Articulation is always pretty impressive with the Prime line, and even a large character like Breakdown has a great range of movement. His head is on a ball joint, and although he can’t look down because of his high chest, he has no problems looking straight up. His hips are also ball joints, while his shoulders are hinges attached to the body with a ball joint. His waist and biceps swivel. His elbows are ratcheted hinge joints, while his knees and ankles are regular hinges.
Now for my favorite part! Breakdown comes with one accessory, his Arms Micron weapon. This time it’s a robotic rhino, named Zamu, which can turn into a large hammer. Sculpt wise, Zamu is probably one of the cuter Microns. His four legs move individually and swivel down from the body, while his head is on a hinge joint. He’s definitely a fun addition to all the Minicons.
One thing that I found really interesting about Breakdown is that he has the most 5mm Micron ports than any other figure I’ve seen so far. With sixteen ports and one C-clip, you can literally cover his body in weapons and make him one giant arsenal. I personally think that’s a pretty awesome feature, but it may also be one of the deciding factors as to why Hasbro doesn’t want to import him.
Being one of the main Decepticon cast members on the Prime cartoon, I find it hard to believe that Hasbro won’t eventually release some decent sized version of this character. This Breakdown figure does have a couple issues, but it’s that ruins the figure. So if you like this figure, let Hasbro know. Or if you’d rather have a new Voyager class Breakdown, let them know that too. After all, they did bring back the fan demanded First Edition figures without Bumblebee. So anything is possible.
-Vault
I have the “Cyrus” version pre-ordered myself. Mainly because of the mantis Micron he comes with, but also because if Hasbro won’t release the mold here, I’ll import.
When the news came down out of SDCC, I bit the bullet and ordered him, knowing full well I’ll regret it when Hasbro finds a way to release him, as a store exclusive or otherwise. Better safe than sorry.
You did a slight mistransformation in the pictures. The bumber is able to fold into his chest to make him a bit more streamlined. Just pop the chest up like you are going to form the front of the vehicle mode, and then the bumper will fold in and fit into the space made for it.
Sucks that Hasbro isn’t releasing their own Breakdown, but I can see where they’re coming from. Like you pointed out, he has a lot of Micron ports, so they’d have to remold all those sections to remove them. He also has no translucent plastic, so the light-up weapon gimmick of the Voyagers would be lost (again, more remolding required). Thirdly, I heard someone say that he would be weird to price–too complex for a Voyager, to small for a Leader or something.
I think Hasbro will eventually release their own Breakdown; that may have been a bit of misdirection on their part–“We won’t be importing THIS version, but we’re making our own.”
Bloody nifty toy, great review!
It’s either too expensive or too sold out wherever I’ve looked so far. I’ll just sit and twiddle my thumbs and hope Hasbro releases one eventually.
I guess I missed the news that Hasbro wouldn’t be releasing Breakdown. I didn’t think even Hasbro could be that dense. Then again, this is the company that wasted all that money creating new tooling for new figures of character when the (almost universally) superior First Edition molds were going underutilized.
I like Breakdown, and I definitely want to get one for the Bulkhead rivalry factor (not to mention I’ll always have Adam Baldwin’s voice in my head whenever I fiddle around with him), but I can’t really afford to import one right now. I have this horrible feeling that if I import him, Hasbro will announce a domestic release the next day, and if I don’t import, Hasbro won’t release a Breakdown at all, or they’ll release an undersized Deluxe class version.
Vault, which starscream is that in the final shot?
First Edition Starscream, aka the best Transformers Prime toy so far (though the second Vehicon, Ratchet, Soundwave, and Breakdown are pretty close runners).
As to Breakdown, I don’t like the character enough to buy him, but I still appreciate how awesome that toy is. Shame his hammer doesn’t look so great, nor is it possible to emulate that hammer-instead-of-a-hand screen look. They could at least mold it in grey or blue…