It's one thing to see pics of a potentially bad combiner online, decide "ehh, I'll do the cheap version", and call it a day.

It's another thing entirely to be confronted with the reality in package.

Let's be clear: you want this set for the packaging. It is hilariously retro, from the goofy painted illustration of Bruticus on the front, to the *five* separate instruction sheets that come tumbling out when you open it (and yes, the instructions have the G2 branding on them). I almost expected them to replace the plastic trays with styrofoam.

As for the toys, everything Valkysas said is on point. My Onslaught already has a stress mark around the pin for the torso piece, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are others. The limb connectors feel ridiculously fragile -- the arm connectors in particular seem to be *physically rotating* around the pegs on Onslaught's wheels, which makes me super-nervous. How bad is your design when your new connectors aren't as sturdy as the ones on combiners from 26 years ago? Brawl is terrible in every mode except vehicle (good luck getting him to stand on non-locking toes), and Onslaught may as well not have a vehicle mode. Fan modes make some limbs more tolerable than others -- shortening up Vortex improves him as an arm, but Blast-Off is basically a leg trying to be an arm (and failing), and Swindle's literally double-fisted attempt doesn't fool anyone.

That said ... I thought back to the original G1 Bruticus combiner (I own the RiD version of that mold), and the other Scramble City combiners, and I can't say that this set is any worse than those. Mind you, that's damning with faint praise -- as superior 3rd-party remakes have proven, the original G1 combiners were always more about the potential awesome than the completely mediocre reality. There's certainly at least as much play value here as there was in your average Scramble City combiner, and for kids that's probably enough. For the curious, it might be worth it just to see HasTak's first (?) attempt at a Scramble City combiner with fully integrated fists and feet. (I say first, but Landfill was kinda, sorta along the same lines, though it always used one figure for both arms. And it was hilarious to look at.) But I'm glad I sprung for the cheap version, because he's certainly not worth any more than $60.

-XCN-

 

Get a hair dryer on those stress marks. Got rid of mine.

 

Swindle and Blast Off are actually fantastic arms if you do it right. I'll post it later, but you can get fully articulated non curling arms out of both of them, AND make them the correct length. Hint: only let one leg be part of the forearm and use the hip for the correct bicep direction.

Brawl...Brawl, Brawl, Brawl, Brawl. Where to begin with Brawl? He is the worst deluxe TF since Armada. Yes, he is worse than the technically-worse Airachnid since nobody will ever own Airachnid, and probably couldn't even buy her if they wanted. So...major points in her corner for doing so well at not existing.

Robot mode: FORWARD FACING HOLLOW BITS ON THE FOREARMS. Really? That's the design you went with? Head can't be touched without falling into the body. Can't stand up. Huge backpack with forward-visible dangling ass kibble. FAIL.

"Tank" mode: Just...wtf...I don't even... Look, Hastak, it can't really hover. You know that, right? So...how 'bout giving it some landing gear, leveling pegs, feet, SOMETHING to sit flat on. No? Just gonn'a keep hoping it hovers flat? OK. Head visible in front. Gun doesn't really want to point parallel to the ground. Visible feet. Ass end is a mess. Small and unimposing in sculpting. It. Just. Sits. There. FAIL.

Then it is easilly the weakest arm if you know how to get creative with the others. Leg is mearly almost the weakest. I think it might balance better than Blast Off. Maybe.

I mean, the set as a whole is great fun. Just Brawl. How? Onslaught doesn't get a pass either.

 

I must have been lucky, cause my Brawl is able to stand on his own, and his head stays up fine. His limbs modes look ok to me, course I use him as a leg in combine mode. As always, hollow bits don't bother me at all.

 

Hollow...OK. Don't like it but OK. IF you make an effort to hide it. Putting both the fist storage holes and the general mold holowness on the part of the arm that is forced to face forward...that is bad design. That is a problem.

 

Brawl is terribly designed. The worst part is he's deceptively bad. The hollow arm thing, at least, is something you'd know what stock pictures, as is most of the alt-mode issues. Even the buttflap kibble you can find out from pictures, if you find a detailed gallery.

The real problems I have with the figure are the things you don't realize until he's in-hand. The absurd tininess for one, isn't truly apparent until you see and feel him in person. As is the head that's held up by a prayer, and his ridiculously useless flip-out feet. Not to mention the fact his shoulders are at a slight angle that means he can't even hold his arms forward without looking horribly awkward (but then again, that's par for the course in this set).

Vortex is the only one of the Combaticons that has anything resembling decent shoulders, and that is quite frankly unacceptable.

 

Blast-off's probably my favorite in the set. Such a sharp robot design.

 

I love the way it looks. If he had working shoulders he would probably be my favorite Deluxe of 2012.

As is... he just kinda makes me sad. So much potential shot in the foot by one fatal flaw.

 

I was so sure that Blast Off would be my favorite of the set. His shoulders absolutely kill him for me though. Such a terrible design. I hope whoever worked on this set either improves or doesn't get any more TF projects.

 

Brawl is pretty bad but his toes DO lock into place. I circled it but looking at it, it isn't the best pic. There's these two tabs on what are the arms that tab into slots on the part that forms the foot itself. Once that's in the foot is stable and very secure.

 

I can't speak for anyone else, but my issue with Brawl's toes are the bot-mode ones, the flip out ones that are worthless for making the figure actually stand.

 

Can't that be fixed with a little Future?

 

Pin joint, nowhere to apply it.

 

I just dropper some on either side, work the joint, wipe off the excess, and let it sit. Should do the trick.

 

I absolutely love this set. Of course there's a lot of exposure of robot combiner parts (I'm looking at you Blast Off!), but I can live with those. My Brawl has a loose ball joint, what's the quickest way to fix that? I have him as a leg, it's steady for now.

 

Gonna have to disagree on this. The problem with Brawl as a foot is that the toe portion is just way too short, making him very difficult to balance on. He also seems to be slightly shorter in foot mode than the other limbs in foot mode, which makes things worse. (Actually ... it's not clear to me that any of the limbs actually match heights correctly in foot mode, which is a bizarre design flaw.)

Oddly enough, Brawl as an arm has actually grown on me, now that I've found a decent fan mode. It's enough to make him merely mediocre as an arm, instead of plain terrible.

-XCN-

 

Swindle and Brawl at least are the same more or less in leg mode. As far as the stability...I would argue that neither Brawl nor Swindle are stable enough on their own.

I think the difference in height is an optical illusion. Swindle has a lot of stuff around the joint, which would fool you into thinking that it's a little taller than Brawl. I transform Swindle and Brawl as legs exactly as the instructions tell me to, and there's no canting to either side which would suggest one leg shorter than the other. Even if I swap them..Swindle as right and Brawl as left it's still standing straight and not canting to the side.

I have the SDCC one and the G2 one unopened, but peering into the package does not suggest that they would be any different mold wise.

 

Since we're all hating on Brawl, I'll toss out my issues with him.

The head bugged me at first, until I realized that it clicks up in place without falling into his chest. Only problem there is, one time I pulled his head right off of the ball joint and while trying to pop in back on, I pushed the neck/collar area down so far that it got trapped behind his pelvis. It was the SDCC version, so it was a scary process prying it loose since it took a flathead screwdriver and a psychotic amount of force.

What I'm saying is, be careful not to pop his head off, and maybe stick something in his chest under the neck if you have to pop in back on.

Other little thing is a fixable little QC problem. 2 out of the 3 Brawl versions I have couldn't have the ass-flap tab into place in tank mode. A tab here and a slot there needed a very slight trim in order to connect so that the tank's rear wasn't flapping around. Even on the fixed ones and the one that was fine to begin with, it still feels like you're forcing the tabs to near breaking point.

Outside of that? G2 set is pretty cool! I'm enjoying the silly fun deco. My only problem with the deco is that I'd love to toss Blast-Off's useless limb modes aside for one of the retail guys, but I kind of need his camo for the full 90s color assault.

I'm still happy to see more fan modes on this guy, and Blast-Off's arm mode in particular. I can't seem to find a configuration that I'm quite happy with.

I'd also like to point out how amusing and mildly irritating it is that the crazy bright Bruticus with purple spots all over him is the only version WITHOUT any random purple connection ports.