Arms Micron Breakdown

[VERT]

I thought the stickers were fun But I love stickers. Top figure really like it

[griffin]

They're moulded... it just has stickers on the headlights. So if Hasbro did it, they might have paint apps on them, if they could afford it.

[UltraMarginal]

cool, they look very flat in the pictures I've seen. I'm trying to weigh up getting this and potentially applying my own paint apps against waiting for Hasbro to "possibly" release it with paint apps applied, and approx $20 cheaper if I pick it up from a Big W or something like that here.

and the hasbro might have more show accurate weapons, or just a stupid mechtech weapon.

[Seraphim Prime]

Still hoping this gets released by Hasbro.

Unfortunately Archer seemed to avoid giving a definitive to the during the SDCC panel. One of the US forums apparently followed it up personally, and the answer was that the mould was available to Hasbro, but they were uncertain of cost/price.

[UltraMarginal]

just taken the plunge and ordered one for myself.

[griffin]

Unfortunately Archer seemed to avoid giving a definitive to the during the SDCC panel. One of the US forums apparently followed it up personally, and the answer was that the mould was available to Hasbro, but they were uncertain of cost/price.

Cost may well be a factor, as it is the same weight as Bulkhead, but since that one is the heaviest Hasbro Voyager so far (without weapon or Micron), maybe they could only afford one "heavy" Voyager...

Breakdown - 140gms
Bulkhead - 136gms
Megatron - 127gms
Optimus - 123gms
Starscream 69gms (yes, less plastic than most Deluxes)

They certainly saved a fortune with Starscream though, as it is half the weight of Breakdown... and Breakdown isn't a major character, so isn't going to sell too many for them to produce too many (at a smaller profit margin).

Someone suggested that maybe they were going to remould the head to give him an eyepatch... but I can't imagine that that would be the cause, as the pair of companies would have been working together on each mould, and would have pre-planned alternate heads (like they do with any remould that has a new head - it's created at the same time as the first head).

Size in the packaging certainly isn't a factor, as it is the same size as Bulkhead in both modes, so can still fit in the standard Voyager box. The robot modes were posted above, but here are their vehicle modes...

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Just picked up mine the other day. 45 damn stickers!! REALLY? 45!! Sh-t, I think I was doing them for a dman hour before I got to play with the toy itself... Some of them are a pain and I can see the knee ones coming off, especially if you roll him around in vehicle mode as there is the tiniest amount of clearance...

Plus I was a bit saddened by his weight.

And then this:



Pretty much the same height as a deluxe...

Aside from that though, fun intuitive transformation and very poseable. Aside from the crapload of stickers to apply and his lack of height, still quite a fun toy.

[GoktimusPrime]

A neat and reasonably solid toy. Stickers are a hassle, although the toy does look better with the stickers on (it looks too plain without them IMO). But paint apps would've been loads better of course. Constructing the Mini-Con Zamu was another hassle... feels like another cost-cutting cheapness factor like the stickers. But the toy itself is nice -- good sculpt, good colours - I quite like the head sculpt. Not too fond of having all those unsightly holes everywhere, but this toy tends to "blend" them in reasonably well so that they're not too noticeable I suppose.

I will say one good thing about the sticker sheet -- it comes with 2 spare Decepticon logos. So did Skywarp -- so looks like I'll finally be able to give my Hasbro TFPRiD Soundwave some insignias! And yeah, having stickers for decos is better than just having nothing ... Hasbro's TFPRiD Ratchet is a classic example of this (no logo, sparse paint apps). I do like how Zamu is sculpted to look like both a hammer and a gun, so you can either attach it to the arm as a hammer or on the shoulder as a gun like in the cartoon (even if it looks nothing like his shoulder mounted cannon in the show, still a neat feature though). Transforming the toy to vehicle mode can be a bit fiddly in order to get all those panels aligned correctly, but it's not too bad (no where near as awful as say Big Convoy ).

Overall: recommended if you want this character and you can get it at RRP or less. The 'cheapness' of the stickers and build-a-minicon (and as Tetsuwan Convoy also pointed out, diminutive size for a Voyager) doesn't make it good value above the Voyager price point (arguably it's not even that good value for a Voyager). This toy retails for 4200JPY ($53) -- I was able to get mine for 3054JPY ($38), so for what I paid I'm happy. But I wouldn't recommend exceeding RRP on this toy.

I'm guessing that TakTOM have lost the rights to the "Breakdown" name since this toy is called "War Breakdown" (as is their Cyberverse "EZ Collection" version). But what I don't get is the variant "spellings" of "Breakdown" between the Voyager (ウォーブレークダウン; "Woo Bureekudaun") and EZC (ウォーブレイクダウン; "Woo Bureikudaun") versions. I prefer the "spelling" on the EZC one as it sounds slightly more similar to how Breakdown is pronounced in English.

Photos

Vehicle mode before and after applying stickers

(actually, I'd forgotten to apply the yellow indicator stickers at the time I took these photos )

Rear view of stickered vehicle


Robot mode before and after sticker apps

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

I reckon of all the Jap Prime figs, this one has the best inclusion of the micron ports. That isn't much of a complement though. But He's pretty good.

Chest and shoulders really need something to break up the plastic look.

[Paulbot]

Found the transformation on this guy a real puzzle, eventually just squeezing everything in, locking things in and hoping for the best. Not really feeling the love for this one, but we don't get many Decepticon trucks so that adds some value in uniqueness, plus the whole "show cast" thing.