Universe Brawn

Robot Mode: As a robot Brawn holds but very little resemblance to the G1 Toy of the same name, but quite a bit to the G1 character we saw in the cartoon series. This version of Brawn here is a bit more slender than the bulky strongman we saw on the screen, but still, it's easy to recognise him. Especially the head and chest are spot on. Posability-wise Brawn has balljoints in the shoulders, allowing for a full range of motion there. No elbows, sadly, but barely any Legends figure ever had one.

One thing that bothers me a bit, though: Brawn has knee joints, but they go in the wrong direction. He can only bend his knees forward, something he needs for his transformation, but how hard could it have been to have them bend backwards as well? The joints are there, it's only some plastic that's in the way. Sadly, no go. So his posability is rather limited. Apart from that, though, a pretty nice robot mode. Possible the beast Brawn yet (not that there have been in all that many to begin with).

Alternate Mode: Brawn still transforms into a small, green 4-wheel-drive vehicle. The spare tire is no longer on the top, but rather the back, and he's a lighter green than Brawn's original, deep green. The vehicle has decent detailing, including a front bumber, headlights, and coloured windows. Pretty good for its size class. Not much more I can write here, though. It's a small, green car. Can't write novels about that. All in all a good, solid vehicle mode.

Remarks: I really like Brawn. The strong, tough little guy that loved to throw around Decepticons twice his size and refused to believe that there was anyone he couldn't beat. Sadly he died in the 1986 Transformers Movie and we haven't really seen much of him since (unless you count RID's X-Brawn), so it's really nice to see him appear in the Universe line-up. And though I'm not usually a fan of Legends-class figures, it is fitting somehow that the G1 Minibots, who were pretty much the Legends-figures of G1, are now reincarnated in this size-class. So overall, I'm pretty satisfied with Brawn. Posability could be better, but apart from that: Solid. Recommended to all Brawn fans.

Rating: B