As Masterpiece rapidly begins to dominate both Hasbro/Takara and the various 3rd party companies’ catalogs, there is a sub-group that has really been nothing but trouble for all the attempts up to now: The minibot penny racers.
iGear has tried them, and results are mixed. Toyworld has taken on just the Throttlebots, and had pretty good figures come of it. Hasbro has had mixed result over the Generations and classic lines, but has basically set the bar with Bumblebee, as far as I’m concerned. Cubex had shown some great designs, but the execution didn’t quite take. So, will son of Cubex, Bad Cube, succeed where the previous didn’t quite make the bar?
Yeah, I think they did, overall.
Brawny is, of course, a G1 homage to Brawn, the smallest Autobot brawler. I love Brawn, and I’ve loved him since the very first time I saw The Ultimate Doom on TV. He was a trash-talking, Shockwave-pounding, half-size hardass. If I could be as badass as Brawn, I’d gladly be a short guy. His look was unique among the mini-bots, being stocky and maybe a little chubby looking. But that’s part of the charm. Brawn also has the distinction of being the first to fall in the line of duty during the Battle for Autobot City, boldly charging the Decepticon boarding party of his shuttle with no regard for himself. Although I always thought he could’ve easily survived that shoulder wound. If the shuttle didn’t crash offscreen….
Brawn has not had the world’s greatest luck in toys. Though well-loved, his visor and claws look on the toy bared very little resemblance to the guy on the show. He’s had some decent Legends-class figures, and an interesting Cloud version, but Brawn has so far had to rely on the third parties to get him some figures. iGear was the first, and while his look is an almost perfect mesh of cartoon and toy, some soft sculpting and obnoxious shoulders meant he eventually would give his head to a better Toyworld bot in my collection.
Bad Cube first made peace with the penny-racer Land Cruiser mode, and instead gave him a real-world Land Rover one, a Defender, I think. It’s an excellent design and it scales very well with the MP cars. It feels a little plain, but that’s more a style preference than anything. Reprolabels will probably cook up something for it, but I really don’t mind it as is, thanks to clean colors and some really nice detailing.
Transformation is clever, nerve-wracking at first, but not terrible as you get the hang of it. Lots of folding and rotating, and for some reason it’s easier from car to robot than robot to car, but overall it’s in keeping with Masterpiece. Everything secures really well in both modes, and that’s really the most important part where I’m concerned.
Brawny is a stubby gorilla in bot mode, and I dig it. I like the Murderface helmet and the stoic face sculpt– I didn’t get the add-on set, which is kinda weak– and the proportions feel accurate to me. His articulation was better than I expected, and so was the joint quality. I was a little concerned about the die-cast hinge his hips are mounted on, but it stays in place really well. My only current gripe is that the bicep swivels are super tight. Otherwise, he is an appropriately tough little bot.
He does come with a pistol that stores hidden in his gas can. When in bot mode, the gas can halves can peg into the back of his shins, filling in a little space. It’s a nice touch, but I rarely use them. Again, preference will vary. Other than that, he includes his drill attachment for vehicle mode, as seen in Ultimate Doom, when Brawn broke the laws of physics with it. That’s one helluva drill.
The more I mess with him, the more I like him. On a scale of one-to-Quakewave as far as 3rd Party MP figures go, he’s pretty close to what I was after. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t jump on an official one, but if you’re looking to fill in your minibot ranks, this one will serve well for the duration.
