Transformers Generations Thrilling 30 Deluxe Class Chromia: Congrats on the new legs, they're better then the Unicycle look

While some might try to disagree, try to call it out as a form of forced inclusivity, it's hard to deny that Transformers is a toyline mostly aimed at boys, and for a while, female characters were a no-show. While female characters have existed since G1, it took until Beast Wars for the girls to be getting toys, with Blackarachnia's first toy being a repaint of Tarantulus, and the first toy to be made from the ground up to be a girl being Transmetal Airazor. "What about Arcee!" I hear you say, well, while she apparently had prototypes and sketches, her first toy was a retool of Transmetal 2 Blackarachnia, as a convention exclusive in 2001. her first toy was in the same wave as today's review, in 2014. And people wonder why we're getting at least one female Transformer each line now? Granted, that wasn't her first toy, as every time she's had appearances in a show of even the live action films, she's had a toy. The reason I say that is because Chromia here is a repaint of one of those toys, from Transformers Prime, something that is surprisingly common because, for all her appearances, she's never had a unique mould. How well does this look work for her? Well, one way to find out.

Due to the figure being a retool of Prime Arcee, the alt mode remains as a Motorbike but now retooled heavily to make it look like a Cybertronian bike. While it doesn't do much to hide how the transformation is going to work, I do like the look of the bike itself, it effortlessly pulls off the Cybertronian, almost Tron like look thanks to the way they use the new windscreen and the paintwork along the legs. I also like how the wheels are on transparent plastic, it gives it a look of it almost flying. One unfortunate problem is that if you look hard enough, you will find gaps that can break up the look, but I will admit that, for me, they're very easy to ignore as you have to look hard to find them. Overall though, the bike mode's great.

The robot on the other hand... oh boy... From the front, she looks great, very faithful to her look in the IDW comics, though I think they might have gone a little overboard on the chest. Articulation is effortless as all the ball joints are easy to move with little resistance, and she even brought some Light piping with her to make her eyes glow, although without the light they look dead... Her biggest problem is the same problem that plagued her wave mate, Arcee, plagues Windblade, Moonracer and Novastar (though neither of them has been found commonly in Australia so I can't form any opinions on how they're handled by the first-hand experience), and plagues almost every female transformer except maybe Robots in Disguise 2015 Strongarm. It's a problem that has plagued every Transformer line and has many victims. Above you saw Chromia from the front

I don't have the space, nor money for a professional photography set up, ok?

This is Chromia from the side. She's got a kibble problem. What is kibble I hear you ask? Well, in the case of Transformers, it's parts for one mode that don't fit neatly into the other mode. Common victims are the beast formers where things like animal limbs, heads, and the like are left dangling, hoping to make it work. Some can make it work, others don't, and Chromia can't make it work as she is. The biggest issue is the windscreen, and with a bit more work, and more detail brought from the comics, they could have made this work. In the IDW comics, Chromia uses her windscreen as something akin to a riot shield, and some way to make the front wheel split in two would at least make the kibble look intentional. Would it also make it look like a two-wheel motorbike grew another two wheels? Yes. She's also meant to be an alien motorbike and it would be closer to comic accuracy so what's your point? If people won't bring up the problems the Bayformers have in their designs, like suddenly growing two engines or self-repairing glass when going back to vehicle mode, she can have four wheels. I do also wish her, for lack of a better word, butt plate had some hinges on the side to let the side skirts work with the legs, but that's not her biggest problem.

If you're curious, the artist for the issue this came from can be found here

While she is undoubtedly flawed, I do like this toy, and with a bit more work, this could have been a great toy because they were so close to getting that look from the comics working around the Arcee toy's mould. So close, yet so far. At least she's getting a new toy in the next toyline, where she's another retool of another toy... maybe next time Chromia, you're bound to get an original mould eventually. Come Wednesday will be the review of Sailor Moon Super S on the main site, and for here, let's go somewhere colder, look at something smaller... because Spring's the perfect time to review a Lego City Arctic set...