reversemoon255

[reversemoon255]

And we end the final art portion, and post of MetalGreyMonth with, oddly, RizeGreymon. Those familiar (or saw last week's post) will know that this is my second attempt at designing a Xros Wars Style RizeGreymon. The general combination is roughly the same, but a lot more defined.

Apart from the general sculpt changes, the BoostKabuterimon mandibles now attach to the sides of the thighs with an extended piece, as Greymon only has attachment points there, and then rest on the top. There's also now defined plug on BoostKabuterimon's back to attach it to Greymon's back spines. The chest wrapping to fold around the arms, and the extending blade are some of the few actual transforming elements in this design, though we'll see a lot more when I eventually get around to Tankdramon and ShineGreymon. Also, because I wanted to emphasize the solar panel idea from the first one a bit more, I went with a shell pattern that was somewhat shuttle nosecone reminiscent, and implemented stars to give it a space vibe. Probably things I should have mentioned last week, but oh well.

As to why I felt this needed to be redesigned, the first attempt feels rough. When I got it commissioned, Emi commented that they were occasionally unsure of what certain parts were supposed to be doing (though every artist I've worked with has had trouble grasping the DigiXros concept at first), so I wanted this one to feel more natural when combining. That and Tankdramon broke the Rule of 7, so he needed redesigning anyway. Might as well start at the root and work my way back up.

Also, still unsure if blue or orange works better. Blue matches the color scheme from MetalGreymon, but orange makes it its own and still matches the stripes. Let me know, reader, what you think!

#Digimon #Fan Digimon #OrigiDigi #DigiXros #Digimon Xros Wars #Kabuterimon #BoostKabuterimon #Greymon #RizeGreymon #ShineGreymon #MetalGreymon

[reversemoon255]

Figure-Rise Amplified Greymon (2010 Anime Version) Custom

For the final toy review of MetalGreyMonth, I had to do a custom of my favorite boi to round things off. Was hoping to also have a MailBirdramon done, but I didn't have time T_T But still, having a custom of this guy around means I can possibly do all of its forms in the future, including my own. That being said, the MailBirdramon I'm imagining may have to take some transformation liberties... But we'll get there eventually.

The Details: Let's start with colors. I used the same blue for the skin as I did with MetalGreymon X, but switched up the stripes from dark blue to orange. Apart from that, the eyes are black, red, and metallic red, and there's a number of silver details dotted throughout. The head piece and tail are both gunmetal with one stripe on the back of the head being silver to emulate Greymon's headphones, and the claws are all dark blue. There's a lot more metal than this Greymon typically has, and that I would be unable to remove, so where I could I painted the more flush details blue to try and minimize their impact.

But I didn't just change up colors on this one, as I also added a few custom touches to differentiate this one from the others. Much of this was omitting parts, such as the wings, and swapping out the big arm for the saurian one I had leftover from MetalGreymon Alteros Mode. However, there are a few pieces taken from other kits. The horn is taken from the AGE-2 Magnum's Bits, and the new details around the side horns are taken from the Lfrith's shoulder armor.

The tail is comprised of 30MM pieces; specifically a large axe head, an Alto upper arm sleeve, a 3mm adapter for when I eventually make armor for it, and a gap filler piece to create a flush surface to attach it to the existing tail with.

Overall, this is just the beginning of something I hope to continue to work on in the months to come. Though, considering I just cranked out both these customs and all this Greymon related art in quick succession, I think I wanna take it easy for a little bit. Do some straight builds, maybe do at least one concept piece to wind down after all this. It was a lot of fun, but also mentally draining to a degree, so I want to take it kinda easy for a week or two.

#Digimon #Digimon Xros Wars #Greymon #MetalGreymon #MailBirdramon #Cyberdramon #Amplified #Digimon Amplified #Gunpla #Model Kit #figure rise standard #30MM #30 minutes missions

[reversemoon255]

It's MetalGreyMonth week three, part two, but today we're not talking about MetalGreymon; we're talking about RizeGreymon! ...Or something adjacent to it.

I showed off BoostKabuterimon a little while ago, and I mentioned there that I wanted to redo Tankdramon XWV to reduce its parts count from 8 to 7, but I decided that BoostKabuterimon could also use a bit of an update. While it's fundamentally the same, a lot of the outer shell has been redone. I also wanted to simplify the wings, as I felt the original conversion was a little odd in execution, and the flame vents, while they matched RizeGreymon X, weren't visually appealing.

I also considered changing the colors from blue to orange to change up RizeGreymon XWV from MetalGreymon more while still matching colors Greymon uses. I did mock-ups in both schemes, so let me know which color scheme you prefer.

Apart from all the visuals, I also wanted to add a blade to the horn for the final ShineGreymon conversion. When I originally designed BoostKabuterimon, Tankdramon XWV was designed after I had completed it and after I'd had a stroke of insight, so its deigns is a little rough because of it. I really wanted to design them together this time so they worked better together. I also wanted the possibility of it combining with another, preexisting Greymon partner, which I might draw later.

And it should be obvious what next week is going to be. I know that leaves a few designs up in the air, but I'll get to them eventually.

#Digimon #Fan Digimon #OrigiDigi #DigiXros #Digimon Xros Wars #Kabuterimon #BoostKabuterimon #Greymon #RizeGreymon #ShineGreymon #MetalGreymon

[reversemoon255]

Digimon Xros Figures Greymon & MailBirdramon

We've got a big one for week three of MetalGreyMonth! The month where I talk about MetalGreymon for four weeks. Because oh happy day~

So if you've been around for long enough, you'll know that even though I've reviewed all of the Xros Heart Xros Figures, Greymon was my first, and I've been on the hunt for MailBirdramon for years. Managed to finally find one for [price I was willing to pay] out of Singapore of all places. It's my favorite Digimon of all time, and I'm very happy to have a toy of it.

The Good: Greymon is a decently posable figure, having ratcheted legs and shoulders, outward arms, and joints in the neck, jaw, and tail, while MailBirdramon has two in the neck, jaw, knees, and ball hips. They're ok figures on their own, but the draw is their combination.

The MetalGreymon combination is pretty solid, and doesn't detract from either of their posabilities. Also, it's just a great design, with MailBirdramon disappearing into the new form pretty seamlessly.

The Bad: It isn't perfect, though. The head plate sits well, but it doesn't actually plug in, so don't turn him upsidown. Greymon's horns also bump into MailBirdramon's hips. And the legs when not in Giga Destroyer Mode could have folded away better; it does kinda ruin the silhouette.

The Details: Like the other Xros Figures, I did add a few screen accurate details. Greymon was my first figure, so he probably has the least added details, with just the silver front horn, white teeth, and anime accurate eyes.

Wow, these pictures are so old.

MailBirdramon, being the latest, has a lot more. I added panel lining to the feet, claws, mask, and around the eyes to give them a bit more pop. I added black to the inner chest hole, claw hole, tail gun, and around the wings to give them some depth, as well as some silver in the wings for accuracy. I also added silver to the cheeks for the same reason. Lastly, I added some red to the back half of the center claw for accuracy's sake.

Overall, even if they aren't perfect, I'm very happy to finally have MailBirdramon, and by extension MetalGreymon. I've got a Cyberdramon on the way, which means I'm only missing three releases from this line: Deckerdramon, Damemon, and The Big Guy. But wait? If this is week three, then what could possibly be week four?

#Digimon #Digimon Xros Wars #Digimon Fusion #Greymon #MetalGreymon #MailBirdramon #Shoutmon #Review

[reversemoon255]

Let's continue week two of MetalGreyMonth by evolving some MetalGreymons! It's WarGreymon XWV!

I have wanted to design this Digimon for forever, but I wanted to have both Greymon and Mailbirdramon physically in hand before I tackled it so I had a perfect understanding how its combination works.

While I had a good deal of this combination already worked out, there were a few things that came to me as I was trying to design it. Firstly was the head, as I knew I wanted to add a bottom jaw, reminiscent of the original WarGreymon, but the idea of attaching the "goggles" that expose the eyes to that lower jaw was a newer idea. I also always had issues imagining what to do with the backpack and how it'd clash with the shield wings. I eventually decided to use the WaruMonzaemon backpack to turn it into a horizontal flight pack similar to Brigadramon. I was also tempted to turn WaruMonzaemon's claw arm into a gatling gun to complete the idea, but I felt like that would stray too far away from WarGreymon.

Perhaps I'll revisit this idea with a different Monzaemon variant later. But I do wonder if that would have been the better call. My one concern with this design is perhaps I stuck too close to WarGreymon and didn't deviate enough. When I look at the MetalGreymons next to each other, there are a lot of differences, from the head design, to adding thigh armor, to the very different backpack. While my WarGreymon has very different shapes, it doesn't deviate very far in terms of concept, with all of its interesting elements being holdovers from MailBirdramon. So I think I can safely say that this is a V1, and I will revisit it on a later day when I'll hopefully get a little closer to my ideal.

But for now, it's onto the next redesign, this time on a more personal level, as next week we'll be tackling version 2 of my own BoostKabuterimon!

#Digimon #Fan Digimon #OrigiDigi #DigiXros #Digimon Xros Wars #WarGreymon #MetalGreymon #Greymon #MailBirdramon #WaruMonzaemon #Brigadramon

[reversemoon255]

Figure-Rise Amplified MetalGreymon X-Antibody (Virus) Custom

Welcome to week two of MetalGreyMonth. The month where I talk about MetalGreymon for four weeks. Because the stockpile was the right size. Anyway-

When I went over my top 10 favorite Digimon, MetalGreymon X Virus was pretty high up the list, so when they revealed that the Amplified version was going to come with the parts to do X's Alteros with the rotating claw, I felt the urge to do it in the appropriate colors.

The Details: A lot of the changes here are pretty obvious, such as the blue skin and purple stripes, but there are a few more subtle details, all of which were done to emulate X Virus' colors. The gold horns, a lot of the added metallic blue, the red and blue piping, the silver teeth and nails.

Some things I should probably bring more attention to are the purple marks on the silver, which were put there to represent some of X Virus' purple metal parts. The purple and gold on the chest is also supposed to emulate the cannon that's usually there. The silver knees and feet are meant to copy its metal plating in those locations. And the wings are done in silver and pink to mimic the jets and flames usually there. I wanted to do something with the actual stickers there, but my tests didn't go that well, so I just went with them as is.

Overall, this was a really fun custom to work on. I haven't recolored a kit into an existing color scheme in quite a few years. This might also be the largest custom I've done to date. It's excellent practice for my next big custom project, but we'll hopefully get to that later in MetalGreyMonth...

(And now I've given myself a time limit. This won't end well.)

#Digimon #Digimon Adventure #Digimon Adventure Reboot #digimon x evolution #MetalGreymon #MetalGreymon X #MetalGreymon X-Antibody #Greymon #Amplified #Digimon Amplified #Gunpla #Model Kit #figure rise standard

[reversemoon255]

You thought MetalGreyMonth was going to be limited to just toy reviews? Think again!

This is an idea that's been in the back of my head for years; WaruMonzaemon to WarGreymon. He's got the right prefix, he's got the big claw arm to match the one MailBirdramon gives Greymon, and by messing with its shapes a bit (the SD head) it has an easy time matching WarGreymon's proportions. I would have given it (and by extension WarGreymon) the scarf, but the Rule of Xros 7 made that non-viable.

I've been trying to develop both my style and how I display the Xros parts, and for this I tried using outlines and arrows to try and demonstrate how everything transforms. Like, the shoulders are the entire back of the head, the toe parts fold out of the inside of the leg guards, etc. I hope that came across well enough.

So next will be WarGreymon. Hope you look forward to it. And we'll have some more DigiXros related stuff later in the month as well.

#Digimon #Fan Digimon #OrigiDigi #DigiXros #Digimon Xros Wars #WaruMonzaemon #MetalGreymon #WarGreymon #Greymon #MailBirdramon

[reversemoon255]

Figure-Rise Amplified MetalGreymon Alteros Mode

Hey! Welcome to week one of MetalGreyMonth. The month where I talk about MetalGreymon for four weeks >_> Anyway-

I have mixed feeling about this kit, especially with the announcement of Paildramon. On one hand, we already have WarGreymon, we already have Imperialdramon, we already have two Omegamons, the idea of doubling down so hard on S1 and to a degree S2 feels wrong, especially when we have several seasons we haven't touched. On the other hand, WarGreymon is the weakest kit in the line, and MetalGreymon, even if it isn't this version, made my top 10 list twice, so its not an unwelcome addition, even for me personally. Spoilers, I bought 3 of these. You'll see why later.

The Good: This is such a great build. It has great parts layering, a lot of interesting parts usage, multiple build options that you can swap around, the mouth uses a translucent red piece over a white tongue and teeth to give it a real wet and organic feeling, the tail is the best version of the wire tail they've tried so far, the wings are this beautiful and reflective plastic sticker. It's fantastic; probably my favorite kit in the line.

The Bad: Uh... the hips sometime dislodge and you have to push them back in? The neck could have had a little better left and right? I'm really just nitpicking, there is very little wrong with this kit. Like, the only thing I could think to make it better would be if you could store the Giga Blasters in the chest.

The Details: So I mixed up the panel lining slightly with this one. While all the metal pieces use metallic red panel lining, as has become the norm with the Digimon Amplified kits and me, I also used black panel lining on the organic parts. There were also a number of soft scale details, which I made more apparent using black panel lining as well.

As for colors, I replaced all the non-plastic stickers. There's metallic green on the front horn, eyes, chest, and railgun, different blues on the eye flesh and horns, metallic red inside the shoulder pads, black inside the neck and on the railgun, and silver around the hip joints, on the knees, by the feet, and for the Giga Blasters' teeth. And there's probably more that I'm forgetting, too.

Overall, this is a fantastic kit. Nothing bad to say, a lot of great build elements, and a fantastic final build. But, as I said, we're not done with MetalGreymon yet. I did say I bought three of this kit, after all...

#Digimon #Digimon Adventure #Digimon Adventure Reboot #MetalGreymon #Greymon #WarGreymon #Amplified #Digimon Amplified #Gunpla #Model Kit #figure rise standard #review

[reversemoon255]

SHINJYUMON!

With me being right at the end of this project, I really just wanted to crank out the last few designs. ShinJyumon is the combination of all seven designs, and is surprisingly cohesive considering.

As it's just KyodaiJyumon with the Uldramon parts on top, it's pretty self-explanatory, gaining new arms, feet, and chest plate. The only parts to note are the combination of all the weapons into a scythe (the reason I gave Uldramon chin spikes), and that I wanted to give it a new mouth guard by utilizing the opening mouth I gave DaiJyumon. I just thought it'd be cool to have a part be incorporated by having it be bitten onto.

As for the name, the previous two designs were from two of the three 20th anniversary Kamen Rider films, J and ZO. Shin Kamen Rider was the third film in that trilogy, and the weirdest if you've never seen it (which is saying something it you have seen J).

And that's it for this project. I'll get back to my Xros Wars 2 project next, along with a few redraws of some old designs I've been meaning to do. Until then~

#Digimon #FanDigimon #OrigiDigi #Digimon Xros Wars #Power Rangers #Megazord #Dino Megazord #Dragon Zord #Dragon Caesar #Titanus #Brachion #Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger #Zyuranger #Reboot

[reversemoon255]

EXM-H15RM Acerby Type-RM (Custom)

Haven't done any 30MM in a while. Threw my colors onto one of the new Acerby kits with a few of the newer option parts. The Acerby is an interesting kit; it has that feminine form, but not a lot of explicit detail. Has a chest but no cleavage, no butt, etc, which I appreciate, personally. Not that I don't have a few plans for customs with butts in the future, but we'll get there after I accumulate all the parts I'm looking for.

The Details: While I didn't paint the joints, I did do all the armor. Primarily black, with silver as a secondary color and gold as a pop. Funnily enough, you can't see much of it with the cloak apart from the head, but it's all been painted.

Speaking of that cloak, I layered gold and silver dry brushing to give it a weathered look, as well as a lot of shine. As for other new parts, I replaced the lower legs with these thinner, blade-like booster legs. On top of that, while I used the Acerby Type-B as the base body, I used the Type-A's hair piece.

Overall, the Acerby is a cute kit. I did a lot of customizing, but just the base kit is fine. There's three colors now, all with a few different accessories, so if you like the look, it's a good grab.

#30MM #30 Minute Missions #1/144 #1/144 Scale #Model Kit #Gunpla #Custom #Acerby

[reversemoon255]

Two weeks in a row, and a two-fer at that! I'm just excited to be nearing the end of this project.

Yeah, so one of the things I've always wanted out of the Mighty Morphin/Zyuranger Zords is something that could combine with Dragon Caesar so you could display Daijyujin and Gouryujin at the same time, since Jyutei Daijyujin is kinda lackluster in comparison.

As for the names, besides the fact that is swaps the first letters, during the 20th anniversary of Kamen Rider, they released 3 movies under that banner. Kamen Rider J was one of them, and his whole thing is he can grow giant-sized. J was also performed by the same actor that played TyrannoRanger, so there's that layer, too. And Kamen Rider ZO was another of the films, with the suits for ZO and J being almost identical. So it's just a multi-layered Tokusatsu fest.

Now only one more to go: The final combination of all 7 Zords/Digimon. Not sure if it'll be next week, but we'll see.

#Digimon #Fan Digimon #OrigiDigi #Digimon Xros Wars #Power Rangers #Dragonzord #Megazord #Titanus #Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger #Zyuranger #Reboot

[reversemoon255]

SSSS.GRIDMAN THE GATTAI Full Powered Girdknight

Missed the preorder window on this one, but managed to snag the second one that popped up on Mandarake. And I'm glad I did, because this thing is great. This should be the same mold as the upcoming THE GATTAI FP Gridman, and it is a startling improvement. This isn't just some simple retool; it's an entirely new mold. Not even Gridknight is the same, overhauling him to better fit his role as the center of this robot, something the original Gridman failed to do.

The Good: Gone is the flimsy DX Full Powered Gridman. To start, Gridknight has been fitted almost entirely with ratcheted joints, meaning he can now much more easily hold the weight of all his machines. Not only that, but they took a page out of the Moderoid's book and made a stronger, more posable replacement torso, but also fixed the issue I had with it by giving it its own head, so you can display both Gridknight and FP Gridknight at the same time. But even if you choose to forgo it, Gridknight is perfectly capable of holding everything up.

Onto everyone else, this set actually comes with two Calibers of different sizes, and a handle so you can use the larger one's chest piece as a shield. Max, Borr, and Sky are functionally the same as vehicles, but Max's cannons now stop at the appropriate height so you don't have to fiddle with that during transformation.

Powered Knight Zenon may not look much different from the original, but has quite a few new tricks going on under the hood. For starters, it requires no adapters; everything is designed into the vehicles themselves, including the very impressive neck joint they added (which just blows my mind how they pulled that off). They also gave it a much better A-stance, actual ankles to accommodate it, and you can use Sky's transformation joints to give it some inward arm motion.

And Full Powered Gridknight is an impressive feat, being both taller than the original and around its scale to Dynazenon seen in the film. The transformation is also so much cleaner. Everything feels better, connects better, is much more solid, even more so than Dynazenon. They even made the cuts in Sky's wings the actual transformation joint, which several of the releases haven't done. And he is ridiculously posable. It has every joint; I don't know what else to tell you. It also comes with open and posable alternative hand. They even added dedicated engineering into Borr that allows for a brand new combination with Goldburn.

The Bad: Not everything is exactly perfect, though. While you can get the new Gridknight to work as Rouge Kaiser, the elbows are too long, meaning you have to twist the arms in a weird way to get them to fit, and Dynasoldier is less stable.

And both Zenon and FP have mediocre ankles. Like, they work, but Zenon's require a bit of fidgeting and you often have to display them on their toes. FP on the other hand just doesn't have enough rock, making more wide-legged, dynamic poses an issue. I recommend using the included stand to help with those (...which I did not take pictures of).

Overall, the difference is quality between this and the original DX are dirt and stratosphere. If you were disappointed by the original, or if you liked the Moderoid, then I highly recommend this one, or just waiting a few months for the V2 to come out.

#SSSS.Gridman #SSSS.Dynazenon #Gridman #Dynazenon #Denkou Choujin Gridman #Gridman the Hyper Agent #Good Smile #Reivew #Gridknight #Powered Knight Zenon #Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad #Gridman Universe #Full Powered Gridknight

[reversemoon255]

Yes, I gave him a Fighter Mode. While this is a Digimon reinterpretation, it's also what I want out of Power Rangers, and I'd like Titanus to do a lot more than just be the mono boot.

Anyway, Uldramon Fighter Mode. Really, just moving the parts around. I did make ample use of the flat, internal surfaces of Uldramon's body that are hidden while its in Beast Mode. And I used the neck as a ponytail, because it's hilarious and who does that? Me. I do that.

So I guess the next thing to do is the smaller combinations with Zordramon and Jyumon + Pastelmon. Should be fun. Hopefully. I'm learning more tools as I get more used to SAI. Just discovered the symmetry tool :)

#Digimon #Fan Digimon #OrigiDigi #Digimon Xros Wars #Power Rangers #Titanus #kyoryu sentai zyuranger #Zyuranger #Reboot

[reversemoon255]

BoonBoom Robo

Two episodes in. Fun season. Definitely feels... less than Kingohger, but I don't want that to make it sound bad. Kingohger was very grand out the gate, had a lot more seriousness going on. BoonBoom in comparison is a lot more silly, feels a lot more kid targeted. And I feel like this toy reflects that, being much more oriented around its gimmick than being a cool, posable robot.

The Good: I saw quite a lot of discourse about BoonBoom Robo losing the posability of the previous two seasons, but it's still a fun toy. While it doesn't have nearly as much as King-Ohger, it does have universal shoulders and forward and backward legs. On top of that, the toy is balanced so that if you move one of the legs a click in either direction, it remains perfectly balanced.

BoonBoom Trailer also has a really fun transformation. Gate Mode isn't anything spectacular, but the number of satisfying motions to get to Robot Mode are a lot of fun. Though, the Gate Mode is interesting, having the entire bottom of the vehicle slide through to accomplish it.

It also comes with a set of odd accessories. The first is an alternate face so you can display BoonBoom in its civilian-sized form, and the second is replacement neck for the alternate faces the other auxiliary vehicles come with. And you can combine them for both storage and they kinda look like a little guy.

The Bad: Yes, not very posable, I get it, it's not an issue for me, but I am slightly remiss about the lack of elbows. Feels like it could have had them. Also, Blue and Pink feel very lightweight for Sentai toys. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as it means it won't stress the arms over time, but it does feel weird. Exposed mushroom pegs where the hubcaps are supposed to be doesn't help with that cheaper feeling, either. That never looks good.

Muscle Car and Muscle Car SP: I did also get a few of the early-release bonus stuff. I enjoyed assembling and stickering the Muscle Cars, but their transformations are manual, and they're very skippable. I can't be upset, because one was free and the other was very cheap, but don't go out of your way to get them.

BoonBoom Trailer (Televi-kun Clear Version): This one on the other hand is very skippable. No transformation, no gimmick. I guess it's kinda neat to have BoonBoom wield BoonBoom, but I don't think it's worth pursuing on the aftermarket.

Overall, BoomBoon Trailer/Robo is a very fun toy, despite the lack of posability, but the other vehicles range from just ok to not great. I've got the other auxiliary vehicles coming in the next month or so, and I hope they feel a bit better than the ones I've handled so far.

#Bakuage Sentai BoonBoomger #BoonBoomger #BoonBoom Robo #Super Sentai #Review #Power Rangers

[reversemoon255]

And we finally reach out first actual DigiXros: Himemon XST

I wanted to do a set of Xroses where there were multiple conversions, so the name wouldn't always be X#. In fact, if you look up my Savannahmon stuff (did I post that here?) you'll notice that their partners are Alumon, Buildmon, and Charcaramon because it was originally supposed to be XABC rather than X4, though that ended up changing during development.

As I've had the individual parts of everyone on display from the get go, there isn't really too much to say about XST herself? Though, as an added bonus, I did get this really cool commission of her from Catball19941. If you haven't seen Catball's stuff, go check them out! They do a lot of really cool Tokusatsu and Pokémon themed stuff, and they were great to work with.

#Digimon #Fan Digimon #DigiXros #Origidigi #Digimon Xros Wars

[reversemoon255]

Flame Toys Go! Kara Kuri Power Rangers Dino Megazord

So much to say. Firstly, we've known about this toy since January of 2021. I remember being very excited at the initial reveal, because while it was the Dino Megazord, it was so hyper stylized and cool looking, that I would definitely own a second one for something like that. (Look at the pictures, then think about that statement for a second...)

But it wasn't until August of 2022 that it actually went up for order. And y'know what went up for order shortly before it? The ZAP Megazord. Good job communicating with your third party developers Hasbro. But I was still way more interested in this one. I even had $300 set aside to buy it. But when it went up for order, it was over $400, and I realized that I could be both the ZAP Megazord and the newly unveiled ZAP Dragonzord for less than it combined, which is how I ended up owning them... And then I caved and preordered it anyway.

But we're not done, because this thing was originally supposed to release in June of 2023. But it got delayed. And again. And again. It had multiple production delays that set it back until the last day of February 2024 (thank goodness it was a leap year). And the whole thing just got me feeling a little... jaded. I just felt like I had waited for so long, and that it had been delayed so many times, that I just didn't think it was ever going to come out.

But when I finally got that email saying it had shipped, I let out an audible gasp. The next two days we me antsily waiting for it to get here. And when it did, everything was, like, "they did that?" "Wait, they thought of that?" "That transforms, too?" It was a magical experience I haven't felt since Glacialord. So let's get to why this toy makes me feel like that:

The Good: Where to start? The T-Rex, I suppose. It puts the other three I have to shame. It GaoGaiGar's the legs, so they're able to have more articulation than the others, which fold the legs up onto the back of the thigh. It has pretty decent ankles, fully posable arms, the robot's waist, and a tail with a ton of universal joints in it (not balls, like ZAP Dragonzord). The tail can even expand and compress at every joint. Its only part with subpar articulation is the head, but that's only due to all the transforming it has to do, and even then it's still a great, unique sculpt.

If you've handled the ZAP or Lucky Cat mastodons, you'll understand what they tried to do with this interpretation, but it's just a bit more and feels a bit better. Like, it can balance on its back legs, its front toes can articulate, the trunk has a ton of joints. Its definitely the most brickish of the set, but I can't imagine giving it, say, a neck joint without encumbering it. And speaking of neck, the new head position gives it such a great identity that sets it apart from its predecessors.

The triceratops has legs! But if that's not your thing, they can flip around to reveal those usual treads. Those tiny legs are also very strong, and quite posable. Definitely the second-most brickish, but that's saying a lot considering how many poses you can get it into with what it has.

I find it really hard to get good looking quadruped articulation, but the saber-tooth tiger nails it. Pounce pose, run pose, (I haven't tried sit pose yet) any pose you can put it in looks great. It also has a really emotive neck, which helps a lot.

And the pterodactyl has the biggest glow-up. It has an actual neck like an actual pteranodon! And that head on top is very articulated, giving it a lot of emotiveness. Those wings are also very articulated, and having the hip skirt serve as actual feet makes it feel like such a better package than even the Lucky Cat's version, with the double ptera that mostly ends up as a backpack.

And onto the transformation, it's not actually that complicated. Its big thing is it has a lot of locks all over the toy to prevent certain joints from moving in different modes, but it doesn't take long to realize "if it doesn't move, look for a lock." And there are so many weird and cool transformation bits, like how the head assembles, the T-Rex's nose compressing, the mastodon toes becoming the elbow guards, the shield actually transforming, etc. It's fun.

Now, before we get to the main attraction, lets pivot and talk about the tank mode real quick. There's quite a bit of dedicated engineering for just this mode, with there being a slide in the legs, cuts in the hips, dedicated parts in the T-Rex chest and mastodon head, etc. Also, credit to this one over the others, the pterodactyl really brings it together.

And the actual Megazord is so well engineered. When combined, it feels like a solid piece; I'm not really worried about it falling apart, or untransforming as I play with it. All those locks really do make a ton of difference. And it's incredibly posable. I never had any trouble getting it into the pose I wanted; wings were super smooth to work with, arms never fought me to do anything, ankles are good, tail caused a few problems but only because I was trying not to poke my monitor. And that's the most amazing thing about this toy; that it is a toy. This isn't just some big display piece, it's playable, it's fun, and that's what probably surprised me the most about the whole experience. I was expecting to be scared that I'd shatter this thing if I looked at it funny, but it's just a super solid toy.

And everything is very self-contained, like the original. There's no extra hands, no adapters, no weird super-complex dismantling going on. The guns don't store (from what I've found), but apart from them, there are no spare parts. Heck, even the sword stores away. The sword. It's exceedingly impressive what this accomplishes.

The Bad: Two things. One, some of my glue didn't set? The front of the T-Rex pelvis, and the back of one of my hands both pop off. These aren't super important, load bearing areas or anything; I can glue them myself and they'll be right-as-rain, but I worry about other people where maybe more important areas didn't set right? Hopefully this is a rare issue and never on anywhere important.

And second it the saber-tooth tiger bit me, and it drew blood. Like, it's the next day and I can still see the mark. I also tried to set him on my lap, and his tail poked me right in the ouch. Very spiky, very pointy, be aware.

The Next: When this went up for preorder, they did also show off their grey prototype for a Go! Kara Kuri Dragonzord. And I think the only other time they've mentioned it was when that same proto showed up at a toy show. I follow them on The Twiblies, and they talk about this line maybe once a year, if that, so my hopes are not high that we'll ever get it. But after handling this, I do hope it eventually comes out. Heck, with how much work I've been putting into redesigning Titanus, this feels like the company that might actually do something interesting with it, besides the mono-boot.

Overall, I cannot sing enough high praises about this release. It's a beautiful, well engineered, very playable toy. It is incredibly expensive, though. I just hope that if you walk away from this review with anything, it's that if you do bite the bullet, you'll be getting your money's worth.

#Power Rangers #Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger #Zyuranger #Megazord #Dino Megazord #Flame Toys #Go Kara Kuri #tyranosaurusrex #tyranosaurus rex #mastodon #mammoth #triceratops #saber tooth tiger #smilodon #pteradactyl #pterodactyl #pteranodon #Super Sentai #Review

[reversemoon255]

So I quite like Region Builder projects. I do and have followed quite a few, and I've tried my hand at it a few times, myself. My first one was a Hawaiian one pre-G7, and I've posted stuff about my D&D and Madagascar Regions here previously.

And while the game wasn't to my particular tastes (not a fan of the ARK gameplay loop or a lot of the designs), Palworld did get me thinking about Pokémon's gameplay. Most of the Region Builders I've seen are very lore-based; the Pokémon are either based on where they're basing their region or their story. But not all Pokémon are like that; ones like Caterpie, Hoothoot, Feebas, Pachirisu, Kilink, Aegislash, Cosmog, Arrokuda, Gimmighoul, are meant to teach you about the game's mechanics or explore new features of the game, and I'd like to be more considerate of that as I continue to write pages and pages of notes (I'm up to 7).

But that doesn't really apply here, as we're just talking about a new set of Starters. I want to leave their inspirations for later, but we've got Wheastle the grain horse, Soluna the wolf pup, and Hiscross the snake tied into a knot. Very simple concepts, each with a small aspect that ties heavily into their evolutions.

Anyway, not sure how often I'll be posting stuff for this. These are also just proofs-of-concept, so they're subject to change. Hopefully you think they're neat.

#Pokemon #Pokemon Region Builder #Fakemon #pokemon starters