X is for X-Brawn

COMING SOON



The Winning Toy

"X-Brawn loves extremes and is at his best in disastrous and brutal climates such as dry deserts and snowstorms. He doesn't waste tme on long-winded speeches and can be counted on to say it all in just a few words. He's very reliable and has fearsome strength. He is a martial arts master with an especially powerful left arm. His "Southpaw Lariat" is invincible."

Toyline: Robots in Disguise US

Generation: Robots in Disguise

Size Class: Deluxe

Faction: Autobot

Function: Strong-Armed Fighter

Quote: "Strength wins!"

Strength: 10

Intelligence: 8

Speed: 8

Endurance: 9

Rank: 9

Courage: 7

Firepower: 6

Skill: 6


Robot Mode



X-Brawn's robot mode is mostly silver and green with some red detailings and has a humanoid shape, except for the large car hood on his left arm.

X-Brawn's torso is sculpted with several car detailings, like a small engine in the center. His head is able to rotate to either side and bend backwards to his ball joint/hinge connector. The head is sculpted with a moth plate, forehead decorations and two golden eyes. He features a pair of holes on his back pack that can be used to store his two weapons (I only have one pictured, as I only own the gun/blaster, the other weapons resembles a blade/sword.

His upper arms are connected to the torso by a ball joint each that gives them articulation as long as there's no obstructions. The right lower arm is connected to the upper arm by a ball joint. The end of that arm leads to a set of sculpted fingers and a projectile slot where you can slot the weapons into to act as a gun or a sword. His left arm is connected to the upper arm by a pivot/hinge joint, and the lower arm is simply his vehicle mode hood. X-Brawn's hand is connected to that by a hinge and ball joint combination that allows it to move as far as you desire. His fingers are sculpted, and his thumb is able to move on a hinge-joint, which allows you to slot the silver bars on the weapons from his back, or the silver bumper from his vehicle mode as weapons

X-Brawn's upper legs are connected to his groin area by a pair of ball joints that allow them to move as freely as needed. his lower legs are connected by a pair of hinges on both legs that give him a knee and a second lower knee in you want him to (it's really just for his transformation sequence). His feet are made of of his spare wheel being split in half. The wheel becomes his heels and the guard for the wheel becomes the front section of the foot.


Alternate Mode



X-Brawn's vehicle mode is a silver SUV with green trim and a large Autobot insignia on the tip of the hood ("Robots in Disguise" my ass...<<)

X-Brawn features a few details like headlights, front grill, a hood that covers an engine, treaded tires on working wheels with silver hubcaps, and a sculpted spare tire on the very back with a guard around it.

X-Brawn's windows are transparent and allow you to see inside his vehicle mode, which whilst being good, so it looks realistic...is also bad since you can see his robot head and right arm folded inside..yeah...so much for a good disguise there X-Brawn...although quite shockingly, this small fault was actually featured in an episode of the Robots in Disguise cartoon, where the human Kelly was driving X-Brawn and then suddenly noticed his head right next to her in the passenger's seat, prompting a swift freak out of course.

X-Brawn's two main weapons are held in his undercarriage and act as extra support struts and steps etc, and the small silver piece that can be clipped in at the front as a front bumper.


Legacy

X-Brawn was a new character created for the Robots in Disguise series and acted as the eldest of the "Autobot Brothers" sub-group, made up of Side Burn, Prowl and himself. He appeared in most of the episodes and even gained an upgraded form when Ultra Magnus accidentally gave him and his brothers a power boost (making him look like a rally race car)

X-Brawn's toy was repainted a few times as alternate versions of himself (ie a clear version in Japan, his upgraded form, and some of the light differences between him and his Car Robots counterpart Wild Ride). He was also repainted as the Autobot Ratchet from the 2003 Universe line. He also had a smaller Spychanger sized toy made for the Robots in Disguise line based on his Deluxe toy as well.

X-Brawn's name and basic characteristics (ie very strong, SUV) are references to Brawn, whom he almost shares a name with. It's likely that X-Brawn is actually meant to be an alternate version of Brawn (like with Prowl) but since there have been other Brawns made in recent years, with the name Brawn still intact, it just makes sense to treat X-Brawn as a totally separate character.

X-Brawn is the only one of the Autobot Brothers whom have not had a recent G1 style update toy. Side Burn had one from the Collector's Club, Prowl's is the Universe 2.0 toy, but none for X-Brawn so far (here's hoping!)


Is he Cool?

Honestly? Yes, he is cool, though there are many toys who are better in both terms of character, looks and features, and I did only chose him because he was the only X in my collection, but he is still cool.

The Robots in Disguise franchise altogether is one of the most popular due to it being a mostly vehicle based series after a few years of mostly beasts (with only the Predacon being beasts in this one). This of course appealed to the G1 purists as it was like they were getting their own way, but also appealed to others due to it's new mold toys having great articulation, detail and characterizations, as well as most of the characters acting as updated versions of the older characters that the masses had loved over the years, whilst also bringing in new characters.

I personally feel that if you see this toy or any of his repaints, then he's well worth getting, especially if you can also get his brothers as well (and even more so since he's the only one to not have a Classics style toy yet as well)

I is for Injector

The Winning Toy

"He's got a face only a Predacon could love, but according to Injector, the vainest of the Predacons, he is the best thing to happen since Energon. Fused into two beasts - half lionfish, half hornet - he is as dangerous as it gets. He is armed with a massive stinger and thrusting splines that inject his victims with a paralyzing posion; in robot mode he wields a devastating stinger missile. Charismatic, clever, and evil to the core, Injector represents one of the Maximal's greatest threats."

Toyline: Beast Wars

Generation: Beast Era

Size Class: Deluxe Fuzor

Faction: Predacon

Function: Air Commander

Strength: 5

Intelligence: 8

Speed: 8

Endurance: 7

Rank: 7

Courage: 8

Fireblast: 6

Skill: 7


Robot Mode



Injector's robot mode is actually quite nimble, his limbs are pretty thin, and yet sturdy (with his legs fully capable to supporting his giant head, and his arms able to hold up a large gun. All of the articulation joints in his robot mode enable him to be positioned in pretty much any way needed

Injector is mostly black, purple, red and a dark yellow in colour, which works well in both modes (given his alternate mode)

Injector's arms are connected to his torso by a hinge, which enables his arms to be positioned 90 degrees forward or about 45 degrees backwards, the shoulder is connected to the connector by a ball joint, which is connected to his upper arm (that also holds his wing) via a pivot joint. This in turn leads to his elbow, which is connected to the upper arm by a pivot and hinge joint combinator, with the lower arm partially encased by his beast mode's gaster (the bit with the stinger). His hands are sculpted with fingers, but aren't articulated (however they do have peg holes to hold his gun. The wings on his arms can be moved on a hinge to any position desired

Injector's waist is able to rotate on a pivot joint 360 degrees, which connects to the upper legs via ball joints stemming from the groin area, which then leads to a pivot joint for the main portion of the leg. The knees are connected via a hinge joint, enabling a 90 degree bend backwards. The back and front portions of his feet are connected to the main part of the lower leg via hinges

Injector's head is pretty much the entire lionfish part of his alternate mode with his robot mode head slid down from the mouth, this of course means that his head is quite bi, especially compared to the rest of his body. Injector is also able to open and close his mouth, thanks to his transformation and beast mode, which is quite rare for a Beast Era toy (or any really). His face is mostly yellow with some black markings at the top (including a chevron). His eyes are green and he has a set of white teeth (that seem to resemble a zombie's in most comic books for some reason), Injector's rub sign insignia is found when you flip up his head, under the bulk of it. Injector has an organic looking torso, resembling a muscular man's. Four of Injector's beast mode legs are on his back as kibble and can be folded inwards out of the way.


Alternate Mode



Injector's beast mode is a Lionfish-Hornet Fuzor, basically meaning that he's the monstrous result of gene splicing on prehistoric Earth.

Unlike most Fuzors, Injector's alternate mode is actually quite cleanly divided in 2, with the Lionfish as his head, and the Hornet as his torso.

Injector's head is mostly purple and red with dark yellow balls places sporadically down the sides. He's designed with fins, gills and scales across it, giving it a more authentically fish-like feel. He has a large horn on the top of his head that's just for decoration. Injector's mouth is yellow with a purple mouth rim, and white teeth, which of course can be opened and closed, just like in robot mode. His beast mode eyes are green (like his robot mode eyes). Injector's head also has a spring loaded feature that activates by unclasping a hidden hook under the back of the fish head, which deploys his dorsal fin into 4 spikes that can be used as a jabbing weapon.

The torso is mostly yellow and black, like a real hornet's the gaster is black and yellow striped. There's not really much to say about this part of the toy, except that it's limbs are connected with a ball joint to the main torso, which means that they have very limited pose-ability. Although his gaster does hold a single purple missile that can be fired via a small trigger on the top of the weapon. Injector also has the wings from his robot mode on his back too, which can be posed in different angles to show flapping if needed. Injector can also be positioned in a "standing" position in needed by using the gaster as a third leg in a tripod-like system.


Legacy

Injector is one of the weirdest Transformers ever. His alternate mode is bizarre, and yet looks good, and his robot mode is interesting. In a weird way he actually fits the aesthetic of the Animated toyline quite well (despite being made over 10 years earlier)

Despite Injector's toy profile making him seem incredible, he hasn't shown this in any fiction really. He wasn't in the TV series, and his appearances in the IDW Beast Era comics was quite short. The only thing he really did in the comics was helped to subdue Rartorata with his venom (off screen) and then got killed by Shokaract on Cybertron! According to the Sourcebook, Injector had a Sleek Jte mode on Cybertron (and Rartorata's Cybertronian robot mode seems to back this up too)

Injector was only repainted/molded once, into Rartorata, in which he only received a very minor repaint (I can't even tell what the repaint was from images of Rartorata!). Rartorata was a Japanese exclusive figure for the Beast Wars Neo line, who was a Blendtron, a minion of Unicron. He appeared in this capacity in both the Beast Wars Neo cartoon and the IDW comics (where Injector was even asked about the similarities), however in both appearances the poor repaint was killed off. Rartorata was given a slight redesign in The Ascending from IDW, to differentiate himself from Injector.


Is he cool?

I have to say, I don't count Injector in my personal "Top XX" of favourite toys/characters, but I do like him. I'm sure most of you know by now that I love obscure characters, but I never really got into the Fuzors line until much later in my collecting days.

There's something I should note though, people have been moaning about the Movie character's "hideous" appearances etc, yet Injector was around about 10 years before that, gracing us with his giant zombie face and made up alternate mode, yet no one ever mentions it as bad.

Fuzors in general were a good idea, and well implemented, but were sadly far too underused, only appearing in the Beast Wars line really and being ignored in most other lines. The only possible Fuzor I can think of from a recent line is ROTF Voyager class Megatron (who was a combination of Tank and Jet). I mean think about it, wouldn't a car-jet Autobot Fuzor look quite cool?

Overall, although I do like him, and think his gimmick is cool, I won't recommend him as a must have toy, just because he's not the best looking figure, and he has very little fiction to back up buying him (unlike with Beast Wars Silverbolt or Quickstrike for example)