Personally besides the websites to get stuff online which is an arm and a leg here in Canada for me there is another way to get Takara exclusive figures and it only happens once a year and is the only retail way for me.


The Calgary Comic Expo where they only charge an arm if your looking for Masterpiece figures I'm not sure what they charge for normal Takara figures but I would expect that it's a bit cheaper then getting online since you don't pay for shipping..


Last year I bought a perfect loose united Autobot Axalon for only $40.00 and with all the accessories.


My point is that if you have comic conventions nearby you should look and see if they sell takara figures it's what I'm doing again this year in April.

I like this set just for getting that Hardhead head in its Legends colors. Now I can sell off my Hasbro figure like Chromedome and Highbrow.

The Titan Masters themselves really do look 1000% less crappy when coloured all nice like that.

I like them, and will probably end up picking them up at stupidly inflated prices, but it feels like a missed opportunity for a stand-alone Cerebros head.

Sodan-1 wrote:I like them, and will probably end up picking them up at stupidly inflated prices, but it feels like a missed opportunity for a stand-alone Cerebros head.

Who knows..if the sales are strong, a wave 2 of the other 'cons too.

fenrir72 wrote:

Sodan-1 wrote:I like them, and will probably end up picking them up at stupidly inflated prices, but it feels like a missed opportunity for a stand-alone Cerebros head.

Who knows..if the sales are strong, a wave 2 of the other 'cons too.

Or he could come with thier version of Bumblebee

grimdragon2001 wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:

Sodan-1 wrote:I like them, and will probably end up picking them up at stupidly inflated prices, but it feels like a missed opportunity for a stand-alone Cerebros head.

Who knows..if the sales are strong, a wave 2 of the other 'cons too.

Or he could come with thier version of Bumblebee

Since Cerebros had a black body in The Rebirth, I'd imagine that if Takara were to do their own release of the Hasbro head, they'd go all the way and include the body in show-accurate colors as well, since Fortress and Cerebros had very different cartoon color schemes.

Seibertronian Cyberpath has provided us with a few new images from Takara showing off the LG-EX set of 6 headmasters. This set contains individually released heads colored for Takara's Legends figures, and includes:

-Faceplated Hardhead
-IDW Chromedome
-Faceplated Brainstorm
-Flywheel (AKA Flywheels)
-Gong (AKA Brawn)
-Grimlock

These figures are a special set that will be sold at Wonderfest in February for 3000 yen. Leftovers will be made available at Japanese satellite stores. Check out the new images, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Grimlock looking unusually flamboyant there... what would the other Dinobots say?

Brawn's head fits that Hardhead body alright.

Aye wasn't there talk on here(or on the hasbro tr thread) ages ago in the run up to Titans Return suggesting the possibility of individually released TM's(heads) or even in a pack? & now such a release is limited to Wonderfest! + it's a pity that Hasbro never jumped at the chance to release such a thing(instead we got the TM's with their weird vehicle/weapon type things)

Stuartmaximus wrote:Aye wasn't there talk on here(or on the hasbro tr thread) ages ago in the run up to Titans Return suggesting the possibility of individually released TM's(heads) or even in a pack? & now such a release is limited to Wonderfest! + it's a pity that Hasbro never jumped at the chance to release such a thing(instead we got the TM's with their weird vehicle/weapon type things)

Actually, I think the little vehicles have been pretty outstanding in most cases, especially the beast ones. And the weapon modes are nice since most of the Legends class figures from CW and TR don't have any weapons.

So Gong's blue helmet was not a mistake, it's intentional. But why? It couldn't be based on his original packaging art, which had blue to evoke the shininess, right?

Didn't Twincast take over as Commander of Autobot City in HM (and Metro Wars)? So the Hm of Broadcast is a shoe in for Takara Metroflex. Too bad you can't connect the play sets to the latter.

Speaking of which, Metro Wars happened after the Legends timeline and it was Twincast who commanded Metroflex against Metrotitan.

So somewhere along the way, the mass shifting transtector of his will be lost and he'll be back to normal size.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:So Gong's blue helmet was not a mistake, it's intentional. But why? It couldn't be based on his original packaging art, which had blue to evoke the shininess, right?

Maybe that?