Car Robots Brave Maximus

Prelude: I know I don't normally do another full review for a repaint of a figure I've reviewed previously, but there is an exception to everything. Fortress Maximus was one of but three survivors from my childhood collection and the first figure I reviewed here on this website. So if a repaint of any figure deserves a full review of its own, he's the one. That, and Brave Maximus was a present from my loving wife. I never thought I'd get so lucky as to find a woman like that. So there you go. A full review for Brave Maximus.

Robot Mode: Brave Maximus (along with his predecessors, of course) is the tallest Transformer ever made, standing at an amazing 55 centimeters (that's more than 21 inches for those still stuck with Imperial measurements). His giant body leaves ample room for lots and lots of detailing. His colouring is a bit 'wilder' than those of Fortress Maximus. He has deeper blues, more red, and some yellow and green thrown in as well. You might think he's too colourful, but I don't think so. He looks mighty fine. Posability-wise he isn't bad for a (re-issued) G1 Transformer. He can move his arms at the shoulders, elbows, and wrists and his legs at the hip. No knees, but his feet can move, too. He can't exactly do dynamic poses, but what G1 Transformer could?

In the weapons area Maximus has a lot to offer. Unlike his predecessors he doesn't come with any hand weapons, but he doesn't really need them anyway. Maximus has guns in his forearms and hands, two big double-barrelled cannons in his legs, and two huge main guns that flip out from his hip. That's enough fire power to blow away entire regiments of Decepticon or Predacon troops.

In the cartoon the compartment with the green panel that serves as his left shoulder was the cockpit / control center for Maximus and it is possible to put a decent-sized figure in there. You can open quite a few other compartments on Maximus' body as well in this mode, though they are really there for use in the city or space cruiser mode, so let's disregard them here. All in all Maximus is a great robot. His size works against him a bit, seeing as he's really too large to actually play with a lot, but for a collector like me there really is nothing to complain about here. A superb robot mode.

Alternate Modes: Maximus can assume two alternate modes. The first is his star cruiser mode. Basically he lays down into his back and the main tower from the city mode is flipped upwards, that's it. With some imagination it could be called a space ship and looked at from certain angles it does look pretty cool. If you look at it from the top, though, you can't help but see that it is a robot lying on his back. The cruiser is equipped with quite a few weapons, utilizing the guns in Maximus' legs and those of the extra platform that is attached to the left leg. The Headmaster Plasma can take a seat in the cockpit at the top of the central tower, serving as a pilot. All in all the star cruiser mode isn't bad, but it's the worst of Maximus' three modes.

By far the better alternate mode is Maximus' city mode (called Cybertron City in Car Robots). Okay, it looks more like a futuristic base than a city, but in my humble opinion it's by far the best base/city mode of any Transformer ever made. It's a giant fortress with three on-ramps, a huge central tower, and tons of fun details. This is also where Brave Maximus has one huge advantage over Fortress Maximus, his city mode looks far more detailed. Especially the towers, where yellow highlights let you imagine that the lights are on in the numerous rooms inside the base. Really nicely done. On the downside the city isn't as heavily armed as Fortress' city mode is, because Brave is missing the two handguns which would have served as tower armaments, but that's not really much of a downside.

The city mode has all the same features it had for Fortress Maximus. A prison cell, a docking bay, an internal elevator that can lift a small vehicle from the bottom level to the central ramp, where it can then be launched, and numerous other features. The RID cars (and smaller vehicles, of course) fit onto the ramps, so they can serve as inhabitants for Cybertron City. In case you didn't notice until now, I really like this city mode.

Partners / Add-Ons: Two additional robots are part of Brave Maximus and they really are a literal part of him. The smalles figure is Plasma (called Cerebros in the RID cartoon), a standard Headmaster figure. He's pretty posable for such a little guy and decently detailed, too. Plasma becomes the head of Brave (called Emissary in RID), who in my opinion looks a bit better than G1 Cerebros did, simply because he's a bit more colourful. Brave is about Deluxe-sized (by today's standard) and a decent, if unspectacular robot. Brave in turn becomes the head of Brave Maximus and looks really good in the process. Oh, and you can leave Plasma attached when transforming Brave into head-mode. The bigger head still fits onto Maximus' shoulders.

Brave Maximus did away with the robot Cog, who could split into the vehicles Gasket and Grummet. But seeing as they were pretty much just an extra that served no real function for the figure as a whole, I can live with that. What he does have instead, though, is a map onto which Maximus' city mode can be placed. The map is printed on the back of his instruction sheet and it is actually but a small part of a much larger map that you could get as an extra by way of mailing in robot points in Japan. Sadly I don't own the larger map, but even this smaller one is lots of fun, as it puts a street grid before the city on which the RID cars (or other car Transformers of course) can drive. It even offers train tracks for Team Bullet Train. So all in all a very nice extra.

Remarks: Fortress Maximus made numerous cartoon appearances throughout his various incarnations. The original figure appeared both in the American G1 three-parter "The Rebirth" as well as in the Japanese G1 Headmaster series. His immediate successor Grande Maximus played a role in the Japanese Masterforce series. And finally this version here, Brave Maximus, was the sought-after holy grail in the Car Robots cartoon, which made its way across the pond into the US under the name "Robots in Disguise".

As a figure Brave Maximus is just as good as the original was. He comes with a few less add-ons and extras, but I really like his changed colours and the playmat on the back of the instruction sheet. Now unless you are a hardcore fan like myself, there really is no need to get two versions of Maximus (much less three, I'm still looking for an affordable Grand Maximus), but if you can make a bargain, you should really own at least one version of this excellent mold. Brave Maximus was an early Christmas present from my beloved wife. It was a very, very nice suprise. So bottom line, one Maximus is a must for every Transformers collector who wants to be taken seriously.

Rating: A

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