(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Prime "Robots in Disguise" deluxe Arcee. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Prime "Robots in Disguise" deluxe Arcee here.)

    One of several fembots that appeared in only one episode of G1 finally has her own toy-- and you'd be forgiven for thinking it's a completely new mold in vehicle mode (I certainly did at first). In fact, Chromia is a very extensive remold of the Prime Arcee mold, with nearly all of the remolding centered around her vehicle mode. The alt mode is still a motorcycle, but a very futuristic, "Cybertronian" motorcycle, lacking the longer front that you'd expect from a motorcycle or, indeed, any motorcycle seat in the traditional sense. She does have a clear windshield and you can see a driver's seat molded on the inside, implying that this is a considerably larger motorcycle than Earth ones? Regardless, I'm glad that in this case "Cybertronian" does not mean "lazy alt mode". She is remarkably solid in this mode, with little if any kibble. (Her robot toes are just barely visible on the back end, but that's barely even a minor complaint.) I love the smooth, TRON-like wheels-- with clear plastic attaching them to her body, it almost looks like her main body is "hovering" above the wheels a bit. (However, several people have reported that the back wheel halves on theirs don't fit together all the way-- this isn't true on my copy, but something to keep in mind.) The top covers up with various panels any obvious aspects of her arms-- a nice feat, given how obvious Prime Arcee's arms tended to be in her own motorcycle mode. At the back end there's also what looks like some kind of exhaust port, and her gun in robot mode doubles as another-- side-mounted-- exhaust pipe in this mode. Chromia's color scheme is also quite eye-catching-- the light pale blue and dark-ish blue both contrast and complement each other quite well, and the clear plastic and black serve as neutral colors for those two shades of blue to balance gainst. The red and white apps are what really make her pop, though (the white is more visible in robot mode). The bits of red on the exhaust vent, small stripes along the lower sides, on the waist of her robot mode, and for the "headlight" are quite nicely done and contrast VERY well against both shades of blue, as well as the bit of white that's on her lower legs.
    In robot mode it's much more obvious that Chromia is a remold of Arcee-- she shares the same legs, waist, chest, and lower arms as Arcee, along with the same general transformation. Unfortunately, this means that Chromia's windshield and front wheel just hang off her upper back in a pretty unsightly manner, and that's easily the biggest weakness of this toy. Most of the other remolding done to this toy for the robot mode also detracts from its posability when compared to Prime Arcee. I do like the added segments along her upper arms to make her a bit more buff-looking there, given her "bodyguard" title she often has. Her headsculpt is also spot-on, and has some excellent detailing on it as well as decent light piping (though Chromia's clear plastic doesn't make for a great color for robot eyes). However, the big hip skirt-chunk that's used for the back end of the vehicle mode only folds back a little-- not only is it a bit of an eyesore in this mode, but it gets in the way of hip movement quite a bit. You CAN rotate up this skirt-chunk all the way to free up her hip movement, but this only causes her to be a bit too backheavy and makes her windshield/wheel backpack stick out even more. On a lesser note, the wheel halves behind her lower legs also don't look mesh with the legs nearly as well as Prime Arcee's more normal-looking tires and accompanying spikes do-- the clear plastic in particular just doesn't work as part of the back of her lower legs and her heels. Chromia does retain all the articulation that Prime Arcee has, with the exception of the aforementioned restrictive hip movement.
    It's great that Chromia finally gets a toy to her own after all these years, and her vehicle mode is excellent-- top marks all around, there. However, her robot mode suffers a bit from being a remold without her defining features being considered during the initial design of the transformation of the mold-- her hip skirt-chunk is just awful all around, as are the wheel and windshield hanging from her upper back. (And no, unfortunately her windshield can't come off and be held as a shield like in the comics.) She's still a decent toy-- and has a nice color scheme-- but what drives me nuts is just a few minor tweaks really could've made her robot mode a lot better.

Review by Beastbot

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