DX Engine Gattai Engine-Oh
Review by EVA_Unit_4A
Speedor, Buson, and Bear RV were the last Engines to pursue the three fleeing Gaiarc Pollution Ministers off of Machine World. The three Engines then crossed the dimensional barrier into the Human World to finish what they started. Quickly realizing that they could no longer maintain their true giant size on our planet, the three Engines separated themselves into Engine Souls and Engine Casts to prevent from rusting to death. With the help of their smaller companion Bomper, they found three humans at a race track that were trying to protect the spectators from Gaiarc’s Ugatz foot soldiers. Speedor, Buson, and Bear RV bestowed their Engine Souls to the three humans so that they could be used for their weapons and powers as the Go-Onger. Through their GoPhone henshin devices, the Engines can communicate with the Go-Onger with kawai holographic version of themselves. And when the Gaiarc present city-wide threats, Bomper back in the Ginjiro recreational vehicle/mobile HQ can launch the Engine Attaché Case which contains the scaled-down Engine Casts to the Go-Onger. And when the Engine Souls are placed back within the Casts, the Engines are restored to their original giant forms!Engine Number 1 - Speedor
His partner is former stock car-racer Sousuke Esumi (Go-On Red). He is represented as a combination of both a red hot rod and a condor. In fact, he can deploy wings and thick bird legs for flight when battling Gaiarc giants, though he tends to remain on the ground with his fellow Engines; using his flaming exhaust to burn enemies to a crisp. As a life form from Machine World, he ends most of his sentences with the last syllable of his name, “
!”.
- ) Bear RV forms the center torso and V Shield of the Engine-Oh.
Animals imitating vehicles? Umm... isn’t it usually the other way around? We’ve seen plenty of machines that looked like animals, well, since “Choujuu Sentai Liveman” (1988); then the 25th anniversary series “Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger” (2001) made them actual animals that were always mecha, which just took the concept to a whole new level. But we’ve never seen vehicle mecha that are alive, have animal features, and are sentient on top of that. It’s actually rather confusing- a real chicken-or-the-egg-type paradox. But let’s be honest here- the Engines’ design style is a direct shot aimed at appealing to young kids. It’s a very lighthearted series thus far. They’re meant to look kawai [“cute”, “adorable”], potentially appealing to young girls as well, which Super Sentai usually doesn’t target. And nothing says “Take that [car manufacturer]- you uncaring, greedy, polluting so-and-so!” like cars and buses with animal features. Just look at the big emotional eyes on combat mecha if you don’t believe me on that. But I digress... Speedor is a big ol’ red muscle car, with a huge-ass engine block sitting right in front of the green-painted windshield, a set of four exhaust pipes in back, a streamlined spoiler curving up from in front of the back wheels, and stylized silver hubcaps. And he has a bird’s head on the nose of the vehicle. Speedor has a special feature in vehicle mode, and that is the ability to flip down wings for flight and thick bird legs from below. I suppose it needed to act like a bird in some fashion. (BTW, since the elbows only lock in one position, it cannot hold itself up. So don’t have a heart attack over it like I almost did. You can’t imagine how frustrating it was to spend 5 minutes getting it into this pose... only to have it promptly tip over just after I pressed the button on the camera.) Buson looks like a bus, yes? Big blocky blue thing with a band of painted-in black windows, six wheels, and a display sign decal above the windshield. But does he look like a lion? Meh... The subtle hints to this are the puffy cheeks with very tiny molded whiskers, painted-on gold mane, and small square silver-painted teeth beneath the cheeks/front bumper. (For a good while there before “Go-Onger” came out, rumors swirled around that Buson was actually a bison... which would have made much more sense to me than a friggin’ lion. If I have to look that hard to recognize a lion’s head on the front of a bus, then somethin’ isn’t right...) Buson carries the ranged weapons of the three in the series. The Buson Missile are fired from pop-up launchers which are located on top of him. Now, the only reason the launchers appear is because the doors are needed for something else. But in acknowledgment, the front edge of each door feature three molded missile cones apiece; the doors will not partially open, so you have to wedge them open (as I have done here) or hold them open yourself. Bear RV is about as special feature-less as Buson is. As with all of the Engines (including others not released yet), they can move some parts of their chassis at will, such as Buson’s face, or Speedor’s beak, when they talk. With Bear RV, however, she does not have a mouth per se. So- in true Terrance and Phillip or Pac-Man fashion- her entire yellow half hinges upwards away from the black lower half. It will snap upwards at 45°. One way you can make it open only slightly and hold there is to lift up the V Shield’s handle inside there and then Bear RV’s head can rest on it. In addition to the numbering system, if you look closely the hubcaps from each Engine is represented on either side of their respective Go-Onger partner’s helmet.
After beating dozens of nimble Bandou Moth fighters, the Engines and their Go-Onger partners find that this has just been a ruse to draw their attention away from the real threat- the air-polluting monster Shoukyaku Banki, giving him time to restore himself. Using a new technology given to him by the three Pollution Ministers, Shoukyaku suddenly grows to gigantic proportions! But, the human heart has provided a new power to the Engines that they did not have before...
Engine Gattai!
In this new form which the Gaiarc have never encountered before on Machine World, Engine-Oh can now take on fully-grown monsters. The V Shield is stored on its back, which can deflect many objects thrown at it, and it can also deploy the Go-On Sword from the left leg’s storage compartment. And when it dashes forward with the sword, it can perform the powered-up Engine-Oh Go-On Grand Prix slashing finisher.
"Engine-Oh: Tune up!"
Engine Gattai Engine-Oh (back) has some interesting proportions to it. Looking at it from a side view, its head and arms are placed rather far back, giving it something of a thick, almost-borderline beer belly. The faces of all thee Engines remain intact along the front of Engine-Oh’s body, stacked on top of each other like some strange Native American totem pole. (Trust me- I live in the Pacific Northwest, and these things are littered all over the place, if you know where to look for them... like gift shops and tourist traps.) The head has what look like metallic blue sunshades with yellow eyes, a simple silver Go-Onger logo printed on the forehead, and three gold plated exhaust pipes on either side. The arms are very simple, with large horizontal shoulders, and smaller lower arms which are actually hollow because of how it transforms. The four light gray fingers are molded in one piece and can open & close quite well. Now, this may be me being paranoid, but the rectangular bars that the shoulders are attached to seem to stick out a tad more than seems necessary; certainly they’re more accommodating than need-be for transforming it. It feels like something might go between them like shoulder straps in a later accessory upgrade. Bear RV is sandwiched in between the other two Engines as the waist section, and serves no greater purpose than that, but the V Shield is angled up behind it against Speedor. However, you cannot put just Speedor and Buson together because they won’t fit against each other at all, and need Bear RV in there. Unlike the other two, Buson perhaps go through the least noticeable changes, the biggest mentions being the extension of the feet, and how the face flips down. The legs snap into position slightly diagonal from each other, but cool part is that the footprints have been intentionally sloped to accommodate this so that they’re always even and flat against the ground! (The legs cannot extend any farther to the sides than this, contrary to what I thought before I got this set.) So instead of one big brick, it splits into two equally-sized but inarticulate bricks. So, like most Super Sentai mecha toys, the DX Engine-Oh suffers from ‘two-seventy syndrome’- it only looks good when viewed from the front.
. . .
For weapons, Engine-Oh has two. The first is the V Shield which is stored on its back. A small “L”-shaped tab flips out from the back, which then slips over the top of the grouped fingers. Now, the thing is, the instructions and all promotional materials show the V Shield pointing forward on the left arm, which requires the left lower arm to be bent inwards 90°. However, because the elbow only snaps into two positions- and 90° isn’t one of them- you can still use it with the arm fully extended. But regardless of how the V Shield is held, it’s still a pain to fit on that hand. It actually pinches the finger(s) so tightly that it tends to squeeze itself off! So, short of holding the V Shield up vertically, it’ll fall off just about every chance it gets due to gravity. The other weapon is theGo-On Sword, which is stored in a collapsed form inside the back of the left leg. The Go-On Sword, when folded up, is shaped just like an Engine Soul. (Since the collapsed Go-On Sword can fit into any Engine Soul compartment, it is always stored in the left leg since Buson’s Engine Soul only works properly in the right leg.) As with the V Shield, the Go-On Sword doesn’t fit very well in the hand(s) because the friction of the finger joints isn’t that strong; so it tends to droop as soon as you let go of it. (I’m guessing that, over time, if Engine-Oh holds both weapons, it won’t be able to hold them anymore because it’ll wear out both finger joints...)
In addition to future accessory DX Engine sets (which you know are coming), the common ‘collecting’ gimmick is the battery-powered Engine Soul cartridge. These serve as a replacement in all of the toys for a dedicated light-and-sound effect. Each Engine Soul shares an identical shape (2½” x 1¾” x 9/16”, or 2.57cm x 4.5cm x 1.5cm), has a single bright red LED light, a large decal which identifies it, and they all have some generic sounds. Because of this, any Engine Soul (or Change Soul, which I won’t get into here) can be fitted into any properly-fitted toy that can accept one. But, the gimmick is that each Engine Soul has a unique set of sound effects...
. . .
The DX Engine-Oh comes with Speedor’s Engine Soul. It is uniquely identified by its red ABS casing, the stylized “1”, and the phrases “ES” & “01” on the front decal. While each of the Engines in this set can accept an Engine Soul, only Speedor’s is provided; however, it will work equally in all of them since, again, all Engine Soul cartridges are the same size. The storage compartment for each Engine has a small door that must be unlatched in order to place the Engine Soul inside; Buson’s is the compartment opposite the Go-On Sword’s. When inside of them, the Engine Souls in Speedor and Bear RV can be activated by pressing in on their noses, while you have to press up on Buson’s back wheels (which explains their mysteriously spring-like suspension).
Speedor’s Engine Soul has four unique effects- all performed by the same seiyu from the series, Daisuke Namikawa (who has also performed for two other recent Super Sentai series, but is better known for more-numerous anime and OVA performances). He says, in Japanese:
The phrases will always play in that order, each preceded by the same sound of a car racing by. Now, if you place Speedor’s Engine Soul in either Buson or Bear RV (or any other DX Engine set), it’ll say the same things, but it’ll obviously be inaccurate since that’s not the right Engine for it to go with. (Since, as of this review, I have no other “Go-Onger” toys, I can only assume that it’ll say those same phrases regardless of where it’s placed.) Also, because that LED light is so intense, when it shines through that hole in the top of Speedor’s hood/head, the light (which alone can project over 6ft / 2m in a dark room!) actually reflects off of the engine block, and then you can see the light from the front even though it’s pointed upwards! (Intentional or not, that’s a cool idea!) However, because that part of the engine block flips over to make Engine-Oh’s head, the light can’t be reflected anymore. Now, here’s something interesting... When Speedor has his Engine Soul inside, and he is a part of Engine-Oh, a new set of sounds can be heard! Well, just two:
This time, however, instead of a car whooshing by, you hear metal clashing first. But it is still Speedor speaking. (These two sounds, I’m assuming, are the generic one-size-fits-all effects that would be heard if you put this Engine Soul in something other than a DX-sized Engine toy. I’m also assuming that all other Engine Souls cartridges act like this as well, as I explained above.)
The Power Rangers’ version of the Engine-Oh has not appeared yet (hell- the show only started in February), so comparisons are impossible. If I were to take a shot in the dark, I’d say the chrome and gold parts are replaced with painted equivalents. I’d also venture that all Engine Soul cartridges (whatever those will be called) will be either modified to have fewer-or-no electronics, or completely eliminated from the line. There’s no PVC or die-cast metal, so that’s not a problem. (No metal in a car-shaped vehicle... who’d‘ve thunk it?) I doubt any plastic coloring will be changed, but there may be very minor paint changes.
. . .
I’ll tell you right now: when I saw this set, I was much more enthusiastic about it than I was of the previous year’s DX Jyuken Gattai GekiTouja. Of course, I said the same thing about the DX Gougou Gattai DaiBouken, and we all know how that turned out in the end... So, I’m being cautiously optimistic about this line. I can already tell that it won’t be just straight limb swapping either. (Attachment joints for lower arm accessories are located on top of Engine-Oh’s shoulder armor, which guarantee swapping at least there.) But there are several unused attachment holes all across the torso & lower legs, so we may be looking at different components swapping out, particularly with how the three Engines slide into each other. Oh, yeah- the attachment between the Engines is great; you never have to worry about these things randomly separating unless you pull the separation triggers on the side and back of the torso. Great! As I said earlier, this thing is designed to shoot for that younger audience. I’ve heard several theories on this online, most having to do with competition from other franchises and toy manufacturers. Hey, this may even be a step towards creating a Super Sentai series that has monsters that come out of playing cards, except we have the collectable Engine Souls instead. (Great- that means that I’ll have to go out and get other sets that I don’t want in order to complete sets that I do want! Not good...) Otherwise, I think this is a cool idea- using just a few unique Engine Souls to activate electronic F/X inside of a whole range of toys. Now, what could they have changed?
- Better grip design for both the Go-On Sword and V Shield, for starters; the Shinobi Machine sets from “Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger” (2002) had poseable hands, and they could comfortably grip the dozen-plus weapons that that line had.
- That’s a sword??? Umm... no. It looks like some kind of weird nightstick or staff crossed with a spear. Try again, please! At least the holes in the V Shield aren’t too large or in really bad places. Some shields in the past, man... (*cough*TimeRobo Alpha*cough*)
- I can see why incorporating poseable legs would have been both difficult and expensive for the consumer. But couldn’t they have at least left an indent or a line or something to indicate that there is supposed to be this fictitious knee joint there!?
- Head swiveling. Why didn’t it have this???
- We finally got legitimate elbow joints in, like four years. The problem lies in the fact that you can’t do anything with them!
Even though I kinda scratched my head over the picking of vehicle-shaped animals (if that makes any sense), they did it with moderate success here. Buson, though... here we have yet another Super Sentai lion after getting one last year and then two years before that. Besides- does that really look like a lion? I don’t think so. Probably no better than Speedor looking like an official condor... But, overall, I’m quite satisfied. It’s simple, but not dumbed down. Detailed, but not overly so that it clutters up the plain shapes of the vehicles. Coloring and paint apps are also up to standard, with a nice return of decals in subtle ways even though they are pre-applied (which, nowadays, I have no problem with). It doesn’t raise the bar as far as DX toys go, but it doesn’t drop that 32-year-old ball either. Recommendation: go get the DX Engine Gattai Engine-Oh.
Buson’s Engine Soul can be purchased along with the Self Henkeijuu MantanGun set, available from HobbyLink Japan.
Bear RV’s Engine Soul can be purchased along with the DX Highway Buster set, available from HobbyLink Japan.
Posted 13 May, 2008 - 12:42 by EVA_Unit_4A |
Comments
32 comments postedLooks like a nice enough toy, and I like the gimmick, but the Bear RV still looks out of place to me.
Sentai's not my realm of study, but... nuff said.
Mmm- I've been wondering what they're gonna call it, myself. If they hadn't jumped the gun last year with the poorly-named "...Operation Overdrive", they could've used it here instead.
Here's my question: will The Mouse allow sentient Zords that talk and think on their own? 'Cause they've never done it before even though Super Sentai has done it many times before.
I was a little worried about the kawai animal-faces on the toys at first too, but you get used to it real quick. Funny thing is, after a while you forget that they have actual cockpits on them and just focus on the animal heads instead! I mean, this whole show is almost a spoof on "CarRanger" (aka "PRTurbo"), and that series was a spoof on Super Sentai as a whole while still being a part of it!
...
What concerns me most is how they're gonna deal with the accessory mecha here. The first two accessory mecha- Engines #4- Birca (motorcycle/Orca whale) and #5- Gunpherd (semi-automatic pistol/German Shepherd)- are limb-swapping, and #6- Carrigator (car carrier/alligator) provides the means for both the first secondary mecha (Engine Gattai Gunbir-Oh) and first combo mecha (Engine Busou Engine-Oh G6). (I have all three on order now from HLJ.com, BTW, so those are coming hopefully before the end of May or early June.)
However, remember those holes inside the upper arms I mentioned in the video review? Well, just yesterday I saw the newest limb-swap mecha- Engines #7- Toripter (helicopter/bird) and #8- Jetoras (jet fighter/tiger)- and the yet-unnamed 8-part combo. Well, this new 8-part combo- just like the Ultimate DaiBouken- is just the Engine-Oh G6 with the addition of two more mecha... with a new helmet and two flying accessory mecha just sitting perched on the shoulders using those upper arm-holes.
Ouch... not good.
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CollectionDX Staff
I found the picture of that new 8-part combo on Thai-Toku.com. But I still don't know what it's called.
Image link
That is rather concerning, I must admit. But the two new accessory Engines look okay alone.
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CollectionDX Staff
I got a couple of DX henshin device toys that I wanna cover for CDX. The problem is, the straps for these things are designed to accommodate kid-sized wrists & biceps. For the last two years now, I've been scouring local fabric, camping/outdoors, and hardware stores for Velcro that is 2"-wide and 9" (x2=18") long, plain black in coloring, and can stick back onto itself. Am I going to the wrong stores, or do I have to go online for this???
Please Help Me!
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CollectionDX Staff
Might be better off checking on internet..
our sizes are unusual..
wish i can henshin myself :P
许玉豪
Yeah, great... Where online!? That is my problem- I don't know where else to look! Otherwise I wouldn't have brought it up here, neh? -_-;
...
"wish i can henshin myself"
Dude, who wouldn't? Well- so long as I don't need, like, Kivat biting my hand each time, or being possessed by an Imagin, or needing to undergo radical invasive surgery, or something else twisted/painful... Guess that means I just prefer a simple, non-invasive Super Sentai-style henshin, eh?
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CollectionDX Staff
I would let Kivat bite me as much as he wants and let SHOCKER have their way with me if I could be a Rider.
That'd be so awesome.
The thumb and forefinger "slating" in the video is hilarious.
Also, about the henshin devices, how about getting some 2" black webbing and then sew, or fabric-glue, industrial-grade velcro at the ends?
About the slating, that was not intended to be in the final cut. I thoroughly chewed out Josh for not cutting that out as I intended.
I did it for every cut... ^_^;
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CollectionDX Staff
ya know since Magi Ranger none of the sentai stuff seems to do it for me. and the combination with the other 3 mecha called G6 is well lame saying that when 4,5 and 6 combine on their own the mecha they form is kinda cool bar the fish arm
Transformer and other robot art by me on my DA site blitz-wing.deviantart.com
Magiranger was the pinnacle of perfection when it comes time of sentai mecha. I mean, they were nicely sculpted, proportionate and the Magiking Complete collection is well... Perfection !!!
"Awww man, that's one ugly zord..." Tommy about BA Drivemax Megazord.
Mmm... even though I like the designs in "MagiRanger", I don't think it was the pinnacle. Travelion, even though well designed, was still questionable since it broke the magic-theme, and I don't think I need to point out highlights of the disaster that was thee MagiLegend since we all kinda agree on that one.
Moving backwards in time, in "DekaRanger" I was never thrilled with the DekaBike Robo (or how it became the Super DekaRanger Robo, though the Riding DekaRanger Robo was a nice idea), and it took me quite a while to warm up to the DekaBase Robo and in the end I still didn't want one.
With "AbaRanger", I balked at the Killer-Oh for quite some time. Then, when I purchased one for someone else (actually a Deluxe Dino Stegazord) and snuck a look at it before sending it off, I slowly changed my mind and got one of the latter; with the intent of eventually finding an original to replace it. While I like the look & functions of the MaxOhJa, I can't really bring myself to get the DX one; it's just way too out of proportion. Even now I'm still on the fence on that one, but would never tolerate a Deluxe Triassic Megazord.
And so, for me, though I don't care for most of the hand-held weapons & accessories, I think that the DX toys from "Hurricanger" are the pinnacle, since I'm only missing the DX Senpuujin Hurrier and an original DX Tenkuujin (I have a temporary Deluxe Samurai Star Lightning Megazord in its place).
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CollectionDX Staff
Well, I must say it... this is probably the weirdest Super Sentai series I've up to date. I mean, these zords are just creepy, with those giant eyes glaring at you all the time. If they had to combine vehicle and animal aspects, they could do triple-changing units, like in Dancouga... Also, the whole Engine Soul thing doesn't make much sense to me, I find it a forced way to make these toys at least partly interactive. They place an interchangable electronic cartridge in there, waste space that could be used for advanced transformation... damn, I'm spending too much time by Transformers, but this kind of questions seem to hit me a lot nowadays, especially as I'm preparing Animated Starscream's review for my site.
Anyway, how the hell everyone here is able to bend that stupid 10-minute limit from youtube? I just don't know how are you doing it...
Oh, come on- even Transformers has its lame ducks in the modern series'. Just look at Energon and Armada...! The reason those can get a pass is because there's so many different toys in the first waves to choose from before the repaints arrive.
I've never really like Starscream toys until I saw the one from "Animated", and I'm definitely getting that one!
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CollectionDX Staff
We are a YouTube Partner channel, so we get longer time limits and larger file uploads.
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CollectionDX Admin
Boo, I want to get something like that for my site too. After all, we're the biggest TF site in Poland and we do have alliance with Hasbro...
Eva, I didn't said that TFs are flawless... yet Energon had many great figures (apart from Hotshot and all those redecos)- Wing Saber, Omega Supreme, Scorponock... actually i'm too lazy to write down all of them :)
A new main hero robo has appeared online. We're already up to 5 Go-Onger and six Engines in the series, but with this new combo, we'll be up to seven Go-Onger and nine Engines.
This'll work kinda like how Gunbir-Oh does- three mecha split among two rangers- Go-On [Gold] (female) and Go-On [Silver] (male)- with two of those for their personal Engines and a third extra. We already know about Engines #7- Toripter (helicopter/bird) and #8- Jetoras (jet fighter/tiger). But the new one- the component which will provide the head, body and legs for the new combo (just Carrigator does)- looks like a cross between a cargo plane and a whale (probably a Blue Whale). This makes this new combo, called the Seiku-Oh, fully flight-capable; with Toripter and Jetoras forming the arms.
This new whale/cargo plane Engine must be another Gigan Engine (i.e. "Giant" Engine) like Carrigator because it will be unusually large compared to most of the other Engines so far, but no images of the new Engine's vehicle mode have appeared yet.
[G2:409513 class=g2image_centered size=300]
. . .
Also, I sighted the first repaint of the series- a new take on the Engine-Oh. Like the DX Hyakujuu Gattai Gao God from "Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger" (2001), it'll have some new headpieces for the individual Engines, and all of the Engines will be using the same colors- red, brown, gold, and black, with green eyes; possibly called the Engine Daishougun. Plus, it comes with a new unique Engine Soul.
[G2:409521 class=g2image_centered]
I don't know about that 8-part combo that'll officially be appearing here soon on the series-
[G2:409523 class=g2image_centered size=300]
-but these other two are lookin' kinda cool.
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CollectionDX Staff
New stunt suit-shot of this Engine DaiShougun.
[G2:409926 class=g2image_centered size=300]
Not quite sure how that crown is gonna sit on the DX's head, though, but the lion's mustache is obvious... They also make new molds for 'Speedor's beak & back spoilers, and 'Bear-RV's nose; the rest just looks like straight-up repaint-town. The Go-On Sword looks a little different, though, and the concept art above shows a samurai-like katana longsword attached at it's hip.
But, James O, you may be right about the movie-exclusiveness of this release. We already have a title for it (called?), but I know nothing about it.
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CollectionDX Staff
I'm liking Seiku-Oh, the three part mecha seem to be very nice this year its just a shame that when they combine its just Engine-Oh with other bits added.
The repaint could grow on me but right now I'm not sure, actually it wouldn't surprise me if that turned out to be a one off for the movie or something.
Update: BigBadToyStore.com is reporting that Engine #09 is gonna be called "JumboWhale", and is on pre-order for $79.99... which makes it the same price as just the DX Engine-Oh, according to them. By contrast, their pre-order Carrigator- which as far as the line goes, does pretty much the same thing- sells for $53.99. (You do the math on that one.)
(I should note that HobbyLink Japan [HLJ.com]- where I got the Engine-Oh and Engines Birca & Gunpherd- is not reporting any of this, nor do they even list Engine #9 yet. Nor does ZincPanic.com)
They're also reporting that the 2009 PR series will be called "Power Rangers R.P.M." I smell a rumor-related rat on that last one, though I could easily believe such a lame name too.
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CollectionDX Staff
Yes, I could easily believe RPM were it not for the fact that they're going to have to explain the Go-Onger G logo that appears several times on the costumes and on the engines themselves (alright technically they're not going to have to explain it, they could just ignore it and leave people who don't know about Sentai to wonder just like they've done in the past).
My money would be something like Power Rangers Grand Prix, or Grand Prix Force. Just as lame but it incorporates the logo.
Hmm, I've just seen the suit designs for Go-On Gold & Silver. Now those I definitely like, especially the fact that they've branched out from the racing suit style designs of the five main rangers and come up with something more like a flight suit to go with their engines. Oh and I'm starting to come round to Engine Daishogun too.
I thought "Power Rangers Go On!" would be very appropriate, and then call them, individually, Racer & Strato[sphere] Rangers.
As for the two newest Go-Onger, I'm really not liking their sidearms. They look too, um... dollar-only store cheap, if you know what I mean. But the suits aren't too bad.
This will also be the first time in Super Sentai history where a woman will be part of the new addition to the team. Yeah, we had Deka Swan, but she only appeared once in "Tokusou Sentai DekaRanger" (2004). Oh, and White Racer from "Gekisou Sentai CarRanger", but she was just a fan of the other rangers and only appeared a handful of times. But Go-On Silver will be a regular character.
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CollectionDX Staff
The movie is apparently called Boom Boom, Bang Bang. Just seen a trailer for it at the end of episode 15, which also introduced Triptor and Jetoras. No clips of the movie yet so it's still not clear if that's where Engine Daishogun is going to appear.
I really like your review of the Engine-Oh, it's very good.
But, please. Can you do the review of the Engine Souls 2 and 3?
Well, thank you!
I have a review in the pipeline for the MantanGun [with Buson's Engine Soul (#2)], but because there is a video attached to it- which Josh always edits for me, BTW- it won't be posted until after the flury of all of the SDCC-coverage is over sometime after next week; otherwise it would quickly get lost in the fast shuffling of articles & updates.
As for Bear RV's Engine Soul [#3], I'm still debating whether I want to get a DX Highway Buster or not. I'm not big into the ranger combo weapons, so spending all that money on such a small item seems a waste. Also, shelf space it beginning to become a concern, so I wouldn't have the room for the Highway Buster.
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CollectionDX Staff
Hi, good review you have there. By the way could you have review to compare zords between the sentai series, which one is the best, etc?
Anyway, for speedor the doru doru sound is from "Drr Drr" - machine/engine sound - which is printed on Sousuke's jacket. For the engine's soul's phrase, the sound is "ぶっちぎるぜ" (bucchigiruze) - which means to slash (speedor's phrase during the highway buster) or to win the race (during the ending song).
All of the characters from Machine World- both Engine and Gaiarc- repeat one of the syllables from their name when talking. (They even poke fun at this when Carrigator was introduced.) The only exception to this rule I've seen thus-far is Jetoras, who says "Geeeeen", but I don't know why.
Now, I'll also accept that it's possible that the writers used the syllables as puns for other real Japanese words that I may not be aware of; certainly the names of all of the Gaiarc ministers and MotW prove this!
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CollectionDX Staff
...I would choose Engine-Oh. I can't understand why did BoA repeated their mistake (like what they did to the Deluxe Drivemax Megazord toy) by releasing a modified version of the Japanese edition, there's no sense at that move really.
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"I'm no ordinary ring."
Buson takes his leonine cues from Shishi statues.
"I can see why incorporating poseable legs would have been both difficult and expensive for the consumer. But couldn’t they have at least left an indent or a line or something to indicate that there is supposed to be this fictitious knee joint there!?"
In fairness, the thighs are recessed when seen from the front, and there are those big red and chrome knee pads there.
"Now, this may be me being paranoid, but the rectangular bars that the shoulders are attached to seem to stick out a tad more than seems necessary; certainly they’re more accommodating than need-be for transforming it"
As I'm sure you're aware, this turned out not to be the case. I think the actual reason is because the internal workings (like the catch for the Soul socket cover) don't leave room for them to be tucked further from that angle.
"Head swiveling. Why didn’t it have this???"
Probably because the head/engine is tied into the system that controls the sound effects. so they didn't want it moving around. Heck, there are actually restrictor ridges under the golden exhaust pipes to make sure it stays still!
"the Go-On Sword doesn’t fit very well in the hand(s) because the friction of the finger joints isn’t that strong; so it tends to droop as soon as you let go of it"
Sentai robos that can'tr hold their swords well seem to outnumber the ones that can. I think the real issue in this case isn't so much the finger joint friction (mine are fairly tight) as it is the shape of the fingers - they aren't molded to tightly engulf the Go-On Sword's hilt.
"For a good while there before “Go-Onger” came out, rumors swirled around that Buson was actually a bison... which would have made much more sense to me than a friggin’ lion. If I have to look that hard to recognize a lion’s head on the front of a bus, then somethin’ isn’t right."
Right,suuuure. Because the fangs, the small whisker grooves on either side of the frontmost section of his faceplate, and the lack of horns and beard look veeeery bisonish. Not to mention the numeral :P I can understand you not immediately seeing a lion (just like I could get someone mistaking BearRv for a cat), but seeing a stronger resemblance to a bison? I just.... what?
As I said in the 2015 comment, it helps if you speciofically think of a Shishi lion statue. That kind of squat look, the protruding fangs, plus the way the mane starts behind the cheeks (in Bus-On's case, the mane starts with the molded gold parts either side of his face), It's probably the best they could do when the base vehicle is a brick with wheels.
Me, I can see Bus-on as a lion fairly well. What I wish was different with him:
* A couple tiny extra licks of paint to better pick out the missiles
* The destination board, rather than being a single sticker decal, instead being a flat clear pocket you could insert different graphics into (like the angry-face emoticons)
You missed or didn't cover an amusing detail of the Engine Souls that I discovered when I got Engine-Oh in today: The "Don't put the batteries in your mouth" warning molded on the battery cover is a struck-through image of Pac-Man munching. That gave me a good laugh
I thought of a good way to prop up the Bus-on Missile launchers: Putting the Go-On Sword and an Engine Soul in the compartments upside-down