Toy Review: Transformers Go! Samurai Team (Kenzan, Jinbu and Ganou)
Series - Transformers Go!
Sub-line - N/A
Size/class - approx. Voyager
Wave - 2
New/remould/redeco - New
Released here - not expected here (Japan June 2013)
Approximate Retail Price - ~US$40 for Jinbu and Ganou, ~US$50 for Kenzan (or ~US$115 for the set)
Approximate Size - unknown
Allegiance - Autobots
Alt-mode - police car (Kenzan), jet (Jinbu), fire truck (Ganou)
Main Features/Gimmicks - lights and sounds (Kenzan only), three unique combined modes, samurai theme, 3x Arms Micron
Main Colours - blue, white (Kenzan); yellow, black (Jinbu); red, grey (Ganou)
Main Accessories - 3x combiner kibble, twin swords, long sword, spear
KENZAN (G01):
Vehicle:
http://i39.tinypic.com/s6k67l.jpg
Kenzan transforms into a sporty police car. Don't let pictures deceive you, Kenzan is quite large, approximately Voyager size (which makes the prices a bit easier to stomach). Sadly, he's hampered by the electronic gimmick (the big blue thing on the back). His lightbar lights up and sounds play. Kenzan actually had some pretty complicated sound effects, playing different sounds for vehicle, robot, GoKenzan, GoJinbu and GoGanou modes (if I recall correctly). You can attach the combiner kibble on top as a gun but it looks stupid. While the hood looks great, the back portion of the car is too short. Nevertheless, the strongest vehicle of the three.
Transformation:
Fairly simple, but my favourite out of the three. two-thirds of the car splits and unfolds into his legs, while the back portion forms his chest and arms. I actually like the big pieces as it makes him easier to handle and less of a mess of panels (especially when stability is a priority due to the combiner gimmick). This guy has so many ratchets that it's crazy, and to support the weight in combined mode, some are crazy tight.
Robot:
http://i41.tinypic.com/6itxjp.jpg
First of all, Kenzan comes with an Arms Micron, Zan (a repaint of Leo Prime's). It's a theme of the set that the robots are 90% legs, meaning that there's usually too much bulk in the legs to look good and the proportions are off. Understandably, his legs has got many joints, some for combined mode, some for this mode. Kenzan also comes with two soft plastic swords or he can hold the combiner kibble as an oversized gun. All in all, a passable robot mode.
Overall:
I think Kenzan is the strongest singular robot out of the set (with Ganou a close second). His alt mode is the most realistic and the robot mode isn't terrible either. Just a shame that he has a massive backpack due to the electronics, 6.5/10.
JINBU (G02):
Vehicle:
http://i42.tinypic.com/2w24uh0.jpg
Next is Jinbu. What can you say...? It's one of the worst plane modes ever, Jinbu makes too many compromises to have a decent alt mode. The plane is basically a cockpit and wings, with his legs underneath and the feet on top. Disappointing to say the least. What's more, like Generations Blitzwing, he has a gap down the middle at the back of the plane, which is partially covered by his sword. Best to forget about this mode.
Transformation:
Once again, extremely simple. Feet folds down, cockpit folds down, unfold the arms and whola! Most uninteresting transformation of the three. Annoyingly, his cockpit doesn't peg into place (even though he has pegs for just about everything else).
Robot:
http://i39.tinypic.com/rkv9ky.jpg
Whereas Kenzan's long legs blend in with the rest of his body, it's painfully obvious that Jinbu here is just legs, further compounded by his skinny arms. As if to overcompensate, Jinbu has a long sword which looks great. It's made of the same soft plastic as Kenzan's weapons though. Jinbu's Arms Micron is Jin (which is a repaint of Smokescreen's), a really mold due to the fact that the weapon mode is just the robot mode face down and the backpack forming into a bow-like weapon. Note that the first batch of Jinbu's has their thighs mis-assembled, a fix is posted here. By far the weakest robot of the three.
Overall:
It's definitely not love at first sight. Jinbu is heavily compromised due to the combiner gimmick. However, he has grown on me and his weapon is just pure awesomeness, 5.5/10.
GANOU (G03):
Vehicle:
http://i43.tinypic.com/2w68bnt.jpg
And to the final member of the Samurai team, Ganou! He's a fire truck, the front looks great, but the back is another story (combiner fists are exposed and lack of fire truck molding). Ganou is blocky. A note is that all three toys feel really hefty and heavier than the current Prime Voyagers.
Transformation:
Another simple one, legs fold down, arms out out, flip up the head. Nothing more to see here...
Robot:
http://i43.tinypic.com/2cgzbd4.jpg
Ganou's Arms Micron is Gan (repaint of Swerve's), which transforms into a spinning saw, probably the best Arms Micron mold. Ganou is noticeably much more blocky. This makes him look more intimidating and powerful. Articulation is what you'd expect. His weapon is supposed to be a spear but due to the way it's held, it feels more like those weapons formed by a helicopter blade.
Overall:
Ganou feels the least compromised and looks reasonably good in both modes. I wouldn't recommend any of the three alone though, you either pick up the whole set, or don't pick it up at all, 6/10.
GO-GANOU:
http://i40.tinypic.com/14d0bv8.jpg
Let's start from the worst of the bunch and work our way up from there. The primary gimmick for this team is the ability to combine, however, it doesn't stop there. Each robot can form either the head, torso or legs. While theoretically this means that you can form six versions (three initial possibilities for the head times two subsequent possibilities for the torso times one remaining possibility for the legs), it's not like Energon where all the robots share a universal combiner port. There are dedicated pegs for each robot, and you only get three distinct combiner modes in the end.
Now, GoGanou has Ganou forming the head, Kenzan the body and Jinbu the legs. Easily the weakest version, GoGanou is unbelievably backheavy. He has a lot of junk at the back and this problem is compounded due to the fact that Jinbu's leg mode is bad. It's overly long and the footprint isn't large enough to sustain the weight, you'll either have to slightly bend the legs such that he has a mild case of 'chicken feet' or have have him collapse as the leg joints give way. GoGanou also has an issue where Kenzan's kibble forces GoGanou's arms to jut out, in the picture above, that's as close to the body as his arms can get. If you didn't know already, the combiner head are formed by separate pieces (yes, it's cheaty), the two leftover usually combine and tries to look like a weapon, GoGanou has the best kibble-weapon out of the three. The spear weapon is formed by the combination of the individual weapons from the team and looks awesome. Forget about posing this guy, you're lucky if he even stands without falling over, 5/10.
GO-JINBU:
http://i42.tinypic.com/35ajfbm.jpg
Next up, GoJinbu. Aesthetically better than GoGanou and he even stands up properly. However, he's still incredibly back heavy and the tight ratchets are just barely holding out against the weight in a neutral pose. Good luck trying to pose his lower body. GoJinbu has slightly better proportions but it's still off with a huge upper body and skinny legs. The combiner fists are also annoying in that the molded thumb cuts off a tiny bit of the peg hole so you gotta trim it down or you'll damage the handle of any weapon you shove in there. Not too bad, 6/10.
GO-KENZAN:
http://i44.tinypic.com/300fbjq.jpg
Woot! The star of the show, GoKenzan has the best combined mode, and it's understandable why this is the 'default' mode. It seems the designer focused the most in this mode. Sure, he still has a massive backpack but it's the most compact out of the three, and the weight is spread fairly evenly. GoKenzan is the only one that you can pose in combined mode. He is also the only one being able to hold the combined Arms Micron sword weapon straight out of the box without any modifications, albeit a bit loosely. The combined modes are huge, to give you an idea, GoKenzan has the same height as MP-01, and maybe even as heavy as 1.5 to 2 leader-classed toys, 8/10.
OVERALL:
If you think about it, each individual robot is essentially a five-changer (vehicle, robot, head, torso, leg - sure it's not five vehicle modes, but it's still impressive), and the engineering is impressive considering all the dedicated pegs for each mode (all modes hold together solidly). The fact that there are huge backpacks for all three combined modes and lanky proportions makes you consider whether the designer should have opted for a two-robot combiner instead (these guys are nowhere near as great as RID Rail Racer). While some may dismiss this set as looking ugly or poorly designed or whatever, the play value of these guys are MASSIVE. I literally spent two hours transforming these guys from each mode and back and it was loads of fun. Maybe wait for the three-pack instead as it'll be cheaper but a fun set of toys, 8/10.
