As the Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger toy line draws to a close it’s time to take a look at the last entry into 2013’s range of Super Sentai minipla. Taking up this entire wave is the tenth Zyudenryu – the titanic Bragigas, partner to Kyoryu Silver and the team’s mentor Torin. Bragigas is special in that he doesn’t only represent the final Zyudenryu to appear in the series, but also features fossilised parts representing the Guardians that fell in battle against the Great Land Devil Gadoma.
Bragigas is made up of three separate boxes, each also containing a single piece of that delicious soda flavoured candy. Also, like Pteragordon and Plezuon, following the instructions will result in a built Bragi-Oh and so the boxes label the parts as such. The first box contains the robot’s torso, the second has the arms and axe while the third and final box contains the legs and two additional pieces.
(From this point on all images will be of a painted kit, so if you would like to see Bragigas in all his unpainted, stickered glory please compare with
HERE)
BRAGIGAS
Bragigas is perhaps the simplest model to build in the Kyoryuger line, mainly comprised of large parts with very few steps to finish each box. Not that any of the Sentai minipla are particularly difficult, but this one especially would be ideal for beginners who are looking to get a taster of the line. The entire kit is moulded in lightish grey plastic that is somewhat accurate to the show model, but lacks any of the silver/darker grey details seen on both the show and DX toy. Stickers come in two different forms – standard ones for the usual detailing and then special gold foil ones for the pieces representing the fallen guardians. While I prefer to paint my minipla, I opted to use these foil stickers and instantly regretted it when the model was completed. Not only are many of them wrap around stickers that fit very awkwardly around their designated parts, but they are also very difficult to apply well and don’t stick down on the textured surfaces very smoothly. In hindsight I wish I’d looked into shiny gold paint but c’est la vie.
That aside, Bragigas certainly stands as the most impressive dinosaur in the Kyoryuger line – absolutely towering over his nine Zyudenryu brethren. It’s a very impressive kit in both height as well as mass, which helps make up for its rather pathetic articulation (the legs are all it can muster). While the DX toy has an opening lower jaw to accommodate the battery gimmick, here the mouth is completely static.
As a dinosaur Bragigas makes for an impressive display piece and a very simple build for beginner model kit builders, but much like the other Zyudenryu has limited playability which is further hampered by stickers that will peel off at a moment’s notice. Does it get any better in robot mode? Read on to find out…
BRAGI-OH
No need for a biting combination, as Bragigas is able to form his own giant dino robot - Bragi-Oh! The transformation process is a pretty simple one, which starts by removing the tail and neck sections of the dinosaur to form the main weapon. The torso's battery compartment is folded and moved upright to become to body, with the legs rotating down into their appropriate positions to become the arms and legs. While making the weapon remove the Brachiosaurus head and swing down the robot face, completing the sequence by plugging it into the top of the torso.
While the improved articulation minipla usually offer these days isn’t something the Kyoryuger line has been overly concerned with, Bragi-Oh takes things to unfortunate extreme. The only main bits of articulation are in the shoulders, hips (both of which are simply “up and down” motion) and elbows (which can move up and down when rotated around). Bragi-Oh does also have ball-joined ankles, but without a knee joint these are largely useless. No knees, no waist connection, not even any sort of head movement. This really does feel like a scaled down version of the DX toy with all the gimmicks stripped out of it. “Brickgigas/Bricki-Oh” might have been a more appropriate name.
What Bragi-Oh lacks in articulation it does try to make up for in huge weaponry. It's signature Bragio Oh is taller than the robot itself and manages to be pretty hefty even for a cheap model kit. It is held via a small connector piece which can inserted into the robot's fist and then rotated a bit, giving it a little bit of motion even if the arms can't really manage anything impressive enough to make it worthwhile.
Considering Bragi-Oh is both the largest and strongest Zyuden Giant and supposedly towers over most Debo monsters, this minipla version doesn't manage to be all that impressive. Given the limitations of cramming a giant robot down into three candy toy boxes forgives the fact that he doesn't tower over anyone (although that being said his height is far from inaccurate), but the very poor range of articulation is very hard to overlook. Just as well it has one more combo in store to hopefully wow those interested...
GIGANT KYORYUZIN
Finally we have the “ultimate” combination for the season – Gigant Kyoryuzin. This formation makes use of Gabutyra, Dricera, Stegotchi, Zakutor, Parasagun and Bragigas – uniting the five main Kyoryuger team members with their mentor. The combination process involves removing the sword section, head and tail from Kyoruzin – hiding the head inside the opened tail. Bragigas is pulled apart and reassembled over the main robot, with the Gigant Kyoruzin head attached to the tail and attached upright to the robot’s shoulders. Zakutor becomes part of the Bragigas neck staff (with the axe reattaching the robot’s back), while Parasagun becomes a nifty shoulder cannon. The pièce de résistance is the chestplate, emblazoned with pictures of all the Zyudenryu guardians.
Considering Gigant Kyoryuzin is a giant, colourful dinosaur robot that's wearing a tail as decorative headwear, it somehow manages to look impressive. Ignoring the tail the headpiece looks great, and both Zakutor and Parasagun excel at beefing out what was already a pretty powerful looking robot. The only thing that really throws things off from the front are the added Bragigas feet, which look kinda silly so small under Gabutyra's giant dino feet.
But despite the rather intimidating look, much like many of the Go-Buster combos it suffers from being a bizarre mash up of parts. It’s by no means unstable, but having Bragigas’ entire body hanging off the back of Kyoryuzin is a rather unsightly look. That being said, Gigant Kyoruzin still has all the articulation of the base Kyoryuzin model, making it a much more poseable and versatile figure than the far simpler Bragigas.
However if the backpack proves to be a bit too much for you, it can be removed for an alternate formation where Bragigas’ entire torso is reassembled into the giant battery cannon for Gigant Kyoryuzin’s ultimate attack – the Gigant cannon. The attack also removes Zakutor and Parasagun from the combo, who revert to their standard dinosaur forms to join Ankydon, Bunpachy, Pteragordon and Plezuon as Zyudenryu on parade. It’s not really much to look at as Gigant Kyoryuzin is left kind of naked, but adds a little more variety to the final combo and makes for a pretty awesome display if you have the room (or means to make Pteragordon and Plezuon fly).
The Kyoryuger minipla line didn’t start with a bang, and in the same vein it’s certainly going out with a whimper. Bragigas isn’t just the most disappointing Kyoryuger minipla I own, I’d also go as far as to say it’s the worst of the four years of Super Sentai minipla I’ve collected (which is Go-Onger, Gokaiger, Go-Busters and Kyoryuger). What may look like an imposing robot is not only an unarticulated brick, but also a boring model build comprised of larger parts and minimal building steps. While articulation may not be a requirement of the minipla line, recent years have made it one of its biggest highlights and all Bragigas does is take things back to square one.
Oh well, here’s to 2014 when hopefully the year of the trains will be better.
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