Posts By: kapow_toys

06 Jul 2016

Takara Brave King Exkaiser and Dragon Kaiser

26 years ago, the very first episode of Brave Exkaiser aired, the first of the ongoing Yuusha / Brave universe series (sometimes spelled Exkizer or Exkaizer). Produced by Sunrise, and funded by and with designs from Takara, it wasn’t long until toys followed.

We’ve looked at a few Brave bits recently, so lets go right back to its roots and look at some of the earliest toys, with the titular character Exkaiser and his various combinations, across his two releases; first in 1990, and then later as part of the short-lived Masterpiece Brave line.

Exkaiser / King Loader

Original packaging

Reissue packaging circa 2001

Exkaiser is a Space Police car, who powers-up to reveal the motif of a lion on his chest. Because Brave. No more explanation needed.

Shown above are the original on the right, and a 2001 era re-release (unstickered) on the left. The only difference between the two is that the upper arms on the original are molded in blue, and on the reissue they are molded in red. As you can see, I’ve opted to show Exkaiser in powered up robot mode. Considering this is the smallest part of Exkaiser, it’s worth pointing out that he’s about the size of a small Voyager TF figure.

Here we compare the original to the 2006 era Masterpiece release (MPB01 King Exkaiser). You’ll notice quite a size disparity. Despite being a much smaller product, the Masterpiece Exkaiser is a much more involved transformation, and features loads more articulation, as well as a display stand so you can ace some action poses with him.

Here we see Exkaiser attached to his trailer; King Loader. If you’re getting a distinct Star Convoy vibe from the trailer, you’re in the right place mentally, as these toys tend to share a lot of similarities with the latter day Takara only Transformers releases as seen in Victory and Revenge of Convoy. It’s a big chunk of attractive plastic, which sacrifices all poseability in favour of sheer size and chunkiness. If you prefer you toys with a bit more poseability, I suggest you look at the Masterpiece below.

I’m sure it comes as absolutely no surprise to anyone to find out that I prefer the chunky vintage (warts and all) over the Masterpiece.

King Exkaiser

As is the way of things in Brave, Exkaiser and King Loader can – of course – combine to become a bigger robot.

Very similar in execution to vintage Star Sabre, King Loader can transform by himself, but without Exkaiser inside, he has no face. It’s these little details that link Brave and Transformers, with their parallel designs informing and influencing each other, which won me over to collecting a new toyline when I always said my mecha collecting was going to be Transformers only.

Everything opens up, ready to insert Exkaiser, and when you lower the chest and head compartment of King Loader, only then do you get KING EXKAISER.

There’s lots to like about this mold, even with his shampoo bottle articulation (something he shares with Sky Garry and Star Convoy!). First off, lets look at that impossibly Takara styled but-totally-not-Optimus-honest-Guv faceplate. What about the crest on his head? Every bit the king. Giant lion motif on the chest despite the complete lack of animal alt. mode? Check! Weapons storage?

Check.

He’s a big old toy, towering over the majority of G1 combiners, even just in this mode. But what about his Masterpiece version?

Well this guy does the job too. Massively more poseable, and with a lot more anime-esque styling. There is a lot to like about this guy, and I can see why a huge number of people prefer him to the original. personally, it’s not what I got into collecting Brave for, as I like the original chunky Takara aesthetic, but hey, isn’t it great we have options? If they had done more than two of the Masterpieces, maybe I would be more into the line, but as it is, it just feels like a fragment, rather than a collection.

Side by side shows the biggest differences between the two. They are very disparate aesthetic choices; neither is right nor wrong, it is just a matter of preference, and no-one can deny that the MP makes a great stand-alone piece.

Dragon Kaiser

The companion piece to Exkaiser, Dragon Kaiser is an intimidating lump of plastic in his own right. I’ve found this guy one of the hardest Brave pieces to track down in good condition – much harder to find than Exkaiser – maybe as he is prone to yellowing, and sadly the weapon attachments are key to his alt. mode too, which somewhat diminishes the example I currently own.

Dragon Kaiser is a big toy, with such an Optimus Prime inspired face it’s untrue. Present as always in Brave are the impressive chromed headcrest and a larger than life chest motif. As with King Exkaiser, he only becomes this form when Exkaiser is present inside his torso area, otherwise he is simply known as Dragon.

His alt. mode is a big, huge ass jet technically known as the Dragon Jet. His weapons should plug into his shoulders to form an extra set of wings. He transforms similar to the way Grandus / Dagbase ~~transforms~~ lies down.

MPB-02: Dragon Kaiser was the second and final Masterpiece Brave release. I no longer own this toy, simply because when I bought one and opened the box, I wasn’t expecting a bunch of parts to assemble, I was expecting a toy that wasn’t there and doesn’t really exist. I genuinely got nothing from the MP Dragon Kaiser, and never even combined the two before selling it on. Genuinely, I disliked it, in the same way I dislike the CMS Gokin Gaogaigar releases; they don’t feel like toys – rather a bunch of fragile and easy to break pieces. Maybe this is unfair, as the MPB releases definitely display better than the CMS releases, but I was disappointed with the toy and the MPB line as a whole.

However, in the interest of completeness, check out TJ Duckett of Kuma Style and his amazing article on MP Dragon Kizer. This is certainly a huge improvement on the original in terms of articulation, I guess I just love bricks.

Great Exkaiser

What, you thought we were done? This is Brave, remember?

The final form of these guys is when they combine together.

As cool as the head and chest are, it does look sort of stupid combined to be honest, but hot damn is it a mega-imposing toy. This is taller than the Energon releases of Unicron and Primus, this is taller than Planet X’s Genesis figure… In Brave terms, this is almost as tall as Brave King J-Der, and makes Super Fire Dagwon look small.

Sure, there are obvious compromises to the figure, but this was Takara’s first ever attempt at a Brave-style hat-on-a-hat combiner. The forearms are clearly too big to be in any sort of proportion, and you can see way too much of King Exkaiser through the arms. He barely even has articulation, just two points of movement in his arms. Dragon Kaiser’s back plate does nearly all the work of holding this guy together as well (doubling as the crest surround, to make the chest even more over the top), and is easily damaged. But damn, if that doesn’t make for one big ass toy! Although, this is one Brave combiner I choose to display in individual combined modes as Dragon Kaiser and King Exkaiser, as the space saved displaying them combined isn’t worth the less pleasing aesthetic of the combined mode compared to the individuals. Unfortunately – and rarely for Brave – he is less than the sum of his parts.

Looking at the vintage figure, I can easily see why Takara wanted to tackle this again and try to improve on their representation of this character. One of the best things about doing these blogs is having the chance to revisit toys and form new opinions, and perhaps I judged the MPB02 release too soon, as there is no denying that both Dragon kaiser and Great Exkaiser are huge improvements on their original releases. With my obsession for collecting sprawling lines, and in my bid to cut down on extraneous pieces in my collection, I might have sold this truncated line short.
If you want a more in depth examination of the Masterpiece version of Great Exkaiser, I recommend you check out TJ Duckett’s amazing and in-depth review right here. You won’t regret it!

As with most of these Brave characters, there are a myriad of non-transforming vinyl and PVC pieces you can collect most of which are more anime accurate, but for me, none of them come close to having the character of the original Takara releases.

Thanks for reading as always, and we value your feedback.

02 Jul 2016

Brave Command DX Dagwon Super Fire Dagwon

I’ve been promising this one for a while, he’s made cameos in two of my blogs to date, my Thunder Dagwon and Gunkid articles. I love everything about this toy, so be warned, there will be gushing.

Fire Dagwon

Fire Dagwon is composed of Fire Stratos; a Lancia Stratos Emergency Services vehicle that is piloted by the human En to become Dagfire. Alongside the drone vehicles (no individual robot modes) Fire Ladder and Fire Rescue, they can combine with Fire Jumbo to form the mighty Fire Dagwon.

On their own, these are not great toys. Fire Rescue and Fire Ladder are an extra bit of fun and they can store in Fire Jumbo’s immense cargo hold waiting to be used as forearms, and Dagfire can be stored inside Fire Dagwon’s chest in combined mode or in jet mode, and the chest can be lowered like a ramp, so there is a very MicroMasters play pattern at work here, and Dagfire isn’t awful on his own, if only a very basic transforming robot.

Dagfire. A distant cousin of Wheeljack maybe?

Fire Jumbo is immense.

He only just fits inside my lightbox, and his alt. mode is a similar length to Masterpiece Ultra Magnus.

Some people find the cargo hold detracts from his alt. mode, but I just find it immense in a fun way, and everything is very functional for the play pattern. The split down the cockpit / nosecone I find more detracting, but it’s transforming toy and form follows function. Similar to the geeky 1701 tail-number on Thunder Dagwon, Fire Dagwon provides his own nerdy tribute.

His transformation is incredibly fun. Brave toys never really feel like a hassle, although they can sometimes feels a bit partformery. Not so here, as the main component of the set, Fire Dagwon is a solid transforming-fan’s transformer, with only the forearms adding to the partforming party, but in an incredible Brave and Duke Fire sort of way.

In robot mode is where Fire Dagwon really starts to shine, he’s a big toy, at G1 Scorponok height. There is an even bigger KO version available with chromed engines, which is closer to Pandinus levels of height, however, I’ve never seen a KO version of Power Dagwon, so you’re only really getting half of the toy.

The prices of Brave toys have really been creeping up over the last 5 years since I started collecting, MISB examples used to be common for most of these guys, nowadays I recommend grabbing them even if they’re loose, as it might be hard to track down a MISB example. I really would like a brand-new MISB Fire Dagwon as I feel he looks slightly tarnished next to my crisp MISB Power Dagwon, but that’s the reality of white toys and honestly, this guy looks like he was owned and played with at some point, and that’s pretty cool. Shame they lost the beak on the robot mode chest though, as this lets down his individual robot mode.

Power Dagwon

Power Dagwon is another super fun toy, and just the sheer size of this square block of plastic fun must have amazed many a child in it’s day. Size and weight wise, this feels closer to an original X-box than a transformer.

It’s chunkytastic, and if their is one thing kids love it’s massive construction vehicles. I wish I’d had something like this as a kid. It’s easily taller than G1 Devastator in this mode, with a LOT more mass.

Play features? Actual rubber treads. He can rotate on his base like a digger. His digger arm extends out about a foot. He has three different accessories including a chromed drill point, a claw hand, and a grabbing digger scoop thing. I don’t know the technical term, and I don’t think the Brave designers really cared too much either.

Despite my love for this guy, he does have the robot chest lying down on his back, and whether you fold it up or down it’s pretty visible. Is a giant blinged out dragon / cat head a distraction on your construction equipment? Not in the world of Brave!

Besides, it makes a wonderful chest piece. The transformation isn’t great, because this guy is ALL the partsforming. You basically pull this guy apart and re-stick him together to make this mode, but that is all part of the functionality of the final form for these guys. This is Brave remember? It’s all about hats on top of hats.

All that red and chrome make it feel like Christmas every day.

He certainly has an odd aesthetic, and the robot mode is probably not what you expect from the alt. mode. All that yellow seems to give way to an awful lot of red, and even more chromed parts seem to show up. Loosely sticking to that emergency services theme that Fire Dagwon has, his head looks a little like a Fireman’s helmet, albeit a very decorated one!

The biggest drawback to this mode? Well, it’s easy to say the giant claw-arm attached to the right arm detracts from the figure, and in many ways it does, however it’s incredible well balanced and weighted, so even fully extended it doesn’t topple this figure. I’d say the drawback to this mode is more that the giant claw-arm cannot detach from the robot mode at all (well, without removing the entire right arm in the process).

This is Brave remember? What better way to enhance this figure, than by adding a WHOLE OTHER FIGURE TO IT. Yup, last weeks feature Brave toy GunKid attaches to this guy in his giant gun mode. There is a stabilising arm built into Power Dagwon just for this feature, and once again the balance is flawless. Even is the aesthetic looks more insane than threatening.

But hey, we’re STILL not done…

SUPER FIRE DAGWON

In order to make this guy you have to pull Power Dagwon to bits as mentioned above, but it’s worth it, and he manages to have his own totally unique features and aesthetic, mostly due to it’s insane chest piece. I mean; look at it!!!

Flag, Rock, Eagle, right Charlie?

It’s worth noting that blinged out chest piece from Power Dagwon becomes a head crest for Super Fire Dagwon. It’s just enough to change the look of Fire Dagwon’s head, whilst adding that extra level of over-the-topness. I love it.

The entire arm assembly from power Dagwon becomes this guys forearms, Power Dagwon’s feet become this guys boots, and that huge arm-crane assembly… suddenly not so huge.

It’s not easy to tell what’s going on in this picture above, so I’ll talk you through it. Pre-combination you store Fire Rescue and Fire Ladder on the boots, which disappear inside the legs of Fire Dagwon. It’s totally pointless, essentially a storage option, but there is no denying that the first time you do this during the combination process, it feels insanely cool, and you know you’re building something immense. Also, we see Dagfire in Stratos mode hiding inside the chest piece. As an extra note of coolness, the plane landing gear inside Fire Dagwon’s chest piece actually has extra in-built functionality, as it holds the combined chest plate in place.

It’s not all good, this insanely sized combiner does have a few compromises. The redundant torso from power Dagwon has to go somewhere, and it clips onto the back of Super Fire Dagwon, held in place by that huge tail-fin kibble. Again, the animal-totem chest piece just hangs there, all sad and redundant. It’s not all bad, and they use the leg pegs from Power Dagwon as storage slots for the spare crane-arm attachments. It’s a lot of back kibble, which I’m sure must be a deal breaker for some, but I never mind it, if it gets us to a figure that is this ambitious and ostentatious.

But we’re still not done! You think GunKid didn’t want to get into the act one last time? He doesn’t look quite as big and out-of-place anymore, but it is probably a step too far.

You can also add on Lian, a separate figure that becomes a golden sword. I’ve never bought Lian, mostly because he looks awful, and I’m trying not to be that completest guy. Having said that, now I feel like I’ve failed you all.

Overall

Brave has it’s own identity separate to the Transformers line despite it’s half-parentage, and this guys constant evolution towards it’s final form is a farcry from Transformers, but very typical of the giant mecha format. Still, there is more than enough Takara in the toys to keep fans like me interested, even if they differ somewhat from the very Sunrise animation models.

I love the transformation, I love the combination, I love that GunKid can be brandished as a weapon, I love how silly the whole thing is. To me, it’s the ultimate evolution of those late Japan only G1 toys, and it’s nice to see the G1 Transformers book-ended with Diaclone and Brave, three distinctly different lines which influence and inform each other in equal measures.

There is a standard version of this toy (marked STD instead of DX), but it’s less than half the size, and when I received it by accident early in my naive collecting days, I instantly sold it on. I’m sure it’s nice enough, but it’s not this. There are other releases of this character, in non-transforming PVC form, closer to the animation model. nice enough again, but for me – a hardened Takara fanboy – I’m out.

For me, this is as good as collecting gets, and the easiest article I think I’ll ever have the pleasure to write. These guys are highly recommended.

28 Jun 2016

Multiforce Landcross and Chase Stealth Landcross

Released in 1989, the Multiforce (not to be confused with the Diaclone Multi-force 14) were in many ways the Autobot nemeses to the Decepticon Dinoforce and Breastforce, but unlike those characters these toys had no Western equivalents or re-purposes like Monstructor or The Rescue Force.

Reissue packaging – check the instruction numbering visible through the packaging, denoting what figure is inside.

Never released in the West in any form, they were however more widely available in 2004 when Takara reissued them, and the change in retail patterns meant many retailers imported these into Western territories, and some consumers just ordered direct from Japan using the internet. The reissues were also the first time these characters were available separately, as they were originally released in twin-packs and as a six-pack.

Today we’ll be looking at the 2004 reissues, and their chase variants. The only difference between the originals and the reissues are the addition of tampographs to replace stickers, and some shade variations in the plastic colour.

The Multiforce

So, from left to right, we have Tacker, Dash, Waver, Tackle, Wing, and Mach. From here it gets a bit more confusing, so pay attention, there will be questions at the end.

These figures can be combined with any other figure to make a unique robot mode (similar to the combining concept in the Energon range). The most common of these are WingWaver, DashTacker, and MachTackle (I capitalise to clarify the character divide), because of the original Japanese twin-pack releases, but because each character features both a small robot head and a larger combined robot head, you can invert any combination to make characters such as WaverWing, TackerDash, and TackleMach.

Dashtacker, Machtackle, and Wingwaver – the traditional two-man combined forms.

But you’re not limited to these options, you can have TackerTackle, MachWing, WingMach, or any other combination, a total of 30 different combination options! A nightmare for collectors who like to have multiples to display in every mode, as they’d need 8 sets to display them in individual robot, two-man combiners, six-figure combiner, and alt. modes. Plus a ninth and tenth set if you collect boxed versions as well! Insane. If you really, REALLY want to, you can combine multiples to make characters such as MachMach or WingWing.

The individual robot modes are basic and don’t expect too much from them, as the emphasis with these toys is on the combining on combining gimmick and as such the individual proportions feel a bit off. The vehicle modes feel more satisfying and complete as they are nice and solid, and functional as a kids toy too. The two-man combiners feel a bit more proportionate and thought-out, but these vary greatly depending on which of the 30 combinations you decide upon, and I always feel these is where the most design attention time was spent.

Landcross

The six man combined mode is how the majority of collectors will probably opt to display this figure. The chest plate is classic retro Takara design, feels somehow closer to early Diaclone or Scramble City than 1989 era, and in many ways the same can be said for the amazing head design. I always felt the FOC Ruination figure used the Landcross head as it’s major influence. Unfortunately, this set of figures is a bit lousy with parts storage, especially considering how good Devastator was at utilising parts in vehicle modes, and the hip-plate, chest-plate, hands, feet and head are just kind of put to one side when not combined. The one shining part of the combiner parts are the way the individual hand-guns combine to make a six-piece mega-cannon similar to TFC Hercules, which – if it was released now from a third party- would probably have a cool-ass name.

Shockingly, we never got an update to this character during Combiner Wars, even one that ignored the two-man combination gimmick. Seemed like an obvious one to me, as it’s a simpler build than Raiden and more akin to the Scramble City figures.

Stealth Multiforce

Takara stirred the pot by including 2 “stealth mode” variants in every solid case of 12 (similar to the Micromaster combiners around the same time, to the point that this reissue of the Multiforce was actually branded DX Micromasters, when they really were nothing like Micromasters), meaning that in order to collect a full set of the Stealth Mode Landcross variant you had to buy three whole cases and hope there were no duplicates.

The black individual robot modes feature basic minor stickering, and white-outlined Autobot logos. In some ways this is a limitation, as I tend to always prefer to think of most “Stealth-mode” black repaints as Decepticons, as part of my totally headcanon Black Redeco Clan. I guess I can repro-label these however I want now I’ve finally tracked them down, 12 years after they came out.

As with the normal colours, these combine into two-man configurations. If you mix the black repaints with the normal released sets, you have a quite mental potential of 72 different two-man combinations. Again, I personally would have preferred red eyes and visors on all of these guys, and while they’re an easy fix, it’s such a rare set I don’t really want to take paint to it.

In alt. mode, these guys feature universal silver paint detailing for all windshields, which really helps unite these as a cool-looking team compared to the normal Multiforce. A rarely seen feature of these guys is that you can (sort of) combine the vehicle modes. It’s not really an advertised feature or in anyway an official , more a convenient leave-over from the way the two-man combiner ports are still accessible in alt. mode, although the way the ports are situated means you are limited to which ones take the front and rear positions.

Stealth Landcross

Combined mode is more of the same. He looks a bit more imposing in solid black, and I’m almost tempted to swap his charcoal grey head and chest plate for the black of the regular Landcross, but I guess this gives it a little bit of contrast.

Overall, I find this a very fun set to own, and it really is one of the rarer reissue variants that does the rounds, much harder to find than most of the Chase variants from the 200x Micromaster reissues. I’m a sucker for G1 variants, obscure Japanese G1, and I’ve always been one for the black repaint, so this was always going to be one for me to collect. Even if I’d prefer it if he’d been a Decepticon.

If you can track these down, I would recommend it, even if you can only find the original colour schemes. They make an excellent addition to any G1 collections, and give the Autobots some much needed reinforcements in the combiner stakes, as this is one of the few areas where Decepticons outnumber the good guys.

These guys have never been re-worked for any other toyline, not even Kreo, and have had very few media appearances outside of Victory, except for a brief SG cameo. There have not been any 3rd party toys announced for these guys, they’ve had pretty much zero love from the fandom since their original incarnation. If you want to experience the Multiforce, this is your only bet.

26 Jun 2016

Action Toys Machine Robo; Revenge of Chronos

These are not your father’s Gobots.

So, just what is Machine Robo? It’s a Japanese toyline released by a subsidiary of Bandai known as Popy in 1982, known as Robo Machine in Europe and Machine Men in Australia. Starting in 1984 these toys were distributed in the UK and the USA by Tonka Toys as Gobots. It’s a toyline with very similar origins and distribution deals to Transformers, and ran parallel to that series, arguably as the Pepsi to Transformer’s Coca-Cola. When Japan got the Marvel / Sunbow animated series in 1985, Machine Robo responded with the 1986 TV show Machine Robo: Revenge of Chronos (distributed in the UK as Revenge of the Gobots), produced by Ashi Productions.

Courtesy of BWTF!

Due to a series of convoluted events and buy-outs, in 1991 Hasbro purchased the rights and the names to the entire Gobot franchise, but not the likeness rights, meaning they are free to use the names (as with their Pre-school Gobots range, and the use of Leader-1 with Armada Megatron) but they cannot re-release the toys or redesign them / update them for the current market. There have been a few homages, such as with the eHobby release of the minibotsas GoBots and the TFCC release of Bugbite, but these have all been Transformer’s likenesses carrying re-purposed Gobot names.

Clockwise from top left: Pathfinder, Smallfoot, Bugbite, Bad Boy, Treds, and Road Ranger

These new releases, designed by Lu.K of the Awaken studio and produced and distributed by Action Toys (copyright Production Reed) will only see official distribution in the East. Spencer from Action Toys confirmed (in this great interview) that this new toyline will only feature characters used in the Revenge of Chronos anime, so unfortunately this is not the full Machine Robo / Gobot revival that some people may have hoped for, any many fan favourite characters will see a release, but for this collector, I am happy to take what we get and I am pleased that they have figures planned for the next 2/3 years.

Let’s take a look at what we have so far:

(Note: Machine Robo Series 01: Bike Robo – also known as Cy-kill – has not been released yet as Action Toys are working hard to perfect the mold, rather than released an inferior product. While it’s disappointing for some, I admire the dedication to the quality of product.)

Machine Robo Series 02: Rod Drill

Rod Drill was first released as MR:17 Drill Robo, known better to a lot in the West as Screw Head.

The robo mode of this chap is somehow very cute. Although they feel smaller than expected when you open them up standing at five inches tall, they have a surprising amount of weight to them, including some heavy die-cast feeling parts. No limb feels too heavy for the joint to hold, which means these toys hold fun and complex poses incredibly well.

“FIGHT YOU!”

Unfortunately, these guys are packaged in alt. mode, which means your first transformation is lining things up and compacting them down. However, the transformation on this guy is very clear, and thee instructions go out of their way to further explain potential trouble points. Extra kudos to Action Robo for this attention to detail and making our lives easier. The transformation is very fun, and this guy compacts down in a very satisfying way.

Transforming into a drill tank, this mode features an extra attachment, so you can swap the head out for a more anime accurate extended drill-head. While this extended drill looks cleaner with it’s lack of head molded into it, I can’t help feeling that I much prefer the smaller drill, even if it means the head is visible when you look under the alt. mode. In both modes, he successfully captures the look of his original design, but improves on his original toy in the ways that are needed.

Machine Robo Series 03: Eagle Robo

My favourite of the three so far. A lot of people know him as Leader-1 as part of the Gobots franchise.

A very satisfying robot, that doesn’t feel as heavy as the others but has amazing poseability, once again, all his joints are quality and manage to hold poses incredibly well. He has oodles of charisma, and his very unique rounded head mode achieves the look of a humanesque fighter pilot in robot form, and using the air intake ducts as the robot chest gives Eagle Robo a very distinctive look.

His weapon is the combined part of his two missile rigs and side pods which provide extra stability and clever weapon storage, and makes for a very distinct gun.

Transforming into an F-15 Eagle, the same alt. mode as a famous grey jet from the Transformers line, the transformation feels very different to the other two figures released so far; rather than compacting down, this figure opens up unto alt. mode. Once again, everything is surprisingly simple, and quite intuitive, but I would suggest having the instructions along for the ride just for security, as there are a few panels and long stalks (connecting the head and one connecting the cockpit) which feel could easily break if miss-handled. If you take your time and follow the guide you will not have any problems.

The weapons and landing gear complete the look, and the detailing throughout is fantastic for a figure this side. It’s one of the most satisfying real-world fighter-jet transformations I have ever seen in this scale; if not THE best.

Machine Robo Series 04: Battle Robo

Released in Gobots as the unimaginatively named Tank, Battle Robo is probably the most improved figure in this range over his original.

I always found the original toy of this a bit weak, and while there have been a few new designs over the years, this release captures this character for me the most. Although I imagine some people would have preferred a darker blue.

Like the other figures, he has functional, tight joints, which enable the figure to express himself in a multitude of ways. Ever present is his tank turret gun arm (where have we seen that before?), and his shoulder cannons are also very functional in robot mode.

A great, fun transformation which compacts down so tightly, there is zero wasted motion, and everything tabs together perfectly to create a solid little alt. mode, with the arms hiding away better than in previous incarnations.

There’s not loads to say about the alt. mode, it looks like a futuristic non-Earth mode tank thing, it looks like a transfoming robot with all the Transformers influence removed and replaced with Starcom. A vehicle mode with this many guns probably shouldn’t look cute, but somehow it looks like a deform.

Modular Bases

I have a feeling these fully modular chain-style bases will be some people’s favourite part of this range. Shown here are three bases joined together with two sets of the backer, but this is just one configuration of potentially thousands. You can use these to make a back-drop, or to display the jet in flight mode, or hold the figures in a hovering action pose. Great fun, and expansive, I feel these chain bases will literally join this collection together and convince collectors to embrace the full range with an in-build display solution. A great touch.

Overall

While I have always admired Gobots, it has been from afar, I have picked up the very occasional mold, but never enough to commit to a “collection” as such. With this new line, it might have seemed like the perfect opportunity to get into a Machine Robo / Gobot style collection, and indeed it is, but actually my reasons for collecting this line are completely different. As I mentioned in a previous article about 3rd party Devastators, I am a huge fan of the aesthetic of the Fans Project Causality line and the Maketoys combiner series, while I have yet to have it officially confirmed by official sources, I strongly believe I am right in saying these are all designed by Lu.K, who designed these new Machine Robo figures. It’s not even really a secret as such, it’s more that toy designers are not widely discussed, known, or credited, and I feel that’s a real shame. I’m proud to say; I am collecting the new Machine Robo toys because I am a fan of this designer’s aesthetic.

We live in a world where comic colourists and some letterers are finally getting their names on the cover of comics they produce, and Neca have led the charge in putting the sculptor’s name on their toy products. As the internet, forums, and social media have faded the line between fans and creators, I strongly feel we should see this happen more throughout the toy industry. I would have loved for Eric Siebenaler’s name to have been credited on some of my favourite TF toy releases, just as I would like people to know and understand the full breadth of work undertaken by Kohjin Ohno. MMC have been very good with this, as several of their creators are well known to the fandom, and well done to them, and well done to Action Robo for crediting the designer on the boxes for these guys.

These are wonderful toys, masterfully designed and lovingly produced, and they come with a built-in audience of Machine Robo / Gobot fans, but even if you’re not a fan of the brand, these are quality figures through and through, and well worth checking out!

They are in stock and available to grab now from Kapow Toys!

23 Jun 2016

Non-transforming Devastator Face/Off UPDATED

Today’s article will be looking at two things I absolutely love; obscure G1 figures that most people don’t collect, and a third party toy which is about as niche as it gets!

Yup, I’m talking about Action Masters Devastator and Before & After’s incredibly G1 cartoon accurate Engineer General, an item which is probably the most screen-accurate representation of a toy we’ve had since the Animated era in 2009.

Action Master Devastator

In 1990, when the Action Masters hit the market, there had only ever been the one Devastator figure (and one tiny little decoy), it seems weird to think of that now, with the plethora of Devys on the market, not to mention the non combining Euro Devy, two G2 releases, two distinct KO colourations and an Encore release. Having such a limited scope of Devy releases, you’d think that would have made it super easy for Hasbro to get the colour right, right? Wrong.

I guess it makes sense that this guy was released between the original 85 and G2 releases, as his colour scheme is somewhere smack bang between Constructicon Green and G2 Yellow.

As an Action Master, I’m sure I don’t need to explain that this Devy is not a combiner or even a Transformer (and there was sort of a tie-in story in the UK comic explaining the all-in-one Devy, but Ironhide destroyed it before completion). To make up for this lack of transformation, Devy has an animal drone companion called Scorpulator, who can transform from a wicked scorpion into a pretty cool-gun extension thing. Pointless, considering Devy has a gun already, but now it is Scorpion-powered. Oh, and Devy now has six legs on his back too.

Devy also features a rather cool head that doesn’t quite look like Devy from any of the fiction, but is sort of close to the original Diaclone designed head.

Before & After Engineer General

The market place for Devastators (official and third party) is busier than a building site these days, with packaging almost as big as some construction equipment filling attics around the world. Box-sets, CHUG size, Masterpiece scaled, Combiner Wars, G1 reissues, KOs and vintage add-on sets… it’s quite refreshing that Before & After went in a totally different direction.

DS4
The emphasis isn’t just on super toon accurate aesthetics and heads, it’s also in poseability, with the Engineer General capable of pulling off some menacing poses with his stunning 31 points of articulation.

Size wise, he’s about the same height as Maketoys Giant at 3ocms / 12 inches, but scale wise, he’s pretty damn good to tower above your G1 Autobots, and scales well to the rest of the Action Master line if you’re so inclined to have the combiners look like monsters. His joints are very solid and of a high quality, and this makes the figure feel of a very high standard overall, despite the somewhat limited aesthetic of the cartoon look. This is a completely stylistic choice, and by no means a limitation of design imagination.

His colour choice is spot-on, pretty much perfect I would say. The lime-green is almost more G2 than G2 in it’s almost fluorescent, and that shade of purple screams “DECEPTICON” no matter who it’s on. As you can see, he towers over the original Action Masters, but sadly he doesn’t have a scorpion buddy all of his own, a feature I find sadly lacking in all recent Devastators.

I love this figure. It’s fun, left-field, and not something I’d expect to see from Hasbro or Takara anytime soon; so pretty much everything I think 3P should be doing rather than outright competing over the scraps of the MP line and all releasing the same bloomin’ figure. Even though I’ve never been a huge fan of the cartoon, you have to admire how much they’ve set out to hit a certain style, and have completely aced it. It’s enough to make me want other non-transforming combiners in the same size and style.
It’s weird talking about transformers without covering the alt. modes and transformation, but neither of these figures really lack playability despite this. Sure; I think the play pattern of the original Devy is pretty hard to beat, especially for it’s time. I know the Action Master line never really found a place in many collector’s hearts, but it’s a concept that makes sense on paper; boys like action figures, and at the very least it made Hasbro aware of the power of the brand and original characters such as Megatron, Soundwave and more, many of whom had not been seen since 1985. B&A Engineer General has none of these limitations, as the entire intent behind the figure is very clear for all to see from the day it was first released.

I don’t think any review could change your mind on Engineer General; if you think the concept is dumb I cannot change that. If however, you had a smile creep over your face the first time you saw it, and though about how cool this would have been in your childhood collection, then this figure is for you my friend, and I recommend you give it a look.

Enjoy it.

Engineer General is available and in stock at Kapow.

UPDATE – NTF HERCULES COMBINE GIANT

Thanks to the awesome Ben of Collectibles (link in the side bar) for giving us this little bit of information.

Turns out in 2014 there was another non-transforming Devastator offered by a third party, with an 18″ tall vinyl Devy homage called Hercules Combine Giant. He’s a big old boy with a good six inches on Engineer General, but he’s also not the most attractive of figures. I guess it’s a question of size vs attractiveness (no comment, hey guys?).

combinegiant2
It’s cool to see it, but having not experienced it in hand I don’t feel qualified to discuss the figures good and bad points. None the less, it’s very cool to see this, and I don’t know how I missed it as I was at all of the main US cons the year this was announced, but there ya go, just another example of the sheer diversity and the wealth of choice in the fandom these guys.

Thanks Ben!

20 Jun 2016

Brave Gunkid (or “where in the world is Battlestar Megatron?”)

GK7
Appearing in the Brave Command Dagwon series in 1997, Gunkid makes for an interesting toy.

One part Brave, one part Battlestar, no wonder he ends up looking like something from Brave Starr. I’m surprised he didn’t come with little handheld pistols like Shadow Maru and Gun Max.
In robot mode, he stands about the same height as G1 Galvatron.

The cowboy theme is worn right on it’s sleeve with this guy, or maybe on his head. I mean, Cowboy hat aside, he has little spurs on his heels, and he also has a “battle mask” face which is very reminiscent of the old handkerchief mask of the Wild West for bank robberies and the like.

Notice the very brave crest on the cowboy hat, the face plate covers, and the shoulder cannons.

It’s easy to spur him into action. Ho-ho!

His transformations are simplistic, but effective. He transforms into four “distinct” modes.

In gun mode, or INFINITE CANNON as it’s known, he can be held as a gun by humans and used to fire foam darts at your friends eyes. It’s a really fun mode, with a good size and weight to it, and it’s all too easy to lose the foam pellets which adds to it’s toy charm.

His second mode is the obligatory and somewhat phoned in cannon mode, or KID TANK mode. Let’s be fair, G1 Galvatron got away with it just about, and the “transformation” between modes was less involved than with this guy, and the little molded tank treads do help.

His final mode is as a jet, or KID FIGHTER mode; complete with landing gear, wings and tailfins. It’s obvious where all the parts go, but they never intrude upon the other modes, and the way the view-finder folds down to become a cock-pit is very satisfying. The landing gear hidden inside the gun handle is another nice touch, and it makes this mold super fun and interesting.

As we look at his alt. modes, something interesting becomes apparent. Cannon… gun… flight mode?

The rumour is that the design for Gun Kid originally started life as Battlestar Megatron, if this is true, then he would have been the only Decepticon to make it into the Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Return of Convoy toyline, alongside Star Convoy, Grandus, Sky-Garry and a handful of combining Micro-masters. It’s a well known fact that bad-guy toys do not sell as well in Japan, which explains why the Autobots constantly out-number the Decepticons, especially in Japanese only lines such as Victory, Zone and Return of Convoy.

This was the penultimate Japanese line of G1 Transformers released in 1991, coming just before Operation Combination in 1992 which was mostly repaints, Euro releases and Micro-masters, as such Return of Convoy featured the last of the big leader type toys, and Takara was busy at work designing new toys for the Brave toyline.

At this point, there was no TV show to support the line, and the story of Transformers continued exclusively in the pages of the Battlestar Manga, published in the Japanese TV Magazine.

Dark Nova

Dark Nova Robot – size of a small moon

In the storyline, Dark Nova (to relation to any Nova Prime) resurrects Galvatron as Super Megatron.

Super Megatron – scourge of the ice-caps.

Below is the character model which is believed to have been the predecessor to Gunkid, and there are certainly comparisons between Super Megatron’s jet mode and Gunkid’s. Although maybe not as much as the robot mode looks like Animated Megatron, but given Derrick J Wyatt’s love of the animated series that does not surprise me.

All this could explain why Gunkid feels like a G1 toy through and through. There is zero partsforming and you can transform between modes very quickly, and the toy doesn’t disassemble into fifteen pieces to combine with five other things like some Brave toys do. To the point that I’m almost tempted to customise one into Megatron; if the Gunkid head wasn’t so darn adorable!

GunKid_068069
Of course, to keep things Brave, Gunkid does have the ability to interact with other characters, and he can interact with both Fire Dagwon (who you might remember had a cameo in our Thunder Dagwon comparison article) and Power Dagwon in his GIANT WEAPON MODE. I don’t want to spoil this interaction until the Super Fire Dagwon blog goes live, but once it does I will post the pictures here to complete this blog (although SPOILER if you go back up and look at the very first image of the box).

Thanks for reading!

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Non-transforming Devastator Face/Off UPDATED

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