BRUTICUS BLASTED

My quest continues!

Here's Blast Off, alongside his 2001 sort-of-incarnation.

I have seen some complaints about his weird cup hands, but I think they're a nice nod to the original design, even if they make little sense.

As much sense as a Space Shuttle counting as a combat vehicle, for example.

Three down, two to go!

BRUTICUS UPDATE

A new soldier has marched up to the door of the recruitment office!

My quest to complete Bruticus before I die has progressed with the arrival of Brawl! Here he is, alongside his earlier incarnation. Well, the re-released version of his earlier incarnation, anyway.

The tank mode is a bit boxy, and there's that weird hole in the front, but he's a handsome lad.

BRUTICUS COMPROMISED

I am 45ish. My ambition*, before I vanish into cosmic dust, is to own a complete Bruticus.

This is Bruticus:

I owned two-fifths of him when I was a child. I had Onslaught, a fantastic toy and the main body, and I had Blast Off, one of the limbs -- usually an arm -- and a neat little space shuttle. Alas, I did not have the rest of the Combaticons. I did have a couple of other combiners -- Blot and Nautilator -- so I could assemble most of a hybrid, mutated Bruticus, missing a limb. Probably an arm.

At least they were all Decepticons, but it was Bruticus Compromised, at best, and it always niggled at me.

Later, in 2001, I was surprised to discover that the toys had been re-released with different colours and under different names, so flush with student loan money -- ha ha -- I bought them all and at last could assemble Bruticus.

Except it wasn't Bruticus. It was Ruination. This shouldn't matter, but it did, and anyway, I have somehow since lost Rollbar/Swindle, so even if it didn't matter I'm back to four-fifths.

I missed out on the various revamps and reimaginings of the toys -- including this beast -- but just a few weeks ago they released a new Vortex toy. Here he is:

(That's his 2001 incarnation there, "Ro-Tor".)

We will be getting his team-mates Blast Off and Brawl -- probably a leg -- and leader Onslaught in 2026. Maybe I will have a complete Bruticus before I'm 50.

*(I do have other ambitions. I'm not a total loser. Of course, those ambitions include such lofty goals as "finish painting my Eldar army" so...)