Toy Review: Transformers Age of the Primes Brawl (Voyager)

Review:  #942

Name:  Brawl

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Age of the Primes

Year of Release:  2026

Size Class: Voyager (Wave 4)

Mold Status:  new

TANK MODE:

Brawl, a new rendition of the G1 Combaticon, transforms into a tank.

This is a solid tank mode, not only looking solid, but feeling quite solid as well.

While sold as a Voyager, he doesn't quite reach that mass, or even complexity, which is slightly disappointing.  He's very compact as you'd expect of a contemporary Transformer.

The turret cannot rotate, but it can lift up.

He has small plastic wheels at the bottom to allow him to roll on a flat surface.

Brawl is heavily armed, in addition to the cannon, he has three additional guns from robot mode that can attach for some extra firepower.

It's a tank, and it works well as tank, but it's also a bit bland and uninspiring.

TRANSFORMATION:

Transformation is a slight step above Deluxes, so at least he justifies the higher price point a bit more.  The sides detach and fold together to form the legs.  While we have seen this type of transformation before, it's still fun and impressive here.  The rest is not as interesting, with the front forming the torso, and parts of the sides the arms and shoulders.

ROBOT MODE:

Brawl's robot mode is like tank mode, in that it's functional and there aren't any flaws, but just uninspired and nothing really catches your eye or impresses you.

He has the turret on his back and it's basically the only kibble that he has.

The head sculpt is nice, and unmistakably brawl.  The orange highlights are interesting though.

In robot mode, it's more obvious how much closer in size he is to a Deluxe.  You can't help but feel that Hasbro overcharged, as while he is more complicated and well built compared to a Deluxe, he doesn't quite reach the Voyager level of expectations.

Articulation is as good as you'd expect of recent figures, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles.

As mentioned, he comes with three additional guns, which is a lot of extra weaponry.

The smaller gun can be held in his arm, or attached to the 5mm port on his forearm.

While the two bigger cannons peg onto the turret on his back to act as shoulder cannons, which is a pretty sweet placement.

For storage, all the guns can attach onto his turret backpack.

Despite being a relatively simple toy, for some reason, the Combaticons are flawed.  Due to his arms being folded halves of part of sides of the tank mode, they appear to be too thin and out of proportion.

It's not the end of the world, but doesn't quite complete the bulkier / buff look that you'd expect of the character.

Brawl has a decent, if uninspired, robot mode.

OVERALL:

As a standalone, it is tough to recommend Brawl unless you really like the design or character.  As a part of the Combaticons, he is essential.  It could have been a lot worse, and to be honest, the figure doesn't appear to be much compromised due to being part of a combiner, but at the same time, with all the advancements design over the years (almost ten years since the Combiner Wars version!), you would have expected something that's leaps and bounds better too.

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Toy Review: Transformers Timelines Age of Samurai Starscream (Deluxe)

Review:  #941

Name:  Starscream

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Timelines - Age of Samurai

Year of Release:  2026

Size Class: Deluxe

Mold Status:  new

PACKAGING:

The Timelines Age of Samurai two-pack comes with Optimus Prime and Starscream, in a fancy box, with a really nice piece of artwork on the front.

The sides have further artwork that are inspired by the time period that these figures are based on.

The outer sleeve comes off, to reveal a book style packaging that you can open and review the figures through the transparent windows, so that if you didn't want to open them, you can still enjoy the figures.

It's a neat packaging and one that does make the set a little bit more special.

ALTERNATE MODE:

With a Feudal Japanese theme, Starscream transforms into a mechanical eagle.  It's not quite as unique and interesting as Optimus Prime.

It's not a bad beast mode, apart from the robot legs clearly sticking out the bottom, and makes the eagle seem a bit too much legs.

As a Deluxe, he is not a bad size.  Being a beast, he has the advantage of appearing bigger than most vehicular Transformers.

A quick comparison against Optimus, there's a bit of a scaling issue given that Starscream is so much bigger compared to Optimus...

The head sculpt is actually really good, it looks suitably evil. The mouth can open and close too.

In terms of articulation, the wings can open up or fold down, and he has a pair of guns underneath each wing.

A decent beast mode, it's tough cramming a whole robot into such a small beast mode so the obvious robot legs can be slightly forgiven.

TRANSFORMATION:

Looking so similar to Kingdom Airazor, you might think they'll share the exact or at least a very similar transformation.  To be honest, Starscream's transformation scheme is surprisingly different enough to remain interesting.  The legs obviously become the robot legs, and they're simple.  However, the arms are folded within the torso of the eagle mode, which you then unfold.  You fold the eagle head back, and fill in the spot with the torso piece.

ROBOT MODE:

Robot mode is immediately recognizable as Starscream, from the guns on his arms, to the wings on his back.

Impressively, he doesn't have much kibble, and his wingspan is wider than you'd expect.

The head sculpt is quite nice as well, and captures the evilness of the character.

He's around the height of a typical Deluxe in robot mode.

However, the theme is not as strong as it was on Optimus.  It's still there, but less obvious.

And a quick shot against Airazor to show how similar or different they are to each other.  Starscream is clearly inspired by that figure though.

Articulation is good, he has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles.

He comes with a plethora of weapons, with two guns and a war fan.

The guns that are normally attached to his arms, can be detached and held in his hands.

Similarly, the fan can be held in his hand.  It's a unique weapon.

The fan can store on his back, in the same place as beast mode, where it was the eagle's tail feathers.

Despite his joints being mostly hinges, Starscream is super flexible and is able to pull of various poses.

A slight negative is his color scheme is muted, mostly thanks to the shade of grey used, which makes him look blander than it should.

It's still a strong robot mode and doesn't have many flaws.

OVERALL:

While Optimus is the stronger figure, mostly in terms of the application of the theme, Starscream is no slouch either.  He's better designed in terms of feeling more solid and proportion.  They come in a two-pack anyway, and they are both worth getting.

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