I'm with you Eric, he really does make for a good Roadbuster, much more so than Brawn. The shellformery still bugs me though.
I don't really see Brawn as being significantly less G1ish than Mindwipe. ...but the toy does have a few drawbacks. Peaugh's review sums it up nicely, but i should add mine has loose hips.
His pistols make him worth multiple purchases. I gave my first brawn's to arcee already. If I get another brawn, they may end going to someone else.
If you think Lockdown, one of the worst deluxes [IMO of course] is awesome, then you should definitely give Brawn a try. The kibble isn't nearly as obtrusive as many other figures. And I don't understand how people can thing its a Shellformer. BW Neo toys were Shellformers. Cybertron Thunderclash is a Shellformer. Brawn doesn't transform by opening the car and unfolding a robot. THEN it would be a Shellformer.
Seems like a cool idea. I'd just give Brawn some of Recon Ironhide's weapons, and the pistols to someone else.
There's three pages of posts I didn't read. He has dual pistols. DUAL PISTOLS. From what I've seen of the mold it's what I expect but I couldn't bring myself to get ROTF Dirge.
I agree on the mold being great for Roadbuster; that's pretty much the first thing I thought when I first broke the toy out of the packaging. He makes a mediocre Brawn (he's too well-armed and doesn't looky too much like Brawn), but he's an AWESOME Roadbuster. From the weaponry to the head to just about everything else, that mold belongs as Roadbuster and hopefully we'll see that repaint down the road.
I finally got him and I LOVE IT! My opinion he was just the kickstart I needed to get back onto the movie line before it disappeared off shelves. Dirge, I can't bring myself to buy him though, he just looks like bleh.
I would really recommend not holding this guy's name against him. There have been LOTS of good toys that have had G1-esque names that don't suit them, or they just don't evoke the character. If anything, going by Brawn's headsculpt, he's probably a stronger homage personality and appearance-wise to X-Brawn, from RiD. I don't buy modern toys because they're good G1 homages. I buy them because they're good toys. Brawn is a good toy... he's definitely a non-appearance movie-style Transformer (There seems to be a certain aesthetic to those, even from the first movie) and he fits in very nicely with examples from the first movie, like Longarm, Landmine and Stockade. Which is good, because in my experience, I've liked those better than the toys that actually appeared anyway. He's poseable, well (And logically!) armed, and just has style and character. Not G1 Brawn's character, certainly, but character. Rename him something else, if the name bugs you, but give him a try, certainly.
You know, I really wish that they would have released all the "not actually in the movie" bots in an "Expanded Universe" format, so that people wouldn't feel like it's not "Movie" or "G1" enough. This Brawn feels more like an "Elseworlds" Brawn to me. As to the shellformer aspect, I have(and love) a Universe Nemisis Prime(the Big Convoy Mammoth mold), so Brawn has NOTHING on him.
Got him. Cool enough I guess. To look at him, I feel like I like him, but mostly I've been very apathetic towards him. Not bad, not great.
it's a terrible mold. BAAAAAAAAD proportions, goat legs (which look extra-bad because of his gigantor kneepads and Ape Arms), and the kibble that's just draped all over him. (and i'm not anti-kibble, i love RID Speedbreaker!) but his kibble is just everywhere and ugly IMHO. also, the hips on mine got so loose he couldn't stand after a week of just sitting on my desk. This was my most looked-forward-too figure from when he was revealed @ BC09 and ended up being my biggest disappointment from the ROTF figs I've gotten.
Brawn is probably one of my favorite bots in quite a long time. In fact I'm up to three Brawn's right now. It's the one TF that got me back into the movie line. He's got a great looking head, dual wielded pistols, articulation is fantastic . . . just all around awesome. Like others have said, combine that with the weapons from Recon Ironhide and it gets even better.
He's a shellformer.. so what? he still a damn good toy. I really don't get the hatred agains shellformers @_@ What goat legs?
To me, if the legs were a bit fatter and chunky, and less skinny and goat like it would make him look alot more "brawny" pun inteneded.
He does look appealing to me. But I probably won't get him - I'll get Dune Runner instead. Or probably Armorhide. I just REALLY like his box art mugshot. Very badass looking.
He's fun. Posable, good guns, fun vehicle mode. Yes, back kibble. He has massive wings. But he's not HA Sideswipe either. I recommend picking him up.
