Bo-wheem-oth! The next set up for review is the regular version Scene Pierce figure and his monster truck, the Behemoth Land Bisar. Scene (is this supposed to be "sean" I wonder? He's wearing green, maybe he's Irish) is another great figure like Ragna before him, I like the color scheme and the board design. I totally see now how the board fits on the figure's arm to use as a melee weapon or shield. Not the greatest figure idea ever, but a nice double use of the accessory. The Behemoth is an interesting Bisar - first off, it's huge. The box is fairly big, and when you open it, there are no extraneous parts, just the big ol' truck sitting there. Scene or any other figure sits in the driver's chair, the front of which pivots out of the way (a nice feature), and can hold little handles just under the dashboard. So it's not really armor, more of a vehicle kind of thing. Which is cool, because that means that it's the most transferable toy from the Amdriver line, you could use a lot of different in-scale figures. Truck mode is cool, kind of a futuristic hauler/golf cart kind of thing, lots of nice clear green accents, rolls fine on four big wheels. The cannons in the rear can fold up for some nice artillery action, or you can pretty easily haul a bunch of gear or skyboards since the thing is covered in holes. I put Scene and Ragna's skyboards on the back (using the little adaptors) for a kind of "surf wagon" look. Transformation is easy as it gets - wheels fold into ED-209 style legs, nice and stable. The back of the truck folds forward into an artillery barrage with four large cannons and little gun-fingered arms. The arms don't do a whole lot, but they pose and look good. The cannons are long, can pivot on a couple of points, and look great, with molded gun detailing under clear green covers. A little block on the front pivots around for no real reason. The Brigandine mode is very impressive, a very well armed walker robot that looks big, chunky, and solid. The toy is very well made and robust, and looks like it will hold up for a long time. I can see where some would be underwhelmed by the Behemoth as it's not really like the other Bisar toys, but it's very well made and fun nonetheless. I would love to have some accessory guns to armor up the truck mode, so I may look to see if any of my other toyline accessories fit. Plus, I enjoy saying "Behemoth" like the radio announcer in Reservoir Dogs... Tim "toy geek"
Great reviews, Tim! I really want Moto Bisar, but have no money. In the meantime I intend to take more pictures of Storm Bisar (glad you like it, Mutt ), maybe tomorrow.
Posability is okay......like the smaller bisars, the only real connection points are to the front & back of the chest. The figure legs just slide down into the bisar legs but don't snap in or anything, so you don't get the extra 'stiffness' of the figure legs to help pose it. Otherwise, they're pretty posable. The shoulder joints are the ratcheting type, so gun/sword holding poses are pretty doable. I finally got my Sword Dancer out and put the clear blue guy inside him; looks pretty cool. Now the only other Amdriver toys on my list is the Dullahan bisar (I'm still kicking myself for botching up the Yahoo Japan auction on that one - coulda got it from the same seller for an extra $5) Although the storm bisar and the black/dark deco Ragna are looking pretty sweet............must resist enlarging the 'want' list..........
I understand, the legs can be pretty weak especially when the Bisar is large. That was a good thing about Neocross Bisar, as it has its own leg joints so that Amdriver figure doesn't have to support the weight. Would LOVE to see your Sword Dancer pic! Which reminds me, I didn't take my Storm Bisar pic... The place I found the picture has opened blind box figures for sale, but not regular Amdriver toys Thanks for the link to the video Wow, pretty heavy stuff, I think I like Jenus better now
Doomerang! The last Amdriver set I received was the deluxe version of Sera May and the Storm Bisar Simurgh. Sera is another great figure with lots of articulation, sturdy enough for most poses and double jointed at the elbows, knees and shoulders. Her DX gear is pretty cool in general but not a huge step up from the regular figure version. She comes with her orange-trimmed skyboard, as well as white and orange armor bits for her chest, shoulders, and legs. The leg armor is particularly nice, with two side-mounted pieces coming together and long "spur" pieces. She also comes with her boomerang/swords and a backpack that holds them. The weapon is two orange-edged triangular swords with handles that fit the figure's hands nicely, and the swords peg together to make a boomerang. Pretty nice. The Storm Bisar is really nice looking, with a great black and clear orange color scheme, and has a sort of futuristic stealth jet look to it. One thing I noticed that was cool is that you can use the the vehicle mode two different ways, you can just perch Sera (fully armored) on the top of the vehicle like a giant skyboard, there are pegs up top for that. The other way is to partially disassemble the aircraft and fit the figure (sans armor) into the somewhat cramped interior. Originally I had no idea if the figure would even fit, so it's a good design for that. You remove the boots and fit the figure into them, then sort of arch the figure's back so that the helmet sticks out the top a little, and the shell clips around it nicely. The result is a sleek, fast looking aircraft with swept-forward wings and a long rifle weapon in front. I would have loved to see wing-mounted guns or bombs considering there are holes in the wings for optional gear. The brigantine mode also has a couple of options, you separate the boots from the plane body and then turn the rest of the vehicle into a sort of vest, there are attaching pegs for the chest holes, and a clever little brace for the back panel that keeps everything in place. The long rifle gets held in either hand and braced with a bit of forearm armor, then the too-big bottom panel clips over it. This is kind of ungainly, but I haven't found a better place to peg it. The back mounted jets and stabilizers pivot up or down, with nice pivoting covers for a great look. The giant wing assembly can be held in the other hand (by a way-too-big center handle that stretches out the hand) as a gigantic boomerang-of-doom. Doomerang. Another way to do the brigandine mode is to mount the wing assembly behind the figure, for more of a classic flight mode. The regular boomerang can fill in as a hand weapon. Both modes are very nice, though I think there maybe could have been a little bit more armor, there's nothing really on the hips or middle of the body, and the legs get weak with all that weight. It's interesting to note that the "flight" brigandine mode gets to use a special stand included with the toy, more of a crutch really, which supports the back heavy figure. If I have one little nitpick with this great toy, it's that the feet of the Storm Bisar aren't very well done, they have raised heels so it tends to lean forward. That's okay in some back-heavy modes, but makes it difficult to stand most of the time. In general the combination of Sera and the Storm Bisar is amazing looking and lots of fun to combine. I'm having a good time with my Amdriver sets, they're a nice combination of classic Robotech, Transformers and Microman, and depending on future ebay auctions and import prices I may try to find more of these guys. Tim "toy geek"
I finally took some pictures of Storm Bisar and Ragna black ver. I don't have Sera like Tim (great review again ), so the colour may not be matching. Can't see the red on his jacket much though. I'm afraid my eyes are failing me as well as my camera Need a new Bisar, too...
Hey guys - I know some of you may be interested in my Sword Dancer so here's a link to my for sale thread: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=161966 I'm keeping Gun Singer, but I'm not totally in love with the white/blue color scheme of Sword Dancer and Board Bisar Wivern so I'm cutting them loose. I am looking for other AMDriver stuff, so check my wants list for potential trades.
