Liokaiser arrived today.

I've not gone into detail with Drillhorn, Iron Bison, Fellbat & Guyhawk as they are, essentially, Brawl, his remould Nosecone, Skydive & his remould Air Raid with new heads and by now we've all got our hand on those toys and know what to expect. The waists are good on both tanks though!

Dezarus

There are not many options for repainting Sky Lynx. In fact your best bet might to be go something mad and shattered glass. But Hasbro managed to come up with a sane, albeit slightly off the wall, suggestion in a new version of Deathsaurus. The main connection here would appear to be likening Deathsaurus' upright dragon mode to Sky Lynx's 4 legged dino beast. It's odd, but it kind of works ..... and kind of doesn't either.

To be clear, throughout this review the original Destron leader is referred to as Deathsaurus, as that's the version of the name I'm used to, and the new toy is Dezarus as per the spelling on the box

The only real piece of remoulding in Dezarus' modes adds a sharper swept back crest to the top of Sky Lynx's head and shuttle, much larger than the small one which was already there. It looks like they've cut that chunk out of the existing mould and plonked a new piece in as there's a very visible gap between the old and new pieces.

Otherwise the differences are supplied by remoulding and paint. The head and jaw, previously white, are now an off white as are the combined mode lower chest & waist, which were blue. The new combine mode head *LOOKS* to be moulded in the same white plastic, but I wouldn't bet my life on it. The rest of the white all becomes greeny blue as does the red used previously on the lower legs. The red on the upper legs, and some of the neck joints, stays red which looks a little odd in "dragon" mode. The rest of the neck joints and all the grey becomes a pale blue. Blue paws become black. Black paint is used abundantly.

For a new version of Deathsaurus these are some odd colours. Liokaiser fans will recognise them from Leozack which gives a hint at the combined form's purpose. I can see why they went Dezarus with the name. It doesn't quite fit the toy, but fits it better than Leozack would and helps maintain the Victory Breastforce connection than any other name choice.

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Liokaiser

Liokaiser is a very much desired Japanese toy which would probably in most people's top 3 Most Wanted Japanese Reissues lists. Most of the components lend themselves well to repaints of existing Combiner Wars toys. Drillhorn & Killbison become CW Drillhorn & Iron Bison by repainting Brawl and his remould Nosecone while Hellbat & Gaihawkare turned into Combiner Wars Fellbat & Guyhawk by repainting Combiner Wars Skydive & his remould Air Raid. Guyhawk & Hellbat are so similar I'd have been tempted to use the same toy twice and the remoulding between the two Combiner Wars jets makes them feel slightly too far apart. In all cases the effect is completed by a new robot head but otherwise they're very similar to their Combiner Wars predecessors.

The problem is Leozack & Jaruga, who form the original Liokaiser's body. All Combiner Wars toys have had a single body and, for better or worse, the use of two new toys for a giftset combiner torso was ruled out, which is where our Sky Lynx remould Dezarus comes in. Whatever doubts you have about Sky Lynx as a new version of Deathsaurus it makes an exceptional impersonation of Leozack & Jaruga's torso mode. Dezarus' shuttle tail fins, and the rear beast legs when painted as they are do a great impression of Leozack's cockpit and chest formed from his wings aided by some gold paint in just the right place on the legs to hint at the wing details. We have a new head, similar to the last one, but looking a lot more like Liokaiser's head complete with faceplate. The sides of the head appear to be the same off white plastic used elsewhere on Dezarus but the top of the head is black, like other paint apps, where it might have been nice to have a green/blue paint app to match the plastic.

Throw a couple of extra CW jets dual cannons into the box and a preassembled Arms Micron Gul as Iron Scythe, to represent the Breast Force companions, and you've got a decent set. Yes there might be some doubts about the individual robots but, combined, this feels like Liokaiser even though the torso isn't formed out of Liokaiser's original two body components. I might hesitate if you want the individual bots buts for a combined Liokaiser I think this makes a really good attempt at the original which hasn't quite been captured by the photos of it out there.

An Entertainment Earth exclusive in the US, it was available from far east suppliers in late September 2016.

 

Thanks for the review.   I dig how despite this being the Sky Reign torso they've made sure that it at least evokes the Leozack and Jaruga combination enough.

 

it's a lot more like it when you have it in hand, the photos (and definitely mine) don't do it justice.

 

i really wish hellbat had been called heckbat.

 

That would have been goofy silly fun, but Fellbat is a legitimately clever as heck ( ) workaround. It literally means the exact same thing, but because Fel/Fell in this context is a made-up fantasy novel word (generally pertaining to Hell and/or demons), it doesn't get the puritanical folk all riled up the same way. Or if used in the truer dictionary sense, it can still mean wicked or cruel, which also works. F and H sounds are also phonetically nearly identical, so the sound of the name doesn't change very much.

 

SG Sky Lynx isn't worth making a toy of. Its basically regular Sky Lynx's design and colors only drawn slightly different. As a Shattered Glass fan, I'm discarding the Sky Lynx design from the comics and using the Dezarus toy design instead. But I doubt I will be getting the box set unless its really cheap or something. I don't have Sky Lynx either.

This is what a Shattered Glass Sky Lynx should look like IMO.

 

He looks great. I know CW Sky Lynx had some issues in combiner mode. My Sky Lynx had an problem with a loose ratchet joint that wouldn't catch and made the hip joints in Sky Reign mode very loose. After reading your review, it seems like Hasbro might have corrected some of those issues I hope.

 

My Sky Reign's hips were always ok, Liokaiser is similar.

One of the shoulders is a little loose and is more likely to move than the connection to the limb

 

I'll just repurpose the CW Dezaras figure into being a new character named Plague Griffin who'll play a similar role for the CW Destrons like what Alpha Bravo and Off Road did for their respective teams in which a major combining member or in Liokaiser's case two members get replace with a new member like for the Destrons Plague Griffin takes the place of Leozack and Jaruga as the main torso for Liokaiser to serve under Deathsaurus.

 

Thanks for that info.   Glad to hear that the hips might be a bit better.

 

dezarus in sky lynx colors would work good for a cybertronian sky lynx.

 

My Liokaiser arrived and overall I really like how this set turned out. I have no real attachment to the character but I like how this figure looks and it is a decent representation of the G1 toy.

Few issues with mine which I am not sure if they are widespread or not so if anyone else has these please let me know.
Drillhorn little head creast is very loose, it will just flop up or down by gravity depending on what way you hold him. Common or just mine?

And Dezarus chest flap that opens up seems to have a molding deformity and will fall off whenever you move it. Very frustrating and I am sure this is a issue that is just on mine.

I also fin the elbow joints on Fellbat very loose and the legs on both Fellbat and Guyhawk don't peg together as securely as they did on the previous versions of these molds.

On the plus side the Brawl mold waist tolerance has been fixed on both Drillhorn and Ironbison.

 

Dezarus tries to do too much and fails at looking like any of the 4(!) characters he's trying to be, ending up more like a Nemesis Sky Lynx than anything else.

... but he's a really stylish Nemesis Sky Lynx. I wonder if he'll go for not-crazy prices on the aftermarket? *crosses fingers for a 3rd Party toy to come and make everyone dump poor Deathsaurus-that-isn't*

 

I have the same problem.

My set is fine.

Exact problems and plus points on mine.

 

Got my set in yesterday (along with the Iron Factory Ashura Knights) and I've had about a day to mess around with it, so I'll add my thoughts. I'll preface by saying I know almost nothing about the actual characters aside from the fact that they (I think) fought Victory Saber (whom I also know very little about). That being said, I really bought the figures because I love the color schemes, the head sculpts, and I didn't have any iteration of the 2 smaller jet molds, the Sky Lynx mold, or the remolded drill tank mold:

Fellbat - Love the colors, but mines joints are really loose (this seems to be a common problem in all 4 of the limb bots in my set). He does hold together securely in arm mode and jet mode though. His elbows in particular are prone to flopping around and the right one really can't hold the weight of a gun. The paint looks good though, the head sculpt is great, and I like it despite the loose joints.

Guyhawk - Joints are loose, but not nearly as loos as Fellbat. At least this guy can hold a semi interesting pose without collapsing under his own weight. His color is fantastic though. The fact that he's a pink jet (who's a DECEPTICON at that!) makes me love it. His head sculpt is also great, and he holds together in arm mode perfectly. Honestly, I'd probably buy him as a solo figure.

Ironbison - I like the brownish gold used for him, but I do sort of wonder about GPS striking him in the distant future. Like the rest, his head sculpt is great. I have CW Brawl, and the G2 Brawl, so the mold isn't new to me. What IS new is just how tightly his midsection holds. Despite this, his hips are loose, as are his elbows. He also has a tendency to split in let mode. Still, a good looking color scheme, but probably my least favorite figure in the set.

Drillhorn - I like this guy better than Ironbison, and his drill tank mode looks surprisingly nice (this is coming from someone who chose UW Computron because of CW Computron's crappy Nosecone). The remolded drill tank Brawl mold works really great for him, and if Takara eventually gets to Liokaiser, I'd probably imagine they'd use this mold aside from their Nosecone. It works THAT well. His joints are also decently tight, aside from a loose right knee on mine. His waist also holds in really well. All in all, I like this guy WAY more than I thought I would.

Dezsaurus - This was my first time messing around with the Sky Lynx mold. I didn't bother looking for CW Sky Lynx because I wasn't a fan of the character, and I heard horror stories about his torso mode's leg ratchets. Thankfully, his leg ratchets seem to have been fixed (they're actually really tight on mine). The colors also look great, and I really like how mean and feral he looks in "bot" mode. The jet mode is...eh...it is what it is. It's smaller than I'd have imagined, and it has a ton of undercarriage underneath (which made sense for Sky Lynx...just not for anyone else). The only loose joints on mine are the back "bot" mode's feet. I need to find a screw driver and tighten those up I suppose.

LioKaiser - This is why I bought the set. From what I could tell from pictures, the Sky Lynx mold had THE best torso mode out of all the CW Voyagers (odd, since Sky Lynx was never even a "true" combiner in the first place!). This guy doesn't disappoint, and his proportions are spot on. The colors work REALLY well together (almost like a G2 feel), and everything is nice and tight. Well...ALMOST everything... When you move the arms of the combiner, Dezsaurus's torso mode's shoulders have a tendency to ratchet out of place. Nothing major, just something to be aware of. The head mold, as is the case of every figure in this set, looks awesome. This is probably my second favorite combiner (next to UW Computron).

I also noticed there are VERY few pictures in this thread (a review thread, no less). I'll try to help remedy that.



All in all, a worthy combiner for my collection, and I recommend it just for the color scheme and head sculpts alone. Just be weary of those loose joints! And I guess if you're hoping this iteration of Liokaiser is a 1:1 for the original toy/cartoon model, you'll be disappointed. But if you take him for what he is, you'll be more than satisfied.

 

Dezarus in Sky Lynx colors would just be Sky Lynx.

Or as Mitch Hedberg said, "I remixed a remix and it was back to normal."

 

Nifty set. There are some looseness issues across the board for the limb-bots (mostly their hip and leg joints). The new head sculpts are nice, especially with the majority adding a little step flipping out the ears/horns/what have you. Part of the fun I find in this set is the fan-moding, like an upright dragon mode for Deszaras. I kinda wish Liokaiser had Computron-style hands and feet, but that's mitigated somewhat by having the tank legs in 'tall mode'. I like to put the 'tuning fork' weapons on both top and underside of one hand, for a staff-like deal, and I plug two of the double-guns into the wing holes of the arms micron, for a rough approximation of the G1 toy's composite cannon.

I can see why some would have problems with this set, but it feels worth it to me.

 

I just got mine in today and, despite some of the molds feeling a little worse for wear, it's still a ton of fun in colors that we don't often see in mainline toys.

 

I wish Unite Warriors would announce there's so I could decide whether or not to get this one. He looks great!

 

I just wish the head would have been painted a bit different. Black helmet??? Can someone post photos of the tank legs rotated 90 degrees and with the plane nose cones out to give him his proper anime look?