Review: #266
Name: Breakdown
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Decepticon
Line: Generations - Combiner Wars
Year of Release: 2015
Size Class: Deluxe (Wave 2)
Mold Status: new mold
COMIC:
Breakdown's comic is Robots in Disguise #13
(or Combiner Wars #5). This plot in this
issue is the rioting and confusion amongst the citizens of Cybertron. Taking advantage of this, the Decepticons
lead and return to Megatron's lead. This
unfortunately means Starscream's hope of leading the planet through winning the
election all but crushed. The artwork is
good and the dialogue wasn’t too boring.
The plot was easy to follow, especially if you're reading this as a
one-shot. While of course it'll benefit
you have an idea of what went on before in the lead up, it was a intriguing
issue. What's also awesome about these
comics is that they began putting up a bigger and more detailed bio on the back
page, as well as photos of the gray model phase and coloring of the toy in the
last page, to show off some stuff in the design process.
VEHICLE MODE:
Breakdown naturally transforms into a Lamborghini, with the classic white with a red hood and some blue.
While he does have molded details in the rear of the vehicle, none of it is painted which is a massive shame as it makes it look very bland and lazy.
Breakdown is a Deluxe classed figure and he is a pretty decent size, he fills up your hand when you hold it.
You can plug all the weapons in this mode, the combiner piece can peg on top of the roof as a gun and the sword can either plug at the back or in one of the slots on the side.
There are also tabs on top of the vehicle and behind the spoiler to mount the combiner piece as a type of exposed engine, which looks fairly cool.
The only gimmick here are the rolling wheels, so it's a good thing that Breakdown looks so good. A great vehicle mode that's instantly recognizable for what it is.
TRANSFORMATION:
Breakdown's transformation while still generic, breaks the copy and paste transformation of some of the other Combiner Wars figures. The legs fold out from the sides, the arms unfold from the sides and the hood flips back to reveal his head and chest piece. That said, the hips are one of the more annoying aspects in that it does not lock into place.
ROBOT MODE:
Breakdown's robot mode is nice looking and very evocative of his G1 self. Sadly, there are some slight issues which prevent it from being a good mold, first off is that his torso is elongated while his legs are short.
He wears the hood on his back but since it is situated so close and is hollow, it is not a problem at all.
His headsculpt is square and blocky just the way you would expect and like. The red face is nice as well. It is situated on a balljoint and can look up, down, left and right.
He remains at a respective size in robot mode although there are some hollow areas such as his shins and his forearms. The forearms in particular are annoying in that it is a pure cost-saving exercise but makes his arms feel very insubstantial.
Breakdown has a lot of articulation, but this brings us to his major flaw. The hips don't lock into place and likes to swing above, causing unevenness of the legs. It is really annoying and something that should have been picked up.
The cool thing with Breakdown is that he has a chest piece to hide most of the combiner joint away, this adds so much character to him and was a very good design choice.
His first weapon is a sword blaster, which means he can hold it as you would a sword or use the other handle like a gun.
Breakdown can hold the sword in either hand. His legs remain his weakest point as they don't like to stay pegged in when posing him. What's more, the plastic used for him seems to be weaker than normal as they warp easily, especially the spoiler which acts as his heelspurs.
There is surprisingly a lot of paint, his shins are doused in blue, while the silver highlights on his torso are very nice.
He other weapon is the combiner piece which acts as a double barreled projectile weapon.
He can either hold it in his hand or it can attach to his backpack. Either way, it manages to pass off as a weapon and isn't too awkward looking.
Breakdown has an average robot mode, he looks good but his play value is dampened through the instability of his legs.
OVERALL:
Breakdown is the weakest mold from the Wave 2 Deluxes. That said, he is still a solid figure. The robot mode is weakened through the unstable legs. This is one of the first proper updates to the character with a mold that is specifically created for him, and just for that, he deserves a purchase.
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For other Transformers reviews, have a look at this page.
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Breakdown naturally combines with the other Stunticons to form Menasor. While Menasor will be covered in his own review, here's a quick look at Breakdown's other two modes.
First off, Breakdown forms the right leg for Menasor, and his leg mode is basically the vehicle propped up and the hood folded down.
His arm mode is a little bit more involved with the rear half transformed into his robot legs.
As Menasor, the downside of Breakdown's leg mode is that it leaves the knee exposed in full view, showing off the ugly combiner port. It would have been better if the designer could have incorporated a proper knee spike (you can still makeshift one, but it doesn't like to sit in place properly).
The combiner piece is too small to look good in combined mode unfortunately, and this is a big negative for the rest of the figures too.
In arm mode, he is quite good although the forearm is a bit thick just due to it being formed by the vehicle. That's it for now, thanks for looking!