Friday, November 16, 2012

Transformers ROTF Deluxe Class Chromia Part 1

First of the two

Feeling quite lazy to work on any model kit at the moment, I decided to open up and review two Transformers figures which are closely related to one another. ^^ One of them is this figure:




This is "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" Deluxe Class Chromia. If you watched that 2009 movie, I'm sure you would have guessed that other related figure mentioned earlier on is her sister, Arcee. ^^ It has been ages since I last did a double feature on my blog - since Revoltech Vash the Stampede and Nicholas D. Wolfwood in October last year to be exact. ^^; So I figured why not have a review series like that with Arcee and Chromia as well. ^^

Along with one other Transformers movie figure, I got Arcee and Chromia as a bundled set quite a while ago. Honestly speaking, the true intention behind that purchase decision was actually to get that other figure - Deluxe Class Arcee from the first movie's figure lineup. ^^ It was one of the few Transformers figures I always wanted to have but couldn't get my hands on until I saw the bundled deal on a local forum. The combined price for all three figure is alright for me, even though I much desired having just that single Deluxe Class Arcee from the first movie. ^^; All three figures were brand new and sealed in their boxes, including that first Arcee obviously. Such "perfect" condition of the figures was the great motivation for me to not miss this seemingly last opportunity to retrieve the first Arcee, which is a five-year-old vintage item now. ^^

Then again, I'm pretty sure soon now that I mentioned her, I'll be seeing lots of first Arcee left and right laughing at the bundled purchase I made. ^^; I never regretted getting the bundled set in the first place. The price is pretty good for three Transformers figures, and I'm really glad that I've all the Arcee sisters in my collection now. ^^

Going back to Chromia. I was glad that there were female Transformers characters included in the second movie, and Arcee being the iconic female member of the Autobots was given that "official" role (she was part of the first movie's figure lineup although never appeared onscreen). The concept of having a "sisterhood" of Arcees was even more cooler, especially with the rumors going around when the sisters were first revealed that they were able to combine and form a bigger robot. ^^ Gattai being a big element of the second movie's design theme (Optimus-Jetfire, Devastator and Skid and Mudflap as a combined ice-cream truck at the beginning of the movie) for the Transformers characters, that rumors did sound plausible and fun. ^^

Then again, I have to say that I'm not too fond of the three sisters' design in the movie at all. ^^; I'm OK with them not having a normal humanoid body, and that they are pretty small in size, but their design which looked overly similar with one another really irked me. ^^; In robot mode, they looked like carbon copies of one another, in different colors that is. XD I know they are supposedly sisters, but the execution of having three named female Transformers characters seemed rather poor when all of them looked just the same. ^^; Even now, I can only differentiate the sisters based on their robot colors, but not what they did in the movie and specific design elements what are unique to one another. ^^;

Luckily, the toy releases help to clearly distinguish their designs in both motorcycle and robot modes. Then again, only Arcee and Chromia were released in this Deluxe Class format - regular releases that I know of that is. Elita-One only came out in 2010, but was disappointingly just a repainted Chromia. ^^; Not having the complete team of Arcee sisters is one notable weakness of the individual figures of Arcee and Chromia, but I'll get into that in later part of the review. ^^











The blister pack allows the figure to be seen very easily and clearly.


The left side of the blister pack is molded to match the Cybertronian symbol printed on the cardboard label. ^^


The right side of the blister pack has a molded Autobot logo. ^^


Comparison with the package of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" Deluxe Class Arcee.




Introduction of the character on the back of the blister pack.



Looking at the box images, the two characters seem completely identical to one another in terms of face design. ^^;


The blister packs themselves are completely the same.




Rear views of the packs.


Package opened.


Top view of Chromia in motorcycle mode on the tray.









Closeups on the content.




Bottom view of the content.


A wall of Cybertronian symbols as the backdrop.


The flattened cardboard label for the top, side and bottom faces of the plastic container.
Also shown on the label is the preview for Smokescreen (a repainted Jazz from the first movie) from the same toy line.


The three strings that bound Chromia to the plastic tray are removed.


The folded instruction sheet and a promotional pamphlet.



The unfolded instruction sheet for the transformation sequence.



The main focus of the promotional pamphlet is on Human Alliance Bumblebee with Sam Witwicky, which at that time was a newly launched toy line. ^^







Other new movie figures shown in the pamphlet include Leader Class Optimus Prime, Megatron and many more.


The kick stand can be lowered to allow Chromia to stand up in motorcycle mode.


A straight-out-of-box display of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" Deluxe Class Chromia in motorcycle mode. ^^

Will move on to introducing her sister, Arcee in the next posting before returning with more images of Chromia in motorcycle mode. ^^

No comments: