It’s Transformers Thursday again! Last time we looked at Side Burn, the first of the Autobot Car Brothers from Robots in Disguise. Today we’re rolling on with the second of the three. It’s X-Brawn…

X-Brawn’s alt mode is a silver and green SUV. I totally dig the realism in this vehicle mode. The silver finish looks great and he has a huge Autobot emblem stamped on his hood. The running boards and front ramming bar are all chromed out, and he even has a spare tire rack on the back. Speaking of tires, X-Brawn’s are real rubber and stamped with “Transformers” on the sides. You can even open his doors and lift the hood to reveal the chrome engine inside. Cool!

X-Brawn transforms pretty easily and boy am I ever torn on his robot mode. Unlike Side Burn, who had car parts hanging haphazardly all over, X-Brawn manages to confine almost all of it into one giant crippling disfigurement of the left arm. Yes, he wears the entire front of his auto mode as a forearm. The problem here is that it’s far more unwieldy and random than Side Burn’s roof, which actually looks like a serviceable shield. X-Brawn’s SUV front of an arm just looks random and unfortunate. I suppose he could hit people with it, but it seems like the trade-off of having to go through life with that on your arm, isn’t a good one.

It’s a real shame too, because the rest of X-Brawn looks mighty damn good. The lower legs are pretty huge, but they give him a nice solid base to stand on, and I really dig the sculpting in his chest. Even his head sculpt looks normal and not all frankensteined like Side Burns does. Toss in some serviceable ball joints and he’s a pretty fun figure to pose and play with.

One other distinctive feature about X-Brawn is that his running boards detach during transformation and become a sword or a bludgeon weapon. Yes, this poor guy has only one hand and it’s on the popeye arm, while his normal arm sports only a weapon.

Like Side Burn, I should have an enormous problem with this figure, and yet I can’t bring myself to hate on him. Yes, X-Brawn’s huge car front arm violates my ugly car kibble standards, but so much else about this figure works well for me that I’m able to overlook it. Some may argue that the coloring of the SUV mode is too subdued, but I like the fact that it just accentuates the vehicle’s realism. On the other hand, if you were looking for something with a more exciting deco, I may be able to accommodate you on the next Transformers Thursday!