Brawn

Brawn is one of the strongest Autobots in the Transformers "Generation 1" franchise. His vehicle mode is a Land Rover Defender 4x4. Brawn is 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 Microbots.
In The Transformers cartoon, Brawn is voiced by Corey Burton. In Bumblebee, he is voiced by the late Kirk Baily.
==History==
===Cartoon===
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 Transformers . Brawn had numerous roles during the first and second seasons, acting as the Autobots' muscle. Despite his small size (the Decepticons insult him by calling him 'midget'), he is one of the strongest Autobots; only Optimus Prime and the Dinobots are equal or greater in strength. 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"), singlehandedly taking down Skywarp, Thundercracker and Soundwave by himself and holding his own against Shockwave.
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 The Transformers the Movie, 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.
===Marvel's the Transformers===
Brawn was among the Autobots introduced in the initial miniseries, in which he was one of the more prominent characters. He was part of the scouting team that Prowl took to investigate Earth following the arrival of the Ark crew and took part in their first battle with the Decepticons at a drive-in, easily defeating Laserbeak. In Issue #2, he is involved in the larger battle at Witwicky's Garage, where he saves Mirage from Ravage. He is later part of the group that rescues Sparkplug Witwicky from the Decepticons, where he takes down Rumble but is then himself knocked out by Frenzy. In the UK-exclusive story "The Enemy Within", Brawn is left mentally unbalanced by an accident with electrical equipment, attacking human cars that he considers alive. He is apprehended by the Autobots and, in order to ascertain whether or not he has recovered, Optimus Prime arranges with Megatron for him to fight the treacherous Starscream in a trial by combat. Once it becomes clear he is himself again, Mirage uses his illusions to fake Brawn's death and return him safely to the Ark. He is injured again fighting off a Decepticon attack in "Raiders of the Last Ark", which may be why he is not one of the Autobots Optimus Prime choose to keep online with their limited fuel reserves at the end of the miniseries, leaving him inactive.
Brawn is brought back online along with most of the other Autobots by Issue #9. He takes part in the attempt to rescue Optimus Prime from new Decepticon commander Shockwave in issue #12 only to be ambushed by a fake Optimus Prime and the Decepticon cassettes until the real Optimus Prime rescues him. The US comic treated all those caught in the ambush as offline but Brawn continued to appear in the UK-exclusive stories, helping Huffer to erect a Christmas tree in "Christmas Breaker".
In "Dinobot Hunt", Brawn is part of a team with Mirage and Trailbreaker who are sent to retrieve the feral Dinobot Snarl, who they take into custody without a fight when he is disabled by an experimental human bomb. In "Devastation Derby", he is sent with Ironhide, Smokescreen and Tracks to keep an eye on Buster Witwicky, who has been targeted by the Decepticons. Brawn attempted to protect Buster from Soundwave while the other Autobots fought Devastator.
In "Target: 2006", Brawn takes part in the multiple battles with future Decepticon leader Galvatron. He is knocked out by Scourge during the first battle but recovers in time to ambush and capture him and trade him for the captured Jazz, who Galvatron has turned into a violent zombie who attacks the Autobots. Nevertheless, Brawn is one of the few Autobots to make it through the campaign without suffering serious injury, accompanied Smokescreen and Tracks in backing up acting leader Jetfire in the final confrontation with Galvatron before his weapon is destroyed by future Autobots Kup, Hot Rod and Blurr.
Like most of the original Autobots, Brawn disappears after the funeral of a facsimile Optimus Prime in "Resurrection". He isn't seen again until US Issue #41, when Grimlock has arranged for all the damaged Autobots to be repaired and Brawn witnesses a duel between him and Blaster for Autobot leadership. In Issue #50, at the climax of the Underbase Saga, Brawn is part of a combined Autobot/Decepticon team under Blaster and Ratbat who defend New York from the Underbase-powered Starscream. He is one of several older Autobots who Goldbug leads into battle only for them to be immediately killed by Starscream.
Despite Brawn being among the casualties in the movie, he is shown in the post-movie story "Space Pirates" among the Autobots deactivated when the Quintessons attack Autobot City.
==Robots in Disguise (2001)==
See main article: X-Brawn
==Transformers Reboot Films==
A version of Brawn appears in the opening of Bumblebee, voiced by the late Kirk Baily. 
Brawn is part of the Autobot Resistance on Cybertron, and during the final battle with the Decepticons, Brawn was seen attempting to fend off their army, and was shot in the shoulder. However, he managed to survive, and after Optimus Prime ordered them to retreat, Brawn and the others used escape pods to flee Cybertron.
==Trivia==
*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.
===Was Brawn killed?===
Brawn's death in the Movie was disputed among fans. Although one of the strongest Autobots, in the movie he is killed by a single 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" 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 full of animation erros. Although select fans continue to argue Brawn's survival, in addition to the animation, his demise can be confirmed in the Movie script and comic book adaptations; all depict Brawn being killed.
As well as this, 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.
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