Post by Philip Ayres on Aug 17, 2010 21:28:44 GMT
Hunt for the Decepticons Breacher
Breacher has been promoted for some while as Seaspray's scout sized partner so I was very keen to get my hands on one. There seem to be a load of loose ones on eBay at the moment at less than UK retail even when you factor in shipping: I paid £6.51 for mine. I saw at least one other knocking around at Auto Assembly 2010 so I assume I'm not the only one to take this offer up.
Breacher is a blue 6 wheeled assault vehicle, quite similar in design to the superb deluxe Wreckage from the first Transformers movie. The major design difference is that Breacher has a turret mounted on top of him. If we apply the standard tank test to him we discover the turret turns and the dual barrel at the front elevates. So we're doing well to start with. The gun on the turret is attached by a clip to a bar, which is what allows it to elevate. This clip and bar is the same size as ones found on other recent toys, most prominently Skystalker and Recon Ironhide. If you look closely at the toy you'll find a bar under the moulded door behind the front wheel on each side plus a pair of bars moulded into the roof. You can try attaching the dual barrelled gun to any of these but there's little clearance on the bars at the bottom of the sides and the roof ones involve the weapon to be pegged on at an odd angle, Your mileage may vary with weapons belonging to other toys. I'm having a little difficulty getting all the vehicle parts to quite align in this mode, but that may just be the early version I have. Breacher is supposedly designed to work with Seaspray but he fits onto the deck at the rear of Seaspray's vehicle mode just as well as any other scout sized wheeled vehicle. To be honest the best fit I've found so far is the deluxe sized Hailstorm who locks into position with the fans folding back behind him to hold him in place.
Transformation: Open the side panels along the top at the back of the vehicle. Fold the front of the vehicle forward 90 degrees. Unpeg the front wheels and fold out to the sides taking some of the side panels with them. Unfold to form the arms and fold so they point forward beside the front of the vehicle. Fold the armour under the arms up and out to the sides and turn the hands round so the guard on the back of the hand is on the outside of each arm. Swing the driver's compartment round through 180 degrees. Fold the middle of the front down 90 degrees to form the chest. Fold the front of the vehicle down onto the bar connecting it to the rear. Turn the turret round 90 degrees then fold the front of the vehicle back onto the turret. Fold the rear panel of the vehicle down 90 degrees under the vehicle. Fold the rear of the vehicle back 180 degrees to form the legs and separate them. Rotate at the waist so the legs face forward. Bend the legs down under the figure. Fold the panels on the rear of the legs in. Fold the feet down from inside the legs and swing each foot round to the front. Fold down the panel at the back of the waist so that it's behind the upper legs.
Breacher's robot mode reveals some white plastic on the waist and the upper arms as well as black upper legs, feet, lower arms and hands. He's got a great head sculpt, which is like Optimus Prime's but with a face instead of a face plate. The face is a more traditional Transformers sculpt than many recent mainline Transformers toys. His articulation is decent: ball jointed ankles, hips, shoulders, elbows and wrists with bending knees, a turning neck and a waist that would turn if it wasn't immobilised by the skirt section down the back of his bottom. The bars have ended up on the back of his waist, either side of the skirt and on each piece of forearm armour plus there's two new ones on the front of each of the hand guards which make it look like he's holding his or other weapons. The wrist armour is also mounted on a bar with a similar clip but by the looks of it here the bar inside the forearm is slightly bigger than the rest so the wrist armour won't comfortably mount elsewhere and mounting weapons on this bar will stretch them somewhat.
It's only when playing with Breacher's removed weapon did I realise that the silver slats up the side of Seaspray's cab/along the top of his robot mode are also bars that can take a clip gimmicked weapon!
Overall: two good modes with a decent gimmick that allows you to customise him and other toys.
Breacher has been promoted for some while as Seaspray's scout sized partner so I was very keen to get my hands on one. There seem to be a load of loose ones on eBay at the moment at less than UK retail even when you factor in shipping: I paid £6.51 for mine. I saw at least one other knocking around at Auto Assembly 2010 so I assume I'm not the only one to take this offer up.
Breacher is a blue 6 wheeled assault vehicle, quite similar in design to the superb deluxe Wreckage from the first Transformers movie. The major design difference is that Breacher has a turret mounted on top of him. If we apply the standard tank test to him we discover the turret turns and the dual barrel at the front elevates. So we're doing well to start with. The gun on the turret is attached by a clip to a bar, which is what allows it to elevate. This clip and bar is the same size as ones found on other recent toys, most prominently Skystalker and Recon Ironhide. If you look closely at the toy you'll find a bar under the moulded door behind the front wheel on each side plus a pair of bars moulded into the roof. You can try attaching the dual barrelled gun to any of these but there's little clearance on the bars at the bottom of the sides and the roof ones involve the weapon to be pegged on at an odd angle, Your mileage may vary with weapons belonging to other toys. I'm having a little difficulty getting all the vehicle parts to quite align in this mode, but that may just be the early version I have. Breacher is supposedly designed to work with Seaspray but he fits onto the deck at the rear of Seaspray's vehicle mode just as well as any other scout sized wheeled vehicle. To be honest the best fit I've found so far is the deluxe sized Hailstorm who locks into position with the fans folding back behind him to hold him in place.
Transformation: Open the side panels along the top at the back of the vehicle. Fold the front of the vehicle forward 90 degrees. Unpeg the front wheels and fold out to the sides taking some of the side panels with them. Unfold to form the arms and fold so they point forward beside the front of the vehicle. Fold the armour under the arms up and out to the sides and turn the hands round so the guard on the back of the hand is on the outside of each arm. Swing the driver's compartment round through 180 degrees. Fold the middle of the front down 90 degrees to form the chest. Fold the front of the vehicle down onto the bar connecting it to the rear. Turn the turret round 90 degrees then fold the front of the vehicle back onto the turret. Fold the rear panel of the vehicle down 90 degrees under the vehicle. Fold the rear of the vehicle back 180 degrees to form the legs and separate them. Rotate at the waist so the legs face forward. Bend the legs down under the figure. Fold the panels on the rear of the legs in. Fold the feet down from inside the legs and swing each foot round to the front. Fold down the panel at the back of the waist so that it's behind the upper legs.
Breacher's robot mode reveals some white plastic on the waist and the upper arms as well as black upper legs, feet, lower arms and hands. He's got a great head sculpt, which is like Optimus Prime's but with a face instead of a face plate. The face is a more traditional Transformers sculpt than many recent mainline Transformers toys. His articulation is decent: ball jointed ankles, hips, shoulders, elbows and wrists with bending knees, a turning neck and a waist that would turn if it wasn't immobilised by the skirt section down the back of his bottom. The bars have ended up on the back of his waist, either side of the skirt and on each piece of forearm armour plus there's two new ones on the front of each of the hand guards which make it look like he's holding his or other weapons. The wrist armour is also mounted on a bar with a similar clip but by the looks of it here the bar inside the forearm is slightly bigger than the rest so the wrist armour won't comfortably mount elsewhere and mounting weapons on this bar will stretch them somewhat.
It's only when playing with Breacher's removed weapon did I realise that the silver slats up the side of Seaspray's cab/along the top of his robot mode are also bars that can take a clip gimmicked weapon!
Overall: two good modes with a decent gimmick that allows you to customise him and other toys.
