Dinosan is actually the very first third party figure I
purchased. He is the Ryu-Oh version of Rairyu, or Birdbrain, if you prefer the
American Pretender Monsters to the Japanese Dinoforce.
While he was a great introduction to the third party world,
Dinosan is a less than great individual figure. He serves as the crotch for the
combined Ryu-Oh, and as such, both robot and monster modes suffer a bit.
Primarily the robot mode.
Monster mode is ok, but is afflicted with the G1 Pretender
Monsters/Terrorcons syndrome of having that mode be one of “what is it?” a four
legged beast with a pointed face, Dinosan doesn’t really turn in to anything
other than a four legged beast with a long, pointed face. Closer to the first
figure in the set than the two arm figures, Dinosan is a stockier, thicker
monster, presenting a slower but stronger vibe. The monster mode is a fairly
distinct quadruped, and is, again like Dinoichi, clearly a monster, albeit a
nondescript one. The rear legs have a real cool, pretty surprising
transformation step where the lower parts fold downwards after the upper thigh
swings downward, allowing for a longer leg with a knee joint. It’s much nicer
than just having the lower leg fold out of the upper thigh. The monster form is
not very poseable, and as a four legged animal is difficult to get into
anything that’s not a four feet on the floor stance. Dinosan can be kind of
stood up on the rear legs, but the knee joint isn’t strong enough to support
the weight of the figure for very long; in truth, the rear leg knees seem like
they get a little bit looser every time they are moved. The monster head is a
cool and menacing looking one, and has an opening mouth, which is kind of a
surprise.
All of this probably makes the monster form sound awful, and
while it isn’t terrific, it’s not really terrible. It is a solid looking
monster, just not a very impressive one. It’s a shame, because the plainness of
the general appearance makes it difficult to give it the kind of write up it
probably deserves. It’s a monster that is lacking in the sort of eye catching
things that make the similarly vague monster of Dinoichi such a winner, and the
oddity of Dinoni that makes that monster interesting.
But the problems with Dinosan appear in the robot mode. He
is short and stocky, and although the same physical height as the other three
team members, he looks a lot shorter
than he really is. This is due to the very large and very thick legs, which are
basically just calves with a joint in them to serve as the thighs. It actually
looks like a robot whose thighs are missing, a Cybertronian Cotton Hill, if you
please. There are thighs on the body, and they do offer some degree of posing
potential, but they are so short themselves that they compromise the general
appearance of the robot. Aside from that, Dinosan’s robot mode is totally fine.
It doesn’t pose well thanks to the legs, but pretty much all of the expected
joints are there. The arms move a lot, probably for transformation into
combiner mode, and Dinosan has shoulders that swivel forwards and backwards,
again, thanks to transformation. While the arms have pretty free motion, the legs
are hindered in all directions other than straight out to the sides; ball jointed
ankles allow for bold A-stances, or at least for as far as the stumpy ankles
will bend.
The face sculpt is kind of fun, an almost friendly looking
visage that is fairly unexpected. Following the faceplated Dinoichi and the
blank yet serious Dinoni, Dinosan seems to be practically smiling, and that
lends a bit of character to a face that is otherwise, and is supported by his
teammates’ faces, pretty vapid.
Dinosan’s weapon is also pretty cool, although a tad on the nondescript side as
well, though nowhere near that of Dinoichi. Dinosan has a double barreled
blaster, and the barrels flip out from the sides, which allows for a cumbersome
looking but attainable single barreled version, if you like. The six individual
weapons will eventually all combine to form Ryu-Oh’s giant weapon, but for the time being, the weapons aren’t all
that impressive. Not awful, but just not that terrific.
There’s another issue with Dinosan, one that occurs during
transformation. Small, thin plastic panels swing over gappy spots in the legs,
and in robot mode, present the appearance of a solid lower leg. The panels may
also be intended to keep the thigh part from moving or popping out of the lower
leg, but that is unclear. The panels swing upwards, parallel to the rest of the
leg, on a single, fairly large pin joint. But, they don’t have enough clearance
to swing fully clear of the rest of the leg, and thus need a tiny bit of
pressure applied to them to move them over the rest of the lower leg. The part
then swings down again in monster mode. While the plastic feels strong and
thick enough that this step can be taken without too much stress, it remains a
fearful moment, as this is still an expensive figure. As of right now, having
never experienced the combiner modes for any of the Saurus team, it’s not clear
as to whether or not this panel does anything in the combined mode, but take a
little extra care in manipulating this part, just to avoid any future problems
or breakage. 
Overall, Dinosan is a hard figure to talk about because it
is such a plain one. As the third of the Saurus set examined thus far, Dinosan
is clearly the first one that is designed to be a combiner part first, and
monster and robot second. It is also the first one that feels skippable, save
for the necessity of giant robots to have crotches. It could be the Curse of
the Crotch Figure, but TFC Toys’ Heavy Labor and Cerberus are crotch parts, and
they range from pretty good to totally excellent, so it is not the case that a
lower torso component needs to be the weak individual link. Also, as the third
figure released for the team, (as with the Saurus figures, the Coffin is
looking at them in order of release) by the time Dinosan comes along, two
better figures have already been presented, so there are comparable toys to
compare this one to. And, it’s there that Dinosan stumbles the hardest. Both
Dinoichi and Dinoni are great, fun and enjoyable toys that are satisfying in
both robot and creature modes. Dinosan at times looks like he doesn’t belong
with the others, or like Fall ofCybertron Swindle, was designed by someone else not working with the main
design team for the other five figures. Dinosan is more cartoonish like Dinoni
is, and less all-around than Dinoichi is; and as a spoiler, Dinosan is on a
level below follow up member Dinoshi as well. 
This was the very first third party figure that the Coffin
owned, and for that reason, Dinosan will always have a spot in our hearts. Yet
he was part of that TFCon 2016 sale that TFSource was running, and was purchased
for $30; the figure seems to be on permanent clearance at TFSource for that
same price now. For $30, this is a fine figure, but is still really missing
something as a standalone toy. At the more regular online retail price of $65
that the Saurus figures go for, Dinosan feels like a bit of a rip off, and
really can’t be recommended as an individual, “I only want a third party
Birdbrain” purchase. But, as we all know, this is a long game type of purchase,
because Dinosan is part of a combiner. It just so happens to be that one
combiner team member that you’d buy because you have to in order to complete
the combined figure, the one you carry reluctantly up to the register and pay
for, not really even feeling excited that you got another piece for a giant. But
fear not, Coffin reader, for the next entry in the Saurus set will be a better
one, back to greener pastures.
No comments:
Post a Comment