Gigant Police Braver KOBAN Armor DX Set
Review by JoshB
One of the great things about the Tomica line si the ability for it to reinvent itself every few years and keep the designs fresh and interesting. We've seen Hyper Police, Drive Head, Earth Granner and now Jobraver. Jobraver is a new-ish toyline that has a digital show to promote it. The basic idea is you have these small androids called Joboroids that help with city services such as fire, police, resuce, and these combine with vehicles to form mecha called Jobravers. Despite having "Brave" in the name, there is no connection to Takara's Brave series, or any previous Tomica series.
Most sets are simple Jobroid + vehicle sets, but there are a few DX sets that add in a third component. This is one of those, named: Gigant Police Braver KOBAN Armor DX Set
The box is typical TakaraTomy, bright and colorful with a full explanation of gimmicks on the back. Note that despite the highlights on some items, there are no light or sound effects.
Inside there are cardboard inserts and baggies. Typically these baggies are sealed with tape, but these are permanently sealed, so they have to be torn open.
A sticker sheet is included, with multiple eye options for the Jobroid figure.
First off is the Jobroid Wapper MKII - the thing the whole set revolves around. He's a tiny little guy, measuring 2.5 inches tall with articulation in the shoulders, elbows and hips. He's hollow and light, but the joints are super tight. The legs move as one section due to the transformation later. I am delighted by the fact that I had to put his tie on as a sticker.
He can store a gun on his back.
Here he is next to the Nissan Fairlady Z police car.
The Nissan is larger than your typical Tomica vehicle. It too is all plastic, but it rolls nicely on it's hard plastic wheels.
To form Police Braver, you have to fold up the Jobroid and insert him into the slots beneath the car, then push against it. The arrows on the underside point to where the leg assembly of the Jobroid notches into the car.
The spring loaded action will then pop the head up and the arms out, while ejecting the rear section of the car. Those sections then get attaghed to the Jobroid's arms and become the legs of Police Braver.
I love the look of this guy, but he's tiny. He stands just under 5 inches tall, but he is packed full of articulation.
From the back, the Jobroid's face stares out... kind of Odd but you get the idea now of how it all works.
The third part of this set is the Koban. A Koban is a sort of neighborhood police station, ubiquitous in Japanese neighborhoods. The styling here is just like the real Koban stations I saw when I went to Japan.
That is unil you look at the sides or back....
The Koban can transform into Police Dog Wan Wan Maru. ("Wan Wan" being an onomotapia for dog barks in Japanese)
Police Braver can ride Wan Wan Maru! There's nothing to click him into place, but he sits on him well enough.
Good Boy!
Wan Wan Maru then can form the body of the Gigant Police Braver Koban Armor! You will need to disassemble Police Braver and return him to car and Jobroid state. Once Wan Wan is in armor mode, place the car on the pegs and use the same push motion as bfore to pop up the head and arms. The remaining parts of the car attach to Jobroid and attach to the back of the unit. There is a mask that was stored in the Koban that now goes over the head of Police Braver!
He looks soo cool!
The legs have amazing clicky joints in this mode. The front of the Koban becomes a shield and the sign becomes a baton weapon! In this mode the figure stands at a respectable 7.5 inches. Still not huge, but now it has substance.
The gun stores between Police Braver's hands on the back.
Articultion is awesome in this mode. The leg joints are super clicky, the ankles have awesome rocker joints, and everything is nice and tight. The only thing missing is a waist joint.
So how does this compare to a very similar Tomica line - Drive Head?
Drive Head toys are larger and bulkier, but less satisfying. They are not compatible in that the core vehicle from one series does not wotk with the other series, but they both have identical peg sizes, meaning they can share accessories! This is a common peg size across all Tomica lines, so the combinations could get insane!
I really dig this line, and i look forward to seeing what TakaraTomy does with it. I have a few more to review in the future, so stay tuned.
