Name: Brakedown
Series: Movie Tie-ins
Allegiance: Decepticon
Alternate Mode: Sports Car
CAR MODE
Height: 3.5cm Length: 9.5cm Width: 5cm
An off white sports car with glossy black windows, black plastic tyres with silver hubcaps, a gunmetal engine cover at the back and silver headlights. There's a red patch on the hood (mimicking that found on G1 Breakdown). There's a silver Decepticon logo on the left side of this red area. The taillights are red with a gunmetal patch between them and a small Decepticon logo just above the gunmetal bumper. It's a surprisingly thorough colour scheme for a scout - and one that is a very clear tribute to his G1 namesake (well, almost namesake).
This is a fairly wide car, and a fairly sleek one. There are some aerodynamic lines on either door along with side mirrors. There's a raised spoiler on the back. I'm not sure if Brakedown is based on any particular car, although he's quite likely based on a prototype (as is common for movie car modes). The play value is limited to rolling Brakedown on his wheels, although on mine both front wheels are slightly off, so it rolls poorly - the front left wheel on mine is pretty useless, actually.
A fairly simple car mode but one with a well applied paint job making for a strong tribute. It's a shame Hasbro lost the original name, but this tweak is close enough and the colour scheme here obvious enough to make the tribute work well. The play value is minimal, which is to be expected of a ROTF scout, I guess.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Unclip and pull the doors out to the sides. Swing down the front of the car, collapse the groin into place. Split the front, rotate forming his legs. Swing back the hood halves to form heelspurs, pull out his feet. Extend the taillight section, releasing the back of the car's roof. Fold back the roof, rotate the front of the roof. Push the taillights in to form the chest, flip up his head. Swing the arms down to his sides and pivot the forearms into position.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 10.5cm Width: 6.5cm
An off white, black and blue robot, Brakedown wears the taillights across his chest. His chest, upper arms and thighs are white while his head, forearms, boots and groin are blue while the waist and hands are blue. Brakedown has a red face with yellow eyes, again a tribute to the G1 toy. That smaller Decepticon logo on the back of the car is now central on his chest. The layout is only vaguely reminiscent of the Stunticon, and it works well visually.
Brakedown has very long arms - they reach down to his ankles. There's some backpack which stays out of the way in the form of the car's roof, but overall he has a fairly good bodyshape. The long arms are more of a feature than a liability - they're lanky rather than ungainly. The detailing is typical movieverse, with fairly spindly and intricate detailing on his limbs.
Brakedown's play value is restricted to his poseability - like most movie scouts there are no weapons or gimmicks here. His neck, shoulders, wrists and hips are ball jointed while the elbows are double hinged with rotators. His knees and ankles are hinged, there are rotators above the knees. Brakedown's waist is fixed and his heelspurs aren't especially useful, so the range of dynamic leg poses is low, but you can do quite a bit with his arms.
A good robot mode which works well visually and again nails the tribute to G1 nicely. The play value is a little limited - some sort of weapon would have been nice, even if it was only a sculpted one. The limitations aren't quite enough to prevent Brakedown's robot mode from being a solid one at this scale - the tribute, good colours and generally good poseability are all plusses here.
VARIATIONS
None that I'm aware of.
OVERALL
A good toy if not a great one, Brakedown has two good modes and a very strong tribute. There's not a lot of play value here - even at scout size I miss a weapon - but he displays well in both modes. The tribute is perhaps his main asset - Brakedown is the first real Breakdown tribute we've seen, and the tribute is handled well. Recommended if you like movie line scouts, or if you're a fan of the Stunticon - 7/10
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