Toybox REVIEW: Transformers Age of the Primes Bruticus
With the five individual Combaticons now in hand, it's time to look at if they're worth more than the sum of their parts. The time of Age of the Primes Bruticus is now upon us - Hasbro's latest rendition arriving a whole decade later since their last effort in the Combiner Wars line. But with a Commander, two Voyagers and two Deluxes now costing fans around $236 (£212) in total, does the mighty combiner justify the equally mighty price tag?
Individual figure reviews can be found below;
Age of the Primes Bruticus uses the same "Combiner Frame" system previously seen with Legacy Menasor and Age of the Primes Superion, with Onslaught (or rather Onslaught's trailer section) transforming into a skeletal frame that the limb bots can then plug onto. Onslaught, Brawl and Swindle all have slightly more involved transformations to become their respective parts on Bruticus' body, but with Vortex and Blast Off it's literally just a case of splitting their vehicle modes in half and plugging them onto the arm frames. It is worth noting however that the built-in mechanic to split the vehicles in half via bending the arms is quite tight and could risk breaking the figure(s), so it's easier to just press down on the tabs manually to split them in half and then attach the parts to the frame. Once Swindle and Brawl have been transformed into their boxy limb modes they then plug straight into the skeleton's shins, with the arms of the individual bots then wrapping round and plugging onto the frame for additional security. Although the combiner frame system might not be as impressive as more integrated combiners like Devastator or Liokaiser (and even then both of those use waist parts not present in the individual bots), it does provide a fairly sturdy combined mode. Bruticus' frame also slightly differs from previous efforts in that the leg bots have the combined mode ankles built into them rather than just plugging onto the frame, which is why they were Voyager class figures rather than Deluxes.
With the five individual Combaticons merged together Age of the Primes Bruticus is a reasonably accurate interpretation of his G1 cartoon self, though the overall presentation does feature some slight design/colour changes and a bit of transformation cheating. For starters the chest place is built directly into Onslaught rather than being part of Blast Off, because if it were the latter it would be significantly undersized. Due to the way the Combiner Frame system works, Blast Off and the front half of Vortex are also the wrong orientation compared to the animation model. Finally there are a few colour tweaks stemming from the majority of the body being Onslaught's trailer, like the arm pieces being an olive green rather than matching the respective limb bots. I suppose it's enough to gripe about if you wanted a really cartoon accurate G1 Bruticus, but given all the compromises that would be needed to achieve that this definitely hits the spot for the most part. Being made up of five separate figures it probably goes without saying that Bruticus is pretty hefty, but what really stands out is how stable the combination is - everything tabs in nice and tightly, and nothing ever feels like it's suddenly going to collapse or pop off. Curiously while the instructions document storage space for the individual Combaticons' weapons, there's no mention of where to store Blast Off's. Thankfully there are plenty of peg holes and sockets across Bruticus' body, so if you are someone who wants to keep everything in one place you do have options.
The Combiner Frame system also means that the majority of Bruticus' articulation is built directly into Onslaught - not only making the combined mode extremely poseable but there also being little to no chance of pieces suddenly falling off if you move them the wrong way. Altogether Bruticus' features;
- Ball jointed head
- Swivel hinge shoulders and hips
- Hinged elbows, knees and ankle tilts
- Bicep, wrist, waist and thigh swivels
Bruticus' hip flaps are also hinged so can move independently to provide a greater range of hip articulation when posing. Overall Bruticus' articulation is pretty close to that of a standard Transformers figure, and as previously stated the fact it's a combiner doesn't seem to have any major impact on poseability at all. With the arms it all comes from the frame, and when it comes to the legs both Swindle and Brawl's built-in ankle tilts serve the combined mode well. The feet have a good surface area too, so there's slightly less risk of Bruticus suddenly toppling over once you've got the hang of the weight distribution and how the whole thing moves. The shoulders, elbows, hips and knees are ratchet joints too, adding extra strength as well as that ever-so-satisfying clicking sound. While there is the weight of the figure to consider when putting Bruticus into more action-orientated poses, it's still pretty impressive that the combiner is able to pull many of them off in the first place.
Bruticus' weapon is primarily made from Swindle's trailer/shoulder cannon, however you can make into a far more G1 toy-accurate rifle by simply plugging Swindle's arm cannon into the end. As mentioned in the Swindle review it's a shame that Hasbro made the bulk of the gun yellow rather than the all-black it was in the initial CG renders, but it's still a reasonably good looking weapon that wins points by being made up of transformable/combinable parts rather than a wholly separate piece (and if the colours do really bother you, it shouldn't be too difficult to repaint). As Bruticus doesn't have articulated hands, the rifle simply plugs into the peg hole in the middle of either fist. And while there isn't a proper peg midway down the extended barrel of Swindle's weapon, you can still pose Bruticus holding the combined weapon in a fairly convincing two-handed pose.
However if you want to give the Combaticon combiner some real extra firepower, Studio Series Shockwave's gun mode can also be repurposed as a shoulder-mounted cannon. This feature is exclusive the Studio Series version of the mould (so not present on the original Siege version or its subsequent repaints), and the steps to combine it with Bruticus documented in Shockwave's instructions rather than Bruticus'. Though the combination itself hasn't appeared in any previous Transformers fiction, it is however a call back to Bruticus wielding Shockwave in blaster mode in "The Revenge of Bruticus". It's a fun little homage, with Shockwave actually looking pretty good when clipped on. The connection is secure, and unlike Swindle's own shoulder cannon it doesn't take away the arm articulation either. Even though it isn't a way many collectors are probably going to display their Shockwaves, it's nice to see these figures have these extra gimmicks and play features that don't just strive for total G1 accuracy.
While the skeleton frame combiners might not be to everyone's tastes, when they result in toys as good as Age of the Primes Bruticus you can't really argue with the results. There's no getting around the fact that the bulk of the combined body being built into Onslaught skirts the line of him being a "combiner" in the traditional sense, but the figure definitely makes up for it in how functional it is. All the pieces fit together wonderfully, the sculpt (even if it strays slightly away from cartoon accuracy) is streamline with fairly minimal kibble and the articulation isn't at all compromised from it being made up of five completely different figures. The leg bots having gestalt mode joints integrated into them is also a significant improvement over the previous frame combiners, even if it might not quite justify their Voyager class price tag. Cheating be damned, Bruticus is just a really fun toy - and for many that might be a more important factor than needing to have everything fully integrated into the individual bots.
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