G1Galaxy_Shuttle_boxart

 

Galaxy Shuttle is one of the most well known and popular of the latter day “Victory”-era Japanese Transformers, even gaining popularity and traction in the West where he has had zero fiction appearances.  As such, he tends to be a very expensive and hard to acquire item, with even average condition loose versions of the toy selling out within minutes of the doors opening at even the biggest Transformers conventions like Botcon.

 

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Stupid flap creases!

Why is this?

Maybe it’s because he is really, really good!  A very solid latter-day Transformer which relies on very few gimmicks, other than his ability to transform from a really cool robot into a really nice Space Shuttle mode.  No Pretender shell, no Micro-Master companion or launcher, no third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh mode, no head / breast / target / power mastery, no Action Mastering,; just a solid toy.  Such a solid toy that he was also snapped up by Gig for the Trasformers line a year later, and then retooled and re-released as a Brave toy six years later in 1996 as part of the Brave Command Dagwon line.

BraveThunderDagwonModel

 

Galaxy Shuttle

 

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Shuttle Robo as is sometimes known (as he was called in his first appearance), was released in Japan in 1989 under the designation C-326.

 

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The robot mode, as mentioned before, is big, bulky and stunning.  It’s no wonder he was later used for Brave as he in many ways looks more like a Brave figure rather than a Transformer, except for that awesome face that screams Heroic Autobot.  He is a big toy compared to others of the time, whilst obviously not being as big as a city-bot, but that’s because his character is a big robot in the show as well.  Unlike Blast Off or Astrotrain, this guy is a space shuttle capable of carrying huge robots inside him which doesn’t shrink down to insane sizes in robot mode.

 

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His transformation is a joy, everything moves instinctively, but annoyingly his wings do get in the way sometimes.  You can pop them off to make the transformation easier, but repeated popping on and off of the wings tends to cause stress marks to the softer plastic material holding the wings in place, and it has been known to perish and crack on a few unfortunate cases.

 

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That’s not paint scratching… it’s from re-entry.

Once in vehicle mode, he really shines.  You can interact with the Micro-Masters play pattern in a couple of different ways, and you can even open up his cockpit to pop a Micro-Master pilot in there, which does make me wonder why they didn’t include one with him to increase the value of the package and bulk out an already close to bloated line.
There have also been rumours that Galaxy Shuttle was originally supposed to come with a launcher of some type, but I’ve never been able to confirm that, as it’s very hard to search for that without getting assaulted by Richard Branson propaganda.

 

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I can’t decide which I prefer, so have both.

 

You can also pop open his cargo bay doors (his arms basically) to add a further bit of play value, and his weapon stores nicely, becoming his tail-fin in shuttle mode.

 

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He also interacts nicely with the Countdown base playset, as seen above and below, with his rear blasters molded to fit in place of Countdown’s booster rocket.

 

 

 

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Thunder Dagwon

 

 

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I’ve always loved this dual packaging design that you can find on some Brave, with a solid package art piece on one side, and a window showing you the toy on the other.  This is something Joustra Diaclone toys did very well and I’d like to see it more often in today’s toys.

 

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Technically, Thunder Dagwon is actually the combined form of DagThunder and Thunder Shuttle, but most people refer to this guy on his own as Thunder Dagwon.

 

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And all new mold DagThunder is included in the package, comprised of Thunder Rai and his Thunder Bike, but they are in a completely different scale to Thunder Shuttle.  While they’re a cool addition to the package, they just store on the back of the figure and don’t really affect the look of the figure like other combining Braves, so I rarely combine them and keep them separate.  I should also mention that T’Dawg here comes with another spear weapon, not pictured, as I removed it from the figure when i took it to a nerd meet-up for safe-keeping, and I’ve promptly lost it.

 

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DagThunder

 

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Thunder Rai on his Thunder Bike

 

The figure has some extensive retooling, in robot mode this is most noticeable with his new head sculpt.  Not everyone likes his head-crest, and it’s very removed from the Transformers aesthetic, I’ve even heard it described as a curled up gold poop sat on his fore-head, which I think is a tad unfair.  However, it’s no argument that Thunder Dagwon does look a lot more angry and threatening than his Autobot counterpart.

 

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His new chest required that Takara change the entire cockpit canopy, introducing a swivel joint so the flashy chest is contained within the cockpit in alt. mode, but this obviously gives him a very different look in alt. mode as well.  Other than that simple twist of the cockpit, and the folding of his ears away, he transforms exactly the same as Galaxy Shuttle.  Only easier.

 

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Why easier?

Well, they have completely changed his wing attachments, almost making them a fixed double joint which allows for slightly better rotation and clearance, meaning they’re never in the way during the transformation.  Which is great as they can’t be removed.  I also prefer the wings on Thunder Dagwon, as they are more space-shuttley, with Galaxy Shuttle having molded gun detailing on his wing-tips, seemingly just to make it harder to find good condition examples in the future.

 

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Some say the additional front wings do detract from the space shuttle mode a bit though, meaning you’d need to do a hybrid of the G1 and Brave toys to get a perfect Space Shuttle look for the real nerds out there.  You know, the sort of nerds who’d appreciate this designation on the tail-fin.

 

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Nerds like me.

 

Overall, I actually prefer Thunder Dagwon, I love the head, the over-the-top chest, the more stable wing transformation and wing accuracy, and I think the flash of colour and ostentatious chest makes him really stand out.  Hard to do against a wall of other over-the-top Brave toys.

 

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That’s not to take anything away from Galaxy Shuttle, as both are great toys.  I’ve actually wanted Galaxy Shuttle for years before I eventually got him this year at Botcon, whereas Thunder Dagwon just… sort of happened, I guess.  The scarcity and value of Galaxy Shuttle (not to mention the difficulty in finding an un-yellowed one) means that acquiring one is an event, even for the most jaded of burnt out toy collectors, and this too-many-a-grail piece would be a stand-out choice in any collection.  I can definitely see why it is so popular.

 

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But I’m not done yet… that’s not all the secrets that Thunder Dagwon contains.  The sharp eyed amoung you might have noticed a difference in Thunder Dagwon’s gun in the pictures above.  The grey cover on his weapon does more than just make his gun look different, it enables another one of those lovely over-the-top Brave combinations I enjoy talking about.

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Shuttle wears his branding proudly!

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Yes, while Galaxy Shuttle contains the ability to port onto Countdown for a shuttle launch aesthetic (don’t ask where the solid fuel boosters are), Thunder Dagwon contains the ability to re-create another slice of real-world awesomeness from the Space Shuttle era.  Rather than the usual Brave robot combination, this is a vehicle combination, one that’s too big for me to photograph in my light box or more traditional brick-work setting.

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Yep, Thunder Dagwon uses his weapon clip to “combine” with big bad Fire Dagwon, a huge cargo plane.  This is very cool, and the connection is so strong that you can hold the plane upside-down and Thunder Dagwon isn’t going anywhere!  Fire Dagwon is himself a massive beast of a robot, one who follows the traditional mecha formula of combining with another robot, Power Dagwon, to make an EVEN BIGGER robot; Super Fire Dagwon.

NASA

I’m in a Dagwon sort of mood.  Maybe we’ll take a look at that next week…

Thanks for reading!

-Ceno

First things first, if you missed the April blog about HyoRyu and EnRyu, click here, as it gives you a bit of background information on the Brave toyline, if you’ve been to that one article before, you might want to check it again as I’m about to update it a little.

The toys we’re looking at today are remolds of the HyoRyu / EnRyu molds, released by Takara at the same time in 1997.

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These were two of the hardest Brave toys I’ve ever had to hunt down.  It took me ages to find the red and blue versions, and I was very pleased when I found MISB Takara examples in the US, despite the postage.  That’s what led me to hunt for the companion pieces to finish the set.
After months of scouring eBay, Yahoo Japan, various Facebook pages, conventions here and abroad and generally bugging people, a fellow collector and friend of mine asked me to identify a few figures he didn’t recognise which he’d gotten in a bulk Energon / Cybertron lot.  Boom!  There these were!
Thanks to the awesomeness of some people in this fandom, he gave them to me at a great price in an exchange.  Thanks Paul!

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The first thing you might notice is the difference in packaging.  These enclosed cardboard boxes contain the figures in their robot modes, and were produced by Sonoking.  The quality is slightly poorer than the Takara equivalents, mostly in the quality of the joints which feel slightly looser, but in many ways make the toy easier to manage, and the plastic does feel slightly cheaper.  From a personal POV, I prefer having these in Sonoking as I have the best of both worlds with their brothers in Takara packaging, and a different language catalogue too!

 

FuRyu

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FuRyu in green and – like the others – has been slightly retooled to make him unique.  In robot mode, his head sports a spiffy logo, identifying him as an “air” type, with each of the four robots having elemental powers.  I know literally nothing about Brave as a show, or the characters, I just LOVE the toys, because of their roots to Takara.  Below is a bit more information lifted from the Wiki page to give you as much background as possible, wiki info italicised.

In humanoid form, the mixing drum is back-mounted, but can be angled up over the shoulders. He attacks with Fēng Dào Dàn (風道彈) missiles and wind blasts fired from the mixer. Capable of flying with the mixer Jao Dan Ji (攪拌槽). FuRyu uses his chest dial far more often than any of the others (with RaiRyu a close second) – each level of power appears to have a totally different effect.

Has a similar personality to HyoRyu, and is considered the older brother.

Got all that?  Good.  The chest dials refer to both the show, and the toy, which can change their dials to reflect a story element.

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Looking at his alt. mode, which the Wiki informs us is GGG Super-AI Vehicle Machine, model number GBR-6. FuRyu’s vehicle form is a cement mixer; we can see that he has the most unique alt. mode and to me the most visually interesting out of the set, it even does a good job hiding his head attachment.

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RaiRyu

Okay, some of the facts below from the wiki are quite cool, I quite like the idea of a robot on a hoverboard who can’t land.  RaiRyu also has a cool lightning logo on his head.

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In robot form, he uses the dumptruck’s scoop as a shield. RaiRyu can also use the scoop as a hoverboard for flight. Unfortunately, he has the same unfortunate habit as EnRyu does: the inability to land correctly after aerial deployment. Unlike EnRyu, RaiRyu does not overcome this difficulty.  Has a similar personality to EnRyu, and is considered the younger brother.

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As GGG Super-AI Vehicle Machine, model number GBR-7. RaiRyu’s vehicle form is a dumptruck, and he attacks with lightning. In vibrant yellow, you might think this guy would have been better in place of the blue crane type, but that’s just the Transformers fan in you!  The add-on for dump-truck is fairly boring, but it works, and helps give him his own identity.

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GekiRyuJin

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The Symmetrical-Docked form of FuRyu and RaiRyu. More offensive in nature than ChoRyuJin. Its trademark attack is “Shuāng Tóu Lóng” (雙頭龍 Two-Headed Dragon), which fires two mobile beams of energy in the shape of dragons. This attack is powerful enough to penetrate Zonder defense fields with nearly no effort, but gentle enough to retrieve Zonder cores without damaging them. Can also use FuRyu’s powerful self-destruct bomb as an attack, as in FINAL. The only member of the Mobile Unit whose desperation attack (namely, the bomb) is usable in Symmetrical-Docked form, and the only one to remain Symmetrical-Docked during his last scene in FINAL.  
Uh-huh.

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When in Symmetrical Docking form, the mixing drum takes the place of the forearm used by the other three Ryu brothers. [FuRyu] Carries a powerful (self-destruct?) bomb in the compartment in his leg that, in the other Ryu brothers, would house the “hand part” – though it is not revealed until FINAL.

Combined, I think these look great.  No question I prefer the combined colours of Choryujin, but I much prefer this combined form.  The working missile launcher cement barrel looks awesome, and even the “boring” dump-truck accessory makes a decent shield.  Much more integrated than the crane and fire-ladder, which I don’t even use when displaying the combined forms.  It’s also nice to see how much attention to detail is included in the Anime, referencing a left-over compartment in the toy used to store the combined hands for FuRyu.  Very obscure, but fun.

Other modes.

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Just for fun, I pulled the two in half and mashed them together.  Because of the way they are designed, this is the only way to join the two and still have the heads attach.  A shame, as I would have enjoyed seeing a Yellow and Red Grapple / Inferno mash-up.  Because I’m a nerd.

Interestingly, the show recognises these as two distinct characters.  They really did pay attention to the toys when they put this TV show together.

GenRyuJin

Result of Symmetrical Docking between HyoRyu and RaiRyu when their SympaRate exceeded 200%. This level was made possible when one or both of the robots were charged by “THE POWER”, a mysterious energy taken from the planet Jupiter. His abilities include “Aurora Illusion” (which makes illusory ice copies as decoys) and “Thunder Blizzard” (which functions like Xiang Tou Long).

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When GenRyuJin uses “Thunder Blizzard” in tandem with GouRyuJin’s “Burning Hurricane”, the result is called “Maximum Tou Long”.

GouRyuJin

Result of Symmetrical Docking between EnRyu and FuuRyu when their SympaRate exceeded 200%. This level was made possible when one or both of the robots were charged by “THE POWER”, a mysterious energy taken from the planet Jupiter. His main attack is “Burning Hurricane” (which works like Xiang Tou Long).

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When GouRyuJin uses “Burning Hurricane” in tandem with GenRyuJin’s “Thunder Blizzard”, the result is called “Maximum Tou Long”.

More than anything, this attention to detail makes me really want to watch the show.

Seriously guys, check out some of the Brave toys, they are excellent!  Some of my favourite toys ever made, which spiritually feel closer to the origins of what I started collecting, than the modern toys I still enjoy collecting.

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King of Brave Gaogaigar catalogue

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King of Braves Gaogaigar reverse

Many thanks to Kapow Toys for giving me the opportunity to talk about and discuss such wonderful toys in a forum which can reach many people.  There are no links on this entire article for the site, they are merely helping to spread the word and inform people about the weird and wonderful niche corners of our fandom, so thanks guys!

-Ceno / CZH / Sid

I am very pleased to show two new acquisitions, two bits I’ve been trying to hunt down for ages for my Brave collection.

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Released in 1997 for the final series of Brave TV shows; King of Braves Gaogaigar, we have two great looking robots; HyoRyu and EnRyu.

Although not many figures were released in the final year of Brave, and given that it’s arguably the most popular of all of the series, with several licensed releases of Gaogaigar released by several different companies, these guys have been some of the HARDEST figures I have ever hunted for.  Harder to find than most mainline Transformer release (but nothing like some of those early Diaclone figures!).  It’s easier to find a Big Powered boxset, Darkwings, Grandus, than it is to find these, and trust me, I have hunted for them on Yahoo Auctions, various ebay sites, lots of dedicated giant robot forums, and even on foot looking around Hong Kong.  It’s a testament to Transformers how easy even the rare figures can be to find, as everyone knows what they’ve got now.  Not so with some of the Brave figures.

They’re not particularly expensive though, when I finally found them, the guy accepted a reduced Buy It Now offer for the two, and the only annoying part of the transaction was that he would not ship to the UK, so I had to send these to a very good mate in the US who is very patient and doesn’t mind me taking the mickey with proxy shipping.  Thanks Kev.

Now bear with me with these, as I don’t watch the TV show, and I don’t understand Japanese, and I don’t actually know that much about the world of Brave itself.  I just love the Brave toyline for one reason; they were made by Takara, and you can see the influence of some of those early G1 designers in these figures.  I often look at these figures as a parallel universe where the Takara designers kept working on the G1 aesthetic with a heavy emphasis on fun and chunky toys with Giant Robo combination play patterns, while the Hasbro guys went their own way with Beast Wars.  Essentially, this is what they are, but with zero official Transformers crossover, as these were designed for Sunrise, a famous animation studio who work with legendary mecha designer Kunio Okawara.

 

In their own way, Brave figures contribute, borrow from, and add to the world of Transformers, sometimes in ways people don’t expect.

EnRyu

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G1 Inferno, EnRyu, and Maketoys Hellfire.

In the bright, primary colour of red, with an obvious firetruck mode and a huge ladder to go with it, it’s obvious to see the Inferno parallels with this guy.  In all honesty, he feels more like Fire Convoy from Car Robots, or maybe Galaxy Convoy.  Above, I show him with G1 Inferno and Maketoys Hellfire, just for a bit of context on the size of these toys.  His elemental powers are reflected in the head on his forehead symbol.

*Updated with show info from the Wiki in italics*

GGG Super-AI Vehicle Machine, model number GBR-3. His vehicle form is a fire truck, and he attacks with a handgun and an infrequently used chest-mounted flamethrower, the “Chest Warmer.” EnRyu also carries a Mirror Coating-equipped shield on his left arm, which is capable of returning attacks if it can fully absorb them. After the initial Primeval attack, EnRyu is retrofitted with the ability to fire Ul-Tech beams in place of heat from his handgun. When first charged with “THE POWER”, EnRyu instead fires bolts of the mysterious energy from his handgun. There is a running gag focusing on EnRyu’s inability to land correctly after aerial deployment – although he actually lands properly in vehicle mode once and later as the pilot of Liner Gao, suggesting it is his construction (or the weight of his Mirror Shield) that throws him off. He eventually gets used to it, and in FINAL he manages to save a falling elevator car while crashing.

His name means “Fire Dragon”.

Has a hot, headstrong, brash personality. Even though they are twins with the same AI and the same training, the brothers have opposing personalities and sometimes argue. HyoRyu suggests in a passing remark at one point that EnRyu’s hotness is a result of his overloading heater (to which EnRyu retorts that HyoRyu’s cooling systems have cooled his heart as well).

 

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HyoRyu

HyoRyu is the blue one, and visually borrows quite a lot from Grapple with his crane mold, a slight retweak of EnRyu as with their Transformer predecessors.  The blue works well, and has inspired me to attempt a G2 Grapple with the blue colourscheme at some point.  Notice the ice detailing on his head as well.

*Updated*

GGG Super-AI Vehicle Machine, model number GBR-2. His vehicle form is a mobile crane, and he attacks with a rifle and a freezing ray, and a Chest Thriller that blows our freezing winds (which he often uses to put out flames). After the initial Primeval attack, HyoRyu is retrofitted with the ability to fire Ul-Tech beams in place of cold from his rifle and gun if he wishes. When first charged with “THE POWER”, HyoRyu fires bolts of the mysterious energy from his weapons.

His name means “Ice Dragon”.

Has a calm, collected, calculating (all compared to EnRyu) personality.

 

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In robot mode, these guys are simple enough.  The emphasis for this toyline was similar to the TV show, it’s a constant battle of one-up-manship leading towards the Ultimate Perfect-Mode Combination Super Robot, a format that Car Robots / Robots in Disguise (2000) followed.  If you’re looking for super detailed, multi-articulation from your robots, then these aren’t the guys for you.  However, Bandai have released non-transforming PVC versions of most of the characters from King of Braves, so you might find something more action figurey for you yet!

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Obviously, these guys share the same base mold (as do their brothers Furyu & Rairyu, but more about them another day!), but with subtle differences such as mirror heads, and differing alt. mode kibble like the fire-ladder and crane, which can be held as weapons or stored on their backs, but it’s a bit clunky.  Better to put them to one side and forget about them for individual modes.

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They can store their handguns in their legs, and these guns actually double as the hands for the combined mode.  This is a great feature, but while they can be stored I wouldn’t recommend it, as getting them out again can be a pain.  Given that the combined mode head and breast plate cannot be stored, it sort of defeats the purpose.

Wait, did you say combined mode?

Duh!  It’s Brave.

ChoRyuJin

The combined mode of HyoRyu and EnRyu!

 

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These guys basically split down the middle and stand on end, and then join with the other one to form a very unique looking combined form.

Again, you can store the ladder and crane on the hips, almost like a sword scabbard (as seen on the excellent Duke Fire), but alas, with no sword, they just make the figure insanely deep and limit display options, so I leave them out.

*Updated*
The Symmetrical-Docked form of HyoRyu and EnRyu, formed when their “SympaRate”, a measure of their synchronization and unity of purpose, reaches 100%. ChoRyuJin is a defensive specialist with his Mirror-Coating Chestplate (which he uses at the risk of his life) and ability to use the Eraser Head tool. He also possesses HyoRyu and EnRyu’s Gun, Rifle, and Tonfa attacks, usually used in “Double” form (firing from both sides at once). He can also fire all of his projectile weapons at once for a full-burst-style attack. After the initial Primeval attack, ChoRyuJin is retrofitted with the ability to fire Ul-Tech beams in place of heat or cold, which appear similar to most beam weapons in anime.

In technical specifications (and finally shown in FINAL), he also has the desperate final attack “Super Nova” – in which HyoRyu and EnRyu turn their respective dials to “Infinite” and simultaneously blast the enemy with their Chest attacks. Due to the placement of the chest plates on ChoRyuJin, he could not actually use this attack while Symmetrical-Docked, but it may imply that HyoRyu and EnRyu must have a similarly high SympaRate.

Transformers fans might find this combined form concept slightly familiar looking.  It was one used in Transformers Animated for the combined mode of Jetstorm and Jetfire; Safeguard.

safeguard

A lot of people would argue that while the show pulled it off, the toys didn’t manage to execute the look as cleanly as they might.  One of the few disappointments of the TF:Animated line.

safeguardtoy

It just goes to show that even the most obscure of combining gimmicks, from a more obscure TV show with no real ties outside of a toy licensee, can go on to have impact over a decade later in the TF fandom.  And that’s why I love this hobby, every single moment adds something to the overall tapestry of the brand.  Mecha informs Transformers, Transformers inform Brave, inform Giant Robo Mecha, inform Transformers.  It all comes full circle.

Thanks for reading!

Click here to see their brothers FuRyu and RaiRyu in a more recent article.

07 Mar 2016

Grandus Designs

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Rear box-art

 

Collecting can be a curious thing.  To outsiders, they may think that Optimus Prime must be the rarest, most expensive and sought after Transformer s there is, similarly with the general public and Star Wars thinking that Vader or Boba Fett are the hottest of the hot.  The truth is that yes, while the majority of fans WILL want these figures, so did the majority of kids back in the day, and as such they are easy to find and the majority of collectors will have long had these key “foundation” items in their collections.  Sure, a C-10 MOSC Darth Vader 12-back will run more than a loose example, as will a sealed Goodbye Convoy or VSX set, but mostly you have to venture into the obscure to find the true rarities.

The truth is, there are four distinct categories; easy to find items, hard as nails to find items, expensive items, and then ungoldy expensive “grail” items.  In my experience, POTF Yakface is one of those expensive items – much like a complete Scorponok or Typticon – that are REALLY easy to find, everyone and their kid brother has had one for sale at some point.  Sometimes, much less expensive items are much harder to find at shows, stuff like the Turbomasters or Predator Jets, which don’t sell for much in UK / Europe, can be a real chore to track down.  The comic-book world is very similar, but with much more choice available you’ll always see hundreds of different dealers all selling the same “hot” books for hundreds of times the original cover price, while trying to find “unpopular” books with a low guide price value is much, much harder to do.  Rarity does not always dictate value.

To get to the fourth category of ungodly expensive items, we’re usually talking about test-shots, unique items, or lucky draw figures.  These are things that not every collector can afford, and some collectors just don’t like.  For me, test shots mostly hold no real appeal, same with the majority of Lucky Draw toys (although I can always be tempted by black repaints damnit!).  I collect mainline toys with a factory finish, and as such I tend to avoid all Gold / Silver chrome toys, resin casts, test-shots, clear toys, or “battle damage” customs, as much because I don’t like them (although I like seeing them in other people’s collections and at shows) as I don’t have the money or space, and every collection needs a cut off.  I’ve often felt that a great collection is as much defined by what ISN’T in it, as what is in it.
But if you collect mainline toys and have a sense of completionism about you, the “towards the end of a line and no-one wanted it” syndrome can be a real pain.

Which brings us to Grandus.

 

B-6

 

Released in 1991 exclusively in Japan as part of the later day Micro-masters “Return of Convoy” subline, this limited toyline featured three major releases with Grandus, Star Convoy, and Sky Garry, as well as the introduction of the combining Micro Masters with Sixliner (all of which were released in the West 10 years later as part of the Universe line and will be featured in a future blog, including the rare chase figures!), and repackaged versions of the Micro Master teams all of which came with numbered Micro Trailers.

 

B-7

 

The only fiction the line had was in the form of the Battlestars Manga, as the TV show hadn’t been renewed after the single episode of Transformers Zone had failed to gain support for an ongoing series the year before.

 

B-1

 

You can’t really see from the front, but check out the funky claw hands below.

 

B-2

 

Despite little to no fiction appearances, Grandus has become one of those extremely hard to find and thus expensive end of mainline toys.  A good example, complete in a box can run up to $1,000, but for those willing to hunt around, he can be found a little cheaper sometimes.  I got a great deal on mine, who is largely in great condition as seen above, but even then one of the accessories is missing (the missile pod, I’ve had two sent to me but they’ve both disappeared en route strangely, at a cost of $40 each), and the helicopter pad has badly yellowed and will need replacing.

 

B-5

 

Grandus is a fairly big toy, and certainly chunky.  Whilst not up there with Fort Maximus, or even Metroplex, his blocky nature makes his proportions tricky to define and he casts a mirage of being bigger than he really is. Transformed into his rather nifty aircraft carrier (not a patch on the USS Flagg), he might look a little basic, but it serves a purpose I’ll address after the next picture.

 

B-3

 

There is no denying that Grandus is a brick.  I’m okay with that.  It’s a comment that often gets thrown around as a pejorative term to describe the lack of poseability in those early G1 toys.  People who’ve come to collecting Transformers later in life, through Beast Wars or even Bayformers don’t have the bittersweet tinge of nostalgia colouring their perceptions, and it can be hard for some people to see the early figures as the charming quantum leaps of toy technology they really were, compared to the modern-day Masterpieces we’re darn lucky to be getting now that many people take for granted.  Grandus takes brick syndrome a step further than most, and some people use it as a way of mocking the figure, quoting the normally excellent TFwiki;  “He transforms from a short fat box on its stomach, to a fat box with a base sticking out of its stomach, to a fat box standing up. The inventor of the Triple Changer is rolling over in his grave.  A terminal point G1-era city-former, he is painfully simplistic and bricktastic in robot and vehicle modes, compensating with … an arsenal of weapons, as well as Micromaster ramp and base modular compatibility”.  I think they missed the point completely.  Sure, he may be a brick, but he wears it on his sleeve so much it pretty much becomes a play feature, and I believe the Micromaster ramp and base modular compatibility came first.  Form follows function, and on this, Grandus wins.  Take a look at all the detail inside him.

 

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I sometimes think people forget that Grandus is as much a playset as he is a robot in his own right.  If Grandus is a brick, then The Ewok Village is a block of plastic that just sits there, the Kenner Death Star is just a tower with no points of articulation, and the TMNT Technodrome is just a round brick.  We do collect toys after all.  True, he does only have two points of articulation with his arms, but this still goes one step beyond his Countdown and Sky Hammer contemporaries by being a robot in his own right, not just a playset / vehicle named after the central figure.  If that was the case, the Grandus set would have been called Spinner, after his Micromaster companion we’ll get to in a minute.

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Take that best Megatron figure we never got!

 

Not only can Grandus join up with ANY of the Micromaster bases for a myriad of different combination, not only can his motorised features can be powered by Star Convoys tracks as part of his rarely seen base mode, but that’s just his base mode!  He can also hook up to Metroplex in aircraft carrier mode, or be dragged along by Dia Atlas, 0r – most impressively – he can also link up with his line mates Sky Garry and Star Convoy to make the Triple Combination Battlestar Attack Base (unpictured as it doesn’t fit in my light box, but once we’ve had a look at Sky Garry and Star Convoy I will show this super mode.  This blog is here for the long haul, so comfort yourself with the above artwork for now).  So, yeah, eat that Overlord and your awesome but limited use base-mode.

 

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Spinner is the most Brave looking Micromaster I think I’ve ever seen in both modes, moreso than the Micromasters that actually came out in Brave (oh God, he’s on about Brave again – Editor).  He’s hardly the first Transformer to use a police theme, but the colouration and the way the shield is framed is straight out of Brave Police J-Decker – don’t believe me?  Well watch this space, we’ll be covering Brave more in the coming months.

 

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So that is G1 Grandus, a big hunk of plastic love.  Unfortunately, we’ve never had any other toy versions of the Grandus character, and he’s yet to turn up in any Botcon fiction, or even James Robert’s obscurathon feelie comic More Than Meets The Eye.  Thankfully, those are not the last bastions for the unloved, Transformers Animated makes up the holy trifector and adopted Grandus with a lovely version of him which, sadly, never saw a toy release.  Pictured below was the very first tease of Animated Grandus re-imagined as a sumo-wrestler, released by the awesome Derrick Wyatt on his blog.

 

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Hasbro gave us two of these at least, and I helped see the release of two more, so that’s not bad.

As well as appearing in the Botcon 2012 Animated Sunticon-job comic fiction, Grandus did make it into the actual cartoon itself, along with his official mold-mate retool Dug-Base, officially part of Transformers for the first time.

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Wait a minute, who?

Dagbase 

From the Brave of Command Dagwon series, Dugbase was a retooled version of Grandus.  Like other latter-day Transformers that never got recoloured or reissued, Grandus was repurposed for the Brave line.

 

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Dagbase is an awesome toy, and tends to retail MISB for about 1.5th of the price of Grandus, so for some he is an excellent stand-in if you just really want to own the mold without skipping a mortgage payment, but he’s an excellent toy in his own right and thanks to DJW and the Animated cartoon, you have an excuse to annoy the Brave purists, slap an Autobot faction logo on him and port him right over to your TF collection.

 

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Look at that face!  Not only does he look stoic and serious compared to Grandus, but he’s already well equipped to see most 3D movies.

 

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His base mode feels even more city-like than even Grandus with the inclusion of two very Fortress Maximus reminiscent ramps that enable the various trains (so many trains) that make up the Brave line to interact with him, and the accompanying Decoy-esque solid Dagwon figures show the difference in the idea of scale between Transformers and Brave – most of the Brave figures are huge, especially when combined into their final forms where they often can reach Fort Max scale, and each one of the included figures represents a full-size character.  Much bigger than a Micromaster base.

 

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Like Grandus before him, Dagbase can also link up to a lot of his fellow Brave toys to make a sprawling city mass, including the obvious TF repaints like Death Garrygun, but also new robots like the HUGE plane Fire Dagwon, who also has a little seen base-mode (again, I will show all of these in future blogs, I can’t show every picture of every robot, in every configuration at once, and we’re building to some of the more obscure stuff).

 

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At a glance, Grandus and Dag-Base look very similar as they have such unique body-types, but actually the differences are quite noticeable; with the feet, hands, faces, back of the head, and accessories (including shoulder mounted traffic lights???) all changed to give them both a unique identity.  You don’t see these two side by side that often.

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None more so than the aircraft carrier mode, which for Dagbase becomes more of a, uh, well I’m not sure what you’d call it exactly?  As I mentioned earlier he tends to interact with trains moreso than anything else, but I can’t see how this could work with trains.  So let’s just call it a battle platform and move on.

 

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Overall, I prefer Grandus out of the two.  I think Dagbase has some great features and I like a lot of his remolded bits, and his ramps, but there is something about the colouring on Grandus that I love.  His little claw hands give him some much needed personality where the headsculpt fails him a little, and the huge 371, a reference to his Japanese release number (C-371) really adds an extra layer of nerd appeal for me.  And what can I say, I love huge, sprawling base mode cities.

 

Grandus’ mold wasn’t the only thing recycled for the Brave line, his working title of Iron Baron was also repurposed for Thunder Baron and Road Baron.  Those crafty peeps at Takara never let anything go to waste.  Including their designs for Super Rodimus Prime, which we will get to one of these days, but not just yet…

Thanks for checking out the blog!

-CZH / Ceno Kibble / Sid

deszaras

Deathsaurus, or Dezarus as he is sometimes known, is one of the most well-known of the Japanese exclusive characters, released way back in 1989.  The character has become fairly well known in the West after the releases of the Transformers:  Victory DVDs and his appearance in the IDW comics.

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Despite no mainline love or appreciation, no 3rd party representation (yet!), a cancelled Robot Heroes figure, a token Kreo fiction offering (not even a toy), and a few PVC and Kabaya toys, Deathsaurus did at least see a limited release in the US through the very first Fun Publications run Botcon back in 2005, as part of the Descent Into Evil boxset – although he is merely a repaint of RID Megatron, and other than a new headsculpt he’s not vastly different from the original Megatron toy release.

Let’s have a look at the original G1 Takara toy.

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Looks pretty good overall…

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The flaws become more obvious from the rear.

Deathsaurus’ toy is one of the most intimidating looking Decepticons from the original G1 toyline, moreso than Megs and Galvatron IMO.  He looks like a commanding leader, and one not to be messed with.  Although I do wish his visor could be removed.

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He comes packaged with a very meaty blaster with double’s as a flail-mace – if only it wasn’t a solid molded piece (c’mon Venksta, surely this is a no-brainer even with a limited audience) – at least it comes with two pegs so it can be held as a melee weapon, should you want it to.   Like all good melee fighters, Deathsaurus comes with a big, bad-ass shield.  He’s not the first Transformer to come with a shield, but one that actually transforms into something other than kibble or a chest-plate for a combiner is pretty cool, and it saves the beast-mode tail just hanging off the back of the robot.

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Let’s look at his companion figures.  The ill-named (I shouldn’t pick on Takara, they might just have lost something in translation) Tigerbreast and Eaglebreast.  Tigerbreast is the one that looks like a Winged Lion, and Eaglebreast is the one that looks like a red flying rectangle with wings.  Eaglebreast features some of the most commonly lost parts of any Japanese TF toy with his little black guns, and although my Deathsaurus is mostly authentic, the guns (one of which broke during the photoshoot for this blog) I have with mine are resin replicas.

The animal partners are one of the coolest parts of this set, and as well as being independent animals, they can also double up as chest-partners with Deathsaurus, similar to the Liokaiser team, though quite what advantage is gained other than an aesthetic one is open to interpretation.  They also feature a third mode, as super unrealistic looking suitcase guns.

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In alt. mode, Deathsaurus still looks pretty bad-ass for a G1 Decepticon, although when people mention he looks like a mutant space chicken, it’s hard to get that image out of your head (thanks TFwiki), to me, he’s a sort of Mecha-dragon thing, one that probably had a fight with Godzilla at some point, but I don’t know nearly enough to comment on Godzilla without risking the ire of the Zillamaniacs (whatcha gonna do when 160,000 tons of radioactive reptile run wild on you!!!!).  The stunning chrome head and die-cast feet really make this guy pop, and give him a nice weight too.

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Deathsaurus never had any repaints or remolds in the Transformers line, so if you want this mold, your choices are limited.

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However, the mold did eventually see a re-use from Takara, albeit as part of the Brave cartoon toyline.  A lot of Transformers fans will have no doubt heard of Brave, even if they’re not 100% sure what it is.  When Transformers was all but done in Japan, and with Hasbro turning their focus to G2 and then the Beast lines with Kenner, Takara teamed up with animation company Sunrise to make an all new toyline and TV series independent of Hasbro and the Transformers brand, one which ran from 1990-1999, before Takara once more returned to the Transformers line for Car Robots in 2000.  Many of the original G1 / Diaclone designers still worked for Takara, and kept working on giant toy robots, ones which in many ways continued the style started by the latter day Japanese toys like Star Convoy and Star Sabre.  Brave is an odd mash-up, outright lifting concepts and toys wholesale from Transformers, other-times borrowing from un-used concepts such as with the “Powermaster Rodimus Prime” concept for Duke Fire, and some times doing completely their own thing like Exkaiser and J-Decker, but which you’d swear blind could fit right into a Victory or Zone collection.  And are those heads Optimus Prime?  The toys often look that way.

Although the figures are often blocky and simple, the emphasis is on combination, and on the Super Robot style of them getting bigger and better the more they combine.  It’s a fun and simple play pattern, and just unique enough to make them stand alone from the Transformers, whilst still aesthetic similar enough to display right alongside them.  In my toy room, I feel comfortable displaying Brave toys with my G1 collection, whereas the Beast Wars figures and Animated have such a unique look I keep them displayed separate.

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Deathsaurus was reused, and recoloured as Red Geist.  With no re-tooling.  The crest on top of the head actually looks more at home with the Brave toyline than it did on the original Decepticon figure.  Curiously, the figure only came with Tigerbreast, and no Eaglebreast.

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While it retained the diecast in the legs and chest parts, the alt. mode head sadly lost it’s chrome finish, and the wings definitely feel like they’re of a cheaper finish than the Transformer original.

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The Brave toy of Red Geist can go for $400-500 itself, so it’s not really a cheap substitute for a Deathsaurus who, on occasion can be found for a similar price-point for those patient enough to scavenger hunt for parts.  I was very lucky to find a loose version, even if mine has a Venger like chest-plate, however, my preferred use for display is to swap out the Redbreaster figure (there’s that awesome naming structure again) for the unloved Decepticon Eaglebreast, I think it just makes the Red Geist toy look slightly more unique (and I really have no problems seeing TF logos on my Brave toys either).

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Red Geist with Eaglebreast looks like a natural fit to me.

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Animation model comparison, the Red Geist toy needed a bit more retooling ideally.

Red Geist is not the only Geist in Brave, there is also Dino Geist who was released as a brand new mold, but he used to run around with Dinos whom bore a slight resemblance to the Dinobots, such as Ptera Geist – Swoop, Thunder Geist – Sludge, Horn Geist – Slag, Armor Geist – Snarl.  It’s a shame these were never released, I always picture the KO modified dinobots in my head when I think of them.

Overall, I’m a big fan of Deathsaurus and Red Geist, they are solid toys with a lot of fun features.  I especially have fond memories of flying back from TFCon in 2014 with Deathsaurus as carry-on luggage, as I didn’t want to risk him in the suitcase, and I remember the look of scrutiny on the face of the Stewardess as I told her it would be better if I shoved him under the seat in front of me because it’s worth a bit.  As much as I like the toy itself, it’s a lasting reminder of the awesome people I’ve met in the Transformers community, who are willing to hunt out and build up a really fine MIB example of a really rare figure for me, at a sensible (open to interpretation) price.  I wouldn’t have half the collection I have now if it wasn’t for the good friends I’ve made in the fandom, and even if I did, they would not mean as much to me.

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Man, I love Robot Chicken.

 

Several TF characters saw recycled use in the Brave TV show, even if not all of them got figures.  Over the next month or so, I’ll show some more comparisons between Transformers and their Brave counterparts right here on the Kapow! blog.   Stay… not tuned… erm, tabbed?  Ctrl + D’d?  Keep an eye open.