X-BRAWN

X-Brawn is the oldest and most experienced of the three Car Brothers, but that doesn't necessarily make him the wisest. In his cartoon incarnation as part of Robots in Disguise he's portrayed as tough, reliable, but a little hot headed; just like his namesake Brawn and the character I liken him to most in terms of character and alt-mode; Ironhide.

VEHICLE MODE:
X-Brawn's vehicle mode, that of a Mercedes Benz Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), is one of the more impressive of the Car Brothers. His basic, unassuming colour scheme is filled with detail and the lack of additions like Prowl's sirens or Sideburns flame motif serve only to add to his 'disguise'. In this mode I've had more than a couple of people mistake him for a model car until they pick him up to find a great big robot head staring through the clear windscreen.

X-Brawn is mostly silver with some green and black along the front bumper and green running along the bottom at the side, running parallel to this is a black divide that matches other decals like the window frames, door handles and rear-view mirrors. As a nice aside, if you look closely at the mirrors themselves you'll notice they've been filled in with clear plastic, and though it's not reflective, it does give an impression of reflection - if that makes any sense - and it's nice to know that someone is adding little details like that. The back has been airbrushed with an almost metallic green that fades into the silver of the rest of the vehicle as it approaches the back wheels. Speaking of which, his wheels, front grille, bull bar and side rails are all metallic silver, and as a final touch his rubber tires have the word 'Transformers' embossed on them.

X-Brawn rolls fairly well on most surfaces, or at least he did until one of his wheels broke off and had to be glued back on. Though I'm not too sure that he likes carpet all that much, I think he prefers more rugged terrain such as wood, tile and linoleum. Cool stuff in this mode includes the ability to open his doors and his Autobot insignia emblazoned hood to see his engine, incidentally, is the same silver as his grille and bull bar. This feature leaves Prowl as the only car brother without a visible engine.

TRANSFORMATION (ROBOT MODE):
Start off by turning the car upside down and removing the two side rails, you should pull them out of the holes toward the front of the vehicle first to give yourself room to get them out of the slightly awkward side holes. Next, open his doors and pull the rear of the car backward all the way so that his legs are straight and the grey bit inside his flat against the floor of the car, now separate his legs and pull down the spare tyre cover from each half to form his feet, and fold the wheels inward. Now fold his hood out to the right and extend it to the side so that it's out of the way for the moment. rotate his torso onto the grey part that extends his pelvis. On the hood section opposite the side with the door, gently push the wheel around to the back of the hood, be careful because the thin plastic that holds the wheel on is brittle, once you've done that fold his hand out. On the other side of his torso reach around to his back and fold the other arm up, then bend it forward and extend his forearm, then turn it so that the elbow is in the right place. Now spin the roof of the vehicle around so that the windscreen is pointing to the floor and then flick his head out and turn it to face forward. Put both weapons on his back via the down-pointing pins into the holes on the inside of his roof, or one can be placed into the hole on his right upper arm and another into the launcher that makes up his hand.

ROBOT MODE:
X-Brawn shows off a lot more green in this mode, and we also see the first hints of some red. He's dramatically out of proportion with that great big arm and those great big legs, but that serves only to give the toy character rather than make it look ugly in any way. Even with doors hanging off him and wheels everywhere he remains uncluttered, instead he looks stylish and nimble while loosing none of the appearance of strength. The bull bar can be detached from his hood section and placed in his left hand, the other end seems to have been molded as a sort of handheld axe. To go with that the weapon with the spikes on it can be attached to the spring launcher and used as either a projectile or another melee weapon, or on a completely different track you can attach the other weapon can be placed in the launcher as a cannon, and have his left hand hold the vac metal silver rail such as was seen in "Battle Protocol!", "Skid-z's Choice" and various other episodes of the series. X-Brawn is not without combat options.

X-Brawn's main colour in this mode is still silver, but it's severely challenged for dominance by the green of his left upper arm, his right forearm, his torso, head, upper legs and inner shins. Details abound in this mode, with a silver hand painted on the spring launcher, black detailing on his upper left arm and upper legs, green and red on his lower legs and a lot of red, black and silver on his chest. There is also a lighter colour of green on his left pectoral that stands out well against the darker background. His head is green on the cheeks, sides, back and crown with a red triangle on his forehead, and silver on his mouth guard, nose and encircling his head around the temple. His eyes have been painted with a metallic yellow paint that gives them a sort of glow.

In this mode X-Brawn has 18 points of articulation; his feet, a ball joint and two hinge joints at each knee, ball joints at his pelvis, his shoulders, his left elbow has two points - a swivel joint and a hinge joint, while his right elbow is on a ball joint. His head is also ball jointed. His left hand also has two points; the wrist and the thumb.

X-Brawn is a well designed and crafted toy with an excellent paintjob and enormous play value. His transformation is complicated enough to be fun but not so much so that it becomes frustrating, He is easily one of the better RiD figures. He probably won't last too long in the hands of children, though, as the wheel mentioned earlier is frightfully weak (mine broke within ten minutes of being opened, compliments of my sister) and I can see his car doors and hinge jointed elbow being easy prey for battle damage in robot mode. In vehicle mode, however, he's solid as a rock, and all up well worth the money. If he's a little too bland for you you might want to check out his Super variant, which is styled after a rally car.