General Information:
Release Date: June 2010
Price Point: $7.99 (varies depending on retailer)
Retailer: General (Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart etc.)
Accessories: None
The follow up line to "Revenge of the Fallen" is the "Hunt for the Decepticons", where the battle between Autobots and Decepticons continues on Earth, with the story chronicled on the Transformers web site and the tech specs printed on the toy packaging. Brimstone is one of the first Decepticons in this line and he is the arch enemy of Hubcap, whose review you can read here.
*Images and text below from the official Transformers web site:
There was a time when BRIMSTONE was king of the roads on CYBERTRON. He was meaner, faster and tougher than anything else on wheels, and he made sure everyone knew it. The only rival he ever really had was HUBCAP, so it was only natural they ended up on opposite sides in the war. BRIMSTONE may be older now, but he’s also meaner, and there’s no way he’s going down without taking HUBCAP with him.
Race into action with this fearsome BRIMSTONE figure! In robot mode, this fighter is as tough as they come…but this he’s got speed on his side, too. When it’s time to chase down his enemies, convert him to chopper vehicle mode so he can “tear up the streets” in hot pursuit!
Sinister robot fighter converts from fierce robot mode to chopper vehicle mode — and back again! Ages 5 and up.
Robot Mode:
Hubcap was a somewhat conventional looking Transformers robot with panels of the car mode on his arms and legs and the front of the vehicle as his chest. In heavy contrast, Brimstone's robot mode is a very unique looking one. Sure he has a head, somewhat proportionate arms and legs with a lanky body. These features are not new. However, a lot of the detail work makes this Decepticon quite unique. Starting with his robot head, it's oval in shape with beady eyes and a mouthplate that is made up of vertical lines. Depending on how you want to interpret it, this gives him the appearance of having either teeth or whiskers (akin to "Revenge of the Fallen" Jetfire's mouth). It's a unique looking head design that is somewhat reminscent of the Image Comics character "The Maxx" and in my book that makes it super cool.
While the point of a robot mode is to offer a different visual and functional representation of the character, Brimstone has a ton of details that serve to remind us of his motorcycle mode. A U shaped bar from the vehicle forms over his chest, and right underneath that you can see his rear wheel. That wheel then connects to an axle with motorcycle chains that then lead over to the legs. His legs have a lot of robotic looking parts including sections with right angles on his thighs and long feet, but he also has tubes, bolt details and exhaust pipes running up and down his legs. The robot shoulders have the motorcycle handlebars sticking up at the top while his primary weapons are formed by the halves from the vehicle mode's front wheel.
Many of Brimstone's parts are lanky such as his arms and the center of his body, but other parts give him a robust physical appearance. The top section of the robot mode is wide for instance, thanks to the sides of the motorcycle mode's front section forming a part of the chest and then connecting to the shoulders. This has a twofold effect. First it manages to integrate his rear wheel into the robot mode in a prominent and it makes the chest to shoulders wide, bringing emphasis to the slim waist section. It may sound odd, but these design aesthetics combine to make a very fluid looking robot form.
Brimstone is cast in metallic blue, grey and black plastic. The blue parts primarily represent parts from his motorcycle mode including the cover over the front wheels and the front of the vehicle mode. The head is also cast in blue. Most of the robot limbs are cast in grey including his legs and most of the arms. Black is found on his wheels and robot hands. The paint decos on this figure use silver, red and metallic green to give the figure more detail. Silver is rather prominent in robot mode, coloring the sides of his spinning blade weapons, a decepticon symbol on his left shoulder and the lower half of his head. Red is used on smaller details such as a small square on his chest and his evil looking red eyes. The metallic green is not really meant to be a main color of the robot mode but it does peek through on the upper body where it is painted in flame patterns on the blue plastic. I like way the colors look on this figure. Blue and green make a nice combination in their metallic colors and the red eyes give Brimstone an xceptionally evil.
There are fifteen points of articulation on this figure. This includes five points of articulation on each arm and waist articulation. He has five key ball joints: the head, shoulders and hips giving him a good range of movement. Brimstone's primary weapons are three sided blades attached to the sides of his forearms. These are actually formed from the halves of his front wheel in vehicle mode, so each can spin around like a saw blade. It's a neat weapon and quite creative. Wheels are often shoved aside in robot mode or just turned into shields, but it's nice to see them actually form weapons.
Transformation to Vehicle Mode:
- Connect the two legs together by using the tab and clip on the insides of the lower legs.
- Turn the robot head around.
- Swing the legs along with the black seat piece up onto he front of the figure, covering the robot head.
- Fold the robot legs in, tucking them to form the engine.
- Swing each of the robot hands in.
- Swing each of the robot arms forward at the shoulders.
- Swing the black seat piece on the back down.
- Swing each of the sections the arms are attached to back and connect them together.
- Connect the saw blade weapon pieces together to form the front wheel of the motorcycle.
- Connect the panels with the robot hands together and swing them up over the front wheel.
- Swing the handlebars on the back up.
Vehicle Mode:
Brimstone's vehicle mode is a Chopper Motorcycle with high "ape" handlebars. Transformer motorcycles are not the most common vehicle form, and a choppers are even more rare (in fact at the moment I'm having trouble even remembering another character who had this type of motorcycle vehicle mode). This form has many of the design aspects that are seen in the traditional choppers including a long front section, high handlebars and a "low riding" body that would basically force a driver to have to lean forward and raise his arms to grab the handlebars, resulting in a position sometimes referred to as an "ape" like position. The seat is raised a bit high on the back as well, offering back support to the driver.
I really dig some of the smaller details on this figure. Brimstone has the requisite engine details on the sides including lines carved into the cylinder head towards the front, circles representing the crankcase and exhaust pipes curving along the right side. The seat has small studs running along the sides similar to those used to hold down the leather on real life motorcycle seats. The high handlebars have brake handles on them and the rear wheel has a chain running around it on the left side. I love small, sculpted details such as these and they definitely make this a nicely done sculpt.
There are no color surprises in this mode. However, the blue plastic is much more prominent now since all the blue armor pieces come together or get revealed in this form. We also get a better look at the green flame paint details which are amusing and cool looking all at the same time. The metallic green is also used for the headlight in between the two handlebars and the rear light is painted red. Silver stands out on the sides of the wheels. Overall this is one super cool looking color scheme, and I find the use of a flame motif quite appropriate for a guy named "Brimstone".
Final Thoughts:
Brimstone is a totally fun figure that has a unique look in both modes. I dig the different take on a Transformer design (especially one set in the movie universe) and find his transformation complex enough to not be overly simple or complicated for the Scout Class. Highly recommended!
