Review of Movie Leader Class Brawl

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Our own megatroptimus has just received Transformers Movie Leader Class Brawl and has decided to share a review of the figure. Now megatroptimus' review is only part of the excitement to come. Seibertron is putting something special together for latter this week! Until then enjoy megatroptimus' review:


Just got it this morning. I'll review as I play with it...

ROBOT MODE

Pretty big, like the other leader class toys. About the same size as Megatron, but more bulky. Detailing is great all over (although nowhere near as good as that custom we have recently seen on Ebay - there's only so much Hasbro can do for that price!). Gimmick are pretty cool : slide a lever forward on the right forearm to extend the cannons. On the left forearm, slide back the black plate to move the claws forward. Pushing down on the upper chest assembly will trigger lights and sounds (shoulder cannons + main cannon). The shoulder cannons light up green, the main cannon red. You hear a sequence of 3 different sounds (various cannon sounds) with lights flashing. Pretty cool. You can also activate the lights and sounds by pushing on the main cannon (it activates sounds #1, similar to the one found on Armada Megatron). Poseability is pretty good : head, shoulders (full range), upper arms, bicep swivel, elbows, poseable claws (all 3 fingers), hips, knee swivel, knees, feet and toes to some extent. Nice use of click joints too. Lower back leg kibble gets a bit in the way during extreme poses, but I don't think it's that bad. You get him to take very dynamic poses.

TRANSFORMATION

Holy crap, that wasn't easy! It requires a lot of manipulation to get from robot mode to tank mode. Automorph gimmick hides the head as push down the upper chest assembly. Arms cannons end up being stored in the lower legs through hinges and tracks and sides of the tank are spring loaded (as are the 2 cow catchers). The most difficult part was to fit the arms flush against the body to close the sides of the tank. Took a bit of massaging, but I guess it'll become easier after a few transformations. Moving the main cannon into place is also a challenge : you have to hold a spring-loaded panel on the side of the turret while you open a second one and move it over the main cannon while you swing it into place. Hard to explain, you'll see when you get it.

TANK MODE

Pretty much the size of G2 Megatron. Big and heavy! Turrets move independantly, main cannon moves up and down (at last!). You can activate the sounds and lights by pushing on the main cannon or by rotating the upper turret (the left side triggers a different side than the right). The tank rolls on 5 little wheels. There's even another twin cannon located on top of the 2nd turret. Brawl is armed to the teeth! Again, a lot of mechanical detailing all over. Too bad it gets a bit lost in the green. Also, the plastic feels a bit soft. Thick but soft.

Overall, it's an awesome figure and it has everything I'm looking for in a quality Transformer : size, complexity, electronics, gimmicks. DLX Brawl can burn in hell, Leader Brawl is immensely better. Is this the best movie figure? I don't think so, but it's quite close.

Overview of the features :

-lights (green for auxiliairy guns, red for main gun)
-sounds (3 different ones)
-automorph : head/chest, arm cannons, upper turret (minor)
-spring loaded cow catchers
-spring loaded tank tracks (front portion only)
-spring loaded turret panel