Posts Categorized: All Our Posts

15 Jul 2016

Pre-Transformers Power Dashers

Most people know I have a fairly extensive G1 collection, but there are a few bits conspicuous by their absence, Pretenders for one.

I’m quick to say I have a near complete Euro / US collection, but way back when my goal was simply to collect 84-86. I completed that set a while ago, but along the way there was one set that got away. That set was the mail-away Powerdasher set.

Released as part of the Transformers line in 1984, they were only available via mail-order for $3 and two robot points, with the catch being you didn’t know which one of the three you were getting. As well as transforming, the big gimmick with these was a pull back and go motor.

So after putting off buying this set for decades, I recently purchased a very nice Italian Diaclone set, as distributed by Gig. But why did I put off buying these for so long? Was it because of price, condition, or rarity? Read on and find out.

F1 Dasher / Dragster / Aragon / Powerdasher Car*

(*format: Japanese Diaclone name / Gig Diaclone name / Joustra and Trasformer name (adopted by TFwiki) / lame US name)

These are fairly simple figures, as you can see. The robot mode for F1 Dasher is Optimus Prime coloured, but that is where the similarities end. His massive “spoiler” becomes the legs and feet for the robot, and the front of the car folds down to make the arms / hands.

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The vehicle mode is slightly more interesting in that there is room for a Diaclone driver (included!), and the toy features a pull back and go motor that has survived all these years. You might note in the example pictured above, the robot head is clearly visible in alt. mode, it is supposed to rotate and hide away, but thirty years in packaging has left the head a tad stiff, and I didn’t want to risk breaking it for this shot.

I’ve not seen a Spoiler this big since Jon Snow died

Edit: The head doesn’t rotate, which would explain why it wouldn’t move. Don’t try that at home kids!

It might be of note to some that the Transformers release has black legs instead of blue, and you might have seen yellow headed “variants” too, but that’s just chrome wear.

Note that the original Diaclone names are included on stickers on all three toys.

Drill Dasher / Perforer / Zetar / Powerdasher Drilltank

Another pretty basic figure. A lot of this guy looks backwards, especially the feet (see trio photo below), and I still think it’s an odd choice in this range to keep the cockpits prominent in robot mode and alt. mode, when they could have detailed the underside. I’m not sure if they did this because the underside had to remain flat for alt. mode, but a few stickers could have pepped it up.

Look at that face!

Transformation is insanely simple, to the point that the Gig release don’t include instruction sheets, just two pictures on the side explaining it. Actually, the entire packaging is simple, the front of the box is just a shell that covers the polystyrene inner, no rear packaging so to speak. They come with a sticker sheet, a tiny and very folded Diaclone catalogue, and a very small character card.

The alt. mode for this guy is cute, who doesn’t love a Drillformer? It;s a shame the legs cover the awesome Drill Dasher side stickers.

The colour scheme is very nice. Overall, this is my favourite of the trio, especially with the colour-matched Diaclone driver sat on top.

Sky Dasher / Dragster / Cromar / Powerdasher Jet

An inversion of the colours on the F1 type, these bright primary colours aren’t enough to help this very basic robot mode. Note the stickers for a face that all three of these guys had, something that wasn’t seen on another Transformer other than the much derided G1 Ratchet / Ironhide (we’ll come back to that in a minute).

The transformation is very similar to the F1 type, with the arms swinging over the head and the legs swinging around, this time to the side not over the figure, the wings are cleverly hidden inside the legs and act as the thigh joint for the legs in the process. Ironically the most dangerous to pilot vehicle has the least convincing cockpit for the driver.

It’s a fun enough vehicle, as a kid I can imagine punching things as I fly the vehicle into them. Which might explain the chrome wear a lot of these figures suffer. As with the F1 type, the Transformers release has a black chest section rather than blue.

Overall

So why didn’t I buy them before? Well, because of the complete lack of personality or media support growing up, I had no affinity with these characters, it’s also quite hard to find them in the UK for a decent price. Even if you CAN find them in the UK, the chrome is usually damaged. I mean, badly damaged. Like the Drill type has a yellow drill for a head, not a chrome one damaged.

But that isn’t why I didn’t buy them. I continually skipped these for years, because I think they are BAD TRANSFORMERS, and I stand by that. Even a “completest” has limits (I’m not a completest, and I think it’s unhealthy to try).

But that’s not to say these are bad toys.

It’s a similar thing to G1 Ratchet and Ironhide, I think they are amazing toys for their time, but they are lousy Transformers and crap renditions of Ironhide and Ratchet if you know them from the cartoon or comic. Like these Diaclone Dashers, they are also at their best when they are interacting with little Diaclone drivers as part of inhabited world in a completely separate toyline divorced from Transformers. At least the Cherry Vannettes had the advantage of blending into the world thanks to the real-world alt. modes, which made them fit right alongside Sunstreaker and Trailbreaker, but these guys are an odd fit, as they don’t really look like anything, Earthmode or Cybertronian, and as such seem slightly out of place in both Diakron and Transformers.

I don’t want or need these for my Transformers shelf, as I don’t believe that sticking an Autobot logo on something is enough to bring a toy into that world. Indeed, it took the combined efforts of Hasbro, Marvel and Sunbow to make the Takara toyline an intellectual property and brand to be reckoned with, but along the way the first humble mail-away offer, the Power-Dashers, never really found a place into the heart and soul of the line, which is why thirty years on we’ve had no homages of these characters – official or otherwise – not even as Mini-cons.

Which is why I’ve finally found a place for these in my burgeoning Diaclone collection after decades of Transformers collecting.

But it just shows that everything has a place, and even the oddest of toys can find a spot in a collection, when put into the proper context. For me – in this case – it meant looking at toys I’d ignored for years in a different light, and I’m very glad I did.

Thanks for reading, be sure to check out the Kapow site for all the latest toys and pre-orders.

08 Jul 2016

G1 Shockwave and MP Shockwave comparison – with Quakewave and Astro Magnum!

The toy we know and love as Shockwave is one of a handful of G1 toys that didn’t start as a Takara product.

Astro Magnum / Galactic Man

Originally manufactured by Toy-co and released in 1983 under the name Astro Magnum in grey plastic, this figure was knocked off almost more than the Jumpstarters mold, and the KOs often changed the metal in the legs to plastic, and often changed the clear plastic to a pinky-purple (which is the version we’re using in this article). Affectionately known by some collectors who bought a later, fully licensed version known as Galactic Man from Radioshack (later Tandy, ask your parents) as Shackwave.

Curiously touted as a 4-changer, this mold is famous for not just for it’s eventual release in Transformers, but also for its cameo appearance in the Aliens movie, where it displayed one of the lesser known but none-the-less officially sanctioned alt. modes.

When it was ported over into the Transformers line in 1985, not only did the character change into a more Decepticon purple, but the powers that be at Hasbro / Marvel seemed to recognise that his alt. mode didn’t quite fit in with the other Diaclone / Microchange figures, and made the choice to release the first Cybertronian mode Transformer. This meant that in the cartoon, Shockwave was little more than a guardian of (the seemingly near deserted) Cybertron, appearing in the very first episode but not getting a toy until the following year.

GerGun mode? Not official, but a built in display solution!

There are however, definitely two Shockwaves known to the world, and I don’t mean purple and grey. Fans of the comic series know Shockwave as a very cold, logical and efficient Decepticon, almost an equal to Megatron and certainly more ruthless. Indeed, in these comics, Shockwave is responsible for the creation of the Constructicons and Jetfire after defeating EVERYONE, and his origins also tie the Dinobots firmly into the Marvel 616 lore thanks to his landing in the Savage Land.

He beat EVERYONE.

In the cartoon, he is essentially a hotel elevator operator for the Space Bridge. But at least he survived the movie.

Which floor, sir?

G1 Shockwave

Other than the colour changes, the Hasbro release changed one minor thing; the unfortunate shape and positioning of Astro Magnum’s trigger. Perhaps predicting the sort of humour to be found in the boys toys aisle, they shortened and flattened the trigger.

Shockwave has trigger envy :/

The toy looks great in robot mode, large and menacing, he is closer in height to Ultra Magnus than Prime or Megatron, and I’m sure in some parallel universe (probably one with MB distribution) Shockwave is the leader of the Decepticons against the Autobot leader Jetfire. You can compact the legs down and have a shorter Shockwave, closer in height to the main ’84 cast, but his large upper body is perhaps too broad for this.

The transformation is very fun and instinctive, but does include one example of partsforming. This isn’t totally uncommon for G1 (Optimus Prime’s fists, Megatron’s stock and barrel), but the part in question has little use in other modes and cannot be stored anywhere.

There are trouble spots on this mold; most notably the rubber hose which perishes over time with very little external pressure, and it’s not uncommon for the gun-barrel on his left-hand to be broken. Also, I have come across several of these with dodgy legs, where the joint doesn’t stay locked out and the figure tends to collapse to one side (we call this Sandstorm syndrome!).

Overall, I think he’s a great toy, and I wish I’d gotten him when I was young enough to run around making pew-pew noises.

FT Quakewave

Over the years we’ve had several Shockwave updates, from the divisive Action Master, the weird and wonderful Binaltech Laserwave Mazda version (also known as Alternator Blastwave), a fun Energon re-imagining as Shockblast which completely changed his character, and in recent years some more disappointing offerings in the form of CHUG, Cloud, and Legends renditions. However, the first unofficial Masterpiece styled offering soon gave us fans what we want from a Shockwave, in the form of the 2013 Fans Toys Quakewave, later released in grey as an Astro Magnum homage.

Quakewave is a solid, heavy toy, with plenty of die-cast in his legs to give him some extra weight. Both his eye and his hand light up, which is a great addition that harkens back to the original (but no electronic noises, for shame). In robot mode, he looks like a legitimate threat, and you can believe this guy went toe-to-toe with the Dinobots and survived!

The transformation is surprisingly simple. I sometimes feel that 3P MP’s go overboard in complexity (Badcube Sunsurge, most Reflectors), but not so here, Quakewave transforms pretty similar to the original, but with some really solid Eureka moments. His head hides away brilliantly, his arms do exactly what you expect them to, and his backpack has a genius inside-out fold to become an effective way of hiding his gun barrel.

Backpack becomes the barrel becomes the backpack

He comes under some criticism for his over-arm arm-hose, rather than the traditional under-arm. However, FT later released an upgrade which fixed this. For me, it wasn’t a big enough difference to change it. One of the biggest changes is the fold up backpack at the end of the gun, instead that is half of his legs, the rest of which form the satisfying and heavy die-cast handle. To me, this is one of his greatest strengths, as it really helped bulk out his entire form to be more in line with the comic appearances.

With classy custom base made by Heirofthedog

The alt. mode of a Space Laser Cannon Thingy does exactly what you would want or expect it to, even if the mid-section swivel could do with having a locking mechanism for this mode. It doesn’t NEED it, but it wouldn’t have hurt to make it feel more secure.

This guy narrowly beat out MMC Hexatron as 3P toy of the year 2013 in the TFW2005 poll, but fast forward a few years, and is he still that popular? Let’s take a look at the competition, and see if Quakewave is still relevant in a post MP-29 world.

MP-29 Laserwave

So here we have Takara’s Masterpiece offering. With the release of this figure, is Quakewave still relevant? And if not, what does that mean for the future of the 3P “Masterpiece” range?

Let’s start with the positives, opening up the package, I absolutely adore the colouration. I wish Takara or eHobby would re-release the original in this colour scheme. IT. IS. PERFECT.

Masterpiece; not just a scale, but a state of mind?

I love the accessories, a choice of solid or translucent colour hands really work for me, and the option to include a proper pre-Empurata Shockwave left hand is awesome too, so he can brandish himself as a weapon in a homage to those oh-so-common animation errors.

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I like the fact that the barrel no longer partforms but compacts onto his back, very smooth.

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And I like the fact he has a backpack in robot mode, if you like the G1 backpack look (which I do very much). And it’s multi-purpose too…

As it also doubles as a stand for him. Granted, I think the Heirofthedog custom stand for Quakewave is a much more elegant display solution, but I’ll take this.

If you love this figure and don’t like hearing different opinions, stop reading now and we can remain friends.

I don’t like anything about the way this figure transforms, it’s weight, it’s height, or some of it’s proportions. I don’t know why, as I was firmly expecting to prefer him to Quakewave, but that centimeter or so of height takes a lot away from this figure.

The legs, including that double-hinge in the thigh (and the permanently visible line that creates) really turn me off. The inside of the legs, including flappy tabs to fill out the inner leg really feel very amateur to me.

Even the presentation of the packaging feels like a let down, I really miss the booklets that used to come with them that used to show the entire history of the character’s releases in Japan, you just don’t get that any more.

It’s a shame, as I really love so much about this figure (head, chest, arms, hosepipe, COLOUR), but overall, he just doesn’t feel like a Masterpiece. To me. I’m sure the weight has a lot to do with that as well, but it’s more the feel of the toy as I transform it and pose it, it just didn’t feel or look quite like what I want it to. I suspect a lot of that is to do with the fact that despite this new toy, I still really love – and prefer – Quakewave.

OVERALL

I’ve written elsewhere how I don’t quite feel the current MP range lives up to it’s Masterpiece title, and while everyone can agree there has been a shift in sensibilities between MP01 and MP10, I feel there has been another shift since then. When MP10 came out, I believe the line was a fine balance of three things; realistic alt. mode, an attempt of staying true to the original toy concept, whilst also paying attention to the animation model. I believe Takara have abandoned this concept in favour of outright animation model tribute, and we can see this very clearly with the legs on Ironhide and the forthcoming Inferno.

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In a way though, this can be a very positive thing.

For a while, I feel a lot of MP collectors felt that their 3rd party Masterpiece offerings were merely a stand-in for the “real thing”, and while I’m sure many people still feel that way (check out the market value of Quakewave now compared to 18 months ago), I’m sure there are many people out there like myself, whose perfect version of the characters is closer to the original toys or comic-book representation of the characters.

Whereas a lot of people thought 3P were merely stand-ins, we now have genuine options. No-one can deny that MMC offer a different style with their Ocular Max larger scale Jaguar than the tiny MP offering. No-one can argue that Carry is attempting a COMPLETELY different aesthetic to MP09, even though every fan is more than welcome to argue forever over which one they feel is subjectively “better”. I feel the same thing is in effect here with the Waves; if you grew up loving the cartoon first and foremost, above everything else, then yeah, absolutely certainly MP29 Laserwave is THE Shockwave representation for you. For me, growing up with the comics (including the UK stuff and his fight to the death with Death’s Head), then Quakewave is absolutely THE Shockwave representation I always wanted. Chunky legs and all.
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And long may it continue. After the fandom seemed to collectively move away from CHUG in favour of MP, I feared there would be a homogenization effect in all our once diverse and eclectic collections towards a one MP range world order, but as the years have moved on, we’ve moved once again towards a myriad and varied collection of different styles fitting into a similar scale.

Now, I’m sure this bugs many people, who would argue that MP isn’t just a scale, but a sensibility; a drive towards the perfect on-screen interpretation of their favourite characters. And that might be true for them. But for many others; it’s all about options.

Regardless of which group you belong to; what a golden age we live in!

Thanks for reading!

Many 3rd Party and Official Masterpieces are currently available to pre-order or are in stock at Kapow Toys, as well as a wide selection of Shockwave figures.

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!

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