Transformers Studio Series 86 Brawn review (2022)

Brawn was one of my favorites of the original G1 Transformers. He was a minibot, which made him noticeably smaller than most of his fellow Autobots, but that didn’t stop him. And in a completely non-Scrappy Doo fashion, Brawn wasn’t a nuisance as he was one of the stronger Autobots.

I really should stop saying was in past tense as my now several decades removed from The Transformers The Movie refuses to play along with the idea that Brawn is dead. It’s not like other characters got killed when they got shot. Steps off of soapbox. With Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Huffer and Gears in my collection, I was looking for the hard-hitting Minibot to battle the Decepticons.

Let’s see if Brawn is up to the task or if he is going to be shuttle fodder.

Packaging: Hasbro has updated this packaging yet again, but I was largely OK with this Studio Series 86 presentation save for that one issue of only being able to see a little bit of the figure.

Sure, that helped prevent thefts and swaps, but it sure made it annoying to actually see what was going on with the lower half of the figure. It’s definitely a colorful setup with the base black and red and light blue accents.

My favorite part of the packaging is the artwork showing Brawn charging into battle. The right side has most of the artwork while a sliver is shown on the left side.

Over on the shot of the figure in both his bot and alt mode and the number of steps to transform him. The bio is very brief, but I dig how it’s written to really paint Brawn as a heroic Autobot.

Likeness: Brawn doesn’t seem to be using parts from another previously made figure. I’m thinking that’s not the case since so much seems tailored just for him as he’s got a wider, stocky frame. He looks ready for action with a stern expression.

Brawn is shorter, but he certainly looks like he’s gonna be a problem for a few Decepticons in the same way that Ironhide looks more formidable than say Jazz, Wheeljack or Tracks. That’s in part due to his wider shoulders and legs.

This is definitely more of a G1 cartoon take on Brawn with the shelled helmet, bright blue eyes and ‘goatee’ setup faceplate. Ditto for the beveled chest and two numbs on his hood piece.  The triangle tabs on his feet have been moved up to his knee section and there is a missing triangle section in his crotch piece, but everything else is impressively accurate.

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Scale: Hasbro diversified the scale of the Minibots so Brawn is the same height as Huffer, slightly taller than Gears and noticeably taller than Bumblebee and Cliffjumper. He’s just a bit shorter than Jazz, Wheeljack and Sunstreaker and decidedly shorter than Ironhide, Ratchet or Trailbreaker.

Alt Mode: Brawn’s alt mode is a Land Rover Defender. It’s a good sturdy vehicle befitting a powerhouse like Brawn. The tire at the top does rotate a bit.

In the Land Rover mode, he’s still bulky and taller than other Minibots and many of the regular size sports cars.

Transformation: Brawn takes 23 steps to complete. He’s not terribly complicated and he’s one of the few that I could follow along with the instructions and just needed a quick peek at a video transformation to properly line up some tabs in place.

Paint: Brawn features a very solid paintjob. The biggest knock on the Studio Series 86 figures is some of the colors, particularly yellow, aren’t consistent on certain parts of the plastic.

He features more of a maize color, which makes for a nice contrast with the olive-green shoulders and legs. His dark grey helmet plays off the silver face plate well.

Smaller details like the forearms and the knees in silver also make for a good color flow. Brawn is a rare Autobot whose blue eyes are prominent and give him more of an alive appearance. The Autobot logo is very sharp as well.

Articulation: Brawn likes getting his hands dirty and prefers brawling with Decepticons rather than blasting them. It helps that he’s got good range in his shoulders to launch one above his shoulders.

His ankles provide some good stability to him, which is necessary as the back of his hood hangs down to the back of his knees. This means you have to be mindful of how you pose Brawn simply because turning his waist frequently means grabbing the hood along with the waist. That setup does hinder his knee articulation specifically running poses.

Brawn has:

• neck
• bicep
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbows
• wrists
• wrist hinge
• torso
• waist
• hips
• thighs
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles

Accessories: Brawn typically battled Decepticons with his fists so I wouldn’t have whined if he didn’t come with anything. He does get the blaster you’d see him occasionally use in the cartoon when all the Autobots had to fire at the Decepti-creeps.

It’s a decent size blaster and definitely feels like something Brawn would use in combat if he had to (gasp) fight from a distance.

The barrel is open so you can plug in blast effects into it for more dynamic photos.

Worth It? Brawn was $23. I always have to consider Transformers have more to do than just be base action figures, so all that fun transformation ability adds to the cost. He’s not horribly priced and doesn’t have a lot of accessory options.

It would be cool if Hasbro gave characters like Brawn some random Energon cubes as those are always useful for Transformers.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Brawn is a really solid figure whose only flaw is that he’s held back slightly by the back portion that hinders some of his articulation in bot mode.

Where to Get It?  Target and Walmart started to get Brawn in with no trouble after I found my version. Otherwise, you can always go the Amazon route, which also has him in stock.

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