Laster, however, was one of a combiner. I had to have them all, didn't I? A few weeks after I got Laster, my wife and I went to an 80s convention to help a friend sell his figures, and the next table had Blacker. He was priced higher than I wanted to pay, so I ignored it. At the end of the day, we were picking up my wife and a friend's girlfriend from the mall (they needed to get out of the con by the end of it) when my friend who's table we were helping at called me telling me he had cut the price in half. A good friend of mine answered my want ad within an hour of me posting it for Braver, and the set was complete.
Some backstory of the characters: In Victory, the main Cybertron (Autobot) super warriors were the Brainmasters. Star Saber was one of them, along with Braver, Laster, and Blacker. The figures were released individually, in a giftset, and later again individually in chinese boxes. All three came with a sword, and some of the combination parts. The figures themselves were very well built, with lots of ratchet joints, diecast in the legs of the two leg bots, and rubber tires all around.
The Brainmasters left to right: Brain of Strength (Blacker), Brain of Skill (Laster), and Brain of Intelligence (Braver)
Blacker is the team's leader, and Star Saber's right hand man. He is also the most experienced warrior. He came with Road Caesar's head, that transformed into a gun, and the chest shield that became an arm mounted shield
Laster is the team's loner and he's highly skilled. He came packed with one of the leg panels and one of the fists.
Braver is the inventor of the team, always making something to help with the war. He, like Laster, comes packed with a fist and leg panel.
Their car modes can either be plain or in "attack mode" which is how they were shown for the majority of the show. each of the Brainmasters can sit inside the cars as well
In robot mode, the Brainmasters are set inside the figures like so, and when you close the door, the panel under the feet pushes up and the face is revealed.
Combined form is pretty disproportionate, the arms are small, while the legs are huge. Road Caesar probably would have benefited from a fourth member to form bigger arms, but I still like it. It's unique to say the least. The three swords combine in this mode to form the Royal Blade.
a few group shots with Star Saber of all the Brainmasters together, shows their size next to him. They are roughly the same size as Saber alone.
Star Saber dwarfs them, but I like the size difference between them.
A neat (if simple) set. Brings something kinda new to the table if you haven't handled Star Saber before. I like them. The new Kabaya set of them seems to fix some of the proportional issues with the combined mode. I can't wait to get that set to put in my Micromaster display.
I never used to like these figures, and I sold of the 2/3 of the European versions I had.
ReplyDeleteBut damn if this doesn't just scream "BRAVE COMBINER" at me really, really loudly now. Damn you Bryce!!!!
Well, it is the same era. lol. Sorry Sid.
DeleteHi Bryce,
ReplyDeletethe figures look to be in really excellent condition....the same with the boxes too. I vaguely remember the cartoon series as it's been a few years that I have watched but you ahve made me want to go back and watch it again.
On a side note, the chest plate of the combiners really looks similar to Piranacon's.
You had mentioned these three figures also came in a giftset......if you had you way which would you prefer: gift set or individual?
Cheers,
Joe
Yeah, they are in excellent condition, I'm pretty happy with them. I rewatched the series this summer. It was actually better than I remembered.
DeleteI have been tracking down individual boxes for my combiners, since the giftsets are a lot harder to come by. But if they were all easy to get, i'd go for all giftsets.