TRANSFORMERS TOYS AND MERCHANDISE SECTION

Robot Mode:
Alternate Mode:
Box Art:
Technical Specifications:
STR
INT
SPD
END
RNK
CRG
FPR
SKL

Brave Maximus' Review: Brave Maximus

Brave Maximus
Allegiance: Cybertron
Alt-Mode: Cybertron City
First cartoon appearance: 'Fortess Maximus' (RiD #29)

If you can't tell, I'm a Maximus Fan. There is something about the largest Transformer ever made that got me hooked. Put on top of that a good mould and relative rareness, and you have my favourite transformer.

Brave Maximus it the fourth incarnation of this toy to be released. An almost mute character in the cartoon, he's used as the last ditch ultimate weapon, and looking at the toy, you can see why. On an interesting note, in the cartoon Plasma (the Spike part) is the size of normal Fire Convoy. Going from that, the toy should be around 8 feet talk to make it show accurate

City mode:
Brave Maximus' city mode is quite big (as if anything about him wouldn't be). He's got one main tower and two other towers, slightly behind. They are all in dark blue plastic. One good change from the other versions of this toy are the inclusion of yellow painted strips along the towers. This gives his city mode a more realistic look, as they look like window lights on buildings. He has three main ramps (one over each arm, and one coming from the tower) as well as another driveway and car port to the left side. There are two smaller side ramps just under the main tower that lead to the elevator. Each side tower\leg has a piece that flips down. The right leg has 2 steps and an inner space large enough for a spychanger size car, while the right side has a small staircase leading to a jail area. The back of Maximus also has two cannons and two more ports for cars. To the left side of the main tower is a helicopter pad. Now as opposed to other autobot cities, Brave Maximus has a lot of action features. There's the elevator below the central tower, just wind it up to the top (using a crank on the back) and press the red tab and a mini bot sized car can shoot out. Just above that entrance is a radar dish that can spin around, and the Brave part forms a communications Tower. Each arm ramp has a slide launcher for what ever car you place there, and at the back there's a room for plasma to sit. There's not a lot of pose ability here, but I mean come on he's a city. On top of that he's a city that can hold medium sized cars and looks great. Oh for interests sake, if you flip over Maximus' instructions you'll find a street map type play mat. Just place it under Maximus to complete the image.

Battle Cruiser Mode:
Ok, to start the transformation, take off all your transformers, and close up all ramps, and side pieces. Swing the helicopter pad over so that it's against the leg. Take each leg\tower and extend it down (This takes a lot of effort and if you're like me, you are always afraid you're going to break him), he's very awkward because of his size and things tend to flop around a lot. Now extend out his legs and point his toes, so he's perfectly horizontal. Flip the helicopter pad around and bring out the cannons, so it's pointing forward. Take the leg cannons and point them up a little and there you go he's in his "Dreadnaught Battle Cruiser" mode. You have two options right now, you can either place Plasma in his command chair and leave Brave as a communications tower or bring him out and have the warrior Brave running around, either way looks fine. In this mode Maximus is well over 2 feet long, while this is very impressive, it also means he takes up a lot of room where ever you place him. He keeps the same colours (black, red, dark and light blue), but some Neon Green makes an appearance here as well. The canopy for Plasma's control room and a storage compartment at the back are both clear neon green. Maximus keeps some playability in this mode: He roles along nicely on four hidden plastic wheels, the radar dish is still there, and if you open up the back ramp, you can still launch small cars out of him. Maximus is well armed in this mode, with six forward facing guns (two per leg, and two on the side cannon). For those of you who are wondering why there are two holes on the side of the towers, The first three incarnations of Maximus all came with 2 rifles, and when in this mode they would be placed there to give him more fire power. A nice mode, though a little odd looking, but gives him a nice in-between mode.

Plasma and Brave:
Before I go on to Brave Maximus, I'll pause to look at the two head parts of this toy. Plasma is your typical Headmaster toy. Slightly smaller than your average minicon, he's primarily black with red arms and legs, and silver for face and chest details. I prefer this colour scheme to Spike, Fortress, and Gran, but only because I'm a dark guy. There's a lot of moulded detail on him, which looks nice. To transform him, move his arms down and fold his legs over his front. Turn him over and flip up the face plate, there, now you have a head.
Brave: Take the communications tower from the side of Maximus, fold down his legs and open up his arms (folding out the hands from his forearms). Place the Plasma head in the top and there you go "the Warrior Brave". Brave is a fun little toy (I say little When he's about the size of a seeker jet.). His colours are primarily black and red, with silver detail around the face. There's an Autobot symbol on a silver background in the centre of his chest. Flip this part open to reveal his "power stats". Surprise, surprise, his are all at the top. Brave can hold the small red rifle to give him some fire power, but he's got about as much pose ability as most G1's: his arms move up and down and so do his legs, that's it.

Brave Maximus:
Alright here we go, the big guy: From Battle Cruiser mode, fold the feet up and push in the leg cannons, now stand him up. The side cannon folds up and swings around the back of his leg. Now split the central tower and move the pieces to his hips, and swing his arms down. Fold down the back ramp. Take Brave: fold his hands in and then move his arms to the centre of his chest. Fold his legs sideways to make the horns of his head, and take the black back piece and flip it up to reveal his face. Take Brave and place him in the hole at the top of Maximus and there you go, Brave Maximus!!! In Robot mode he is huge, standing 2 feet tall, he towers over everything else. His colours are primarily Dark and light blue with black, red, and grey for highlights. There are no where near as many stickers on Brave Maximus as there are for Fort Max and all the ones on Brave come factory applied. I find this a good thing because he's got enough detail as it is and doesn't need all those stickers that will peel in 10 years time. His face is silver with yellow eyes (departing from the classic Cybertron blue) but over all looks great. Now I know a lot of people are looking at him going "well that's all fine but with no rifles, all he can do is step on people". While true Brave Maximus doesn't come with any extra rifles or weapons, he's got more than enough fire power to take out anything and everything. Lift up his arms and swing out two large cannons from his hips, move his arms back down and lift up the red sections on his forearms, and un fold the two cannons there. The red section on the back of each hand flips around revealing two more cannons each , flip up the two leg cannons and swing around the side cannon and Brave Maximus is ready for his "Final Burn" attack with no less than 16 pieces of artillery, so quite your whining. There was a "Lucky Draw" version of Brave Maximus that came equipped with the extra rifles (in black) and the "Master Sword". so if you can afford it, go out and get it.
In Robot mode, Brave Max has 8 points of meaningful articulation, his legs can move at the hips, and his arms move at the shoulders, elbows and wrists.

Poseability:
Not to bad for a G1 but at this size you think Hasbro could have worked un a few extra joints, but all in all a good Robot.

Transformation: 6 - really not that difficult, just his bulk can make it awkward at times
Durability: 10 - Frickin' solid. 2 years later and everything's tight, and no stickers peeling
Fun: 10 - A city mode that holds a good number of big cars, a space ship mode and a huge giant robot, not to mention a double head master, Come on, if you don't have fun with this guy, you're not trying. (no I don't think of him as a brick either)
Price: 8 - He used to be very expensive and hard to find, but with the opening up of the Korean versions you can get him for around $89 US which is about what Fort Max cost in the 80's.
Overall: 10 - I love this toy. Giant robot, cool city mode, life is good. The only complaint I've ever had with this toy was the packaging. When you get him MISB, and you open him up, you'll find 30!!! twist ties. Set aside a good half hour to take him out of the box, before you can do anything with him. As Sir Auros said "The challenge isn't in the change, it's in getting him out of the box".