At some point during my run of Brazilian minibot articles, I decided that I was going to try and catalogue them all. I had already been fortunate enough to capture some of the absolute rarest ones like the green Sedan (Bumblejumper) and metallic blue/yellow Camaro (Windcharger), so I had a very good foundation for such a task. There were some minibots that I knew I would have an awful time trying to track down, namely the pink/blue Camaro, the wine/pink Pick-Up (Gears) and this blue/white/red Jipe (Brawn). I'm not a collector of these things either, I review them and sell them on. So when I saw this blue Jipe for sale, especially with the faction symbol intact, I didn't hesitate to buy it. And neither should you if you collect such things, this one is tough.

You can probably already guess from the rather unusual colour scheme that this piece hails from the later Optimus vs Malignus line of Brazilian repaint minibots by Estrela. The surprisingly striking Blue Jipe is from the evil Malignus faction (who all tend to have their faction symbol concealed in vehicle mode) and is of similar build quality to the other Brazilian minibots.

As with almost all South American minibots, it's extremely hard to find them in excellent shape and this Brawn had various spots of wear on it, but nothing that affected its displayability too much. At this point I would usually mention that it is near-impossible to find packaged versions of these variants, however, the blue Jipe is the only Optimus vs Malignus minibot to have offered up a packaged specimen over the years. A carded version was discovered a few years ago, and it was truly spectacular.

The blue on this variant is very standout and far from dull. No other version of Brawn from any other country has been found in blue as yet, so it's also quite unique. The blue minibots have always tended to stand out a little more than their counterparts. The cream plastic beneath the front grill gives a hint as to the primary colour and look of the robot mode for this Malignus Jipe.

When I first saw this figure some years ago, I was very surprised and impressed by its overall look. Not only the blue vehicle but the choice of colours for the figure mode. The cream torso and red head section all contrast very nicely with each other, leaving a memorable impression of this special little minibot.

The figure has chromed arms and grill unlike the Peruvian Brawns. You can see the worn Malignus faction symbol on his waist area. As I've mentioned before, the presence of that faction symbol adds greatly to the value and desireability of these releases. I have actually located a wine coloured Gears but I won't buy it because it doesn't have the faction symbol!

Even in this condition it's a marvel as far as I'm concerned, one of the nicest minibot variants available. You can just imagine how good the toy would look if it were in perfect shape without chrome or stickerwear.

Here's the Brazilian Estrela-made Malignus blue Jipe next to a Hasbro/Takara Transformers Brawn, and the differences in colour are large enough to make it easy to believe that the Jipe is a completely different character altogether. Both seem to have very distinct personalities. There are a few small moulding differences as well...

First of all, look at the top of the robot heads. The TF Brawn on the right has a one-piece head. The blue Jipe has the main red head section but the silver 'ears' appear to be a completely separate piece. You can see the small gaps between the two sections.

Also, if you look above the top of the head, there is a blue clip (green clip on the TF Brawn) that helps connect the top and underside of the toy together (between the two parts of the bumper that jut out). The moulding for that section is pretty different on both toys as well, although it might be more visible in the robot mode comparison picture further above. It is not unusual to find such moulding differences between the US Transformers and the later-release Brazilian minibots.

Malignus Jipe's copyright is, as you'd expect, Estrela-stamped. The same as all the other Brazilian-released minibots. This is of course because they were not manufactured by either Hasbro or Takara in the US or Japan.

Overall, the blue Malignus Jipe is one of the more succesful and interesting of the South American variants in my opinion. The snappy choice of colours for the vehicle and robot modes gives the piece a very unique personality, and that's to say nothing of the Brazilian-exclusive Malignus faction symbol which defines his allegiance and sets him apart even further from the Transformers.

It is a great shame that pieces as intriguing as this can be so troublesome to track down for fans of the mould. Even when you do find one and possibly have to pay a significant amount, the chances are that it will not be in mint condition. If you're a collector of variant minibots though, it is something you will have become used to over the years.

All of that aside, this is a wonderful little variant and definitely one of my favourites so far. It's also the only Optimus vs Malignus toy to have turned up in-package. I have a feeling this one will appeal to non-completist collectors as well, it's just that cool.

All the best
Maz