Also, if I have one quibble with this figure it would be the same as I have with several IF bots, which is that I wish they would consistently give a little more love to decorating the wheels. I feel like it goes such a long way when they do it well (yay Hexwrench) and is just such a missed opportunity on others.

That said, I also like their price point, haha, especially with the extra hands and such. Might just be asking too much of them  

 

Funny that he comes with a shotgun. The Igear one did too.

 

Kinda fits the character, though, doesn’t it?

 

True. Still, it made me think of the Igear one as soon as I saw it. Almost thought it was a homage.

 

Loving all the accessories, reminds me of old school IF when they came with all sorts of extra stuff.

 

I see this as a pretty good scaling of Brawn’s helmeted noggin. Newage Hogan’s is too big, while iGear made their figure’s too small. Of the IF version, I think Goldilocks would approve.

The reason Brawn’s (and Gears’s, and Cliffjumper’s, and Bumblebee’s… ) head appears large is because the body is small. People have varying head sizes, but there’s not really a correlation between head size and height. I’m 6’1 and my mother is 5’3, but our heads are about the same size. Little people have average-sized heads even though their bodies are smaller, and Brawn is built somewhat like a person with dwarfism. He’s not a scaled-down Optimus Prime.

 

Yeah, I’m looking at the photos more, and I think you’re right, the head is an acceptable size. The first photo makes it look bigger to me, but the others look better, so I think the first one is kinda an optional illusion.

I see what you mean about head size relative to body size, but I don’t like that take on the “minibots.” I know the toys were much smaller (coming from a completely different line than Diaclone), but I would prefer that they scaled by vehicle mode, with the “minibots” roughly the same size as other carbots. The only characters whose character result relies on them being small are Bumblebee and Brawn (him being seeming the strongest Autobots despite his relatively small size is kinda his shtick. But it still works with him scaling as appropriate for a small off-road vehicle, since that’s still very small compared to other very strong autobots.

Actually, come to think about it, the only “minibots” who had oversized heads in the cartoon were Brawn, Gears (so bad!), and Powerglide. The rest were roughly the same relative to their bodies as the other Autobots.

anyway, like I said, I think this is really great interpretation of the character. I hope we someday see them do Gears and Windcharger.

 

I agree with you regarding the minibot size. I wish they scaled according to realistic vehicle sizes. That would make Bumblebee bigger than Wheeljack, CJ about the size of Jazz, Brawn about the same height as Trailbreaker, Gears a bit larger than that, Windcharger taller than Sunstreaker, and Huffer somewhere between TB and Optimus. Ironhide and Ratchet would be much smaller than traditionally depicted— smaller than Bumblebee in fact. Nissan Cherry Vanettes are tiny.

 

I love both NA and IF. They’re doing very different things. NA has me for the inventivity of its transformations (with a g1 cartoon accuracy paradigm, which makes the engineering challenge even more fascinating) and the toy factor, and IF for their great reinterpretation of classic characters. Two completely different things in the end. I love NA’s Brawn, his head is perfect, and this very different figure is also a great Brawn - in a different yet just as enjoyable way.

 

My problem— if you can call it a problem— is that NA and IF have largely siphoned away my MP/3P budget. However, my interest has shifted hugely in that direction, so it’s difficult to complain when my purchases are this satisfying. With the larger figures shifting predominantly to a cartoon aesthetic (at least for G1), there are fewer and fewer new figures in the MP scale that actually tempt me. I’ve started looking at that collection and am considering what I might sell off, because I’m interested in so many of the upcoming Iron Factory and Newage figures.

 

Although I'm firmly in the Iron Factory camp aesthetically I think that it's great that we have both Newage and Iron Factory - both making great toys that appeal to different audiences in different ways. There's also Magic Square, but I'm not really sure what the point of them is.

 

I’m quite happy with the version of Brawn that Iron Factory is offering, but my feelings wouldn’t be hurt at all if they also gave us this deco:

Because I’m a sucker for toy nostalgia.

 

Perhaps the point of Magic Square is to also make great toys that appeal to a different audience?

 

I’ll admit that most of my 3P legends collection is comprised of NA and IF figures, but I have a few MS ones in the mix as well. They make good toys, but I’m just not as interested in their animation-style designs. For folks that like the toon aesthetic, however, they are a great option.

I think more variety is always better, even if it means some of the market is less appealing to me. As long as I have options that I like, then I want others to have what they like, too.

 

I wasn't being serious there, I was fishing a bit. Sorry.

In honesty, though - looking from the outside - they're just so similar to Newage's (and, conversely, Newage's are just so similar to Magic Square's) that I can't help but feel it's a bit pointless to have two companies doing, in essence, exactly the same thing. Everyone would have more options if they differentiated themselves more stylistically. Or even just stopped doing the same figures at the same time...

But, of course, there could be drastic differences between the two ranges that I'm just not seeing. And, ultimately, I say just buy the toys that make you happy.  

 

Jeez these turned out nice...

 

From your perspective NA and MS may be similar, but from mine they are very different.

I see Magic Square as the animation-adherent option. Looking like the cartoon models is key to this brand. Arguably, the company has the least creative freedom in product appearance, but expresses its design prowess through transformation engineering.

Iron Factory gives us stylized homages— creatively interpreted through various themes. The character is recognizable, but does not accurately conform to any particular media representation. Probably the “artsiest” of the three because of the design freedom.

Then there’s Newage, which is neither wed to the animation models nor completely free of them. They have more of a “hybrid” design philosophy much like early Takara Masterpiece. They offer standard decos that lean slightly toon, toy decos that add detail, paint, and sometimes sculptwork in homage to the original toys, comic decos that honor the comics, and other repaints/retools to homage Shattered Glass or characters from other series. They cover a lot of ground.

 

Yeah, that's true... to an extent. They do do a lot of repaints and retools (which is a good thing), and throw some curve balls and Depth Charges out there. But the basic Newage figures are still extremely Sunbow. I'd certainly like to see more than four Marvel Comics variants from them, I'm very fond of their Marvel Megatron.