If you collect any Japanese action figures or toys, then you know Yamato.  They make tons of cool high end and low end stuff, and when we’re lucky, it gets imported to the U.S.  We’re getting lucky with the new Megazone 23 line of transforming characters. 

Inspired by shows like Robotech and Macross, Megazone 23 is the story of the young motorcycle enthusiast Shogo Yahagi.  He comes across a government prototype bike that’s oh so much more than just a bike.  The government isn’t happy about him having it, and there’s more here that’s being covered up than just a prototype crotch rocket, so Shogo decides to expose the bike on a live television show hosted by the popular singer Eve. He figures that once he does that, those government goons won’t kill him.  But the mystery of the bike and what it really is turns out to be much more complex and dangerous than Shogo ever realized.

Yamato is releasing the Garland (the bike) in the U.S., in 1/15th scale.  That’s slightly bigger than Star Wars/G.I. Joe scale, and slightly smaller than the recent Batman and Superman figures from Mattel.  Of course the bike does a complete transformation into the mecha, so it has two modes – Maneuver Craft (bike) and Maneuver Slave (mecha).

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, you can always reach me at mwc@mwctoys.com. If you enjoy this review, take a minute to check out my other site at Michael’s Review of the Week, and let me know what you think. Now on to the review!

“Megazone 23 – Garland”

Since this is a transforming vehicle with figure, the review will have a few different catagories than the usual action figure.

 

 

Packaging – ****
One thing that the Japanese toy companies tend to do really well is packaging.  They understand the added value and appreciation a buyer has for a toy that he can free from a really cool coffin.

The Garland box is completely collector friendly, and you can open it up, remove the goodies, play with him to your heart’s content, and always just pop him back in.  The outer box has some terrific graphics, but I’ll have to only assume the text is useful, since I’m a little rusty on my Japanese.

The inner tray and cover hold the bike and extras tight, but allow the casual observer a good look at them before buying the product.

 

  

Sculpting – ***
I’m going to count the sculpt on Shogo here, while I’ll talk about the bike more in the Design section.

Shogo is designed to sit on the bike (or inside the robot), and is sculpted and articulated for that specific purpose.  The sculpt is fairly good, although he is pretty much your average anime/manga looking kid.  He’s got some serious Elvis hair, but generally looks like just about every other anime biker.

 

 

Design – ***1/2
Ah, but the bike – now that’s something to see.  Sleek, solid, and sure to please the ladies.

The bike is much larger in proportion to Shogo than the artwork on the box makes it appear.  In bike mode it’s almost ten inches long, and in mecha mode it’s slightly longer.  That’s one big ass motorcycle, and it really looks more like a rocket than a Harley.

Shogo sits a little farther forward in the seat than I had expected, again due to the much larger size of the bike.  It’s well designed though, and looks great in either mode. There’s some nice touches too, like magnets to hold the bike together at key junctures, rubber tires, and enough room for Shogo to ride in the transformed Mecha (back behind the head).

Paint – ***1/2
There’s not a ton of small detail work, but that’s usual for this sort of transforming design.  Most of the pieces are cast in their color, without many additions.  There are some nice use of different plastics and materials though in different colors and levels of transparency, to give the bike (and robot) a colorful and unique design.

The paint ops that are here are well done, with almost no slop.  Shogo’s eyes are clean and straight, and while his outfit is bare bones, the paint quality is solid.  Some of the best small details are on the dash of the bike, where the various meters would be.

 

 

Articulation – Mecha ***1/2; Shogo **1/2
There’s no shortage of articulation on a transformer of this quality.  There are joints on top of joints, right down to the individually articulated multi-jointed fingers on each hand.  The mecha can handle just about any pose, although his hips don’t move outward from the body quite as far as you might like.

 

 

There’s also a plasma cannon included that the robot can handle with his hands quite well.

Shogo has a ball jointed neck, jointed at both the head AND the torso, pin elbows, pin knees, pin ankles and cut wrists.  He also has joints at the hips and shoulders, but these are designed to allow just enough range of movement to do sitting, bike riding poses – he can’t stand straight up or have his arms down straight at his sides.

Accessories – ***
Speaking of that plasma cannon, it’s one of several accessories.  It has a removable clip on the back, and the barrel can slide forward and back.  It looks good, although is a fairly basic gray with little in the way of extra color.

There’s also some additional parts for Shogo.  He comes with a set of shoulder pads that can replace his standard biker collar, and two more sets of ‘hair’.  The hair comes off the head in two pieces, front and back.  There are two more fronts included, both with glasses and headphone combo.  One has his hair in a headband, the other does not.

 

 

The two halves of the hair pop together easily enough, and the seam is fairly well hidden, although you will see it if you’re paying attention. 

Transformation – ***1/2
Ah yes, the bike is pretty, the robot cool, but does it make the transformation from one to the other as slick as spit on a door knob?

Now, I have something in my favor going in with a toy like this – I’m an engineer by education.  Unfortunately, I also have something going against me – I can’t read Japanese (the manual is not in English), and I don’t mess around with transforming toys very often.

Considering the pluses and negatives, and then judge whether the 15 minutes it took for me to get him completely from bike to robot the first time was bad or good.  Getting him back again the first time took a little while as well, because there’s a couple steps that have to be done in just the right order and way for them to work.  The fit was quite tight and solid though in both modes, and the engineering was quite impressive.  Because of the hidden hands and head, and the neat way the wheels are camoflaged in the mecha version, this is one of those rare transformers that looks very little like it’s original vehicle form when complete.

 

 

It did seem though that some of the pieces felt as though I could have snapped them had I not taken my time and extra care.  Remember, this vehicle is plastic, not metal – torquing a piece in a direction it’s not supposed to go can be very, very bad.

Fun Factor – ***
Yep, it’s a fun toy.  Now, when you see the price tag, you might be less inclined to think of it as a toy or give it to a ten year old.  If you did, you’d also want to spend some time with him or her making sure they knew the ins and outs of the transformation, since it is possible to snap some pieces if you get impatient.

But for the kid that loves this style of toy and can show a little care, or the big kid that likes to play, er, transform a vehicle into a robot, this guy can be great fun.

Value – *1/2
Ah, here’s where it gets a tad tricky.  You see, this is an imported high end Japanese transformer.  You know what that means.  You best be ready for a little sticker shock, unless you’re already accostumed to the price something like this pulls in.

This guy has a SRP of $129.95.  No, that ain’t cheap, even if you’re the Donald.  Believe it or not, that’s actually below the Japanese SRP.  It is very nice, but it is predominately plastic.  You’re paying largely for the cool factor and engineering talent – it isn’t easy to design something this complex.  I’m also betting that the production run on these for the North American market won’t be huge, another factor contributing to the high price.

Overall – ***
Big fans of Macross or Robotech style figures are sure to be fascinated by this bike, and the engineering and style are great.  However, it carries a price tag that will scare off the casual buyers, leaving just the hard core Transformer geeks.

 

  

Scoring Recap
Packaging – ****
Sculpting – ***1/2
Design – ***1/2
Paint – ***1/2
Accessories – ***
Articulation – Mecha ***1/2; Shogo **1/2
Transformation – ***1/2
Fun Factor – ***
Value – *1/2
Overall – ***

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