Breakaway's alternate mode is a fighter jet, and proportions-wise is quite impressive for a deluxe. Most Transformers with jet alternate modes have quite a lot of robot mode kibble hanging off the bottom, and although Breakaway still has some, it's not bad at all. From a straight-on side view, you can see the sides of his legs underneath his wings, but they fit in with the overall flow and shape of the jet mode very well-- really, the only thing that particularly bugs me about them is that, given Breakaway's unique "individual toes" feet design, it makes it more obvious than it otherwise would have. From most angles, Breakaway's undercarriage pieces are barely noticeable at best. However, one rather obvious extra that really annoys me is that Breakaway's robot head is clearly visible in his cockpit. I mean, it's just right THERE. No covering of it at all. Like many jet Transformers of his size, Breakaway also has a flip-down landing gear (his other two landing gear are on the underside of his robot legs in this mode). The colors are my main beef about this figure-- the light and dark green designs on his wings are just bizarre and don't do it for me, and they really clash with the light tan. The couple of silver stripes do look good against the tan, though, as does the dark brown used around the edges of the nosecone. The later versions of this toy replaced the light tan with a darker brown, which looks considerably better as it doesn't make Breakaway look so light, and the green deco patterns DO fit a bit better with them, but regardless of the base color I still think they just look kinda weird.
    Breakaway's robot mode is a definite step down from his vehicle mode, sadly. The way the nosecone and wings partially rotate around the cockpit and fragment... it look he isn't finished transforming, when he in fact is. He has a massive hunchback, but not in an aesthetically pleasing way, in my opinion. His head is also still just stuck inside the cockpit. You can fold part of the window back so that it's "exposed", but the face is still wedged deep in his chest, which just looks bad-- not to mention it's tiny, too. The rather sad look on his face is kinda odd, too. The wings coming off his shoulders get in the way of movement too, though they do accent the mode a little-- though they would have more if they had some kind of deco job or attractive molding detailing on the undersides of them. I do like the rotating up of the tailfins behind his shoulders, though-- that's an unneeded, but nice, touch. Breakaway's arms overall look fine, but they're a bit short and stubby proportionally. His feet and waist are pretty much the only good parts about this mode, with nice proportions and decent movement. I rather like Breakaway's unique "four-toed" feet, it gives the toy a bit more individuality-- though I have my reservations about it, as I explained earlier. A light milky blue and light green become more apparent on Breakaway's parts in this mode, and neither of them look great against the light tan at all (though they look slightly better against the later release's darker brown). Breakaway's "gimmick" is pretty weak-- move the dial on his lower right arm and his machine gun on said arm will also rotate. However, it's rather difficult to rotate the dial, so it's so much easier just rotate the barrel of the machine gun yourself, which looks kinda lame anyways. As far as articulation goes, Breakaway can move at the shoulders, elbows (at two points), wrists (though only inwards), and at the hips, knees (at two points), and at the ankles at two points. His head can also move VERY slightly if you really dig your fingers in there, but generally it's not worth it. So his articulation isn't awful, but it's hardly impressive, either. Of note is that when you turn his elbows sideways, an internal part on his upper arm moves-- rather lame, but that's his "Mech Alive" gimmick, believe it or not.
    RotF Breakaway is a decent toy at best, having a pretty nice vehicle mode but a robot mode that has some proportional problems, a really awkward head, and a general "unfinished" feeling to it. Plus, the color scheme isn't too hot (moreso if you get the lighter-colored version). Not recommended unless you particularly like the vehicle model or are a completist.

Review by Beastbot
 

Second Opinion by VBBN

Difficulty of Transformation: Easy
Rating: 7.0 (initial release); 7.2 (later releases)*

    Breakaway in his vehicle form is a jet, the exact model I am not sure. With that said, I really like this mode. It's the better of the two modes, actually. Design wise, it's very solid with very little kibble. Sure it looks a bit chunky underneath, but that's standard for most Transformers jets nowadays. In terms of mold detailings, it's what you expect on a jet, nothing really lacking. Landing gear wise, he has two wheels on the underside as well as a fold down front wheel. There are two gripes I have about this mode. First, the head. I mean, come on. I thought Energon Inferno was bad. At least he had panels to cover up part of his head, Breakaway here has no such panels. Just his tiny little head with HUGE eyes (not really that big on the toy, but in proportion to the small head they are big)...staring at you...waiting...watching...Ahem. Color scheme wise, he's tan. Egads. Honestly don't see what it is with Hasbro's obsession with tan jets. At least Breakaway here has...chalky green camo. I'll be honest, the colors just flat out clash. The titanium blue and lime green go okay, but the tan and dark brown thrown into the mix, not as fluent as I would have liked.
    In robot mode, Breakaway is slightly worse. The concept is cool, it looks like the jet got crushed (pushed in from the front and back) and the limbs just kinda popped out from the crushed jet. Articulation is pretty good, though the head isn't at all moveable. (It's on a balljoint but you can't get it to move anything worth a darn.) The color scheme is still just as bad, though the lime green and titanium blue looks quite nice here, I must say. He really can't get any dynamic poses despite the articulation which is a shame. And I don't know if it's just mine or what, but the arms are very loose at the swivel joint. Speaking of the swivel joint, when you turn his arm, it moves the green piece inside the arm (its the same piece) which is his "mech alive." How much did I pay for this thing again? Not exactly a dynamic gimmick for him, but, what can you do. The toes are okay and kinda give him a very humanoid look. Makes me think of something from Beast Wars, actually. The chain gun is a nice weapon though I wish it was the sniper rifle he had in the game. Regarding his later color scheme of dark brown, I think it's kind of a toss-up, but it looks a bit better with the lime and blue. Overall I think that Breakaway is an okay figure. He certainly isn't the worst of the line, he's a good toy, but I think there are many other purchases more worth it than this guy.

Review by VBBN

*Initial releases of Breakaway had a considerably lighter tan used for the base color of the toy (pictured above). Later releases made the tan into a considerably a darker brown. Of the two, I'd definitely recommend the brown, as it serves as a much-needed darker contrast color on the toy and makes it look considerably better, especially in vehicle mode.
 

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