Brakedown!
Posted: Fri Feb 12, 2010 4:37 pm
Scouts are a tough sell these days. Deluxes range around twelve, thirteen dollars, but they just got off a ten-dollar sale, which makes the eight dollars that a Scout command seem really kinda high. So it's gotten harder for me to buy 'em lately, despite my love of smaller-scale robots. That said, I had to buy this fella on sight, because the Stunticons were an awesome merge team, and a toy that just goes ape with the homage to one of 'em is irresistible to me. So, did the toy justify the high purchase price?
Bio: Like the rest of the ROTF toys lately, this isn't a bio as much as a short story that describes the character's personality. In this case, Brakedown's a scout (in the right class, then) who is not equipped for battle at all. The bio says it right there, he's designed for speed, not for combat. He's a runner, not a fighter. And Mudflap, of all people, has every intention of chasing him down and killing him. This is especially kind of disturbing because there's no equivalent-sized toy of Mudflap, so you just picture the much bigger Deluxe running down our hapless scout. So this whole sub-line of ROTF can pretty well just be descibed as "Decepticons try to not get killed by the Autobots". Shattered Glass won, guys.
Robot Mode: Because that's what he's packed in. So, he's got a wide chest, a sort of digitigrade thing going with his legs (not as obviously as some of the other movie toys, but if you look at him from the side, they're pretty clear), and big ol' long monkey arms. But all that aside, he's very much the image of his G1 counterpart. If you'd gone to someone right after the first movie and said "Draw Movie Breakdown", this is what you would have gotten. He looks good, though, and I especially like the face, it's very expressive, looks mean, and has the yellow eyes against a red face, so they really pop. He's got a lot of kibble in the back, his windshield and roof combine to just hang out as a big backpack. If that piece could fold down flatter against his body, it'd be less distracting, but if it bothers you that much, that whole piece pops right off. It actually looks like it was meant to, which makes me wonder if maybe it was meant to be a shield at some point in the design. Anyway, that bit slides out when you want it to, and stays in place when you need it there, so it's not a big worry for now. Solid robot mode with good articulation and a neat look to it.
Transformation: Despite looking a lot like a fairly standard G1 limbformer, Brakedown's got a fairly clever transformation. The legs swing sideways, and the feet fold in to become the front of the car, the arms fold in and become the sides, snd the chest and back kibble make up the back and top of the car. It sounds easy, but it took a minute to figure out, it's really a little more involved than the usual small car-bot transformation. I'm not nuts about movie-style, but I gotta hand it to 'em, they come up with some interesting transformation schemes.
Car Mode: I like this a lot. Again, like G1 Breakdown, what we got here is clearly a lamborghini in an off-white, with a red trapezoid on the hood. It couldn't be anything but the Stunticon. But on top of that, it's got an almost superdeformed quality to it, the front of the car seems to be a little rounder and wider than the rest. It's a really appealing little vehicle mode. Everything fits together nicely, and the cracks from the robot parts don't stand out too much against the white car. Good stuff, right here.
So Overall: Well, I like it a lot. Good robot mode, good transformation, good vehicle mode. Nothing to dislike, right? When you factor in the homage to one of the best of the Decepticon combiners (and that's saying a LOT), you get a toy that I'm definitely inclined to enjoy. The Scouts may be an overpriced section of TF merchandise these days, but if the idea of a Movie Breakdown appeals to you, then you may as well pick this thing up, because it delivers on that concept exactly like you'd want it to. No doubt in my mind that this lil' dude gets an "A".
Bio: Like the rest of the ROTF toys lately, this isn't a bio as much as a short story that describes the character's personality. In this case, Brakedown's a scout (in the right class, then) who is not equipped for battle at all. The bio says it right there, he's designed for speed, not for combat. He's a runner, not a fighter. And Mudflap, of all people, has every intention of chasing him down and killing him. This is especially kind of disturbing because there's no equivalent-sized toy of Mudflap, so you just picture the much bigger Deluxe running down our hapless scout. So this whole sub-line of ROTF can pretty well just be descibed as "Decepticons try to not get killed by the Autobots". Shattered Glass won, guys.
Robot Mode: Because that's what he's packed in. So, he's got a wide chest, a sort of digitigrade thing going with his legs (not as obviously as some of the other movie toys, but if you look at him from the side, they're pretty clear), and big ol' long monkey arms. But all that aside, he's very much the image of his G1 counterpart. If you'd gone to someone right after the first movie and said "Draw Movie Breakdown", this is what you would have gotten. He looks good, though, and I especially like the face, it's very expressive, looks mean, and has the yellow eyes against a red face, so they really pop. He's got a lot of kibble in the back, his windshield and roof combine to just hang out as a big backpack. If that piece could fold down flatter against his body, it'd be less distracting, but if it bothers you that much, that whole piece pops right off. It actually looks like it was meant to, which makes me wonder if maybe it was meant to be a shield at some point in the design. Anyway, that bit slides out when you want it to, and stays in place when you need it there, so it's not a big worry for now. Solid robot mode with good articulation and a neat look to it.
Transformation: Despite looking a lot like a fairly standard G1 limbformer, Brakedown's got a fairly clever transformation. The legs swing sideways, and the feet fold in to become the front of the car, the arms fold in and become the sides, snd the chest and back kibble make up the back and top of the car. It sounds easy, but it took a minute to figure out, it's really a little more involved than the usual small car-bot transformation. I'm not nuts about movie-style, but I gotta hand it to 'em, they come up with some interesting transformation schemes.
Car Mode: I like this a lot. Again, like G1 Breakdown, what we got here is clearly a lamborghini in an off-white, with a red trapezoid on the hood. It couldn't be anything but the Stunticon. But on top of that, it's got an almost superdeformed quality to it, the front of the car seems to be a little rounder and wider than the rest. It's a really appealing little vehicle mode. Everything fits together nicely, and the cracks from the robot parts don't stand out too much against the white car. Good stuff, right here.
So Overall: Well, I like it a lot. Good robot mode, good transformation, good vehicle mode. Nothing to dislike, right? When you factor in the homage to one of the best of the Decepticon combiners (and that's saying a LOT), you get a toy that I'm definitely inclined to enjoy. The Scouts may be an overpriced section of TF merchandise these days, but if the idea of a Movie Breakdown appeals to you, then you may as well pick this thing up, because it delivers on that concept exactly like you'd want it to. No doubt in my mind that this lil' dude gets an "A".