Brawl's tank form is freaking huge-- and this is certainly appreciated for a $40 toy. It's been a long time since we've really gotten a BIG tank Transformer, and this toy certainly fits that bill. The proportions are pretty much perfect, though there are two robot extras that are admittedly eyesores in this mode-- the robot feet are VERY obviously hanging off the back of this mode, and there's also a pretty obvious hole right in front of the turret where Brawl's robot head pops up through during transformation. The detailing on the toy is pretty good, with bolts, panels, rivets, and the like molded in anywhere they'd be needed-- the tread detailing is especially well-done, even if the treads aren't "real" because of the transformation (there's just small wheels on the bottom of the treads to move Brawl along). The color scheme is fairly good, with the different shades of green certainly being appropriate for a military-type vehicle, though there are some oddities. For one, on a few small section of this mode, like a few plastic parts on the left side of the turrets and on the front middle area, a slightly different shade of green is used than is used on the rest of the vehicle mode. It's not a huge difference, to be sure, but the choice is rather odd. Also, making the side missile packs clear plastic, even if it's for the sound gimmicks, doesn't look all that great. I'd also liked to have seen a few more of Brawl's bits of mold detailing brought out by the paint detailing, which, though adequate, is mostly limited to just the dark greenish-blue camo paint apps in this mode. As far as Brawl's gimmicks go, they're pretty darned cool-- first, if you push in on the main turret, a red light comes on at the end of the turret briefly as a "cannon firing" sound is emitted from the toy. If you turn the smaller upper turret around about 45 degrees, a longer "rat-a-tat-tat" sound is emitted from the toys, and the side-mounted missile packs light up green. Also pretty cool, but considering you HAVE to activate this gimmick during the transformation, it can get a little annoying.
    Brawl's automorph feature during transformation, like the other Movie Leader-class figures, involves pushing up on a lever on his chest (in this case a large gray tab in the middle of it) and then his head pops up and a few pieces on his chest slide into place, along with several firing sounds emitted from the toy as it does so as its green and red lights mentioned earlier light up. Unfortunately, it can be triggered pretty easily in tank mode, which is rather annoying given that otherwise solid-feeling alternate mode and the long string of sound effects that are emitted. Brawl's other automorph features in this mode involve his arm-mounted weapons, and are just really cool all-around and well-designed. On his right arm, pushing a black slider on the top of his gun extends the barrels in a really cool fashion, and lets a small sight scope slide out from the side of it as well. On the left arm, if you fold up the rotary machine gun on the back of said arm and then slide it backwards, Brawl's scythe-like blades rotate forwards to give him even more slashing action, if his actual hand-claws aren't enough. Yup, Brawl is certainly PACKED with weaponry in this mode, and it really adds a lot to the toy. As if the arm-mounted weapons weren't enough, the side-mounted missile packs are rotated behind his shoulders in this mode, his smaller tank guns are up behind his back (so it's not so hard to see him bending forward to deliver another payload of weapons into his enemies that way), and the main tank blaster swings to the right side of his body in this mode, allowing him to use that gun as well. Unfortunately, the dual guns on his upper back do come off a little easily (though they can easily be snapped back on), and though I personally haven't had any problems with his main turret-gun on his right side, I do worry about it, being a long skinny piece of plastic that's not attached by a whole lot to the big, bulky body. Brawl's mold detailing is just awesome in this mode, particularly on his robot parts, little plates of armor, circuitry, hinges, and other "robotic parts" are visible all over the place. His head is especially well-molded, though I wish the paint on his mask-mouht had done different, as the way it's painted currently it makes him look like he has a frowning fish-face if you don't look at it the right way. The gold and off-white paint apps on his robot parts really help add to the color scheme, as well, and provide great contrast against the green and black. I especially love Brawl's individually-articulated hand-claws, which can move at the base of each finger and thumb-- and the thumb is even attached to another hinge on the wrist to make it look more "mechanical" when it moves back and forth. Besides movement there, Brawl also has movement at the elbows (at two points), the shoulders (at three points), the head, the hips (at two points), and the knees (at two points). His knee movement is restricted quite a bit by his overly bulky legs, though, which is my main problem with this mode-- the entirety of the sides of his tank mode are stashed behind his lower legs, and although this doesn't look bad from a front view, from a side view it just makes his legs look ludicrously wide. Personally, I prefered the simpler way the sides of the tank just hung off the sides of the lower legs like on deluxe-class Brawl, as that look better to me. This also makes his arms look really puny in comparison, even though in actuality they're only a little small proportionally.
    Leader class Brawl is a great toy in both modes, with tons of weapons, though he does have a bit of a problem with kibble on his lower legs in robot mode, and some of his robot parts are easily visible in vehicle mode. Still, he's got great playability, awesome gimmicks and weapons, and looks really imposing-- recommended, especially over deluxe class Brawl.

Review by Beastbot

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