The Energon Pub

I'll just focus this rant on the Japan specific releases of their gestalts. Long have we waited to have some decent looking ones. Heck, I'd settle for original molds in fact and not a "re-imagining" of established characters( Metroplex being an exception).

Now that I got my hands on the Samurai team.............. Jin bu's leg issues notwithstanding, I feel like I'm a kid again back in the late 80's and early 90's when I used to pick up the G1 guys.

Despite the modern applications of points of articulation/poseability, the set had what you call the old school feel to it, kind of like Car Robot Omega Prime set.

His colors are brightly shining (not drab)and sports a more humanoid form in both face and body (actual faces that I can tell: eye, nose, mouth....super mode head the exception)not like the recent Bayformers or TFA where all the characters seems to have lost their noses

Concerning the appearance, the Japanese characters being shoe horned to the Beasthunter storyline feels kind of awkward based on the issues I raised above with all the flat faced,noseless appearances of their American counterparts but then again, we wouldn't be able to have experienced this "revival" of sorts no?

Just a tiny note, his weapon. Reminds me of a lance/naginata thingie. Tomy omitted adding chrome on him. Maybe due to safety or cost cutting issues, but it would have been great that was added as a feature. Why? The spear tends to wobble when gripped by the figure.(Poking your eyes blind would also have a more morbid effect which would have been nice )

I hope we see more of this in the future as we get weaned off the Bayformers style.

I hate the entire GO! line.

The predacons are just as ugly as rotf devastator.
Takara hasn't been doing very good with good storylines for their figs very recently.

Well I have him in hand too, I'm kinda disappointed initially when I got him in hand as the while the vehicles modes are okay especially the police car, the robot modes are terrible. On that note due to their unsightly leg proportions, they all reminded me of team bullet train's Midnight Express. The way they do the legs are also similar in the sense you put down a piece of the samurai crotch thingy to try and cover the bad legs.

I like them now especially when I have it in Go Ganoh fan mode (6 arms) and when I have time perhaps I might shift things around. This set may not be well engineered but they sure are fun.

All in all I think I love it. I also ordered the Ninja set, hope that set is better!

I also love the music when you're trying to assemble their combined modes.

Superwheeljack wrote:I hate the entire GO! line.

Even the shiny Beast Hunters repaints? They fall under the same line you know?

I was enticed by Gaidora at C.O.N.S. for a while (and Vertebreak for that matter), but I've decided to wait it all out for the time being. The Samurai, Shinobi and the Predacon Oni will be mine!

Btw, peaugh mis transformed the arms of Go Kenzan in his youtube review. No wonder it looked misproportioned. And all this talk of readjusting the feet (especially GoKenzan mode) is kind of stupid.........via optical illusion due to Jinbuh's nose cone, Go Kenzan looks misproportioned but actually is not. Go Ganoh on the other hand, looks awesome....like one of the warriors in SFA, the name eludes me this time. Go jinboh also reminds me of Renmazoh or something...... Billy's mech in Xenogears.............so Japanese indeed.

Though his combined weapon's handle is really freakin' floppy. Tomy should have had chromed it.

As has been mentioned, Go Ganoh seems to be the favorite for the Samurai team, and I have to agree with the sentiment.

Overall though, I think I prefer the Shinobi/Ninja team to the Samurai team.

Hate. They look like the other non-TF "transforming toys" that you find at bargain stores: crummy designs, big blocky alt modes that don't look like what they're supposed to be, and lots of kibble.

fenrir72 wrote:I feel like I'm a kid again back in the late 80's and early 90's when I used to pick up the G1 guys.

Before I get to the topic of the thread, I'll just say that this is such an important thing. Incidentally, I found a similar experience with BH DX Lazerback as it brought me back to the Beast Wars toys I played around with when I was a kid.

Toy collectors often get quite cynical and become very demanding and develop a sense of entitlement(ie. "Hasbro owes it to us to make what we want them to make!"). We seem to forget, at times, of the joy that we should be deriving from our hobby of toy collecting.

So, getting on topic, I must say that I don't hate the Go! Samurai Team but at the same time, I find it difficult getting into them from just seeing pictures and video footage of the toys. However, I've been reminded recently of how vital it is to be able to have something in hand in order to experience a proper judgment.

I appreciate the Yuusha/Brave style of these toys.

I may buy the gift sets of the Samurai and Ninja teams set for release in December.

fenrir72 wrote:Concerning the appearance, the Japanese characters being shoe horned to the Beasthunter storyline feels kind of awkward based on the issues I raised above with all the flat faced,noseless appearances of their American counterparts but then again, we wouldn't be able to have experienced this "revival" of sorts no?

One detail I've noticed is that some of the Japanese BH toys have resculpted heads with faces that are more in the style of non-TFP character designs, meaning they have noses.

The Japanese variants of Lazerback, Ripclaw, Skystalker, and Grimwing, respectively Gaidora, Bakudora, Judora, and Budora, all have new sculpts with noses. In that way, there's an effort by TakaraTomy to lessen the "shoe horned" feel of the Go! combiners into the BH line.

As I mentioned in another thread I returned the set of three figures due to BBTS not getting stock of the fixed Jinbu. Regardless from the reviews online it seemed that I would be disappointed due to the issues with the battery pack, floppy weapons, and odd proportions. With that said if things are fixed when the three pack is released I might pick that up. I just got the leader of the ninja team today so hopefully that will go good.