Dino soldier review

YEN:

YEN prices of the toys as sold in Japan.  The Yen strengthened against
the USD this fall $1 = 110y.  February is looking better for
us US customers at $1 = 120y but it is a far cry from our near 
$1 = 147y during the summer of 1998.

Code	Name		Yen				special
DZ-1	Dinotyranno	\3980	(a tad under $40)	(Video pt 1)
DZ-2	Dinobrachio	\2980
DZ-3	Dinostego	\1980
DZ-4	Dinosabel	\980
DZ-5	Dinoptera	\980
DZ-6	DinoTriceratops	\1980
DZ-7	DinoMammoth	\1980

DeathEaters
DE-1	GiganoDragon	\3980				(Video pt 2)


Company note:
For people who brought us Go-Bots (Machine Robo) and
Power Rangers (various Sentai), they really did a great job.
At the same time, Takara has yet to match the pure mecha punch of 
Bandai's Gundam.

First Impressions:
	Very, very shiny!  Bandai's attempt at a "Beast Wars"
counter-line is full of flash yet delivers an "OK" lineup.

Dinozone Generalizations:
	Each toy is impressive on its own.  DZ 1-3 and DE-1 easily
beat out any "Mega" BW toy.  The two smaller ones are just like any
typical "Basic" BW toy (and the same size).
I really like the faces of all of them.  I dislike the Go-Bot type
faces that some BeastWars figures have.  Dinozone faces harken back
to TF G1 faces.

The ball joints deliver less range-of-motion than Beast Wars.
Some joints are too tight and many of the hip and knee joints are loose.
Unfortunately, quite a few joints can't achieve a full 90 degree
angle rotation!

For posibility in general, you will always get knee and elbow
but not always feet/ankle joints.  Heads will turn but not elevate.
DinoTyranno makes up for limited ball joint range by adding the
famous "GI Joe Battle Grip"tm action as well as wrist rotation.
Wrists may be tight so be careful.

Beast parts kind of get in the way.  DZ 1-3 all look horrible from
the back as far as Dino junk.  Each of these have tails in both
soldier and dino modes.  This get's in the way but stabilizes your
toy if it has weak leg joints.

The big plus is the ever so shiny armor and translucent plastic.
This series really shines!  Put these suckers in front of the window.
No glowing eyes effect but they have the glowing skeleton effect!
I need to see these under a black light, BTW.
There is no question that these, really make any other Dino series
look dull and boring.

They are also bigger than I expected.  Except for the smaller DZ-4
and DZ-5 (basic figure size), they stand taller than most MEGAs
but don't really quite cut it as ULTRAs.

Weapons are minimal.  Just a single melee weapon (sword, axe)
that is stored in the animal mode.


Two Others:
Mammoth and Triceratops.  I might have mistaken them for DeathEaters
but the video tapes suggest they are good guys.
GiganoDragon is the only bad guy mold and he has pale colored versions of
the other DinoZone toys as his minions.

US Release:
When these hit the US as DinoZaurs, expect DE-1, DZ-1 for $20 (video) (MEGAs)
DZ-2 for $15 (MEGA) ; DZ-3,6,7 (DELUXE) for $10; and DZ-4,5 for $5 (REGULAR).
The additional two look like $10 ranged DELUXEs

I really hope they play around with RECOLORs on this line.
With such a high display value, using some nice color variations will
help them sell more.

Final Remarks:
One up:		High Display Value!
One down:	Limited range of motion

-------Update 2-SEP-99-------

DINOZAUR UPDATE:
US Dinozaurs are out and about 1/2 yen price.

I've managed to snag a few at amazon.com and etoys.com
I'm just waiting for the Drago- (Shadow- in Japan) recolors.

Equivalent to the Beast Wars price points, Dinozaurs were priced as predicted.
No toys include videos however.  They have a free give-away for it (them?).
Original videos had two distinct tapes, one with DE-1 and one with DZ-1.
The American release is probably the "cartoon" footage combined from both.
The Japanese had a large percentage of commercial footage in their 22 minute tapes.
Running time of the American one is stated around 20 minutes.  I haven't got
one yet.

DINOZONE UPDATE:
New Triceratops combiner team located on a few seller's pages.
DZ-8	DinoStyras	\3980	torso,legs	includes VIDEO
DZ-9	DinoKamosu	\980	arm
DZ-10	DinoCentros	\980	arm
SET-1	Combined DZ-8,9,10			includes VIDEO

DZ-8 would only be 2980 (mega size) but includse the VIDEO which adds 1000 yen.
Swing that sword!

Dinozone enemies are recolored Dinozone molds.  Of course at the same price points.
The enemies are prefixed with "Shadow" instead of "Dino", they use the DE-# scheme.
In the US, Dinozaurs's have counterparts with "Drago-", the last names differ from
their good-guy equivalent.  For instance, you have DinoPtera and DragoDactyl.

Reports on the ATT newsgroup place Dinozaurs in stores like K-Mart.
Still, it's not enough reason for me to go into a K-Mart.  :)

Markatron