Posts Tagged: Yuusha Brave

05 Aug 2016

Transformers Zone Dai Atlas and Brave Express Might Gaine Goryu

Today we look at one of the bigger molds from the end of the Transformers line, an item that was exclusive to Asia as part of the Zone line in 1990, and then a few years later as part of Brave Express Might Gaine in 1993

DAI ATLAS

C-888 Dai Atlas KO

Dai Atlas was the new Autobot Commander in the (very) short-lived Zone mono-series, and was the flagship of the 1990 line, including a box-set release as Big Powered, along with Sonic Bomber and Roadfire.

Dai Atlas is a quadformer, with four alt. modes (which feel more like 3 and a half), and because of his Micromaster compatibility one of those is the obligatory base mode. His son Speeder accompanies him as a Micromaster partner, and we’ll show him in more focus in a few minutes.

He’s a very basic robot in terms of poseability, with only the arms moving, a term I tend to call Shampoo-Bottle Syndrome, as that is the same level of poseability as found in most character model Shampoo Bottles. He is a great looking robot, with a lot of character.

Unfortunately, the version of the mold we’re looking at today is the “high-end” Vintage KO released a number of years back, designated C-888, as 8 is considered a lucky and prosperous number in China. As such, there are problems with the mold: Number One – absolute top of the list – is the head, on this version it has been glued on wonky, and badly painted. The second blemish are the wings, that do not hold in place as well as you would expect or want them to, and come far short of what I’ve experience with genuine versions of the mold. The rest of the figure is very good quality, to the point that the joints are probably slightly better than the Brave version. Overall, I would say the KO makes a good temporary stand-in especially as a cheaper alternative, but it’s not to be mistaken for the real thing.

Dai Atlas is motorized, and arguably it’s greatest use is using the motorized treads as moving walkways for the base mode. The city can link up to other Micromaster bases, including those of Roadfire and Sonic Bomber. The functionality of those figures also comes in to play in the alt. modes, with Roadfire and Dai Atlas forming Land Powered, Sonic Bomber and Dai Atlas forming Sky Powered, and all three together forming Big Powered, hence the name of the box-set release. We’ll be looking at Big Powered and there cross-over functionality in a future blog, today we concentrate on the Dai Atlas mold.

His Drill Tank mode above is also motorised, and can move forward or backwards. It’s quite a fun mode, as Speeder can man the gun turret as it goes.

His Jet mode is basically his Drill Tank mode, with the arms folded backwards, gun removed, trap-door closed and the clip-on wings attached. It makes for a rather clunky and bottom heavy “Jet”, but it’s sort of fun in that later-day Takara way.

For me, the absolute high-light of this mold are the accessories, and their multiple uses. The base-mode gun turret can stand on it’s own with the use of a little grey platform, the wings can become a Sword of sorts which (sort of, maybe) looks like a “Z”, and the blue ramps from base mode can join with part of the gun turret to form a shield for robot mode. Even the little radar dishes from city mode have a use as shields of a sort for the gun. Not everything can be used in every mode, which is a shame, and there isn’t even storage for some of the parts like we see in the thought out modern Masterpieces, but it’s still a lot of part functionality for the G1 era.

SPEEDER

Unfortunately, the “high-end” C-888 KO of Dai Atlas only comes with a badly put together version of Speeder, so the picture above shows him with the version of Speeder that comes with Goryu. Both are unpainted, which is a shame as a touch of paint on the face would go a long way to help both. He transforms into a Corvette concept car.

GORYU

Goryu joined the Might Gaine series in episode 26. The animation model makes him look quite different to his recycled toy appearance, he’s much leaner and athletic in the show. Removing the wings in robot mode goes a long way towards making his appearance look much sleeker.

Goryu is – in my opinion – a much more attractive colour-scheme, but that could just be because I haven’t seen it as often and I’m not as bored of it.

Interestingly Goryu comes with every accessory packaged with his TF predecessor, unlike Red Geist or Dagbase, meaning you can recreate all four of Dai Atlas’ modes in full. Although there has been some debate on whether Goryu originally came with the shield handle accessory, but a recent MISB find proved that yes, it does.

He has all the same functionality as Dai Atlas as well. Ignore the Autobot logo, some well meaning individual probably used him as a stand-in at some point, but you have to admit that logo does look right in that place!

The Jet Mode looks great, the chrome drill really pops, and the funky lightning bolt stickers make this 10% faster than Dai Atlas.

And Drill Tank mode looks much like you’d expect it to, although the joints on my version no longer click and move freely, they jam and you have to force the rotation and I’m afraid I’ll break it if I force it. Ah, the joys of reviewing 20 year old toys!

OVERALL

Is it an essential purchase?

That depends on your mileage.

I do wish that ab plate would stay folded up!

It’s a fun figure, undeniably more G1 than Brave. As a G1 figure it’s fairly varied with it’s duel-vehicle modes and base functionality, but for a G1 collection I’d suggest Dai Atlas is only necessary if you’ve completed American / European G1 and have moved solidly into Japanese completion. The character still isn’t massively well known – although his IDW appearances have helped – and the figure has not had an update or re-release in it’s 25 year history. The closest we’ve come is a few PVC releases, and a name re-use in the Alternity line (and possibly King Atlas as a homage).

As a Brave figure, it’s slightly lacking, as it doesn’t have that over-the-top hat-on-a-hat charm of the made for Brave toys. It does a lot of things right, but at the same time, it feels like a G1 repaint, rather than a part of the Brave line in full. Red Geist, Dagbase, Shadow Maru and Thunder Dagwon all nicely make the leap and become full characters and fun toys in their own right, this guy and Hiryu (Sonic Bomber recolour), along with Death Garry Gun (Skygarry repaint) don’t really fully transition. The absence of a Brave version of Roadfire means Land Powered and Big Powered are instantly missing from the equation as well. That’s not to say they’re bad toys, they are great G1 toys. But as toys in the Brave versions, I would place nearly every new mold Brave toy above these in terms or fun, character, and importance to the line. If you’re really a fan of the Goryu character, some of the PVC releases capture his character a bit better than this toy manages, but what can I say? I’m a Takara guy.

IMGP5956
To end on a positive, I feel this figure is at it’s best with the full functionality of the Big Powered boxset, which can then be used as part of a huge sprawling G1 Micromaster City, at which point its inclusion becomes essential! It can be fun to use the Brave version as well to help boost the size of that city, depending on how much floor space you have.

Photo courtesy of Brr-icy

Despite the lack of official updates, the forthcoming FP Dai Z toy (a recolour of their Diabattles update) is intended to homage Dai Atlas, and is currently available to pre-order from Kapow right now.

While the names Dai Atlas, Roadfire and Sonic Bomber were all new, Big Powered was actually a recycled Diaclone name, and was the first Diaclone release to contain the Powered Suit. We’ll take a look at Diaclone Big Powered in the future, ahead of his Diaclone Revival and Powered Suit releases which will also be stocked by Kapow! Exciting times.

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.

23 May 2016

Galaxy Shuttle Vs Thunder Dagwon (who will survive?)

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

Stupid flap creases!

Why is this?

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

Galaxy Shuttle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thunder Dagwon

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

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

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

DagThunder

Thunder Rai on his Thunder Bike

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

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

Why easier?

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

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

Nerds like me.

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

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

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

Shuttle wears his branding proudly!

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

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

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

Thanks for reading!

-Ceno