{"id":19747,"date":"2012-07-19T03:19:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-19T08:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19747"},"modified":"2012-07-20T02:43:46","modified_gmt":"2012-07-20T07:43:46","slug":"vault-review-transformers-prime-breakdown-am-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19747","title":{"rendered":"Vault Review: Transformers
Prime Breakdown (AM-12)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Originally my plan was to write a review about the new TMNT figures I picked up at Toys R Us last week, but SDCC changed everything.\u00a0 With the disappointing follow up news to the Hasbro panel, I figured a review on Takara\u2019s Transformers Prime Breakdown figure was appropriate.<\/p>\n

For those of you who haven\u2019t heard, TFormers.com held a post-panel interview with Aaron Archer<\/a>, the Vice President of Design at Hasbro.\u00a0 The Takara version of the character Breakdown was just now hitting stores in Japan, and they wanted to know how long it would be till he made his way into the US line.\u00a0 His reply was that the Takara mold wasn\u2019t \u201cmade to the same standards\u201d, and that the figure is in a \u201cno-man\u2019s land\u201d cost-wise.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As luck would have it, I had preordered my Takara Breakdown weeks ago and he arrived just a couple days before SDCC began.\u00a0 So I figured this would be the perfect time to review him, and hopefully help the fans to decide whether he\u2019s worth importing on their own or even petitioning Hasbro to bring him over.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Breakdown certainly isn\u2019t the smartest Decepticon, but he\u2019s definitely a hulking powerhouse.\u00a0 So it\u2019s perfect that he should be a Voyager class figure, like Bulkhead.\u00a0 In fact, he\u2019s a little bit bigger than Bulkhead in both height and width.\u00a0 And his wide square shaped body and giant shoulder pads bring to mind images of a robotic football player.\u00a0 My only real issue is that he looks a bit hollow in some areas from behind.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m one of those collectors that normally focus on the robot mode of a Transformer.\u00a0 But one of the many reasons I love the TF Prime line are the sleek looking car and jet alt modes.\u00a0 Breakdown\u2019s vehicle mode breaks from this look and is anything but sleek.\u00a0 He\u2019s a massive armored truck that dwarfs most of the tiny car alt modes.\u00a0 And again, when compared to Bulkhead\u2019s SUV form, Breakdown still comes across bigger and more dangerous looking.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When it comes to transforming between his two modes, Breakdown is definitely a bit more complex than most of the other Prime figures.\u00a0 Not really difficult, but a bit convoluted in a couple areas.\u00a0 I had to read his instructions a couple times, and normally prime figures are a bit more intuitive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Takara figures rely more on stickers than paint apps.\u00a0 So it really surprised me to see how many bits of Breakdown were actually painted.\u00a0 Most of his body is molded in light gray and dark blue, but his head has four different colors painted on.\u00a0 Not to mention the silver and dark gray colors that adorn his grill, bumper, and side view mirrors.\u00a0 It may sound silly, but the most impressive area for me was the dark gray paint on his feet.\u00a0 This is almost always a sticker area on the Takara figures, and it was great not having to deal with that.\u00a0 Continue to page 2…<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Articulation is always pretty impressive with the Prime line, and even a large character like Breakdown has a great range of movement.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 His head is on a ball joint, and although he can\u2019t look down because of his high chest, he has no problems looking straight up.\u00a0 His hips are also ball joints, while his shoulders are hinges attached to the body with a ball joint.\u00a0 His waist and biceps swivel.\u00a0 His elbows are ratcheted hinge joints, while his knees and ankles are regular hinges.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now for my favorite part!\u00a0 Breakdown comes with one accessory, his Arms Micron weapon.\u00a0 This time it\u2019s a robotic rhino, named Zamu, which can turn into a large hammer.\u00a0 Sculpt wise, Zamu is probably one of the cuter Microns.\u00a0 His four legs move individually and swivel down from the body, while his head is on a hinge joint.\u00a0 He\u2019s definitely a fun addition to all the Minicons.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One thing that I found really interesting about Breakdown is that he has the most 5mm Micron ports than any other figure I\u2019ve seen so far.\u00a0 With sixteen ports and one C-clip, you can literally cover his body in weapons and make him one giant arsenal.\u00a0 I personally think that\u2019s a pretty awesome feature, but it may also be one of the deciding factors as to why Hasbro doesn\u2019t want to import him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Being one of the main Decepticon cast members on the Prime cartoon, I find it hard to believe that Hasbro won\u2019t eventually release some decent sized version of this character.\u00a0 This Breakdown figure does have a couple issues, but it\u2019s that ruins the figure.\u00a0 So if you like this figure, let Hasbro know.\u00a0 Or if you\u2019d rather have a new Voyager class Breakdown, let them know that too.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0After all, they did bring back the fan demanded First Edition figures without Bumblebee.\u00a0 So anything is possible.<\/p>\n

-Vault<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally my plan was to write a review about the new TMNT figures I picked up at Toys R Us last week, but SDCC changed everything.\u00a0 With the disappointing follow up news to the Hasbro panel, I figured a review on Takara\u2019s Transformers Prime Breakdown figure was appropriate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[34,10,35],"tags":[1601,1561,1600,24,1247,436,2570],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/bdwnTN.jpg?fit=50%2C50","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-58v","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18696,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18696","url_meta":{"origin":19747,"position":0},"title":"Vault Review: Transformers Prime Takara Soundwave","date":"May 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I thought I\u2019d finish off the week with the other figure that came with Terrorcon Cliffjumper.\u00a0 Even though I already had a Hasbro Soundwave, I decided to try out the Takara version too because I wanted to see the differences and I love dem Microns! The thing that surprised me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/tpsw7.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22050,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22050","url_meta":{"origin":19747,"position":1},"title":"Vault Review: Transformers Prime Entertainment Pack Starscream","date":"December 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As the end of the year draws closer, I find myself trying to catch up on some older reviews that I haven't gotten around to yet. So in order to save a little time and hopefully fit more things into my schedule, I'm going to have a few \"quick looks\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/spep5.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18625,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18625","url_meta":{"origin":19747,"position":2},"title":"Vault Review: Transformers Prime Terrorcon Cliffjumper","date":"May 9, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Just when I thought I had finished up my Transformers reviews for a while, the second wave of Takara\u2019s Prime figures bits. I guess it\u2019s fitting timing that their version of Terrorcon Cliffjumper is released just after Hasbro announced he\u2019ll be among their SDCC exclusives. My review is going to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/tcju12.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22882,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=22882","url_meta":{"origin":19747,"position":3},"title":"Vault Review: Transformers Prime Frenzy & Rumble","date":"March 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"When I ran across Rumble at my local Target a few months ago, I was pretty eager to pick him up.\u00a0 Unfortunately Hasbro hasn\u2019t followed with his buddy Frenzy. \u00a0I had to look towards Takara to complete the team, even though I was really ordering the same character. This was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/frru011.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21860,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21860","url_meta":{"origin":19747,"position":4},"title":"Vault Review: Transformers Prime’s AM Thundercracker","date":"November 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It\u2019s Monday night as I\u2019m writing this review.\u00a0 Like a lot of other Masters of the Universe fans, I\u2019m anxiously waiting to hear if the ultimate Castle Grayskull playset is going to be a reality, but the website must go on, and it seems I\u2019m never at a loss for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/thcr6.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":31997,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=31997","url_meta":{"origin":19747,"position":5},"title":"Transformers Masterpiece Starscream Review (Toys R Us Exclusive)","date":"October 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Reviews"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19747"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19747"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19790,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19747\/revisions\/19790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}