(NOTE: Because this is a repaint, this is not a full-blown review. This mainly covers any changes made to the mold and the color scheme, and merely compares it to Universe 2.0 Sunstreaker. For a review on the mold itself, read the review of Universe 2.0 Sunstreaker here.)
Botcon knows its history
with Breakdowns and embraces it (the original G2 version of the character
was the first Botcon's exclusive, and he's had multiple exclusives via
Botcon and/or the Transformers Club since)-- thus, the remolding of this
toy that was initially done for Botcon 2010's "G2
Redux" Breakdown has now been painted up in his original G1 color scheme.
"Classics" Breakdown here doesn't reinvent the wheel, as he keeps his original
colors pretty much exactly where they were on his G1 toy. An off-white
and dark perwinkle make up his main colors, and go together quite well
with themselves and the secondary black color; the perwinkle is a particularly
attractive shade, having a bit of glitter mixed in with the plastic. A
bit of silver and dark red help to round out Breakdown's overall color
scheme, though they're both only applied as accent colors. As you'd expect,
Breakdown has the red stripe down the front of his hood, and his Decepticon
allegiance symbol is painted asymmetrically on it, just like the G1 toy.
His hubs, wheels, rear bumper, taillights, and face are also all painted
quite liberally. I'm particularly appreciative of the perwinkle blue added
to the sides of the car mode, as it's JUST enough to keep Breakdown's rear
section of the mode from being too overly white. (That said, a bit of paint
down behind the roof wouldn't have hurt-- this is a high-end collectors'
item, after all, so go nuts, I say.) Breakdown has a G1-style allegiance
rub symbol on the roof of his vehicle mode.
Breakdown has no mold
changes unique to this release, but he DOES have the same remolded head
as his Botcon 2010 "G2 Redux" version-- it's a decent enough head sculpt
but the details can get a tad muddled underneath all the paint on his face.
Also, this mold is showing some slight signs of degradation considering
how many times it's been used now-- the "crank" on mine that's attached
to the hood that rotates the head up into place for robot mode is a bit
loose and sometimes doesn't stay completely flush with the toy, popping
off a little easily. Nothing that ruins the toy, but still worth noting.
TFSS "Classics" Breakdown
may not be the most creative of the TF Collectors' Club's offerings, but
it's one a lot of people have been requesting (and that even showed up
in IDW's comics), so it's nice to finally have this great mold as this
character in these colors. Recommended if you're a fan of Breakdown and/or
this mold and can spare the cash for it.
Review by Beastbot