Cliffbee.com BotCon (Animated) Breakdown Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Breakdown
Series: Convention Exclusives
Allegiance: Decepticon
Function: Scout
Alternate Mode: Futuristic Sports Car



SPORTS CAR MODE
Height: 4.5cm Length: 13cm Width: 7.5cm

   An off white and dark blue sports car in the spirit of G1 Breakdown, Breakdown is a repaint of Animated Rodimus Prime. Much of this car is off white, with the blue confined to the lower edges and the exhausts on the rear fenders. The hood and a patch on his roof are painted dark red, mimicking the red hood of the original toy. Both the headlights and taillights are painted a much brighter red - it's a shade or two short of being a dayglo red. His windows are a smokey transparent plastic while the engine cover at the back and tyres are black plastic. Rounding out the colour scheme, Breakdown has a blue engineblock on his hood and silver painted hubcaps. It's an attractive colour scheme and one that's both different from Rodimus and a strong tribute to the original Breakdown. There is no allegiance symbol visible in this mode.

   As with all Animated toys, Breakdown is stylised, but since he's designed as a futuristic car, this effect is very diluted here. The lines here are sleek yet angular, the car looks very fast and this is even more pronounced by the excessively large V-shaped spoiler on the back (the only clearly stylised element here). There's a slightly awkward gap underneath the spoiler, but this is only really noticeable from directly behind the car.

   Breakdown's play value is fairly standard, but not lacking. The wheels turn of course, and along with his weapon they provide the play value. He has a double crossbow - a curved blue device which can plug into his engine cover. It carries - and fires - two off white missiles. The spring-loaded launchers are quite powerful, and the triggers are easy to press if you're not watching where you put your fingers.

   A good car mode, and while it's fairly easy to see that it's designed for Rodimus, it works well enough for Breakdown - especially in these colours. The missile launcher provides some play value while this sleek car mode is more realistic than most Animated toys, which helps with the tribute since there's more of a G1 feel here.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Detach and set aside the missile launcher. Unclip the rear fenders and pull out to the sides forming arms. Rotate the doors to form forearms & fold out the hands. Swing out the legs from underneath, fold over the hood (which becomes his chest) which reveals the head, rotate the engineblock to reveal his Decepticon logo. Fold the front wheels under his chest, push the chest down. Straighten his legs, push in the blue panels on his thighs, flip up his feet. Fold up the roof onto his back and place the launcher in either hand.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 16.5cm Width: 10.5cm

   An off white robot with a blue head, blue hands & boots. Breakdown has dark red on his chest and face, while his eyes are orange and his mouth white. There's some bright red on his waist and shoulders while in the centre of his chest is a stamped purple Decepticon logo over a purple and silver circle (a feature shared with the other Animated Stunticons). It's a fairly simple colour scheme and a simple yet very effective colourmap. And the colours _really_ do sell this toy as Breakdown now - only the fin behind his head really alludes to Rodimus now. mode.

   As with all Animated moulds, Breakdown's bodyshape is stylised. The shoulders are big & his upper body is wider than his relatively narrow legs. Breakdown has a fairly large chin, although it's not as large as some other Animated toys. The bodyshape is still quite good, even if these aspects aren't quite realistic. The fin on his back is a visually appealing feature.

   Breakdown has a retooled head compared to Rodimus; it's not really G1 Breakdown but it's not Rodimus either, which really helps mark this tribute work. It's a very "Animated" face with a large chin and white inside his mouth, so it fits the rest of the figure.

   Breakdown's very poseable, with ball joints in his neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips and ankles. The elbows also feature hinges while the knees are about the only place where he doesn't have ball joints - but then they have hinges & rotators, giving him excellent poseability. The feet are heelspurs aren't huge but they're enough for most poses while his ankles are tight enough. He can hold the twin missile launcher in either hand - and he does so by gripping the shaft between the two launchers. This limits how he can point the weapon, but his arms are posable enough to make this a non issue in terms of action poses.

   A good robot mode with excellent play value and some really nice features such as the rotating panel to give him a smooth chest and the fin behind his head. The poseability is great and the weapon works well. The bodyshape works well and the resculpted head is a nice bonus, and one that combines with the colours to make this robot mode work well as Breakdown.

VARIATIONS

   As mentioned he is a repaint of Animated Rodimus. Being a limited exclusive, Dead End was likely produced in a single production run, making variants unlikely.

OVERALL

   A good Animated mould that works well in both modes, and while the vehicle mode clearly shows its heritage as Rodimus, it works well as Breakdown thanks to a focused repaint. The resculpted head is a nice extra here, rounding off a good repaint of a good mould. While I'll stop short of recommending a limited, exclusive toy, this one's definitely worth tracking down if you're interested - 9/10

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