Brawn, one of the toughest Autobots, certainly had a tough time in Transformers during his time on Earth. As one of the Ark’s original crew, Brawn was one of the first Transformers to set foot on our fair planet. He took to its rough terrain like a 4×4. Literally, in fact.

On the Autobots’ very first mission on Earth, Brawn was keen to throw himself into the thick of the action; protecting his team-mates from the Decepticon Strike Planes and knocking out Laserbeak. Later, when the Decepticons attacked “Sparkplug” Witwicky’s garage, Brawn aided his comrades by taking Ravage out of the fight. Perhaps Brawn had a thing for unspooling the Spy Cassettes.

In Transformers #13-17’s “The Enemy Within”, Brawn fell foul to an electrical accident that seemed to scramble his circuits. He rampaged a nearby town, under the impression that Earth’s vehicles were slaves and needed to be freed. During his state of mental duress, Brawn was responsible for the deaths of several humans. It was a dark time for the Autobots, as Optimus Prime had prioritised the safety of the humans above all else. Despite his troubles, Brawn was repaired and reunited with his fellow Autobots.

Brawn was one of the many Autobot casualties of Shockwave’s attack on the Ark. He was eventually restored by Ratchet and was instructed, alongside Bluestreak, to help with the repairs of the Ark’s ionic fusion drive.

Brawn later fell victim to Shockwave’s plot to use Optimus Prime’s body as a pawn to destroy the Autobots.

As far as the American Transformers stories were concerned, Brawn’s deactivation was considered semi-permanent and he wasn’t seen for quite some time. The British-created stories, however, allowed Brawn some more time in the limelight.

During the Autobots’ “Dinobot Hunt” (Transformers 47-50), Brawn was commissioned alongside Mirage and Trailbreaker to locate and neutralise the rogue Snarl in the Nevada desert. Snarl was able to over power the Autobots but a prototype weapon belonging to a human military base helped turn the tide. Compared to some of the other Autobots, Brawn was let off lightly in the mission to retrieve the Dinobots.

After Shockwave made Buster Witwicky a personal target, Brawn was part of the team composed to protect the human. Brawn did his best to protect the boy when Soundwave and the Constructicons attacked, and seemingly only survived when the Decepticon’s resident mind-reader called off the attack for reasons unknown to Brawn.

Ever-ready to fight alongside his friends, Brawn tustled with the future Decepticons during the “Galvatron Affair” (AKA “Target: 2006” [Transformers #78-88]).

After this time, as more and more Transformers were introduced into the comic, Brawn faded from view. He was briefly re-introduced, cameo-like, in Transformers 174-175’s “Totaled”. Not as tough as he was before, Brawn was taken out by Swindle.
Brawn was deactivated again, in New York city alongside his team-mates by a mere wave of the Underbase-powered Starscream’s hand. It was a particularly undignified ending for the heroic Autobot.

Brawn spent the rest of his time in Transformers in restorative status on board the Ark. He almost had a chance of revival when Galvatron infiltrated the Autobots’ spacecraft in the hopes of creating a mind-controlled army. Apparently, Brawn wasn’t phychologically suitable for Galvatron’s plans.

Brawn must have been restored by other means, though, as in the American GI Joe issues that led into the Transformers: Generation 2 maxi-series, he was up and about on Earth, ready to make a heroic last stand against as resurrected Megatron.
Brawn was vapourised in a blaze of glory after his fight with Megatron ended with the Decepticon’s ex-leader showing off his new ability to implode neutrons. Tough times, indeed.

Category: AtoZ
Tags: Mini-Autobots

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