Hasbro Transformers Titans Return Deluxe Brainstorm Review

We’re doing a little unofficial Headmaster theme here at Preternia this week. We started off with Revenge of the Sith’s own Geonosis Battle Droid and his ‘Titan Master‘ C-3P0. And now we move on to the Walgreens exclusive Autobot, Brainstorm and Teslor. Yes, Walgreens continues to be the place to pick up exclusives thanks to the wheeling and dealing of Mr. Steve Walgreens (who disappeared from Twitter earlier this year, RIP).

Titans Return wasted no time getting to the meat of that 1987 Autobot Headmaster collection. Providing us Brainstorm, Chromedome, Hardhead, Highbrow, and Fortress Maximus all within the same year. Sure, we just recently got a more IDW inspired voyager Brainstorm, but that figure just felt too big. Those clown shoes annoyed me and it just didn’t scale right with anything in my collection. It eventually ended up in my “give to the kids” pile.

The deluxe scale is much more fitting, especially since these figures are not meant to be Masterpiece sized. See below, deluxe and Masterpiece (Maketoys Cupola):

I do find it interesting that the $100+ Cupola has no neck articulation on his Headmaster. On the other hand, that $17 Brainstorm’s Titan Master has a ball-jointed neck. Little details like that really make me appreciate the efforts Hasbro put into this release.

Brainstorm and Chromedome have always been my two favorites of the Autobot headmasters because of their masked faces. Brainstorm edges out my preference a little more by being a spaceship.

I’m really impressed with how sharp Brainstorm is in hand. I usually swear off the retail releases in favor of Masterpiece since I find former end up disappointing me once I get them in hand. Thankfully I’ve had a few exceptions to that rule of late, Unite Warriors Computron and Titans Return Brainstorm now. The shade of teal used for his body is just right. The decals are also a nice touch since it didn’t require me to sticker him. I just recently completed Fort Max, and am happy to avoid stickering another toy robot for a very long time.

If you are on the fence about getting into the Titans Return series, I’d suggest maybe tracking down Brainstorm first. He’s about as good as it gets at this scale and is a terrific representation of these returning Titans. The figure has just started hitting Walgreens physical stores as well as their online shop. Amazon also has the figure if that’s your jam.

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