Chromedome

One of the hardest decisions a young boy can make is picking out a single toy out of many. But that’s what I did one particular birthday back in “the rockin 80’s”.

Twenty dollars was the amount I had been given for my birthday and I was taken to the KB Toys inside the Hickory Ridge Mall to spend it.

Now, I don’t remember much about this day—this was a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away—so I can’t recall much of what happened; memories are hazy and disjointed. Not that there’s a whole lot to tell.

Twenty dollars…it’s not loads of cash nowadays, but back then it seemed like a fortune. My parents and I strolled into the KB Toys with Mr. Andrew Jackson tucked into my mother’s wallet and we went straight to the Transformers. My older brother had some, and I none. But I aimed to change that.

Housed inside clear plastic cases were two triple-changers. One was Scorponok, a Decepticon that could change into a monstrous scorpion, a tall robot, or a wimpy base. The second was Trypticon, a Decepticon that could form a city, a battle station, or even a menacing Tyrannosaurus Rex. They were awesome to gawk at, but moneywise, I couldn’t afford them. But there were plenty in my price range, I just had to choose.

My mother—probably because she wanted to get the heck out of a toy store— tried hurrying me along by persuading me to purchase some Legos, but I had been like, “Uh...no.” Don’t get me wrong, I love Legos—I have a humungous Lego collection even as I type—but them instead of Transformers? Puleeze. Today, if you want to impress the ladies, you need an Armani suit and a “get em wet” Corvette. Back in the 80’s, you just needed a Transformer.

So, after a lengthy period of evaluation, I finally chose one—and that Transformer turned out to be Chromedome.

I wanted to keep Chromedome forever. I was so proud of owning it. But the next day my older brother decided Chromedome would look better if it was inside a red bucket while getting tossed into the air and across the backyard. Of course it didn’t take long before the mistreatment had taken its toll and the toy was damaged beyond repair. I suppose my brother had become jealous because the Transformer was mine and not his and didn’t want me to have it if he couldn’t. Oh well. That was a long time ago.

Well, that’s the end of my story. Told you much hadn't happened, didn't I?

Until next time…