Brawn (Transformers)

Brawn is the name of a fictional character from the various Transformers universes. "Brawn is not to be confused with X-Brawn, a very similar character from "."

Transformers: Generation 1

Transformers character
name =Brawn
japanname =Gong


caption =Brawn by Dreamwave Productions
affiliation =Autobot
subgroup =Mini-Bots
Basic Vehicles
rank =
function =Demolitions
partner =
motto ="Might over microchips."
alternatemodes =Cybertronian Truck
Land Rover Defender 4x4
Cobra Flight Pod
series =

engvoice =Corey Burton
japanvoice =Yutaka Shimaka

Brawn is one of the strongest Autobots in the Transformers television and comic series based on the popular toy line produced by Takara and Hasbro. His vehicle mode is a Land Rover Defender 4x4. Brawn has not had a mass market release toy for several years and until recently, the character has not been featured in the modern Transformers Universe.

The original toy that became Brawn was originally released by Takara in 1983 as part of the Micro Change subset of the Japanese Microman line. He was released in the US in 1984 by Hasbro as one of the first assortment of American Transformers toys.

Brawn's character biography describes him as "the most macho" of the original eighteen Autobots and one of the strongest despite his small size. He is further described as agile and second in physical strength only to Optimus Prime, able to lift weights of up to 190,000 lbs. and strong enough to level a small building with a single punch. His physical resilience is also high, enough to resist artillery fire, but he has an innate weakness to attacks based on electromagnetic waves. Brawn loves rugged and hostile environments and is always up to test his mettle against a new challenge.

Brawn's biography in Marvel Comics' 1986 "Transformers Universe" mini-series further expands on his character, explaining that Brawn is often teamed with Bumblebee on missions due to their complementary skills, and that while his never-say-die attitude improved the Autobots' morale, he is somewhat less than accepting of those less "tough" than him, a fact made known by how badly he treated Perceptor in the Season 2 episode "Microbots" [http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Microbots#Detailed_synopsis] .

Though Brawn's toy was not packaged with a weapon and his character biography doesn't specifically mention Brawn carrying one, the Generation 1 animated series saw him equipped with a laser pistol.

Animated series

Brawn was one of the Autobots on the Ark when it crashed into Earth four million years ago. He featured prominently in the series and was involved in many of the Autobot and Decepticon conflicts spanning the first two seasons of the "The Transformers" television series. Brawn had numerous roles during the first and second seasons, acting as the Autobots' muscle. On one occasion Brawn singlehandedly saved Prowl and Bluestreak from Starscream, Thundercracker and Soundwave ("Roll for it"). On another, he stopped Megatron's use of a crystal powered superweapon in Peru, attacking and distracting the Decepticon leader while Optimus Prime and Skyfire destroyed the weapon ("Fire in the Mountain"). When the Decepticons brainwashed Sparkplug Witwicky and took him to Cybertron, Brawn led the rescue mission and eventually managed to retrieve him ("The Ultimate Doom"). Later, Brawn developed a dislike of the scientist Perceptor, thinking him cowardly for preferring to study science than fight. However, after an adventure where they (along with Bumblebee) were shrunk to go inside Megatron's body to remove the Heart of Cybertron (a power source that was making Megatron all-powerful) Brawn admitted he'd been wrong after Perceptor's knowledge proved invaluable in defeating the rampaging Megatron ("Microbots").

In "", set in the Earth year 2005, Brawn was assigned to Moonbase One along with several first season Autobots. He was later assigned to make a special supply run to Autobot City on Earth. During the shuttle mission, Decepticon forces invaded the shuttle. Using Megatron in pistol mode, Starscream killed Brawn with a single shot to the shoulder.

Brawn's death is disputed among fans. Although one of the strongest Autobots, in the movie he is rapidly dispensed by a single piercing shot to the shoulder. His absence from the list of deceased Autobots in "Dark Awakening" (replaced in a list of those killed in the shuttle attack with Huffer), plus an appearance in the post-movie episode "Carnage in C-Minor" has inspired ongoing debate as to whether the character is truly dead. The episode shows Brawn, a miscolored Huffer, and Bonecrusher fighting together against a weapon built by Galvatron. This appearance is generally considered an error, due to the episode being riddled with animation mistakes. Although select fans continue to argue Brawn's survival, in addition to the animation, confirmation of his demise can be confirmed in the "" script [http://tfarchive.com/cartoons/info/movie/draft.php] and comic book adaptations; all depict Brawn being killed.

A dispute can be made that Brawn's injuries were more damaging than at first glance. Whenever Brawn takes the shot to the shoulder, after he falls it is noticed that a larger amount of Brawns back is damaged thus giving the possibility that the laser fired could have acted as a hollow point like bullet and damaging more of Brawn then previously thought.

Marvel Comics

Brawn was one of the original Autobot Transformers, making his first appearance in Issue #1 of the original Marvel Comics "Transformers" series. In the initial four issue limited series produced by Marvel, Brawn was part of Prime’s elite crew that crash landed on Earth. Throughout most of the series, Brawn remained more of a background character after the initial four issue arc.

Brawn was defeated by Swindle when the Autobots were ambushed by the Decepticons in issue #41 "Totaled!"

He was part of the Autobot team led by Goldbug to defeat the Underbase powered Starscream in San Francisco. Brawn, along with the other Autobots, was deactivated by Starscream in issue #50.

Although Brawn largely stayed in the background in the US Comics, in an early Marvel U.K. tale by Simon Furman he was pushed to the fore. In the arc ("The Enemy Within", running from issues 13-17 of the UK comic) Brawn was depicted as becoming increasingly unstable due to a massive electric shock suffered during a technical experiment. He finally snapped and beat Sideswipe nearly to death. Brawn then went on the rampage, wrecking a nearby town, until the other Autobots eventually managed to take him down. Brawn was repaired and returned to sanity by Ratchet. He elected to prove his loyalty by "trial by combat", pitted against Starscream (who had been censured by the Decepticons for open treachery). The Decepticon won, using his airborne form to stay out of Brawn's reach, before apparently destroying him. In reality Mirage had used his holographic powers to make it appear as if Brawn had died, and he returned to the Autobot fold once again. It is worth noting here that Brawn's robot mode was portrayed as a likeness of his toy, not as his more anthropomorphic portrayal in the animated series.

In the U.S. comics, Brawn and several other Autobots were restored using Nucleon by the Autobot Grimlock just before Unicron attacked Cybertron in issue 75 of the series. Brawn participated in the battle, but was not seen again in the concluding issues of the original series, although he did appear as one of the Earthforce Autobots in several later issues of the UK comic.

Just before the launch of the Marvel "" comic, Brawn made a brief return to active duty as part of the Autobot reinforcements on Earth responding to Megatron’s alliance with Cobra forces. Brawn was killed by Megatron in the conflict as his body was atomized, never again to return to the pages of Marvel continuity - although he would return in the pages of "Transformers: Universe". He also appeared in the UK "Space Pirates" arc (set in the future of the Movie) where he was killed during the Quintesson attack on Autobot city.

Books

Brawn appeared in the 1986 story and coloring book "The Lost Treasure of Cybertron" by Marvel Books.

Dreamwave Productions

In the 21st century re-imagining of the Generation One continuity by Dreamwave Productions, Brawn started out as a soldier on Cybertron at the dawn of the Autobot and Decepticon civil war.

When Autobot leader Sentinel Prime was killed by Decepticon leader Megatron, a new Autobot leader, Optimus Prime, was chosen. Optimus ordered the evacuation of Cybertron by the Autobots, and Brawn was among those who reluctantly prepared for the evacuation (Transformers: War Within #2).

When Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared in an accident with a space bridge, the Autobot and Decepticon forces splintered into smaller factions. Brawn stayed with the Autobots under the leadership of Prowl.Learning that the Decepticons were testing a new mobile command base at the Praetorus Wharf, Prowl led Cliffjumper, Brawn, Jazz, Skids and Sideswipe to investigate. What they discovered was Trypticon (Transformers: The War Within - The Dark Ages #3), and rowl's group only survived due to Trypticon being called away by Shockwave.

Six million years ago, Ultra Magnus united the Autobot factions and lead them to victory over Decepticons and Ultracons. Megatron returned to Cybertron in command of the clone forces of the Aerospace Extermination Squadron and took over Cybertron. Brawn was among the Autobots enslaved and forced to labor tunneling into Cybertron's core (Transformers: War Within - The Age of Wrath #2).

Brawn was among the Autobots who followed Optimus Prime on his mission on board the Ark and crash landed on Earth. In 1984, when the Ark's computer re-activated, it reformatted Brawn as in the form of an Earth truck.

Following the awakening of the Transformers on Earth, the Autobots allied with humankind and eventually defeated the Decepticons at the turn of the century. Following the Ark II tragedy, Lazarus was able to seize control of several of the Transformers that fell back to Earth, including Brawn. He was later rescued by Optimus Prime and rebuilt by Jazz’s unit. He was part of a small task force lead by Jazz assigned to stop the spread of Megatron’s deadly metal virus in the Canadian Northwest territories.

Following the liberation of Cybertron from Shockwave’s rule, Brawn was assigned to help reinforce Jazz’s team on Earth. Brawn objected to Bumblebee’s leadership of the mission, stating that he “"was no Prime"”. Brawn eventually accepted Bumblebee’s responsibility of command and helped to capture the Decepticons that were deactivated by Sunstorm.

Devil's Due Publishing

In this reimagining of the Generation One story, the Ark was discovered by the terrorist Cobra organization, and all the Transformers inside were reformatted into Cobra vehicles remotely controlled by the Televipers. In this storyline Brawn turned into a Cobra Flight Pod.

3H Enterprises

The character of Brawn appeared in the Transformers: Universe comics as one of the Transformers captured by Unicron, and they even showed how he was taken from the pages of the Marvel comics just before he was killed by Megatron.

Toys

*Generation 1 Brawn (1984):This toy features an embossed "M" on his hood, a holdover from his Microman toy line roots. :The toy of Brawn was recolored into Jipe, and remolded into Outback. He was later released as a keychain in original and special black colors.

*Generation 1 McDonalds Brawn (1985):One of the four original McDonalds Happy Meal Transformers toy from 1985, this toy was just a solid two-color statue of the character in robot mode. (Several colors of Brawn -- and the other Autobots -- were released, with the 2 mold colors varying from red, yellow, blue, green, and black.)

*Generation 1 Keychain Brawn (2001) :Brawn returned as a a keychain along with Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, and Windcharger.

*CybCon Brawn (2002):The two unofficial exclusive redecos available at CybCon 2002 were Spy Changers Laser Optimus Prime and Brawn. These were hand repainted from Robots in Disguise Spy Changers Scourge and X-Brawn. [ [http://members.fortunecity.com/zobovor/cybcon_2002_repaints.html CybCon 2002: Spychanger Scourge and X-Brawn Repaints ] ]

*Universe Brawn (unreleased):There was an unreleased version of Brawn, done as a remold of Strongarm, but painted to look like that Brawn with a remolded head and weapons, but it was never released. Presumable this would have been Brawn after he was upgraded in the Universe series. Artwork for this remold can be seen on the tfw2005 gallery.:The mold was instead merely repainted for the Transformers: Timelines toys as Fallback, an upgraded version of Generation 1 Outback, a toy which was a remold of Brawn.

*Universe Legends Brawn (2008/not yet released):A new Legends class mold was displayed at SDCC 2008. [http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/attachment.php?do=fullview&attachmentid=8785]

References

External links

* [http://www.tfu.info/1984/Autobot/Brawn/brawn.htm tfu.info's entry] on the original toy, which also contains links to other toy incarnations of Brawn.
* [http://mywebpages.comcast.net/mathewignash/csbrawn.html RPG write-up for Brawn in the Champions RPG.] by Mathew R. Ignash.