I got him from HLJ when he was first available for preorder, so I got an early bird discount. Even so, GGGG set me back something like £110. It's a lot but it's certainly worth it. Going to get myself the CM's GaoFighGar as well when it's out.
One question to the Brave Experts: Last week i saw a Gun Max ( http://www.geocities.com/evattype01/GunMax.html ) knock off on a Flea market near home... It has the same features than the original?
Well, the SFX and lights would be gutted from the original without a doubt. I can't say much more on what is there or not, since I'm not too familiar with that particular KO. Odds are though some of Max's cooler accessories, like his Shotgun, would be gone as well.
And a couple of Mic and a couple more of GGG s'all I got for now. I'mma take pics of my G-GGG and CM's Goldymarg later. Also, a few pics of my GGG micromen of Guy, Mikoto and Swan, maybe. Depends on how good the pics of them turn out.
No takers yet? Name any Takara Brave and I'll shoot pics! http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d21/amspictures/pict0326.jpg Here's some fun stuff. I put a pen in the foreground for size reference on these monsters. Fire J Decker boxset Great Exkiser boxset The gorgeous new Great Mightgaine Perfect Mode reissue boxset
This thread is so unhealthy for my wallet...3/4 of the mechs here have tempted me before...especially GGGG and King E!
I picked up the MP Dragon Kizer yesterday. Freakin' awesome toy. I've heard some concerns about fragility, but I think it's just due to most of the reviewers coming from the Chogokin crowd, rather than the Transformers crowd. Overall, the thing's pretty darned solid. You just have to watch the Great Exkizer chest-plate when pulling it out of the packaging. It's pretty thin, and it's snapped into the bubble just a little too well. As a result, I cracked mine trying to release it from the packaging. Thankfully, it was on a part obscured by the skirt plate, and superglue fixed it up nicely enough. I'm seriously shocked at the range of poseability on the thing, though, given the blocky design, and the necessity to break apart into the Great Exkizer armor. In that regard, my only qualm is with the outwards hip articulation, as the Great Exkizer elbows tucked inside Dragon Kizer interfere with their range (if you separate the upper torso from the hips, you'll find the legs have more range of movement then is normally allowed). I'll have to see if maybe I can carve a notch or two somewhere to fix that. Joints are nice and tight, and he has no problems holding any of his weapons. Dear god, the Great Exkizer sword is huge. Dragon Kizer is about the same height as Galaxy Convoy, and the sword is almost twice as long as he is tall. Dragon Kizer isn't meant to grasp it, but his finger joints are tight enough that he can still get a grasp around the hilt, and the weight doesn't give his joints any problems. His feet are die-cast, so it's not going to give you any balance issues, either. The transformation is surprisingly intricate, in how you stow the hip plates and other little things. All sorts of small, fold-out panels to hide gaps and such. Although the end result isn't really much to look at. But eh, Brave has always been about the robots over the vehicles. It serves its purpose. Now I need to find King Exkaiser... stupid bastard getting sold out just as I got interested in it... *grumble*
Thanks for the tips mx, been wanting to get that guy. Nice to know about the bubble and chest plate. Sorry to hear about yours though, superglue has saved a few of my figs from trying to get them out. Loving his big frikn sword. Will keep an eye for any MP Exkaisers shipping to CA
SUPER BUILD TIGER Lots of Super Build Tiger pics here http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v148/loebig/Brave Series/
Nice one, CM! What do you think of the normal Build Tiger mode? Very Devastator, isn't he! Now, for my next batch of pictures, I thought I'd show off my favourite of the eight Brave series. From 1996, it's Brave Command Dagwon! First, a little background. Dagwon is one of the more mature Brave series, a stark contrast to Goldran which it followed. It's a very Sentai / Power Ranger-ish series, featuring five (later seven) teenagers chosen by the powerful intergalactic champion of justice, Brave Seijin, to inherit the ability to turn into Dagwon, and fight the inmates of the galactic Sargasso prison, who had broken loose and set their sights on Earth! Of course, the Sargasso inmates weren't always little guys. Frequently, they were so huge they required a lot of extra firepower to take down. Hence the team could "Yuugou Gattai" (literally, "Fusion Combine") with their vehicles to form the robots, and then combine further with each other, or with other vehicles, to form increasingly massive robots. Unlike the other Brave series, the robots themselves are mostly non-sentient, instead the humans themselves become the robots. Characters: En / Fire En: His Dagtector is the Fire Stratos, which transforms into Dagfire. Initially, he can "Kaen Gattai" (Blazing Combination) with the Fire Jumbo to form Fire Dagwon, later on he also gets the massive steam shovel Power Dagwon. Both his Braves can wield the incredibly powerful Lio Sword and Mugenhou, and late on in the series he learns to combine them into the massively overpowered Super Fire Dagwon, allegedly only ever used three times! He's your typical male lead, easy going, a little hotheaded, the kind of guy who can get on with most people but tends to bite off more than he can chew. Kai / Turbo Kai: Pilots Dagturbo, which forms the upper torso of Liner and Superliner Dagwon. He's the most level headed, law abiding member of the team, indeed he's the student president at school. Always the voice of wisdom, he is more or less the leader of the team. Yoku / Wing Yoku: Pilots Dagwing, forms a leg of Liner / Superliner Dagwon. He's the brains of the team. A little geeky, he'd rather study the aliens than destroy them. Shin / Armor Shin: Pilots Dagarmor, forms the other leg of Liner / Superliner Dagwon. A consumate skirtchaser, he's frequently seen worrying about which girl to try to ask out next, which gets him in trouble with a succubus on at least on occasion. He's also the brawn of the team, both in and out of his Dagtector possessing a vast amount of firepower. Ryu / Shadow Ryu: the most mysterious of the original five, he pilots the Shadow Jet which becomes Dagshadow. He's also the keeper of the playing cards that summon the Guardian Beasts, which his Dagshadow can "Kijuu Gattai" (Machine Beast combination) with to form Shadow Dagwon. He's a ninja, his henshined form has some leathal blades on it, while Dagshadow has shurikans and a deadly sword which also carries over to Shadow Dagwon. He's also a nature lover, frequently seen hanging around in trees or lying in the grass with animals around him. Geki / Drill Geki: the sixth member of the team, he ultimately ends up piloting Dagdrill, and forms the add ons that turn Liner Dagwon into Superliner Dagwon. He's a rival of En, and presented as something of a bully, but he is reliable (mostly). Rai / Thunder Rai: the seventh and final member of the team (unless you count Luna), he ride the Thunder Bike that turns into Dagthunder, and then calls down the Thunder Shuttle which he combines with to form Thunder Dagwon. Looks up to En, and calls him "sempai" (teacher) a lot. His suit is a lot like En's, right down to his imitation of En's firebird attack. Lian: honourable, if driven by vengeance. Came to Earth seeking Arch Seijin, a particularly nasty villain who wiped out the rest of his race. After a little persuasion, he joined the rest of Dagwon. Transforms into a mighty sword, which En's mechs can wield. Gunkid: an alien robot originally designed to destroy Dagwon, he defected and joined them. Transforms into the Mugenhou (infinity cannon) which En's mechs can wield. He's got a very "kiddy" personality. Dagbase: the main base of Dagwon, all the mechs are launched from here in a very "Thunderbirds" style. It's also got some other mysterious powers that as of episode 16 are only just coming to light. Interestingly, while the toy lacks the link up that it's original molding, Grandus, had with Star Convoy, the anime actually shows the linkup port as a part of the sequence where Dagbase launches from its hiding place! Anyways, enough background, let's get onto the toys! The complete set, L to R, Shadow Dagwon, Superliner Dagwon, Super Fire Dagwon, Dagbase, Thunder Dagwon. All of them again, this time in their alt modes. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Brave/1996 Dagwon/vehicles.jpg The Dagwon members and their Dagtectors. Man, I love those little PVC figures! The Dagtectors in robot mode, along with the Guard Beasts. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Brave/1996 Dagwon/beasts.jpg The Guard Beasts and Dagshadow in their beast modes. Dagshadow is a very nice triple changer, with a jet, dragon and robot mode, all of which he pulls off pretty well, and on top of it all, he forms the torso of a very awesome robot! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Brave/1996 Dagwon/shadowliner.jpg Shadow Dagwon and Liner Dagwon. Gunkid, Superliner Dagwon and Lian. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Brave/1996 Dagwon/Liancloseup.jpg A close up of Lian in sword mode. Check out the rich detailing on the sword! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Brave/1996 Dagwon/basethunder.jpg Dagbase and Thunder Dagwon, the Transformers alumni of the line. Remolds of Grandus and Galaxy Shuttle, I kinda prefer these versions. Real hands for Dagbase, and Thunder Dagwon has a bigger gun, extra weapons, and Dagthunder fills in the hole that's just left open on Galaxy Shuttle. Fire Dagwon, wielding the Lio Sword, and Power Dagwon with Mugenhou. Now that's how to do roleplay toys! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Brave/1996 Dagwon/Superfire1.jpg Chou Kaen Gattai! This is the combined form of Fire and Power Dagwon, Super Fire Dagwon, duel wielding the Lio Sword and Mugenhou. Yes, you don't want to fight this guy. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Brave/1996 Dagwon/City4.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v144/Sol_Fury/Brave/1996 Dagwon/City5.jpg A little more of Dagbase. Included with him were five mini figures of the original five members of Dagwon. As well as still being able to attach to any Micromaster base via his ramps, he can also attach to the Fire Jumbo.
wow, i love this line, now if i only could own some!. the jet under the shuttle, when transformered, and combined, looks a lot like starsaber, but just a hell of a lot better. grandus looks better this way too, probably cheaper too. and wow, so that is where that model came from, i have a knock off, "combiner" that is junk, that has the molds of the green and yellow cats. though it broke so easily, and the yellow lion i have, has 2 right arms...
Awesome SF, your Brave collection amazes me! Thanks for all the cool pics. Must get one of those Lio Swords! Really suprised that we hav'nt seen many Dagbase and Thunder Dagwon pics here in the TA since their TF versions are so hard to get. Really like the Dagwon cars , and the way they transform. Almost reminds me of Stunticons & Protectobots. Did'nt know Gunkid Megs could be used in so many ways. The pvc's looks great with the Dagbase
If anyone really likes Brave but lacks the funs, get out there and pick up some of those Galaxy Force figures you see at Walmart. Most of them are Brave ko's for those who did'nt know Loving thise one, plus the pic shows off the size of Super Build Tiger ..and SF , Im really digging his regular combined mode. Tempted to flip the lion head around and slap a large Autobot symbol on it. In his catalog, on the back there are pics of toys who were brought to the states called B Daman Who are little figs that shoot marbles from their chest. There's many battlelike and bowling styled games for them released in different styled gameboards. or one where you blast the armor off a dino with marbles. Actually bought one the other day. Pics- Will get some catalog pics up later
I'm jealous of you guys. I wish I had the money to collect Brave toys. Some of them look "cheap" to me though in terms of quality, is that so, or is it simply hard to pick up their detail and such in photos?
I only have a few braves. the original GaoGaiGar, Goldymarg, Horyu, and Enryu. they look a bit cheap, but they're nice and solid. They have a totally different type of design style than TFs have, and for the most part they're bricks compared to TFs that were coming out at the same time... but they're still fun.
Yeah the brick thing is obvious with some of them but it doesn't bother me, it adds to their old school type appeal in my opinion. It's interesting though, when reading about Brave there's a big deal about the classic designs for the anime, then the toys don't seem to completley live up to it. They do look pretty cool though, and I definitely wish I had them.
