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| Hall of the Brave |
| Valiant warrior, you have entered the hallowed halls of the Brave. |
20-Apr-2000 A link to my "haves" page Brave toys: show off page
The gallery depicts nobel legends of old. They are grand warriors, powerful yet graceful.
After the crest of the Transformer popularity in America waned, Takara in Japan picked up the torch in the form of several more cartoon series as well as a healthy line of toys. The year after the Japanese Transformer "second-wind" blew cold, Takara introduced another living-robot series. This "Brave" or "Yuusha" series eventually spanned more cartoon episodes than the Transformers. Of course, it had to have it's toy tie-ins. Or did the toys drive the series?
In either case, here is a gallery to commemorate the toys (with a few supporting shots from the shows and even some CGI from various sources).
I have never seen an episode but I was recently introduced to the toys. In fact, some toys are remolds from Transformer toys. For instance, Japanese Transformers had Sky Garry, Grandus, and Galaxy Shuttle; Takara used these as a basis for several toys. However, it's more complex than simply "Takara copying Takara". ShadowMaru is a retool of SixShot, which I would assume, Hasbro came up with.
Brave toys herald back to the blocky, powerful look of the G1 Transformers. Not only could they transform, but many could combine (sometimes in several stages) to more powerful forms. In fact, "gestalt" robots were more of the norm than the exception. Often, the Brave Hero had a larger partner that he could combine with (or fold up inside of). Top it off with a winged partner for a flying mode or a cylindrical vehicle for a cannon! Beyond G1 Transformers, Brave adds long swords, chromed highlights, and animal features to their robots. Like G1, shoulder articulation is standard but the transform dictated what other kind of movement the toy would be capable of. One of the latest series, Gao Gai Gar has a few characters with very Beast Wars / Machine Wars posibility (via ratcheting joints, hinges or swivels, not ball joints mind you).
All in all, Brave toys have great ingenuity and some neat gimicks. When Hasbro's Transformers faded with various *Masters, humanish pretenders, and non-transforming Action Masters, the Brave series introduced better designs and more complex gestalts with each passing year.
The only problem was the relatively small cast of Brave Series. There are a lot more individual Transformers out there. There just aren't that many Brave toys out there. Perhaps Takara could keep it's quality up by not focussing so much on quantity. And there still are enough Brave toys out there to immerse yourself into this Transformerish universe. That and they're not that easy to track down. Although it's a challenge, it's not impossible, you can find Brave toys in America. You just have to look in the right places and recognize them as they come up. I've often found various ones for prices under the retail Japanese rate. I also get a tickle finding knockoffs/bootlegs of Brave toys that crop up in various toy outlets and chinatown shops.
| The Toys |
Fire Dagwon
I happen to be the proud owner of Deluxe Power Dagwon and Deluxe Fire Dagwon!
They combine into Super Fire Dagwon. I was lucky enough to find the set bundled together via cardboard suitcase (with photos of SFD all over it).
19-DEC-99 Update I've been playing with a digital camera.
I got a few snaps of the Super Fire Dagwon (with Cowboy Gunkid at his side)!
Click the image for a larger picture.
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I also have the Big Volfogg set from Gao Gai Gar. He's a police car with motor cycle and small helicopter. Each three transform to robots. Then they combine to Big Volfogg!
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DagbaseTakara salvaged this from the Transformers: Return of Convoy series.
Dagbase used to be a Micromaster base, now he houses DagLiner and friends.
| Go in peace noble one. |
©1999 Mark Wong