Death's Head
17-08-11, 05:48 PM
If the original 1980s toyline had continued, figures like Breacher here would probably be a good example of how that line may have evolved, so traditional looking is he. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but perhaps is a little telling of how some of Hasbro’s designers view the overly complicated movie designs.
Breacher is some form of APC, rendered largely in deep blue. Although highly detailed, with rivets and panels appearing all over the shop, there are only a few splashes of white to break up the monotony. Likewise, the wheels, detailed with hubcaps and more rivets, are plain black. Although I wouldn’t expect military hardware such as this to be an explosion of colour, some of Hasbro’s usual ‘battle damage’ black paint or brown muddy flecks would have stopped this looking like a rolling Lego brick. A nice rotating set of roof mounted cannons tops things off.
For his size, Breacher is one of the more complex HFTD Scout toys. He goes through some excellent, if fiddly, twists and turns to get into robot mode. Definitely not a toy for younger fingers, particularly as the purposely removable cannons are likely to fall off during transformation, meaning second hand versions of this toy are likely to be missing this part. Like ROTF Mixmaster, Breacher completely unravels before folding back up as a robot – a sequence which is more durable in larger toys and one that needs handling with care in figures of this size.
The resultant robot mode is excellent. Although still predominantly blue, he’s complimented by wider use of whites and blacks, with some flashes of red picking out more details. His face sculpt is excellent, with a gruff and serious looking visage scanning the horizon for enemies – and nice green eyes too! As with the best Scout toys, he’s got at least 10 points of articulation, so can achieve a good range of movement and poses very well without toppling over. The cannons can be removed from his back and clipped to the knuckle dusters on his right or left fists to give him a bit of firepower. This sort of weapon attachment reminds me that it is a very long time since Transformers just had a gun that they held in their hand. One wonders whether this is now a deliberate choice to somehow make giant warring space robots somehow less violent.
In terms of overall looks, appearance and transformation, Breacher is one of the best Scout class toys released in recent years and is deserving of a space in any collection and probably wouldn’t look out of place in a Classics/Universe/Generations collection – which is probably why he was designed as he his – his nominal partner is the Classics aping HFTD Voyager Sea Spray after all.
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Breacher is some form of APC, rendered largely in deep blue. Although highly detailed, with rivets and panels appearing all over the shop, there are only a few splashes of white to break up the monotony. Likewise, the wheels, detailed with hubcaps and more rivets, are plain black. Although I wouldn’t expect military hardware such as this to be an explosion of colour, some of Hasbro’s usual ‘battle damage’ black paint or brown muddy flecks would have stopped this looking like a rolling Lego brick. A nice rotating set of roof mounted cannons tops things off.
For his size, Breacher is one of the more complex HFTD Scout toys. He goes through some excellent, if fiddly, twists and turns to get into robot mode. Definitely not a toy for younger fingers, particularly as the purposely removable cannons are likely to fall off during transformation, meaning second hand versions of this toy are likely to be missing this part. Like ROTF Mixmaster, Breacher completely unravels before folding back up as a robot – a sequence which is more durable in larger toys and one that needs handling with care in figures of this size.
The resultant robot mode is excellent. Although still predominantly blue, he’s complimented by wider use of whites and blacks, with some flashes of red picking out more details. His face sculpt is excellent, with a gruff and serious looking visage scanning the horizon for enemies – and nice green eyes too! As with the best Scout toys, he’s got at least 10 points of articulation, so can achieve a good range of movement and poses very well without toppling over. The cannons can be removed from his back and clipped to the knuckle dusters on his right or left fists to give him a bit of firepower. This sort of weapon attachment reminds me that it is a very long time since Transformers just had a gun that they held in their hand. One wonders whether this is now a deliberate choice to somehow make giant warring space robots somehow less violent.
In terms of overall looks, appearance and transformation, Breacher is one of the best Scout class toys released in recent years and is deserving of a space in any collection and probably wouldn’t look out of place in a Classics/Universe/Generations collection – which is probably why he was designed as he his – his nominal partner is the Classics aping HFTD Voyager Sea Spray after all.
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