Toy Review - Titans Return Brawn (Legends)

[GoktimusPrime]

BRAWN
Series – Generations
Sub-line – Titans Return
Size/class - Legends
Wave - 4
Released here – May, 2017
Approximate Retail Price – $19
Approximate Size - 9.5cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Main Colours – Metallic dark green, yellow, black
Main Accessories – Shield-blaster

ROBOT MODE



This toy is a-freakin'-mazing! A lot of love and effort have been poured into this toy, the likes of which I haven't seen outside of the Masterpiece line since TR Wheelie. The visual aesthetic of the robot is a neat blend between cartoon-accuracy and detailed vehicle. The overall shape is suitably robust-looking, and the splitting of the front end of the vehicle to form the shoulders helps to reduce the size of the vehicle kibble sitting behind the head. It's a neat way of displacing that mass to make it more show-like. This toy does well in carrying over many of the colours from the G1 cartoon - the darker grey helmet with a silver face, blue eyes, green upper arms with silver forearms and hands, and green legs. The only thing "missing" is a yellow panel behind the head and silver knees - but it's easily forgivable given that this is a relatively cheap and small Legends class figure. There is an Autobot logo tampographed on the chest along with G1-accurate blue and black highlights on the tummy. Brawn also carries his roof-top accessory which can be either attached to the side of either forearm as a shield, or onto his fist hole as a gun (the lights resemble gun barrels). Another neat way to reduce mass while also giving Brawn a weapon. Brawn has 9 points of articulation in robot mode.



VEHICLE MODE



A really nice, solid vehicle mode. The colours all work really well together and the two yellow "Roadbuster-esque" containers on the bull bar make Brawn feel more like a military vehicle rather than just a recreational off-road vehicle. Or at least a more serious outdoors-person's vehicle. The canopy also opens to hold a Titan Master driver inside.



There is no proper rear covering for the vehicle, but again, for a toy of this size and price point I don't consider it to be a drawback. G1 and Universe Brawn have proper vehicle rears, but their robot modes aren't nearly as awesome as TR Brawn's, and neither of those predecessors could house a pilot. So considering everything that Brawn can do that his predecessors can't, I think that lacking a proper rear can be overlooked. Remember, this is only a Legends class figure - or if we are to compare it with the old Legends Universe Brawn, a Scout/Basic.



OVERALL

This is one incredible figure. If TakaraTOMY were told to make an MP Brawn but were only given a Legends Class size and budget to work with, this is honestly what we would get. Well worth its RRP - highly recommended.

[Sinnertwin]

I quite like this figure & was considering buying one this morning, but alas, somebody beat me to it...

[dirge]

Not perfect. But a definite improvement on the Legends toy (which was already good).

The transformation is simple yet elegant. Not sure I like the yellow bits on the sides of the truck, but I can see that they're a deliberate design choice.

[Firestorm]

Picked up Brawn tonight
Personally, I'm kind of underwhelmed.
His transformation is incredibly simple.
His poseability is pretty average
His weapon is kind of pointless. (On the plus side it isn't integral to making the vehicle mode look complete. )

I will say that his robot mode proportions look better in hand than early images made him look to me. His torso all being yellow does still make it look a bit long though.

The colours are nice,
And as an addition to the growing number of Legends class G1 minibots, he fulfils his purpose. But personally I'd say he isn't worth $19
If you can get him for less go for it.

[SMHFConvoy]

What, no Titan Master Brawn photo? Boo!

I picked this guy up on Sunday, I like him, found him fun and poseable if Hasbro is sensible they can retool him as:

• Outback (duh.)
• Gears.
• Swerve.
• Cybertron Overhaul and/ or Brushguard

[GoktimusPrime]

I'd definitely get an Outback redeco of this mould. Not so much those other characters though as I already have Generations Swerve and Gears, and I don't care enough about Overhaul & Brushguard to get CHUGUR figures of them.

What, no Titan Master Brawn photo? Boo!

Here. I'm not going to spend $10 on a Titan Master just for a photo op.

[Dimi194]

Great little figure! Love when legends have accessories; the use of the kibble as a shield is an awesome idea, I'd love to see more of that kind of thing tbh.

Paint is nice, and love the extra details, such as fold out heels and thigh swivels!

Good looking truck too... A very fun legends toy (and much better than the W1 redeco city of TLK)

[SMHFConvoy]

Notice that he has subtle TF Animated proportions? Stubby legs, long torso and hulking arms?

[GoktimusPrime]

The only similarity with Animated Brawn is the long torso, but I think it's coincidental as a result of the Titan Master cockpit gimmick. Hence why I would still rate Wheelie above this toy as I really love how Wheelie is able to compact his cockpit to shrink the size of his torso, but I suppose with Brawn they've opted to make him look more bulky with the larger "Dwarven" proportioned torso.

For comparison...
+ G1 Brawn (cartoon model): more or less proportioned like a human with the torso being a tad smaller than a human's. A human's torso is 3 head heights, G1 Brawn's is about 2.5. Arms and legs are the same proportion as a human's with the hands resting below the hips and legs being longer than the arms.
+ Animated Brawn: Torso is proportionately longer than a human's, being about 3.3 head heights. Limbs are more proportioned like a monkey or ape with the arms being about 1.5 times longer than the legs! His limb proportions are more similar to Optimus Primal, but of course, Primal transforms into an ape.
+ Titans Return Brawn: Torso is proportionately the longest - four head heights. Legs are about the same length as the arms, much like earlier hominids like Australopithecus.

So I guess TR Brawn is like the evolutionary "missing link" between the ape-proportioned Animated Brawn and human-proportioned G1 Brawn. Although Australopithecus didn't have such long torsos, if anything they were proportionately shorter than human torsos (about 2 head heights).

[FatalityPitt]

Now THIS is Brawn!

I wasn't the biggest Brawn-fan until I bought this. Until now, I've never owned a single version of Brawn. I have a feeling, with this; I'll never need to buy another Brawn ever again.

Maybe it's the New-Toy-Syndrome talking, but everything about this toy screams BRAWN! It looks unmistakably like Brawn (the headsculpt, colours, proportions, etc), even the one sentance bio "This Autobot loves a challenge even if it's a Decepticon 10x his size" is SO Brawn. Sure, the transformation is super-easy and painfully cliche; but I don't care - it's such a faithful representation of such an iconic character who is the quintessential macho G1 Autobot.

It's not my style to tell people what to buy, but if you like G1 and you happen to have $20 in your pocket - buy him! Even if you don't like Brawn, it'll make your Neo-Classics G1 collection more complete.