Transformers Generations: Bruticus Fall of Cybertron (FoC) (Hasbro Retail) Review

Bruticus Online.  Ready for Action!

Created by Shockwave during work on Crystal City, Bruticus is the combination of 5 individual robots called Combaticons.  Although each robot forming Bruticus is intelligent (maybe not Brawl), the combined robot proved more difficult to control but could easily defeat armies of Autobots.

The molds were originally released in the summer of 2012 during the San Deigo Comic Con (SDCC) in game accurate colors but for the mass retail release Hasbro tweaked the colors of Bruticus to appeal more to kids by covering the palette of the rainbow with red, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

Onslaught

Leader of the Combaticons, Onslaught is cunning, precise, and intelligent.  He is usually the mastermind behind the Combaticons' success.

Interestingly, Onslaught is more color accurate to the video game than the SDCC's grey/brown Onslaught.  But since Bruticus has a  grey chest piece, the SDCC version is a better Bruticus piece than the retail release.

Box:

Missile Carrier mode:

Onslaught's arm fold up over the top and the gun connects to his arm.  The back is fairly open.  It really doesn't look intimidating at all.

Bot Mode:

The arms do not open out to the side at the shoulders but only at the elbow making some very awkward arm poses.  His shoulders can be rotated 360 degrees.  His legs are blocked from bending back by Bruticus' waist piece sitting on Onslaught's bum.  The worst part is Onslaught's head doesn't pop up all the way up unless you force it over the tabs inside.  I didn't want to break my toy so I didn't do it for this photo but I've read others who had success without breaking their toy.

Bruticus Chest Mode:

Onslaught's arms are bent backwards and told 2 pegs at the back - pretty half-ass.  The arms also block his waist from rotating a full 360 degrees.  Onslaught's gun can be plugged to the back of Bruticus to fill up the gap.  It's really neat how rotating Onslaught's head brings up Bruticus' head.  I used to lose my G1 combiner heads all the time but this new design prevents that from happening.  The legs can move out to the sides but the leg pegs into place prevent any front/back movement unless you un-peg them which will give you free motion.  The connectors use the same ones found on the Powercore Combiners (PCC) so you can swap limbs - but I can't see anyone liking the PCC limbs more.

Blast Off

Vortex is the reckless speed demon

Box:


Shuttle:

It's really nice to have all the pieces tab or peg together to create a solid shuttle mode. It's not a pretty shuttle but it's more convincing than Onslaught's missile carrier

Bot mode:

The best looking bot mode from all the Combaticons.  His legs have a full range of movement typical of modern deluxe Transformers.  The shoulders limit the arms from rotating his arms up but there's enough freedom to get some good poses.

Arm mode:

There are a number of ways to create the arm mode for Blast Off.  This one is my favorite because it keeps the shuttle engine at the bottom like the video game while keeping his arm length proportional to the rest of his body. The Hasbro instructions create an arm that reaches almost to Bruticus' knees.  Unlike the SDCC version, the connector is black and not purple.

The fist:

Vortex includes two thumbs so he can be used on either arm of Bruticus.  It's really neat how every Combaticon include a hand piece.

Vortex

The worst color scheme of all the retail Combaticons. It's a bright red helicopter that flies against a grey/blue Cybertron sky.

Box:


Helicopter mode:

It's a decent helicopter mode.  Getting all the panels at back can be tricky.

Bot mode:

His head can't rotate.  His rotors can't be rotated to the side of his arm.  His arms, although have a weird angle at the elbow, have a full range of motion.

Arm mode:

The Hasbro instructions have the arm extended further and his palm facing forward.  I've shortened it and turned the front of the helicopter so the arm rests more naturally.  Unlike the SDCC version, the connector is black and not purple.

Ninja chop hand:

It's nice to see the hand integrated with the toy but I wished it was a closed fist.  The thumb can rotate either side to lie flat with the other fingers.

Swindle

Always the one to look for opportunities, Swindle doesn't care about the fate of Cybertron put looks out for Autobot bodies to trade.

Box:


Jeep mode:

The second weakest vehicle mode.  That weapon won't scare anyone and you can see his arm on the side along with his hands.  The top front and top back piece are tricky to push together and be careful of not breaking the tabs that hold them together when you pull them apart.  Pushing Swindle's head down was difficult on my toy because the right side of his face had a mold defect that made it too big to push push down.  I had to wedge it in.

Bot mode:

The second best bot mode.  The weakness are his hollow back and shoulders that don't sit higher.  He has a full range of motion.

Leg mode:

A really solid leg mode.  Unfortunately the top part doesn't really snap or peg into place so when you bend at the joint, the keep top part moves out of place too.

Arm mode:

He also has one of the best hand molds in the Combaticons. He even has two of them for being either the right arm or left arm.

Brawl

Brawl is the most destructive brute of the Decepticons. He relies on others to plan the fight and he'll bring the firepower.

Box:


Tank mode:

I love tanks so I'm partial to this mode.  The gun turrent can rotate 360 degrees.  Since he's a hover tank, he doesn't have wheels and not very fun.

Bot mode:

Brawl is the worst bot mold of the Combaticons.  He's very back heavy and his tiny feet don't hold in place so he easily falls forward or back.  He also have very big shoulders than limit his arm movement.

Leg mode:

But Brawl has a very good leg mode that's fairly sturdy.  Unlike the SDCC version, the connector is grey and not purple.

Arm mode:

His hand is more like a shovel.  He can only bend at the shoulder so it's not a very good arm mode.

The Gang

All the vehicles:


Top of the vehicles:


With all the guns:



Front of the bot mode (Click image for larger version):


Top of the bot modes (Click image for larger version):


The Weapons

Separate Weapons:


Combined:

It's not great looking but it's neat to make your own weapon.

Bruticus
Combaticons! Combine into Bruticus

Bruticus Front (Click image for larger version):

Any of the 4 limbs can be any other limb on Bruticus so you have a lot of creative freedom with forming Bruticus.  The arms of Bruticus seems to be the biggest problem with fans having numerous ways to create them.  The legs are fairly standard transformation and very good at keeping Bruticus standing up.

Bruticus Left (Click image for larger version):


Bruticus Right (Click image for larger version):


Bruticus Back (Click image for larger version):

Although Bruticus covers the colors of the rainbow, it works because each Combaticon shares colors with another Combaticon to create a cohesive color scheme - Onslaught has green from Brawl, Vortex has purple from Blast Off, and Blast Off has yellow from Swindle.

Bruticus is articulated:

Unlike the old scramble city combiners, Fall of Cybertron Bruticus can bend at the knees elbows allowing him to get some great poses while destroying the Autobots.


They look great in their bot modes for display with your other War for Cybertron (WFC) or Fall of Cybertron (FoC) figures


But the real beauty is combining the combaticons together to form the all powerful Bruticus to dominate over all your other deluxe figures

As individual toys the Combaticons are fairly average to poor toys with weak plastic, fairly ugly vehicle modes, and some have very limited articulation in bot mode.  But since they also combine into a larger robot with decent articulation, arms and head integrated with the toys, and limbs able to assume both leg and arm modes, this comes together to create a very awesome toy.  This is truly a sum of the pieces is greater than the individuals.   Overally I really enjoy this toy and highly recommend getting all of them!

Eric Toy Score: 4 out of 5

Publisher: Hasbro
Year: October 2012
MSRP: $15.99 each