Deluxe Brawl
Brawl Tank
Brawl Robot
Brawl Head 01
Brawl Head 02
Brawl Upper 01
Brawl Upper 02
Brawl Pose 01
Brawl Pose 02
Brawl Pose 03
Brawl Movie Comparison
Review -
Brawl Vehicle Mode:
Positives:
Lots of detail. Authentic green and grey colour scheme.
LOTS of weapons: Rotating turret with smaller rotating gun turret on top, twin missile launchers on either side. Missile-firing action.
Seams blend in nicely with the tank’s chunky design.
Very little kibble – legs fold up at the back.
Wheels underneath allow the tank to roll.
Negatives:
Plastic is very lightweight – doesn’t feel very substantial.
Red ‘light piping’ on the back of Brawl’s head is clearly visible just under the turret.
Main turret pivots from the front, which makes the vehicle look unbalanced.
Brawl Transformation:
Very neat and very nifty. Lots of nicely engineered twists and turns.
Intricate, but quick and easy to remember.
Poseable weapons allow you to transform the toy in different ways.
Automorph is incorporated so neatly that you barely notice it work (it pops the head into place and rotates portions of the tank tracks onto Brawls shoulders). Brilliant execution!
Brawl Robot Mode:
Positives:
Excellently proportioned figure. Looks muscular and mean.
Very poseable. Legs pivot at the knees and arms have joints at the shoulders and elbows. Head rotates 360 degrees.
Armed to the teeth. Weapons are all poseable – he even has a retractable claw on his arm!
Weight distribution is very good.
Light-piping in head gives the eyes a really cool and menacing red glow…the way a Decepticon’s eyes SHOULD be!
Negatives:
No rotation in the torso.
The pegs that clip the arms to the body pop out of place VERY easily, especially on the right arm (which holds the tank cannon). This will be the cause of much frustration.
Hands cannot be posed.
Final word :
Like the Deluxe Jazz toy, Brawl feels very much like a Transformer. His design is chunky and angular in both modes and his simple (but surprisingly elegant) transformation harkens back to the golden years of Generation One.
Posing him is great fun, and his huge arsenal of weaponry gives him lots of play value. From early photographs I had already decided that I wasn’t going to like this toy. But now that I’ve had a chance to examine him myself he’s become my personal favourite – even better than Jazz!
If it wasn’t for the flimsy shoulder pins, this guy’d be perfect.
Here’s hoping for a Japanese diecast version!
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