Every now and then during the course of collecting figures, you completely miss a character and don’t bother to give it a minute’s thought whether to obtain it or not. It just stays off your radar. The Decepticon Headmasters were that for me. When the TF movie came out, I was angry. Like many other fans in the 80’s, I was pissed off (or rather traumatized) that they killed Prime, my childhood hero and saint, along with a bunch of his buddies and even his arch nemesis too. What the hell?! It was the utter annihilation of the 1984 G1 lineup as we knew it and I wasn’t a big fan. Not at onset.

Post Humous Prime. The figures released in 1986 and everything thereafter marked a big departure from the classic designs of G1 that were mostly based on real vehicles, and not futuristic creations.The Decepticon Headmasters, interestingly enough, were based on animals – a crocodile, a wolf, and a bat. Big mean animals make for prime bad guy fodder. Not very realistic looking figures, but based on real existing things nonetheless. The classic figures were now a thing of the past, and it was a bitter pill to swallow. But all good things must come to an end, and even newer things can become classics. The end of 1st gen figures paved the way for many more great figures to come, including this reboot of a much loved character from the 1987 Headmasters lineup, and a lovable goon in the Japanese animated series.

Beastly Badass. The updated Skullcruncher (“Skullsmasher”) has one of the best beast alt mode designs next to Masterpiece Grimlock, in my opinion. It has such amazing lines, proportions, and details, especially for a $15 item. The only place where it falls short is the quality of the plastic across the board is pretty crappy. The tail and neckpiece are thin and hollow, the cockpit lid is a rubbery flap that doesn’t want to cooperate, the main body plastic is lightweight and cheap feeling, making him top heavy and flimsy feeling overall. Hence the $15 price tag.

All gators aside, his robot mode is super impressive.

Let’s get into some poses. This guy is full on the articulation, even if he’s mostly hollow.

I only collect figures that I really like, and this one was a total gamble for me that I’m happy to have taken. I’m no completist by any means, but this figure makes me want to get all the Titans Return Headmasters and catch up on all the figures I missed the first time around. We may never see a Masterpiece version of this guy, so grab this fig before it’s too late!